Embracing True Freedom: Leaving Sin Behind for Jesus
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Sermon Clips
"Forgiveness is good, but freedom is better. Hey, can we celebrate the God that gives us a new life? Come on. It's your songs about. And real quick, can we celebrate our students one more time, students? All right, y 'all can take a seat. Y 'all can take a seat. My goodness. What an incredible week. What an amazing week. And listen, there are so many stories. I'm just going to tell you one. Okay, because this week was just incredible. So it's actually about a sixth grader." [00:00:00]
"And here's what that sixth grader understood. He knew what it meant to have a burden for his one. He invited his one to camp, and he watched as God transformed the life of his one. And this was a sixth grader that was doing that. So students, listen, we've said this before. I just want to say it again. Again, students, you are not just the future of the church. You are the church right now. And we, as your church family, are so proud of you because you because honestly, what we saw this week is students. You are leading the way in what we just sang about, about the new life that we have in Jesus." [00:06:59]
"See, this song is really answering the question. What does a new life? Life look like because you know this when you're when you follow after Jesus, you get a new life like your old life is gone. You've got a new life. In fact, this idea is all over scripture. Here's one of the most famous places. You probably remember this verse. Second Corinthians 517 says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. Somebody say new creation. Yeah, the new creation has come. The old is gone. In other words, goodbye yesterday." [00:08:08]
"Now, thankfully, that is not where the story ends, because after all, we're in church, and there's a reason that we're in church, because even though you and I could not pay the penalty, Jesus paid the penalty for us. He actually took our consequence. He stepped inside this jail cell and took the punishment that we deserve. This is what Paul was talking about in Romans chapter five. He says this, but God demonstrates his own. Love for us in this. In other words, and you got to get this the primary motivation of God, and what we're talking about today is that he loves you. He is wild about you." [00:13:57]
"And this is where a lot of us live, where the door is open. Jesus has forgiven us. We're free to go, but we're still right here in our jail cell, still caught up in our old habits, our old sins, our old way of life, even though the door is open. I had a friend of mine in middle school that said he could sin as much as he wanted to on Saturday because he knew he would be forgiven on Sunday. And that's what he said. That sounds like someone who recognizes the door is open, but he's just decided he's going to live in here." [00:16:29]
"What are you still doing in that jail cell? You need to leave. Like, that's absurd that you would stay in there. And that's exactly what Paul said. Because, look, he said, we're sin increased. Grace increased all the more. And then a few verses later, he says, so what should we say then? Shall we go on sinning? In other words, should we stay in the jail cell so that grace may increase? By no means. He's saying that's crazy. And then he gives the reason he says, we are those who have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer?" [00:19:03]
"See, Paul is reminding us that, listen, freedom, if you're a follower of Jesus. Freedom is not just possible, it's normal. then how do I get that new life? How do I actually get freedom? And the first thing. is you just got to see it right. So you got to see the jail cell because for God, he sees our sin as a jail cell. And whenever Paul wrote about sin, he wrote about it like it was a jail cell. And whenever Jesus talked about sin, he talked about it like it was a jail cell." [00:19:54]
"Because surely it's got to be better than this of me just going back into my old ways. What does a new life actually look like? And so today I want to answer that question, and I want to go a layer deeper and talk about this. How do I, as a follower of Jesus, how do I get that new life to answer this question? I'm going to look at we're going to look together at Romans chapter five and six, and I want to use like an analogy or a metaphor to help us better understand exactly what Paul's talking about in Romans five and six. And you may have already noticed the analogy we're leaning into is this jail cell right here." [00:11:35]
"And for whatever reason, we're just drawn to it. We have a human propensity to mess things up, to ruin all the things that we care about. That's what sin is. And by the way, that's how Paul talked about sin, too. A few verses later, he says, when you were slaves to sin, in other words, when you were locked up in that jail cell, you were free from the control of righteousness. I'll give that to you. And then he asked a question, and I love this question. What benefit did you gain? Did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?" [00:22:45]
"See, for a lot of us, if we're honest, we find Jesus at rock bottom, locked up in our jail cell, looking around, going, my life is a mess. This is miserable. And Paul is saying, So why would you go back to rock bottom? Why would you go back to the thing that hurts you? He said this. He said, Those things result in death, death of your relationships, death of your self worth, death of your emotional health, death of your relationship. relationship with God, why on earth would you go back to the jail cell? Because listen, forgiveness is the open door, but freedom is when you leave the jail cell and forgiveness is good, but freedom is better." [00:24:04]
"And Paul even talked about this. He said this. He says it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. In other words, you want to know why Jesus opened the door in the first place so that you could be free from the things that have ruined your life. The very things that caused you to hit rock bottom in the first place. So the first thing you got to do if you want a new life is you got to see sin correctly as the jail cell that it is. And then after you do that, you got to run." [00:27:49]
"And if all you do is you see it right. And then you run. Run from the jail cell. That's good, by the way, that's a good thing, but that will not be enough. So the last thing you got to do. And by the way, this is like the most important one. You got to run from the jail cell and run to Jesus. You got to run to Jesus, the one who came to free you in the first place, because if all you do is just run from this jail cell, you know what's going to happen? You're going to run from this jail cell right to another jail cell, and then from that jail cell to another jail cell, because we have this thing in us that is yearning for satisfaction for something to fill the void." [00:35:17]
Ask a question about this sermon
"And here's what that sixth grader understood. He knew what it meant to have a burden for his one. He invited his one to camp, and he watched as God transformed the life of his one. And this was a sixth grader that was doing that. So students, listen, we've said this before. I just want to say it again. Again, students, you are not just the future of the church. You are the church right now. And we, as your church family, are so proud of you because you because honestly, what we saw this week is students. You are leading the way in what we just sang about, about the new life that we have in Jesus." [00:06:59]
"See, this song is really answering the question. What does a new life? Life look like because you know this when you're when you follow after Jesus, you get a new life like your old life is gone. You've got a new life. In fact, this idea is all over scripture. Here's one of the most famous places. You probably remember this verse. Second Corinthians 517 says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. Somebody say new creation. Yeah, the new creation has come. The old is gone. In other words, goodbye yesterday." [00:08:08]
"Now, thankfully, that is not where the story ends, because after all, we're in church, and there's a reason that we're in church, because even though you and I could not pay the penalty, Jesus paid the penalty for us. He actually took our consequence. He stepped inside this jail cell and took the punishment that we deserve. This is what Paul was talking about in Romans chapter five. He says this, but God demonstrates his own. Love for us in this. In other words, and you got to get this the primary motivation of God, and what we're talking about today is that he loves you. He is wild about you." [00:13:57]
"And this is where a lot of us live, where the door is open. Jesus has forgiven us. We're free to go, but we're still right here in our jail cell, still caught up in our old habits, our old sins, our old way of life, even though the door is open. I had a friend of mine in middle school that said he could sin as much as he wanted to on Saturday because he knew he would be forgiven on Sunday. And that's what he said. That sounds like someone who recognizes the door is open, but he's just decided he's going to live in here." [00:16:29]
"What are you still doing in that jail cell? You need to leave. Like, that's absurd that you would stay in there. And that's exactly what Paul said. Because, look, he said, we're sin increased. Grace increased all the more. And then a few verses later, he says, so what should we say then? Shall we go on sinning? In other words, should we stay in the jail cell so that grace may increase? By no means. He's saying that's crazy. And then he gives the reason he says, we are those who have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer?" [00:19:03]
"See, Paul is reminding us that, listen, freedom, if you're a follower of Jesus. Freedom is not just possible, it's normal. then how do I get that new life? How do I actually get freedom? And the first thing. is you just got to see it right. So you got to see the jail cell because for God, he sees our sin as a jail cell. And whenever Paul wrote about sin, he wrote about it like it was a jail cell. And whenever Jesus talked about sin, he talked about it like it was a jail cell." [00:19:54]
"Because surely it's got to be better than this of me just going back into my old ways. What does a new life actually look like? And so today I want to answer that question, and I want to go a layer deeper and talk about this. How do I, as a follower of Jesus, how do I get that new life to answer this question? I'm going to look at we're going to look together at Romans chapter five and six, and I want to use like an analogy or a metaphor to help us better understand exactly what Paul's talking about in Romans five and six. And you may have already noticed the analogy we're leaning into is this jail cell right here." [00:11:35]
"And for whatever reason, we're just drawn to it. We have a human propensity to mess things up, to ruin all the things that we care about. That's what sin is. And by the way, that's how Paul talked about sin, too. A few verses later, he says, when you were slaves to sin, in other words, when you were locked up in that jail cell, you were free from the control of righteousness. I'll give that to you. And then he asked a question, and I love this question. What benefit did you gain? Did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?" [00:22:45]
"See, for a lot of us, if we're honest, we find Jesus at rock bottom, locked up in our jail cell, looking around, going, my life is a mess. This is miserable. And Paul is saying, So why would you go back to rock bottom? Why would you go back to the thing that hurts you? He said this. He said, Those things result in death, death of your relationships, death of your self worth, death of your emotional health, death of your relationship. relationship with God, why on earth would you go back to the jail cell? Because listen, forgiveness is the open door, but freedom is when you leave the jail cell and forgiveness is good, but freedom is better." [00:24:04]
"And Paul even talked about this. He said this. He says it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. In other words, you want to know why Jesus opened the door in the first place so that you could be free from the things that have ruined your life. The very things that caused you to hit rock bottom in the first place. So the first thing you got to do if you want a new life is you got to see sin correctly as the jail cell that it is. And then after you do that, you got to run." [00:27:49]
"And if all you do is you see it right. And then you run. Run from the jail cell. That's good, by the way, that's a good thing, but that will not be enough. So the last thing you got to do. And by the way, this is like the most important one. You got to run from the jail cell and run to Jesus. You got to run to Jesus, the one who came to free you in the first place, because if all you do is just run from this jail cell, you know what's going to happen? You're going to run from this jail cell right to another jail cell, and then from that jail cell to another jail cell, because we have this thing in us that is yearning for satisfaction for something to fill the void." [00:35:17]
Chatbot
-
I'm an AI bot trained specifically on the sermon from Jul 21, 2024. Do you have any questions about it?