07.06.2022 | FREE INDEED
FREE INDEED
John 8:36 – “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
John 8:34 – “Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave to sin.’”
Hebrews 12:1 – “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Ensnares – a competitor thwarting a racer in every direction
How do we overcome besetting sins – areas in our lives that keep tripping us up?
1. Repent and Turn to Jesus
1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Confess – agree with God
Proverbs 8:13a – “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.”
James 5:16a – “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”
2. Remember Who We Are
Ephesians 2:4-6 – “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
A. We have been crucified with Christ.
Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
B. We were buried with Christ.
Romans 6:4 – “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
C. We were resurrected with Him.
Colossians 2:12 – “Buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”
D. We are seated with Him.
Ephesians 2:6 – “And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
3. Reckon Yourself Dead to Sin
Romans 6:6 – “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”
Romans 6:11 – “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Reckon – count, consider
4. Resurrender Everyday
Romans 6:12 – “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”
Romans 6:13 – “And do not present your members as instruments to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments to God.”
Lord Jesus, sit on the throne of my heart today. Be the Lord of my mind, think Your thoughts through me. Be the Lord of my eyes and see through me. Be the Lord of my ears and hear through me. Be the Lord of my mouth and speak through me. Be the Lord of my body, my sexuality, my will and myself. Live Your life through me today.
5. Receive the Empowerment of the Holy Spirit
Step out of Romans 7 and step into Romans 8.
“The word I is used 38 times in Romans 7.” – Henrietta Mears
Romans 7:15 – “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”
“Although I try, it only finds defeat.” – Henrietta Mears
Romans 7:24 – “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
Romans 7:25a – “I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
“In Romans chapter 8, the Holy Spirit is referred to 21 times.” – Henrietta Mears
Romans 8:5 – “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”
The power of the airplane enables the plane to overcome the law of gravity. The power of the Holy Spirit enables us to overcome the power of sin.