Freedom: From God’s Perspective (Part 2)

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This is a continuation of the previous message. The notes are the same.

Romans 6:5-11

We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. You can download our service on iTunes or tune in for “The Good Word” each day on AM 1230 WSAL or on Hoosier Country 103.7 FM just after 8am. Webster’s New World dictionary defines freedom as, “not under the control of some other person or some arbitrary power; able to act or think without compulsion or arbitrary restriction; having liberty. ”True freedom is freedom from an existence which in sin leads through the law to death. Often in Scripture the meaning of freedom is fashioned by contrast with the bondage of the slave. See Romans 6:5 – 23. According to the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT), in the NT freedom is expressed as freedom from sin, from the law, and from death. One writer says, “The great freedoms of the Christian life are: (1) freedom from the ruling power of sin in our lives; (2) freedom from guilt because our sins have been forgiven by God; and (3) freedom from the impossible obligation of attempting to earn favor with God through perfect obedience.” I’m going to use the statement from the TDNT and this last statement as my outline for today. So true freedom begins with:

1. FREEDOM FROM SIN Read Jn. 8:31-33. Notice first that both the promise and the principal are conditional. The entire law of God is summarized, by God Himself, with the condition of personal choice. The entire summary is if (your choice) you obey Me I will bless you, but if (your choice) you disobey Me I will curse you. So if you want to reduce this entire doctrine to its simplest statement – freedom from sin is a personal choice. Notice in verse 31 Jesus says, “if you abide in My word,” John wrote, “if you continue.” The entire 15^th chapter of John has to do with abiding, continuing, remaining, and enduring in Christ and His Word. John’s point is to teach us that all things concerning our salvation relationship to God are as permanent, enduring, and as unchangeable as God Himself. The only starting point is, if (your choice) you want to be free from sin and its ruling power in your life. True freedom is also:
2. FREEDOM FROM THE LAW. Read Rom. 7:1-6. Paul’s statement here is an analogy to help us understand how our salvation changes our relationship to the law. There are at least 3 ways our salvation frees us from the law: First, we are free from the provocation to defy the law. Read Rom. 7:7-20. From the time God told Adam and Eve not to eat off the tree of the knowledge and good and evil, until the time they were tempted, was the law in effect? Absolutely! Look at v. 8. Until Adam and Eve were tempted to defy/disobey God, they were dead to sin! Remember the law – don’t eat – is in effect. And as you know their personal choice was to leave the freedom from sin in which they were created, and plunge themselves and the entire race into the slavery of sin. Second, we are also free from the perfection demanded by the law. Read James 2:8-13. God makes a very clear-cut line between right and wrong, just and unjust, and holy and unholy. From God’s perspective one is either completely righteous, just, and holy – or they are completely wrong, unjust and unholy. Here’s another way to say it: God never tolerates or allows just a little sin! A morally perfect God demands-rightfully so-moral perfection from His creation. Third, we are free from the penalty for disobeying the law. God makes the penalty for disobeying the law very clear from the beginning when He tells Adam and Eve “eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and you will die.”  As we all know, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God in the flesh, lived a perfect, sin-free life which qualified Him to be the sacrifice for mankind. This sets us free from the bondage and penalty of the law and that freedom includes what is perhaps the greatest freedom of all:
3. FREEDOM FROM DEATH! Read Rom. 6:20-23. Paul’s central theme, not just here but throughout this chapter as well as chapters 7, 8 is that all those who are truly born again into spiritual life through faith in Christ as Savior, have been set free from the bondage and eternal death-penalty sin carries with it. To be free from death is to be free from the fearful reality of being separated from God for all eternity – that is what hell is! Our salvation gives to us the freedom to choose to do right according to God’s Word.

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