Free From Sin [Part 3]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. In our surging faith, a new and living way leads us into accepting the blessings of God through faith.

That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I am Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, It's All Right Now, from Romans chapters four through seven, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina.

Now, if you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, we sure want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer, and you can contact us at pastoralan.org. That's pastoralan.org, or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life. Dead to sin.

Wow. This is just almost opposite of the way most Christians think. Most Christians tend to wake up in the morning and go, well, I'm a sinner and maybe I can muddle through and God help me, forgive me. But Paul's saying here, you'd be way better to wake up in the morning saying I'm dead to sin. Dead to sin. Say that with me, dead to sin.

It's a radical thought. Why would he use such a dramatic image as death? Well, partly he's harnessing the image of baptism. He's not talking here just about the water baptism. He's talking about baptism as a symbol of everything that happens in our justification and everything he's been describing in Romans 1 through 5. And that as you go underwater in this symbol, it's like death, and you come up, it's like life.

So that's part of it. But part of the reason he used this image is because what he's saying is that your relationship to the law and to the therefore penalty for sin when you don't keep the law, that has died. We're going to see later in Romans he calls us widows to the law.

And this is what we're building to. It's a whole new way of being, a different system of life and godliness. Verse 5, for if we've been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self, the old sinful nature, okay, was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing. How, when God justifies you and makes it just as if I'd never sinned, when he puts you in full right standing and declares you to be righteous, how has he done this? Figuratively what he's done is by some mystery he has allowed your sin and your old sin nature to be in some way not just represented but joined with Christ mystically wherein it is crucified. So sin, in that sin nature, it got crucified. You still sin, I still sin, but we're dead to that's what he's saying. So that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, the old sin nature be brought to nothing.

So we would no longer be enslaved to sin for the one who has died had been set free from sin. So like the death of Christ and the resurrection, you are joined with Christ such that your old sin nature, that part of you that was in bondage to sin, that was crucified, figuratively and mystically. But you also figuratively and mystically share now in the life of the resurrected Jesus. So what it means is that you both are in Christ and Christ is in you. I've been reading a book by Major Ian Thomas called The Saving Life of Christ.

I love that because we know that his death paid the penalty but Ian Thomas is saying but it's the life of Jesus in us that is constantly at work saving us, delivering us, empowering us. And he has this to say, to be in Christ makes you fit for heaven, but for Christ to be in you, that makes you fit for earth. To be in Christ changes your destination, you're going to heaven. But for Christ to be in you changes your destiny.

One makes heaven your home, the other makes the world your workshop. So now what he's talking about is a transfer of the dominion over your life. Romans 6, 8. Now if we've died with Christ, we believe that we also will live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. Does death have dominion over Christ anymore?

Absolutely not. And you're in Christ, so death can't have dominion over you. Therefore, verse 10, for the death he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. I want to read that again. You also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Tim Keller uses an illustration here to get across this point. If a wicked military force had complete control of a country and then a good army invaded and restored the government and threw out the wicked forces out of power and returned the capital and the seat of power and government and communication back to the people, this new good government is now in charge.

And the old bad and wicked government is no longer in charge, but they're hiding in the jungles and the bushes and they have guerrilla warfare and they still terrorize and they still create havoc for the rightful government. Well, that's kind of the way it is with sin. What Paul is saying is not that we don't ever sin and not that we're not going to be tempted. Oh mercy, we are. We have an enemy who roars like a lion, who is very skilled at his craft. And we're not fighting against flesh and blood.

This is real. But the dominion of our life in Christ has completely changed. This is what Paul means in Colossians 1 13. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. This is what Paul said giving his testimony in Acts 29 when he said that Jesus said to him, I'm sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. So you'll still have sin in your life, you'll still have temptation in your life, you'll still have guerrilla warfare going on, but the rightful lordship and holy dominion and the glories of his grace is now on the throne of your life. And that's the kingdom that you're in.

Your opponent is fearsome, his craft is skillful, but you are no longer under the dominion of sin and Satan, but you've been ushered into a new kingdom. Which leads Paul therefore to the best news ever. Verse 12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. It's real important to understand that when God gives a command, the Bible says his commands are not burdensome, they are gifts. And the promise of God is inside of the command because God will never promise, will never command something that is impossible, never dictate something that you will have to try to accomplish by your own power. He is releasing you into it.

So if you had a malformed hand and he said, stretch forth your hand, the healing comes in his word. It's a little bit like if my kids when they're little say, can we have ice cream today? I don't know, I don't know, we've had a lot of ice cream lately. And then later they come, can we have some ice cream?

I don't know. How about some ice cream? And then finally that evening after dinner I said, hey kids, why don't you get some ice cream?

Go in the freezer and get you some ice cream. Now that I've given the command, I have not only told them what to do, I have released the blessing in it. That's the way you should read verse 12. Let not sin reign in your mortal body. You're not under that dominion.

You're not a victim to your old way of living. You've been crucified with Christ. And let your whole being come into agreement with that. And at verse 14 where everything's been leading, for sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace. And here comes the whole key to it all. And this is the glory of the transforming power of the gospel.

And we must agree with it. We must apprehend it and take it into our being and take it into our being every day of our lives because this is the thing that will empower you to live a whole different life. I'm talking about the thing that will enable you to let go of selfishness and self-absorption and become a giving and joyful person. I'm talking about the things that will melt away lust and greed and deception in our spirit.

I'm talking about the kind of thing that will transform a relationship, heal a marriage, change the way you parent, introduce a whole new perspective. That's what we're talking about here. Sin to not have dominion under you. Why?

Because you're not under law. You're under grace. Everything he's been saying in Romans is leading to this beautiful point.

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Seeing as Jesus Sees. It's the title of Pastor Alan Wright's newest book just released, and it's the giant secret of real transformation. Followers of Christ tend to focus on doing, so we've been told to ask, what would Jesus do? But even our noblest efforts to be more like Jesus ultimately fail for the same reason that pledging to keep the law never works.

There's no gospel power in our self-striving. But what if the secret to personal transformation and victorious living isn't found in doing as much as in seeing? Anyone who has ever had an aha moment or has suddenly discovered the truth of a situation knows that fresh vision changes everything. In his eye-opening new book, Alan Wright invites readers into a new, simple spiritual practice, a little breath prayer that can be prayed throughout the day. Jesus, how do you see this?

It's a prayer that the Savior loves to answer because after all, Christ came to be the light of the world. Clear away confusion, win over the darkness, and open your heart to wonder and joy by getting your copy of the book right away. When you make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's new, beautiful hardcover book. And as an additional thank you for your support, you'll also receive a free six-week Seeing as Jesus Sees companion video series from Pastor Alan, along with a study guide and a daily reading plan. Let Jesus take you by the hand and show you a whole new perspective for your life.

As you learn how to ask Christ for his eyes, you'll start seeing as Jesus sees, and you're going to love the view. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. Let me spell it out.

I want to just spell it out. This is two different systems of living, under law and under grace. Under law, here's what happens.

Number one, the law makes you nervous, fearful. I was with Pastor Chris. We were driving around King.

We'd just been up praying over King, thinking about vision, and our King campus made a turn and a police officer, I'm just coming right kind of near Walmart, and all of a sudden a police officer turned, came up behind me, and I slowed down. Pastor Chris said, were you speeding? I said, no, I don't believe I was speeding. Well, why are you slowing down?

Because that's just what you do. There's a cop behind me, I'm slowing down. And what happens suddenly, you know that feeling? It's like, he's behind me.

It's like, both hands on the wheel, slow down like this. We can't even carry on a normal conversation until the police officer turns away. That's what the law does. The law makes you nervous. So secondly, the law induces a fear and anxiety that feels so bad, we hate that feeling, that we'll want to do anything to get rid of that angst. And we can try to get rid of that angst by either trying harder and harder to perform under the law so that we feel less worried that we failed, or we can try to mask that anxiety with substances or activities or other things that make us temporarily not feel the pain of that anxiety. Or we can, as the spirit of the age in America does, try to redefine right and wrong so that we attempt to convince ourselves that we're not in the wrong. But all of these are efforts to deal with the angst that comes because we're living under the law. Third, what happens then is that fear leads us to suspect that we could be rejected.

And that insecurity that we may not be fully loved and accepted leads us into all the sin of our lives, the pretending, the putting others down, the insecurities, the performance mentalities and perfectionism, our efforts to put ourselves up by lying or stealing or everything else because we're afraid we might not be loved. That is what it means to be under law. And you in Christ are not under law.

You died to that whole system. You're not even in relationship to that system, but you're under grace. And here's what happens with grace.

I'm going to spell it out. Under grace, you're in a new kingdom, a new realm. It is, as F.B.

Meyer described, forgiveness and grace and exotic from heaven. It's something that didn't exist before. It's not merely the opposite of law. It's something more than that. The gift's not like the trespass.

It's far better. And so here's how grace deals with sin. It acknowledges there's sin, and that's why everything's so wrong.

That's what Paul did in Romans 1 through 4. And secondly, the grace of God for us, we know, justifies us. It means that everything was all wrong, but in Jesus, He makes it all right, and we're in right standing with God, which means we're not innocent.

We're better than that. We're justified. It means that we're in right standing, permanently forgiven and declared to be righteous, which leads us thirdly to this. The more we know that, knowing that God views us as righteous and perfectly right standing, it means we cannot be rejected for not being righteous enough. And once we realize that, such knowledge of our great and wondrous justification melts away our fear because perfect love casts out fear.

And when the fear leaves, our need to mask that anxiety or our need to try to perform or our need to try to redefine right and wrong, all of that leaves because the fear was causing all of that. And then utterly reassured that we're perfectly loved by God, this is the next thing that happens. We learn to trust. In our surging faith, a new and living way leads us into accepting the blessings of God through faith. And as we do so, we now have radical trust in our Father, who has no condemnation for us in Christ, but instead has perfect love for us. And therefore, in a radical way of trusting, we submit ever increasingly.

We only submit when we trust. And when we submit and we yield ourselves, we are allowing the life of Christ to flow in us. And this is what it means to be increasingly filled with the Holy Spirit, the life of Jesus Himself in us. And as we are increasingly filled, more faith soars within us, and the blessings of God are increasingly appropriated in our lives. And sin not only loses its appeal to us, but we know our place in Christ against the devil, and we live and reign with a spirit of victory in Christ. That's what it means to be under grace. And that's why I like every week when we gather in our campuses and online to say, all right, team, let's get together. We've got a formidable foe.

He's called the accuser because he's always accusing. He's skilled at his craft. The temptations are going to be real.

We're not going to get everything perfect. I know all that. But let me talk about who you are. Let me remind you who you are. Let me remind you who you are in Christ.

And you're not under law. You're under grace. And that means far more than you'll be pardoned when you sin. It means you've been changed. It means that you're the people of God. It means that you are dead to sin and alive to Christ. And so sin will no longer have dominion over your life.

That's the way we want to play this game of life in that spirit. And that's the gospel. Alan Wright and our Good News message free from sin. It's from the series It's All Right Now from Romans chapters four through seven.

And I encourage you to stay with us. Pastor Alan is back here in the studio sharing his parting Good News thought for the day in just a moment. The secret to personal transformation and victorious living isn't found in doing as much as in seeing anyone who has ever had an aha moment or has suddenly discovered the truth of a situation knows that fresh vision changes everything in his eye opening new book. Alan Wright invites readers into a new simple spiritual practice, a little breath prayer that can be prayed throughout the day. Jesus, how do you see this?

It's a prayer that the Savior loves to answer because after all, Christ came to be the light of the world. Clear away confusion, win over the darkness and open your heart to wonder and joy by getting your copy of the book right away. When you make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's new beautiful hardcover book. And as an additional thank you for your support, you'll also receive a free six weeks seeing as Jesus sees companion video series from Pastor Alan, along with a study guide and a daily reading plan. Let Jesus take you by the hand and show you a whole new perspective for your life.

As you learn how to ask Christ for his eyes, you'll start seeing as Jesus sees, and you're going to love the view. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Thank you with Pastor Alan and our parting good news thought for the day as we come to the conclusion of this teaching free from sin.

Now our, our greater series, it's all right now, we'll continue. But a final point on free from sin. What do you leave us with Pastor Alan? Okay, law, which says, do this in order to be accepted, perform in order to be loved. It makes you nervous.

Huge contrast in Paul's mind and for us is so important. If sin's not going to have dominion over you, it's going to come, he says, verse 14, since you're not under law, but under grace. Under law, we get nervous. Am I doing enough? Have I performed well enough?

Or will I be rejected? So law induces fear and anxiety, and it is so awful. We want to get rid of that angst. Maybe we say, I'll try harder, or maybe we just give up altogether. But, but that's hopelessness and fear, that insecurity, it leads us to all kinds of sin, but grace is different. Grace is the assurance of a new kingdom, a new realm, a new way of being. There's sin, everything went wrong, but there's the grace of God to justify us, which makes everything right. And so knowing that I've been made the righteousness of God and Jesus Christ melts away my insecurity and builds assurance. When fear leaves, my need to mask anxiety goes away and faith that is emerging, you see, it begins to lead me into accepting the blessings of God and trust in God, and that changes everything.

So in that sense, the gospel and the gospel alone sets us free from sin. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.