Salvation’s New Abilities

About this sermon

Introduction: It is a strange thing, but sin clouds man’s mind to the truth about his abilities. Satan is also active in sin, so it is true to say that Satan clouds man’s mind to the truth about his abilities. In His natural state, man overestimates his abilities. He feels free, when in fact he’s a slave. He thinks that he is under no other power than his own. That he does no one else’s bidding, but his own. Yet the Bible tells us just the opposite. Ephesians 2:1–3 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Take note of what dictated your life. The world’s course The prince of the power of the air The passions of the body and the mind No one in Adam is free. The freedom that men know in their lost condition is the freedom of a slave. Freedom within the confines of their own fallen nature, their cruel spiritual master, and the power of sin at work in their own person. But then, having been delivered from that slavery, having been set free in Jesus Christ, it is a very common thing for that same man to UNDERESTIMATE his abilities in his saved state. HE WRONG ABOUT HIS ABILITIES IN HIS LOST STATE. HE IS WRONG ABOUT HIS ABILITIES IN HIS SAVED STATE. He acts like he’s slave, he ALLOWS HIMSELF to be treated like a slave, when in fact he’s free. In the first case, he hasn’t heard God about his true spiritual condition. In the second case, he hasn’t heard God about his true spiritual condition. It is that second condition that we consider in Romans 6:12-14. Paul takes the doctrine of the first 11 verses, and he applies it. He tells us where it all leads. He then calls upon us to live in agreement with where it all leads. And what is striking is that HE ADDRESSES US AS PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE ABILITY TO DO WHAT HE SAYS. Make no mistake. It is not ability explained by us. It is not ability apart from Jesus Christ. John 15:5 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. But it is an ability, a capacity, that we have been granted THROUGH SALVATION, IN CHRIST JESUS. And there are three abilities that we see in verses 12-14. Three abilities that belong to salvation. They were new to us at the moment of conversion. We must know that we have them, and we must choose to operate in them. What Paul gives us here is based on a fixed and finished reality (previous verses). It is also based on a fixed and final reality (future statement – sin will have no dominion over you). Three imperatives. Two are negative. One is positive. Each imperative has to do with an ability found in the believer, since salvation. THE ABILITY TO SAY NO TO SIN’S POWER (vs.12) This section is about KINGSHIP. Sin is personified. It is now, in the life of a believer, a make-believe king. It barks its orders. It issues its demands. It wants to reign. To reign is to have authority over. It is to have its demands respected. It is to order what it desires and have its subjects obey its orders. AND THE KINGDOM WHERE IT WANTS ITS VOICE RESPECTED IS IN YOUR OWN PERSON. It is in your mortal body. That is, your present body. Your perishable body. Your dying body. Your SIN-AFFECTED body. The body where you meet with temptation.

Topics

• Salvation