But God Be Thanked!

Being Made Free From Sin

Romans 6:17,18

 

Pastor Craig Ledbetter

Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland

18 April, 2010  AM

www.biblebc.com

 

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" (John 8:36).

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! (John 8:36; Luke 4:18; Gal 5:1)

 

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 (Col 3:9,10; 1:27)

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 (1John 4:4) – it is Jesus Christ in me! And He is in YOU, IF you asked Him into your heart!

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” (John 8:32)

2.      "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).

3.      John 3:16

 

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!