Ron Dunn Podcast - The Reign of Sin and Grace

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

In today’s message from Romans 5, Ron Dunn unpacks the truth that every one of us is mastered by something—either by sin or by grace.

Will you open your Bible to the fifth chapter of the book of Romans? Romans chapter 5. Our text this morning are verses 12 through 21. Romans chapter 5 in the text verses 12 through 21, but we're going to read verse 12 and then skip down to verse 17 and read through the end of the chapter. Chapter 5, verses 12, and then 17 through 21. Now before we read these verses together, I want us to bow for just a moment. Each one of us praying that God will open His word to our hearts and speak to us through

it. Our Father, we pray now that as we gather around thy books that the Holy Spirit would illuminate our hearts and minds, open our eyes to see things today that would be never seen before, to understand as we've never understood before, but most of all to obey where we have never obeyed before. Speak to us through thy word. Reveal Jesus Christ to us, but we ask it in His name. Amen. Wherefore, as by one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sin. For if by one man's offense or disobedience, death reigned by one, much more they which

receive abundance of grace and of the gifts of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. therefore as by the disobedience of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous moreover the law entered that the offending might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Man is a creature, and he'll always be a creature. No matter what he does, no matter how he educates himself. No matter how he changes his environment, he'll always be a creature. He'll never be anything more than that. He'll never be anything less than that. He is locked in to that position. Man is a creature. As a creature, this means that he must live outside himself in order to find fulfillment. The difference between the Creator and the Creator, is the creator is self-sufficient in himself. The creature is not self-sufficient. He must always look outside himself to find completeness. The creature, by nature, is meant to have a team, to be subject to authority. He is meant by nature to be mastered, and he is. All men are

master. There's no exception to that. Once in a while we talk about man's free will. There's really no such thing as man's free will in the final analysis. You think about that for a moment. Everything you do has a because behind it. I did this because. I went here because. I live this way because man has the weakness of being able to be manipulated. You can manipulate human nature. If you don't believe this, you look at the advertising. I have a lot of real narrow ties in my closet. I wouldn't wear one my life appended on it, no matter how much I like them. Because why? Well, because it's just not style, you know. I remember several years ago when wavy hair was in style for the ladies I'm talking

about, wavy hair. Boy, if a girl was born with natural waves, they thought that was great. Now you see all these girls with natural waves trying to get it out, trying to get it out. We're constantly being manipulated by Madison Avenue, by advertisers, constantly being manipulated, brainwash. Man is capable of being brainwashed. We're subject to mores and customs. Even the hippies all look alike now. You can spot one a mile off because they all look alike. They all look alike. As someone has said, they've conformed to being non-conformist. So when you talk about I'm free, I'm the master of my fate, I'm the captain of my soul, actually,

you haven't looked far enough, because everything you do, you do by suggestion from an outside influence. Man was meant to be mastered. The only choice that man had when we come to talk about the free will of man, the only free choice he has is who's going to be his master. Now, in this passage, Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has been talking about the different masters that man served. If you'll notice in verse, Verse 21, he says, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness. Two reigns, two kingdoms, the kingdom of sin and its subject, and the kingdom of grace and its subject. Every man is mastered by one of two things in the spiritual realm.

He is either mastered by sin or he is mastered by grace. I want to ask you this morning to which kingdom you belong. Who is your Lord? Who is your master? To which kingdom, to which country do you belong? You either belong this morning to the kingdom of sin or the kingdom of grace. Now what I want us to do is to look at these two verses. We're going to talk first of all about the reign of sin.

And then we're going to talk about the reign of grace. First of all, the reign of sin. The Bible says where sin did abound. Sin is not merely around us, he said. It is abounding. It is flourishing. And notice man's relationship to sin. Sin has reigned.

Sin is king. Sin is monarch. Sin is master. Now, it's important for us to understand this, that sin is not merely something that is present in a man's life. It is president in his life. Jesus said a long time ago, if a man commits a sin, he becomes the servant of that sin. He becomes the servant of that sin.

And you may be able to confess to convince a lot of people today that there's sin present in their life, but few of us would be willing to admit that we are the slave to that sin. But the Word of God and your own experience tells you this morning that if Jesus Christ is not Lord in your life, then sin is Lord in your life. And the Bible says that sin has completely mastered the lost man. In 1 John, the Bible says this whole world lies in the wicked one. He uses a very descriptive word there of lying in the wicked one. He uses a word that is used of a little baby as it lies in its mother's arm.

There's nothing quite so helpless, nothing quite so helpless as a little baby lying in its mother's arm. It is at the complete mercy of its mother. And God said that this whole world, like a helpless infant, lieth in wickedness in the wicked ones. Sin has dominions over us. You say, well, preacher, you don't understand. I'm not a drunkard. I'm not an alcoholic.

I'm not a murderer. Sin doesn't rain in my life. Oh, yes. But what about that bad disposition that you can't shake? What about that lusting after worldly things, material things? What about this greed? What about the envy? What about the jealousy?

What about the selfishness, the self-will, the stubbornness, the rebellions that's in your life? God says, and it's true, sin reigns in your life. Now, the essence of sin's reign is disobedience. The only way that sin can reign in a person's life is through disobedience, and the essence of disobedience is self-will, what I want, my will, my stubborn will. And when a person asserts his own will as opposed to the will of God, then that constitutes disobedient, and that allows sin to be in control in his life. The essence of sin is disobedience.

Now, I want to say two very important things about the disobedience. First of all, and please don't miss this, we are all sinners by consequence of Adam's disobedience. we everyone are sinners by consequence of Adam's disobedience. I heard a man say not long ago, if you from the time of your birth were to live a perfect life, never commit an act of sin, never break the law of God, never disobey God, then you could go to heaven. I want to say that that is absolutely untrue.

If you from the time of your birth never committed one, single sin, you never violated one law of God. You lived a perfect, immaculate human life. You still could not enter into the kingdom of heaven because you are a sinner by nature by consequence of Adam's disobedience. Now notice verse 19, far as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. Let's look at verse 12 again. Wherefore is by one man talking about Adam, sin entered into the world and death by sin,

so death passed upon all men, why? For that all have sin. Now, that last expression, for all have sinned, literally means for all did sin. When did they sin. When Adam sin. When Adam sin. When Adam sin, you sin. The word of God says in verse 19, that by Adam's disobedience, you became true.

disobedience. You say, I don't think that's fair. Well, actually, it doesn't make a difference what you or I think. My opinion doesn't even make a ripple on the ocean of God's truth. It couldn't matter less what I think. But God says there is a oneness to the human race. You see, we were all in Adam because he is the father of us all. And what he did affected me.

Now, for instance, let's illustrate. Let's suppose that my great-grandfather, had died at birth, how would that have affected me? Well, it would have had a pretty wild effect on me. I wouldn't be here this morning. Somebody else to be pastor this church. Well, you say that's not fair. Doesn't make it anywhere it fair or not.

There is a oneness to the human race. And what my great-grandfather did affects me. It affects me. there is the solidarity of the human race and all of us were in the lawns of Adam when he sinned and the Bible says by the offense of one man by the disobedience of one man all of us were made sinners and you can live an immaculate life

and you can keep the law of God and be baptized and join every church and still be lost and go to hell because you're a sinner by consequence of Adam's disobedience that's why Jesus says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God You must have a spiritual birth in order to live a spiritual life. Just as physical birth is the gateway to physical life, so spiritual birth is the gateway to spiritual life. Physical life cannot live spiritual life.

Bless and blood, that which is physical, cannot inherit that which is spiritual. You must have a spiritual birth. You must be lifted above the physical plane, and the only way that happens is to the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to understand that all of us this morning are sinners by consequence of Adam's disobedience. If you never did anything wrong yourself, you would still need to be saved because Adam, you have his nature.

The nature of lostness, the nature of self, the nature of flesh, which is enmity the Bible says to God, and it cannot inherit the kingdom of God. You say, well, that still doesn't seem fair to me. Oh, but it's fair. Because, you see, nobody has ever had to be lost and go to hell because of what Adam did. has always had a way of salvation. You see, God came to us, and he said, all right, here's what I'll do. Since you're a sinner by consequence, here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to make a provision so that in spite of whatever happened before you were born, no matter what Adam did, I'm going to make everything right. I'll send my son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world, and if you really want to be saved, if you really want to live with me forever, then all you have to do is to repent of your sins, submit yourself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and you'll be saved. Now, I want to ask you this morning, have you done that? Have you done that?

If it is unfair for God to say that we're sinners by consequence and God has made provision for our salvation merely by obeying Him and trusting Christ the Savior, have you done that? So the second thing is that we're not only sinners by consequence of Adam's disobedience, we are centered by choice of our own disobedience. We're sinners by choice of our own disobedience. Have you obeyed the Word of God this man? Over in 2, Thessalonian chapter 1 in verse 9, it says that when Jesus Christ comes again,

he's going to come in flaming fire, taking vengeance upon them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you obeyed the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? When Jesus commands you to repent of your sins, when God commands you to enthrone, Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, have you obeyed him? You see, a man does not go to hell for what Adam did. He goes to hell for what he does. And the essence of sin is disobedience.

Now, the end of sin is death. Notice in verse 21, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reigns. through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, our Lord. What does the reign of sin produce in a man's life? Only one thing, death. Let's read verse 12 again. Wherefore is by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, so death spread to all men because all men of sin.

And then down in verse 14 it says, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses. So when I disobey God, when I choose, self-will instead of God's will, when I choose to assert myself, when I choose to live the way I want to live instead of submitting myself to the sovereign to the Lord Jesus, the result is death. The result is death. And I'm not talking, and the Bible is not talking here about mere physical death. It is talking about spiritual death, eternal separation from God. Now I want to ask you something. Why in the world will a man allow himself to be mastered by such a cruel king?

Why are men so blind that they will continue to live under such a reign? When all this kind of life, all of this self-assertion is going to bring me in the end is eternal separation from God. I'm glad he's not my king this morning. Because the Bible says, where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. I was studying this past week, and I said, Lord, I just wish you'd give me a supernatural ability to really tell the folks what that means. I just can't do it.

But I can just say that verse, that expression over and over again, where sin to the bound, grace did much more of them. Where sin reached a high-water mark, grace just completely overflow. Where sin increased measurably, grace increased immeasurably. Now, Paul uses two different Greek words here for abound. word. When it says sin did abound, it means that sin increased and kept gaining, kept gaining. But when it comes to grace, he uses a different word that means super abound. And it says that grace far exceeds all the increase of sin. Oh, I like that. I'm glad of that. Where sin did abound? You look at sin abounding in a man's life. Doesn't make it a difference. Grace can much more abound in that man's life.

Look where sin is flourishing in that person's life makes no difference. Grace can much more flourish in his life if he'll receive the Lord Jesus Christ. The reign of grace, the reign of grace, and the gift of that kind of grace is righteousness. Let's look at verse 19. Somebody said a moment ago, that's not fair. That's not fair for God to say that I'm a sinner because of what Adam did one man sin and plunks the whole world into sin and death. That's right.

But notice, God's always had a way of escape. Verse 19, For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. Now notice so by the obedience of one. Many shall be made righteous. By the obedience of one through Jesus Christ. Not by my obedience, not by my righteousness, not by my self-efforts, not by my goodness,

but by the goodness and the efforts and the righteousness and the obedience of Jesus Christ. Now, I think that's fair. I think that's fair. Jesus Christ came and he said, I'll be the last Adam. God started all over again with Jesus. The first experiment in the human race failed miserably. And so God says, I'm going to build a second human race. And Jesus Christ is going to be the head of this human race.

and where Adam was the head of the first human race and he fell and he sinned and everybody in him sin. So now Jesus Christ is going to be the second head of the human race and he's going to be righteous and he's going to be obedient and everybody in him is going to share in that obedience. This morning I am a sinner by consequence of Adam's disobedience. I stand this morning righteous, perfect, saved, redeemed in the presence of God by consequence of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's obedience. Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. I want to say to you this morning there is no spiritual problem in your life.

There is no sin in your life that the grace of God cannot flood out and wash and cleanse and make whole again. This morning before we came to church, we turned on the television to watch and get together with James Robinson, had Bobby Manchin interviewing Bobby Manningin. How many of you saw that this morning? Oh, I thought, wasn't that a tremendous testimony. Mankin was mainline in $100 worth of dope a day, $100 worth a day. He had taken two or three cures.

He'd gone through the Fort Worth Narcotic Hospital over here, and out two weeks later, he was back on it again. He walked into a little mission down in Houston, Texas, where James Robinson was preaching, and that morning he gave his life to Jesus Christ, and he said, I didn't have to take any cure after that. I didn't have to go to any hospital after that. He said that day, that very moment, when I turned my life over to the Lord Jesus Christ, he healed me and cured me.

Amen. That's the only answer. That's the only answer. Where sin did abound, grace did much more about. Where sin did abound. Grace did much more about. Oh, I thank God for that. Oh, John Newton was born in 1725, his mother.

died when he was at the age of seven. He was a wow, young fellow, became a seaman, join the British Navy. He was so rebellious, such an angry young man. He deserted from the British Navy and decided he would go to Africa. And in his memoirs, he said, I went to Africa so I could get my fill of sin. John Newton had the reputation of being able to curse two hours straight without repeating himself. Oh, he was a blasphemer, and he enjoyed it. It was his trade, it was his talent, his ability. And over in Africa he fell in with a Portuguese slave trader, began to trade in slaves,

and shift the slaves back and forth. Well, one day he fell into the hands of the blacks, and they kept him captive for several months, they would throw food on the ground and he would have to get on the ground and pick up the food off the ground with his mouth and if his hands touched that food while one of the black men would whip him with a lash. And during those months that he was in that captivity, his body became emaciated and diseased. So finally he planned to escape and he did. He swam out and he was about to drown and the ship came by and I'll show you God's And they saw John Newton there and they took him on board, found out he was an excellent

seaman. They made him first mate. One day when the captain wasn't aware and wasn't watching, John Newton got drunk and got the whole crew drunk. And the captain was so mad he hit John Newton in the face to him overboard, and John Newton was so drunk he would have drowned except one of the seamen. Through a boat hook, through his thigh, made such a wound there that to the end of his days, he could always put his fist in that scar.

But they pulled him back on board. About four weeks later, they were sailing off the coast of Scotland. The great violent storm came up. John Newton feared for his life. He had faced death more times than one, but the ship was foundering, and he knew that this was it. There on the deck, you see, his mother had been a Christian, and before she died she had taught him a few little scriptures.

And there on that reeling deck of that ship, John Newton cried out to God for mercy and God saved. One day John Newton wrote these words, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. where sin did abound, grace did much more about. That's the king I want. That's the kingdom I want to live under. The reign of grace, the reign of grace that gives to me the gift of righteousness.

And the goal of this reign of grace is eternal life, eternal life, never-ending life, glorious life, life on a new plane, life on a new dimension. Listen, you'll miss the blessing if you think eternal life is just, heaven. Oh, no, sir. Eternal life is God's life right now. That means that when this person escapes from the kingdom of sin and places himself under the lordship of grace to the Lord Jesus Christ, God not only gives him the gift of righteousness through the obedience of Jesus, but the goal of that is eternal life. And right now in the sweet here and now, we're not talking about the sweet by and by, we're talking about the sweet here and now, right, here and now, God gives to me his own life.

I have eternal life right now. That means life on a new plane, life on a new dimension. That's what Bobby Mankin has as he sat there this morning, and I watched the tears streaming down from his eyes on television. He says, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, for Jesus delivered me. That's eternal life. Life on a new plane. Life on a new dimension, a new kind of life.

Not how long you live, but it's how you live. Not the sweet by and by, but the sweet here and now. That's the kind of king I want. That's the kingdom to which I want to belong. And it comes through the Lord Jesus Christ. God sees every person here this morning, either in Adam or in Christ. You may not like it. That doesn't offer it one bit.

It's God's gain. He writes the rules. He makes the law. God says, I see everyone here this morning, either in Adam or in Jesus Christ. If I see you in Adam, I see you as a sinner by consequence. I see you as a sinner by choice. If I see you in Adam, I see the sentence of death upon you, not only physical death, but separation from God forever and ever in a devil's hell.

If I see you in Jesus Christ, I see your righteous. I see your sins forgiven. I see your record, white queen. I see abundant life. life, yours now, if I see you in Christ. God sees every man this morning, every woman, every boy and girl, either in Adam or in Christ. Where does he see you? Where does he see you?

Have you ever made yet that marvelous trip from the kingdom of sin over to the kingdom of grace? You can make it this morning just by giving your life for the Lord Jesus.