335. Thursday after Eleventh Sunday after Trinity.
Lord, speak to our hearts
of the greatness of thy mercy. Amen.
Romans 5, 12-16. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: For until the law, sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
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There is a resemblance between Adam and Christ: Adam sinned and died, and all men sinned and died in him. Christ suffered death, and rose again, and was justified; and this is the death and resurrection of all men, and is righteousness for all. The circumstance that death reigned from the time of Adam to Moses, while there were no positive enactments of law, shows that the sin and guilt of Adam were the sin and guilt of all; for what other transgression of the law was there during that time but that of Adam? We all were in Adam; and by his fall we fell, and became subject to death. But we are likewise all raised again in Christ, and have again received life, if we will but believe. — Nevertheless, there is in respect to two phases of the matter a great distinction: 1) The grace of Christ is so exceeding great that nothing can be compared with it. 2) The offence of Adam is one, and judgment on it one; while the grace of Christ is for many offences, for that of Adam and for all which have been added since the time when the law was given.
Of a truth there is in the world much sin of many kinds. We all are transgressors from our birth, with a wicked nature and a disobedient heart. The whole race is corrupted and poisoned and permeated with wickedness. We all are guilty of the transgression of Adam, as though each of us had committed it in his own person. Even though we be unable to see this with our darkened understanding, the word of God and our own conscience declare it with such emphasis as to make doubt impossible. Superadded to this are the countless transgressions in the life of every human being. Multiply the number of transgressors by the number of the transgressions of each, and who shall read the product? And then, every transgression is full of the poison of hell, and some of them are terrible in their enormity. Yet the grace of God in Christ is much greater than all the world’s transgressions together. For, declares the Spirit of God through Paul, the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath much more abounded unto many, than have the offence and death; — much more abounded, and abounded unto many. And later he says: “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Such mercy has God given us, and with such words he wants to help us to believe. Do not, then, hereafter humor Satan, who will have you to doubt on account of your imperfections; but obey the word of God, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Christ lives, and makes intercession for you; shall you not, then, be saved by his life? Or can it be that your sin, after all, outweighs the life and death of the Son of God, and that your death is stronger than the righteousness of God? Is it possible that your unbelief is true, and the word of God a lie? — Nay, Lord, I am put to shame, and I surrender to your gospel from heaven; give me the necessary grace hereto by thy Spirit. The depravity of my heart, my obduracy and insensibility, my unbelief and worldliness, which always present themselves as obstacles in the way of faith; these, together with all my wicked deeds and my corrupt nature, are outweighed a thousand times by thy free gift of grace, Lord Jesus. Blessed be thy name. Amen.*
Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness he requireth
Is to feel your need of him;
This he gives you;
’Tis the Spirit’s rising beam.
Lo! th’incarnate God ascended
Pleads the merit of his blood;
Venture on him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude:
None but Jesus,
Can do helpless sinners good.
[suggested tune: Guide Me, TLH 54; listen here]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.