Breaking Free From Sin

Breaking Free from Sin - Romans 6:1-13

“Dear God, you’re really going to be proud of me! I haven't gossiped, lusted, or lost my temper today. I haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I'm very happy about that! But in a few minutes, I'm going to get out of bed. From then on, I'm probably going to need a LOT of help!” That’s our prayer, right? Do you ever struggle with breaking free from sin?

How many here have gone this past week without committing a single sin? Raise your hands high! If nothing else, we’ll get you on pride, right? Is it realistic, then, to think that we can ever go without sinning? Perhaps not all the time on this side of eternity, but God does give us the power to live victoriously. Today we’ll look at some ways to break free from sin. They are simple, but not always easy, and they come right out of our passage today. The first one simply is,

1. Know who you are.

In today’s passage the Apostle Paul states a number of times who we are as Christian believers: we are people who have died to sin and are alive in Christ. That’s who we are. As Christians, we identify fully with Jesus in his death on the cross; our sins died with him there just as surely as he died. 2 Corinthians 5:14 says, “One died for all, and therefore all died.” And we also identify with him in his resurrection on the third day. The same power of God that raised Jesus from the dead raises us from spiritual death to eternal life the moment we believe in Jesus.

Paul provides an illustration in the waters of baptism. In Bible times, you were baptized as soon as possible after you had committed your life to Jesus. It was a way to stand up publicly for him, since he stood up for you. And there was no sprinkling back then; everyone was dunked. Paul uses that here as an illustration: As one is lowered down into the water, he or she dies to sin and self, as Christ died and was laid in the tomb. Then, as one is raised back out of the water, he or she becomes newly alive, just as Christ became newly alive on that first Easter morn. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation: The old has gone, the new has come!”

If you’re a Christian believer, this is who you are. Jesus died and you died, and your sin died along with you. Verse 7 says, “Anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” Paul has a little fun here in a morbid sort of way, because the truth is that dead people don’t sin. If you sneak into a morgue in the middle of the night, when all the staff are gone, you won’t find anything going on there. You don’t find anybody in a morgue who is stealing or lying or committing murder. Those who have died are set free from sin. When Jesus died, our sinful selves died with him. Next time you’re tempted to sin, ask yourselves, “Could I commit this sin if I was lying dead in the morgue?” There’s your answer: you have died to sin.

But that’s not the end of the story. Jesus rose again, and you rose with him, the moment you became a believer. In that moment, you became a brand-new creation. The same power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead, he also used to raise you from spiritual death to eternal life. It’s important, in combatting sin, to know who you are: dead to sin, and alive in Christ. The second step is to ...

2. Say no to temptation.

In verse 12, Paul says, “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” The word “reign” is appropriate, because Paul pictures sin ruling over us. He even describes sin as our master and us as its slaves (verse 6). So, the idea is to keep sin off the throne. He completes the thought in the first half of verse 13: “Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness.”

Nice idea, but how do you implement? Well, for starters, you stay as far away from your temptation as you can. I remember many years ago, when I was a youth pastor, all the teens wanted to hear was what was ok and not ok in the back seat of a car. How close to the line could they get and still be ok with God? I told them they were asking the wrong question. The better question is, “How can I honor God in this relationship?” If you’re trying to get as close to the line as possible, you’ll step over it every time.