Look with me again here in Romans
5. And my subject this morning is
grace that transforms or transforming grace. Transforming grace. And it says, therefore being
justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ by whom also we have access by Christ by faith into this
grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Now, grace. Oh, what a wonderful word. What a blessed, blessed word.
What a wonderful word. When you think about grace and
you talk about grace, Grace is what brings salvation to a soul. And when it brings salvation
to a soul, it transforms that soul. Colossians 1.12 says, giving
thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet, made us fit to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, and hath
delivered us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
translated us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of the Son of His love. Now that means that God did it
all. God did it all. That's why we
give thanks to Him. Now if we did it, then we have
to give thanks partly to ourselves. But grace also, the grace of
God that brings salvation. Grace brings it. It hath appeared
to all men. hath appeared, and when grace
appears, and all by what it brings when it appears, if it ever brings
salvation to you, it will change you like you've never
been changed before in your life. I mean it really changes you.
And that's what I'm talking about. It transforms a person's character. You know the character of God's
elect have a different character than those of the world. We're
called the elect of God, beloved of God. You know, we live by
grace, we think of grace, we react to grace, and our persons,
our character has changed. If what you were, you were in
darkness, now you're in light. You were in sin, now you're in
righteousness. You were dead, and now you're
alive. Now, does that don't change your character? You were born
again. A new person come into existence
when God saved you. A new character, a new person.
And not only does it transform a person's character, but it
transforms all their relationships. It transforms your relationships
with your natural family. It transforms your relationship
to the world. It transforms your relationship
to different people, the people that you used to run around with. You don't run around with them
anymore. It changes your relationships. Oh, how it changes your relationships. Your relationship with your spiritual
brethren is closer than the relationship you have with your own family. You know, you can spend time
with your own family and you can go through the conversation
in about half a day. And they're ready for you to
go and you're ready to go. They're just as ready for you
to go as you are to go. Ain't that right? And the Scriptures,
the Scriptures are plain, and they're clear, and they're emphatic
about us, God's people, being new creatures, new creation. We're made and created in righteousness
and true holiness. And it's plain and clear about
us being partakers of the divine nature. And it also teaches us
and it's plain that we cease to be our own. We're not our
own anymore. Why not? Christ bought us with
his own precious blood. We was bought with a price. We
don't belong to ourselves anymore. We belong to Christ. When we
sung that song, Jesus Christ is made to me. All I need, all
I need, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. That means, beloved, everything
we need we have in Christ. And he bought us. We don't belong
to ourselves anymore. When I joined the Marine Corps
back in 1967, they let me know right then and there. They owned
me lock, stock, and barrel. I got off the bus, walked in
that building, and I'm telling you what, you never heard such
screaming and hollering and carrying them. They let me know that I
was going to do what they told me to do, and if I didn't do
it, I'd regret it the rest of my life. And no, listen, if the
world does you that way, imagine what it did. And here's the thing
about it. We're delighted to be His. We love to be owned by
Him. We're so grateful that He bought
us with His price. Lord, here I am. Thank You that
You bought me. Huh? But I want to look at this
statement here in verse 2. Verse 2 here. It says, By whom
also we have access by faith, now listen to this, into this
grace, this grace wherein we stand. We stand in grace. Our standing is in grace. And
I want to look at how this grace and standing in grace transforms
our relationships and changes our relationship. The first relationship
that it changes us to is our relationship with God. Look what
it says there. Therefore being justified by
faith we have what? We have peace with God. Now where
is our justification at? Our justification is there in
Romans chapter 4 verse 25. Christ was delivered for our
offenses and raised again for our justification. So we believe
that Christ died for our sins, raised again to justify us in
God's sight. So then by faith we believe that. We believe that we are justified
by what Christ did and because of what he did we now have peace
with God. Now what does this business mean
having peace with God? Well that means we are no longer
enemies. We're no longer, there was a
time we were enemies of God. We were enemies in our minds
by wicked works. Our carnal mind was enmity against
God. And beloved, and I'll tell you
what, the only people that know that they were enemies of God
and have enmity in their mind is people that's been made peace
with God, that Christ made peace with God. People say, I never
did feel bad about God. Well, then you don't know him.
If you, God ever confronts you, Listen, the very fact that you
don't even think about Him, and not consider Him, shows you that
you got enmity in your mind. The fact that you don't come
to Christ, and you don't bow to Christ, and you don't receive
Christ, and you don't rejoice in His blood and His righteousness,
shows that your mind's in enmity against God. I've got enough
for myself, is what people are thinking. But oh no, we're no
longer under the wrath of God. Thank God we're no longer under
the wrath of God. I remember years and years and
years ago, I was a very young man. And I was setting, and I
saw this business about peace with God. And I realized that
God was no longer mad at me. God wasn't angry with me anymore. You know, this is one thing that
religion always tries to do, is try to get you to make peace
with God by doing something. And then when I found out that
because of what Christ did, God wasn't mad at me anymore, I can't
tell you what happened to me that day. I was sitting in a
chair and I jumped up. Sitting in my living room. Jumped
up. I couldn't get over it. God's
not mad at me anymore. I don't have to try to appease
Him. He's been appeased through the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? And now we're no longer
strangers. There was one time we were strangers. Strangers to God. God was strangers
to us, but we're no longer strangers, but we're sons of God. Sons. Oh, bless His holy name. And
I tell you what, we didn't make peace with Petrus Eldon. I make
you peace with God. But we didn't make peace with
God. Who made peace with God? The Lord Jesus Christ made this
peace. Through the blood of His blessed
cross. I tell you what, our Lord Jesus
Christ, when He faced God, when He was under the wrath of God
and He was under the judgment of God, He stood in our room
instead and all the wrath of God that was against us was taken
out of the way. And He slew that enmity. He came
and slew that enmity that was in our mind. He came and slew
our carnal enmity and the wickedness of our mind. And He reconciled
us to God. And I tell you what, I have peace
with God because, what does it say? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's how it happens. So our
relationship has been transformed with God. Has your relationship
been transformed with God? What do you think of God? How
do you consider God? What's God to you? Let me ask
you this. What would justify God accepting
you and allowing you to have access into His presence? You want to say, well, listen,
you know, I need to do this. What would justify God? What
would clear God if He said, listen, I'll let you into my presence
and I'll be at peace. What would cause God to do that
and let you have peace with Him? I know. I know. And it changes
our relationship with God and also it changes our relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Look down here in Romans 5.12.
Oh my. The scripture says here Wherefore,
as by one man, that one man was Adam, sin entered into this world,
and death by that one sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for in that person they all sinned, that all sinned in
Adam. Oh my, now that's where we were. Now look down here in
verse 19. And this is where we are, that's
where we were. Dead, sinned, born in sin, conceived
in sin. Verse 19, for as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. Now I know over there it said
all. You know why I said many down there in verse 19? Because
all over there that many that he's talking about is the Lord
Jesus Christ the one for whom he died he said all sinned but
Christ didn't die for all he died for the many that he was
given to him and that's why many were made righteous not all men
are made righteous but by his obedience many are and look what
it says back here and look up here I'll tell you what look
in verse Verse 6, it changed our relationship with Christ.
We stood in Adam. We stood as sinners. And look
what it says there, for when we were yet without strength.
Oh my! Dead men ain't got no strength.
Listen, I'll tell you right now, as a believer, and I've been
pastoring this little congregation now for 40 years. And you know
how much strength I got now after 40 years? Still ain't got none. Where do
you get it at? Through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at this. For when we were yet without
strength, when we didn't have any ability, when we could not
come to God, when we didn't have no strength, to pray, to come,
to believe. What happened? Christ died for
the ungodly. You say, I ain't ungodly. You
know what it means to be ungodly? Just to be without God. But now
we are in God. And then look down here in verse
8. Not only are we without strength, But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, not only were we without
strength, we were sinners. Sinners. Sinners. Oh! The boy, O. Scott, used to
say, the more you can convince me of my sin, the more you show
me my help and hope in Christ. Ain't that right? While we were
yet sinners, we were without strength, we were sinners. But
look what happened. Christ died for the ungodly when
we were yet without strength. Christ died for us. Both times it says Christ died
for us. When we were without strength
and while we were yet sinners. His blood justified us and His
blood cleansed us. Look what it says down here in
verse 9. Much more than being now justified. You see it is
raised for our justification. Justified by His blood. What do you mean justified by
it? By his death. That's what it means. His blood
justified us and cleansed us. And look what it says, we shall
be safe from wrath through him. You see, his death is what reconciled
us to God. Talked about us being enemies.
There was this great distance between us and God. Oh, what
a distance. Great guff was fixed. Well, how
in the world is this man over here that's an enemy of God?
And God who's an enemy of man. How are they going to be reconciled?
How am I without strength? How am I as a sinner? How are
you without strength? And how are you as a sinner going
to be reconciled to God who is holy and righteous and just?
How are you going to be reconciled? How are they going to be brought
together? Well, we can't reconcile ourselves to Him. There's nothing we can do. Say,
listen, I'm going to make friends with God. I'm going to go up to God and
I'm going to make friends with Him. No, no. We're the ones that was
wrong. God's always right. So how in
the world are we going to be reconciled to Him? Brought back
together? much more being justified by
his blood we shall be reconciled through his life Christ died
and we slew that enmity and he brought us to God and brought
God to us and brought us together now God's not mad at us and we're
not we're in fact we're one Oh, you know, whenever you're
out of pocket with somebody or you feel like somebody's out
of pocket with you, don't you worry about, well, what can I
do to get this thing right? I need to get this thing right.
I need to make amends. I need to say I'm sorry. I need
to get back in fellowship with this person. And listen, if you
worry about your earthly relationships like that when you get out of
pocket, You imagine how hard it is, you know, what it is for
us to be reconciled to God. Oh, God had to come where we
were. And God had to make himself known
to us and slay that enmity and bring us to him. Well, how did
he do that? Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then not only that, he reconciled us to God. But his righteousness
has imputed us. His righteousness is our righteousness. Look what it said here in verse,
back up here in Romans chapter 4 verse 21. Look what it says
there in Romans 4 verse 21. Now God spoke to Abraham and
he believed God, fully persuaded he believed God. And so therefore,
being fully persuaded that what God had promised, promised him
a Messiah, promised him righteousness, promised him salvation, was able
also to perform. And therefore he was imputed
or reckoned to his account for righteousness. Now listen to
this now. God said, Abraham, you're a righteous
man. Now watch what he says. Now it
was not written for his sake alone. God didn't write this
just for Abraham, so Abraham would know it, that it was imputed
to him, but for us also. to whom he shall be imputed now
listen to this Abraham believe God if we believe on him that
raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead I believe that Christ
was raised from the dead that God raised him from the dead
don't you and here why and here's the reason why we were justified
who was delivered for our sins and God raised him up to justify
us And oh my, bless His holy name. We have the righteousness
of Christ. And oh, I tell you what, then
it says there in verse 2 here of Romans 5, by whom also we
have access. You know how you get access to
God? Access into the presence of God? Through grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our standing, our standing is
in Him and Him alone. I can't, we just can't, we cannot
stress this stuff. We just cannot deal with this
stuff enough. Huh? What we do believe, we believe
God's record. This is God's record concerning
His Son. You ever been to the courthouse
to look up records? We had that wedding last week.
And they record that marriage. They record it. You gotta go
to the courthouse and record it. You sign the papers and you
get somebody to witness to it. You tell them who you are and
when all this happened. And you take it to the courthouse
and they record it. 25 years from now, 50 years from
now, you can go to the courthouse and say so and so got married
at such and such a day by such and such a person at such and
such a time at such and such a place. Well, God gave us a
record. And we can go to His blessed
book and find out what He says about His Son. And everything
He says about His Son, we believe it. Huh? We believe that God said that
there's no way to us to get to Him but by the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that He said He's
His righteousness and we believe that. We believe that He did
it all, all to Him we owe. Oh, we're joined to Christ. We're
in union with Christ. I believe everything God said
about His blessed Son. Oh, so our relationship's been
changed with God. Our relationship's been changed
with our Lord Jesus Christ. Transformed, and then took to
the Holy Spirit. He made also our relationship
to the Holy Spirit's been transformed. Look what it says here, back
up here in verse 5 of Romans 5. And hope maketh not ashamed,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. How? By
the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. You know why we love God? Because
He first loved us. How do we know He loved us? He
sent the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit come into our hearts
and He revealed the love of God and the love of Christ to us
and He filled our hearts and made that love of God just spread
abroad in our hearts and it makes us spread abroad and we hear
the gospel and it makes our hearts just rejoice. It just fills it up and it spreads
it abroad. It spreads it so far that it
loves all the Lord's people. It loves the gospel. It loves
the Lord's Word. Oh my. And you know our Lord
Jesus promised us. He said, you know, He said, I'm
going to go away. I'm going to go away. But I'm
not going to leave you without any comfort. He said, you know,
He said, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. I'm going to send
the Holy Ghost to you. And He's going to come to you.
And you're not seeing me anymore in this world, but you shall
see me. Well, how are we going to see Him? By the Holy Ghost
shed abroad in our hearts by the love of God. We found out
that there was never a time that God didn't love us. He shed that
abroad in our hearts. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. He shed that abroad in our hearts.
He said, God committed his love toward us that Christ died for
us while we were yet sinners. He spread that abroad in our
hearts. Oh my. He was given unto us. He was promised to us. He's the
one that teaches us. You know why we learn anything
today? Because of the Holy Spirit. Not because of the preacher.
No. No, no. If you learn anything,
the Holy Spirit's the one that teaches you. I know He uses men. I know that. I understand that.
But yet, that's why we pray, Lord, this Gospel's in Your hands.
This Word is in Your hands. And oh my! He was sent to guide
us, to comfort us. And oh my! Bless His holy name. He shed abroad His elective love
in our hearts. And you know something else about
the Holy Spirit? Not only is the love of God shed
abroad in our hearts, but He's the one that lets us know we're
children of God. Look over here in Romans 8.16.
You know how we know we're God's child? The Spirit itself bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. The Spirit this
morning is bearing witness to you, bearing witness to your
heart, bearing witness to your soul, bearing witness to your
spirit. I'm a child of God. I believe what I'm hearing. The Spirit bears witness to that. And you say, yes, I'm a child
of God. How do you know? The Spirit tells you. If a preacher gets you saved,
he's got to keep you saved. If a church saves you, then the
church's got to keep you saved. If a mortar's bench got you saved,
then you've got to keep coming to the mortar bench to stay saved.
But if God saves you, then you're saved forever. He begun a good work and he'll
finish that work. And I tell you what, you know
the only way you know you're a child of God, I can't tell
whether you're a child, I can't tell you that. People say, you
reckon I'm saved? I don't know. Only God knows
that and you. I've got a pretty good hope,
I've got a pretty good indication. You know, people that love the
gospel and attend the gospel and delight in the gospel, I
believe they're children of God. But it comes right down looking
into a man's heart, only God knows that. And that's why we're
willing to leave every soul in this building, everybody I preach
to, in the hands of God to do with them as it seems good in
His sight. Huh? Alright, here's another thing
that we've been transformed by, and two, is the law of God. Look down here in Romans 5 and
verse 20. Oh, our relationship to the Lord
Jesus Christ, our relationship to the Father, our relationship
to the Holy Spirit, all these have been transformed. We have
this wonderful peace with God. We have this blessed justification
and cleansing and reconciliation and righteousness and access
by Lord Jesus Christ. But oh my, our relationship to
the law has been changed. Look what it says here in verse
20. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.
Now here's why God sent the law. to show us how sinful we are. You know, when you look at the
law, I don't know, when we look at the law, we're talking about
the moral commandments, the ten commandments. Four of them have
our relationship with God, six of them our relationship with
one another. Now I'm going to say something right here. Does
anybody in this building this morning, Love God with all your
heart, your mind, your soul, and your body. Well, I don't because of my flesh. Not my offense, but my sin abounds
because I don't love Him. And then the second one, does
any of us in here love our neighbors just like we love ourselves? Do you know why the law comes? To show us just how sinful we
are for not loving God, for not loving our neighbor. And if we go through every one
of them, our offense just, boom, boom, boom, boom, it'll bounce. It'll bounce. You know, when
you look at the law, condemned. Guilty, guilty, guilty. Guilty,
guilty, guilty. Guilty, guilty, guilty. Guilty. You name any commandment
God had, I'm guilty. I'm not kept for one of them.
In fact, I broke them 10,000 times 10,000. It's just in my
mind. Huh? And we're under His curse. Cursing is everyone that continues
not in all things in the law to do them. And I've told you this before,
if you want to start a fight, you just go home and lay down
the law. You go home and lay down the
law to your kids that are 15, 16, 17 years old and see what
happens. That's what God does. He lays
down the law. And you know what reaction it causes in us? Wrath. I don't want to be under subjection. I don't care. I don't want nobody
having any authority over me. And that's what Adam said. That's
what Adam said. We don't like someone demanding
us to do something. We can ask. We can plead. We can say please, but God don't
say any of that when he views us in the law. Very, very few people can bear
someone having authority over them. And that's why the first few
years of marriage, it's tough. The first two or three, four
years of marriage is tough. You know why? It's because the
man's always wanting the woman. to do what he says. And the woman
always said, well, if you love me a little better, I might be
willing to do a little more. And I tell you, people wear these
hats. These women wear these bonnets
to show that they're under subjection to a man. But I tell you this,
you take women out of Armenianism, out of free willism, out of Church
of God and Pentecostalism, and they'll have to close the doors. Ain't that the truth? That's
the truth. I'm telling you the truth. So, very few people can bear
someone having authority over them. And when they do, their
hatred and their resistance and their struggling and murmuring
is proof of their sin. Proof of their sin. But now look
over here in Romans 6 and verse 14. I tell you what. Oh boy, it transformed our relationship
with the law. You know, and this is heart issues.
God didn't say with the You know a person can have your body and
not have your heart. You know a wedding ring don't
make you married. A license don't make you married. You know what
makes you married? Love. Love. And you know what? Beloved, since we don't have
that love that God sends, here's what He says now. Watch this. Romans 6.14, For sin shall not
have dominion over you. Now, what in the world is He
talking about? Well, sin finds its strength in the law. Sin
finds its strength in the law. You lay down the law and sin
resisted. You lay down the law and sin
says, you know why so many people have divorces? It's because one
tries to have more authority over the other one than they
should. If there's love involved, there's no divorces. People say, well, I loved him
once, but I fell out of love. You never loved him if you fell
out of love. But I'm telling you what, sin
finds its strength and somebody said, listen, don't do that.
I told you not to do that. It's like that little boy you
know, he said, Jimmy sit down, Jimmy sit down, Jimmy sit down. He finally sat down and said,
I may be sitting down on the outside, but I'm still standing
up on the inside. Now that's where sin finds its
strength, in the law. But we're not under law. We're
sitting down on the inside too. We're sitting down on the inside
too. For sin shall not have dominion over you. Why? Because you're
not under the law. Oh, what are you under then?
Under grace. We're not under the law. We're
not under the law as a covenant. We're not under the law as a
curse. We're not under the law as condemnation. But look what
he says. Verse 15, what shall we say then?
Shall we consent, sin because we're not under the law, but
under grace? God forbid! Oh! Listen. We're under the reign
of grace. And what does grace do? Like
I said, it sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts. Oh, listen,
it brings life, it brings love, it brings liberty. Shall we go
back under the dominion of sin because this grace saves us?
This grace causes us to stand? Oh, the reign of love, the reign
of life, the reign of liberty we have in Christ. Who would
want to go back under that? And that's why it says grace
wherein we stand. Jesus changes our relationship
to the power of sin. Sin don't have to reinvent it
over you. And where Christ's blood cleanses
us of its guilt, sin's guilt, and where the guilt is gone,
there's freedom from the power of it. Huh? When Christ took away your guilt,
then He took away the power of sin. Ain't that right? Why did He take away the power
of sin? He put it away. And we believe it's put away.
Now what are we going to do? Are we all going to go home and
rip and roar and do all kinds of evil things and wicked things
because we're under grace? No! He changed our heart. And oh my, sin is manifested
in many, many ways. It's deceitful and deceiving. It's hard and hardening. And
the blood, the blood takes away the guilt. The love of God takes
away that hard heart, gives a heart of flesh. And I tell you something else,
we as believers know how deceitful sin is. You know why we know how deceitful
it is? Because we know ourselves. And you know one person we don't
trust? Is ourselves. All right, let me look over here
in Galatians chapter 1 verse 4. Let me show you something
else that's transformed our relationship. Something else has transformed
our relationship. I've got to hurry. Look what
it says up here in verse 3. Galatians 1.3, Grace be to you
and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ
who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from
this present evil world according to the will of God our Father.
Oh, he transformed our relationship with the world. Huh? We once
walked according to the course of this world. The prince of
the power of the air. But now, do you love the world as it is?
Do you love the political system? Do you love the economic system,
the social system? Do you love the way that people
act in the world? No, no we don't. No, we don't. We were once in it. We've been
chosen out of it. We've been called out of it.
We've been redeemed from it. And we're in it, but not of it. I get so sick of hearing the
same old, same old, same old. And you know why you folks come
here Wednesday nights and Sunday morning, Sunday night? To get
out of the world and get cleansed from the old world that you have
to live in. Oh, John Newton said this, he said, you know, going
in the world is like walking out into the rain. He said, when
you get in the rain, you want to get back out just as quick
as you can. He said, that's the way it is going in the world.
You're going out there where it's pouring down the rain, and
you want to get back in and out of the world, and that's what
it is. You have to deal with it. But it's not fun, is it? All the things that they say
about God, say about Christ, And these politicians, if they
open their mouth, they're lying. And if you find a preacher, 9
out of 10 of them or 99 out of 100, if they're opening their
mouth, they're lying too. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. And then our
relationship to good works, it transformed our relationship
to good works. Let's go back over to Romans
chapter 5. Go back over there. I'll hurry.
I really will. I've got a couple things to say.
And I'll just skim through them. But it changed our relationships
to good works. Look what it says up there in
verse 7. Romans 5, 7. Scarcely for a righteous man
will one die. Well, we weren't righteous. Christ,
we have His righteousness. And I tell you what. And yet for a good man, some
would even dare to die. We weren't good men, we weren't
righteous men. We were sinners. Until grace
came, now I'm telling you something now, until grace came, we trusted
in our good works for salvation. I did myself. I trusted in what
I was doing for my acceptance with God. Are you trusting in
what you're doing for your acceptance with God? Well then there's only
two ways to be accepted of God. Either by something you do or
something God does. No middle ground. It's either
of works and it's not of grace or it's all of grace and not
of works. You can't mix them up. It can't
be part of grace and part of works. And if you work for God
to accept you, then God will have to pay you, and then it
ceases to be grace. It's a payday. Ain't that right? And if God pays a man what's
due him, you know what will happen? Go ahead and stand up for God
and say, listen, I'm here on what I do. You know what the scripture said?
Our righteousnesses are as a filthy rag. When grace came, it brought
a righteousness and we understood that everything we ever done
before Christ saved us amounted to 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and more
zeros. Oh, we even trusted in our good
works for our blessings. And preachers, they encourage
that. When something bad happens to
you, you say, well, God's chastising you. You must have sinned. That's
what you know. I've been there. I know what
they're saying. You know, you have a flat tire
somewhere? Well, you must have sinned. That's
the first thing to have you think. What did I do that God caused
this tire to go flat? Oh, listen. My wife's in the hospital sick.
What in the world have we done that you guys are doing this
to us? You know, that's the first preachers want you to think that.
Want you to feel guilty. But oh my, when grace came it
showed us our very best, was this filthy rags. That man in
his best state is altogether vanity. And now beloved, we understand
by grace, not saved because of good works, not saved because
anything we do to get a blessing, How in the world, and I'm going
to tell you something else, if you ever brag about a good work
you've done, you've ruined it that quick. That's self-righteousness. The minute you say, boy, I tell
you, well, let me tell you something I've done this week. Tell you
something I did for God this week. You done ruined it. You know why works by a man can't
be any good? Because he's a man. But all listen, for by grace
are you saved through faith, and not of yourselves. It's the
gift of God. Listen to it now. Not of works,
lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, God's
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. Listen to it. Unto good
works. Now, wait a minute. which God
had before ordained that we should walk in them. We don't know when
we do a good work. We don't have a clue when we
do one. But God knows. That's all that matters. All
right. And let me hurry you, I've got
to really, really hurry. Let me give you one more, two
more here real quick. Back here in Romans 5. He said,
I'll tell you what, it transforms our relationship with our trials
and our afflictions. Look what it says there in verse
3. We glory in tribulations. Oh
my, you mean we rejoice in our troubles when our trials? Well,
why do we? But knowing that these tribulations,
they work patience. We learn to wait on God. We learn
to just keep on keeping on. And then this patience while
we wait, it works experience in our hearts. We've been through
this before. You know, I know a preacher friend, he lost
two of his children. Two of his children. And you know what? He preached
both of the funerals. And he got in the pulpit and
just kept on preaching. You say, that would just be devastating.
It was. It was as devastating to him as it would be to anybody
else. But he had been through experiences.
He had been through tribulations. And it gave him patience to wait
on God. God, this will pass. And his experience gave him a
blessed hope that I'll see him again, and God saved him, and
God will take me to glory, and I'll be done with this old world
here. And I tell you what, when we were unconverted, we
considered them our enemies. Now they're not. Paul said, I
reckon that the sufferings of our present time are not worthy
to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us. And
oh my, let me show you this. It transformed our relationship
to death. Look over here in Romans 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. It changed our relationship to
death. Oh my goodness. It changed our
relationship to death. Oh, before grace came, death
was called the grim, grim reaper. He come in an old, big, old,
dark cloak and hood over his hand and a big old scythe in
his hand. He gonna come and mow you down.
Dark foreboding. But oh, look what it said here
in verse 55. Oh, listen. Now death is a conquered
foe. Oh, death! Where is thy sting? You know you get stung by a wasp
or something they leave their sting in you. Now he can just
land on you somewhere else and sting you and it won't hurt.
That's the way death was. It had sting to it. Christ went
up there and jerked it out. Now when death comes, it ain't
going to have no sting to it. Look what he says. Oh grave,
where's your victory? The sting of death is sin. Well,
Christ put sin away by the sacrifice of himself. The strength of sin
is the law. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness then. But thanks be unto God which
gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Death
now is a conquered foe. You know what he is? He's our
friend to usher us into the presence of our blessed glorious Lord.
You know, back in the olden days, if you was going to meet a king,
you had to be dressed a certain way and wait in an ante room,
and then they'd say, well, the king will be here. Well, we're
in the ante room, and we're already dressed to go. And one of these
days, we're in the ante room right now. We're outside waiting,
and the king's going to holler, come on! And that's all he's going to
be a friend. He said, I come to take you. I come to take you
home. I come to take you in the presence
of your blessed Lord. And then Romans transformed our
relationship to the judgment. There is therefore now, now,
now, now, now, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
Always trains our relationship to everything. Amen. Amen. Our blessed, blessed Master,
our gracious Lord Jesus Christ, how blessed and glorious and
holy. You are. Thank you for your gospel. Thank
you for your word. Thank you for the blessed truth.
Thank you for the saints of God that so rejoices in it. Lord,
we wouldn't know anything if you hadn't brought us grace and
hadn't taught us. And we thank you for it. Lord, save your people
in this place. Bless us now as we go into this
baptismal service. Help us to honor you and glorify
you. We thank you and praise you in
Christ's name. Amen. What's that song, Gary, that's
Free From the Law, Oh Happy Condition? What's the name of that song?
It's 50-55 or something.