Romans 5:12-21, pt 2: a Tale of Two Kingdoms
- Lance Lefler
- Nov 21, 2010
- Series: the Gospel
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Whether it is the pathetic attempt of certain malevolent spirits, or the overworked and weakened state of some of our equipment, the recording for this sermon got cut off in the middle. Please excuse the abrupt interruption of dead silence at the key point.
Muscular Grace: Where the sermon was going was toward redefining a familiar term: grace. When you hear the word grace you probably think of something akin to niceness. And in some sense this is accurate; when God pardons us and wipes out our sin and justifies us, that seems really nice. But it's really based on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
But grace has another dimension: in Romans 5 (and beyond) grace is pictured as a power, countering the power of sin and death. As sin reigned in death before the cross, so the finished work of Christ on the cross brings about the reign of grace in the changed lives of his followers. Grace comes to define the future era, the eternal state. But Christians get to partake of the power of the coming age now through grace.
Recognize and Reckon: This sermon spilled into 6 for its application. Christians need to recognize that they have a new identity in Christ (because of the power of his grace), and reckon their old selves to be dead to sin and alive to Christ.
How would it be if the next time you're tempted by some great and powerful sin, if you realized that you're dead to it? Tempted to gossip, you're tongue won't do it. Tempted to masturbate, your body parts won't respond. Why? Because of the power of grace that--according to these chapters--has already made you a new person. The key then is to appropriate what is already true of you.
Weird thought? Read Romans 5-6 over and over again!