There are thousands of people, tens of thousands in the history of the church,

whose lives have been rescued from legalistic despair through this glorious doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone on the ground

of the righteousness of Christ alone. There are so many Christians whose lives have been saved

through this. How does Christ offer rest for our souls in the face of sin and death?

In this episode of Light and Truth, John Piper turns to Romans 5, 12 to 21 to show how Christ's

redemptive work overcomes Adam's fall to offer lasting hope to believers.

This sermon was originally preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on June 25, 2000.

Here's the thing we have to do today. We have to dig in and look and see what the difference is between Christ and Adam and how that unfolds the nature of justification. And the nature of justification here is at stake in this paragraph.

And we want to get this right because it's at the center.

So let's start at verse 12 and read just that verse.

Verse 12, Romans 5.

Therefore, just as through one man, that's Adam now, sin entered into the world and death through sin.

And so death spread to all men because all sinned, and he breaks off his sentence.

He doesn't finish it.

We need a so-also clause, Paul.

You began just as this happened, we need to, so also, that happened.

Just as Adam, so also Christ.

Where is it?

It's gone.

He drops it.

Why?

That's a huge question.

...