Being Made
Free From Sin
Romans 6:17,18
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
18 April, 2010 AM
I.
Introduction
(Romans 6:17,18)
A.
If only Christians knew just how
free they are!
B.
This month we are focusing on the
opportunity that God has made for every person to have victory over sin in
their lives
C.
Yet not many actually LIVE in
victory over sin!
1.
It’s amazing how long people can
continue living with hidden sin in their hearts
2.
They put on a good front and get
away with it for a long time. They can hide their sin from their husband,
wife, children, friends and pastor.
3.
But the Bible warns: “Be sure
your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).
4.
The Bible warns that the wages of
sin, any sin, is death!
D.
What’s going on?
1.
I read in my Bible…
a.
"If the Son therefore shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed" (
b.
"Our old man is crucified with
him, that the body of sin might be destroyed" (Romans 6:6).
c.
"But being made free from sin, ye
became the servants of righteousness" (Romans 6:18).
d.
I read all these promises about
freedom from the power of sin - and then I look at all the slavery to sin
that is in God's people!
2.
I know lost people are bound in
their sin, but it is a shame that Christians are also bound by their sin
E.
I want to look at a three step
process that keeps us free
1.
You ARE free already
2.
You CHOOSE your sins now
3.
You must live an EMPOWERED
warfare
II.
Message
A.
You ARE FREE
Already
(Rom 6:18)
1.
Let me go back and explain what
the Bible means by free
2.
Our Old Nature is one of Bondage
to Sin (Romans 5:6,8,10) and nothing more
a.
Our nature is what we do
naturally, without even thinking
b.
We all believed that we were
“free” – but we were really…
1)
Without strength – couldn’t
resist temptations
2)
Ungodly – lived wicked, and
sinful lives, and had wicked and vile thoughts
3)
Sinners – not just mistakes, but
breakers of God’s commandments
4)
Enemies of God! What strong
words!
c.
See Romans 7:18
1)
Sinful – we naturally break God’s
laws. That’s what being a sinner means.
2)
Selfish – not followers of God.
Oh we can be nice, and sweet, but we do it for our own reasons.
3)
We were lost – away from God, and
headed for hell!
d.
We got this nature from Adam (Rom
5:12). We were born with the desire to rebel, and to disobey, and to yell,
and to hate, and to lie, and to steal, and to envy, and to covet
3.
Our Need is to be “saved from
wrath…” (Romans 5:9)
a.
Sin has an effect – a result – a
sting (1Cor 15:56)
b.
Sin is like a Spanish sword that
plunges into the life of a person. The more we sin, the faster we die!
c.
Ultimately, death is not our only
problem, the wrath of God is our big problem
d.
We need a Saviour – Someone who
can justify us
1)
To justify is to make right, to
pardon, to free
2)
Our need is not for better
education, or economic opportunity, or better accommodation
3)
Our need is for a perfect
Saviour, who could save us from the power of sin, and the punishment of our
sin
4.
Then Jesus Came – and He changed
everything! (
a.
How did He do it? By His own
sacrifice of Himself (Heb 9:24-26)!!!
b.
Jesus came to free the captive
1)
Not of depression, but the
captive of sin
2)
Not the captive of debt, but of
sin
3)
Not the captive of slavery, but
of sin
4)
Not the captive of bad health
problems, but free us from the dominion of sin
5.
God gave us a New Nature
a.
Before salvation, we lived a life
of blind submission to sin and to the devil
b.
Now we have been given a whole
new nature – a new man (
c.
And we now live a life of ENABLED
warfare against sin and the devil
1)
We have been given a pardon, full
and free, at Christ’s expense
2)
We have been given the armour of
God for protection
3)
We have been given the Holy
Spirit of promise for power
4)
We have been given a plan and a
purpose to keep us on track in God’s will
5)
And we have been given the secret
weapon of prayer to supply all our need
d.
All we need to do is ACTIVATE our
new nature (I will
talk more about that next week)
1)
A smell of BBQ sauce will
“activate” my old nature – hunger
2)
A harsh word will activate my old
nature of anger and wrath and bitterness
3)
A dreary cloudy cold day will
activate my old nature of depression
4)
We need to do some things to
activate the new nature that God put in every believer
e.
Every person in this room needs
to KNOW the freedom of the Gospel’s message
f.
Too many people only know bits
and pieces of the Gospel
g.
Oh, but if you only knew how
complete the Gospel is, and how FREE Jesus has made you!
6.
Our “Now” is Different than Our
Past (Romans 6:17)
a.
Christians have a distinct sense
of time - very unique
b.
Not wrapped up in the past, and
not just airy fairy about the future
c.
But a confidence that enables us
to live here and NOW
d.
Christians have a great view of
the past! We got it from God!
e.
To most people, a person is just
stuck the way they are
1)
If you are an alcoholic, you will
always be an alcoholic
2)
If you are a liar, you are and
always be a liar
3)
If you steal, then you might as
well accept it, you will always be a thief
4)
Maybe under control, but never
free from that vice, or sin
f.
But the Christian has read in the
Bible that something happens at salvation – something dramatic and dynamic –
a change! A big change on the inside!
1)
Rom 6:17 “Ye WERE the servants of
sin…”
2)
1Cor 6:9-11 “And such WERE some
of you…”
3)
Philp 3:13,14 “Forgetting those
things which are behind…”
g.
A Christian knows the awfulness
of sin, but we know better the greatness of being enabled to put it behind
us
7.
Are you FREE? Then your NOW is
different than your PAST! Praise God!
B.
You CHOOSE
Your Sins Now
(Rom 6:12, 16)
1.
People say things like, "I'm
hopeless; I just can't help it. Temptation comes upon me and I'm
overpowered!"
2.
But I ask God, "Why are so many
of God’s people still enslaved by the enemy, still falling back into old
sins and lusts?"
3.
The answer is simple. The apostle
Paul said, “Let God be true, but every man a liar...” (Romans 3:4).
a.
It is not the Lord's fault we are
enslaved to sin - because His promises are true. When a believer says he
loves God but can't get victory over sin, he's got to be lying - because God
cannot lie! His Word says, "Sin shall not have dominion over you!"
b.
Either GOD is a liar, or YOU are!
c.
Either God has made you free, or
He failed! I don’t believe Jesus failed! The resurrection PROVES He
succeeded at defeating not only sin, but sin’s penalty – death! AMEN!
4.
Before you were born again,
you only sinned
a.
Nothing you did was in obedience
to God – you did what YOU thought was right.
b.
All your “worship” was selfish,
and self driven
c.
I know that is hard to accept,
but that is BIBLE
d.
Romans 3 says, there is NO ONE
who truly seeks after God, who truly just loves God – we are all gone out of
the way and done our own thing
e.
Not that you didn’t want to do
right, but that you did not want to do things GOD’S way
5.
Now that you are saved, born
again, you have a choice!
a.
Let not sin reign… (Rom 6:12)
b.
Know ye not that to whom ye
yield… (Rom 6:16)
c.
Walk in the Spirit… (Gal 5:16)
d.
But ye have obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered you (Rom 6:17)
e.
The truth is…
1)
You choose to get angry, and stay
angry! Quit lying to yourself!
2)
You choose to sit in front of
that TV and lust for HOURS on end
3)
You choose to walk down to the
Pub and smell the hops
4)
You choose to get onto the
internet and go searching out for vile sin
5)
You choose to hang around with
the wrong friends
6.
This is no easy thing to
constantly do though!
a.
My old man still WANTS to sin –
delights in sin – lives to sin – loves sin
b.
It wrestles against my new
nature, that was given to me at salvation
c.
But my new nature is bigger,
stronger and better (1
d.
That’s why I have one more thing
to say – one last point!
C.
You Must Live
an EMPOWERED Warfare!
(2Cor 10:4,5; 3:5)
1.
It is no good trying to fight
against such an enemy as sin and death without powerful weapons
2.
What Things do you and I now have
that enable us to resist sin?
a.
The Presence of God in our lives
(Acts 7:33; Mt 8:28,29)
b.
The Fact of Salvation (Romans
6:17,18) – It is not a “hope” or a wish, but a present reality! I AM free
from sin, and part of God’s family now, and headed for heaven. I HAVE
eternal life NOW, and am perfectly forgiven!
c.
The Fearfulness of Sin (Gal 6:9)!
Hey…
1)
Sin is still deadly
2)
It still kills Christians –
drugs, drink, pornography, bitterness
3)
You need to fear putting yourself
into the ring with sin – it wins!
d.
The Unchanging Love of God (1Jn
4:19; Heb 13:5) – He loved me first, and will love me always! He remains
faithful!
1)
You can't even begin to get
deliverance from the pull of sin until you are convinced Jesus still loves
you and is not eternally mad at you.
a)
Peter deserted and cursed his
Saviour. Yet when he lay on the ground grieving, wondering how he could have
hurt his Lord so, Jesus did not send wrath upon him. Instead, Jesus was
praying for him - that his faith would not fail!
b)
God loved David in spite of his
adultery. The Lord grieved as David plotted the murder of Uriah, Bathsheba's
husband. And God judged his sin - indeed, David paid a high price for it.
But God answered David's prayer of repentance: He did not take His Holy
Spirit from him!
2)
Beloved, you may despair and
sorrow, wondering how you could sin so suddenly and grievously toward your
Lord. But you have to know He still loves you! He is on your side, praying
that your faith will not fail in the battle. And He will not take His Holy
Spirit from you – Oh just humble yourself and cry out to Him from your
heart.
3)
The moment you fall back into an
old lust or sin, the devil comes to you with this lie: "That was your last
chance! You've sinned once too often - God has run out of patience with you.
Your sin is worse than others', because you claim to be a child of God. You
knew better!"
4)
Satan knows if he can make you
believe your condition is hopeless, then he has won the victory:
5)
But dear saint, God will not let
you go!
e.
The Power of the Holy Spirit
1)
Powerful at CREATION of the
universe (Gen 1:3)
2)
Powerful at the resurrection of
Jesus Christ
3)
Powerful in strengthening a
hungry believer
4)
Jesus Christ did everything by
the power of the Holy Spirit – not by His own power
5)
That was to teach you to do the
same!
f.
The Word of God!
1)
Keeps me from sin Psalm (119:11)
2)
Changes my desires for sin (Psalm
119:9) as I read it and obey it
g.
Prayer
1)
Confessing prayer
2)
Depending prayer
3)
Resisting prayer – praying
against Satan’s darts
4)
Praising prayer – just praising
God, no matter what you are going through
5)
We use prayer so rarely, and yet
it is the weapon that Satan fears the most!
h.
Simple Trusting Obedience,
Believing God’s way is BEST – yielding to God’s work in your life – more
again, NEXT WEEK!
III.
Conclusion
A.
Lost person! If only YOU knew
just how free you could be!
1.
“And ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free” (
2.
"If the Son therefore shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed" (
3.
B.
Christian!
1.
Do you want to continue to live
deceived, and defeated? Like you did before you bowed the knee and called
upon the Lord Jesus to save your lost soul?
2.
Or do you want to experience the
faithfulness of God (1Cor 10:13) and the power of God over the sins that so
easily beset you?
3.
If only you knew just how free
you ARE!
a.
“But God be thanked, that ye were
the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine
which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the
servants of righteousness.” (Rom 6:17,18)
b.
"Our old man is crucified with
him, that the body of sin might be destroyed" (Romans 6:6).
c.
"But being made free from sin, ye
became the servants of righteousness" (Romans 6:18).
d.
I read all these promises about
freedom from the power of sin - and then I look at all the slavery to sin
that is in God's people!
C.
There is One Step that Gets
ANYONE free
1.
Repentance towards God, and Faith
towards Jesus Christ – it is called Salvation
2.
Believe only and fully on God’s
payment for your sins – all of them!
3.
God gave His Son for YOU
4.
He asks you to take His Son into
your heart, and dump your sin on Him
5.
He then simply commands you to
follow Jesus for the rest of your life – not the church, or a creed, or your
heart, But Him, according to His word!
D.
Then Christian, There are three
steps that keep us free
1.
Remember that You ARE free
already
2.
You CHOOSE your sins now – choose
wisely, and Biblically
3.
Live an EMPOWERED warfare instead
of a wimpy defeat!