The Greater Pandemic
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Stories about COVID-19
Over 300,000 cases and over 8,000 deaths.
Emergency doctor who died in New York
Policeman who died in Newark New Jersey
Bus driver who posted a video, angered by a passenger who coughed without covering his mouth.. he also died.
Everyone’s focus is on what is going on with the coronavirus and how bad the situation is that no one can imagine anything else worse that can happen to the world at this time.
However, there is a greater pandemic that has been raging in the world for centuries that is not only causing the death of billions of people but also eternal damnation.
This is the pandemic of sin.
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
Romans 5:12-15
Sin is an infection that leads to death and that spread to the all men.
Sin is an infection that leads to death and that spread to the all men.
So the apostle Paul from the book of Romans tells us that because of one man Adam, who sinned and fell when he disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden fruit in the garden.
This is the greater pandemic, it is worse because..
It is not spread from person to person that we can avoid it by self isolation
we are born with it
There is no vaccine
The symptoms persist
The consequence is eternal
Verse 14 says..
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
The reason that people get sick and ultimately die - everyone will die - is because of sin. Death was introduced to mankind when Adam sinned.
All have sinned!
Sin is the mother of all pandemics!
Apostle Paul gives credence to the story of Adam and Eve in the garden..
God created Adam and Eve placed them in the garden and gave them everything to enjoy forever, but He warned them that on the day that they eat of the knowledge of good and evil, they will surely die.
Then they did die. Not the very instant, but death entered the world, that is physical death, dying to our bodies and worse spiritual death came.
Man took on a sinful nature that got passed to the next generations from Adam.
People will complain and argue: “it is not fair that the sin of one man caused the whole world to inherit his sin!” - we’ll deal with that toward the end of my message.
This text of course says in verse 12 that:
All have sinned!
Sin is the worst virus to ever infect man!
What are the symptoms?
God clearly showed us the symptoms of this infection called sin when He gave the law to Moses.
Verse 13:
13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
So the law including the 10 commandments is not given as a remedy to the disease of sin but rather sin was exposed because of the law.
If you go through the commandments, you see that these are actually symptoms of our sin that are harmful to us. Do not murder, do not covet, do not commit adultery.
The law and the commandments merely show us the symptoms of sin, not the cure!
Are there people who are asymptomatic?
They live a moral life, they go to church everyday, they are so-called pious, recite daily prayers, well, I do not worship idols, I don’t take the name of God in vain, I honor my parents, I haven’t killed someone YET, I don’t covet, I haven’t committed adultery.
These are people who are asymptomatic, but they don’t know that there is still the infection of sin in them.
Jesus said you can commit murder in your heart. You can commit adultery with your eyes if you lust towards a woman. Jesus showed the gravity of sin and all men gravitate towards it because of our sinful nature.
The world has found no cure for the infection of sin.
- There are no built in antibodies to fight it.
There are no built in antibodies to fight it.
- We cannot self medicate
Try as we may to follow the commandments, if we fail in one of them we fail in all
10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
- There is no vaccine:
Original sin
Some think You have been made free from it when you were baptized as a baby.
It is like a vaccine that immunized the person as an infant.
The problem is what will happen to the sins you committed growing up up to this time?
They are taken care of by sacraments. You are temporarily absolved of your sins when you perform the sacraments.
So it is a cycle of performing the sacraments, then sinning, then performing the sacraments again.
Now there is another problem. What happens if after going through a sacrament, you sin again and before doing the next sacrament you suddenly die? So where you spend eternity becomes a matter of hit or miss.
That is why to solve this dilemma, a man came up with a workaround to this problem, this loophole.
They have to invent degrees of sin. There is a graver category of sin, called mortal sin, if you killed a man and died before you received penance or grace through a sacrament.. he goes straight to hell.
If he just committed the lighter kind of sin and he dies, he goes to a temporary place of suffering called purgatory.. for how long? It depends on the nature of his sins. When he has suffered enough, or if his living loved ones who he left behind prayed enough he is purified and then he can enter heaven.
That is not what the word of God teaches. You make a choice between the first Adam who brought sin into the world or the second Adam Who brought the cure.
There is a theological system called Federal Theology that teaches that there are two Federal heads, Adam and Jesus representing mankind and people make a choice. Whether to stay under Adam as their head, the one who brought sin to the world or choose Jesus Christ, who is the cure.
Being cured of the infection of sin is a choice, and..
There is a cure to the infection of sin.
15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.
Romans 5:15
15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.
The apostle said it is a free gift. Actually the translation says “Free gift” but the word gift Charisma
The apostle said it is a free gift. Actually the translation says “Free gift” but the word gift Charisma
Image of the word Charisma here.
Is different from the common word for gift Dorema. This gift is one that has been graciously given to us by God.
The cure for the malady of sin is a gift freely given to us by God through His Son Jesus Christ.
It is a free cure for us but it came at a high price. It cost the blood of the Son of God.
I used the metaphor of sin as a disease to liken it to a pandemic, But at the very heart of sin is our relationship with God. Because God is a Holy God and we are sinful, that relationship has been broken. In God’s justice, he demanded a sacrifice to remove the scourge of sin and restore His relationship with us.
I like to talk in terms of God restoring His relationship with us instead of Him restoring our relationship with Him. Because although the relationship benefits us more, it is still a perfectly holy and loving God Who took the initiative and sent His only Son to die for us.
And Jesus became that perfect sacrifice, today we celebrate palm Sunday, when Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem to the cheers of the people who said, Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest! It would be the same people who would shout “crucify Him” just a few days later.
Jesus died on the cross for our sins, in our place.
So to address the argument that it is not fair that we inherited the sin of one man, Adam.. from God’s perspective, He also gave His only Son, His precious Son, to become the One Man that became the sacrifice that brings righteousness to the world.
Would You accept God’s free gift of salvation through His Son. Would You take the cure for your sin that he offers? The Bible teaches that you don’t stop sinning when You receive Jesus but God will see the Jesus and His perfect righteousness in you. You are restored into an eternal relationship with Him and you will be born again into God’s beloved His eternal family.
If you have prayed that prayer, you have been cured of the eternal consequence of sin, spiritual death and you have been made alive in Jesus.
Now, that you have found the cure. Don’t hide it, no one who finds the cure for the coronavirus will hide it. So much so, don’t hide the cure for the greatest pandemic to ever hit mankind. Tell someone about Jesus.
Communion.