All right, well look, take y'all's revelation you brought with you today and turn, if you would, to the book of Romans. Romans chapter number six. Romans chapter number six. It is good, it is good, it is good to see y'all. I was thinking about those little ones. I was thinking about that song we were singing, Because He Lives. We don't have to worry about a child's uncertain future because he lives, amen? Yesterday, Lauren sent us some videos of little Holden's first day of t-ball He's just over three years old. So they out there playing t-ball and Blake's coaching them and they had about five or six little boys out there and all of them knee-high to a grasshopper and you ought to seen him trying to herd them kids up now and They look like cats out there. They were doing their own thing, are you with me? He was trying to explain to them how to get in a straight line. They were all over the place, and he said, I'm going to go down here, and when I say go, y'all run. Well, when he said go, they took off. And he's still standing there with them, you know. And then he's got them up at the batter's box, and he says, now what we're gonna do, this is first base. You know, he was taking them around the bases. So he hit the ball, and he said, y'all follow me, and he started going toward first base. Well, they all ran toward the ball. So they're out at the pitcher's mound with the ball, and he's kinda trying to get them over here, and then they all take out over here. And it was just one after, they were so funny watching them all, trying to herd them up and get them just to follow those simple directions. One kid will have a glove on, and he's ready. The other one's standing around looking like this, and he'll say run, and that one standing around won't never move. And the other ones will run this away, and they'll run that away. But you know, they all, those that you get to watch on Saturdays and those you get to watch during the week, like Play for the Atlanta Braves and all that, you know they all started out there? Every one of them started out the same, right. Just barely been able to follow a little instruction, couldn't throw the ball all that well, couldn't hit the ball, didn't know where first base was, or second base, or the pitcher's mound, or any of those things. I don't know if they still do it, but when I played little league, we used to have bump men. Y'all remember bump men? Remember that, Keith? I don't know if they still do that, but when they put the two up there right next to the pitcher and all that. And I can remember playing my first year, and boy, I was in another world. I didn't know what to do, where to go, and how to play and all that. But you know, you learn. You learn. and you stick with it and you learn. And that's the same thing when we come into the kingdom of God, the scripture says we all come in as new creatures in Christ, as babes in Christ. Now we don't wanna stay there, amen? There's a reason why Jesus has done what he's done in our life and that is so that we can move on and we can learn the kingdom and what he's doing and that we can follow his lead as our shepherd in life. Romans chapter number six is where we're gonna kick off today. We've been walking together as a body here at Briggs Chapel over the last little bit, looking at some material called Magnify the Lord. And it's 10 Reasons for the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're up to, today, we're up to chapter six in that material. And in chapter six, it reveals that Jesus came to deliver. That's one of the reasons for his coming, is to deliver us. Now here, this is not a foreign concept for us here at Briggs Chapel, because we talk about it all the time. That Jesus came to deliver us what? From something. To something. From something to something. And throughout the entirety of the scriptures, we see a common thread that when God ever saves, when he ever delivers, when he rescues anybody, at any time, it's always from something. I mean, just the mere fact, think about that for a moment. Salvation, salvation is possible, and we know it is, and it's only possible through one person, and that person is the Lord Jesus Christ, and all God's people said. But it's salvation, just think about the word for a moment, salvation, or saving. When you save something or someone, you always save them from that which is harmful, or that which would hurt them, right? So the idea of needing salvation to begin with or saving from anything is a salvation from something, but if it was genuinely a salvation or saving someone from something, you also saved them to that which was safe, that which is protective, that which would be a refuge or a safe haven. So you had just the mere thought of it. Just think about that for a moment. And the reason I say that is because there's been debates through the years that when a person gives their life to Jesus or they trust Jesus, let's use that phrase there. When they trust Jesus, they don't have to trust Jesus as being Lord and master over their life. They're just trusting him to save them from their sins. And that concept and that idea is preached all over the world. And they have no concept of the idea when they preach that, that they don't bring in the fact that Number one, the Bible describes Jesus as the Lord Jesus Christ, and all God's people say it. So it goes in with it, Brother Shannon, that if you're gonna trust Jesus, you're not just trusting Jesus as a savior, we know that he's Lord and master, and that he is God's way of saving people, but he had to save us from some kind of danger, some kind of problem, some kind of thing that was hurting us, And the main thing that he saves us from is ourselves. And the reason that is, is because every one of us, as sweet as these little boys and girls are, that are going to the back back there, the Bible tells us that every one of us was born bent with a nature that, found delight in doing life our way, meaning we all were born selfish, and I believe everybody in here can agree with that, amen? How many kids you know that were brought into this world that didn't make life all about them? I mean, if you don't feed them, what do they do? Well, they can't feed themselves, right? So you have to feed a baby, and all God's people said. What else can a baby not do? A baby can't feed itself and a baby can't change itself, right? And when a baby's hungry and a baby's got a dirty bottom or a baby's tired, how will that baby communicate with you? The only way they know how is what? That's how they get your attention. And just one thing after the other, Miss Pat, everything they start learning is how to get our attention. But eventually, these little ones grow up, and before long, what do we start doing? We know that they need to be pacified with something, so we wind up doing what? We'll give them something, put something in their hand, and modern day, how many of y'all let your kids look at your phones or your iPads or anything like that to watch something to entertain them? Anybody do that? Man, them kids can operate a device better than adults can, can't they? They just know how to do it. Why? Because we put it in their hands when they're little a lot of times. Some parents say, I'm not doing it. I'm not going to put them, I'm not giving them anything like that because I don't want them to get hooked on it. I don't want to ruin them. But you're always going to give them something to pacify them. It may be a baby doll, or it may be a pacifier. but a baby will always require some kind of attention and any parents that not giving them the attention needed and guiding them is not a good parent, amen? Because a baby can't communicate with you other than letting you know that things are not right. Well, as they grow though, we start getting them what? Tricycles. Did you have a tricycle? No, you went right to a big old bicycle. You are a big old boy now. I can see how that can happen. What about motorcycles? You got one of those, huh? Had one of those. You ever wreck one? I have too, so I know exactly what that is. Well, we go from motorcycles to four wheelers or three, back in my day it was a three wheeler. They didn't have four wheelers back then. And then you go to what? Cars and guns and this and that and then they get this girlfriend or they get this boyfriend and then they get this, another boyfriend and then another girlfriend and boy, you know it, I mean, it's just one big old pile. that our life just keeps piling up with one thing after the other and it just gets to be one big old mess because all we do in life is keep trying to what? Pacify ourself. See, but we all need an interruption, amen? Why? We need to be saved from ourselves. Not only saved from ourselves, but we need to be saved from God. Why? Because the Bible tells us that the wages of sin is? and all people will die. There's not one person in here today that is not on a crash course toward death. All of us are gonna die. Everybody say it. Now something's gotta happen to us though before we die. And when we die, If we've never dealt with what Jesus came to do in our life, we're gonna have to face God without any kind of mercy. And that is what the Bible calls facing God through the great white throne of judgment. And none of us wanna face him there, amen? None of us wanna face God at the great white throne of judgment. It's inevitable, it's gonna happen for many people. But it doesn't have to happen to you. You could deal with God before you ever meet God, amen? Why? Because God came to deal with you before you ever have to meet him. And that's why we say not only are we being saved from ourselves, who is our worst enemy, our nature, what we are as a as a individual who was born with a sin nature, but also as a result then, now I'm going to have to face God one day. And when I face him, I don't want to have to face him in my own nature. I want to face him in another kind of way. And the only other kind of way available to face him is in a righteous way. And the only way to be righteous is you got to put your entire confidence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. So his salvation is to save us from that which is hurtful or harmful. What's hurtful and harmful? I am harmful or hurtful to myself. Not only that, but I live in a society that is full of hurtful and harmful things, and all God's people said. And if I let them dictate how I live, that's just gonna drag me off. And I'm gonna be like those little boys and girls that are trying to be herded up, but I'm gonna do my thing, because I don't know how to do any other thing, are you with me? but also need to be saved from an enemy of the things of God, an enemy of mine, an enemy of mine, and the Bible calls him, what is his name? Satan or the devil. The Bible says I needed to be delivered from him, amen? Why? Because without being delivered from him, the only thing, boo, I can anticipate to walk in is in darkness and deception, and I need to be delivered out of that. I need to be saved from that. But when he saves me, he saves me from these things, but he always saves me to something that is safe. something that is a refuge. And that's what the deliverance of Jesus, that's what he came to do. To deliver me from me, to deliver me from the wrath of God, to deliver me from Satan, and deliver me from a world that's going its own way and doing its own thing that's gonna have a run-in collision with God one day. And I don't wanna be in that number, amen. I wanna be in the number of the sheep that's been changed by the glory of God and made a new creature in Christ so that I can walk with him through this world. And in Romans chapter six, it gives us some insight of what happened when we put our trust in the Lord and he uses those phrases delivered, delivered to. Now watch this, I'm just gonna start reading about Verse number three, let's just do that. Paul is automatically throwing up the question that the natural man would have. Well, if this salvation is free, and it's by the grace of God, can we then just live how we wanna live? No, he says, God forbid. That wasn't the purpose of Jesus saving us. Remember, he saves us from the hurt, but he saves us to something that'll help us. So it's not that we keep doing and keep going and living how we wanna live. No, he transforms us so that we can walk and live with him. Now you've heard this before that, how many of you have heard that salvation is free? Salvation is free in these two dynamics. Number one, you didn't do anything for it. And number two, when we give it away, When we give the gospel away, when we give the grace of God away, we give it away what? Freely. But salvation cost, amen. Did it cost Jesus? Cost him his life, cost him everything. Every step he took was a cost because it was dependent upon his father so that he would be without sin to stand in our gap for us. But salvation is costly. It costs Jesus everything. And when we trust Him with our life, it'll cost us everything. See, he gave his life for what? My life. And it will cost you everything. It's free because it was paid for by grace. Somebody else stood in our place, but it cost him. And then we give it away freely, but I wanna tell you, the walk in it, it'll cost you everything you got, amen? You yield it over. So he says in verse number three, do you not know that as many as were baptized, that word baptized means to be immersed, That means to be immersed in the Christ Jesus. We're immersed into his death. So for salvation to keep us, save us from something, deliver us from something, deliver us to something, we had to die, Brother Shannon. Now I didn't die a physical death, but I died when Jesus died. Why? Because on the cross, God placed my sins, my life upon Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus lived a life unique, unlike anybody else that ever lived. He was born uniquely, unlike anybody else that ever was born. So therefore the life that he lived qualified him to die a death that he died. Now the death that he died then will qualify you and me to receive the life that he lived when we place our faith into him, and then the life that came out of the grave now lives within us so that we can live the life that he lived, then he can live now in us. Now I know that was a lot of words and that might run right past your head, but this is the thing, is that he lived a life that qualified him to die the death that he died. Nobody else ever lived that kind of life. No thou body ever lived a sinless life. So when he was on the cross, what happened was that God placed our, collectively, God placed our sins upon Jesus. That's where 2 Corinthians 5 says that God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, on our behalf, in our place. So God took all my ugliness, y'all got some ugliness? How many of y'all got a past that you would want to hide under these pews or get out of here if it was exposed today? Come on now, you ain't got a past like me then, amen? Because I surely wouldn't want y'all to know everything I've been through and everything I've seen, everything I've done, everything I've thought, everything I've said. I'd be utterly ashamed to stand before y'all today. But I want to tell you, I got a great Savior, amen? And that great Savior loved me in spite of me, amen. And because God accepts him, God is able to accept me. Not because of me, but because of him, amen. So God placed all that ugliness, that foulness, that rankness, that depravity, that ugly thing that I was, he placed it upon Jesus, and therefore because Jesus died in my place, when I trust him, I die with him. so that he could then give me what I could never get myself. And that is, he gave me his righteousness on the cross. So I died with him in his death. Verse four, therefore we were buried with him through this immersion into death, and just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also then should what? Walk in newness of? Life. Saved from something, but saved to something. You were delivered from something and delivered to something. He goes on to say in verse five, for if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, because he died for us on our behalf in my place, Certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Isn't that a wonderful thing? We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and we have been what? Raised up with him, amen. We had to die with him to be raised with him. Verse six, knowing this that our old man was crucified with Jesus, that the body, this body, my sin, might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Amen? Praise God. Look, save from a harmful, hurtful thing, sin myself, but save to something that is new. Something that is safe. Something that is fresh. Verse seven, for he who has died has been freed from what? Sin, sin has no dominion over that person anymore. Verse eight, now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also do what? Live with him. So Kate, I died to that which was hurtful, myself, sin. but I was saved to something that was beneficial or profitable, and that's his life. Verse nine, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more, death no longer has dominion over him, for the death that he died, he died to sin once for all in my place. Once for all, but the life that he lives now, he lives unto who? God, so the life that I live, Jody, is to be lived unto who? God, see that's the safe haven, amen, that it's a life lived, I've been delivered to live unto God. Verse number 11, likewise, in the same manner, you also reckon, and the word reckon means to put, faith in this truth that he just stated. You put in confidence in the fact that you now live under God, yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, there's no reason to let sin Have victory in your mortal body, or reign in your body, that you should obey it and its lust, and do not present your members, surrender your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. There was one point in time we just lived to do life our way. Now he says, live to do life God's way. Doing my life my way was a harmful, hurtful thing to me. Even though I didn't know that at the time, Brandon. Man, I enjoyed the life I was living. Even though it was a shameful thing as I look back on it now, as I look back to what I did and how I thought and how I treated people. my mindset about just everyday life and about myself, I didn't think that was a harmful thing. I thought I was still okay, and I thought I just was like everybody else, doing life their way, and I wasn't out to harm people or hurt people, but I had no idea what was actually going on in my life, until I met you. God come into my life and shed his light upon me and who I was, what he's done for me and where I was headed and how he stood in the gap and stood in my place, took my judgment and satisfied God's wrath so that now by his favor he can supply me with his life and it changed how I viewed my past but it also changed how I viewed the future and everything about it. And I was like those little boys out on that tee ball field. I didn't know which way to run. I just knew I had somebody that kept harnessing me back. Every time I'd want to go out and go and do my thing, God would bring me back and show me where first base was. And then he would take me down to second base. And he'd say, this is second base. You just came from first base, now you're at second base. You see that over there? That's first base. You know how you gotta keep reiterating? You know, we gotta keep doing that in our own life, don't we? We keep teaching these truths over and over again, so we remember where first base is, we remember where second base is at, we know where third base is gonna be, and we know how to take it home, amen? And if we're not careful, one little boy and one little girl will take off and run this way, and we can run right behind them, because we thought we were supposed to run that way. But our coach will holler out and say, hey, come back. And he would call us back. And we'd stand together on second base again, just waiting for him to tell us again, David, where to go. Amen? Amen. Just where to go. And this is what Paul is saying, I was saved from doing it my way, now I need to be saved to doing it God's way. And I used to yield myself over to my way, now what do I have to do or what he's calling me to do? To yield myself over to God's way. So I present myself to him day by day and say, Lord, shepherd my life. keep me from harm, keep me from being a problem to people, and use me to be a difference maker in this life you've given me, amen? And I live it in a way that is to bring him glory. Do I always get it right? No, he's gotta bring me back, amen. But I wanna tell you, he keeps bringing me back. And he keeps putting in me what he wants me to do. And it's one day, one day, and one day after another, one step after the other, little by little, day by day, he just keeps teaching me, Nick, this is what I've set you apart for. Nick, this is the life I've called you to live. Nick, this is the life that I saved you to. and delivered you to. Look at verse 15. What then shall sin because we're not under the law but under grace? Certainly not. Remember, it cost us what? Everything. Do you not know to whom you present yourselves to slaves to obey? Your one slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or obedience leading to righteousness. Watch verse 17. But God be thanked And all God's people said, that though we were slaves of sin, yet we obeyed from the heart that form of teaching to which we were what? Y'all see that there? From the heart, because of a work of God's unique work of grace in us by his spirit, He says, Brother Shannon, that we were delivered to a form of doctrine. Doctrine is just a big word that simply means teaching. That we were, look, from the heart of doctrine to which we were delivered. God delivered us to a way of teaching. And that teaching, Josh, is a way of living. And that way of living, It's God's way of living. And that way of living brings glory to him. Through the power of what took place at the cross. What happened on that third day when he came out of the grave. You think about that for a moment. An empty tomb says all things with God is possible, amen? Is there anything impossible with God? The empty tomb tells us that all things are possible with God. And you know what it says even more than that? You know what makes it all possible? You know what's even more extraordinary than an empty tomb? The fact that the God of glory would take upon flesh, live a sinless life on my behalf and God placed my sin upon God at the cross so that I can know him, love him, trust him, treasure him, and live for him, that's an extraordinary impossibility that the empty tomb says that if he would do that for us at the cross, nothing is impossible with God in Christ Jesus, amen? You think about that for a moment. A holy God. Becoming sin, my sin, your sin, all of our sins. That's an impossible message to really believe, isn't it? Apart from God giving us light on this, amen? But see, the empty tomb tells us that anything God has given us is possible. Because what was impossible for us to have life in him was made possible because of the cross of Calvary. Tommy, that ought to do something in me, amen? That ought to do something in me. That ought to do something in me, Mr. Lee Wayne, and I can go what? Share this good news with other people, amen? Give you a little acrostic for the word gospel, something for you to write down and you can remember. If you want to remember it this way, I think it'll help you go share it. The word gospel, G, God, O, offer, God offered, sinners, pardon. What is that pardon? Everlasting life. Gospel. G-O-S-P-E-L. God offering sinners pardon. In that pardon is God's propitiation. That is, somebody had to satisfy the wrath of God. Who did that legally and lovingly? Jesus. Somebody had to make peace for us so that we could be at peace with the Holy God. Who did that? Jesus. Somebody had to bring God's purpose into our life through that pardon. Who did that? Jesus, and Jesus alone, amen? So his pardon is a propitiation that God satisfied God's wrath, he brought peace in my life, and he's brought purpose in my life. empower to me a sinner who now has been granted, Hunter, everlasting life. So if you just remember those words, gospel, G-O-S-P-E-L, God offering sinners, pardon, and that pardon is everlasting life. You could say everlasting love. He's extended it to us, amen? Through the Lord Jesus Christ. So the gospel we believe is the gospel that stained us, that marked us. And the gospel that marks you is the gospel that you're gonna go out and tell, that you'll go tell. And if I'm not a rescuer proclaiming the gospel, I need to really consider, did I really believe the gospel? Because the gospel that saves, saves us from something, but it saves us what? To something. And that is a gospel rescuer, amen? That we go proclaim that message to a world that's still perishing, Ms. Barber. Just being a witness, amen? To what? God offering sinners pardon. His everlasting life. He grants it to us. Man, we can go tell somebody, amen? we can go tell somebody. So how many of you feel like a little kid out there every once in a while, don't know where to go, what to do next? Well, just listen for the shepherd, and he'll lead you, amen? And remember, all those pro baseball players and college baseball players we enjoy watching, I think they played a little ball yesterday up there at Scuba, if I'm not mistaken. All of them started out the same way everybody else starts out on that t-ball field. If they played t-ball, if they didn't play t-ball, they would still do with those that are playing t-ball, amen? Well, that's how we all start in the kingdom. But man, we want to grow up, amen? Amen. And we want to become gospel messengers for the glory of God. Thank you, Jesus. We thank you for this today. Thank you for the time we have to gather. We thank you for each one that is here, each family that is here, each individual that is here. And we're just grateful that you come to deliver. You come to deliver us from ourselves so that we can be delivered to you and for your kingdom's sake. So Lord, I pray today that if somebody's still in this place that has not put their trust and confidence in what you came to do, in what you've accomplished for us, that they would just rest their life upon you. Yes, you paid it for us. It didn't cost us. It didn't cost us to be saved, but in your salvation it cost everything. That you teach us we're to deny ourself and take up our cross and follow after you. And Lord, that we're to present ourselves to you completely surrendered as we yield ourselves to you that you raise us up and use us in everyday life. So Lord, we just gonna come before you knowing that you called us into a life of death and resurrection power. and we're gonna surrender it to you right here, right now, and trust you with our life, with our sin, and with this day, and how many more days you bring into our life, we're gonna give them to you in Jesus' name, amen. Would you stand with us? Amen. Isn't it a wonder that he'll wash the stain away? But when he washes the old stain away, you know what? His blood stains us. Praise God, amen, that it stains. Have y'all ever bled before, got blood on something, how hard it is to get it out? Man, when his blood covers us, it's gonna mark us, it's gonna stain us. And praise God for it, amen? Amen.