What happens to believers because of God's grace and mercy?
Because of God's grace and mercy, believers are no longer in their old lifestyle; they now experience His love. They identify with Christ's death so old Adam dies and they are separated from him, then they come out of deadness to experience new life, just as Christ was raised by the Father's glory.
Les explains that the earlier passage's verse 4 gives the flip side: "But God." Because of God's grace and His mercy, believers are no longer in that old lifestyle but are now experiencing His love. Les then connects this to Romans chapter 6, where believers have been engulfed in the very death of Christ Himself and must identify with it. Old Adam has to die, and they have to be separated from him, even as Christ's three days and three nights signified that He was really dead. Then, just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, believers also come out of a deadness and experience a new life. Les notes these concepts are fundamental to the Christian plan of salvation, yet many people are not hearing or aware of them, and he also points to Second Corinthians 5:17.