All Have Sinned

Now I turn to the other consequence. You could not live at all to-day except for the sacrifice made by the Lord Jesus. But there is more to this text. Therefore let us read two verses together, in the fifth chapter of Romans: “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” “Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” The thought is: By one man sin came; and therefore by one Man righteousness must come: by one man death came; therefore by one Man life must come. And as certainly as I became an heir of sin by that one man at the beginning, so certainly I must become an heir of righteousness by that one Man who hath appeared “in these last days.” As I became subject to death, possessed by death, by the sin of that one man at the beginning of the world, so I must become heir of life, and possessed of life, by that other one Man “in these last times.”

There is no hope of righteousness to any soul except by that one Man,—thank the Lord,—the last Adam. True, he is the second Adam; but the Scripture calls him “the last Adam; but the Scripture calls him “the last Adam,” and that is better; for, if it had been only “the second Adam,” there might have been a chance for the suggestion, “There may be a third Adam, and that will give me another chance.” But that will never do: there will be no third Adam. The last Adam who can ever come has come. And whosoever shall not be delivered by that last Adam is forever lost. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” The first Adam sinned; and by him we became heirs of sin. The last Adam sinned not; and therefore by becoming heirs of him, we become heirs of sinning NOT. The first Adam brought death to us all; and the second Adam, by not sinning, brought life to us all. And do not forget that he is the LAST ADAM.

Thus you can see that life and righteousness must come from one source, precisely as death and sin came from one source. And that source must be not myself. Neither sin nor death entered the world by me, but by that one man. There is the means, though not the source. The source, of course, is in the one who stood back of the man, and persuaded him to go that way; that is, Satan. So Satan is really the cause of sin and death, while that one man is the channel through which he plunged this upon the world. On the other hand, God alone is the source of life and righteousness; and that one man, Christ Jesus,—the last Adam,—is the channel through whom life and righteousness are poured upon the world, in abundance, even to “all the fullness of God.”

Therefore you can see that just as certainly as, to find the source of sin and death, we must look beyond ourselves; so, to find the source of righteousness and life, we must look beyond ourselves. And as, to find the source of sin and death in this world, we must look to Satan through the first Adam; so, to find the source of life and righteousness, in this world and in the next, we must look to God through the last Adam, always, always, always.

Look at it on the other side again—on the side of sin. How many sins have appeared in your life that were not there the day that you were born? Is that saying too much? Have you and I accumulated something new, brought something new into the world, in the way of sin, that was not there before we were?—No. All that has ever appeared in you and me is what was in you and in me before it appeared; and it matters not how long in our lives it was before that thing appeared—it was there. True, it was latent; but it was there. But I need not argue upon that: I simply wish to draw your attention afresh to the reality of it, so that each can bring it home personally to himself, that there never has been anything in your life, or in mine, in the way of sin, that was not in us when we were born, and that did not come to us from the first Adam, who brought sin into the world.

But the time came, thank the Lord, when you and I were born again. And remember we are to be born “from above;” born of God; the children of the last Adam; for he, the Child that was born to us, is “The everlasting Father” as well as “The Prince of Peace.”

Then there is a second Father, the last Adam. And since you and I were born again, born from above, created of God in Christ Jesus new creatures, there never has appeared in our lives anything good, and there never can appear anything good, that was not there the day we were born again, and that does not come from him who caused us to be born again.

Then, as certainly as the first Adam is the source of all the sin that ever appeared in us, the last Adam is the source of all the righteousness that ever can appear in us. Therefore, there comes the next verse in the fifth chapter of Romans, the nineteenth verse: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the OBEDIENCE OF ONE shall many be made righteous.” Just so. As by that one man’s disobedience you and I were made sinners, so by that other one Man’s obedience you and I are made righteous. No man was ever made righteous by his own doing. You and I were not made subject to sin, not made heirs to sin, by our own sinning; it was in us before we had time to sin. That which appeared in us was what was in us—even the leading thing in us: and that is the truth forever. Never will anything appear in you but that which was in you before—and it the leading thing in you.

So then, since Jesus is the source of all righteousness, his obedience is that which makes us righteous. Therefore we read on now, in the third chapter of Romans, as to Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin, and all subject to sin. Nineteenth verse: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law:” so that they shall know what sin is; for “by the law is the knowledge of sin,” “that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Not to make men guilty,—the law never came to make men guilty,—but to show to men that they are guilty. Neither the law nor anything that is connected with it, is sent to make men guilty; but that men may see that they are guilty,—that they may see where they are, what their condition is,—that they are lost, and need to be saved.

It is not straight; it is not fair; it is not a true presentation, nor representation, of things, to say to persons who are yet sinners, that they “will be lost.” They ARE LOST. They do not realize it; they do not believe it; but it is the truth. God wishes them to find out that it is so, that they may be saved; for “Jesus came to seek and to save”—what? That which might be lost?—No, sir; but to seek and to save “that which was lost.” Listen again: “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that ARE LOST.” 2 Cor. 4:3. Then he to whom the gospel, in its power, in its saving grace, is hidden is lost.

“If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Verses 3, 4. And it is the bounden determination of the god of this world to keep men so blinded that the light of the gospel may never reach them; while it is the longing purpose of God that the knowledge of his law may reach all men, that they may know, in the light of it, that they ARE LOST; and that there also shines the light of the glorious gospel of Christ that they may be saved; and by it, when they believe, they ARE saved. Thus “the law entered that the offense might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference.” Rom. 3:20-22.

Who are those that are lost?—They are those “in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.” The lost ones are those who believe not. The saved ones are the ones who believe in Jesus Christ the Savior. So then, “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” but “all them that believe” are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness [God’s righteousness] for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness [God’s righteousness]: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Rom. 3:22-24.

Now notice how continuous that is: men are justified by faith; saved by the righteousness of God, “without the law.” It is true forever, to all people, in every moment of the life of anyone who believe in Jesus. Listen: “NOW the righteousness of God without the law is manifested.” Is that word “now” thrown in there merely as a catchword, as we sometimes use the word “now”?—No. That is not the way the Scripture uses words. That word “now” is used in this place because it means just now—at this present time. This is made emphatic in the twenty-fifth verse: “To declare, I say, AT THIS TIME his righteousness.” Put the two verses together: “NOW the righteousness of God without the law is manifested . . . to declare, I say, AT THIS TIME his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

So, then, you see that that “now” is an everlasting word. It was “now” when Paul wrote it; it was “now” when Luther believed it and preached it; it is “now” yet. Nobody can ever get away from that “now.” “Now”—“at this time”—it is that the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. So no righteousness can ever come to anybody in this world, by any person, or by any means, but by Jesus Christ; and that, as the free gift of God.

And as life must come from the same source as does righteousness, and this must be life that stands over against the death that lasts forever, so it must be a life that stands forever. And so it is written: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

And since it is only righteousness that goes with life,—and this life is eternal life,—it is only eternal righteousness that can ever go with eternal life. And since eternal life must come from God to me, or I shall never have life that is life indeed; and since I must have eternal righteousness in order to have eternal life,—it follows only that eternal righteousness must come from God to me, or I shall never have either righteousness that is righteousness indeed or life that is life indeed.