7-05-2026

“FORGIVEN AND FREE IN CHRIST!”

Text: Romans 7:14-25a– Pentecost 6

Sunday July 5, 2026

Trinity – Creston

       Grace, mercy, and peace is yours from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

       Our text for this Sixth Sunday after Pentecost is the Epistle Lesson from Romans 7: that was just proclaimed.

Let Us Pray:  Dearest Jesus, send your Holy Spirit to remind us that your law is always good and it reminds us sinners that we are not good, opening our heart to the Gospel and what you accomplished for us on the cross.  Remind us that we are forgiven and free in Christ.  Amen.

Dear Fellow Redeemed in Christ:

Have you ever been caught doing something wrong? I think we all have. Whether it was something we did when we were younger or something we’re still doing today, we all know that feeling of getting caught doing something we knew we weren’t supposed to do.

That immediate little rush of panic, feeling your heart sink and a little pit form in the bottom of your stomach? Yeah, we’ve all been there. And the worst is when it’s something that you’ve struggled with and know you shouldn’t do, but somehow you always end up back in that same place.

It’s enough to make you wonder if you’ll ever get it right.

1. We don’t get it right. No matter who we are, no matter who we’re looking at, we fall short, we sin.

a. But it’s always easier to see the ways that I sin than the ways that others sin.

(1) That’s just human nature. I know my own thoughts and feelings better than yours, so we end up comparing our whole selves to the limited part we can see of others, and we don’t measure up. (Propose examples.)

(2) This is particularly true in the age of social media, when we feel constant pressure to evaluate our lives against everyone else’s highlight reels. You don’t post the ugly stuff. You don’t share the intrusive thoughts.

b. And so we wonder if we’re the only ones who struggle with this, and, in the end, we conclude there’s something wrong with us that we have to hide from others, or, worse, from ourselves.

c. But the church isn’t about pretending.

2. When we pretend, we behave as though being a Chris­tian were primarily about being good, not about being forgiven.

a. That’s hard, because there’s a pressure both inside the church and outside that being a Christian means you don’t mess up, don’t do things that are wrong.

b. There’s tension there, and that’s exactly what the apostle Paul talks about in his own life in our Epis­tle for this morning.

(1) In verse 14 Paul immediately frames his struggle as a conflict between the law of the Spirit, which tells him what he ought to be doing, and the slavery to sin that he still finds in his own nature.

(2) Paul finds himself in the subsequent verses talking about how he knows what he ought to do but simply doesn’t do it, and the things he knows he shouldn’t do, those things he does. It’s not that Paul doesn’t believe in the Gospel, but he struggles with a sinful nature that hasn’t gone away just because he believes.

c. The same is true for us. We live in two worlds at the same time. In one we’re sinners who can’t help but do the things we know are wrong and that we shouldn’t do, and in the other we’re saints redeemed by the grace of God who should live holy and pious lives.

d. It’s a problem so old it has a Latin name, simul justus et peccator, or “at the same time saint and sinner.”

3. But, thankfully, both halves of that are true! We are sinners, and we still sin, but we are saints redeemed by the blood of Christ and set free from sin and death.

We Will Continue to Wrestle with Our Sinful Natures in This Life, but Thanks Be to God, We Are Forgiven and Free in Christ.

4. So what do we do now?

a. If we know we’re going to sin anyway, should we just give up and sin more? Paul wrestles with

this argument earlier in his letter to the Romans,

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” (6:1). Absolutely not.

b. We continue to live in the tension between saint and sinner. That’s part of what we Luther­ans mean when we talk about Law and Gospel.

(1) When someone is intentionally sinning without regard for the Law of God and the hurt it inflicts on others, to that person the Law of God speaks to show her or his sin and to call to repentance.

(2) When someone has sinned and is crushed by the weight of it, the Gospel speaks to remind that we are saved by grace through faith, and not because of what we do.

c. And, if we’re honest, we all live in that sort of rhythm, needing both Law and Gospel at times, and wrestling with both natures at the same time.

5. And it’s not that we don’t grow over time. But sometimes that growth just looks like becoming more aware of our own sin and, as a result, more thankful for our great Savior.

Conclusion: So, this morning, if you’ve come proud and secure in your own righteousness, thinking perhaps you’ve got this whole thing figured out, hear this: You are not holier than Paul, nor immune to the struggles of having a sinful nature.

 Repent and know that your only hope is found in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

But if you’ve come aware of your own sin, perhaps worried that you don’t really belong here because of things you’ve thought, said, or done, hear this:

You are a redeemed and beloved child of God, and he has given his Son to die for you, and for his sake he forgives you all of your sins. Amen.

Now may the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior...Amen.