Free to Live

2017 has been a challenging year for many of us. I have talked with people who have been hurt by family members, who have taken financial hits, who have been wounded by other church members, who are facing health crises, and who are just generally wounded.

At times like this, there are certain passages I love to turn to for encouragement.

As some older pastors have said, these are deep wells we need to drink from often.

My aim, over this brief study, is that God will renew your hope, both in him and in life itself.

With that in mind, we are going to take the next three weeks and look at one of the most hopeful chapters I find in the Bible.

Open up or turn on your Bible and go to .

It is going to be tough to cover it all in three weeks, but this incredible chapter outlines for us some amazing truth.

As much as I wish we were covering the entire book of Romans, that would take us years.

It’s always important for us to see where this chapter fits in with the rest of the book, so let’s briefly talk about what Paul has said so far.

In the first several chapters, Paul has been showing that no one has any hope of saving themselves. The Jews had God’s law, and they couldn’t keep it. The Gentiles, or people who weren’t Jews, only had their consciences, but they still didn’t always obey that.

By looking at Abraham, Paul points out that the only way for us to be saved is to believe God, to put our faith in his gift of salvation.

When God draws us to himself and we put our faith in him, he kills off our old way of living and makes us alive.

However, in chapter 7, Paul gives us an incredibly honest picture of the very real struggle we have. If we have put our faith in Christ, that old way of life is dead, but we still fight with ourselves, not doing what we should and doing what we shouldn’t.

He seems frustrated and exasperated, but that frustration resolves into a beautiful phrase that starts off

If we are in Christ, then we are free from condemnation.

In fact, that is going to be a theme for the entire chapter. God, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, with the power and activity of the Holy Spirit, gives us freedom, and that freedom gives us hope.

Over the next three weeks, we are going to break this chapter into three different ways we have been freed. Today, we see that the Spirit of God frees us to live. Next week, we will see that the Spirit of God makes us free to hope. Finally, we will see that God’s purpose, plan, and love make us free to fight.

This morning, then, we are going to see that God has given us the freedom to live.

When we say freedom to live, I am not saying freedom simply to exist, although that is a gift of God as well.

The freedom we have through Christ’s sacrifice and the Holy Spirit’s power is the freedom to live the life we were created to live, enjoying spiritual life that we cannot have apart from Jesus.

It’s the life that allows us to talk to God and understand his word. This is life that, as we grow in Christ, enables us to see the world in a different light.

This life frees us from the power and penalty of sin, and it enables us to do what God made us to do.

How does it give us these freedoms?

Let’s look at three different ways that Jesus’ sacrifice and the Holy Spirit’s activity help us to live.

We are going to take this passage piece by piece, because it isn’t the easiest section to read. We are going to have to just hit the highlights, so bear with me if we don’t get to every question we might have.

First, we see that we are free to live because...

1) We are no longer condemned.

Let’s look at verses 1-4.

See, I told you this can get confusing! Don’t worry; we are going to work through it together.

First, one of the greatest declarations in Scripture: if we are in Christ Jesus, you and I are no longer condemned.

If you understand where we were without Jesus, then this is great news!

If case you don’t know or have forgotten, let’s set the stage again.

The Bible says we were created to have a relationship with God, but we chose to do what we wanted instead of what he told us to do.

When that happened, death came into the world. As we will see in the coming weeks, all of creation was thrown off balance because of our sin.

Since then, physical death has been a reality we all face. Not only that, but we are spiritually dead because of our sin.

No matter how hard we try to be better or do better, we can’t make ourselves alive.

That’s what Paul is referring to as “the law of sin and death” - God gave us his standards for who we were supposed to be, and we couldn’t live up to it, and therefore we deserve death.

He gave that Law to Moses, and it is recorded in the Old Testament.

Because we live in bodies that have been tainted by sin and are spiritually dead, though, we could never keep the Law.

There wasn’t anything wrong with the Law itself; it was perfect and just. However, it was powerless to save us because our flesh, our bodies, who we were, was already corrupted by sin.

The Law, then, only condemned us, showing us how far we had fallen from who God made us to be.

But, because God knew we were condemned, he sent Jesus. Look back at verse 3.

Jesus came to earth as a baby, but because of the miraculous nature of his conception and birth, he didn’t have a sin nature.

However, he took our sin nature upon himself and died in our place.

By doing that, he satisfied the requirements of the Law. Here’s how Paul said it in another place:

2 Corinthians 5:21 CSB

He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

God the Father made Jesus to be the embodiment of sin so we could have his righteousness.

Look at how that plays out, then, in verse 4.

When Jesus died, he satisfied the demands of the Law. He fulfilled the Law’s requirement for us.

You can think of it this way: Imagine that you committed capital murder and were sentenced to the death penalty. If an innocent person stood up and said, “I will die in his place,” and they were put to death, then the law had been satisfied, and you would be free to go. The law required that someone die because of the crime that had been committed, and the one who took your place satisfied it.

It isn’t that the judge dismissed the charges or simply overlooked it. The penalty for the crime was meted out.

The same is true of our life. When we come to Christ, we are free from condemnation, not because God just overlooks our sin, but because Jesus already paid for it!

Because the debt has been paid on our behalf, then the Holy Spirit can come and make us spiritually alive.

We are no longer under the penalty of death, but we now have the Spirit inside us who has given us spiritual life!

This is why becoming a Christian is such a big deal. It isn’t about fulfilling a list of do’s and don’ts, trying hard to be a good person, or anything like that.

None of that could save you, because you are condemned by the law of sin and death.

Coming to Christ, becoming a Christian, then, is choosing to run to him for salvation, seeking the life he wants to give, and receiving his freedom from condemnation.

When we are freed from condemnation, we are free to live!

Not only that, but when we are free to live, you also see that...

2) We think differently.

Go back to and look at 8:5-7

Here, we have a series of contrasts between the mind set on the flesh and the mind set on the Spirit.

What does it mean to have a mind set on the flesh?

A mind set on the flesh is a mind that is set on fulfilling my desires without thinking about what God might have to say.

It is about putting my wants and my desires above what God says.

Here’s the hard part: many of these desires aren’t bad, in and of themselves. There is nothing wrong with rest; in fact, God rested to show us that we would need it! However, when our mind is set on our desires, that God-given desire for rest either gets corrupted into laziness or denied through overwork.

It isn’t wrong to eat food, but when food becomes an obsession or a coping tool, that God-given desire is corrupted and becomes harmful.

That’s a mind set on the flesh.

Here’s how Solomon said it in the book of Proverbs:

Proverbs 14:12 CSB

There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.

James tells us that those corrupted desires are the source of our sin:

James 1:13–15 CSB

No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.

Before we come to Christ, our mind is set on making ourselves happy, safe, and secure. Focusing on our desires leads to death. Look at verse 6 again.

However, when we come to Christ, we are freed from condemnation, and the Holy Spirit makes us alive.

That begins a process of transformation from the inside out:

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

Now that we are new, we can start to think differently about the world. It isn’t about us! It’s about bringing the most glory to God we can, finding our joy and satisfaction and safety in him, and pointing as many to him as possible.

The Spirit brings life and peace into your way of thinking, because you are right with God and have purpose and meaning that you could never find when you were chasing your own desires.

He leads us in a process of transformation, down to the very core fundamentals of who we are and what we believe:

Romans 12:1–2 CSB

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

You are free to think differently; to question the assumptions of the talking heads on TV or the podcasters and blogs. You have the ability to step back from all the lies in the world around us and say, “No, that isn’t true or right.”

As you grow in Christ, you have the freedom to fight against prejudice and injustice in your own heart, because your pursuit of Christ changes the way you think about people and problems.

You are freed from condemnation and freed to think differently about the world.

Listen to the warning here: without being in Christ, your mind is still set on the flesh, which isn’t only not good, it is in fact hostile to God.

You may think that’s overstating it because you feel like you and God are on pretty good terms, but as long as you do what you think is best instead of what God says, then you are openly opposing him.

Your pride raises its head and refuses to bow, and hear me, you will stand condemned before God.

There is no joy in my heart to tell you that; but I do you no favors by hiding the truth.

In case you think I am over-stating the point, look at verse 8.

When we come to Christ, when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our heart and frees us from condemnation, we are free to think differently about the world.

That then leads to the third way we are freed to live:

3) We act differently.

Finally, look at verses 9-13.

There is a lot we could cover in these verses, but let’s just look at it quickly.

First, you see that if you are in Christ, you have the Spirit of the living God inside you.

If you don’t, then you aren’t his.

As a side note, this is one of the challenges I have with those who teach you receive the Spirit in a second experience after salvation. The Bible is pretty clear here that if you are saved, you have the Spirit.

So now, if you have Christ in you, although your body still struggles with the lingering effects of sin, the Spirit gives you life.

That life causes you to act differently.

Listen: You cannot genuinely be saved and not have a changed life.

Listen to what Paul says in verse 11.

I have heard J.D. Greear use this illustration before, and I have used it here, but it is worth repeating: Let’s say you were late to church this morning, and after service, I came up to you and asked you if everything was okay and why you were late.

What if you responded, “Oh, Sean, I am so sorry I was late this morning. On my drive over here, I had to hop on the bypass. Going down the bypass, a tractor trailer lost control, crossed the median, and slammed into me head on while I was going 65mph. After the impact, my car caught fire and I had to be cut out of the vehicle. After getting everything squared away with the police, I came on to church.”

Now, if you told me that, I would have some major questions. An accident like that is going to do major, catastrophic damage, both to your vehicle and to you. You don’t just walk away from an accident like that and drive on to church.

You can’t get hit by a semi truck and not be changed.

If that’s true physically, then why would we think that we could encounter the God who raised Jesus from the dead and stay the same?

He is bringing life to your body, but why?

So you can live like you were made to live! Pick back up in verses 12-13.

He gives you life that enables you to put to death the old, selfish way of living.

Ephesians 2:1 CSB

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins

Ephesians 2:1–2 CSB

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient.

You are able to replace that with a life that is lived out like God made you to live and like your heart wants to live:

Galatians 5:22–23 CSB

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

You have the freedom to live like you were made to live.

For some of us, that doesn’t sound like freedom, does it? Free to do what God wants sounds like torture to some of us, because we have the wrong idea of freedom.

We think freedom means we live a life with no restraints or boundaries, we are masters of our own destiny, etc.

That kind of freedom kills! I heard someone recently put it this way: What if I took you out into the middle of the ocean and said, “You are completely free to swim wherever you want to go!” How is that going to work out for you?

Instead, if I put you just off the shore of an island, gave you whatever you needed to swim, and said, “Swim that way to find life,” you would then have the freedom to do what you needed to do to thrive!

That’s the freedom Christ is offering today: freedom to live the life you were made to live, freed from the penalty of sin and free to live like you were made to live.

Freedom from condemnation.

Freedom to think differently.

Freedom to act differently.

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