The Freedom of Our Faith

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waiting here for you waiting you're the lord of all creation and still you know my heart you're the author of salvation you've loved us from the start you've loved us from the start we're waiting here for you with our hands lifted high in praise and it's you we adore singing our hallelujah you are everything you've promised your faithfulness is true we're desperate for your presence all we need is you we're waiting here for you with our hands lifted high in praise and it's you we adore singing our hallelujah yes, we're waiting here for you all we wait for you

yes, sing hallelujah hallelujah singing hallelujah singing hallelujah singing hallelujah singing hallelujah singing hallelujah singing hallelujah we're waiting here for you with our hands lifted high in praise and it's you we adore singing our hallelujah we're waiting here for you with our hands lifted high in praise and it's you we adore ♪ Oh, sing it, hallelujah ♪ Sing it, hallelujah Amen, let's give Him praise this morning. Thanks for coming! Thank you. Great how you're singing! Yeah. Come on, Alright.

Okay, here we go. Now great work that you are getting out there singing that. Thank you. Come on, sing there again. Thank You, Jesus. I want to praise, I want to praise the wonders of Your mighty love. My comfort, my shelter, tower of refuge and strength, let every breath, all that I am, never cease to worship You. Shout to the Lord on the earth, let us sing. Power and majesty praise to the King. Mountains fall down and the seas will roll at the sound of Your name. I sing for joy at the word of Your name. Forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand. Nothing compares to the promise I have. Shout to the Lord on the earth, let us sing. Power and majesty praise to the King. Mountains fall down and the seas will roll at the sound of Your name. I sing for joy at the word of Your name. Forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand. Nothing compares to the promise I have. Oh, nothing compares to the promise I have. Oh, nothing compares to the promise I have. In You. Oh, my Jesus. Nothing compares to You. Everything changed. It's getting harder to recognize the person I was before I encountered Christ. I don't walk like I used to. I don't talk like I used to. I've been washed from the inside.

I've been washed from the inside. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. I cannot explain. But nothing's more real than this. In the presence of God. Oh what my heart experienced. When my shame hit the wayside. And my sin met the most high. I was washed from the inside. I was washed from the inside. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Could have only been the blood. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Father. It's never been about performance. Or perfection.

Or striving for acceptance. Let me tell you. It's only by the blood. It's never been about deserving. Or earning. It's a gift that's freely given. Let me tell you. It's only by the blood. Come on. Does anybody want to be holy? And righteous? And purified? And spotless? Let me tell you. It's only by the blood. Does anybody want to be worthy? Forgiven? Justified? Really living? Let me tell you. It's only by the blood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Yeah, could have only been the blood.

So what can I say? When thank you's just not enough. Jesus, your grace. And your mercy poured out for us. I will love you forever. Here on earth and to heaven. I've been washed from the inside. I've been washed from the inside. I've been washed from the inside out. I've been washed from the inside out. Thank you, Jesus. Come on, let's sing this hymn together. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And what can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And what can make me whole again? ♪ I get it, nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ Sing, oh precious. ♪ And oh precious is the flow ♪ ♪ That makes me white as snow ♪ ♪ No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ And oh precious is the flow ♪ ♪ That makes me white as snow ♪ ♪ No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ And oh precious is the flow ♪ ♪ That makes me white as snow ♪

♪ No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus, Jesus ♪ Father, we just bow before you now and we just stand in your presence and we're amazed by your power and your might and your strength. We're so thankful today for the way that you're always working in our lives. Thank you God for saving us through your son, Jesus. Thank you for doing for us what we could not do in our own power and our own strength and our own desire. We needed a savior and you sent your son, Jesus. We thank you for the perfect life that he lived. We thank you for the sacrifice, for the crucifixion on the cross, the pain that was endured for us. And we're thankful for the resurrection, that death has been defeated and we have life. We have purpose, we have direction. We have all that we need and we thank you for your spirit that you give us and the power that resides within us because death has been defeated. And thank you for your church. Thank you for this body of believers that gathers together and we worship you and we learn more about you and your ways and we fellowship with one another and we're discipled in your truth. Thank you God that the truth goes marching on and we thank you God that you're not done with us and you're not done with the church and you have great plans for your bride. We thank you for our nation. We thank you for the freedoms that we have, freedom to come and worship you without the fear of being persecuted.

So thank you God for a place like this that we can come and gather. But God we know that our nation needs revival. Our nation needs an awakening. And so God we pray that you would start with us. Start with us here in Texarkana. Start with us here in this church, First Baptist and start with us as individuals. Search our hearts God. Anything in us that's not of you God just reveal that to us. Speak to us. Give us conviction where it's needed. God I also pray that you would bring encouragement and healing where it's needed. Have your way in this place in each heart and each life. God we'll be careful to give you the glory, to give you the praise that you're so worthy of. We thank you again for this time and we pray all this in the strong name of your son Jesus, amen. Maybe seated. I haven't met you. My name is Chris Schroeder. I'm the teaching pastor here and Pastor Jeff is here today. But as you saw he was up here a little bit ago. But just a few Sundays off in July. Time with family. Time to be refreshed. And don't you believe that Pastor Jeff does a great job every single Sunday and he needs some time away. He is doing a series on Wednesday nights.

Not starting this Wednesday but a week from Wednesday he's starting a sermon series, three-week series to the attributes of God. And so Wednesday night, we come on Sunday morning but coming on Wednesday night is also a great idea and I know that he's looking forward to that Wednesday night series beginning a week from Wednesday. We're going to look at Romans chapter 8, the first section of Romans chapter 8. And it has been said that Romans chapter 8 is like the Mount Everest of the Bible. Very important chapter in the Bible. And this chapter, Romans chapter 8, as we think about this weekend and the freedom celebration, celebrating our freedom that we have, this is really about freedom. This chapter is about freedom. It's about getting to the top. It's about the Holy Spirit working in our lives. And in Romans chapter 8, we see one basic but very important principle. That the law of sin has been canceled and we now have life in the Spirit. And this is something for us to celebrate, for us to begin to understand and live out in our lives. So, we get to the book of Romans, and I love the book of Romans because it could be argued that Romans might be the most important book of the Bible, because it's really the theology of the entire Bible. Because Romans is Paul writing and he's summing up everything that has happened to this point and everything that will happen. So, it's past, present, future. The entire theology of the Bible is here in Romans. You know, you have the Old Testament. You have 39 books in the Old Testament, starting with the book of Genesis. Starting of course with the creation story in Genesis 1 and 2. And then Genesis chapter 3, you have the fall of man.

You have sin entering the picture. And then you have the flood where God starts all over again. You have the Tower of Babel, so you have these four key events starting out. And then you get to the patriarchs. You get to Abraham, Abraham being the father, the father of Israel. And so, the rest of the Old Testament is following the Israelite people. And so, we get the law and the history of these people. And then we get the law fulfilled in the New Testament. There's 27 books of the New Testament, starting with the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And we get the story of the Messiah, Jesus, who fulfilled the law and lived a perfect life, became that perfect sacrifice for us. And so, we get the Gospels, and then we get the book of Acts. And the book of Acts is the history of the Christian church. And in Acts chapter 9, there's a very important story where this man named Saul, Saul was against Christians, and he was on a horse on the road to Damascus. And a bright light shone upon him, and it knocked him off his horse. And the voice of God spoke to him and basically told him, you are no longer going to persecute Christians. It's like, basically, you're going to go to my team now, and you are going to be instrumental in starting the Christian church. And so, God calls Saul, who later becomes Paul. So, Acts, we get the history of the church. He later on writes a bunch of epistles, letters to the church. But he writes Romans, which is the theology of the entire Bible. And then we get to Romans chapter 8, right there in the center of Romans. And it is this chapter full of hope, full of instruction for us in how to live the Christian life. So, if you have your Bible, turn to Romans chapter 8. I don't want to be here for the next several weeks, next three weeks, but I want to start

with just the first section, so verses 1 through 9 of Romans chapter 8. And if you don't have your Bible, it will be up on the screen. It says this, it says, therefore, there is now no condemnation for all those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who are in accord with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are in accord with the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Verse 6, for the mindset on the flesh is death, but the mindset on the Spirit is life and peace. Because the mindset on the flesh is hostile towards God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him." Let's go ahead and stop there. So in this text, Paul is asking a question. Paul is asking the question, are you in Christ or not? You are either in Christ or not, and if you're in Christ, you have a pardon from sin. And so I want to look today at some truths from this specific passage, this first part of Romans chapter 8, some important truths. And the first one is this, you have a present pardon, a present pardon. So that first verse is a great verse, a good verse to put to memory. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Notice the word now, present tense, right now.

Right now, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And this is coming on the heels of Romans chapter 7. Remember Romans chapter 7, Paul is talking about the struggle that he has, the struggle to please God. He wants to please God, he wants to honor God. He knows that God is holy and he wants to be pleasing to God, but he keeps on sinning. He keeps on doing what he doesn't want to do. He keeps on messing up over and over again. And we love Romans 7 because we see that Paul is human just like us, because we all struggle with sin. And Paul is saying, I just continue to struggle with sin. Paul says, I don't understand myself. I don't understand why I do what I do. And so, in Romans chapter 7 we see confusion. We see a defeated life. We see addiction, continuing to do what he doesn't want to do. We see sin. We see frustration from Paul. We see discouragement, self-condemnation. Paul is pouring it out, telling us what's going on in his heart and his life throughout Romans chapter 7. It's really the defeated Christian life. And then we get to Romans 8. And there's this word, the first word of Romans chapter 8, therefore. Therefore. That's a powerful word. And if you study theology, you know that therefore is an important word because therefore you have to ask the question, what is it there for? And this is coming right after Romans chapter 7. He says therefore, therefore.

Now if you go back earlier, even before Romans chapter 7, you go back to Romans chapter 3, the beginning of the Roman road, Romans 3 verse 23 says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Every single one of us have sinned. Therefore we all fall short of the glory of God. See, we were all born on the same boat, the sin boat. We all have sin in our life, and it's a sinking ship. It's doomed for destruction. We're all kind of like on the Titanic. You know, when the Titanic hit the iceberg and it's just a matter of time, it's sinking. We're on a sinking ship, this sin ship, because we all have sin in our life. And you know, as a follower of Jesus Christ, you know the sins that you struggle with the most. You know your pet sins, kind of your go-to sins. And you battle with those sins, just like Paul talks about in Romans 7. Over and over again, there's pride, maybe gluttony. I think Pastor Jeff should do a sermon sometime. That's an easy subject, gluttony. Anyone struggle with that one? There's pride, there's gluttony, there's greed, there's selfishness, there's self-reliance. What about idolatry? That's a big one. Putting other things on the throne of our heart, worshiping other things before God. There's idolatry. There's worry. Worrying about the future. Instead of trusting God, there's worry in our hearts. And so, we have all these kinds of sin. But then we get to Romans chapter 8. In Romans chapter 8, it's the hope chapter.

It's really all about hope. We have hope, because what we do is we admit our guilt and our sin, and we accept what's been done for us. We accept the gospel of salvation, and we acquire the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been given to us as a gift. There is power of the Holy Spirit given to us, and then we have no condemnation. And so, you have a present pardon. That is really, really good news. Present truth is that you have a permanent pardon. You have a present pardon, and you have a permanent pardon. If you have salvation, you should not only know it in your mind, but you should show it. It should be obvious that you have salvation. It should be obvious that there is something different about you. That you have eternal life, that you have the Holy Spirit residing in you. Oh man, it should be all over you. I look around, I'll be honest, I look around, and I see too many discouraged Christians. People that call themselves followers of Christ. People that call themselves Holy Spirit-filled, but so discouraged, discouraged. And you see why? Because the world around us, because the chaos of the world around us, because of the sin that is all around us. And so, I see so many discouraged Christians. But then I remember what Jesus said in John 10.10, that's a great verse, John 10.10. The thief, Satan, he comes only to kill and steal and destroy. But Jesus said, but I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly. He came not so that we would live a discouraged life, a discouraged Christian life, but he came so that we could live an abundant Christian life. How many Christians are living that abundant Christian life? We are called to be salt and light in the world.

We are called to make a difference in the world around us. Everywhere we go to shine light, to sprinkle out our salt, to flavor the world, we're called to be salt and light. In our church, we always use the phrase, shine and share. We're called to shine our light. And when we have opportunity, we're called to share. We get these great opportunities. You get that green light in your mind, like I better go right now, I better share right now. We get great opportunities to shine and then sometimes to even share. Romans 8.1, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation. Now it doesn't say there's no sin. Notice that it doesn't say there's no failures, that there's no, you know, faults. We still sin, but there's no condemnation. If you have salvation, you're not put on parole. I know some people that, I know someone who had to serve a prison sentence. When they got out of prison, when they did their time, they no longer had a parole. They were good. They had served their time, and now they were ready for hopefully a new life to begin. But sometimes you still have a parole, so you still have to check in. You still have to, you're still accountable to someone, and it's very difficult to live a life while you're on parole. You're not on parole. You're not on probation. God actually dismisses the case. He cleans the file. He wipes the slate clean. You have a brand-new, fresh start. No condemnation.

Remember when I was in fourth grade? This is going way back, fourth grade. I had a teacher. Her name was Mrs. Rader. And Mrs. Rader, she was a great teacher. I think she was a great teacher, but I had my first crush. rush on Mrs. Rader. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, to the point of she was so beautiful that I couldn't look at her in the eyes. I was just like so shy of her because she was so beautiful. But my whole fourth grade year, all I wanted to do was please Miss Rader. I didn't want to get in trouble with Mrs. Rader. And so, I just respected her so much and thought she was so beautiful that I never wanted to get in trouble. I always wanted to do the right thing, you know, don't talk when you're not supposed to talk, participate in class. I always wanted to do the right things. And at the end of the month, they would have a super citizen of the month. And I won that several times. Because Mrs. Rader, I wanted to please Mrs. Rader. But one day, one day, I couldn't even tell you what I did. I must have like talked in class. I did something wrong. And I got my name on the board. The shame. You get, oh, so back in the day, they had these things called chalkboards. And so, they, the teacher would write your name on the board. And so, the whole day during the class, during school, you'd see your name up on the board. I mean, could you imagine the shame? But really, it was just a warning.

There was no punishment for it. It was just your name on the board. But if you got a checkmark, now you're in trouble. Now you actually have to miss a recess. That's a big deal. Recess was like gold to us. And so, you had to, we had this yellow line that was painted around the playground, and you would have to stand on the yellow line during recess if you got a checkmark. That's the way they did it in California. You had to stand on the yellow line. The shame. Well, I just got my name on the board, not a checkmark. But it was devastating to me, devastating, because I never got in trouble. And Mrs. Rader saw me do something wrong, and she put my name on the board. And I was so devastated. I had self-pity. I hated myself. Hated that I had done that. I pouted that whole day. I wasn't going to talk to anybody. I was just going to pout. Everyone was going to know how miserable I was. And that whole day, I was just pouting. I was miserable. You know, a question would be asked. I wasn't going to raise my hand and answer, because I was going to make someone pay for the horrible thing that I had done. Finally, Mrs. Rader, she saw what I was doing throughout this whole day. It was probably getting annoying to her. And she went up to me, and no other student was around, and she said, Chris, you just

got your name on the board. It's not that big of a deal. In fact, at the end of the day, I'm going to erase it. And tomorrow, your name won't be on the board. It's not that big of a deal. She said that, it kind of made sense. My name is going to get erased, and I get a fresh start. See, I think in the Christian life, we have to understand two key terms, two words that we sometimes confuse, but we've got to see that they're different. There's a difference between conviction and condemnation. Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit. So, when you do something wrong, when you sin, you as a Christian—I'm talking to born-again believers right now. I'm talking to people that are saved, because you only have the Holy Spirit when you're saved. So, I'm talking to people that are saved. If you're saved, you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. So, when you do something wrong, when you sin, you get a prick of the heart. It hurts your heart. And that pain is conviction, and it leads to repentance. Repentance is a good thing, because it leads to change, and there's change in our lives. Conviction, repentance, and change. Conviction is good. It comes from the Holy Spirit. Condemnation is not good. Condemnation comes from the evil one, and condemnation says you didn't just do that sin, but you are that sin. That sin is your identity. That's who you are. And so, you have a scarlet letter forever, because that is who you are.

You see that in our culture today? We're tying sins as an identity. It becomes who someone is. That's not from the Lord. The Holy Spirit brings conviction, but not condemnation, because Romans 8-1 reminds us that therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And so, it is a present pardon. It's a permanent pardon. And then third, you have a secure position. Romans 8 tells us that you have a secure position. This is a key Biblical truth. It means that the pardon that we have is not based on performance. It's based on position. It's not based on what you do, but it's based on who you are. More important than that, it's based on whose you are, who you belong to. When I counsel people, one of my favorite books to counsel people through is the book of Ephesians, because Ephesians is laid out perfectly for Biblical counseling. Because the first three chapters are different than the second three chapters. The first three chapters of Ephesians tells us our—it's a positional truth. It tells us who we are in Christ. It tells us our position in Christ. So, you can read Ephesians chapter one and you'll find seven truths about who you are in Christ. It's really good news. It's your identity in Him. And so, you have to understand who you belong to, whose you are, and then the second half tells you how to live it out. Talks you about your relationships, talks about—chapter five talks about marriage. Chapter six talks about spiritual warfare, so how you live out the Christian life. But you have to understand your position, your identity, before you can actually understand

the practical truth of how you live it out. So, your identity, whose you are, who you belong to is so important. See, there's two classes of people in this world. There's those who are in Adam, and there's those who are in Christ. And if you are in Christ, you cannot be condemned. Isn't this good news? Now, towards the end of Romans chapter eight, verses 33 and 34, and I'll talk about this later but, verses 33 and 34 of Romans chapter eight says, who will bring charges against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, but rather was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. All of that available to us. Now our judges, and we have some judges in our church, and we have some attorneys in our church, our people who have studied law will know that there's such thing as, it's called the law of double jeopardy. Meaning that you cannot be tried for the same thing twice. You can only be tried for it one time. And the same thing is true in the Christian life. God cannot condemn for what I've done because Jesus already went to the cross for us. Jesus already took care of that for us. And so because of that, you have a secure position in Christ. Fourth is you have a steady path to follow. You have a steady path to follow. See He saves us, but then He doesn't just leave us there. He takes us on a journey. He grows us. So go to verse 2. Verses 2-4.

It says, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And so you see that language there of a journey, a walk. And I want you to understand that the Christian life is not a work. The Christian life is a walk. And the Christian life is not lived by you. The Christian life is lived through you. And the Christian life is lived one step at a time. One decision at a time. One day at a time. And God is far more interested in your walk one step at a time, one day at a time, than He is interested in your work. And I love this analogy. I love this analogy of a journey. The Christian life is a journey. It's a walk one step at a time, one day at a time. We walk with God. I love talking to senior adults who've been walking with God for a long time. They've been walking with Him for such a long time that they're so familiar with Him, because they've been through so many things on the journey, because they've been on this long walk with Him. Makes me think about this Sir Edmund Hillary climbing Mount Everest. How did he get to the top of Mount Everest? How was he the first one to get to the top of this long journey?

One step at a time, one step at a time, going along on this journey, knowing that there is a goal, there is an end, there is an arrival, but for the meantime, you're just on a journey. And so, you have a steady path to follow. I've told you this before, but we get so excited. We get so excited by the Christians that, you know, are so passionate and enthusiastic and excited, but I think the older I get, I'm more impressed with those who are just steady. Just that steady path, one step after another. And then finally, you have a supernatural power, supernatural power. Verse two again, it says, for the law of the Spirit of the life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. Set you free from the law of sin and death. Stop there at verse two. The physical world operates by physical laws. The spiritual world operates by spiritual laws. So, this is a little deep, this is a little complicated because it's hard for our minds to think of two different things, but there's two primary laws. We see two primary laws at work. First is the law of sin and death. And that principle says that the soul that sins shall die, and then that the wages of sin is death. But then there's a second law, and the second law says this. The second law says the law of the Spirit of life in Christ. And this is a higher law. This law trumps the other law. See, all laws are valid, but not all laws are equal. So one thing can be true, and another thing can be true, but the second truth is greater than the first truth. Does that make sense? So, let me give you an analogy.

I hope this works. Okay, so, in my pocket, I actually have two pennies, I just need one, I'm not going to give you my two cents. Okay, so I have this penny, I'm holding up this penny, and if I were to drop the penny, what's going to happen? Hopefully it doesn't bounce too far, it's right here. It drops. Because of, why does the penny drop? The law of gravity. There is a law that says that it will drop, it will be pulled to the ground. It's the law of gravity. So that is a law. So there is a law in place that this penny will fall because of the law of gravity. But you know that's one law, but there's another law. So if I drop the penny, and it drops to the ground, and I lost it in the crack, no it's over here, I'm supposed to catch it, you missed that. So if I drop it, and I catch it, and then I hold the penny up, what happened to the law of gravity? There was a greater law. Me if I would have catch it the first time, it would have been better, but anyways, you get the point. There's a greater law. I'm strong enough to lift up, to catch hopefully, and then lift up that penny. Two laws at work, but one law is greater. Spiritually speaking, there's two laws. There is the law of sin and death, but there's a greater law. The greater law is the law of the Spirit. Look at verse 3. Verse 3 says, for what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did. Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin, He condemned

sin in the flesh. See the law... shows you what perfection is, but it can't make you perfect. It's something that shows you up, that you hold up, and it shows you what perfection is, but it can't make you perfect. The law only condemns you because you're not perfect. None of us are perfect. We all have sin in our life, but you are either in the Lord or you are under the law. And in one, there is great freedom. Under the other, there's failure. In one, there is deliverance, and under the other, there's condemnation. In one, there is rejection by sin, and in the other one, you are accepted. Later on in Romans chapter 8, he says you are adopted. You belong to Him. So what about you? Are you in the Lord, or are you living under the law? Are you walking in freedom? Are you enjoying the freedom that has been given to us? Now it starts with salvation. You have to first receive what God has done for you through His Son, Jesus, because none of us here are good enough. None of us here are moral enough. We may think we're pretty moral, but we all fall short. So if there was like a morality scale from the very ground all the way to the top of the ceiling, if there was a morality scale and all the people that ever lived past, present, future were on that scale somewhere, you think of like maybe Billy Graham. Billy Graham would be way high up on that morality scale. Billy Graham, you know, a hero of the faith, a great evangelist, modern-day evangelist. Billy Graham would be way up on that scale. And then you think of terrible people that ever lived. I think Adolf Hitler is one of the worst people that ever lived, just a terribly immoral person. He would be way down at the bottom of that scale. And every single one of us would be somewhere on that scale. We could all put ourselves somewhere, depending on how high or low we think of ourselves. We'd put ourselves somewhere on that morality scale, but we would all fall short because we all have sin in our life and we all are in need of a Savior. So God sent His Son, Jesus, and we sing about the blood this morning. The blood of Jesus went from the very top of that morality scale all the way to the bottom. It covers for every single person what was done on the cross for us. But that doesn't mean that everyone's saved, because you have to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead to have salvation. You have to receive what has been done for you. And you have an opportunity to do that. Every time we meet

together we give people an opportunity to receive the Gospel message, because we want you to live in this freedom. There's great freedom in our faith. You have a present pardon, you have a permanent pardon, you have a secure position, you have a steady path to follow, and you have a supernatural power available to you. We have this ministry in our church called Celebrate Recovery. I love Celebrate Recovery. We meet on Tuesday nights, and it's for people with hurts, habits, hang-ups. So basically people that know, hey, that we have sin in our life. We fall short. We need help. And we have this part of the service on Tuesday nights, my favorite part of the service, is where people can come up and you have some kind of struggle in your life. You have some sort of sin struggle in your life, some sort of addiction, something that you want to get victory over. You come forward and you get what's called a blue chip. And so you get a blue chip. And the person will come up, and the blue chips will be up front, and people will stand up and they'll walk to the front and they'll get a blue chip. And basically they're saying, I'm not ashamed of this anymore. In fact, I'm tired of living in shame, and I'm bringing this into the light. And I don't care anyone who knows that I'm struggling, but I need a blue chip. And so I'm going up and I'm getting that blue chip. And so I'm walking up in front of everyone in the crowd, and I'm going up because I'm going to get a blue chip because I want victory in my life. And what do you think the people do, the rest of the people, when people go up to get a blue chip? Do you think they boo? They hiss at him, they laugh at him, and say, boy that person has so much problems, I can't believe that person's going up front. No, they cheer. They cheer that you actually have the courage to go up and get a blue chip to admit that I've got struggle in my life, I need a blue chip, and we cheer. In fact, we even do a standing ovation cheer when people go up to get a blue chip. Well, we're kind of coming to that part. You're not going to get a blue chip today. You got to come on Tuesday night for that. But Sunday morning we have this thing where we do an invitation, and we have pastors come and we stand up front.

And we say, anyone want to come up today and just get prayer? And just come out of the crowd and come to get individual prayer and say, hey, I need help. Hey, I'm struggling physically, spiritually, emotionally, whatever it is, I'm struggling and I need help. I need prayer. I need that today. Or I don't have a relationship with Jesus, and so I want all these truths that you're talking about today from Romans 8, but I don't even have a relationship with Jesus. You have the courage, and you come up front, and you get prayed for, and people are excited for you, because change is happening in your life, and that is a good thing. And so, I'm going to pray, and then Pastor Jeff and other pastors, we're going to be up front. And if you need prayer today, if you'd like to make a decision today, we're here to pray for you. And then even to go a step further, we have a prayer room to the left where you can come and you can receive prayer. Would you stand? Let me just pray, and then Jackson's going to come back up and lead us in worship. And pastors will be up front, and they would love to pray with you and talk with you. And maybe you have salvation, but you haven't been walking in freedom. You've been walking in condemnation, and you needed to hear that first verse today. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now we come to the most important question of all. Have you turned from sin and selfishness and given your heart and life to Jesus? Listen, if not, today is the day for you. Just pray this simple prayer from your heart. Lord Jesus, I need you. I know that I'm a sinner, and I can't save myself, but I believe, Jesus, that you are God in the flesh.

I believe you died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead, and right now I ask you to forgive me and save me, come into my life, change me, make me the person you want me to be. I surrender my life to you, and I promise to follow you all the days I have left. Now, if you pray that kind of prayer and mean it, the Lord will come in, and your life will never be the same. Listen, I would love to hear from you, so please contact me and share with me what's going on so we can pray for you. And if you are ever in the Texarkana area, we would love for you to visit us live and in person at FBC Texarkana. Listen, you really are important to God, and you're important to us, and we're here for you.