Freedom In ChristНамуна

Dead Men Don’t Sin

Freedom begins and ends at the cross of Christ. At Calvary, the penalty for our sin was dealt with once and for all. It was there that Christ was punished on our behalf so that we would be free of sin’s debt. But something else took place at the cross that equally affects our freedom. Not only was the penalty of sin dealt with that day, but the power of sin as well. Christ’s death and resurrection marked the end of sin’s power to control the believer. Just as sin could not control the Son of God, so it is powerless to control those who’ve been placed into Christ by faith.

Unfortunately, many who would nod in agreement with the above statement are anything but free experientially. They’re still slaves to the same habits and sin that plagued them in their pre-Christian days. There’s no victory over sin. There’s little joy. Consequently, there’s little reason to keep struggling. And so for many believers, their motto becomes, “Well … nobody’s perfect.”

God doesn’t intend for us to continue to live as slaves to sin. The message of the cross is freedom from sin—both its penalty and its power. While it’s true we’ll always be temptable, it’s not true that we must give in to temptation. The moment you were saved, you were given new life—Christ’s life. You died to your old life—a life dominated by the power and lure of sin. Your new life is the same life that enabled Christ to walk this earth for 33 years without sinning. It’s the very life that enabled Him to walk out of the grave unaffected by death. On the day you were born again, you became a new person with brand-new potential in regard to sin and death.

To make this historical and theological truth a reality, we must appropriate it. That is, we must accept it as fact and act on it. As long as we’re convinced to the contrary, we’ll continue to live as slaves.

Have you acknowledged your freedom from sin’s power? Have you been claiming it? Or have you been relying on your feelings as indicators of your relationship to sin? Your feelings will tell you that nothing has changed; everything is as it’s always been.

But God says you’re different. He says you’re dead to sin ... and dead people are free from the power of sin. Who will you choose to believe today?