All For One, One For All – Romans 5:16

Romans 5:16: And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.

Jesus tells us that there is no truth in Satan in John 8:44. One of his greatest untruths – or lies – that he has masterfully deceived all of us is his constant profession that sin isn’t that big a deal. ‘It’s no big deal’, ‘everyone does it’, or ‘nobody is going to know or care’ might be some of the things you may heard whisper in your ear when you are considering engaging in sin. Sin literally means, “falling short of the mark”, but we would like to offer an alternative definition. Sin is the rejection of the sufficiency of God’s provision. One of God’s names is Jehovah Jireh, which means, the Lord will provide. It doesn’t mean He might or could provide, it means he will provide. The name Jehovah Jireh is a promise from the Lord that He will provide you what you need.

Let’s take a trip back to the beginning of humanity and take a quick look at the story of Adam and Even in the book of Genesis. In chapter 2, God had told Adam he could he from any tree in the Garden of Eden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He promised Adam that if he ate of that tree, he would surely die. God cannot lie, so He is a perfect keeper of His promises. Jumping ahead to chapter 3, Satan is tempting Eve to eat from the tree God warned them. Eve relates God’s warning in her exchange with Satan, and Satan – true to his character – challenges the truth of God’s Word – lies to her and tells her in verse 4 that she will not surely die. Tragically, Eve and Adam choose to believe the liar as opposed to believe the One Who cannot lie, and eat the forbidden fruit ushering sin into human existence.

That one sin has filtered into every other human born since then – except One. This single exclusion is why the story of the Immaculate Conception of Jesus is a central point of the Gospel message. With Mary being conceived by the Holy Spirit, the seed that impregnated was holy – it was without sin. To be the complete and acceptable sacrifice for all humanity, Jesus had to have no sin in Him. Moreover, He lived a life without choosing to sin. He is our perfect gift of salvation, because He was perfect – He satisfied God the Father’s wrath against humanity for rejecting the sufficiency of God’s provision.

As today’s verse notes, this gift of salvation is also free to us but cost God everything. All the sin in the history of the human race and is ravaging humanity and Earth today can be traced back to Adam and Even rejecting the sufficiency of what God provided them. Jesus came to take all that sin that has transpired since then and will transpire until there is a new heaven and a new earth and be the atoning payment for the penalty for our sin. All the sin was put on one man – Christ Jesus, and one Man, satisfied all the wrath God has on our sin – Christ Jesus. All for One, and One for all.

To not believe what Jesus did is true results in condemnation. To believe in Who Jesus is and what He accomplished at the Cross results in justification with God – being declared “not guilty” of God’s wrath. Which results do you want?

Isaiah 60:1

Oh, LORD, what darkness surrounds me.
How it oozes and seeps into my pores.
Then it slithers and threatens my mind
With the dread there will be much more.

My heart begins to quake and tremble -
Leaving me paralyzed with fading hope.
How could such a doom break through?
As if I’ve arrived at the end of my rope.

Suddenly a voice from heaven thunders
Tearing a hole in hopelessness’s roof.
Darkness’s lies crumble to their knees
Giving way to the Light and the truth.

“Arise, My child, for your light is here!
Why have you forgotten My presence?
Don’t you recall upon your confession?
That I instilled in you My holy essence.”

“The darkness and its grave were beaten
By My beloved Son’s death at Calvary.
When I resurrected Him with My power.
The Light of the World won the victory!”

“As for My unbelieving and lost creation -
The ones drowning in darkness and tears,
If they could only see what you believe,
My perfect love will cast out their fears.”

“So, don’t forget, My beloved possession.
You can arise and shine for I have come.
My glory will forever rise upon you
With the same power that raised My Son.”

“Shine My Spirit’s light who dwells inside
That will testify that My Word is true.
For light will always defeat the darkness
When they’ll see that it did so for you.”

Why Jesus Was Sent

God takes no pleasure in the death of any.
He wants all of His creation to repent.
To prove the truth of this passionate desire,
His only begotten Son to us was sent.

He looked at each of our worst moments
And our rejection of His holy existence.
From a heart of mercy and compassion,
He chose to take our sin death’s sentence.

Yet we still believe the deceits and the lies.
If He exists, He’s an unfair and angry judge.
When we reject the necessity of the cross.
We’re missing His greatest display of love.

What more powerful proof can we find?
For another to willingly lay down one’s life.
The only way to be reconciled to our Creator,
Was for His Son Jesus to be our sacrifice.

The fear of death was given a mortal blow.
His resurrection proving love never fails.
Imagine the guilt and shame of our past
Are forgiven and left on His cross’ nails.

Why won’t we choose to believe this truth?
Receive the free gift of His amazing grace.
If this is the only life that we have to live,
Does it feel anything like a heavenly place?

If there is more to live after our last breath,
Perhaps the cross makes a lot more sense.
To be given the promise of an eternal peace,
We’ll start to believe why Jesus was sent.

That God loves every life that He creates.
You’re no evolved ape, you’re no accident.
If you’ll take Jesus’ nail-pierced hands,
You’ll become a reason why He was sent.