Mike Bickle emphasizes the transformative power of grace as outlined in Romans 5, explaining how believers are justified by faith and called to walk in God's glory. He highlights three key results of justification: peace with God, standing in grace, and the certainty of participating in God's glory. Bickle encourages believers to personalize these truths, fostering a deeper relationship with God and a confident response to His leadership. He stresses the importance of understanding one's identity in Christ to experience the fullness of God's love and grace in daily life. Ultimately, he calls for a proactive engagement with the Holy Spirit to manifest God's glory through simple acts of love and service.

Well, again, that's Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. You get the details on the website, the exact time and location if you want to be a part of, go and watch this musical presentation. Bring unbelievers. They're going to have an opportunity for people to respond to the Lord, and they're giving a salvation message in it. Let's pray. Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus, and we thank you for this glorious chapter, Romans chapter 5, the foundation of how we are to cooperate with the grace of God. We thank you in Jesus' name for living understanding. Amen. Well, this chapter, Romans chapter 5 and Romans chapter 6 is really how we are to cooperate with the grace of God. And Romans 5 brings the conclusions, some of the most dynamic statements about the grace of God in Romans chapter 5, and then the actual three main principles of how we cooperate with this. These glorious truths are found in Romans chapter 6, and that's what we're going to be looking at the next couple sessions on the gospel of grace, this series. Paragraph A, Romans 1 to 8, just a quick review for those that are new with us tonight, that Romans chapter 1 to 8 is the most complete presentation of the gospel of grace. Romans chapter 4, I mean chapter 1 to 4, Paul established why everybody is in utter need of help from heaven. Nobody can save their self. Then he explains exactly how weak and broken sinful people can be saved as a free gift. The conclusion of the matter is that we're justified by faith. We are justified, and you've heard the phrase justified, in a practical sense, it means just as if we never sinned. That God declares us righteous. He gives us His own righteousness, and we're declared righteous or we're justified, which mean the same thing in essence, by faith or by confidence in Jesus. And by the way, when the Scripture talks about faith, confidence in Jesus, it also implies responsiveness to His leadership. So it's not just an intellectual confidence, it's a heart confidence, and that heart confidence responds in obedience to His leadership. So when we have faith, we say, we want you. We want your salvation. We want your leadership. We want relationship with you. That's what the cry of faith is. Because some people, they separate the response of we are yours, oh God, from the, from the technical piece of information that we need your help. It's more than a statement that we need your help and your salvation. We're saying we need relationship with you. We need your leadership. And they all go together. And that's what by faith means in the New Testament. Well in Romans chapter 5, the end of paragraph A, he brings the conclusion of these four chapters of Romans 1, 2, 3, 4. It ends with we are justified by faith, so this is what it now means practically. Romans chapter 5 is arguably the high point of the whole book. Romans 6 gives us some practical ways that we can walk in victory over sin. But Romans 5 is probably, I mean, you could say Romans 8, but I, I would argue for Romans 5 is the high point of the entire book in terms of revealing how far the grace of God has gone in what it's provided to us and for us. Paragraph B, in Romans 5, Paul sets forth three results of being justified by faith. Again, for four chapters, he's laid out the logic of why we need to be justified and how we're justified. Now he gives us the three main results, the three dynamic benefits that happen in our life because we are justified. And we find these in chapter 5, verse 1 to 2. And these two verses are absolutely dynamic in terms of their implications for your life. They tell us who we are in Christ in a, in a very precise and summary fashion. The reason this is so important, because one of the great issues, one of the great problems in the body of Christ today is we don't know who we are in God's sight. We don't really know what we possess. We might know it technically, but it doesn't touch us emotionally often and therefore we don't respond to it, I mean, with all of our heart, with confidence. I know a lot of believers that technically know the information, but it doesn't move them. They don't, they don't respond to God with confidence in the light of the information. So really the information doesn't help them very much. If it doesn't produce confidence in our response before God, this information still has much work to do in our lives and in our heart. Well he gives us three very powerful results of being justified or of our salvation. And in these three, really Paul is summarizing what the purpose of salvation is. He's summarizing what the, what the grace message really is about. Now before we even read this, these two verses, I want to say this. These two verses, this is your story. This is not just distant, cold theological facts. This is your testimony. This is your story with God. And we need to personalize these three glorious truths. The way that we personalize them, the way that I have found to be very helpful, instead of just reading the verse and going, glory to God, I take these three phrases, these three truths, and I personalize them by saying, thank you God, that I have peace with you. I put my name in it. I thank him and I say my name. And I picture myself before the throne of God and I say, Father, thank you that I have peace with God. Thank you that I stand in grace and thank you that I have confidence to experience the glory of God right now in my life today. And when these truths get in our mouth and they begin to awaken confidence in our heart, and we actually say our name and we talk to God related to these three truths, it will begin to warm our hearts and awaken a new confidence in us. And it will change the way we, the way we feel and the way we act. Now again, I just want to say real clear, for those that are new with the book of Romans, verses 1 and 2 is a summary of the whole gospel. It's the takeaway. It's the bottom line. In chapter 6, we're going to see in our next session, verses 11 to 13, he's going to give us three principles on how to cooperate with these facts here in chapter 5, verse 1 and 2. Well, let's read it. Paul says, having been justified by faith, meaning having understood Romans 1, 2, 3, 4, he said, I've just laid it out logically to you. He goes, so what does it mean practically? He goes, let me tell you. Number one, we have peace with God. Number two, which is verse 2, we have access into the grace in which we stand. We stand in grace. And number three, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Now the word hope, you want to make it interchangeable with the word certainty. We rejoice in the certainty that we will participate in the glory of God. As we'll see in a few moments, that participation in the glory of God is not just future. It is future, but it's absolutely present tense as well. This is, I believe, one of Paul's most dynamic statements he made in the whole of the book of Romans. We participate in the glory of God right now, not just with a resurrected body today. I mean, one of the main truths of the New Testament, when it really comes down to it, is that we, as born-again believers, we host the Holy Spirit's presence. I mean, the Lord does things directly, straight from heaven, without going through His people. But most of what He does in this world, He does it through His people. That He has called us to be the vessels that host the glory of God, the presence of God. Now, the glory of God is synonymous in practicality with our relationship in ministry with the Holy Spirit. When Paul says we rejoice in the certainty that we are participating in the Holy Spirit in relationship with Him and in His ministry, that's what it means to participate in the glory of God. And that's our number one assignment in life, is to have this glorious relationship with the Father and the Son, and that we are the vessels of which the Spirit is released through our words, through our deeds. But it's clear in the Scripture that this happens at a far greater measure or according to how we agree with the Word of God. I mean, the biggest problem, I think, in the church is in our mindset. Many believers, they might know this information, but again, it doesn't warm their heart, it doesn't produce confidence, and it doesn't produce a response, a dialogue in their heart with God. It's not enough to know these three facts, these three glorious truths. I want my heart warmed by them, where they mean something to me. I want them to be in my conversation with God, I want them in my dialogue with God, and I want confidence in them so I can respond to them. Well, he says we have peace with God. That means, we'll look at it in a moment, but we have a deep relationship with God. That's what peace with God means in one sentence. It's not just that the negative animosity has been removed between us and God, that has been removed, the enmity is gone, but peace is much more than the removal of the negative. It's the fullness of God's intention in relationship. Number two, we stand in grace. We have a new position before God. We have new benefits. That if we will speak them and believe them and have confidence in them, more will happen. If we neglect them, less will happen. And number three, we rejoice. Paul says, I am focused on, I am grateful for the certainty that the glory of God moves through my life, even in this age. And that it has continuity with the glory of God being released in my life in the age to come. Now, I have written here in paragraph B, these are three facets of one diamond of grace. Somebody might say, well, what's the difference? Well, these three truths, they deeply overlap with one another, but they have distinctives that bring an emphasis to our understanding. So I think of it as one diamond of grace, but three different facets. OK, let's look at it again. Paragraph C, peace with God. Now, again, don't just say we have peace with God. I say, thank you, Jesus. Mike Bickle has peace with you. Thank you. Until it gets in your mouth, these truths won't move you. Until this gets in your dialogue with God, the confidence won't grow. Your heart won't be warmed. And it won't change the way you think and feel and act. I want to be changed in the way I think and feel. Paul says, this is how you do it, right here. But you need to engage yourself with these truths. Paragraph C, the first great truth that's the result of being justified by faith, which is Romans 1 to 4, we have peace with God. We are in a position to experience, now catch this, a full, affectionate, enjoyable relationship with God. That's what peace with God means in all of its implications. Again, it's not just our passport stamped, forgiven, and so God's not mad anymore. It means so much more than that. We have a full and an enjoyable relationship with God. Now, that doesn't mean that we're engaging in it, but it means it's available to us, and from God's point of view, that's what He's offering us. And the good news is, even if we don't engage in it in the way we want to in this age, I mean, though we want to, we will engage in it fully for billions and billions of years. But, beloved, I don't want to wait until the resurrection to enjoy this relationship. I love to say this, thank you. Mike Bickle has an enjoyable relationship with you, and you enjoy it, and I enjoy it. I have peace with you. Now, peace with God, think about it. Think about who God is. He's the God with burning desire. He's the God with burning love. And when you have peace with a God with infinite, overflowing love, beloved, love is going to touch you and move you, and it's going to bring delight in the relationship. We're not talking about having peace with a theological equation. We're talking about a living being that's burning with desire, who the essence of His being is love. All of the hindrance is moved completely out of the way. The only hindrance is in our mind, our unrenewed mind, of which we'll never fully renew our mind in this age, but the goal is to renew it more and more and more. And this is where we invest all of our strength in the relationship. This is where fasting and prayer and reading the Word come in. We don't do that to earn anything. We labor to renew our mind so we can feel the fullness and the freedom and the liberty of what is freely offered to us in Christ Jesus. Number one, under C, the enmity is totally gone. There's absolutely no condemnation. There's no need to be preoccupied with your failure after you've confessed it. Your preoccupation with your failure after you've confessed it, the Father says, I don't want it in the dialogue anymore. You have peace with Me. Don't negotiate with Me. I mean, we end up with this form of humility that is groveling before God, and God says, Do you understand the measure of the righteousness I gave you in My Son? It's My righteousness that will never improve. Do you understand the measure of the peace you have with Me? Nothing is in the way. Don't grovel. Don't get down in some religious humility that brings no liberty to your heart. Stand in confidence with what I say about Myself and what I say about who you are to Me and who you are in Christ, and accept the enjoyable full relationship. That's what He's saying here. This is massive, by the way. Paragraph D, we go to the next great truth. Again, it overlaps with the peace with God, but it has a different emphasis, so therefore Paul uses a different language. He calls it standing in grace. Not only do we have access to a full and enjoyable affectionate relationship, paragraph D, we have all the benefits, positionally is what I'm talking about. Everything that God's going to make available in Christ has already been made available in terms of our legal position before Him. All of the benefits are freely ours, and they're fully ours, legally. Now the challenge is to get what is happening in our legal position to be manifest in our living condition. That's the challenge. That's where the labor comes in. That's where the renewing our mind comes in, because the more that we agree with our thinking, the more that happens in us. Now here's what Paul declares through Romans 3 and 4, that we have been justified freely. We've entered a new state. We were under the reign of sin. We were under the reign of death. We're going to find here in verse 20 and 21 in a minute, in chapter 5. But we're in a new position. We're not in the reign of sin, and under it, we are under the reign of grace. It's an entirely new sphere, a new position before God. Again, many believers are not aware of this. They're not aware of what they possess. We have to discover this. But more than just becoming aware of it technically, we have to engage with it in our dialogue with God, so it warms our heart and it produces confidence in us. I believe that wrong thinking, we'll find this in a minute in the book of Romans, wrong thinking, I'm talking about non-biblical thinking is what I mean by wrong thinking. I'm not into the power of positive thinking. Although this is positive, there's nothing more positive than having standing in grace. But I'm not talking about just humanism of positive thinking. I'm talking about believing the positive biblical truths, which are extremely positive. I mean, there are positives beyond anything we can imagine. But Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12 that we're renewed, I mean we're transformed by renewing what we think on. By altering the state, the paradigm of our, I mean our mindset, what we think on, by changing it and filling it with truth transforms our emotions and it transforms our behavior. The challenge for transformation isn't just gritting our teeth and trying to do better, it's by renewing our mind with these truths and they produce vision in us. I mean this vision, this destiny, this dignity, this like, wow, that's what I want my life to be about is what I mean. What vision these two verses give us. What confidence they give us if we will understand some of the vast implications of them. Well, as we stand in grace, number one, we now are fully accepted. We can, because we're fully accepted with the righteousness of God, we can feel confident in God's affections. Beloved, that is just, that's beyond exaggeration, the implications of the value of that. We are fully accepted in the Beloved. Fully. The righteousness of God is ours, a righteousness that can't ever be improved upon. A million years from now the righteousness you have the day you're born again will not increase. It's the righteousness of God fully, freely given to you in one moment. And the result is we can feel confident in God's affection if we will fill our mind with this. These truths. Now the devil's going to come and he will fight you every single day against these three truths. He will tell you you don't have peace with God, you're on probation, God's mad at you, God's giving you one more chance, maybe, and that's it. Beloved, that's a lie, but that's what our unrenewed thinking, plus the enemy coming to fuel that wrong thinking. I mean we were born with that thinking. The enemy takes advantage of it and the Lord would challenge us, fill our mind with the Word of God. Number two, because we stand in the grace of God, now I'm still on number one actually on the notes here, we have the indwelling spirit. We have the authority of the name of Jesus. Beloved, we can use the name of Jesus to release the works of God and to stop the works of the devil. I mean, again, the increase of the kingdom, it comes through believers saying what God says and doing the things He says to do. Our words and our deeds release the kingdom. Now the problem, which I'll develop a little bit more in a minute, is that the increase of the kingdom through us is often in a very small measure. But it's important to God and it's valuable. Now a lot of folks will go, well, you know, I prayed for somebody and I said God loves them, that's saying what God says, and you know, not that much happened, he looked at me and said, gee, thanks, and well, so what? Beloved, the enemy will come and lie and steal that out of your heart. That's how the increase happens. We say the things that are true. God loves you. There's a new day beginning for you. His mercy is towards you. He's going to help you. Simple little things we say to believers and unbelievers and we do simple little deeds. Give a little bit of money. Give them a hug. Open a door. Go help, you know, with a small little deed for, you know, help them in some small way. And the kingdom increases this way. It really does. That's the way it increases. Some folks go, well, I don't want to mess with little increase. And the Lord would say, no, you really need to do it My way. And occasionally there's a big increase. And together we make a big increase. And every now and then an individual will have a big increase. But most of our individual contribution is simple little phrases like God loves you. Hey, I'm with you. And hey, let me pray for you. And those little things accumulate and they touch hearts and they change people's mindsets. And the kingdom increases this way. Healing comes. Take your hand out of your pocket. You're in a bad mood. You don't feel good. You sinned yesterday. You feel rotten. Take your hand out of your pocket. Have confidence in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus, Lord, heal that shoulder. And I tell you, sometimes that shoulder is going to get healed. And you go like, I've had that happen a few times over the years. I mean, when I was really in a mess. And I went, oh, my goodness. This stuff's real. And the Lord could whisper and say, it's not about what mood you're in or how much energy you have. It's about you said my word over a man with a sore shoulder. You said it. We're called to host the Holy Spirit's presence. In other words, to be the vessels that release it through simple words and deeds. But we have to take risks. And the risk is not major. I'm not even talking about major risks. Every now and then the risk might be major. A big. Mostly the risk is little. But we have to take the risk. And the risk is this. Guy's standing there. You're standing here. You look at him. He looks down. You look down. You look the other way. He looks the other way. You look back. He looks up and you look the other way. And the Lord just says, just say, can I pray for you? Can I pray for you? The guy goes, I thought you'd never ask. Yes. That's the risk I'm talking about. I'm talking about little risk. But you know what? More times than not, good people won't actually say a phrase. They won't say, hey, can we stop a moment and pray? They just won't, well, I don't want to be religious and I don't want to, you know, they're going to think I'm going to prophesy and I might not have nothing and then they'll be disappointed. Stop all of that. Just take the risk. Say, hey, can I pray for you? Then prophesy over them. Here's the prophecy. God loves you. That's the prophecy. It doesn't have to be on October 18th next year, $5,000 is going to come your way. Say, God loves you. You're prophesying to him. But I'm telling you, as simple as this is, people don't do it and they don't do it for decades. They go decades without doing this. Number two, under paragraph D, this very truth of standing in grace, Paul takes it in verse 20 and 21, we'll look at in a moment, and he brings it to another level. He really amplifies what it means to stand in grace. So we have Romans 5, verse 1 and 2, the first two verses, and Romans 5, the last two verses. That's the strength and the power, really, of the whole message of the book of Romans. Top of page 2. Now as glorious as these first two are, I mean, peace with God and full affectionate relationship with God and standing in grace, a new position with new authority, with all the benefits of the covenant. Are you kidding? How glorious is that? But this hope of the glory of God. Let's read it again. I have it there in the notes. Romans 5, verse 2. We rejoice in the certainty. That's the key, the hope. Hope means certainty. In the certain participation we will have in the glory of God. Now again, I'm not saying this to be negative. I'm saying this to alert you. Many believers, they don't go here. This is one of the strongest, most powerful statements in the book of Romans. Romans 5, verse 2. Paul said, I rejoice. Not only am I have a confidence, because to rejoice you've got to be confident. I rejoice. It implies you've got to be focused on it to rejoice in it. You can't rejoice in something you're not focused on. So it implies confidence and focus. I'm focused. I'm confident that I will experience and participate in the glory of God in my life. Every day. Again, many small ways. Telling people, God loves you. Helping in little ways. Just looking around, just saying, talking to the Spirit, saying, Holy Spirit, my friends and family, my familiar setting and my familiar environment, I want to say a few phrases here and there throughout the day that actually change the environment of the little two to three people I'm talking to. And it doesn't have to change the environment dynamically. It will sometimes, but I mean a little bit. Maybe only one of the people have a little spark that touches them and the other two kind of roll their eyes. But, beloved, the environment has been changed because you're there. You're actually participating in the glory of God right then. And if you can rejoice in that, if you can have confidence in it, you can get focused on it, if you can value that, if you would value that. Paul said, you will participate in the glory of God a lot more. Maybe many small little installments, so to speak, or little releases of the glory of God. A heart that's touched a little bit is the glory of God. You pray for the guy's shoulder, it gets touched a little bit. It's not even fully healed. That's still participating in the glory of God. It's not the devil that healed his shoulder. It's not the flesh. A little bit. Beloved, to rejoice in the glory of God means you have confidence. It's going to happen. It means you value it. It's worth doing. It means you're focused on it. It's part of your awareness. This is a mindset. Number one, under paragraph E. Now Paul is referencing to experiencing the glory of God or participating in it in this age and the age to come, and it's not either or. Many commentators will only say this is about the age to come. It's not just about the age to come, because the very next verse that we'll look at in a moment, Paul says, trials won't stop the glory of God in your life. He's talking about the glory of God in this age, not just in the age to come, but he's certainly talking about the glory of God in the age to come too. I have in paragraph 1, many can't see the evidences of God's glory because it looks different from what they think, meaning it's small. It's moving a heart in a way you can't measure and can't always see. And so because it's small, not always, sometimes it's very dynamic, and again, collectively it's dynamic. Often what we can do, thousands of us, millions of us, in unity in the body of Christ, but individually, often it's small and it's invisible, meaning the heart's moved. The guy might not even, he may think about it all day, that one thought, and it might lead him to repent of an issue or even a thought pattern as a believer to break his agreement with a wrong thought pattern. That's the glory of God working in you, it really, really is. You've encouraged them. And because we can't see, we can't measure it, and it's often invisible, it's working in someone's heart. Even in healing, you pray and it's, a little bit happens and you don't fully know, but it's all part of a continuum. The Lord's, you know, may be saying, there's many who are going to pray and your prayer is a key one, and your prayer might be the one that a great change happens. Who knows? We don't always, we don't have to measure it. But we have to have confidence that it operates. Now to have confidence in the glory of God is the same thing practically as having a dialogue, a relationship with the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. That's the glory of God released through us in this age or the age to come is about the Spirit's ministry and relationship to us. He's talking about developing our relationship with the Holy Spirit here. Paragraph 2, now some people, they don't know this thing about the glory of God. Let me tell you this. It was fitting for God to bring many sons to glory. He wants to bring His children into the glory of God. Look at number 3, 1 Corinthians 2. We speak of wisdom that God ordained before the ages. God had a plan way before Genesis 1. What was that plan about? To release the glory of God in you. That's what the plan was. God has been working to release His glory. He wants you to participate and partner with His glory. His glory isn't something that He experiences and we're at a distance kind of nullified out of the relationship. He wants us participating and partnering in the very glory that He is committed to filling the earth. He wants His sons and daughters. Jesus wants His eternal companion, His bride, in deep participation with Him when His glory fills the earth. He doesn't want to release it apart from a dynamic relationship with us. And again, that's the relationship with the Holy Spirit. Paragraph F, now here's how we participate in the glory of God, three ways. Again, we speak words and we do deeds. Helping somebody in a small little way. Giving somebody a little bit of money. Giving somebody an encouragement. Helping with a little love deed. I mean a small thing. They all add up. They all matter. We participate in three ways. I have internally, externally, and eternally. We experience, in chapter 6, He's going to develop that, and I'll wait until next week, but there's an internal dimension where we're changed our emotions and we can deal with anger and lust and bitterness, and it's the glory of God operating in us. Now in this age. Now it's in fullness in the age to come. It's in part in this age, but beloved, any part of the glory of God is worth. I want it. I don't care what the measure is. I want it, and whatever measure He gives me, I want more measure, a bigger measure later. I mean later as in today is what I mean by later. Whatever measure He gives me, I don't want to ever measure it. I just want more of whatever He gave me, and He loves that because His glory is magnified. His love is magnified when we participate with it in a deep way. Number two, His glory is released externally. That's, again, our ministry to other people, our circumstances, our relationships. Our relationships are strengthened because we say right words and we say prayers and we serve. Our relationships are strengthened, and the glory of God is manifest. In our ministry as we minister to people right now, like right now the glory of God is being manifest through me. There's at least three of you in this room that are going, you know what, I'm going to do this different. That's the glory of God. Yes, God, you did it. You said you would. I don't know if it's 300 or 300. I can't measure it. If three are moved a little bit to say I'm going to do this, I just was used in the glory of God just now. And I'm confident I came here tonight to be used in the glory of God. Not just here, praying for people backstage, driving here. I'm going to be used in the glory of God driving here because I said some prayers on the way here. I did. I said prayers for me, for your sake. I said, Lord, if you don't help that boy, those guys are going to have a long night. I was talking about me. Okay. Now again, the stumbling block of the glory of God externally, and even internally, is paragraph 2, Matthew 25, is that it's small. It's a few things. But Jesus is going to give us the shock of our life one day when he says, you know those little things? Well done. Well done, they were so little. Well done, you did them before me. Number three, eternally. Well, we know the resurrected body, the new Jerusalem, eternal rewards, goes on and on. Let's go to top of page 3. Now the first thing that he does after he gives these three things, peace with God, full, joyful relationship, stand in grace, a new position, a new sphere, where you have full acceptance with God, the indwelling spirit, the authority to use the name of Jesus, et cetera. Now Paul anticipates people saying, yeah, but what about trials? The very next verse he expects, he anticipates people going, saying, yeah, but if trials come, doesn't that contradict the glory of God? And Paul says, no. Trials come if you respond to them right. If you respond to them right, and I'm not going to break this down right here, but I just want you to point it out, he goes, even the trials can't stop the glory of God, they enhance it. If you respond to the trials right, and the way we respond to the trials right, the part that's the devil, we rebuke it, resist it. The part that's God, we submit to it. And the part that's our own sin and foolishness, we repent of it. So if I'm the one that did it with the devil's help, I repent and rebuke him, repent for me, and the Lord works through the whole process, because if you respond right, even your problems won't stop the glory of God if you respond right. That's how sure it is. Then he goes on, paragraph B, and he says, let's bring it up a notch. It's more than your troubles. He goes, our participation in the glory of God is so certain, because God planned it, he committed to it, when you were sinning, and you said, I don't even want you, God, that's when he came up with a plan for you. So if he planned this for you, when you were completely rejecting him, Paul says, how much more will it work when you're saying yes to him? Even when you did not want him, he wanted you. That's how secure this is. Because we get this idea, we blow it. Blow it means sin. And oh no, God, can you believe it? I just did this. Can you believe it? We think God is confused because we are confused by our sin. Or surprised is the better word I'm using. God is surprised because we're surprised. I can't believe I did that. And the Lord says, well, there's a lot more where that came from. But I want you to know, I'm not ever surprised. I love the song that Misty sings. God knew what he was getting into when he chose us and called our name. He knew what he was getting into when he called you. You didn't surprise him. While you were a sinner with no strength, he said, I've poured love on you. Now he goes on in paragraph C. He goes, the confidence even goes beyond that. When we were enemies of God. I mean, not just sinning. We were hostile. He said, I want you. I want you. How much more? How much more now that you love me will this be surely manifest in your life? Paragraph D. Now, you're going to have to read Romans 5 on your own. This is just a little snapshot. Our confidence is even greater enhanced by verse 12 to 21. And if you've only read verse 12 to 21 once or twice, it might overwhelm you. You might think, I don't have a clue what this is about. Well, I have a little bit right here in paragraph B. Paul's saying, our union with Jesus. We have union with him. So, therefore, what is true about Jesus in his humanity is true about us in our salvation. That what God gave to Jesus in his humanity. As an anointed man, I'm talking about. Because Jesus is fully God before he ever became man. And he's fully God every step of the way. But as a man, he lived by the anointing of the Spirit in the favor of God. And whatever was true of him is true of everybody in Christ forever. That's Paul's point here. And that might take you a minute to work through that. But it's a glorious passage. But I don't want to go through it. Then it comes to the crescendo again. Romans 5, verse 20 and 21. I told you verse 1 and 2. The first two verses and then the last two verses of Romans 5 is the crescendo. He says it again. He goes, you were under the reign of sin. Now, when you were under the reign of sin, you were under condemnation. You were in big trouble. I was in big trouble. It's real. We were powerless before sin. We were powerless to stop satanic attacks. We had only darkness. When we read the Bible, we couldn't understand it in a way that would inspire us to obey God. That's what it means. I mean an unbeliever can read the Bible and understand data. You know, they can understand some facts. But they can't read it in a way that moves them to obey God. They can't understand God or His Word in that way. They're in darkness. Top of page 4. Well, I did wait. Go back to E. I didn't read the main verse. Under E, verse 21. As sin reigned in death. As you were under the reign of sin. As I was under the reign of sin. Sin, like a monarch, dominated our life in those four ways I described there. We're under condemnation. We have no power to resist sin in our heart. We have no ability to have light, spiritual inspiration. We have no divine destiny in that relationship. I mean because we don't have a relationship with God. We're under the reign of sin. We're under the dominance of the monarch king's sin. And death. And I mean it's utter death. And every human being is under the reign of sin or they're under the reign of grace. Paul said in the same way that you were totally under the dominance of sin's reign. You are now under the dominance of grace's reign. The problem is you don't know it. The problem is you don't talk to the spirit along these lines. The problem is you don't have confidence in it. So it doesn't move your heart to respond. But you're still as much under the reign of grace as every other born again believer. Beloved, you and I came under the reign of grace fully, instantly into our legal position the minute we were born again. Now the challenge is to fill our mind with the knowledge of what's true about us so it warms our heart and gives us confidence to respond and it gets into our dialogue with the spirit. We talk to the spirit along these lines. Again, things like, thank you Holy Spirit that I will walk in the glory of God today. Understanding that it's more times by far it's going to be little small measures of it but it's still the glory of God and God will remember it forever and reward me forever for these little things I do called loving people and serving in secret and what a glorious way to live. And to talk to the spirit along those lines is powerful. Get to the top of page four. Now under the reign of grace, it's the opposite of the reign of sin. Full affection with God. Now God has the affection but if we don't renew our mind, we don't feel it. Beloved, I don't want to live not feeling the affections of God for me and my affections for him. I want to feel them. So we labor, Hebrews 4 says, we labor to interest. We labor to renew our mind. That's where the labor is. The fasting and prayer doesn't earn us anything but it positions us to feel the power of truth. We put our cold heart before his bonfire. The power isn't in the cold heart being put there. The power is in the bonfire. It's in his presence. So the reason I say that, some folks say, well if you pray or fast or you study the Bible, if you do something, aren't you earning it? Isn't it works? No. If your attitude is hunger and you say, Lord, my prayer and fasting is so weak and feeble anyway, how could that possibly change me? It's the power of the fire I'm sitting in front of that changes me because you're so gracious. That's not earning anything. That's called the grace of God. Well, we, number two, we have the indwelling spirit. Now this indwelling spirit, we're going to develop, I won't develop it now because I'm out of time, but I'll talk about this more in Romans 6 in our next session. Romans 6 tells us how to practically interact with the indwelling spirit in a way that causes peace to triumph over anger in our spirit, I mean in our soul. We have the authority to use the name of Jesus. Again, you could be in a bad mood. You could be tired. You could have had a horrible day yesterday, but you're repentant of what you've done and you meant it. I don't mean it's just kind of rhetoric. I mean you say, Lord, I don't want to do that. I tell you, the authority works because of who He is, not because of how good we're doing. But our unrenewed thinking, people, when we blow it, when we do wrong things, when we don't spend time in the Word, our mind gets dull. We don't have confidence in the glory of God. We don't even think about it. We get self-absorbed. We get self-preoccupied. We get more focused on what we don't have instead of what we do have in Christ. We get more focused on how hard it is and how bad we are instead of who God is and who we are in Christ. And that mindset actually quenches the spirit's activity in our life. We don't ever speak the Word to God. We theoretically believe it, but it's never in our language with God. So therefore, the vibrancy of it doesn't move our heart. And again, that's next week. I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's look at paragraph H, which is next week, but I just had to give you something practical. Paul said, it's a few verses later, but he's talking about Romans 5. He says, here's what I want you to do. I want you to reckon yourself. I want you to see yourself as not under the reign of sin anymore. I want you to see yourself as under the reign of grace. Beloved, it begins by seeing ourself. And then what we see, we say to God. Thank you, God, this is true. And the devil attacks it, and we resist it. What we see, we say. Then our confidence increases. Then the feelings begin to increase. It all goes together. Paul said here, verse 11, you have to see yourself in a new way. Number one. No, that's an I, isn't it? There we go again. I haven't got my glasses on this time. No, last week I messed up. Never mind. But we see ourself. Here's how God wants us to see and to say to Him. We're enjoyed by God. We're indwelt by the Spirit. We're empowered with the authority of Jesus. We're commissioned with a destiny. Beloved, our life is so meaningful. Even if the things we do are little and nobody sees them, God sees them. And the glory of God now has continuity with the glory of God in the age to come. And He rewards us in the age to come for the little things we did here. Not because we're earning some rewards. Because rewards are God showing us how He feels about the way we loved Him when we were on the earth. Amen. We're going to end with that. Next week, Romans 6. Let's stand. Lord, I want to enter into Your glory. I want peace with God. I'm going to lead you in a confession. Okay. We're going to go to Romans chapter 5, verse 1 and 2, the main two verses. But I don't want to do it like I say it, then we all repeat it. I don't want it that way. I want to say it, then I want you just to whisper it in your own way to God. We're going to start with those three statements. You're going to say to God, okay, we're justified by faith. Therefore, here it is, the three. We have peace with God. So you're going to say, thank you. And then say your name. Just whisper it to God. I have a full and enjoyable relationship with you from your point of view. Thank you. Thank you, God. I want to feel it. But thank you, it's already true in terms of from your end. It's there. The God of burning desire has nothing in between, nothing hindering Him. Say it to Him again. Thank you. Not that we have peace with God. Thank you, I. Thank you that Mike, I have an enjoyable, full relationship with you that will last for billions of years. I want to go full blast now. Okay, number two, Paul said we stand in the grace of God. So we're going to make that personal because it doesn't help you if it's just a theological point. Thank you. Thank you, Father. And talk to the Holy Spirit living in your spirit. I mean, it's like a bonfire inside of you. Holy Spirit, thank you. I stand in grace. Mike stands in grace before you. That's who I am. That's who I am. I have the authority of Jesus. I have the indwelling spirit. Thank you, Holy Spirit. You're in me. Thank you that I have a destiny. Even if it's not big in the eyes of men, it's big to you. It matters. Thank you. And finally, Paul said we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. So thank you that we have certainty, confidence of the certainty of participating in your glory. We will participate in your glory tonight. Beloved, don't start tomorrow. Start tonight. When you drive back on the shuttle or when you're on your way out, just say something to somebody. Don't touch them. Move in the glory of God tonight. Don't wait until tomorrow. Thank you, Holy Spirit. I move in the glory of God now. I'll do it. I'll be helpful to somebody. I'll say a few prayers. I'll bless a few people. I'll say some kind things. I'm going to move in the glory of God tonight. And you're going to remember it forever. And you're going to reward me for even a cup of cold water because I love you. What a way to live. I'm going to give you 60 more seconds to just say it. Now, stay with us, these three sentences. They need to get in your language all the time with God. I mean, there's nothing higher in Romans than those two verses. And then verse 20 and 21 is this kind of same deal, just a different version of it. Oh, we love you, Jesus. Ryan, let's do a, oh, we love you, Jesus, and something else. I just have an, oh, I love you, Jesus, in me. But I want us to have confidence with who we are as a new creation too. Do what you want, Ryan. We're going to have you respond in prayer in just a few moments, but we're going to do worship for just a few minutes.