Who You Are in Christ: You Are Freed From Sin

You Are Freed From Sin

If you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, then you are freed from sin. Yep, you heard me right you are freed from sin. And just in case you missed it, if you know Jesus Christ as Lord, you are freed from sin.

Are warning sirens going off in your mind? Do you think I’m some crazy type of heretic? Are you thinking, you’ve got to be kidding me I’m a sinner, I sin every day of my life.

The focus of Western theology is on the fact that we’re sinners. You hear it over and over in so many ways that we begin to think it is Biblical. You just know that in the very base of your being that you are a sinner.

“I’m just a sinner saved by grace.” “I’m just a sinner like you.” “Doesn’t the Bible somewhere say that if you say you’re not a sinner, then you are deceived?” Doesn’t the Bible say that if we say we have no sin we call God a liar?

Some church liturgies focus every service on the sinfulness of man reciting over and over how weak and helpless we are as sinners.

You Are Not a Sinner

The only problem is that once you come to Christ everything changes. I mean everything.

• You were a sinner, but now you are a saint

• You were once dead in your trespasses and sins, but now you are alive in God

• You were estranged from God but now you are reconciled to God

• You once walked in the flesh but know you walk in the Spirit

• You were an enemy of God but now you are His child

• You were of the lineage of Adam but now you are of the lineage of Jesus

• You were a slave to sin, but now you are freed from sin

Still not convinced? Listen to what the Bible says:

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 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. (Romans 6:12-18)

Sin is No Longer Your Master

Did you hear what this passage says? You have been freed from sin. Sin is no longer your master. You have a new master whose name is Jesus Christ who empowers you to live a life of righteousness in the power of the Holy Spirit. You are free from the law of sin and death.

In Romans 8:2 Paul tells us,

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

When you come to Christ you are no longer a sinner. When you come to Christ you are no longer a slave to sin. When you come to Christ you have the ability to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and do the things God requires of you.

It’s time to stop looking at yourself as a sinner. That’s your old identity. Jesus didn’t die so you could stay a sinner, he died to set you free from the power of sin and death.

You are new in Christ. The old man has died. It’s time to do what Paul says in Romans 6:11,

 “consider yourself dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” 

You were crucified with Christ and it’s no longer you that lives but Christ who lives in you.

Some people believe it’s arrogant to consider yourself to be righteous and free from sin. “Who do you think you are anyway?” I think you are a Bible-believing follower of Jesus Christ.

You Are Righteous in Christ

Even the Bible itself speaks of various people in Bible as righteous and God fearing. Listen to how these wonderful people are described. Do you see yourself this way?

• Job was “blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.” (Job 1:1)

• Zacharias and Elizabeth were “both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.” (Luke 1:6)

• Simeon is said to be “righteous and devout.” (Luke 2:25)

• Joseph of Arimathea is called “a good and righteous man.” (Luke 23:50)

• Noah is called “a righteous man blameless in his time.” (Genesis 6:9)

• Cornelius is said to be “a righteous and God-fearing man” (Acts 10:22)

Every single person mentioned above was called righteous and blameless before they came to Christ. How much more are you righteous before God having been cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus?

Believe Your New Identity in Christ

I want to challenge you to see yourself as the Scripture sees you. Stop believing the lie that you are a weak and helpless sinner. Your old identity as a sinner was crucified with Jesus on the cross. The old man is dead and gone. The one who was a slave to sin no longer exists.

The new you is raised up with Jesus Christ through the power of the resurrection. You are now a slave to God and righteousness. Sin is no longer your master, Jesus is and He gives you the power of the Holy Spirit to help you walk the victorious Christian life.

Make the decision today to reject the false identity of sinner and accept who you truly are in Christ. You are a saint. A holy one who is set apart for the glory of God.

Reject the false identity of a victim of sin and rise up in the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul says,

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,” (Romans 6:12). 

You have the power and authority of God Himself to overcome sin in your life. What you could not do in the weakness of your own flesh, God took care of by sending Jesus and empowering you with the Holy Spirit.

I want to declare this to you with all my might. You have been freed from sin. You have the ability to walk in the ways of God through the empowering of the Holy Spirit. You are a child of God deeply loved by the Father. The power of sin is broken and cleansed from your life through the blood of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit dwells in your heart and has all the power necessary for you to live life as God intends it to be.