Grace That Saves

What Paul is saying is that, has grace freed you? Has God's saving grace freed you or simply made you more comfortable returning to old crimes? Sometimes, this is the trap Christians fall into. And once we're saved, we know that God will forgive us, and we start a very dangerous cycle of going back and sinning and then asking for forgiveness. If you've ever read the Old Testament in its completeness, that's what Israel does. By the way, it doesn't end well for Israel. [00:48:37] (44 seconds)  #FreedNotComfortable

You can admire grace. You can discuss grace. You can analyze grace. You can have a 100 conversations about what grace is and still remain uncovered by his blood. It's not enough to know about grace. You actually have to apply it. So if you're here and you're not sure what you believe, I want you to hear this. You may be closer to Jesus than you realize. That is prevenient grace, by the way. But near Jesus is not the same as under his blood. [00:55:10] (35 seconds)  #ApplyGraceNow

Today, it is about this. Grace changes who owns you. That is saving grace. You now belong to god. You are no longer owned by sin, and sanctification flows from new ownership. I love that. It's like going to if you've ever been to a store or a restaurant and says under new management, that's my whole life. Under new management, under new authority, and my joy in everything I do flows out of that singular relationship. [00:54:08] (40 seconds)  #UnderNewManagement

This is the whole point of the sermon. We talk about saving grace. So often we we think about altar calls, we think about people being saved, but we don't actually think what it means, the value, the importance of that saving grace. It's meant to change you. We have a word for that in the Nazarene church. We call it sanctification. It's a big fancy word for learning how to live like Christ and becoming more like him. Sanctification is what happens when a life truly belongs to god. [00:53:16] (40 seconds)  #BecomingLikeChrist

Blood of Christ should change us. The blood that was on the doorpost marked who belonged inside, what marks your life now. And you say you're covered by grace, but does your life show surrender to the savior? I don't want you to claim the covering of Christ's blood while resisting the rule of Christ. I don't because you're lying if you do that. You cannot claim the blood of Christ, the covering of his blood, and reject the ruling of Christ on your life. So on that note, let us pray. [01:09:23] (49 seconds)  #CoveredAndSubmitted

As humans, I think we naturally rebel against that. What do you mean, pastor, that it does not free you from all authority? Grace frees you from sin so you can joyfully serve god. That's what grace does. You come under his authority. How he says to live is how we are to live. We serve a master. I serve a master. His name is Jesus Christ. I have no problem saying that. Neither should you. [00:52:04] (30 seconds)  #GraceToServeGod

Paul couldn't be any more clear in this passage. He's saying, here's the reality. Whether you accept it or not doesn't matter. This is just the way that it works. You serve a master. And Paul says, by the way, there's only two. You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, which leads to eternal doom. So what we just read. Or you can be a slave to god. You can be obedient. You can live with righteousness and holiness in your life. [00:46:39] (47 seconds)  #ChooseYourMaster

You're one or the other. There is no neutral ground. Church, this is where the the American church is failing. We think we can play with faith. We think we can negotiate with god. There is no middle ground. You either serve Satan or you serve the god of this universe. There is no ambiguity. It is one or the other. [00:47:26] (35 seconds)  #NoNeutralGround