St. Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church – Watertown, W
Pastor Mark Gartner
Sermon for Lent 1 – February 17, 2002

When we look at our lives, we notice one thing. No matter how good things are going at the present time, our lives are not always certain. We don't always know what is going to happen the next day or the next week, and we definitely have trouble knowing what will happen in the future. We wonder about things like this: How much money will we make? Will we always live in this area? Is the health of ourselves and our family going to be good? What is the new government going to mean for us? The list of questions and uncertainties is limitless. And just when we think we have got it all figured out, we realize real fast that we don't. It is something that may aggravate us, and it may be something we are getting used to. But whatever your response is to all these uncertainties, Paul tells us some things that we as people living on this earth can be certain of. We don't have to worry about them changing. We don't have to wonder when or why they will change. The two things that Paul speaks of will never change. They are true, and they cannot and will not be changed no matter what the circumstances the world has to offer. What are these two things that we can be certain of? That is the theme we will be using for this morning:

Paul sure has a way with words doesn't he? The letter that he was led to write to the Romans does more to clear up and put into focus the central teaching of our Christian faith than any other book in the Bible. If a person ever wondered and questioned how and why a person is saved, the book of Romans is the place to start. In our text we will use these words from Paul to describe the awesome assurance that we find in these words. And hopefully after we have looked at and studied these beautiful words, we will once again see and strongly believe the wonderful love and mercy that God has showed to us and all people.

Two things are certain. Let's start out with a question that many times precedes are comments. "Do you want to hear the bad news first or the good news first?" Sorry I'm not really giving you a choice, but by this question we are led to see that there is definitely a bad thing that is certain, and there is a good thing. We will start out with the bad news first, and there is a reason for doing this. It is not just because I want to get you in a bad mood first, or that I enjoy preaching bad news. The reason we start with the fact that all men are sinners is because God tells us that we need to hear the Law first, and then we need to hear the Gospel. With that in mind Paul directs us to a harsh preaching of God's Law, "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."

It cannot be any clearer than this. We read in our Old Testament lesson for this morning about the story of Adam and Eve and their fall into sin. This was not just a another normal day in the lives of these two people. This day changed their lives, and it changed the lives of every person to follow them. "Therefore just as sin entered the world through one man." Paul is stating where sin came from. It was not something that God invented. It came as the result of the disobedience of Adam to the will of God. We know that God specifically told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They put aside God's command and followed their own thinking, and thus brought condemnation to all as Paul writes, "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men." That is exactly what happened. We were all made sinners. "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners." It cannot be any clearer than this. We are all sinners. Through the sin brought into the world at Adam's time, we are all filled with sin.

We call this our "original sin" or "inherited sin", and you know what? This is something that doesn't pass over some people. It corrupts us all. We can use the picture of a prince. The child that is born into the family of a prince is automatically going to be a prince whether he wants to or not. In the same way all men that come on to this earth likewise inherit Adam's sin, whether they want to or not. What does this really mean for us? It means that our every word, action and thought is filled with evil. It means that we do not care about God. It means that without a doubt we are all lost on our own. Just think about it. Original sin is in all of us. Original sin doesn't mean just an inclination towards to evil. Original sin means that we are 100% completely filled with evil. We are enemies of God. This is important, because some think that sin isn't so bad, or that children don't sin or that we can conquer our sin if we try hard enough.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. First of all sin is the worst thing that has happened to mankind. Sin has enslaved us and hid the truths of God's salvation from us. It is terrible. It corrupts us through and through. Secondly it affects all of us. Children are not immune from it. Old people are not immune from it. Pastors and teachers are not immune from it. We are all full of sin. Finally we can in no way conquer sin on our own. Sin has defeated us when we go it on our own. We cannot come to Jesus or find him on our own. All that sin has brought us is death, "and death came to all men, because all have sinned." There is no getting around these words from Paul. This is eternal death, and it comes to all because all have sinned. This is certain. Our death is certain. Our eternal condemnation is certain. We cannot save ourselves and that is certain. We are lost and that is certain.

This makes the comparison that Paul makes all the more beautiful and comforting. If Adam brought death to all people through his sin, than the comparison Paul makes is that a man brought life to all people. That is the second thing that we can count on as certain. Jesus died for the sins of ALL men. He did not exclude anyone. He didn't say I am only going to die for Lutherans or Christians, but Paul tells us, "So also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men." And Paul also writes, "so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." That is the most wonderful news that a sinful man could ever hear. Just think back to what we talked about in the first part of the sermon. We dwelled on our utter hopelessness and doom because of our sin. Now we are looking at the only way that we as lost sinners can find our hope and salvation. It is the justification or death of Jesus that has brought salvation to all mankind. This is important. This is what we call "objective justification." Jesus' death was not for the few, but it was for the many [which means everyone]. Just think what this means. Jesus was willing to die for everyone, whether they would believe in him or not. He died for all sinners. He wants all men to be saved and know of their Savior. He is a God that is filled with the greatest love that could ever be imagined. He didn't check to see who was deserving of his death. He covered the sins of everyone.

His death was also universal. It was not limited in anyway. Personally it means that he died for all of our sins. We can be assured that everyone of our sins has been paid for. How do we know this? It is made known to us by the gift of faith. Remember in the beginning we stated we could never find Jesus on our own. That's right. God found us through the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word and Sacraments. The Holy Spirit using the Word that was proclaimed to us worked faith in our hearts which opened up our hearts to see that Jesus did die for all of our sins, and that we don't have to worry about how we are going to pay for them. Through faith these many wonderful gifts are made ours. We need to be careful that we don't begin to pat ourselves on the back, because we have faith and many people don't. God didn't pick us because of anything good in us. We are all condemned sinners, remember! It is only by God's grace that he sent his one and only Son to die. It is only by God's grace that he was willing to let his Son die and take the punishment for our sins. It is only by God's grace that the Holy Spirit worked in our hearts through the Means of Grace. We don't deserve anything.

With this in mind we can appreciate all the more what God has done for us and for all men. It also makes our lives on this earth all the more meaningful. In seeing what Jesus has already done for us, we find the purpose for our lives on this earth. Our lives are not to try and figure out what is certain and to worry about those things that are not certain. Our lives are not to see what we can accomplish while on this earth. Our purpose, as we look to what Jesus has done, is narrowed down to telling others that Jesus has died for their sins also. We know now after hearing Paul's words that we can go to those who haven't heard God's Word and assure them that Jesus died for their sins also. Jesus has forgiven their sins, as well as ours. They aren't so bad that God will not forgive them. Forgiveness is already there for the people we tell of Jesus as well as for ourselves. Just think, we don't have to worry if Jesus will forgive certain sins. Jesus has already died for all of our sins, no matter what we do. This however is not a license to sin, but this is the motivation and comfort that leads and guides us every day. It is not our good lives that will give us strength, because we know how bad our lives are. It is the gospel of Jesus' love that fills us and leads us.

We have been made righteous as Paul says through the death of Christ for all men. Let us not think that now we are perfect. We aren't. We still have our Old Adam in us. We will never get rid of our Old Adam, until the day that we join our Father in heaven. This means that we always need to remember where our strength lies. Throw out pride in ourselves. Hold on to trust in Jesus and his promise that he died for all our sins [before we were even members of his family]. Hold on to this with the comfort of knowing that on the Last Day we can stand before God without fear. We don't have to worry that he will remember our Old Adam or our Original sin. We don't have to wonder if he will remember all of our past sins. We instead through faith can look to the cross of Christ and see that God the Father does not count these sins or any of our sins against us. Salvation is ours. Eternal life is ours. Paul's words this morning tell us two directly opposite teachings, but let us remember both of them. Let the Law of God ring in our hearts. We still as people with an Old Adam need to hear God's Law, which leads us to realize our need for a Savior. We also need to daily hear what Jesus has done for us on the cross. If you are down and out because of the uncertainties of life, let the love and certainty of Jesus and his death for all mankind fill us with all the certainty that we will ever need. What could be better than hearing that our sins are forgiven and that eternal life is ours? Nothing! Amen.