Study 18 – Freed From Sin

So often we are tempted to water down the truth. The devil whispers in our ear, 'You ought to be free from sin but you're not really. You're under its power, totally condemned.'

The woman caught in adultery was condemned by the law until the legalists brought her to Christ. He did not condemn her.

Notice that He did not say to her, 'Go and try harder' but, 'Go now and leave your life of sin' (John 8:11). He released her from sin's controlling power.

This truth came home to me very vividly some years ago. Although I was a Christian, I used to be eaten up with jealousy towards someone. I hated the feeling but somehow I couldn't seem to master it.

Then one day I was on the train to London where I worked and I was reading Romans chapter six. When I came to verse seven I read, 'anyone who has died has been freed from sin' and suddenly the truth hit me.

'Of course,' I thought, 'a corpse never feels jealous or angry or self-pitying. You can be very rude to it and it won't be offended or answer you back. It's dead, so it's freed from sin.' So great was the impact of this revelation that I laughed out loud in the compartment and all the newspapers came down! My relationship with the person I envied has been excellent ever since. The truth set me free.

'Don't you know …?' said Paul. To overcome in any area of your Christian life you must start by knowing the truth and then by acting on what you believe. That is exactly what Abraham did when God told him that he would be a 'father of many nations' (Gen. 17:5).

On hearing the news Abraham could have said, 'Lord, You must be joking. Evidently You don't know my track record. A hundred-year-old man with a barren wife cannot produce one son let along a multitude!' But he did not react in this way. Rather he held onto God's promise and saw in Isaac the beginning of its fulfilment.

You can say, 'Lord, You don't know me' and argue with Him. Alternatively, you can submit your life to the truth.

God's confident assessment is this: you have died with Christ; you are a radically transformed being; you have total liberty from all bondage to sin.

To Meditate On

God wants you to know that you have been freed from sin.

'Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death' (Rom. 8:2).

'He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness' (1 Pet. 2:24).

Food For Thought

READ Romans 4:13-21.

Has God made a promise to you which you are struggling to believe will happen?

In a notebook write out verses 18-21 in a personal way, including the promise of God to you, e.g. 'Against all hope, I in hope believe that I will become an evangelist/get married/lead a cell group, just as it has been said to me …'

Be Inspired

The Christian life is not stumbling along, hoping to keep up with the Saviour. He lives in me and I live in Him. And in this identification with Him, His power becomes mine. His very life becomes my life, guaranteeing that His victory over sin is mine to claim. I no longer need to live as a slave to sin.
CHARLES SWINDOLL

To Consider

In the light of today's study, how would you counsel a Christian who has fallen into sin and thinks he/she can't escape from it?

WHICH SCRIPTURES would you use?

To Complete

1 Cor. 6:15
Do you not know …

1 Cor. 6:19
Do you not know …

James 4:4
Do you not know …