Freed From Sin

The Elephant and the Stake

There’s a story told about how elephants are trained in the circus.

When the elephant is just a baby, the trainer ties one of its legs to a small wooden stake in the ground with a thick rope. Now, that baby elephant tugs and pulls with everything it’s got—but it’s too small, too weak to break free. Day after day, it tries. It pulls until it’s exhausted… and eventually, it gives up. It learns, deep down inside, “I can’t get away.”

Time goes on, and that little elephant grows into a massive, powerful creature. It could easily snap that rope, rip that stake right out of the ground, and walk away without effort. But here’s the thing—it doesn’t even try.

Why? Because in its mind, it’s still that same helpless baby elephant. It’s not the rope holding it anymore—it’s the memory of its past bondage.

And I think that’s exactly how many believers live. We’ve been set free by Jesus—completely, totally free. The cross broke the chains. The resurrection tore the stake right out of the ground. But so often, we keep living as if we’re still tied up—still slaves to sin, still trapped by guilt, shame, or fear.

The truth is, the rope’s been cut. The stake’s been broken. The only thing keeping us bound is a lie we’ve believed.

Michael Hyatt calls these lies limiting beliefs. Jon Acuff refers to them as broken soundtracks. There are lies that we believe and we listen to them over and over and over again.

The Lie: I’m forgiven, but not free.

Some of you believe that you’ve been forgiven of your sins and you are on your way to heaven. But you still believe that you are a slave to sin doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

“The old man came out again today.” or “I’m going to try to do better today, this week, etc…”

For some reason, you lose more than you win and you have accepted failure as the norm for your life.

THAT IS NOT GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE!

Paul tells us in all throughout his letter to the Romans that we are free from sin.

Romans 6:1-14

This morning we’re going to look at not only how we are freed from sin, but why we have been freed from sin.

Romans is Paul’s manifesto of the Gospel to the people of Rome. He hasn’t been able to make it there yet and it wants the Christians there to know all that they need to know in order to follow Christ. Right before Romans 6, Paul goes into the great love of God and Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:6 “6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

The ungodly, is you and me. He goes on to state that we will still struggle with sin. We will become more and more aware of sin in our lives. And as our awareness grows, so will our awareness of God’s grace. Where sin abounds, grace will abound all the more.

As Paul writes those words, he immediately anticipates the way someone is going to take that out of context.

Romans 6:1–2 “1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means!

Paul is clear. Sin is not meant to be a normal part of our lives.

“I’m forgiven, but not free.” Puts us in a constant state of sin management instead of kingdom advancement. We’re spending all of our time worried about sin and trying to keep it in check.

As we sing in “Made for More” … “I wasn’t made to be tending a grave…”

We weren’t made to be sitting over here worrying about where we came from. We were made to be moving forward in the grace that God has given us.

Jesus came to set us free from sin’s corruption, not just its consequence.

Romans 6:1–14 “1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

Teaching Points:

So many stuck in the mindset that I’m forgiven. I don’t have to go to hell when I die. And that’s all they think that Jesus came to do. Heaven is not the only promise of eternal life.

We have been freed from sin’s corruption and power over our lives right now.

Paul tells us that when we surrender to follow Christ, become a Christian, we are now identifying with death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Our sin is dead, buried, and we have been raised to walk in new life.

Notice the wording that Paul uses throughout these verses, “brought to nothing”...no longer “enslaved to sin”...”no longer has dominion over him”...”dead to sin”...”sin will have no dominion over you”...

Some of you are living trapped in the lie that you have been forgiven of sin, but not set free from it. God’s Word is clear on this. You have been set free from sin.

John 8:34–36 “34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

So we are free…now what?

The Gospel is so much more than just being forgiven and freed from sin. It’s just as much about what we have been freed for as it is about what we have been freed from.

You have been freed from sin to follow Jesus Christ.

Paul spends this whole passage contrasting sin and death and being alive and living for God.

And he tells you how to live for God being freed from sin. 

V.13 present yourself to God, and your body as instruments for righteousness. 

This is a word picture of what it means to surrender to a King that you want to serve. When someone wanted to follow a king, they would kneel and surrender their sword to them. They wanted to be loyal to them. They wanted to follow them. 

Paul has already opened up what Jesus, the King, has done for us. He came and died for us while we were unable to save ourselves. He took on all of our sin to set us free from it.

Sin is a tyrant that Jesus came and died to overthrow. It should not have an overwhelming place in your life. You will sin. You will fail. But it should not be the theme of your life.

Jesus came and died to give us victory over sin.

What does it mean to present myself to God?

Read His Word.

Listen to His Spirit.

Do as He says and leads, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion:  You have been freed to follow. What part of that are you struggling with?

Are you still living in chains? Jesus wants to set you free.

Are you living as a slave to broken chains? May Jesus remind you that you have been set free.