Freed To Fight

INTRODUCTION

Romans 6:11–14; 7:22–25; 8:1–4

Martin Luther had already become the great preacher of justification by faith—

and he still battled.

His conscience accused him. Temptation assaulted him. At times he questioned his standing before God.

Luther discovered something:

If he answered the accusation with the Law—he lost.

His conscience knew he was guilty.

So he learned to answer from somewhere else:

The Gospel. Christ. God's promise. His baptism.

And that raises a question I suspect many Christians have asked:

What do you do when you genuinely belong to Christ—and yet discover there is still a war going on inside you?

Today we return to Romans.

And I want to show you that in Christ, we have been:

FREED TO FIGHT

Union with Christ doesn't mean the battle with Sin is over. It means Sin no longer gets to decide who wins the war.

1. FREED — Sin Is No Longer Your Master

Romans 6:11–14 NIV

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Listen to Paul's language:

Consider yourselves dead to Sin and alive to God.

Do not let Sin reign.

Sin shall not be your master.

Romans 6:17–18 NASB95

17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

You were slaves of Sin.

You have been freed from Sin.

Paul is describing a change of dominion.

Through union with Christ, something has actually happened:

Sin's mastery has been broken.

But notice something important:

Freedom from Sin's dominion ≠ freedom from Sin's presence.

Paul says:

Consider yourselves dead to Sin…

and then immediately:

Therefore, do not let Sin reign.

Why command freed people not to let Sin reign?

Because Paul expects freed people still to have a fight.

So if you walked in thinking:

“I'm struggling with sin again. Maybe nothing happened. Maybe I'm still Sin's slave.”

Listen to Paul:

The presence of a battle does not prove you are still enslaved.

Paul tells FREED PEOPLE TO FIGHT.

—————————Transition——————————————-

But that raises the obvious question:

Paul, if I'm free, why is there still a fight?

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2. TO FIGHT — We Live in the In-Between

Romans 7:22–25 NASB95

22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Romans 7 gives us the old problem:

I know God's Law. I desire what is right. But the Law cannot liberate me from Sin.

“Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”

And then:

“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Something has changed.

Now listen to 

Galatians 5:16–17 NASB95

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

The conflict hasn't disappeared.

The combatants have changed.

Romans 7:

LAW ↔ FLESH

Galatians 5:

SPIRIT ↔ FLESH

You might say:

“But I still experience sinful desires. What changed?”

Everything about your position changed.

Sin is no longer your master.

And now the Holy Spirit dwells within you and opposes the flesh.

Paul is so realistic about this that in Galatians 6:1 he tells Spirit-filled Christians:

If someone is caught in sin—restore them gently.

And watch yourself—

because you can be tempted too.

So why does this battle remain?

Because we live in the in-between.

We live between:

Christ's victory over Sin's dominion

and

our final glorification when Christ returns.

We are already free—

but we are not yet glorified.

Until Christ returns and raises us incorruptible, we fight.

Our position has changed.

Our Master has changed.

But the battle remains.

—————transition————-

So then:

How do freed people fight?

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3. HOW? — By the Spirit

Romans 8:1–4 NASB95

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Don't run past that.

NO. CONDEMNATION.

Why?

Because:

“What the Law could not do… GOD DID.”

There's the Gospel.

The Law could not liberate us.

Our will could not liberate us.

We could not overthrow Sin's dominion.

GOD DID.

He sent His Son.

Through Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, Sin's mastery has been broken.

United with Christ:

His death → our death to Sin. His burial → our old life buried with Him. His resurrection → new life in Him.

And God has given us the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead.

So how do we fight?

Galatians 5:16 NASB95

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Walk by the Spirit.

Romans 8:13 NASB95

13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

By the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body.

Notice what Paul doesn't say:

Fight harder so God will accept you.

No.

God has already announced the verdict:

NO CONDEMNATION.

We fight FROM the verdict—not FOR the verdict.

That's the difference.

The Gospel isn't advice about how slaves can fight harder.

THE GOSPEL IS THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT GOD HAS ACTED IN HIS SON TO LIBERATE SLAVES.

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RESPONSE

So what do freed people do?

I am going ot give you three simple but powerful words.

Consider / Trust / Walk

CONSIDER

Believe what God says is true about you:

Dead to Sin and alive to God in Christ.

TRUST

Rest in God's verdict:

There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.

WALK

Walk by the Spirit.

And by the Spirit:

Put to death the deeds of the body.

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CONCLUSION

Church—

Union with Christ doesn't mean the battle with Sin is over. It means Sin no longer gets to decide who wins the war.

How can we possibly say that?

Because God has already told us how this story ends.

Romans 8:29–30 NASB95

29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

Those He foreknew, He predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.

Those He justified—

“these He also glorified.”

We're not there yet.

We live in the in-between.

But we know where this road ends.

The battle is real.

But the battle isn't forever.

So today, in the in-between:

CONSIDER what God says is true about you.

You are dead to Sin and alive to God in Christ.

TRUST God's verdict over you.

There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.

And WALK by the Spirit.

By the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body.

Because:

Union with Christ doesn't mean the battle is over. It means Sin no longer gets to decide who wins the war.

NOW LET US FIGHT FROM OUR POSITION OF FREEDOM FROM SINS DOMINION

AND LET US FIGHT IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

BECAUSE GOD HAS ALREADY DECLARED - THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS, OUR LORD.