Good morning, everybody.
He had just had a bath, too.
Yeah.
Why do we do that?
Like Finley.
His name is Finley, by the way, in case you haven't seen him around town.
He's a small horse.
He's hard to wash, and then he promptly goes and rolls in the dirt.
Look, we would never do that, right?
We'd never go get ourselves all clean and then go out and roll in the mud.
You feel good about yourself.
You've been working outside, take a shower, put on clean clothes,
and then promptly go outside and dive straight in the mud and get all dirty again.
Nobody would do that, right?
That is Paul's reminder or question or challenge to us in Romans chapter 6.
So here's what we're talking about today, y'all.
Stay out of the mud.
It's what I really wish my dog would learn.
Stay out of the mud.
Jesus washed us clean.
So why do we insist on going back and crawling through the mud?
Turn with me, if you would, to Romans chapter 5.
We have been on this series,
Went in Romans, for quite a few weeks now.
I think this is week 11 that we've been diving through Paul's letter epistle to Romans.
We're going to try to dig through two chapters today, Romans 5 and Romans 6.
Romans 5 talks about what Jesus did for us.
Romans 6 talks about how we then live.
If this is what Jesus did for us, which we're going to see in Romans 5,
then Romans 6 tells us how to apply that.
So how should we live?
So as you turn to Romans chapter 5, I'm reminding you we started at the back of the book
and we've been working our way forward to the beginning,
and we're going to see why when we get there.
Romans chapter 5.
We're going to begin in verse 1.
I'm reading from the New Living Translation.
If y'all wouldn't mind, if you're able to stand, would you mind joining me in standing?
And let's read through these first five verses of Romans 5 together.
Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith,
we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.
Boy, think back to everything that Jesus did for us.
That's how you and I can have peace with God.
Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege
where we now stand.
And we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory.
Imagine all of God's glory, all of his power, all of his majesty.
You and I will get to share in that glory.
And we can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, which we're all going to.
For we know that these problems and trials help us develop endurance.
And endurance develops strength of character.
And character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.
And this hope will not lead to disappointment.
For we know how dearly God loves us because he's given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
Would you bow your heads with me?
God, we approach you today having sung your praises, having listened to your name lifted up.
Having seen a baby dedicated to you.
His parents' desire to raise him up in the way he ought to go.
God, that's all of our desire is just to follow you more closely.
To learn more of what it means to be your child and walk through this life as a child of God.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
I pray that God would teach us exactly that today from Romans chapter 5 and Romans 6.
We're going to start off with this.
Jesus changed your status.
So this is the first truth that we get from Romans chapter 5 is Jesus has changed our status.
Look back at the text with me if you would.
If you don't have a copy of the word of God, there should be one there in the seat back in front of you.
Or you can pull out your handy little phone and get the Bible app up.
I don't care as long as we're all looking at the scriptures together.
So Romans 5, let's look down at verse 6.
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.
And now look down at verse 8.
This is a very well-known verse.
If you've been around the church a while, you've read the Bible, then you've probably heard this verse before.
But God showed or demonstrated or commended his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Those verses before that talk about the difference.
It's how, yeah, maybe somebody might be willing to lay down their life or die for a good person, right?
But who would die for a bad person?
Who would die for an evil person?
Who would die for a sinner?
And that's the point that Jesus is making.
I died for you when you were sinners, not because you earned it, not because you were deserving of the ultimate sacrifice, but because I love you.
I showed you this love by dying for you while you were still sinners.
And then look down at verse 10.
For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his son, while we were still his enemies.
Boy, we went from sinners to enemies.
Real quick there.
Yeah, God, we're sinners.
Nobody's perfect.
But you're calling us your enemies?
Yes, because you belong to the power of darkness.
Because you're trapped.
You can't break out.
You belong to the wrong kingdom.
And Jesus came to break you out, to free those chains.
So now you're no longer at odds.
Now you can be in God's, not just on his team, be in his family.
Be in God's family.
So he says in verse 10, while we were still his enemies, then friendship with God was restored by the death of his son.
And he said, because of this, we certainly will be saved through the life of his son.
What a demonstration.
What a gesture of love that someone would die for you.
But then if they can go on living for you at the same time, well, that's impossible.
But that's exactly what Jesus did.
He said, not only will I die for you, but I will raise myself back to life by the power of God.
And then I will be alive for you as well.
And you will have my living spirit living with you.
So this is what Jesus has offered us.
So we're talking about how God can change our status.
And if you are a child of God this morning, then he has changed your status.
What do we mean when we say status?
Y'all, maybe it's a generational thing, but you know what the first thing I think of when I think of status is?
Facebook.
Yeah.
Anybody ever update their Facebook status?
How many of y'all remember the early days of Facebook when it was really awkward and just information you didn't need to know?
And they were like dragging it out of you?
It would be a complete the sentence kind of thing.
Like Sam is feeling blank and then you fill in the blank and share Sam is feeling tired.
And then you share that.
And the people that see it are like, why are you telling us this?
Take a nap.
Sam is feeling hungry.
Eat a sandwich, Sam.
And while you're at it, make me one too.
Anyway, kind of silly, the whole status thing.
But statuses change all the time.
And Facebook wanted to play on that.
Give us your status update.
What's going on with you?
Employment status can change real quick.
One moment you've got a job, you're gainfully employed, and you're moving forward in life.
And then you get a phone call, and all of a sudden you don't have a job anymore.
Your employment status has moved to unemployed.
And that's no fun to be in that situation.
You're like, oh boy, what are we doing now?
Relationship statuses can change.
Everything's moving along, and all of a sudden, one mistake, one conversation, and now you're not in a relationship anymore.
These statuses are very fluid.
They can change.
That's not the kind of status that Jesus offers us.
He offers us a permanent status change.
Your status, your situation, your outlook, your identity is probably a better word.
It's secure.
It is cemented when Jesus changes your status.
And here's what it was.
It was from slave to sin to son of God.
From slave to sin to son of God.
Now look over in Galatians chapter 2.
You don't even have to turn in your Bibles if you don't want.
You can just look at the screen.
Paul was writing, and he said,
He's kind of fleshing out how the whole status change thing works.
When God changes your status, this is how he does it, and this is how he leaves you.
I was crucified.
My old status, my old self, my old identity was put to death with Jesus.
It's no longer that person who lives anymore.
Now it's Christ giving me a new life.
It's his life.
It's him living in and through me.
So when I live in this earthly body, which I still have, and it reminds me of that from time to time,
when it wants to do the wrong thing, think the wrong thing.
We've talked about that in recent weeks.
Last Sunday, we talked about in Romans 7, how Paul's just all over the place saying,
I know I shouldn't do this, but I find myself doing it.
I know I should be doing this, and I don't do that.
So when this earthly body reminds me of how, oh man, this is still who you are.
You're still that same old guy, that same old girl with all the same problems, all the same issues.
He says, I live in that earthly body.
How?
Only by trusting in Jesus.
Jesus.
He's the source of my life.
He's the source of my new status.
My new identity.
It's because he loved me so much.
And he gave himself for me.
So now I can offer up this, this earthly body,
this new identity,
this mess that I am,
this conflict going on within me.
I can offer that back up to Jesus and say,
God, this is what I give to you.
This is the sacrifice I bring to you.
You say, man, that's kind of a mess.
How great of a sacrifice is that to offer to God?
It's the sacrifice he wants.
It's exactly what he wants.
He wants you with all of your inner conflict,
all of your turmoil,
all of your mess,
all of your inconsistency.
He wants that.
He wants you to say,
Jesus, take it.
You take it and shape it
and teach me how to live for you.
And that's what he's going to get into
in chapter six.
But this is the status change
from slave to sin
to son of God.
You ladies could put daughter of God
if you wanted to.
That's fine.
Okay.
We're just talking about children of God
from slave to sin
to daughter and son of God.
It means we're at peace with God.
It means we're part of his family.
And we didn't earn this status update
and we can't lose it
by having a bad day
or having a bad week
or having a bad month
or having a bad season.
So stop trying to work
for a status update
that Jesus already purchased for you
from slave to sin
to son of God.
Number two,
Jesus is changing you.
Jesus not only changes your status,
he changes you.
He changes me.
He's literally in the process
of changing you.
It's not just your identity.
He's not just saying,
now I've rescued you
from the kingdom of this world
and I've brought you into my kingdom.
I've rescued you
from being a slave to sin
and I've brought you into my family.
He's not just giving you
a status change
or even an identity change.
He says,
now I'm changing how you live.
I'm changing even more than that.
I'm changing who you are.
Now look,
we've said this a couple of times
but I'm going to keep hitting it, okay?
That's why there's really no excuse
when you and I are encountered
with some way
that we need to change
or something that God wants us to do
and we just respond with,
well, that's not me.
That's just not who I am.
That's really not an excuse
because what God wants to do
is change who we are.
He wants to change us
and this might be an important step,
whatever it is,
in the process of him doing that.
So let's look down now at Romans 6.
Jesus is changing you.
Romans 6,
let's look at the first couple verses.
Well then,
should we keep on sinning
so that God can show us
more and more of his wonderful grace?
What a warped way of looking at it, right?
Boy, if Jesus just shows us grace
and he takes all that sin
and all that mess
and all that conflict
and says,
here, give it to me.
I'll give you grace in exchange.
Then you say,
well, God,
let me just give you
more and more opportunities
to show me grace
because I'm going to go out
and do whatever I want.
That's not the answer, right?
But Paul deals with that
because he knows
how his sin nature works
and guess what?
He knows how our sin nature works too.
And he says,
should we just keep on sinning
so God can show us more grace?
Of course not.
Since we have died to sin,
how can we continue to live in it?
Dog, I just washed you.
Don't go roll around in the mud.
And that's what he's saying.
We know that our old sinful selves
were crucified with Christ
so that sin would lose its power
in our lives.
That's the key there
because you were under the power of sin.
So don't let it have the same power over you
that you had before
because you don't have to anymore.
Before you didn't have a choice.
You were a slave.
Sin held power over you.
You couldn't break those temptations.
You couldn't resist those temptations.
You couldn't break those addictions.
You couldn't break that curse.
You were trapped under it.
But then you gained access
to divine power.
Jesus' power.
The same power that raised him from the dead.
The same power by which he resurrected.
The same power by which he conquered
and broke death.
Look, death is the thing
that you and I can't avoid.
We don't know when it's going to come.
If Jesus has power
over the thing that we can't beat
with all of science
and all of technology
and all of the developments
of modern man,
we haven't figured out a way
to beat death.
And we never will
because only God holds the keys
to life and death.
And if he says,
you've got access to that power,
then you can break addictions.
Then you can beat depression.
And you can change
by the power of Jesus Christ.
Maybe God will use all kinds of things
in your life to help you through those.
But he's got the power.
And you've got access to it.
What does he tell us
at the end of Matthew 28,
the end of the gospel record of Matthew?
He says,
all power is given to me.
Now you go
with that power
and do the work
I've given you to do.
That's what it's about.
So he says
in Romans chapter 6 here,
we know
that our old sinful selves
were crucified with Christ
so sin would lose
its power in our lives
and we're no longer
slaves to sin.
And now skip down
to verse 12.
Do not let sin
control the way you live.
Don't give in
to sinful desires.
What is Paul saying?
Should we keep sinning
so God can keep
showing us more grace?
Of course not.
Absolutely not.
I want to share
this quote with you
from an old Baptist pastor
from many, many years ago.
We need restraining grace
as well as saving grace.
We love when God's grace
saves us.
It's a little harder
to swallow
when it restrains us.
What do we mean by that?
It keeps us
from doing something.
We love it
when God's grace
was extended to us
and forgave our sin
and wiped our slate clean
and continues
to wash us clean.
And keep us right
with God
and in right relationship
with God.
The harder thing
to swallow
about God's grace
is that it walks
through us
in our lives
and restrains us.
You ever had to
restrain your child
at times
from running out
into the street
or from
saying something
really embarrassing
in public
and you're like
clapping your hand
over their mouth?
Don't say that!
They didn't hear,
did they?
You gotta restrain
them sometimes.
Husbands,
your wives
never have to
restrain you,
right?
I don't know why
it never goes
the other way around.
It's not the husbands
restraining the wives,
it's the wives
restraining the husbands.
It's part of it, man.
It's who we are.
As much as I love
this concept,
I think there's
actually a better word.
I think instead
of restraining grace,
hang on a second,
let's go to Titus 2 first.
I'll show it to you
in the scriptures.
Titus chapter 2,
we're gonna find
a better word
for restraining.
That's part of
what grace does.
It's part of what
God does for us
as we walk through
this life with him.
He definitely
restrains us,
but there's more
to it than that.
I'm looking at
the New Testament
for everyone.
It says,
you see,
the grace of God
has appeared.
Bringing salvation
to all people.
We love it.
That's our saving grace
that we get from God.
But then what does it do?
It,
let's say that together,
can we?
It trains us.
Do y'all remember
two years ago?
Of course you don't remember.
I'm crazy.
Some of you
are nodding your heads.
You know where
I'm going with this.
We went through a series.
I got it from a pastor
in Oklahoma
and then I tried
to share it here.
We're not trying.
We're in...
Look at y'all.
You do remember.
We're not trying.
We're in training.
That is what God's grace
does for us.
It trains us.
This is the how
we're in training.
It's through God's grace.
So I would almost say
that we need
retraining grace
as well as saving grace.
Restraining is part
of how it trains us,
but there is so much more.
We have to retrain
our flesh.
We have to retrain
our brains.
We have to retrain
our desires,
our wants,
our habits.
We retrain all that
and we do it
through the power
of God's grace.
It trains us
to do what?
To reject ungodly ways
and worldly desires.
To live sober,
upright,
and godly lives
in the present age
while we wait
for the appearance
of Jesus,
the Messiah,
who gave himself
for us
to rescue us
from all lawlessness
and to cleanse
for himself
a special people
eager to do good works.
That's how God
trains us
and what he's
training us to be.
So here's the truth
about grace.
Grace is your
personal trainer.
Look,
I can't afford
a personal trainer,
all right?
They're stinking expensive.
When the gym
was open here,
what is going on
with the gym?
We don't need
to go down that road
right now.
When the gym
was open here,
you know,
I was there
for a long time.
Now I'm trying
to just run
and lift dumbbells
at home,
you know,
but look,
grace is the personal
trainer that we all
need every day.
And it's not just
a three days a week
or a once a week
and I'll try
to work out
with grace
when I get a chance.
It's every single day
grace is working
on us.
Grace is training us.
God's grace
is there available
every day
and we experience it
and we live in it
every day.
And even when you
don't even realize it,
God's grace
is retraining you.
And when you do
realize it
and you lean into it
and you embrace it
and you pray for it
and you ask God
to retrain you more,
oh, he loves to hear that
and he'll do it.
And then we see
transformation happen.
Real positive change
to becoming more
and more like Jesus
happens.
and then our spouse
notices it too.
Our kids notice it too.
And kids,
your parents notice it.
And your friends notice it.
Your brothers,
sisters notice it.
You are becoming different.
Yeah,
because grace
is retraining me.
This is a process.
This doesn't happen
quickly.
But this is exactly
what God does
for us.
Grace is not
standing in front
of a classroom
instructing you
or just teaching you.
That Greek word,
remember the New Testament
wasn't written in English,
it was written in Greek.
It's that Greek word
that it uses
for training in there.
Training is the best
possible application
to that.
There's a part of it
that would say
instruction or teaching,
but it really comes down
to how a parent
would train a child.
It's kind of what the word
meant that they were using.
Well, there's a lot of training
that goes on with kids,
right?
When you're raising kids.
That's what God's doing
with us.
He's training
or retraining us.
Now go back
to Romans chapter 6.
We're going to finish
up this chapter.
Romans 6.
When you were slaves
to sin,
you were free
from the obligation
to do right.
verse 20.
And now on to verse 21
down through verse 23.
When you were slaves
to sin,
you were free
from the obligation
to do right.
And what was the result
of that?
Well,
a lot of shame.
You're now ashamed
of the things you used to do,
things that end
in eternal doom.
But now you're free
from the power of sin
and you become
slaves of God.
Let me tell you,
it's a whole lot better
to be a slave of God
than a slave of sin.
And normally,
I think Paul was making
the comparison here,
slaves of sin,
now slaves of God
or righteousness.
But normally,
the word that Jesus
would use
is servant
or son,
daughter,
child.
That's what he would use.
So this is what you are now.
Now you do those things
that lead to holiness
and result in eternal life.
Not eternal doom.
Eternal life.
For the wages of sin
is what?
Everybody looking at the Bible?
The wages of sin is what?
Yes, it is.
But the free gift of God
is eternal what?
Through who?
Christ Jesus,
our Lord.
That is the gospel.
That's what Jesus
offers us.
He says,
this is who you were
and this is what
it was leading you to.
But then you found me.
I found you.
And I offered you
something different.
I offered you
to follow
a different way.
You know,
that's what the earliest
Christians were called.
Before they were called Christians,
they were called followers
of the way.
And that's what you
and I still are.
We're still following
that same way
that those early believers
who put their faith
in Jesus did.
That's what you
and I still do.
And when you follow
that way,
when Jesus becomes
Lord of your life,
you experience
a whole different wage.
What's a wage?
Anybody know
what a wage is?
Something you've earned.
Call it a paycheck.
Whatever.
Something you earned, right?
What have we earned
through our
slavery to sin?
Death.
What have we earned now
by becoming a child of God?
Life.
That's what's offered
to us now.
But that wasn't a wage.
He calls it a gift.
He says,
you can't earn that.
It was my gift to you.
You earned this.
You did everything you could.
Most of you tried
to do the best you could.
You tried to live clean lives.
And this is what you earned
for all of your efforts.
You earned eternal death
because that's the only outcome
of that way of life.
That team
has already lost
and you're going to experience
the loss
when you stay on that team.
But when you join Team Jesus,
the family of God,
then you're not offered
anything to earn.
You're offered a free gift
and it's eternal life.
So he says,
because of this,
because of his saving grace,
now live with his retraining grace
and let that same grace
that you put your faith in
to forgive you of your sin
and become God's child,
let that same grace
retrain your thinking,
retrain your behavior,
retrain your attitudes,
retrain your personality,
retrain who you are
to become more like Jesus
because that's what he promises.
So,
we've been talking this year
about direction,
not perfection.
This is a year of direction,
not perfection.
We're not going to achieve
perfection in this church,
but we can start moving
in a common direction
toward Jesus.
And when we do that,
this is what it looks like.
God's grace retraining us.
You don't have to clean yourself up
to come to Jesus.
His grace washes you clean
right where you are.
But when he washes you clean,
let him keep you clean.
And don't keep running back
to the same old dirt,
the same old mud.
Let God's grace retrain you.
Don't use grace as an excuse
to go jump back in the mud.
Would you pray with me right now?
God,
right now,
I ask you
to speak to us
from your word,
to speak to us
by your spirit.
And as we open our hearts
and our minds
to listen
to you leading us
and guiding our thoughts
right now,
we're going to be getting out of here
in just a second.
We're picking up kids
and going off
and grabbing some food
and figuring out whatever
we're going to do
with the rest of our day.
But before we rush off,
I pray that you would use
these couple of moments
of quietness
that we could hear
from you right now.
Your spirit doesn't wait
to retrain.
It can start training
right now.
As soon as we turn
our minds toward you,
you speak to us.
God,
we thank you
for your grace.
We don't need to use it
as an excuse
to go get dirty again.
We need to remember
that grace is what frees us
from the power
that used to make us
go get dirty.
We're not bound
by that power anymore.
God,
but if there is someone here
who's still bound
by that power of sin,
they haven't yet
made that decision
to choose Jesus
for their life,
say,
I want to follow
Jesus Christ.
Let him change me.
I want to be God's child.
Then please don't let
that person walk
out of this room today
without knowing
that you want them
more than anything else.
I'm going to ask
this question.
If there's somebody
in the room,
maybe a guest,
or maybe you've been
coming here a while,
regardless,
you believe that today
is the day you need
to make the decision
for yourself
and say,
I choose Jesus.
I want to follow Jesus.
I want him to change me.
I want to become
God's child.
Then with everyone else's
heads bowed,
would you just slip
your hand up quietly?
And I'd love to talk to you.
I'd love to pray with you.
But if that's you this morning,
say,
I want to become God's child.
I want to pray for you now.
Thank you.
You can put your hand down.
Let me ask this question.
There's somebody who says,
God has been working on me.
Maybe his retraining grace,
grateful for his saving grace,
but God's grace is training me
and I need to give in to that.
Maybe there's an area of my life
that God's retraining me in.
Would you pray for me
that I will submit
to God's grace in my life
and let him change me
in the areas I need to change in?
Would you slip your hand up
and I'll pray for you as well?
Thank you.
God,
I pray for those
who raised their hand.
I pray for everyone
who's talking with you right now.
You're listening.
You're always listening.
And your grace is so real.
Pray that you would remind us of that
as we go off our separate ways.
Let this truth from Scripture
stay with us,
stay in our hearts
and stay in our minds
that we would not run back
to the mud tomorrow.
We would let your grace
change us,
retrain us,
and then you'll get the glory for it.
Never look at me,
look what I've been able to conquer,
look what I've been able to do,
but always look what God's grace
has done in my life.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.