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Pastor Herb, why don't you give us an update on the Dad the Family Shepherds Conference

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which you're coordinating for our church this next weekend.

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Alright, if you have additional questions regarding the conference, be sure to see him

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after the service tonight.

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There's still time for all of you men to register.

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You say, well it talks about Dad and I'm not a dad yet.

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Well that's fine.

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Maybe you will be one day and you'll be learning some principles that will help you,

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not only as a father but as a husband in your home.

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It was about seven years ago that there was a meeting of a lot of people in the boardroom

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over Grace Church Edina which was then called Edina Baptist Church.

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And the purpose of the meeting was to decide a name for the new church which was going

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to be in Edina and in Roseville.

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What were we going to call it?

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There was an opportunity given to the congregation to bring suggestions to the attention of the

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leadership and there were some 70 plus suggestions.

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Some of them good and some of them perhaps less than good.

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But there were a lot of suggestions and we went through them one by one, ruling out the

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ones that didn't seem appropriate.

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And we went through the whole list and there wasn't one that just quite struck us.

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It wasn't quite there.

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And then someone suggested Grace, Grace Community Church perhaps.

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And there were some who said, well I don't like the idea of community in there.

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We want to be a regional church.

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Let's just call it Grace Church.

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And then we decided that we would attach the name of the city or the suburb in which the

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church was located to it.

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And that's how we came up with the name Grace Church Roseville.

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It was not some complicated procedure although it did take some time to accomplish that.

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We chose the name Grace for a number of reasons.

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The fact that Grace is the message that we preach and Grace is a word that has a warm

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sound to it.

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It has an attractive sound.

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People are not turned off by the word Grace.

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Can you imagine being called Law Church of Roseville?

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Let's suppose churches were named after what they're like.

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Divided Baptist Church.

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Lukewarm Methodist.

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I saw one for sure that was almost as bad.

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It was Corinth Baptist Church.

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Now if you know anything about the city of Corinth, in the New Testament times you know

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that that's not exactly the kind of a name you want, but it was in a city called Corinth.

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I guess that was the reason it was called Corinth Baptist Church.

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We called ourselves Grace Church because we preach the gospel of the grace of God.

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Because we want our name to be one that communicates not only a message but an invitation for people

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to feel free to come and to hear what God has to say.

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The apostle Paul taught the grace of God.

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His teaching about grace was so sweeping in the book of Romans as he addressed those believers

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in the city of Rome.

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His teaching about grace was so sweeping in its content that he anticipated some objections

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to what he had to say.

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God's grace by the way is defined in various ways, but it is God's favor isn't it?

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God's favor which is toward those who deserve wrath.

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Or it is God's undeserved favor toward us.

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Paul had a lot to say about God's grace.

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Because of what he said, he knew that there would be some, particularly those of a Jewish

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background who would not agree with what he said about grace.

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Because they had a commitment to the law of Moses.

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One of the things that Paul affirms in the first five chapters of the book is that the

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grace of God is greater than the sin of man.

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The grace of God is greater than the sin of man.

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For example in chapter five and verse twenty it says in the last part of the verse, where

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sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

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Where sin abounds, it says, God's grace super abounds.

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It exceedingly abounds.

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God's grace is greater than man's sin.

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And so Paul knew that there would be some who would say in response to that, well if

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that's the case, if my sin makes God's grace super abound, perhaps then I should

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sin all the more.

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And then God's grace will abound all the more.

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And God will even be more glorified because I sin more.

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You see how that reasoning goes?

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And so the apostle Paul approaches that by a question in chapter six and verse one where

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he says, what shall we say then?

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Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?

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You see the apostle here envisions an antagonist.

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Someone who's going to attack what he said about grace.

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And so he approaches it with this question.

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What shall we say?

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Shall we continue in sin?

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Make that our lifestyle?

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Shall we continue on that way so that God's grace can even abound the more?

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And thus God be glorified.

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His response is, may it never be.

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God forbid that it should be so.

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And then the apostle Paul taught in these early chapters of the book of Romans that

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the law was not given to provide a means of salvation by works.

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Now particularly those of the Pharisees disagreed with that.

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For to them the means of salvation was in fact keeping the law.

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And they had elaborate ways of keeping hundreds of minute regulations in the law.

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Or so they thought they kept them.

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It was an outward righteousness, a superficial self-righteousness.

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Not one of the heart, not one that God could accept.

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Paul affirms in this book that the law was not given to provide a means of salvation

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by works.

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For example, in chapter 3 and verse 20 he says, because by the works of the law no flesh

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will be justified in God's sight.

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That is, no flesh, no person can be declared right with God through the works of the law.

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Indeed the apostle goes on to say that the purpose of the law was actually to expose

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sin.

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God gave the law to define sin and to show the sinner his just condemnation before a

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holy God.

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Paul says in this verse, for through the law or by means of the law comes the knowledge

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or the recognition of sin.

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Sin is there all along but until God gave some standards, some commands, that sin was

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not defined, it was not clarified.

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And so God gave the law with its standards.

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And once that was done then sin could be recognized for what it was.

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And in verse 28 he says, for we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works

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of the law.

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There are many cults today that call themselves Christian which mingle law and grace.

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And they say yes you believe in Jesus Christ but you must also keep certain aspects of

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the law.

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When that is done grace is made null and void.

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You cannot mix grace and law.

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The apostle says here that the works of the law have nothing to do with justification

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because that is by faith.

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Well he could hear his antagonist say something like this, if I'm no longer under the law,

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if I'm free from the law, then I am free to live the way I want to without any restraint

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on me whatsoever.

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So the apostle Paul anticipating that kind of response poses another question in chapter

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6 and verse 15.

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He says, what then?

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And notice a very similar kind of construction there as in verse 1.

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What shall we say then?

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Here he says, what then?

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Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?

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He says may it never be.

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And so the apostle taught that the grace of God is greater than the sin of man.

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He taught that the law was not given to provide the means of salvation by works but rather

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its purpose of being given was to expose sin and to show the sinner his just condemnation.

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Then he taught that the law actually not only exposes sin but it stimulates sin in the sinner.

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The law increases sin in the sinner.

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For example in chapter 5 and verse 20 he says, and the law came in that the transgression

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might increase.

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One of the results of the law is that it actually stimulates the heart of the sinner to disobey.

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You see that very simply in a child.

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You say to a child, now don't touch that.

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Mommy just bake that cake and we're going to have it for supper for dessert tonight

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so don't you touch it.

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And mommy walks out of the room and what does little Johnny think about?

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The only thing he can think about is what that cake must taste like.

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And the very command not to do it was actually an agitation within his little sinful heart

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to go over there and try it.

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And what you see in that simple illustration of a child works the same way with the law

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of God in the adult.

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The apostle Paul in chapter 7 points out his own experience.

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He said, I really didn't know what coveting was until I read what the law said, you shall

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not covet.

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And then he said, boy I was overwhelmed with it.

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Because you see the law of God agitates sin.

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Now because he taught that the apostle Paul knew that there would be an objection.

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He knew that someone might well say, if the law then increases sin, if it stimulates sin

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in me, then the law is made sinful.

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And so the apostle answers that again by a question in chapter 7 and verse 7.

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He says, what shall we say then?

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Is the law sin?

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Is it made sinful because it stimulates sin in the sinner?

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He says, may it never be.

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And so you see the apostle Paul goes ahead of his readers anticipating the objections

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particularly of those who came from a background of Judaism.

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Answering those objections in advance.

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Declaring the sweeping, the exceeding abundant grace of God toward sinners.

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The grace of God saves me from the wrath of God.

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Now the apostle Paul is going to go on to say in chapters 6, 7, and 8 that the same

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grace of God that saves me from the wrath of God also saves me from the power of sin.

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That's what he's going to say.

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The same grace of God that delivers me from the guilt of my sinfulness is the same grace

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that enables me to overcome the power of sin in my daily life.

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He is going to say that the same grace of God that declares us right with God makes

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us righteous in our living.

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Theologians use two big words for this.

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God declaring us righteous is what?

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Justification.

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Now he says that in chapter 5, he uses that very word for example in verse 18.

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He talks about the one act of righteousness of Christ and his death on the cross which

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resulted in justification of life.

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But notice in verse 19 he talks about that same obedience of Christ by which the many

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will be made righteous.

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That my friend is sanctification.

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Justification in verse 18.

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But being made righteous or constituted as righteous in verse 19 is sanctification.

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The one is a legal term.

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God declaring us to be right with himself in his eyes to be righteous because of the

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work of Jesus Christ, an act of grace.

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But now God's grace goes on to work in our lives so not only are we declared righteous

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in the sight of God, but we are made righteous in the way that we live.

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The one is a legal term.

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The other is shall we say a lifestyle term.

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It is God working in us to make us righteous in the way that we conduct ourselves.

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You cannot separate justification and sanctification.

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Justification or salvation is the theme of chapters, begins in chapters 3, chapters 4

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and 5 of Romans.

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Now he's going to talk about sanctification, holiness in the life of the one who is believed,

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chapters 6, 7 and 8.

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There is no division here.

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There is a flow from chapter 5 right into chapter 6.

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The theme of tonight's message, which we're not going to finish tonight but which we will

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continue the Lord willing next week, is the key to victory over sin.

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The text we're going to look at is found in chapter 6 verses 1, 2 and 3.

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It says, What shall we say then, are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?

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May it never be.

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How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

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Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been

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baptized into his death?

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The key to victory is found in the simple phrase found in verse 2 where it says, We

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died to sin.

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That is the key.

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It is the truth that is contained in those words, We died to sin.

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That being so, how can we live in it anymore as a habit of life, as a way of life?

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Because something profound has happened to us because we have been saved by grace.

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God has done a deep work in our lives.

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It is that we died to sin, to sin as a power in us.

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I want to talk first about that personal pronoun, this plural here, We.

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The apostle says, We died to sin.

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Of whom does he speak?

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Who are we that he talks about?

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Well, let's answer that several ways.

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In the first place, we are those who were under the condemnation of God.

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Make no mistake about it.

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The we he is talking about here are those who were under God's just condemnation.

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Turn back to chapter 1 in verse 18.

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He says, The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness

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of men.

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And we're all unrighteous, we're all ungodly.

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Therefore the wrath of God was exposed from heaven against us.

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We were under the condemnation of God.

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Well, someone says, I'm not that ungodly.

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I'm not that unrighteous.

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Paul says to the one who thinks himself to be pretty good, to be moral, he says this

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in chapter 2 and verse 3, Oh man, do you suppose this when you pass judgment upon those who

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practice such things as mentioned in chapter 1, ungodly things, and you do the same yourself

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that you will escape the judgment of God?

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It goes on to say in chapter 3 and verse 9, both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.

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You say, well I'm not a Jew and I'm not Greek.

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Well the word Greek here refers to those who are non-Jews.

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I'm sorry if you thought it referred to somebody who was born in Greece.

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The apostle is saying whether you are Jewish and therefore had the law of Moses, or you

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are non-Jewish, Greek or Gentile, and had no exposure to the law, he says all are under

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sin, that is under the bondage of sin, under the condemnation of sin.

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And then he says in verse 23, this familiar verse that many of us use in our gospel presentations

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to others, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, all have sinned.

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So when the apostle says we died to sin, remember this.

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First of all, he is talking to we who were under the condemnation of God, all of us.

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But then he is talking to those who were not only under condemnation, but who by the goodness

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of God were led to repentance.

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Back in chapter 2 he speaks to this, the fourth verse.

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He puts it this way, do you think lightly of the riches of his, God's, kindness and

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forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

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It is the grace, it is the goodness, the kindness, the patience of God that leads any sinner

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to the point of repentance, that is changing his mind regarding his sin, regarding who

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God is, regarding who Christ is, changing his mind about these matters.

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So that no longer does he see himself as righteous before God, self-righteous, but he sees himself

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as what he is, a sinner.

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And he knows his guilt and he changes his mind about himself and he comes to God humbly

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in order to receive by an act of faith God's free gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ.

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The we that Paul speaks about in Romans 6-2 are those who were led to repentance and who

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are therefore justified ones, those who have been justified by faith as he says in chapter

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3 verse 22.

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He speaks here about the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ

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for all those who believe.

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And then skipping down to verse 24, being justified as a gift by his grace.

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So he is talking to those who have been declared right with God, those who were under condemnation

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because of sin, but who now have by the goodness of God have been led to repentance and who

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have believed on Jesus Christ and who are therefore now declared right with God, who

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have that legal position.

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The we also refers to those that he calls in Romans chapter 4, the descendants or the

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sons of Abraham.

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Look how he puts it in chapter 4 in verse 16.

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For this reason it is by faith, that is salvation, that it might be in accordance with grace

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in order that the promise may be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who

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are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of

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us all, he says.

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Adding the parenthesis in verse 17, who is the father of us all in the sight of him whom

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he believed even God.

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What is Paul saying here in Romans 4?

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He is saying that the we in chapter 6 verse 2 are the true descendants of Abraham.

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There is a great battle going on in the Middle East in this generation between those who

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are the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob and those who are the descendants

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of Abraham through Ishmael, the Jews and the Arabs.

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Both of them look back to father Abraham.

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I want you to know tonight that as far as God is concerned, the true descendants of

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Abraham are not those who are his descendants according to the flesh, but those who are

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his descendants according to the spirit.

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This corroborates with what he says in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 29 where he says that

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all of us who have believed the promise of God in Jesus Christ, we are the true sons

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of Abraham.

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We are Abraham's descendants.

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So when he says, we died to sin, who are we?

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We are the descendants of Abraham, the spiritual descendants of Abraham by faith.

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Then we can answer that question this way.

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Who are we?

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Well, we are those who are the recipients of God's blessings, blessings which he

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enumerates in chapter 5 verses 1 through 11.

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We went over this last Wednesday night in a prayer meeting Bible study, but let me just

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move through it quickly.

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He says that those who have been justified by faith have these blessings along with justification.

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Peace with God, verse 1, access to God, verse 2.

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We have the blessing of the glory of God, verse 2.

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We have the working of God in our lives, verses 3 through 5.

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We have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, verses 5 through 8.

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We have the deliverance of God from future wrath, verses 9 and 10.

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And we have joy in God, verse 11.

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Who are we?

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We who have died to sin.

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We are those who are the recipients of the gracious blessings of God, enumerated there

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in those verses of Romans 5.

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But then who are we?

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Well, let's answer it another way.

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We are those who are the many that Paul mentions in the last part of chapter 5.

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For example, in verse 15 he says, for if by the transgression of the one, Adam, the many

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died.

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Who are the many?

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Well, we said that those are they who are identified with Adam.

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That's everyone born into the world.

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He says, if by the transgression of Adam, the many identified with him died, much more

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did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the

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many.

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Who is the many in the last part of the verse?

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All of those identified with Jesus Christ.

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The apostle is saying here in this last paragraph of Romans 5 that there are two families in

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the world.

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There's Adam's family and there's Christ's family.

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There are those identified with Adam and who are still in sin and death under the condemnation

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of God.

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And then there are those who are in Christ's family, who by the grace of God have been

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saved.

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They have been taken from this family and placed into a new family, the family of Christ.

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We are the many who belong to him, who have been justified, declared righteous in the

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eyes of God.

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And we are the many who will be made righteous, sanctified, who will be made righteous by

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the same grace of God.

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Martin Lloyd-Jones says, we are in Christ and because we are in Christ, all that belongs

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to him will become ours, even as all that belonged to Adam has already become ours.

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This matter of our identity, which is point number one in the outline that you have in

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your hands tonight, is a critical truth to grasp as we begin Romans 6 through 8.

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The key to victory is this truth, we died to sin.

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Who are we?

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Well we've answered it in the language of Romans.

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But there's another word that Paul uses in chapter one, that's the word saint.

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Over in chapter eight he calls us the sons of God.

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The apostle Paul wants us to understand this, God wants us to know this, that the key to

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holy living, follow me, the key to holy living is discovering who you really are in Jesus

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Christ.

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It is understanding your new identity as a saint of God, as a child of God.

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Your real identity is your deepest self, it is your spirit.

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The new birth made you a brand new person.

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David Needham in his book Birthright says, a Christian is a person who has become someone

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he was not before.

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Now you have to think about that.

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A Christian is someone who is what he was not before.

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In other words, you are not what you were, you are what you were not.

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There has been a radical change made in you.

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Now this change does not mean that there has been a righteous nature that has been added

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to your sinful nature, but rather what he is saying is that there has been a profound

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fundamental change made in who you are, you who have died to sin.

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Needham says this in his book, contrary to much popular teaching, regeneration is more

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than having something taken away, your sins forgiven, or having something added to you,

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a new nature with the assistance of the Holy Spirit.

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Rather it is becoming someone you had never been before.

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This new identity is not on the flesh level, but on the spirit level, one's deepest self.

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This miracle is more than a judicial act of God.

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It is an act so real that it is right to say that a Christian's essential nature is righteous

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rather than sinful.

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All lesser identities each of us have can only be understood and appreciated by our

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acceptance and response to this fact.

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Here's the point that we're going to make on succeeding Sunday nights as well as tonight.

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Some of you here for the first time tonight as we approach this truth, others of you are

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reviewing it because we've covered it before, but the key to victory in our lives begins

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by understanding who we are.

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That we are not a people who have within us a sinful nature and a righteous nature.

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We have one nature.

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It is the nature of Jesus Christ because you see nature, the word nature, refers to one's

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essential identity, who one truly is.

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Now because you and I have had a radical change in who we are, we are no longer sinners in

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the eyes of God.

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We are called His saints.

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Because we have had a radical change, we have been moved from this family of Adam to this

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family of Jesus Christ.

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Because of that transforming change, you and I have a new purpose and meaning in life.

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How does this relate to what we're talking about tonight?

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That purpose and meaning in life means that we are not to continue on in sin.

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Now if I have a sinful nature, if I am essentially within the real part of me still sinful, if

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I am still a sinner, then it is very natural that I'm going to go on sinning.

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And I can excuse that sin because I have a sinful nature.

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But if I have been radically transformed and changed, and if my essential identity, my

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true nature is one of a righteous person, a born one of God, then I no longer have an

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excuse for my sin.

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That's why the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians with such horror and shock.

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He calls them brothers in Christ, but he slaps them across the face because he says you are

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living like mere men.

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He says you have been radically changed to those Corinthians, and here you are living

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like there's been no change made in you.

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You are living like mere men.

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And that's why he says to them later, examine yourselves whether you truly be in the faith

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because you and I are fundamentally spirit beings and not physical beings.

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Our meaning is found in that sphere of reality, the sphere of the Spirit.

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And our meaning is found in reflecting God's holiness, God's glories to the world around

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us.

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You and I have been saved that we might reflect and show the glories of him who has called

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us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

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In the meaning of our lives and the purpose of it, Needham says, true meaning in life

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for a Christian is in receiving and displaying the risen life of Christ.

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Rather than this being contrary to one's essential nature, as taught by some, it is

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in perfect harmony with the miracle of regeneration by which we became holy, God's workmanship,

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children of light.

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To fulfill the will of God is to do what we most deeply desire to do, even though this

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may be contrary to the desires of our flesh.

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This fundamental awareness of identity brings a believer into the wholesome, positive atmosphere

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in which God's intention of manifesting his holiness in the world can be fulfilled.

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My friend, God has saved you and me that we might reflect his holiness to the world around

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us.

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He has saved us that we might be the prisms through which the life of the risen Christ

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can be reflected in all of its glories to the world in which we live.

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A Christian is a multi-faceted prism, actually.

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As Jesus Christ shines into our lives with his light and his life, the surface of our

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lives becomes a reflection in the varied relationships that we have to other people.

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Our lives become a prism that breaks down the life of Christ so that people can see

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it where we live, in the struggles we have, in the battles we fight, the disappointments

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that we have, the blessings that we enjoy.

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So that as they relate to us in various ways and on various levels, they can see in you

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and see in me the life of Jesus Christ.

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I have been witnessing to a businessman here in Roseville for about six months.

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Back in August, he knocked on my door one day, one of the appointments.

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He told me his story.

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I had a chance then to share the gospel with him, but he immediately shrugged it off because

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of where he's coming from.

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He doesn't feel that he needs God.

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His life is happy, he says, with one breath.

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With the other breath, he pours out a tale of woe and heartache.

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It's almost unbelievable.

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But he says he's satisfied.

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This last week we had lunch together again.

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As we were chatting over these things of God, it was just so interesting to watch his eyes.

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Because at the same time that he was telling me how much he doesn't really need God, he

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said to me, I can only believe in God if he comes through my front door and shakes my

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hand and introduces himself.

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He was telling me how complete his life is now, and then I was able to share with him

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what I have found in Jesus Christ.

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His eyes were filled with longing.

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I know that as I was speaking those words, the Spirit of God was sending them right down

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into his spirit.

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Though he was not letting me know that, he thought it could be read in his very eyes

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that he was seeing something of the risen Christ and struggle against it though he may

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he is attracted by it.

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And that's just the way it is.

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And God wants your life and my life to be just that way, a prism.

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That's our purpose.

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He has radically changed us.

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He has made us new men and women through whom the glory of the risen Christ shows like a

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beautiful prism.

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The colors expand and people as they relate to us from various angles, various levels,

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can marvel not at us, but at the risen Christ who is manifesting himself through us.

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So the Apostles point is this.

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We considering who we are and what our purpose is now in life, how can people like us continue

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on living in sin?

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It doesn't make sense.

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How can we who have died to sin continue to live in it?

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Now what I've said tonight about our deepest self and our true identity as being one nature,

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righteous in Jesus Christ that does not preclude the possibility of sin as all of us know because

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we still do sin.

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But when we sin it's because we allow ourselves to sin.

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We choose to sin.

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And the Apostle Paul can relate to that because he had exactly the same experience.

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He's going to talk about that in chapter 7.

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We'll get to that.

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You've said enough for tonight.

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I commend to you the Word of God.

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I encourage you to read Romans, well the whole book, but especially chapter 6, chapter 7,

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chapter 8 as we study it in upcoming weeks.

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Our Heavenly Father, how grateful we are for your Word which reveals truth to us that we

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could know no other way.

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And we see your exceeding grace, your abounding grace toward us.

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Thank you for justifying us.

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And thank you for the work of sanctifying us, making us righteous, and what you've

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done that we might experience that victory in our lives.

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And Father, I pray that tonight's message will lay a foundation upon which we can build

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in weeks ahead.

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Undoubtedly there are some here who are struggling to understand this, who are trying to put

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it together in their minds.

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I pray that you will teach all of us by the Spirit and give us patience as we learn week

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by week the truth you've given to us in these precious chapters of your Word.

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In Jesus' name, amen.