This Sermon Can Set You Free

One thing I know from personal experience, friends, and it is this, the Christian life is an impossible life to live in the flesh. It can't be done. I'm telling you, I've tried and I've failed.

It's never meant to be done. I need a higher power that is not me. As in Galatians 2.20 declares, I am crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I live the Christian life by my reliance upon the indwelling Christ, who in and through me can do what I cannot do myself, as we see from Romans chapter 8 and verses 8 through 10. So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God, but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ in him, he is none of his, and of Christ be in you. The body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Plain talk that states two truths, either you were not living the Christian life because you never were regenerated to begin with.

You can't be what you were not if you're not truly born again, then you're still in your sins and dead in sin. You rest upon a rotten foundation of an empty religious profession, and you still need to get your sins under Christ's blood. Or, you are a sincere convert, but up until now you've lacked the message, the information, the ability, the truth to walk with God in the way that He needs you to walk with Him.

Your walk with God's been only that of inconsistency, of an up and down life, which I terminate elevator Christianity, where one day you enjoy the penthouse suite in sweet fellowship with the Father. But then, incredibly, the next week or month or even the next day, you're down in the basement of defeat through sin. You long for consistency, but you never find it.

Well, guess what, friend? This message is right up your alley, and that's our topic today, friends, this new life in Christ, and it's dynamite, it's dunamis power. Let me tell you my story. I was once a wealthy businessman who was a Christian, and I stated in that order, it was money and business first in my life, and Christianity was second place.

At the time, I was a Sunday school teacher at a big Baptist church, a church that had 30,000 members. My class had over 100 members in it, and it was a challenge each week to keep their interest, and I was constantly looking for ways to be a better teacher to them. So I enrolled in a local preaching institute, hoping that it would make me a better Bible teacher.

What it did was throw me on my ears. The founder of that institute was a British evangelist by the name of Dr. Stephen Oldford. He'd been influential in the spiritual life of Billy Graham.

Well, I signed up for one class on expository preaching at the Oldford Institute in Memphis, Tennessee. It was a four-day institute, and I walked an elderly British gentleman in his 80s. Like Zacchaeus, he was small in stature, but when he stood in the pulpit, he preached with the power of Peter at Pentecost.

All I can say, friends, is during that unforgettable week under Stephen Oldford's preaching, my life was turned upside down. The course of my life was altered entirely, entirely changed. No more did I want business and money.

I just wanted Jesus. I wanted Jesus and more of Him. I eventually went on to be part of the first graduating class in that fellowship program there at that institute.

And remarkably, a sovereign God made this British preacher my homiletical mentor, friend, and colleague. We ended up co-authoring a book together on Dr. Oldford's homiletical mentor, Dr. W. Graham Scroggie. And right after that, God called me to preach.

But I can say all this, friends, as a mere background of my message today, which I know if you pay attention to it, take it seriously, and act upon it, it can literally change your life. It can set you free, set you free from a walk of inconsistency with God to a life of victory in Christ Jesus. This sermon can set you free because the Christ of the sermon can set you free.

I don't take any credit for any of the originality of any of the following material as it is a composite of truths that Dr. Oldford taught me personally through his many years of studying the book of Romans, particularly chapters 5 through 8. But first, friends, let me make a brief prayer. Great God Almighty, I ask you to break through this message today with the reality of Christ and eternity. May each of us be confronted with these vital truths from your word in Romans and that by your spirit they become a practical reality in the life of hungry hearts.

I pray that your spirit will disturb folks and affect change. I pray these things in the strong name of Jesus, the King of glory, who sits at your right hand, who earned that right by way of a bloody cross. For it is in the name of Jesus we pray.

Amen. Well, that's my little introduction, friends. Let's get down to business.

You can turn in your Bibles to the book of Romans. We will be in chapter 6 where we will look at the theme of a new life in Christ. In Paul's epistle to the Romans, we read in chapter 6 in verses 1 through 11, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid.

How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. I will pause here, friends. Our main theme here is a new life in Christ.

And through this new life in Christ, we have a new loyalty to Christ as well as a new liberty in Christ. Let us continue with our text as we see in verse 5. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, put out of business, made inoperative, that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin. Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him, for in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. I will stop there. The leading theme of these first 11 verses is identification with Christ or newness of life.

To realize this new life in Christ brings not only deliverance from sin, but a dynamic life to live for God through Jesus Christ our Lord. We must realize a redeeming fact that identification with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection delivers us from the slavery of sin. Verse 3 tells us, Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Here, Paul shows the inconsistency of continuing in sin on the part of those who are united with Christ in death.

Baptism is breaking with sin forever. Notice how baptism expresses symbolically a series of acts which corresponds to the redeeming acts of Christ. Immersion symbolizes death.

Submersion, burial, and emergence symbolizes resurrection. In Luke, Jesus spoke of his death as a baptism. At Calvary, on that awful judgment which fell on our substitute, we were also judged.

In the sight of God, our standing in Adam came to an end there and then. This means that we who in Adam were dead in sin are now in Christ, dead to sin. If death spells the termination of the old life, burial puts it out of sight.

When Christ died, your old life was terminated. He took that life and he buried it. When he died, I died.

When he was buried, I was buried. But it means more than that, friends. It means union with Christ in resurrection, the release of the resurrected life of Christ in us.

Here, we have freedom from sin. We see in verses 6 and 7, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, put out of order, made inoperative, that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin. This freedom from sin is described as the termination of the former self.

Anyone who understands what it means to be baptized with Christ is completely finished with the old life as it was in his unregenerate days. To return to that old life constitutes a repudiation of the redeeming work of Christ and a prostitution of the grace of God. Now, so not to be confused, notice the distinction, friends, between the old man and the body of sin.

Listen, friends, this freedom from sin spells out the domination of the lower self, knowing this, that the body of sin might be destroyed. If the old man is the unregenerate life now terminated by our union with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection, then the body of sin refers to that old nature within us which carries out sin's orders as and when we give permission. But through the redeeming work of Christ, both the dominion of the devil and the dominion of the self-life have been broken or destroyed.

Not the ratification of sin, but the realization that while sin is dormant, it need not be dominant. Although resident, not president, it may be there, but it's not master. There is yet another point to grasp in these verses of Romans 6 and 7, and that is freedom from sin means the liberation of the higher self, knowing this, that we, the real you and me, under the control of the indwelling Christ should no longer be slaves of sin, for he who has died has been freed from sin.

You see, friend, the whole purpose of our baptism with Christ is that we should be delivered from sin in order to serve our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Galatians 2.20 says, I live, yet not I, because Christ liveth in me. The human personality is never obliterated, but simply surrendered to the power of the indwelling Lord, because Jesus has met all the demands of a broken law in his death on the cross, so we've been set free in order to serve our Master forever.

The former self is terminated, the lower self is dominated, and the higher self is liberated to enjoy the freedom of the children of God, but there is a receiving faith that must be exercised. We read in verses 8-10 the following, Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him, for in that he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. It is one thing, friend, to perceive a fact objectively, to agree with the fact that Jesus Christ came into this world, died upon a cross, and rose again the third day, but very few have turned such historical facts into personal experience that comes about through the exercise of receiving faith.

Paul tells us there are two things that must be accepted by faith. One, we must accept the finality of the death of Christ. The fact of the matter is that when our Savior died, he dealt with sin once and for all.

Therefore, there is no need to repeat his agony on the cross. Jesus has done everything to make a life of victory possible. To accept the finality of the death of Christ by faith is to have both the authority and the ability to deal adequately with the penalty and power of sin in our lives.

Secondly, we must accept the vitality of the life of Christ, this mortification of sin on the one hand, and the vivification of living unto righteousness on the other. We believe, our text says, that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. The life that he lives, he lives to God, just as truly as Jesus died, so just as vitally Jesus lives.

To accept that resurrection, life by faith, friend, is to know a counteracting power over the law of sinful gravity. I was sitting on a plane while we taxied on the runway, waiting for the all-clear from the control tower. Then, with a mighty roar, those engines carried the aircraft forward with such thrust and speed that we were thrown back in our seats.

You know the feeling? The law of gravity did its best to hold those tons of aluminum, baggage, gasoline, and people on the ground. But another law came into operation, the law of aerodynamics, which canceled out the law of gravity, enabling us to rise above the clouds into brilliant sunshine. One law had been overcome by another, and we were free.

This is what is meant by accepting the vitality of life in Jesus Christ, just as the law of resurrection life overcame sin, death, and hell on that first Easter Sunday, so that that same resurrection life can overcome sin, death, and hell in us and through us. This is the new life of Christ, and there is a releasing force that must be utilized. Listen to me, friends.

We see in verse 11, Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Notice the word reckon counted to be true and act accordingly. There is personal involvement here in launching out on the redeeming fact with the receiving faith in order to experience a releasing force.

Paul exhorts us to utilize what God has made possible through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which he sums up in a twofold way. There is the authority to repudiate the law of sin, and there is the ability to appropriate the life of God. Likewise, ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.

Three times in 11 verses, Paul has spoken of death to sin. Twice, he refers to Christians, and once, he refers to Christ. The purpose for which Christ experienced the passion and pain of the cross was that you and I might break with sin forever, to be done with sin in your life in every form whatsoever.

This brings us to a major point in our message, friends, the demand of yieldness. Let not sin reign as king. Paul here characterizes or personalizes this concept of sin in terms of a king, and he says you're not to allow sin to reign in your mortal body.

Now, here is where the rubber meets the road in regard to our message today. We must be honest with God, friends, regarding this matter of the heart and mind and will on this matter of choice to say to God in sincerity of heart, Lord, Lord, inasmuch as thou shalt give me grace by the indwelling Christ, empower the spirit to overcome sin so that I can honestly say hereby choose that king sin shall not reign in my mortal body, and that sin will have no place in my seeing, in my speaking, or my thinking, in my working, or my acting. Sin shall no longer reign in my mortal body.

Friend, will you make that choice here and now? Will you make that choice right here and now, friend? Are you prepared to dethrone sin in your life today? Don't talk about yielding unless that is your choice. I'd rather die, Lord. I'd rather be put to death right now by a firing squad than to allow sin to reign in my mortal body.

Listen, dear friend, God gets serious with those who get serious with Him. Are you serious with Him? Do you long for a life of consistency? Do you desire further usefulness to Him? Then say, this is my choice. God can't do it for me.

This is my choice. I have to choose to dethrone sin, and as king, it's not going to reign in my body. It's not going to have the throne of my life.

If that is so, in your heart, friend, make it a reality in your life unto God right now. Tell Him right now that you are dethroning king sin now. We move on to the second demand of the yielded life.

Not only good dethronement of sin in your life, but dethronement of God in your life. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof, but yield yourselves unto God. Here Paul sets before us God and all that He is, and His eternal being, and His great sovereignty is revealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit.

The thought here is not only God the Father, but God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit that comes to dwell in us, the total Godhead. Yield yourselves unto God. If you've dethroned sin by an act of your will, by your choice, then now enthrone God.

The word yield here, friends, is a very important word. It's the same word translated present in chapter 12. It has its roots in an Old Testament word, which means the handing over of a gift, the handing over of a gift.

Say to God now, friend, Lord, here is my throne, and Lord, by choice, I have dethroned sin. Sin will never sit upon that throne in my life. No, never, never, never.

And I now hand that throne over to you, God, Father, God, Son, and Holy Spirit. Take possession of that throne of my life. I hand it over to you, Lord, as a gift, never to take it back again.

I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. The whole idea, you see, is handing over a gift.

You never hand over a gift to take it back again. When you hand over a gift, it is irrevocable. When I hand over the throne of my heart, it's not to experiment today to see whether or not this kind of thing works.

It's not to try it out for a matter of weeks or months to see whether or not this truth is valid. If I'm really fair with the Word of God and I hand over the throne of my life to the indwelling Lord by His Holy Spirit, I hand over that throne not for a day, not for a week, not for a month, not for a year, but forever, forever. When the Lord Jesus Christ came out of eternity, His language was, Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God.

The law is within my heart to do the will of God. And if ever we have a supreme example of total yieldedness to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit, it was the Son of God. This leads us to the next great truth of the dynamic of yieldedness, where I appropriate this life of God in Christ Jesus.

In verse 13, we see this dynamic of newness in Christ, another yield, yet your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Remember how I stated we have to recognize the redeeming fact of our union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, recognizing the fact that when Jesus died 2,000 years ago on Calvary's hill, He died not only for you, but you died with Him. And when He was nailed to the cross, you were nailed to the cross, just as surely, just as really.

E. A. Johnston, you not only received forgiveness and pardon when you knelt at the cross, but you recognize the redeeming fact that when Jesus died 2,000 years ago, E. A. Johnston, you were nailed to the cross, nailed to the cross. Listen, friend, it matters little how much you talk about the lordship of Christ or talk about yielding to Him, unless that's the basis on which you yield your life today. Nothing will come of it.

How many times I used to dedicate myself in meetings just like these, and nothing ever came of it that was transformational and permanent. I didn't have the understanding. It wasn't done on a strong foundation of Scripture like we have here.

So this second aspect of the dynamic of yieldingness comes from my appropriation of a redeeming fact, where I exercise a responding faith. Paul says to yield ourselves unto God as those who are alive from the dead. Well, what is this aliveness? What is this livingness? Is it being born again? No, no, Paul presupposes that, friend.

It's something more than that. First, we recognize the redeeming fact that I have died. I have been buried.

I have been raised unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Reckon means to put it to the test. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Let me use this illustration. Perhaps it'll make it more clear to you. When Abraham Lincoln signed the proclamation of emancipation for the slaves throughout this country, every slave was judicially free the moment the ink touched the paper.

But no slave was free unless they did three things which are involved in this word reckoning and which are involved in this responding faith I'm speaking of. One, they had to know that the proclamation had been signed. Number two, they had to believe it.

And number three, they had to act upon it. Do you get it? I believe that when the Lord Jesus Christ shed his blood at Calvary's cross, E. A. Johnston was nailed to the cross and his old life was terminated. I believe that when he was buried, I was buried with him so that the old life was put out of sight.

And now because of that, I act upon that truth and I move out in faith that I have a new principle of life. And by faith, I act upon it. And where the devil and when that devil comes knocking at my door, then I ask the Lord to go answer the door.

The resurrection life of Christ released by the Holy Spirit. So this is the dynamic of a yielded life, friends. And what's the result of all this? I experienced the deliverance of a yielded life.

It's not so much a quality of life as it is a principle of life, a principle of life that now dominates my heart and my life, moving out in absolute freedom because of that principle of life dominating you that is conqueror in every situation. And that dominant life is, of course, the Lord Jesus. This is a tremendous concept, friends, this aliveness to God, this walking in newness of life.

It is my reliance on the indwelling Christ in me to do in and through me what I cannot do myself. That's it. Because of this new principle of life, we have a life of victory, of consistency in our walk with God.

This results in a life of purity, as seen in verse 19. Even so, now yield your members, servants to righteousness unto holiness. There you have it, friends.

This sermon can set you free. It set me free because of the Christ in me. And Dr. Ofer taught me one last thing I want to share with you regarding the subject today, friends.

It's a practical application. Every time we're presented with sin, every time an unclean thought arises or a temptation presents itself, I look upward and I say with authority, Nail it, Lord! Nail it! Well, I hope this message has been of some help to you, friend, as you apply its truths in your life and walk with God with more consistency in this reality that God is good and Jesus is wonderful.