WEBVTT 00:00:00.500 --> 00:00:01.170 I'm going to invite you to Romans. 00:00:01.920 --> 00:00:03.500 Chapter six is where we are together. 00:00:03.920 --> 00:00:05.190 Romans Chapter six. 00:00:05.800 --> 00:00:08.130 We're studying the book of Romans together. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:14.760 And seeing this incredible book that God has given to his church, written by the apostle Paul after a couple of decades of ministry. 00:00:15.040 --> 00:00:16.840 This is the great treatise of the Christian faith. 00:00:17.520 --> 00:00:20.670 If you're new to the Christian faith, it is an incredible book to go through. 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:23.020 Martin Luther referred to this as the Book of Books. 00:00:23.140 --> 00:00:28.790 This is he would say things like, if you lost all of the Bible, but you had the book of Romans as a follower of Christ, you're going to be okay. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:34.380 Because it's the great explanation of how to live the Christian life in light of what Jesus has done for us. 00:00:34.980 --> 00:00:42.070 The first half of this book is a lot of theological understanding of your relationship with God, so that the second half of this book is the application. 00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:45.040 What does that mean now, in light of my relationship with the Lord? 00:00:45.040 --> 00:00:51.640 And we're getting right towards the middle of the Book of Romans in Chapter six today, we're going to be talking about God's grace. 00:00:51.680 --> 00:00:57.940 In fact, chapter six and seven is sort of an explanation or an expounding upon how to live in light of God's grace. 00:00:58.020 --> 00:01:01.900 Because at the end of Chapter five, Paul told us something very incredible about grace. 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:06.360 He said Chapter five, verse 20, Not that the law came to increase the trespass. 00:01:06.360 --> 00:01:08.080 It's talking about the Jewish law. 00:01:08.080 --> 00:01:15.280 He's saying, look, the purpose of the Jewish law wasn't so that you find yourself free because you lived the law. 00:01:15.320 --> 00:01:15.400 Right. 00:01:15.500 --> 00:01:18.960 It's like the idea of a religion or at least the Jewish religion. 00:01:19.300 --> 00:01:22.520 And I would say religion in general is not to show you how great you are. 00:01:22.580 --> 00:01:27.160 In fact, when you look at religious law and you try to measure your life up to it, what you find is you constantly fall short. 00:01:27.580 --> 00:01:32.560 We tend to say, here's a church that religion leads people to two places pride or despair, neither of which are good. 00:01:33.080 --> 00:01:34.480 Like pride. 00:01:34.520 --> 00:01:38.240 The Bible talks about there's destruction with pride, but what God seeks is a humble heart. 00:01:38.800 --> 00:01:40.640 And so we don't want pride or despair. 00:01:41.060 --> 00:01:46.680 But he tells us that the purpose of the law was to help us recognize how much we needed God. 00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:49.300 It pointed out to us our trespasses against God. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:52.180 The law wasn't intended to show you how great you were. 00:01:52.180 --> 00:01:54.050 The law was intended to show you how much you needed Jesus. 00:01:54.420 --> 00:01:54.940 Right? 00:01:54.960 --> 00:01:57.130 And so with the law came to increase the trespass. 00:01:57.660 --> 00:02:01.540 But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:08.300 This idea of abounding grace is incredible for the life of the believer who finds their trust in Jesus. 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:12.960 That is saying to us, no matter how far your sin goes, God's grace goes deeper still. 00:02:12.980 --> 00:02:17.680 There is nowhere that you can be that is so far removed from God that he can't reach you in His grace. 00:02:18.340 --> 00:02:20.880 God's grace for us is that rich and that good. 00:02:21.480 --> 00:02:22.920 And in chapter six and seven. 00:02:23.020 --> 00:02:30.060 Now, having said this about God's grace, Paul anticipates that people are going to have some questions about what this means for us. 00:02:30.060 --> 00:02:37.320 And in order for us to understand Grace, I find living here in Utah, when I talk about the goodness of God's abounding grace and how 00:02:37.320 --> 00:02:40.340 it's free, he describes it in Chapter five as this gift to us. 00:02:40.680 --> 00:02:41.680 What does that mean for us? 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:48.720 Some people will look at the greatness of God's grace as you explain it, and they'll become all contorted in their face, trying to understand God's grace, 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:52.620 and they begin to ask the question, Well, what keeps people from sinning? 00:02:52.660 --> 00:02:52.800 Right? 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:59.520 Like if you can't guilt and shame them by law, forcing them to do things, what in the world would stop people from doing bad things? 00:02:59.540 --> 00:03:01.180 If God's grace is that good? 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:04.960 Like, why not keep on just doing what you're doing in life? 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:07.540 Because, well, God's grace abounds beyond it, right? 00:03:07.920 --> 00:03:11.960 Like you just keep being a sinner because God's grace is just completely covers that. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:12.860 Don't worry about it. 00:03:12.860 --> 00:03:13.590 It's under grace. 00:03:13.920 --> 00:03:17.040 Like what stops people from living a bad life. 00:03:17.060 --> 00:03:20.680 And this is this is exactly where Paul wants us to go with grace. 00:03:21.260 --> 00:03:27.360 This is this is what he wants to talk about in the next Chapter six and chapter seven in anticipation of that grace, understand? 00:03:27.440 --> 00:03:30.980 Are we living in the abounding grace or are we abusing grace? 00:03:32.540 --> 00:03:33.030 Do we really? 00:03:33.540 --> 00:03:39.040 Do we really have in mind what God desires for his grace and how we're to respond to it? 00:03:39.140 --> 00:03:39.880 Do we understand it? 00:03:41.260 --> 00:03:46.120 That's an important question in any aspect of your Christian life, and especially as it relates to the grace of God. 00:03:46.700 --> 00:03:51.220 Because if Satan can keep you ignorant, he can render you ineffective. 00:03:52.260 --> 00:03:59.580 So we want to we want a healthy picture of what Paul is painting for us as he talks about abounding in God's grace and what that means in the Christian life. 00:03:59.580 --> 00:04:05.900 It's an incredibly freeing and good for the soul and the way that God intends it for our lives. 00:04:05.940 --> 00:04:07.260 But we don't want to be ignorant to it. 00:04:07.260 --> 00:04:08.760 We want to be effective with it. 00:04:09.620 --> 00:04:17.320 I know a lot of college students right now are going through their end of the year exams and it reminds me of a there's a story of a young 00:04:17.320 --> 00:04:21.540 guy who at the end of the semester he hadn't studied like he should, and he had to take an economic test. 00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:25.960 And he gets his test from his teacher. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:28.300 And as he goes through the test, he realizes he I don't know any of these answers. 00:04:28.440 --> 00:04:31.220 So he just writes on his test, Only God knows these answers. 00:04:31.500 --> 00:04:32.880 Merry Christmas. 00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:39.710 And the teacher gets his paper and grades it and says and he writes on the top, God gets 100, you get zero. 00:04:40.020 --> 00:04:41.040 Happy New Year. 00:04:41.320 --> 00:04:43.380 Like, we don't want to be that. 00:04:43.980 --> 00:04:48.040 We want to understand what God desires to accomplish in us and through us. 00:04:48.100 --> 00:04:53.450 In fact, as a church, I would just tell you our heart here, we're not secretive about what we want to accomplish. 00:04:54.100 --> 00:05:00.160 We want your life transformed in the goodness of what Jesus desires to accomplish in you and through you. 00:05:00.400 --> 00:05:06.900 And Jesus gave us the two great commands, the great, great commission and the great commandment, which is Love the Lord your God with all your heart. 00:05:06.940 --> 00:05:07.540 That's the great commandment. 00:05:08.080 --> 00:05:09.130 And to go in this world and make disciples. 00:05:10.120 --> 00:05:13.100 And that's what we say as a church, like that's our heart's desire. 00:05:13.100 --> 00:05:20.340 We want to learn how to how to love the Lord and love others and go into this world from that and make disciples of him to understand what this grace looks like 00:05:20.340 --> 00:05:21.340 in our lives. 00:05:21.580 --> 00:05:24.700 And so in your notes this morning, we're going to talk about three Responses to Grace. 00:05:25.220 --> 00:05:27.140 And I want you to know the first two you don't want to do. 00:05:27.820 --> 00:05:31.900 It's the third one that we want to develop a heart for and live in light of that. 00:05:32.380 --> 00:05:38.900 But Paul asks the question, knowing that Grace abounds, he then he asks the question in chapter six, verse one, What shall we say then? 00:05:39.020 --> 00:05:42.460 Are we to continue to sin that grace may abound? 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:50.160 Like if grace is so much greater than sin and God's grace will always trump our sin, why don't we just go in this world and live like however 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:52.080 we want and we can just say it's all right. 00:05:52.140 --> 00:05:53.200 God's grace is greater. 00:05:53.340 --> 00:05:54.240 That's how great God is. 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:55.000 Why don't we do that? 00:05:55.400 --> 00:06:02.640 And point number one, what he's saying to us, and this is the first blank in your notes what Paul is wanting us to understand Grace is not about 00:06:02.640 --> 00:06:05.120 is what's called Antinomianism. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:05.880 All right. 00:06:06.410 --> 00:06:10.410 Antinomianism So for those that are great at Spelling Bee, you can put Antinomianism there. 00:06:11.460 --> 00:06:13.980 And another way of explaining it, it's more like liberalism. 00:06:14.620 --> 00:06:18.460 And I don't mean that politically, I mean just doing whatever you want with no accountability, right? 00:06:18.900 --> 00:06:22.660 So there's this idea of theological liberalism where you don't recognize anything above you. 00:06:22.700 --> 00:06:28.040 You see yourself as the own authority and you just live however you want, theologically called Antinomianism. 00:06:28.060 --> 00:06:30.920 If you want the most layman's terms, it's literally live like hell. 00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:33.940 That's what God's grace is so great. 00:06:34.140 --> 00:06:35.850 I'm just going to do whatever I want. 00:06:36.340 --> 00:06:40.600 And to respond that way is to not understand what God's grace is about. 00:06:41.340 --> 00:06:45.100 But Paul poses the question and he gives the answer in verse two, By no means. 00:06:46.440 --> 00:06:52.740 By no means is this the reason Jesus came so that you can continue to be the center of your universe and do whatever you want? 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:54.260 That's not true. 00:06:54.280 --> 00:06:54.660 Freedom. 00:06:55.760 --> 00:06:57.060 That's not what Grace is all about. 00:06:57.620 --> 00:06:59.260 God, God made you for a reason. 00:06:59.980 --> 00:07:03.820 And you're not really free until you're living that purpose in him. 00:07:03.820 --> 00:07:07.690 Because he designed you for his glory to the blessing of others. 00:07:09.640 --> 00:07:14.240 Freedom isn't free until you're living for the reason for which you were created. 00:07:16.740 --> 00:07:20.740 God's grace is not intended for you to live life for your glory. 00:07:22.620 --> 00:07:23.470 But to live for his. 00:07:24.900 --> 00:07:27.020 Point number two then, in your notes is this. 00:07:28.860 --> 00:07:29.460 Understanding. 00:07:29.580 --> 00:07:31.240 His grace has a purpose. 00:07:32.180 --> 00:07:34.420 Point number two then, I would say is the second half of this verse. 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:38.740 But it's to avoid this is an incorrect response, by the way. 00:07:38.860 --> 00:07:40.540 But it's about avoiding sin. 00:07:41.620 --> 00:07:42.580 Avoiding sin. 00:07:42.580 --> 00:07:44.990 And we could refer to this as legalism. 00:07:46.340 --> 00:07:47.740 When we talk about God's grace. 00:07:47.820 --> 00:07:49.500 God's grace certainly rescued us. 00:07:50.860 --> 00:07:51.680 From something. 00:07:52.780 --> 00:07:56.120 But God's grace also rescued us for something. 00:07:56.380 --> 00:08:01.180 God has as an intention to His purpose, but he's freeing us from something and he's moving us for something. 00:08:01.200 --> 00:08:02.860 That's the purpose for which he created it. 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:09.610 And we get a as believers, if we think the whole purpose of the Christian life is just simply about avoiding sin. 00:08:09.740 --> 00:08:12.550 Now he gives this statement in verse number two. 00:08:13.320 --> 00:08:20.420 But I want to add some extra thought to that, because Christianity, sometimes we take verse number two and we end with verse number two, or at least 00:08:20.420 --> 00:08:25.030 in an unhealthy religious thinking, we take verse number two and we think the whole point is verse number two. 00:08:25.280 --> 00:08:26.460 Verse number two is not the point. 00:08:26.860 --> 00:08:30.290 Verse number two is the result of what the main point is, but it's not the point in itself. 00:08:30.400 --> 00:08:32.880 But he says this Shall we go on sinning that grace may abound. 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:33.549 By no means. 00:08:33.780 --> 00:08:36.740 How can we, who died to sin still live in it? 00:08:37.780 --> 00:08:39.460 Which is true, right? 00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:44.580 Like certainly if you know Jesus, you don't want to look like the world, right? 00:08:44.580 --> 00:08:50.380 You don't want to live in sin because it's completely amiss from what God calls you to. 00:08:50.400 --> 00:08:55.020 But I also want us to recognize that the point of the Christian life is not about not sinning. 00:08:56.180 --> 00:08:58.180 Right Christianity this morning. 00:08:58.180 --> 00:09:01.400 Our goal for you is not that you walk out and don't sin anymore. 00:09:01.400 --> 00:09:02.700 That's not our goal now. 00:09:02.880 --> 00:09:06.300 Our hope for you is that you would certainly not sin, right? 00:09:06.800 --> 00:09:09.100 But that's not our primary desire for you. 00:09:09.880 --> 00:09:12.300 Our primary desire is different than that. 00:09:12.380 --> 00:09:15.310 But the result of it is your life becomes holy in Jesus. 00:09:16.800 --> 00:09:20.900 Legalism, though, becomes a focus that becomes it becomes a part of people's life. 00:09:20.900 --> 00:09:24.060 They think the Christian life is about not sinning. 00:09:24.180 --> 00:09:31.460 In fact, in walking this Christian life and first coming to Christ, I'll tell you, I entered into arenas of 00:09:31.460 --> 00:09:35.580 people in that claimed to walk with Jesus and maybe they did or didn't. 00:09:35.620 --> 00:09:36.480 I'm not the judge of that. 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:39.910 But I would see the fruit of what they would proclaim. 00:09:40.300 --> 00:09:43.320 And it was honestly legalism with Jesus's name slapped on it. 00:09:45.500 --> 00:09:50.300 They were more afraid of sinning than they were interested in walking by faith. 00:09:52.180 --> 00:09:54.480 And there's a there's a significant difference in that. 00:09:56.160 --> 00:09:59.800 Our desire for your life is not that you don't sin. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:03.960 Our desire for your life is that you walk with Jesus. 00:10:05.460 --> 00:10:06.360 And in walking with Jesus. 00:10:07.040 --> 00:10:11.720 The result of that would be you move from sin and you and you walk towards Christ. 00:10:13.100 --> 00:10:16.820 Or saying is when we come to Jesus, our life is completely other and different. 00:10:17.520 --> 00:10:22.930 We forsake any other kingdom this world has to offer and we live for something completely different. 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:23.440 Which is? 00:10:23.660 --> 00:10:24.250 Which is Jesus. 00:10:24.880 --> 00:10:32.020 Sometimes you'll meet people whose whose hearts are about legalism when they when they kind of ask this question, Well, how far to the line can I get before 00:10:32.020 --> 00:10:33.530 God gets mad at me? 00:10:33.800 --> 00:10:40.840 Like, how close can I walk with the world or flirt with the devil or something like that before before the Lord gets 00:10:40.840 --> 00:10:43.480 frustrated by me moving towards that line. 00:10:43.960 --> 00:10:50.820 And if you have that kind of demeanor or question about you, can I tell you you're completely from the scope of what health is and the Christian life. 00:10:51.300 --> 00:10:54.010 It's not about how far you can get over here and still keep God happy. 00:10:55.860 --> 00:11:00.300 Your life pursuit would be How can I know Jesus and live for his glory? 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:10.820 Legalism tends to be marked with things like in desiring not not to mess up rather than just glorify God. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:12.820 They start to make a bunch of rules. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:14.570 And I've seen it in the Christian life. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:21.780 Like they'll say, they'll start regulating things constantly, like the music. 00:11:21.820 --> 00:11:26.680 They'll come up with all kinds of rules of music and drums and dancing and movies, right? 00:11:27.020 --> 00:11:34.180 It was funny in the early 2000 when the movie The Passion of the Christ came out because legalistic Christians would 00:11:34.180 --> 00:11:35.560 make a hard, fast rule. 00:11:35.560 --> 00:11:37.380 Never can you watch a rated R movie, Right? 00:11:37.380 --> 00:11:44.500 And I don't think it's wise to necessarily watch rated R movies, but they made that rule and then all of a sudden, The Passion of the Christ comes out and it's rated R 00:11:44.500 --> 00:11:47.600 and you see legalistic Christians, like they're just they don't know what to do with that. 00:11:47.620 --> 00:11:54.140 They're befuddled by because they made this hard, fast rule against everything because they were just simply trying to avoid sin rather than glorify God. 00:11:55.140 --> 00:11:58.620 No playing cards go to hell if you use playing cards, right? 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:04.540 They start to regulate. 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:09.180 Rules rather than focus on relationship in God. 00:12:09.180 --> 00:12:16.300 Now, there's certainly wisdom sometimes in the Christian life to come up with some rules, like especially if 00:12:16.300 --> 00:12:19.830 you know, in your life you're bent towards particular sins. 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:23.060 And you get tired of faltering in that. 00:12:24.420 --> 00:12:27.400 And you want to protect yourself from getting to that place. 00:12:27.420 --> 00:12:34.280 And so sometimes it's important to put certain boundaries in our life, to reorient yourself or refocus ourselves to the things that we want to achieve. 00:12:34.560 --> 00:12:36.540 But the goal is never about not doing those things. 00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:44.360 The goal is always about honoring God with the life He's given me and the freedom he's granted me by his abounding grace. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:53.960 I want to honor that because of what it cost him and how much he loved me and the way that he gave his self For me, that is the pursuit 00:12:53.960 --> 00:12:56.180 of my life as he has given me my heart. 00:12:56.440 --> 00:12:58.980 I want to respond by giving my heart back to him. 00:13:03.500 --> 00:13:10.660 And so, number three then, in your notes, Paul says to us in verse number four, and this is the desire of our heart in verse four that we too might walk 00:13:10.660 --> 00:13:16.550 in the newness of life to walk in the newness of life. 00:13:17.150 --> 00:13:19.670 What Jesus has done in you is something new. 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:21.780 Something new. 00:13:21.780 --> 00:13:24.460 And when you come to Christ, you know what that's like. 00:13:26.180 --> 00:13:33.100 Before you might have had this religious way of thinking and maybe you believed in a god and blah, blah, blah, whatever that story might look like. 00:13:33.520 --> 00:13:35.300 But then one day someone introduced you to Jesus. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:41.230 And you heard the extent of his love and what he did for you. 00:13:42.580 --> 00:13:44.920 And you gave your heart and response back to him. 00:13:45.900 --> 00:13:49.380 And all of a sudden the desires of your heart change and you can't even explain it. 00:13:49.380 --> 00:13:51.990 It's just you woke up just a completely different person. 00:13:52.460 --> 00:13:55.620 You wanted to give of your time and your resources and your talents. 00:13:55.880 --> 00:13:57.600 And you don't even know who this person is anymore. 00:13:57.760 --> 00:14:04.880 And when you look in the mirror because the day before you were all about selfish and what you wanted to accomplish and how you could please yourself and whatever would make you happy 00:14:04.880 --> 00:14:09.580 that day and using other people as tools just to get to your kingdom and your glory. 00:14:09.580 --> 00:14:11.300 And now all of a sudden you're about a different king and. 00:14:11.460 --> 00:14:12.310 And his glory. 00:14:13.500 --> 00:14:14.760 Newness of life. 00:14:16.730 --> 00:14:19.700 It doesn't mean that it's going to be a perfect life. 00:14:19.700 --> 00:14:21.660 In fact, Paul's going to talk about that in Romans seven. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:27.160 What happens when I mess up, even when I understand his grace and even when I make my aim about his glory? 00:14:27.160 --> 00:14:28.300 Like, what do I do then? 00:14:28.520 --> 00:14:29.900 I'll talk about in chapter seven. 00:14:30.860 --> 00:14:38.000 So it's not not necessarily perfect when you're when you're new to something, especially when you're new to something, you don't fully understand it. 00:14:38.400 --> 00:14:39.860 You're certainly not going to do everything perfect. 00:14:41.580 --> 00:14:42.100 But it's this. 00:14:42.440 --> 00:14:45.560 This desire, this bend in your heart now to submit to something different. 00:14:47.180 --> 00:14:51.740 Because it's new and it's life giving and you want to be a part of it. 00:14:53.220 --> 00:14:58.900 And so Paul encourages us that the healthy way to respond to grace is to walk in this newness of life. 00:14:59.420 --> 00:15:03.240 And so as if we were to ask the question, okay, how is this newness of life possible? 00:15:04.100 --> 00:15:06.800 That's what he begins to answer for us in verse 3 to 9. 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:10.160 And then what does it look like then for me to walk in that newness? 00:15:10.160 --> 00:15:11.720 That's what he tells us in verse 10 to 14. 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:12.560 That's what we're going to look at together. 00:15:12.940 --> 00:15:15.820 So how is this possible, this newness of life verses 3 to 9? 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:18.450 And then what does it look like for us to walk in this together? 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:26.140 Well, when he talks about this newness of life verses 3 to 5, he encompasses it in some imagery here he talks 00:15:26.140 --> 00:15:27.480 about it in terms of baptism. 00:15:27.540 --> 00:15:30.440 What you're going to find in 3 to 5 is baptism versus 6 to 9. 00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:31.460 He talks about the crucifixion. 00:15:32.500 --> 00:15:33.920 But this is how it happened. 00:15:33.920 --> 00:15:42.860 In verse three, he says, Do 00:15:42.860 --> 00:15:43.340 you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 00:15:43.340 --> 00:15:50.780 We were buried, therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, we 00:15:50.780 --> 00:15:53.100 too might walk in the newness of life. 00:15:53.700 --> 00:16:00.840 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like 00:16:00.840 --> 00:16:01.590 his. 00:16:03.340 --> 00:16:10.440 What he's describing here in theologians will point to this section of scripture as one of the most powerful sections in all of the New Testament in dealing with 00:16:10.440 --> 00:16:10.940 baptism. 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:17.730 But here's something to know about the idea of baptism when you read it in the New Testament, the word baptism can sometimes be a little bit confusing. 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:24.640 And the reason I say that is because they have one word that really describes a couple aspects of the Christian life. 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:31.840 There you have to read the context of a passage to determine, okay, what exactly is it referring to when it's using the word baptism here? 00:16:32.300 --> 00:16:35.720 Because there is what's described in the New Testament as spiritual baptism. 00:16:36.280 --> 00:16:41.060 And for someone to come to Christ, we're all baptized into one spirit. 00:16:41.220 --> 00:16:47.160 That's it actually says that in one Corinthians 12, verse 13, that we're all by one spirit baptized into one body. 00:16:47.640 --> 00:16:51.220 The word baptism literally means immersed or submerged. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:58.620 It carries this idea that when you become a believer in Christ universally the body of Christ all over the world, when you become a believer in Christ, you're sealed 00:16:58.620 --> 00:17:01.440 and baptized in the spirit of God, meaning the Spirit of God. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:03.920 Indwells you and you belong to the Lord forever. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:04.819 Right. 00:17:04.839 --> 00:17:08.500 The way that you know that you have an eternity with God is the Spirit of God. 00:17:08.619 --> 00:17:09.880 Indwells you. 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:10.990 And it's sealed. 00:17:11.460 --> 00:17:12.369 You're sealed in him permanently. 00:17:13.040 --> 00:17:15.180 So we're all spiritually baptized in him. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:23.319 And then the body of believers and response to what Jesus does in us by giving us new life, we will go through what's called physical 00:17:23.319 --> 00:17:23.770 baptism. 00:17:24.500 --> 00:17:25.200 Right. 00:17:25.260 --> 00:17:29.420 Baptism, Physically, that is when you go into the water and you're baptized, right? 00:17:29.420 --> 00:17:31.400 Baptism physically does not save you. 00:17:32.580 --> 00:17:37.560 Paul said that in First Corinthians chapter one, verse 18, he says, I came not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:41.280 So Paul is saying to us, Look, it's not baptism that saves you. 00:17:41.300 --> 00:17:43.320 If it did, then Paul would say, I came to baptize you. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:45.040 But he says, rather, I came to preach the gospel. 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:47.560 Because Paul knew the gospel is what saves. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:53.300 Physical baptism becomes the reflection of a spiritual baptism that takes place by Jesus. 00:17:54.800 --> 00:17:55.760 The spirit of God. 00:17:55.820 --> 00:18:00.280 When we accept Christ, the Spirit of God indwells the people of God sealed to belong to him forever. 00:18:00.280 --> 00:18:03.220 We are adopted in God's family and nothing can change that. 00:18:04.900 --> 00:18:06.220 And then there's the physical baptism. 00:18:07.580 --> 00:18:14.660 Now, the question theologians ask when they come to this is now when we talk about baptism here, what type of baptism is it talking about? 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:16.880 And I'll give you my answer. 00:18:16.940 --> 00:18:22.760 I've looked at this for years trying to ask that question, and I may change my answer later because I'm not real confident on it. 00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:24.220 But here's my best answer today. 00:18:25.040 --> 00:18:25.620 I think it's both. 00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:28.940 I think in Romans six, Paul is talking about both. 00:18:30.520 --> 00:18:32.910 I think he's reflecting on the idea of spiritual baptism. 00:18:34.180 --> 00:18:37.630 And he's also reflecting on the idea of how we represent that in physical baptism. 00:18:39.700 --> 00:18:46.960 When we are baptized physically as a body of believers or here at Alpine Bible Church, we practice immersion. 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:49.160 And that's the word. 00:18:49.260 --> 00:18:52.130 That's the basic meaning for the word baptize is to be immersed. 00:18:52.140 --> 00:18:58.280 We go into the water and it's all symbolic of what Jesus has done for us spiritually. 00:18:59.880 --> 00:18:59.960 He. 00:19:00.100 --> 00:19:01.220 He came to Earth. 00:19:01.360 --> 00:19:02.530 He gave his life. 00:19:02.660 --> 00:19:02.800 He. 00:19:03.300 --> 00:19:03.960 He was crucified. 00:19:04.380 --> 00:19:05.850 He died, and he was resurrected. 00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:14.100 Now, what's interesting about Christianity is God could have picked any method he wanted for us to 00:19:14.100 --> 00:19:16.760 reflect our faith in Jesus and what he's done for us. 00:19:16.760 --> 00:19:19.100 Like, I don't know why God didn't say, You know what? 00:19:19.100 --> 00:19:24.200 Dig a hole in the side of a hill somewhere and walk into it an old person and walk out of it. 00:19:24.220 --> 00:19:24.660 A new person. 00:19:24.820 --> 00:19:26.170 I don't mean that in age. 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:27.800 I mean that spiritually. 00:19:28.180 --> 00:19:33.660 You walk into the tomb just like Jesus, your old self, and you walk out of the tomb, your new self. 00:19:33.700 --> 00:19:34.920 But instead he picked water. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:38.350 And water is symbolic throughout the old, old and New Testament Israel. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:42.940 When the Book of Genesis begins, God talks. 00:19:42.980 --> 00:19:49.520 It talks about God's creation, the earth, and it says the water covered the surface of the earth and it was without purpose or meaning God. 00:19:49.720 --> 00:19:52.410 And then God brought out of the earth its purpose. 00:19:52.800 --> 00:19:55.450 He put land and animals and people. 00:19:55.500 --> 00:19:58.940 And so out of out of chaos came order the same thing for Israel. 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:01.500 When they went from Egypt into the promised land. 00:20:01.500 --> 00:20:03.580 They crossed the Red Sea and the Jordan River. 00:20:03.580 --> 00:20:05.120 They went from chaos into order. 00:20:05.400 --> 00:20:12.420 So there's been this idea of water from the beginning that we went from really darkness or destruction or purposelessness to 00:20:12.420 --> 00:20:13.500 now new life. 00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:20.710 And so when a believer goes into the baptism waters, they go in as the old self and they're submerged 00:20:22.100 --> 00:20:27.140 and they come out in the new self or new life as if we died with Christ and were resurrected to him. 00:20:28.080 --> 00:20:28.820 The early church. 00:20:28.900 --> 00:20:30.880 This was important in the faith. 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:38.180 In fact, when the early church was baptized, it was very common that they would recite a creed of their belief the apostle's creed, the old Roman 00:20:38.180 --> 00:20:40.260 creed, the old Jerusalem creed. 00:20:40.260 --> 00:20:44.880 Those creeds were early creeds that Christianity would recite because of their faith in the Lord. 00:20:44.940 --> 00:20:45.780 They want to pronounce it. 00:20:45.840 --> 00:20:46.770 There was this public declaration. 00:20:47.580 --> 00:20:51.300 Baptism was that they belonged to God and wanted to be identified in Him. 00:20:51.340 --> 00:20:56.560 In this newness of life, we compare it to here at our church to that of a wedding day. 00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:04.370 It's your public place to declare to the world that Jesus belongs to you and you belong to him as he has given his life for you. 00:21:04.380 --> 00:21:06.500 So you want to give your life and response to him. 00:21:07.860 --> 00:21:12.380 Baptism is the symbolic representation of cleansing because you've been forgiven. 00:21:14.320 --> 00:21:16.360 You come the old self. 00:21:17.860 --> 00:21:18.680 Not because you're worthy. 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:21.520 Because he's worthy. 00:21:22.940 --> 00:21:26.940 And he has paid everything for you that you could be free in him. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:28.960 He does the work. 00:21:30.540 --> 00:21:31.500 He does the cleansing. 00:21:32.520 --> 00:21:35.130 And you get to sit in his abounding grace. 00:21:36.820 --> 00:21:42.320 This is a picture in the fifth century of just a early baptistery so you can see it. 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:46.250 I know brothers and sisters in Christ around the world have different methods of baptism. 00:21:47.620 --> 00:21:54.700 There's an early document in Christianity called the Didache, where they talk about if you live in a desert and you don't have enough water to submerge somebody, you can do 00:21:54.700 --> 00:21:55.180 a little sprinkling. 00:21:56.760 --> 00:22:02.570 I know some churches that practice that today, but I want you to know here at ABC, when we baptize, we baptize all of you. 00:22:02.700 --> 00:22:02.820 Right. 00:22:03.180 --> 00:22:03.900 You take the plunge. 00:22:04.520 --> 00:22:07.980 I jokingly say sometimes, depending on how much you've sinned, I may hold you under longer. 00:22:08.440 --> 00:22:08.840 All right. 00:22:09.120 --> 00:22:12.940 I want you to know when you come out of the water, there's this cleansing of Jesus. 00:22:13.020 --> 00:22:16.180 Not not literally, but because of what Jesus has done for you spiritually. 00:22:16.520 --> 00:22:17.180 It's symbolic. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:25.340 But that's this is the reason this is the reason that we get to walk in the newness of life because of 00:22:25.340 --> 00:22:27.580 what Christ has done for us. 00:22:27.580 --> 00:22:28.410 We are cleansed in him. 00:22:28.700 --> 00:22:34.680 Romans three, verse 21 to the end of Chapter five talks about what Jesus has done for me. 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:39.780 And then when you get to Chapter six now all the way to eight, it encourages us to then die for him. 00:22:41.520 --> 00:22:47.060 Surrender our lives to walk in the goodness of what he has this cleansing and identity in Christ. 00:22:47.500 --> 00:22:51.840 And then he goes on, If I gave you the notes, no baptism. 00:22:52.260 --> 00:22:54.100 That's why we want to do in verse three talks about that. 00:22:54.100 --> 00:22:54.880 Let me go back to that. 00:22:55.160 --> 00:22:57.300 He tells us two things he wants us to know. 00:22:58.040 --> 00:22:59.420 Do you not know? 00:22:59.500 --> 00:23:01.200 Write about the baptism. 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:03.660 So no baptism is that point in your notes. 00:23:03.940 --> 00:23:09.680 And then the second thing he wants us to know in verse six then is to know the crucifixion and resurrection. 00:23:11.460 --> 00:23:14.740 To know the crucifixion and resurrection, he says in verse six. 00:23:14.900 --> 00:23:15.560 We know. 00:23:16.980 --> 00:23:24.200 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing 00:23:25.020 --> 00:23:28.300 so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 00:23:29.780 --> 00:23:34.260 For one who has died, has been set free from sin. 00:23:36.820 --> 00:23:38.620 The idea of the crucifixion and resurrection. 00:23:41.620 --> 00:23:42.690 Is about your forgiveness. 00:23:45.600 --> 00:23:49.080 Jesus came and gave his life that you could be forgiven. 00:23:51.400 --> 00:23:52.080 Free from sin. 00:23:53.600 --> 00:23:54.540 Dead to sin. 00:23:54.540 --> 00:23:56.700 Sin becomes, as it says in this passage, nothing. 00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:03.590 That's so important to just let those words. 00:24:03.660 --> 00:24:07.760 And really verse three, all the way to verse seven that we've read together, I'm dead to sin. 00:24:07.760 --> 00:24:08.890 Sin has become nothing. 00:24:09.700 --> 00:24:15.820 To hear those words and let those words be an understanding in your soul. 00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:21.820 Because sometimes we get to that struggle in life where we don't feel like we're loved. 00:24:23.020 --> 00:24:24.600 We don't feel like we've performed enough. 00:24:25.900 --> 00:24:28.240 And we just simply want to accept what Jesus has said. 00:24:29.360 --> 00:24:30.000 It is finished. 00:24:31.540 --> 00:24:32.460 You're dead to sin. 00:24:33.300 --> 00:24:33.720 Dead. 00:24:34.500 --> 00:24:35.740 Don't go digging it back up. 00:24:36.820 --> 00:24:38.300 Don't go putting it back on your account. 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:41.600 Jesus paid for it all. 00:24:43.480 --> 00:24:47.140 He died for your sin, that you could be free from it. 00:24:48.380 --> 00:24:49.080 It's nothing. 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:50.710 It's not a weight. 00:24:50.760 --> 00:24:52.500 And that's on you anymore. 00:24:52.560 --> 00:24:54.920 Christ has set you free from it. 00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:58.040 It says in verse six or verse seven and verse eight. 00:24:58.180 --> 00:25:02.080 Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 00:25:03.420 --> 00:25:04.200 And here's how. 00:25:04.200 --> 00:25:06.720 In verse eight, he, the writer Paul, here knows this. 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:10.760 He says, We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. 00:25:10.760 --> 00:25:12.240 Death no longer has dominion over him. 00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:16.400 So he's saying, look, if you want to know the reason why I can even state this or I know that it's true. 00:25:16.440 --> 00:25:18.600 It's because of the resurrection of Jesus. 00:25:19.800 --> 00:25:22.140 Jesus has conquered sin, Satan and death. 00:25:22.140 --> 00:25:28.770 And he's promised, as he was resurrected from the grave that he would give it to us, too, and that we're free from the sin that brings death to our souls. 00:25:31.160 --> 00:25:31.890 How is this possible? 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:36.020 Because of what Jesus has done. 00:25:38.200 --> 00:25:45.040 Crucifixion and resurrection is about dying to an old way and finding new life in him. 00:25:46.100 --> 00:25:48.280 So then how do we experience this newness of life? 00:25:49.660 --> 00:25:51.320 And I mean, that's the important question, right? 00:25:52.580 --> 00:25:55.160 You see the beautiful picture of how it was accomplished for us. 00:25:55.160 --> 00:25:58.460 But then how do we experience it in verse 10 to 14? 00:25:58.460 --> 00:26:00.220 He goes on and explains that to us. 00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:04.200 He says in verse ten, For the death He died. 00:26:05.160 --> 00:26:09.040 He died to sin once for all. 00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:12.140 But the life he lives, he lives to God. 00:26:13.400 --> 00:26:15.010 I'm Jesus's life. 00:26:15.260 --> 00:26:18.130 He's telling us here the point of Jesus's life wasn't about death. 00:26:18.860 --> 00:26:22.340 I mean, he did accomplish death, but the point of Jesus's life was to glorify the father. 00:26:23.080 --> 00:26:26.940 And the best way to do that was to surrender his life, that we could find life in him. 00:26:28.800 --> 00:26:31.340 And Jesus ultimate desire was to glorify the Father. 00:26:31.340 --> 00:26:33.490 And the way that he did that was through the cross. 00:26:33.560 --> 00:26:34.600 And I love what he says here. 00:26:34.660 --> 00:26:36.100 It was once for all. 00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:44.600 And when you think about your own your own life in Christ, when Jesus died for you, he didn't just die for your past sins. 00:26:45.520 --> 00:26:46.980 He died for your present and future. 00:26:47.980 --> 00:26:49.200 He died for it all. 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:56.140 There is not one part of your life that will ever be outside of the grace of God because of what Jesus has done for you. 00:26:57.420 --> 00:27:04.120 So you also must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 00:27:06.140 --> 00:27:09.100 Number one, then, under this question, how are you experience this newness of life? 00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:10.680 He tells us this. 00:27:10.740 --> 00:27:12.140 Consider your position. 00:27:14.220 --> 00:27:15.360 Consider your position. 00:27:15.360 --> 00:27:16.030 Look at that, he says. 00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:16.600 Verse 11. 00:27:16.600 --> 00:27:20.180 So you also must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God. 00:27:22.020 --> 00:27:23.600 You want to walk in the newness of life. 00:27:26.460 --> 00:27:29.330 Consider where you are in light of what Christ has done for you. 00:27:30.600 --> 00:27:35.660 Think about positioning what Jesus has put you in, not what you do, but what He has done for you. 00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:39.700 Do you know who you've become because of Christ? 00:27:41.780 --> 00:27:42.260 What a gift. 00:27:44.100 --> 00:27:44.550 What a privilege. 00:27:46.980 --> 00:27:48.120 You didn't have this before. 00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:55.410 No matter how much you worked and struggled in religion, you would have never been able to achieve this. 00:27:57.440 --> 00:27:58.880 Religion doesn't set you free. 00:28:01.060 --> 00:28:02.740 Religious law will not set you free. 00:28:04.560 --> 00:28:06.190 It will bring you to pride or despair. 00:28:07.540 --> 00:28:08.350 You need a rescuer. 00:28:10.340 --> 00:28:14.580 But because of Jesus, you have the opportunity to walk in the newness of life. 00:28:15.360 --> 00:28:21.300 Consider that position and the privilege it is now to be the representative, hands and feet of Jesus in this world. 00:28:22.760 --> 00:28:23.800 You are his forever. 00:28:25.040 --> 00:28:26.400 A child of God, not of this world. 00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:29.640 To live for his glory and goodness. 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:36.260 And then number two, then in your notes is this present yourself? 00:28:37.860 --> 00:28:42.920 Present yourself, he says, Let no sin, therefore reign in your mortal bodies. 00:28:42.980 --> 00:28:46.160 You don't belong to that anymore to make you obey its passions. 00:28:47.500 --> 00:28:54.760 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourself to God 00:28:54.760 --> 00:29:01.490 as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 00:29:04.680 --> 00:29:07.340 this idea of instruments are literally instruments of warfare. 00:29:08.760 --> 00:29:16.020 God's given you certain strengths and abilities, and you can use those abilities to destroy the things in this world. 00:29:17.080 --> 00:29:20.840 Or you can use it to bless the things in this world through your relationship in God. 00:29:22.020 --> 00:29:28.720 But it's all about understanding your position in him and then presenting yourself for that purpose rather than for the purpose of this world. 00:29:29.580 --> 00:29:34.980 You present yourself to the to the purposes of the Lord that he can work in you and through you. 00:29:35.840 --> 00:29:42.860 You know, I was a part of a meeting this past week with this group of leaders, and their heart 00:29:42.860 --> 00:29:49.960 was to want to help our society in general, especially our young people in our area, to make better 00:29:49.960 --> 00:29:51.020 choices in life. 00:29:51.100 --> 00:29:58.260 And they wanted to they wanted to create opportunities for kids, to find better places, to do things, 00:29:58.340 --> 00:29:59.140 to make better choices. 00:29:59.660 --> 00:30:00.570 They're worried about influence. 00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:06.060 And, I wanted to get to the root of why do we even think that's important? 00:30:06.140 --> 00:30:06.740 Why does that matter? 00:30:06.780 --> 00:30:07.200 And how are you going? 00:30:07.280 --> 00:30:08.100 How are you going to do it? 00:30:08.860 --> 00:30:11.660 And they look at kids are making bad choices in some ways. 00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:15.130 Sometimes not all kids, not all, all the time, but some ways sometimes. 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:18.540 And they want kids to be influenced to make better choices. 00:30:19.540 --> 00:30:24.360 And they looked at the list of the things kids were doing they didn't like, and they wanted to help kids to make better choices. 00:30:24.420 --> 00:30:26.380 And I said, what's what's your motivation to this? 00:30:27.100 --> 00:30:27.690 How are you going to do that? 00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:35.200 And my concern was when kids see bad things that can happen the way that we inspire them to do better things is guilt and shame. 00:30:36.460 --> 00:30:37.000 Guilt and shame. 00:30:37.120 --> 00:30:37.660 What's wrong with you? 00:30:37.820 --> 00:30:39.000 You screw up, right? 00:30:39.500 --> 00:30:40.580 Make better choices. 00:30:41.660 --> 00:30:45.800 I find that can be a motivator. 00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:47.520 But that's an awful motivator. 00:30:48.980 --> 00:30:50.620 It'll work, but it only work for a little bit. 00:30:53.120 --> 00:30:54.140 What's far better? 00:30:56.580 --> 00:30:57.540 His identity and love. 00:30:59.460 --> 00:31:00.720 Your true identity and love. 00:31:02.100 --> 00:31:07.760 I don't think discipline is a bad thing, but discipline needs to be motivated out of love, wanting the best for them to succeed. 00:31:09.320 --> 00:31:14.720 And I think this is what Jesus has done for us in Romans to this point, that God's honest with our sin. 00:31:16.020 --> 00:31:17.380 We got to be honest with our sin. 00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:19.500 We're not trying to cover it up. 00:31:19.540 --> 00:31:20.680 We're not trying to mask it over. 00:31:20.680 --> 00:31:23.280 And we don't have to do that because God is gracious. 00:31:24.860 --> 00:31:25.570 He is so gracious. 00:31:25.700 --> 00:31:28.960 He gives us a place to be honest with where we fail. 00:31:30.700 --> 00:31:34.400 Now we get to bring that before him and he doesn't reject us in it because his grace abounds. 00:31:36.040 --> 00:31:39.220 But it speaks to the magnitude of the depth of God's love towards us. 00:31:39.260 --> 00:31:41.000 And while we were sinners, Christ died for us. 00:31:42.360 --> 00:31:49.640 So that we can find a new identity in him, a new purpose, a new pursuit of life, desiring to live now for a new king and his kingdom. 00:31:50.280 --> 00:31:52.140 Something completely different in other. 00:31:52.180 --> 00:31:56.930 And we can position ourselves and the recognition of that and surrender ourselves to that for his glory. 00:31:57.260 --> 00:31:58.130 And that is far healthier. 00:32:00.440 --> 00:32:02.240 That God's grace would abound over and over. 00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:09.400 In fact, in verse 14, it says this for sin will have no dominion over you since you are not 00:32:09.400 --> 00:32:12.520 under law but under grace. 00:32:14.440 --> 00:32:15.640 It never ends. 00:32:17.220 --> 00:32:20.940 It's new for me every moment of every day because God is that good. 00:32:21.120 --> 00:32:23.720 It reminds me of a story of Winston Churchill. 00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:31.420 There was a story where this wealthy family was having a party on an on their estate with all these other wealthy people. 00:32:31.620 --> 00:32:37.040 And in England and at this estate, there was a young boy that he lived there. 00:32:37.300 --> 00:32:37.820 It was his home. 00:32:37.960 --> 00:32:41.550 But he fell into some water and he didn't know how to swim. 00:32:41.560 --> 00:32:42.720 And he started to drown. 00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:43.960 And he was screaming for help. 00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:52.000 And at this party, the gardener heard it and he ran to the water and he jumped in just as the child was going under and 00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:52.500 drowning. 00:32:52.920 --> 00:32:55.070 And he pulled the kid out and he brought the kid to shore. 00:32:55.720 --> 00:33:01.280 And by that point, now, the party had accumulated next to the pond because of the noise and chaos. 00:33:01.500 --> 00:33:04.140 And the gardener was able to spare the life of the child. 00:33:05.400 --> 00:33:07.740 And that child was none other than Winston Churchill. 00:33:08.860 --> 00:33:12.340 And the parents looked at the gardener and they said, You've saved the life of her kid. 00:33:12.780 --> 00:33:14.500 Tell us anything that we could do for you. 00:33:14.800 --> 00:33:17.390 And the gardener said, One day, I want my son to go to college. 00:33:17.460 --> 00:33:18.440 I want him to become a doctor. 00:33:19.900 --> 00:33:20.580 Many years later. 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:22.060 Winston Churchill as an adult. 00:33:22.500 --> 00:33:23.680 One day he gets pneumonia. 00:33:25.880 --> 00:33:28.100 And they called the best doctor in England. 00:33:29.520 --> 00:33:31.580 And that doctor's name was Alexander Fleming. 00:33:33.040 --> 00:33:37.400 He was the doctor of the gardener that rescued Winston Churchill's life. 00:33:38.540 --> 00:33:43.830 And this ends up becoming now the doctor that now saves Winston Churchill again from pneumonia. 00:33:44.120 --> 00:33:48.910 And not only does he save Winston Churchill, this is actually the same doctor that discovered penicillin. 00:33:49.340 --> 00:33:52.470 So all of us have a lot to be thankful in this story. 00:33:53.140 --> 00:33:59.500 But Winston Churchill remarked in that moment, he said, it's rare that one person owe their life to someone twice. 00:34:02.080 --> 00:34:03.180 And it's a beautiful picture. 00:34:03.280 --> 00:34:07.390 I think of grace, but on a greater scale when you think in terms of Jesus. 00:34:09.360 --> 00:34:12.219 His grace rescues us that way every day. 00:34:13.940 --> 00:34:14.600 Again and again. 00:34:14.780 --> 00:34:18.020 He renews us in his goodness. 00:34:19.480 --> 00:34:26.620 It becomes a place for us in that transformation of God's abounding grace to then respond. 00:34:27.880 --> 00:34:29.020 For that king and his kingdom. 00:34:30.159 --> 00:34:31.000 I'll close with this. 00:34:31.880 --> 00:34:34.400 There was a farmer who. 00:34:35.580 --> 00:34:41.900 I found a little baby eagle that looked lost and abandoned, and he felt pity for this eagle. 00:34:41.900 --> 00:34:45.280 So he decided he was going to take it home and care for this eagle so that it could survive. 00:34:45.380 --> 00:34:47.719 I mean, this is America's bird, for Pete's sake. 00:34:47.820 --> 00:34:49.560 You can't just leave it there to die, right? 00:34:49.780 --> 00:34:52.340 He takes it to the farm and he's trying to figure out how to best care for this eagle. 00:34:52.380 --> 00:34:53.300 And he thinks, You know what? 00:34:53.620 --> 00:34:54.440 I've got some birds. 00:34:54.440 --> 00:34:56.110 They're not the greatest of birds, but they're birds. 00:34:56.780 --> 00:34:58.880 And he threw the eagle in with his chickens. 00:34:59.800 --> 00:35:00.250 And the eagle. 00:35:00.820 --> 00:35:04.140 Eagle learns to survive by living among the chickens. 00:35:04.260 --> 00:35:10.020 In fact, he grows up with the chickens, and his only behavior is to act like a chicken. 00:35:10.020 --> 00:35:10.160 He. 00:35:10.480 --> 00:35:12.860 He walks around packs and eats like a chicken. 00:35:13.220 --> 00:35:16.630 And one day this will say Concerned citizen drives by. 00:35:17.020 --> 00:35:23.060 And he looks out into this farm and he sees an eagle walking around with the chickens and he says to himself, We can't have this. 00:35:23.400 --> 00:35:24.020 This is an eagle. 00:35:24.820 --> 00:35:29.260 And he goes to the farmer and he says, We need to do something about this eagle with these chickens. 00:35:29.260 --> 00:35:30.300 This eagle should not be here. 00:35:30.300 --> 00:35:33.000 And the farmer said he thinks he's a chicken. 00:35:34.340 --> 00:35:35.220 He's grown up with chickens. 00:35:35.220 --> 00:35:36.220 All he knows is chickens. 00:35:36.280 --> 00:35:37.500 So he's just going to live with the chickens. 00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:37.860 And. 00:35:38.240 --> 00:35:40.420 And the man said, I can't go for this. 00:35:40.680 --> 00:35:43.120 He may act like a chicken, but he has the heart of an eagle. 00:35:44.660 --> 00:35:48.650 And so he takes that eagle and he lifts it up into the air and the eagle doesn't respond. 00:35:49.680 --> 00:35:51.770 So he decides, well, this eagle just needs to go higher. 00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:55.000 So he climbs up on the rooftop of the of the house that's there at the farm. 00:35:55.020 --> 00:35:56.440 And he raises the eagle up in the air. 00:35:56.460 --> 00:35:57.860 And the eagle still won't do anything. 00:35:58.040 --> 00:35:59.080 He just wants to act like a chicken. 00:35:59.500 --> 00:36:02.080 Well, finally he goes to the top of the mountain. 00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:04.780 He holds the eagle up. 00:36:06.380 --> 00:36:12.380 And the eagle in that moment looks out over the plains and he spreads his wings and begins to flap and he starts to soar. 00:36:14.860 --> 00:36:20.540 The story goes, the Eagle may have visited that farm again. 00:36:20.540 --> 00:36:21.460 No one really knows. 00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:27.500 But they do know that once he spread his wings, he never returned to the life of a chicken. 00:36:31.160 --> 00:36:33.840 That's the same thing is true for what Jesus has done for us. 00:36:35.800 --> 00:36:39.480 He has put in your heart to those that belong to him something new. 00:36:40.700 --> 00:36:41.740 A newness of life. 00:36:43.300 --> 00:36:46.320 And it is worth far more than the things of this world. 00:36:47.980 --> 00:36:55.320 If God's people would just see the gift of what it is and look at the position for which they have been given and 00:36:55.320 --> 00:37:02.580 surrender their hearts to the greatness that he desires to achieve in them by his power because of his grace. 00:37:02.860 --> 00:37:04.420 That is new every morning.