FREE Pt. 2 By Charles Mays Associate Pastor.

By Charles Mays
Associate Pastor

Free From Sin

Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. (Rom. 6:18)

When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, we do not become immediately sinless. The old sin nature is part of our flesh and can only be eradicated by the death of this body that is corrupted by it. For he that is dead is freed from sin (Rom. 6:7). Even a casual reading of Romans, chapter seven, demonstrates the struggle the saved Apostle Paul had with the sin nature that dwelled in his body of flesh (7:22-23). The struggle with the flesh is something we all endure. Paul states it directly, or alludes to it, no less than seventy times in his epistles. The conclusion is that in this earthly existence of ours, we will never be totally free from sin. That is, in our daily experience.

Positionally, we are free from sin. In Colossians 3:3, our flesh is viewed as dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God. We are in Christ, and in Him is no sin. Ephesians 1:3 says we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Paul continues to elaborate on some of those blessings, including our complete forgiveness of sins (1:7). Colossians 2:13 states: And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. The effect is that we are given a new position. Ephesians 2:6 says that God has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This is known as Positional Truth. The struggle that we face is making it a reality in our daily walk; this is Practical Truth. But this has no effect on our position in Christ.

Free From the Law

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Rom. 6:14)

Most people think of the Ten Commandments when they think of the law. But it was much more than that. In fact, there were over 600 individual laws contained in the Mosaic Law. These laws governed every aspect of daily life for the Hebrew. It was Gods holy, righteous standard. This might initially be thought of as a blessing, but instead it was a curse. Not that the law was wrong. It was holy, just and good (Rom. 7:12). The problem came in the weakness of the flesh. Read again Paul's struggle in Romans 7:7-25. Man is simply not able to keep Gods righteous standard under the power of his flesh. So we read:

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Rom. 3:20)

The law could not save. It could only condemn. It pointed out the weakness of mans flesh and magnified his need for a Savior. What we could not do by the power of our flesh under the law, Christ did for us (Rom. 8:1-4). We also read, in Colossians 2:14, that Christ blotted out the law, took it away and nailed it to His cross. Yet many, even in our present day, fail to recognize this fact. I can only echo the words of Galatians 5:1:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Consider the words of Philip Bliss in the well-known hymn Once For All:

Free from the law, O happy condition.
Jesus hath bled, and there is remission.
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,
Grace hath redeemed us, once for all.

Free To Choose

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christs stead, be ye reconciled to God. (2 Cor. 5:20)

The word beseech is not one we use in our vocabulary on a regular basis. It means to beg or plead with someone. If we are begged and/or pleaded with to be reconciled to God, then there is more than mere implication that man has a choice in the matter. Man is free to choose whether or not to accept Gods offer of eternal life.

The same holds true of our Christian walk. We do not save ourselves. It is God who saves us through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary; by faith in His death for our sins (1 Cor. 15:1-4). Again, our conduct has no bearing on the matter. The only issue in salvation is faith. But true faith should stir a desire in us to live a life that is consistent with our profession of faith. That is the thrust of Romans 12:1-2:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

(See also Romans 6:12-13.)

God desires all men to accept His free gift of salvation and to live a life that is free from the slavery of sin and free from the bondage of the law. But clearly, we are free to choose.