Transformative Power of Grace in Christ

1. "We need to stop and think about the amazingness of God's grace. His grace is mind-bending. We can't understand how good God is. Lord willing, in a few months, we plan to go through the book of Exodus in the Old Testament and find... And find Christ there. Tonight, I want to tease that series a bit by appealing to a narrative that you find in the book of Exodus. And we read in the book of Exodus about the Israelites having been enslaved for hundreds of years to the Egyptians. And God calls this rescuer to liberate them. He calls Moses to be their redeemer, their Messiah. In a sense. And they're brought out of slavery to the Egyptians. But what they're brought out to is a bit surprising to them." [00:51] (62 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "Just as they were tempted to return to their slavery, tonight we're going to consider how we have been set free from the bondage of slavery to sin. And yet, day by day, even in many cases, moment by moment, we are tempted to go back under that familiar yoke of slavery to sin because at least we know what to expect. At least it's comfortable. At least it's familiar. And our text today deals with God's power to break the chains of sin. But here's what we often miss, is that when God forgives us of our sin, he actually changes us. We're not who we used to be. The Israelites were called out of slavery and into the land that God had promised. And like them, we've been called out of sin and into new life in Christ." [02:58] (57 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Grace doesn't only save us from the consequences of sin, it saves us from bondage to sin as well. So here's the big idea that I want for us to grab a hold of tonight. If you remember nothing else, I pray that you would remember this, that in Romans chapter six, Paul is showing us that the grace of God renders sin powerless and transforms us. Let me say that again. The grace of God renders sin powerless and transforms us. It renders sin powerless and it changes us. It doesn't just change our judicial standing with him. It does that, but it also changes our affections. It changes the things that we love." [10:34] (46 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "Man, isn't it an amazing thought that God knows us fully and yet fully loves us. He knows every horrible thought you've thought today and yesterday and last month and your whole life. He knows every evil thing that you have done and yet it's not going to happen. If you are in Christ, He loves you perfectly. You are fully known and perfectly loved. That's an amazing thought. That kind of transformation, that kind of ongoing change in the life of the believer isn't something that I can just snap my fingers and help us to understand." [12:46] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "Sin had power. It's woven into our DNA. We inherited this sin nature from our first parents, Adam and Eve. It had power over us. It really actually, truly had power over us. But when we place our trust in Christ, we're identified not only with his death and burial, but with his resurrection. And in the resurrection life, sin is no longer in power over you. Amen? That's good news. We find in the verses six through 11 that Paul shows us that sin is powerless over us because you've been made new in Christ. The old man, a slave to sin, was crucified. And the new man is no longer enslaved to sin. Christ died once. Therefore, our new life is dead to sin and alive in Christ." [17:08] (62 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "Grace empowers you to resist sin's tyranny. Verse 13, we also find that grace empowers us to offer ourselves to God. Paul says, do not offer any parts of your body to sin as weapons. Weapons for unrighteousness. That's an interesting thing to say, isn't it? Don't offer your members of your body, the parts of your body as weapons of unrighteousness. Some translations render this as tools of unrighteousness. I think that gives us a better picture of what we're dealing with here. Instruments. Something that we can visualize in our hand to accomplish something." [22:12] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "Grace changes us to serve the good master. It also changes us to look increasingly like him. We pick up again in verse 19. I'm using a human analogy, Paul says, because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. So what fruit was produced then? From the things you are now ashamed. The outcome of those things is death. Grace changes us. It transforms us to increasingly look more like Jesus." [30:06] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "Grace changes us to serve the good master to look increasingly like him and third to assure us of eternal life in just a few moments we're going to take time to confess our sin and receive assurance of pardon paul says here in romans 6 22 and 23 but now but now since you have been set free from sin and have become saved to god you have your fruit which results in sanctification and the outcome is eternal life this famous verse many of you have memorized for the wages of sin is death but the free gift of god is eternal life in christ jesus our lord paul is reminding us that the ultimate outcome of this transformation that grace brings about in the life of the believer is eternal life" [33:58] (64 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "I want to remind you again that grace doesn't just forgive it frees it liberates us it both pays the debt that we owe and breaks the chains of sin from around our neck will you walk in that freedom or will you return to the comfortable slavery of sin christ offers new life freedom from sin and the promise of eternity but we're so tempted by what's familiar to us maybe you came in tonight feeling completely burdened by something that you did or thought or said this week because you know it's not who i am in christ you know that you've been given a new identity and yet you've been given a new identity and yet you've been given a new identity yet that thing i did that thing i thought that thing i said is so much like who i used to be maybe i'm not this new identity don't buy the bait it's a hook in our spiritual mouth that will reel us in and do us in ultimately if you are in christ you have a choice to make day by day and moment by moment for some it's just a moment of surrender to acknowledge that you have a choice to make you've held on to old sin patterns that you've not taken sin seriously that you presumed upon grace that you like the objector that paul anticipates has said well if we're under grace then why not keep sinning maybe you've not fully surrendered those old sin patterns and you're living brother and sister brother and sister living like you're still under sin's rule so for some of you you're still under sin's rule and you're still under sin's rule and you're still under sin's rule that's the choice you need to acknowledge that you've let sin continue to rule over you for others it's a call to trust maybe you've never fully embraced god's grace" [35:54] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "Maybe the reason that you've never fully embraced his grace is because it just seems too good to be true well that's why we have titled this section of our series through romans grace beyond understanding it really doesn't make sense and thank god it doesn't if it made sense it wouldn't really be all that amazing would it we'd be singing a song like pretty good grace you that saved a wretch like me because i put in my my bit the amazing part of the amazing grace is that it's not by your works we sang that tonight i worked my fingers down to the bone nothing i did could ever atone but spirit you moved in me so god is calling you to more than forgiveness he's calling you to live under the perfect freedom that he offers to us" [37:42] (56 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)