Jesus Is Adam’s Antidote!

1st Sunday in Lent, 3/1/20
Romans 5:12-19


Jesus Is Adam’s Antidote!
I. Adam’s poison infects all people.
II. Jesus’ work saves all people.


If I were going to speak with someone who doesn’t know Jesus as their Savior from sin, I don’t think I’d use the verses of this morning’s sermon text. Although these words accurately describe how much we need a Savior and how Jesus is that Savior, I wouldn’t begin an evangelism visit with these words. And my reason? They are so hard to take. And I can think of several reasons why that’s true.

One, we pride ourselves in our independence. It’s ingrained in us as citizens of the United States of America. This text, like it or not, hammers home the truth that our sinful condition goes all the way back to Adam, and that doesn’t sit well with our independence. We’d like to think that Adam has nothing to do with our spiritual situation today.

What’s more, this text asserts that we inherited our sinfulness from our parents. And as much as we may love our parents, we’d readily declare that we’re nothing like them. We prefer to stand on our own.

Third, the words of this text simply don’t align with our sense of justice. We maintain that we’re not guilty by association. Even more so, how can we be guilty because of someone else’s crime?

So, I probably wouldn’t use them in an evangelism visit, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t true. In fact, they are God’s word which accurately informs us how we are by nature ever since Adam’s fall into sin. As the hymn states, “one common sin infects us all.” It’s the spiritual poison that’s in every one of us. That’s the news that puts us under God’s curse. But that’s where our Savior comes in, the one who is our Victor. As powerful as Adam’s sin is in every human being, more powerful is our Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus is Adam’s antidote! This text highlights the all-pervasive nature of sin and, in doing so, highlights that all-pervasive salvation that Jesus won.

Part I.

The dreaded coronavirus. It’s the latest world-wide scourge. Some experts are already tagging it as an epidemic. The latest figures state that it has infected more than 82,000 people worldwide and has killed more than 2,800. And it’s still spreading. Travel, business and even the stock-market have been adversely affected.

But it’s nothing compared with the poison of sin. Even if the coronavirus would eventually infect 1 billion people—a staggering number—that’s still leaves several billion people healthy.

But the poison of sin infects all. Our text states, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” Paul’s point is that one man sinned. We heard how it happened in today’s first lesson—through Adam’s direct disobedience of God’s command. But that sin lead to everyone’s death, not just Adam’s. Why? “Because all sinned.”

Paul states over and over again how Adam’s sin infects us all. In other places of the Bible it’s called inherited sin or original sin. It’s the sinful condition with which we come into this world. And no one escapes it. You want proof? You don’t have to teach your child how to throw a temper tantrum. They inherently know what how to pitch a screaming fit when they don’t get what they want, in spite of the fact that their parental unit has said, “No!” You want further proof? Why is there so much evil in our world? Because people think they have a right to do it. It’s what they want to do. And we can establish, enact and try to enforce a world full of laws against evil, and they might stem the tide of evil to a degree, but they won’t eradicate it.

You see, there is no human cure for the sinful human condition. There’s no amount of familial or societal morality that will overcome the poison that’s in us. Countless cultures and civilizations have tried…and failed. The sin within us shows itself every day of our sinful lives by the sins we commit. You talk about destructive behavior! And what makes it so depressing is that we’re powerless on our own against it. It will have its way with us to one degree or another.

“In this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” There you have it. The uncontested fact that we are as sinful as this portion of God’s word states is demonstrated by the fact that we will all die eventually. God had told Adam, “When you eat of it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17). And in the next chapter of Genesis, after Satan had succeeded in tempting Adam and Eve to do what God had forbidden, the Lord declared, “Dust you are and to dust you will return” (Gen. 3: 19).

Adam sinned. We inherited his sin. It causes us to sin. We die. Adam’s poison—his sin—infects all people.

In 2017 golf legend Roberto De Vicenzo died. In spite of his winning more than 230 professional tournaments, he is infamously remembered for his mistake that cost him the 1968 Masters trophy. On the second to last hole in the last round, Roberto hit a birdie on the par four 17th hole. But the man who was keeping his scorecard incorrectly wrote down a 4 instead of a 3. At the end of the round, Roberto signed his scorecard, thinking he was tied for the lead and heading for a playoff hole. But he had signed his card. By PGA rules, the 4 stood and he lost the tournament by one stroke. Someone else made a mistake and Roberto suffered for it.

That almost sounds like our dire spiritual situation. Because Adam sinned, we’re the ones who suffered. But the point is that we come into this world thoroughly corrupt and we’re helpless to help ourselves in any way.

But how that flies in the face of our world’s opinion on humanity and our own mistaken opinion of ourselves! The world thinks there’s a little good in everybody. Pop psychology praises it. And we buy into it at times. We know we’re not perfect, but we’re better than most and we silently reveal what we think of ourselves when we set ourselves above others, even far above them. But none of that matters, even if it were true. Because the truth of the matter is this, “Death came to all men, because all sinned.” Adam’s poison infects us all. And it won’t do any good to deny it. The only beneficial thing we can do is to admit it, acknowledge it, and repent of it. And that’s what this Lenten season is all about—coming to grips with our sinfulness. In fact, we’re sinful by nature. Adam’s poison infects us all.

Part II.

Right now the world is concerned about the Coronavirus. At this time last year, the world was concerned about the measles outbreak. Remember that? We thought that the measles had been eradicated in our country. That was one of the reasons countless people weren’t immunized properly against it and the result was another measles outbreak.

If only we could be immunized against an outbreak of sin. If only there was a physical serum for the poison of Adam’s sin. If only there was a way in which we could stop bringing children into our world in our own sinful likeness. But we’re helpless.

So, what hope is there against Adam’s sin? How can we stop the eternal damnation that faces every sinful human being on account of Adam’s sin?

We can’t. But God can. And he did. Here’s how it happened, “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 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.” Paul’s point is this: Jesus’ obedience was the antidote for Adam’s disobedience. What obedience is Paul talking about? Christ’s perfect obedience. Jesus never fell into temptation. His heavenly Father repeatedly referred to Jesus as the Son whom he loved. That was his divine stamp of approval of the holy life of Jesus.

We heard about that perfect obedience in today’s gospel. I realize that the temptations that Satan threw at Jesus might not sound like great temptations to you and me, but I assure you they were real and they were intense, because each of them hit directly at who Jesus was and the work he had come to do. He always defeated temptation. He always obeyed his Father’s will. He did that in our place.

And then this Holy One took our place one more time—on Calvary’s cross. There he suffered the punishment for the sins of the world, for my sins, for your sins. By his perfect life and his innocent death on Calvary’s cross, Jesus removed the curse of Adam’s sin.

Jesus is Adam’s antidote. Adam’s poison infects all people, but Jesus’ work saves all people.

This word of God in front of us today is a real gut-check. When we’re tempted to think far too much of ourselves, it hammers home the truth that we’re under God’s condemnation just as everyone else is. We’re not so special. And when we’re all too aware that we’re not so special—when we’re crushed by the fact that we don’t measure up, not to the people we care about or to our God—this text comforts us with the truth that we have One who measured up to God for us. In fact, as the closing words of this text declare, we’ve been made righteous—holy—in God’s sight through the life and death of Jesus. His obedience is your obedience. His holy life is your holy life by faith in him. What Adam did—what we all did—Jesus has undone.

Jesus is Adam’s antidote! And he works every time. Trust him! Amen.