We Are Made Free By The Gospel of Jesus Christ!

We are made free by the Blood of Jesus Christ! The Father illustrates this truth through the writings of Paul in Romans 7:14ff. He begins the pericope by saying,

“The law is good, then. The trouble is not with the law but with me, because I am sold into slavery, with sin as my master.” NLT

Paul goes on in the next verse to explain the confusion we feel over our inward desire to do the right and good thing which is in constant conflict with our compulsion to do the evil thing. I have heard many people deny this compulsion, yet I have not seen many people demonstrate their ability to resist this compulsion.

The challenge is that many are in denial and therefore do not know acknowledge their need for release from this slavery. Even saved people continue to wrestle with the enemy within. One of my favorite quotes comes from Sally Kempton who said, “It is hard to fight an enemy who has an outpost in your head.”

The Scripture continues in 7:18 saying, “I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right. I want to, but I can’t” NLT

Psychologists, Philosophers and Theologians have wrestled with the human inclination to evil. There are many views of its origins and remedies, yet it is God speaking through the agency of Paul in The Roman Epistle who offers the definitive answer. He says in 7:24& 25:

“O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” KJV

The Answer is In Jesus Christ

We can not stop our sin. We can however follow Christ who becomes our master. It is by His act of Lordship over our lives that we are freed from slavery and empowered to service. We are made free by Jesus Christ!

Freed From Death through Christ

Jesus broke the yoke of Sin over human life by becoming human and living under the Law and fulfilling all righteousness. By His work we are freed from the Law of Sin. We who are in fellowship with Jesus are free from condemnation. Are we guilty, Yes! Yet the Spirit of Life set us free. This is what Romans 8:1-5 says,

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

Next Week:  Free To Live in Christ