Have you ever felt stuck in a relationship you just couldn’t make work—constantly trying, constantly failing? Have you ever been in a relationship that became toxic, not because of what the other person did, but it was all your fault? Ok, I see most of you with this puzzled look “No, not me, never. It's always been the other person’s fault.” Sometimes our spiritual lives feel like that: we’re trying to be “good enough,” but end up burdened with guilt & shame. Today, as we open to Romans 7, Paul uses a surprising analogy to explain how powerful grace is at providing Hope! He uses the analogy of marriage, a failing one at that, to illustrate just how powerful the grace of Jesus can be. He talks about marriage, death, and adultery… “Wait Pastor, I thought you said this was a hopeful sermon!” Paul’s example may feel jarring, but there’s a powerful reason behind it. You’re going to hear some powerful theology today, good news, your desperate, hurting heart has been longing for!

A discussion with Dr Nic Williams, pastor of South Shore Community Church in Sarasota Florida.

Let’s be honest—we love the idea of being in charge of our own lives. We don’t like being told what to do. We want to believe we’re the boss. The author. The ruler of our own little kingdom. We don’t like limits. We definitely don’t like being told we have a master, that someone or something else controls us. But here’s the truth that no one wants to admit: Self-rule is a facade. It’s an illusion dressed up to look like freedom. You’re not as independent as you think you are. You are not spiritually neutral. You are not spiritually free. We’re all serving something, or someone. The world tells us: “Be true to yourself.” “Follow your heart.” “You do you.” But Scripture says something else entirely. It says your heart isn’t free, it’s bound. It says you’re not the master—you’re the servant. It says every soul has an owner. Every life is shaped by a master. So, the question isn’t, “Am I free?” The question is, “Whose voice am I loyal to?” Who really owns me? And there are only two options. Sin will master you—or Christ will. One pays in death. The other gives life.

We love to talk about grace when we think of forgiveness—when we need mercy, when we fall short. Is that all grace is? A pass to live however you want, thinking God will forgive you? That kind of grace is cheap & boring. Shouldn’t real grace be powerful, exciting, Shouldn’t grace have a massive impact? Shouldn’t it actually change you? Has grace made you different? Or do you still struggle with the same sins, the same compromises, the same habits? Has whatever you have defined as grace enabled you to make peace with sinfulness? “Well, nobody’s perfect,” or “God is love, He understands “At least I’m forgiven”… This sermon is about the power of grace—not just to wipe your slate clean, but to write a whole new story. Not just to pardon you, but to transform you. Because if grace is real in your life, something should be different. And if nothing has changed? Then maybe you don’t understand grace at all. Today, Romans 6 will wake us up. We’re going to shake off the lies & the impotency of cheap grace, learn how to be dead to sin and alive to God. Because the greatest evidence that Jesus conquered sin is a transformed life. Are you ready for that? Let’s dive in.

Look around. The world is broken, and not just in small ways. Everything dies. Everything decays. Everything falls apart. No matter how much we try to fix it, history keeps proving that we cannot escape corruption, suffering, and death. But this isn’t just bad luck, it’s not random. The chaos, pain, deep ache inside every human heart all trace back to a single moment, a single man. And everything that was lost—everything sin has stolen—can only be restored by 1 man. Today, we’re not just asking why the world is this way. We’re asking where you stand in it. Because whether you realize it or not, your entire life is bound to 1 of 2 men. One brought sin, the other salvation. One brings death, the other gives life. One man ruins, one man restores. In the end, you’re either in Adam, or in Christ.

Have you ever needed a fresh start, a new beginning that provided some hope, just the potential for joy or satisfaction? Maybe it was a job, a relationship, new form of self-discipline that might provide that fulfillment or peace you long for. This world constantly offers false hope for peace, but none of them will ever bear the weight, the price of real peace. What happens when those things you’ve pinned your hope for peace on unravel or collapses? It’s the opposite of peace. Scripture calls it shame. That feeling of not measuring up, feeling unworthy or defective. These false hopes always fail, leaving their victims in shame, still searching, & even more restless than we were before. Shame is one of the worst experiences of human nature. I think all of us desire its opposite… Peace. But what is peace really? How do you know if you have attained it? If you have, how can you keep it or maintain it?

Many “spiritual” voices promise formulas for a blessed life: pray this way, keep these rules, support that cause. The blessed life isn’t a life of ease, comfort, or financial prosperity. If it were, Jesus and Paul missed it entirely. As a pastor, I’ve watched countless people pour their hearts into these fraudulent “blessing systems,” bending over backwards for every supposed “secret” hidden knowledge, instead of simply trusting Jesus. From rigid legalism & bogus prosperity gospels to incense, crystals or mushroom “journeys”, every alternative to faith

alone in the gospel of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection is a lie, and all of them are destined to disappoint. I’ve seen so many left feeling crushed and empty from things like this, asking, “Did God fail me, or did I fail Him?” Have you ever been broken, worn out, left for dead spiritually, by fraudulent blessing systems that failed to deliver? If you’ve been let down by anything that tried to replace or supplement the Gospel this sermon is for you today. Our God specializes in raising the dead, breathing life into the most barren places, where you least expect it.

As you know, I’m a rule follower. I could talk company policies for hours! I love instruction booklets & directions. Actually, I hate instruction manuals. If I buy something that needs assembly, I’m not flipping through pages of tiny print. I’d rather just look at the picture on the box, assume I can figure it out, and start putting it together. And if something doesn’t fit? That’s what duct tape is for! Leftover parts? Toss them in the junk drawer! But imagine a rule follower, an instruction booklet reader carefully following each step, only to see this on the last page: “Oh, by the way, no matter how closely you followed these steps, you are never going to put this together correctly." “These instructions weren’t written to help you succeed; they’re designed to reveal that you can’t do it on your own.” "The only way is to have someone else do it for you.” The 1st question would be, “Then what’s the point of these instructions at all?” Well, without them you would never realize how desperately you need someone to put this thing together for you. You would just keep trying to do it on your own, and you would never be able to get it done. That’s exactly what many Jewish Christians in Rome were feeling when Paul told them the Law couldn’t save them.

Last week is what I will call the “hopelessness climax” in Paul’s letter to the Romans. The case he makes is airtight. Humanity is drowning in idolatry, enslaved to impurity, consumed by arrogance, corrupted by deceit, driven by malice. Humanity is blind to truth, utterly incapable of righteousness; religion, human spirituality, or philosophy can’t save us. In fact, Paul provides a summary statement in today’s section: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. If Romans ended there, it’s pretty hopeless. So where does that leave us? If humanity is totally depraved, what next? Thankfully Paul is about to make a drastic shift in tone It starts with “But now…”. This next section focuses on something we call “Justification”, a critical piece of the foundation of Christian Doctrine. I could preach the next 30 verses all together, but it’s so important we’ll walk through it together for the next 2 weeks.

Who gets to decide what is good and what is evil? Who has the authority to declare what is righteous and what is sin? If there is a God, why does He have the right to judge us? These are intense philosophical, deeply personal questions. In today’s world, people will try anything to explain away God’s right to judge, while inserting themselves in His place. Some hide behind religious heritage. Others trust in their own morality, sincerity, or self-made spirituality. And when confronted with the reality of divine judgment & eternal accountability, boy the excuses come fast! What if each time humanity tries to come up with an excuse against God’s moral law actually seals our condemnation? That’s the question we’ll wrestle with today as Paul dismantles every human argument against God’s right to judge.