Growing in Grace
Notes
Transcript
Picture this: You wake up before the sun.
There’s work to do, responsibilities waiting, and problems that won’t solve themselves.
Maybe it’s helping a neighbor, getting the kids ready for school, or simply making sure everything at home and at work runs smoothly.
You do your best, and by the end of the day, you feel worn out—but the next morning, it starts all over again.
Life can feel heavy, repetitive, and sometimes like you’re stuck in the same patterns, facing the same struggles.
Spiritually, our lives can feel the same way.
After we’ve trusted Christ, after we’ve experienced His forgiveness, we still wrestle with sin, frustration, and habits that seem impossible to break.
We can wonder, “Will I ever really change? Will I ever really be the person God wants me to be?”
My hope and prayer for every person here—is that we do not simply know about Jesus in theory,
but that we experience Him, trust Him, and live in the fullness of the life He offers.
Too many believers go through the motions of faith, never grasping that following Christ is a daily, active journey of transformation.
We often get so caught up in the busyness of life that we forget that truth.
That transformation is a lifelong process.
God saves us just as we are—but He never leaves us that way.
This process of growth is called sanctification, where He changes our hearts, our habits, and our character to reflect Christ.
The Christian life is about daily walking with Christ, allowing His Spirit to transform us, step by step, moment by moment.
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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 too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
1. A New Identity In Christ
1. A New Identity In Christ
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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 too might walk in newness of life.
Paul begins with a question in verse 1: “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?”
He is addressing a possible abuse of his teaching from chapter 5, where he declared that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20).
Some could twist that truth into permission for sin — reasoning, “If grace shines brighter against the backdrop of sin, why not sin more to display more grace?”
Paul’s answer is emphatic: “By no means!” (v. 2).
The Greek phrase (mē genoito) is one of the strongest possible denials,
something like, “Absolutely not! Unthinkable!”
He goes on to explain why:
Believers have died to sin.
This does not mean that sin is absent from our lives, but that sin’s reign has been broken.
We are no longer under its rule or dominion.
There is however still a struggle in our lives.
Who has ever felt powerless in regards to their sin?
Though we may feel that way Paul reminds believers, that is not the truth.
Paul anchors his argument in baptism (vv. 3–4).
We talked about this in depth in the sermon on baptism last month.
As a reminder, baptism is not a casual ritual; it is the public declaration of a radical change of life.
To be “baptized into Christ Jesus” is to be united with Him.
Paul says we were “baptized into His death,” “buried with Him,” and “raised with Him.”
Here Paul is teaching a crucial truth: Sanctification begins with a new identity.
When we are saved we are justified -
Justification declares us righteous in Christ.
Many have probably heard the phrase, just as if I’d never sinned.
That is how we are made to look because though faith, we are made clean because of Jesus blood.
At conversion, God does not just forgive sin — He changes our position.
We are no longer “in Adam” but “in Christ.”
Our old self has been crucified with Him.
It is also at salvation though that God begins the process of sanctification.
Sanctification begins with living out that new identity.
Sanctification is not about adding a little religion to life, not about trying harder to be a better person.
It is about a fundamental change in who we are.
The old man is gone, the new man has come.
The Christian life starts here: you belong to Jesus, body and soul, in life and in death.
Think about ranching life.
When a calf is branded, what does that signify?
That brand marks ownership.
From that day forward, everyone knows who that calf belongs to.
Baptism works in a similar way.
It marks us out as belonging to Christ.
Our identity has changed.
But here is where this touches daily life: in a small community, when you have grown up here, people remember your past.
Folks know your mistakes.
They may still see you as “the person who used to…”
Sin wants to keep whispering that old name in your ear.
But Paul says: That person is buried. Dead. Gone.
You are raised to new life in Christ.
The old you has been plowed under, and a new life is now growing up.
Sanctification begins here: knowing who you are in Christ.
You are not the sum of your failures.
You are not defined by what others say about you.
You are not under sin’s authority anymore.
No matter how stuck you feel, know the truth, you have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life.
Before we can talk about breaking sin’s chains or living boldly, we have to start here: identity.
If you do not know who you are in Christ, you will always drift back to who you were without Him.
If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus, this process cannot begin.
Sanctification begins with believing this truth:
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).
2. Breaking Sin’s Chains
2. Breaking Sin’s Chains
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.
Paul expands the truth of union with Christ: “If we have been united with him in a death like his…”
The word “united” (symphytoi) means “grown together,” or planted together.
Paul is describing an organic, inseparable connection between the believer and Christ.
We talked a couple of weeks ago about abiding in Jesus.
Just as a grafted branch shares in the life of the vine, we share in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
What does that mean practically?
Verse 6: “Our old self was crucified with him.”
The “old self” is the person we were in Adam—corrupted by sin, powerless to please God.
At the cross, that “old self” was nailed to the tree with Christ.
Paul does not mean merely improved or reformed; he means the old man is dead.
You don’t have to live in sin anymore.
As Christians, when we sin, there are often warning signs, and ways out.
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Ways to avoid that sin if we look for them.
How often do we see the and ignore them?
How often do we blow right by?
The purpose of the death of our sin is that as Paul says “in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing.”
The Greek (katargeō) means “render powerless, inoperative.”
Sin has not disappeared, but its mastery over us has been broken.
We are -
“Set free from sin” (δεδικαίωται ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας) – This phrase literally means “justified from sin” or “acquitted from sin.”
The word “set free” (dikaioō) is the same word usually translated “justified.”
It points not only to forgiveness but to release—sin no longer has legal authority over us.
This is the heart of sanctification: freedom from sin’s dominion.
Notice — not freedom from sin’s presence, but from its power.
Sanctification is not first about striving harder, but about living in the reality of what Christ has already accomplished.
The death of Christ is not only substitutionary (He died for us) but participatory (we died with Him).
Before Christ, sin was the master.
We could not say no.
Even good deeds were often twisted with pride or selfishness.
But when Christ died, we died with Him.
The cross did not just pay the penalty for sin; it broke sin’s chains.
Not sinless perfection, but new dominion:
Paul does not say believers will never sin again, but he does say sin no longer reigns.
The throne has changed hands—grace now rules (Romans 5:21).
We might think of it this way:
Who has had a hard boss to work under?
Someone who drove you, controlled your time, and never seemed satisfied.
That was sin—an unrelenting master.
You could never do enough to please it, and it only led to shame and destruction.
But now imagine quitting that job and being hired under a good, kind boss—
someone who lifts you up, provides what you need, and gives you purpose.
That is Christ.
You do not answer to sin anymore.
You have a new master, and His name is Jesus.
Some of you might feel like sin still runs your life—old habits, tempers, addictions, bitterness, or secret sins.
But Paul says if you are in Christ, those chains are broken.
Sin might rattle and shout, but it does not own you anymore.
You can walk in freedom.
This means tomorrow morning, when the temptation comes to speak harshly, to cut corners, to hold a grudge, or to despair—
you can stop and say,
“That is not my master anymore. I belong to Jesus.”
Sanctification is not optional.
To go on living in sin would be to act as if the chains were still locked, when in reality the shackles have been shattered.
Sanctification is learning to live like a freed person.
Think of the Exodus: Israel was delivered from Egypt by God’s mighty hand.
Pharaoh’s armies were drowned in the sea.
Yet in the wilderness they sometimes longed to go back.
They were free, but they still thought like slaves.
Sanctification is God retraining us, teaching us to live as free sons and daughters instead of slaves to sin.
In Christ, sin’s chains are broken—what once ruled us no longer owns us.
We are free to walk in the righteousness of Jesus.
Which is why we can boldly live a new life with Christ!
3. Boldly Living New Life
3. Boldly Living New Life
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
Verse 8 is is the hinge of Paul’s argument: our union with Christ in His death guarantees our union with Him in His life.
Death with Christ is not the end—it is the beginning of real life.
Christ’s resurrection is permanent, eternal, and victorious.
Death no longer has dominion (κυριεύει) over him” – The word means “lordship, mastery.”
Death used to reign, but Christ has dethroned it.
Sin used to reign, but Christ has dethroned it.
Paul’s message is not only about the future resurrection but about a present reality—we share in Christ’s new life now.
Sanctification is not merely about avoiding sin; it is about embracing a new, resurrection-shaped way of life.
As Christian don’t tiptoe through life hoping we will make it;
We can walk boldly, knowing we share in a victory that has already been won.
I know life can feel heavy and unchanging.
We often have to do many of the same tasks over and over again.
Spiritually we frequently fight the same old sins and carry the same old concerns—
about our kids, our health, our marriage.
Whether you will make it through another long winter.
But Paul is saying: you are not stuck.
Because of Jesus’ resurrection, you already share in a new kind of life.
You may not feel it every morning when you pull on your boots, but His life is in you, and it will not die.
Think of springtime.
When the ground looks dead and frozen, and suddenly new green shoots break through the soil.
That is resurrection life—it breaks through where you least expect it.
You might feel spiritually dry, weary, or weak, but if you are in Christ, the life of Jesus is in you, and it cannot die.
So when you sit at the kitchen table looking at the stack of bills…
when you are lonely because of the empty chair across from you…
when you are weary from holding everything together—
you are not walking through that alone.
Christ’s risen life is in you.
It is His life that gives you courage to forgive when you have been hurt,
to love your neighbor even when it costs you,
and to keep trusting God even when the future looks uncertain.
This means when you face the daily grind—
when bills are tight, when relationships strain—
you do not walk through those days alone.
You walk with resurrection life inside you.
You can live boldly because your future is secure and your present is infused with Christ’s resurrection power.
You can live boldly because the victory has already been won, and the life of Christ is already alive in you.
This leads us to our final point: choosing Christ’s character.
Sanctification is not automatic.
It requires active participation.
We must present our bodies, minds, and hearts as instruments of righteousness, intentionally aligning our choices with God’s will.
In other words, living boldly in new life naturally flows into daily, deliberate obedience that shapes our character.
4. Choosing Christ’s Character
4. Choosing Christ’s Character
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
When Paul tells the Romans to
“Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God” –
The verb logizomai (“consider, reckon, count as true”) is not passive.
Paul calls believers to actively reckon their identity in Christ as a daily reality, not merely an abstract truth.
It is an ongoing choice to live from who we are, not from who we were.
As such we must not present our members to sin…present ourselves to God” –
This is deliberate, conscious action.
Every part of our being—hands, eyes, mind, tongue, words, habits—can serve sin or righteousness.
God works though the Holy Spirt in our sanctification to engage every aspect of life.
So that we might be
“Instruments of righteousness” –
Just as a tool must be wielded correctly to fulfill its design, our bodies and actions must be directed toward God’s purposes.
Not because we have to - because we are “Not under law but under grace” –
Rather it is because we now can!
Grace empowers us to make choices that align with His will, reflecting transformation from the inside out.
Sanctification is both positional and practical.
We must engage our minds, bodies, and choices in partnership with the Spirit.
Sanctification is not automatic; it involves cooperation with God’s grace.
Transformation happens through habits –
God’s Spirit works to change our hearts,
We participate by forming habits that reflect our new identity: prayer, Scripture meditation, acts of love, confession, forgiveness, and obedience.
Over time, these habits solidify the character of Christ within us.
Grace enables obedience; it does not eliminate the need for conscious choices.
Every decision can either cultivate holiness or allow sin to creep back in.
Sanctification is visible in everyday decisions, not just in dramatic moments.
It applies to children, teens, adults, and seniors alike:
Children can learn early to obey parents, speak truthfully, and choose kindness, forming habits that build integrity.
Teens face peer pressure and daily choices about words, attitudes, and behavior.
By intentionally choosing Christlike responses, you can cultivate character and resist sinful patterns.
Adults navigate work, family, and community responsibilities.
Seniors can model perseverance, faithfulness, and Christlike encouragement for younger generations, demonstrating that sanctification is a lifelong pursuit.
Every decision—how we handle frustration, spend our time, and interact with others—is an opportunity to present ourselves as instruments of righteousness.
Sanctification will happen in the life of a believer -
How do we actively pursue sanctification?
Begin each day by reminding yourself, “I am dead to sin, alive to God. My choices matter.”
Then make Small, Consistent Choices –
Refuse small acts of sin; pursue small acts of obedience and kindness.
Over time, these choices reshape habits and character.
Use Your “Members” Wisely –
Hands, eyes, tongue, and mind all serve a purpose. Consciously direct them toward God in prayer, service, and speech.
Rely on Grace – When you fail, remember that grace restores.
Active participation does not depend on perfect strength; it flows from God’s Spirit working in you.
Reflect Often – At day’s end, review your decisions.
Celebrate obedience and repent where you fell short.
This reflection builds awareness and momentum for growth.
The hope for daily life is profound: you are not defined by past sin or weakness.
In Christ, each conscious choice strengthens your freedom, forms Christlike habits, and deepens your character.
Every decision becomes a step toward living fully in your new identity.
