YOU ARE SET FREE!

^“I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking. But I can’t help myself because I’m no longer doing it. It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these evil things. I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn I can’t make myself do right. I want to but I can’t. When I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. Now if I am doing what I don’t want to, it is plain where the trouble is: sin still has me in its evil grasp. It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin. So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been doneby Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free.” (Romans 7:16-29 The Living Bible)

Remember what the title says, as it speaks to you today! Keep in mind that since you are set free, not only from the penalty of sin, but also free from the power of sin. Therefore, I challenge you to live like you have been set free, my friend. Ask the Savior to help you choose to do the opposite of what your old nature, your lower nature, beckons you to do, trying to influence you as you have not been freed from sin. Now, you do have to play a role in all your transactions with the old nature. So, prepare yourself this morning to consciously, and purposely, make choices that will have you doing the opposite of what your old nature suggests.

Here are some examples, but please don’t consider this an exhaustive list! But first, let me say that if you stay God-conscious and Christ centered, you will recognize when you need to focus on living like you are indeed free: Examples:

• When you are criticized about your status as a believer, don’t cave in! Do the opposite, courageously defend your faith! Don’t deny your faith. Do that by words and actions.
• When you face times where steadfast faith is needed as you press on, instead of shrinking in fear, do the opposite, and stand firm on your faith.
• When your circumstance(s) appears to be too much for you to take, don’t crumble as if you have no help. You have Help, Jesus! So do the opposite and conquer the circumstance. That suggestion should not be foreign to you, for I have heard these words come out of your mouth, “I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus!”
• When you encounter some shocking, perhaps surprising experiences in this secular world, the old nature will want to fill your mouth with expletives. Well, control your tongue, censure your mouth, and do the opposite. Escape cursing and remember what you learned while you were churching: “You are a member of a Holy Nation.”
• When you are ready to give up or give in to sin, do the opposite! Get down on your knees and pray and then rise up with power to not let sin have its way.
• When you look at a hurdle that is too high, seemingly like a mountain-like obstacle in your way, don’t turn back. Do the opposite!  Boldly follow the words of the Lord, “If you have [living] faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and [if it is God’s will] it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

I need to let you get on your way this morning, but I’m smiling! Why? Because I know you remember, whatever you might face today, “You Are Set Free.”  Be blessed!

Committed to the climb,

Mark L. King