There is freedom from sin!

I can hear many of you saying, “Uh…I sin every day!” I’ll address that, because I believe we’ve been reading the Bible wrong. Every time we read the word “sin” in the Bible, we think of our actions (sin, the verb). Because of this, condemnation comes on us and weighs us down because we think we’re not good enough and that God’s upset with us. Most everyone has thought that at one time or another.

The good news is, God’s not upset with us. Isaiah 54 said that there would be a new covenant of peace and that He would never be angry with us again. Guess what? We’re under that new covenant!

All of God’s wrath, anger and judgment that He had towards sin and towards man were placed on and in the body of Jesus on the Cross. Jesus bore all of that so that we wouldn’t have to. Romans 1:16 tells us, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel.” It’s almost too good to be true, but it is true!

“How can this be for me? I don’t deserve it.” We don’t…but God says that we do, so we receive it. Who are we to argue with God? He says it’s ours.

Our core scripture for the There is Freedom series is 2 Corinthians 3:17. It reads, “Now, the ‘Lord’ I’m referring to is the Holy Spirit, and wherever he is Lord, there is freedom.” We all want freedom in our life, not be held captive; yet, we still deal with things.

Here’s a truth: When talking about nouns and verbs, the verb never takes over what the noun is. A noun is a person, place or thing. I’m a man (noun); if I fall down (verb), that’s an action.  It describes what I’m doing but doesn’t change the fact that I’m a man. The verb doesn’t change the noun; the noun is consistent.

There is freedom from sin (the noun); that, in turn, leads the verb.

Freedom From Sin

In the book of Romans, the word “sin” is used over 40 times, but it’s only used ONCE as a verb; the rest of the time, it’s used as a noun. The one time is in Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The glory of God is Jesus, who never sinned (verb).

The problem is that many churches hold people accountable for every sin (verb) that they do. “How could you do THAT (fill in the blank)?” “Why did you do THAT (fill in the blank)? You’re THAT.”  But that’s NOT the message of the Gospel!

The book of Romans describes the grace of God (that’s the power of salvation). Romans 1:16 is the nail that holds the rest of the book of Romans up! The Good News is the Gospel unto salvation, taking you from sin (the place, the noun) into righteousness (the place, the noun). The noun is completely changed because we’re a new person, created in Christ Jesus like Him from the same DNA as Him! Everything that’s in Christ now is in us.

So, we become a new noun through what Jesus did. That’s the only way the noun is changed. We are totally free from the noun, sin. (“Well, Pastor John, that’s great, but I still verb a lot.”) Regardless, it doesn’t change who you are in Christ.

What is Death?

We need to think of a couple of things differently. Humanity thinks of death as “ceasing to exist”, but that’s not biblical death; biblical death is separation from God. God told Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “for in that day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” When he and Eve ate the fruit, did they die the way we have defined death? No. It took them over 900 years.

ROMANS 6:23 tells us, the wages of sin (verb) is death (separation from God).  They didn’t die physically; they died spiritually. Their spirit then became separated from the Spirit of God. (Interesting that God still came and talked with them even after they were separated…that’s how much God loves us!)

It’s never been about God leaving man; it’s been about man walking away from God because they saw themselves as being a sinner, separated (noun) from God. So, God had to fix the noun.

“20 God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. 21 So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” – ROMANS 5:20-21 (NLT)

The words “sinful” and “sinned” here are not actions, but places/position of sin (noun). God’s law was given so people could see how separated they were from God. As people were separated more and more, God’s grace became more abundant.

Sadly, most religion has been about our verb of sin: “Don’t do this, don’t do that, keep from doing this, do this less and you might be good enough for God to accept you.” But God says, “You’re My child; you can’t be separated from Me.” Once the noun gets fixed, the verb can never change the noun.

How do YOU see yourself? See, how we see ourselves is what produces our actions. So many people see themselves as a sinner (noun) because religion has told them that they’re a sinner. You hear, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace.” Really? Which one are you because you can’t be both!

I want to be saved by grace! That’s who I am because I received Jesus as my Lord; so, that means I have freedom because where He is Lord, there is freedom! We’ve gotten so caught up – that it’s our actions that keep us and define us and make us who we are – that we’ve been lied to our whole lives!

Now that we know the truth, we’ve been set free to be who He’s called us to be and who He says we are because of what He’s done for us, to us, and through us. This is the noun we are: we are His child. No matter what verb happens, it will never change the noun.

What Then?

“1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” – ROMANS 6:1-4 (NKJV)

The end of Romans 5 talks about the fact that God’s grace is ruling, to save us, and is in abundance. So, then Paul asks four times, “What are you saying…are you saying it’s okay to sin?” He’s actually saying, “Are you asking if it’s okay to ever see yourself as separated from God?” The answer is not only NO, but it’s an absolute NO! It’s as close in the Greek language to cursing without actually doing it.

It is never okay to see yourself fallen from your position of God’s son or daughter. It’s never okay to see yourself fallen from position He’s placed you seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus at His right hand.

How can we who’ve been separated from the sin nature live in it any longer? Unfortunately, what religion has taught is that once you’re born again, there’s still the “old man” inside that’s fighting you, pulling you to sin. But according to these verses, that old nature is DEAD. Religion is imputing resurrection power to the sin nature and the devil to resurrect that every day in your life.

Satan does not have resurrection power!

Verse 3 says “do you not know”. Paul asks that because people forget when they get caught up in the verb; they see all the verb and think that’s who they are.  But, “as many of us were baptized into Jesus were baptized into His death”.  They were baptized into HIS separation from God.  Remember on the Cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (MATTHEW 27:46)

JESUS experienced separation from God so we would never have to. Jesus became sin (noun); because of that, He took on all of our verbs. He did that so we would never be held captive to the verb. He changed us to the noun RIGHTEOUS.

See, we’ve been changed in our person, which will produce different actions. Just as Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory (opinion) of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life, this new place we are.

Stop seeing yourself as the noun SINNER; see yourself as the noun RIGHTEOUS!

Romans describes our sin nature needing to be changed, not (as religion teaches) behavior modification. We can’t modify our behavior to match up to the standard of Jesus! We’ve all fallen short (ROMANS 3:23), because Jesus never sinned (verb) because He was perfect (noun).

This gives more context to 2 Corinthians 5:17 out of the Mirror Bible:

“Now, in the light of your co-inclusion in his death and resurrection, whoever you thought you were before, in Christ you are a brand-new person. The old ways of seeing yourself and everyone else are over. Acquaint yourself with the new.” – 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 (MIRROR)

Christ has made us new! Sin (noun) has no place in us. Righteousness IS our new position!

To watch the July 31, 2022 service on which this post is based, CLICK HERE.