What Did Jesus Set You Free From? | Season 06, Episode 1 | Simple Truth Podcast

Have you ever hated a sin in your life and still felt powerless to stop doing it? You love Jesus. You want to live a life that pleases God, but you keep getting pulled back into the same old bad habit. And every time you give in, you feel the guilt of knowing what was right, but choosing what was wrong. In this episode, we're going to answer three important questions. First, why do I sometimes feel trapped by sin? Second, how exactly does Jesus set me free from that sin? And third, how should I live in the freedom that Jesus already paid for? [music] Welcome to the Simple Truth Podcast. I'm Ted Ross and this is season 6, episode 1. What did Jesus set you free from? Right, an important question. We're going to talk about redemption. All as a part of the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ for you and for me. A great topic. Today we're going to answer three questions. Starting with question number one. Why do I sometimes feel trapped by sin? And we're going to answer it in simple truth number 96. Sin has a power over humanity that requires a redeemer. Romans 5:12 and 17 will help us understand the answers to these questions. As a reminder, all Bible verses are from the New King James Version of the Bible. So, feel free to follow along here. We're going to see that we feel trapped because we were born into a fallen condition in which sin and death ruled over us, right? They reigned over us. They enslaved us. They became our master. But Jesus came to set us free. Romans 5:12. Therefore, just as through one man, that's Adam, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned, that's all men and women and children. Verse 17. For if by one man's offense death reigns through the one, that's Adam, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, that's us, will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. Therefore, just as through one man, right, through Adam, sin, that's wrongdoing behavior, right, and the power that produces it. Quite often we think of sin as just an inappropriate act and it is. It is inappropriate acts and destructive acts too. They they're harmful to us. They separate us from God. They're harmful to other people. But there's also a power behind sin. A power that works through our flesh to cause us to do wrongdoing that pushes on us that pushes desires and cravings and other aspects to try to push us into sin. And so he's describing here is not just the sinful act, but he's describing the sin nature, the old man that gets embedded inside of us and the death that comes through that sin, right? The spiritual death and the separation that comes through sin. And it says in verse 12, "And thus death spread to all men because all sinned." We saw that nature being replicated across people. We see today we'll see a child who's never taught to lie or never taught to steal and never taught to do wrong. We'll see the child start pressing the boundaries and starting to do wrong. Sin is embedded in our nature and Jesus died for it to redeem us and deliver us from that sin. So as we start the conversation about why we feel trapped, we feel trapped because we have sin nature inside of us that God is working in us to be delivered from. Verse 17, for if by one man's offense death reigned through the one, that word reigned is to exercise dominating authority. Do you understand? To exercise a dominating authority through the transgression of Adam. Starting from back then, we started to see a multiplication of sin. Sin entering into the world and people being born into it and abiding by and continuing in sin. Not the same sin that Adam even did, but other sins. And if you just have to open up the news, take a look at the news today. What we see is a lot of sin around the world. A lot of falling short, a lot of people harming their neighbor, stealing from others, doing each other wrong. And we're seeing so much sinful act. And we see it quite clearly what Romans 5 is describing here. We see sin reigning. We see it exercising a dominating authority throughout the world. And it says here in verse 17, much more, much more. If death could reign through one, much more. So now we have a contrast. In fact, it's not a contrast. It's not even comparable. So much more. Those who receive abundance of grace, that's us. And of the gift of righteousness will reign, will exercise dominating authority in this life through the one Jesus Christ. So while sin causes death to reign throughout the world, much more those who receive Jesus Christ, who believe the gospel will receive an abundance of grace. Undeserved unmerited favor and a gift of righteousness, a right standing and right behavior will reign. We will exercise dominating authority in this life through the one Jesus Christ. Do you ever want to do right, but you feel another power pulling on you? Of course, we've experienced that. All of us have. Sin is real. And the struggle, your struggle, my struggle. It points to the need for a redeemer. It points to the fact that we're not going to be able to save ourselves. We're not going to use our sinful fallen nature to somehow overcome our sinful fallen nature. Quite often, we're very arrogant and we feel that we could. with enough discipline, with enough schooling, with enough telling myself to stop doing wrong, I will solve this problem. And that is not the answer. The answer is Jesus Christ and him crucified. He came to be our redeemer and to deliver us from everything that would come against us. Let's take a look at Romans 7:18 and 19. You may want to do what is right, but you still feel pulled to sin. And it shows us why we need more than just willpower. We need that redeemer. You're catching a theme here, folks, for the start of this episode, and it's really important. When Jesus came, it says in Mark chapter 1, we were covering this in season 1 and season 2. When Jesus came into Galilee, he said, "Repent and believe the gospel." He said, "Turn away, have another mind, change your mind, and instead put your trust and rely on and hold on to adhere to the death-bound resurrection of Jesus Christ." For him to say repent means you have to turn away from something. This is what we're turning away from. We're turning away from our old nature, from our old man. We're turning away from that sin nature inside of us that continues to try to drag us into wrong places and to do wrong things. So let's take a look at Romans 7:18 where Paul writes, "For I know that in me," that is in my flesh. He's clarifying. He says, "In me, but not all of me." Just last season we talked about the whole Christian spirit, soul and body. And when Paul writes, he says, I know that in me, he didn't say my spirit, my soul, and my body. Because he knows that his spirit is made alive from God. And his spirit connects with God and fellowships with God. So when he says, I know that in me, he specifies that is in my flesh. And as we discussed in season five, the flesh is the body and the unregenerated part of the soul. So it's part of us. He says, "In me that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells." Wow. Flesh, that's the sinful nature, right? It's our desires apart from God. And he knows that in that old sinful nature, our desires are apart from God and nothing good dwells. That mean nothing good inhabits. Nothing good is living or residing in it. So for Jesus in Mark 1 to say the time is fulfilled in the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. He's saying turn away. Turn away from your flesh. Turn away from your sinful nature with its desires that are apart from God. Because Jesus clearly knew uh he instructed Paul and gave him revelation. He knew that in our flesh nothing good inhabits, lives or resides. So we repent from it. And he says for to will that is to desire or to intend or to want to do something. The desire or the intention is present with me. Paul said, right? We all have a spirit. We're born again. We're born from above. So part of us, our will is our intention, our desire is to do something really good. But then in verse 18, he says, "But how to perform what is good, I do not find." So he's describing a wrestling match between his spirit which fellowships and connects with God and wants to do the things of God and his flesh in opposition to those things pursuing the desires of self pursuing sin. Right? But how to perform what is good I do not find. To perform is to accomplish or to carry out. He says in verse 19 for the good that I will to do I do not do but the evil I will not to do that I practice. That's actually what I accomplish. That's actually what I do. Now, of course, Romans 7 doesn't end at verse 19, does it? Because as Paul continues on, he clearly shows that while there's a war inside of him, Jesus Christ has delivered him and he can serve God with his spirit and obey God even though he's got this flesh that's opposing himself. Have you ever wanted to change, but do you see yourself repeating the same behavior? We've all been there. That's why we're talking about redemption. That's why we're talking about the blood of Jesus Christ. This is a pain that all of us have felt or are feeling. Praise God. And there's such great hope because Jesus died for that pain. He actually came for this very pain that we're describing. Wanting freedom is not the same as having the power to free yourself. We've all experienced this pain. The world feels this pain. But how many of us are willing to repent, to change our mind, to have another mind, to believe the gospel for it? Brothers and sisters, if you've been listening this far, you've got that appetite and you've got that desire. And I pray sincerely that you that all the blessings of God are poured out in your life and that you are able to overcome everything that resists you through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because that is why he came, brothers and sisters. He came and we can want freedom but it's not the same as having the power to have that freedom. So let's start to talk a little more about where that power comes from. So let's take a moment. We can feel trapped right beneath the guilt. That's a terrible feeling. The guilt of sins and failures we've already committed. We get trapped beneath powerful desires that are in our old nature. Right? That sin nature that we were born into. Either way, we feel trapped by the evil influence of the world and the powers of darkness. Even if we're not feeling it, we're surrounded by people who are feeling it. And they talk about it and they write about it and they press upon it and they evangelize, but they're not evangelizing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, are they? They're evangelizing cravings and desires. And we have the powers of darkness working in the world itself. And we can feel trapped beneath that, too. We can feel trapped beneath the feeling of fear around us or the inevitability of death and it could try to cause fear in us because if we're unrenewed, if we're not transformed, if our mind is focusing in on the flesh or on carnal things, we'll be scared of all these things. We'll be fearful of something that could just come upon us and scares us. We could be fearful of death coming upon us and seizing us. These are the things that we feel trapped beneath. But these things come from sin. and what we cannot do for ourselves. We know we don't have the ability to remove our own guilt. We know that we cannot restore our spiritual life. We need God for these things. We cannot conquer the power of sin and death on our own. We may improve our behavior. There's little tweaks that we may be able to do. Maybe some of us have strong willpower as we discussed in season five on the whole Christian and we have discipline and we're able to make slight adjustments. But none of us is blameless. None of us can accomplish the things on this list. Every person has sinned and every person will sin and they will fall short of God's standard. We don't need stronger willpower. We don't need more friends and we don't need more advice from self-help books. We need a redeemer. We need a redeemer who can empower us, who loves us and can empower us to overcome the sin nature and overcome the fear and the evil influence of the world and the powers of darkness and the powerful desires of our old nature and the guilt of sin and the failures we've already committed. We need a redeemer. Which brings us to John 8, verses 34-36. Sin is not merely doing something wrong. When we obey sin, it acts like a master to us. I understand the terms master and slave. They're horrible terms and they connote, you know, I live in the United States of America and I have a a pretty good understanding of our history and they connote such terrible practices that occurred in the past that are completely unacceptable. But when we're describing this here, the Bible is drilling into something to help us understand at a time in biblical times where there were masters and slaves. different of course in American history but still too many similarities. But as we describe masters in slavery, it gives us an understanding to say that for too long sin has been our master. Too long sin has commanded us and told us what to do and we obeyed it. So this idea that when you do something wrong, you're not just committing a sinful act. But when we obey sin, we are submitting ourselves to sin and sin becomes a master and unfortunately we become a slave to sin. But Jesus gave his life. He gave his life and he shed his blood to set us free from that master of sin and to submit ourselves to God so that we could be free from sin. John 8:34 quote Jesus answered them most assuredly I say to you whoever commits sin is a slave of sin that's what Jesus is saying verse 35 and a slave does not abide in the house forever but a son abides forever verse 36 therefore if the son makes you free you shall be free indeed praise God Jesus answered them most assuredly I say to whoever commits sin right wrongdoing things that fall short of God's standard. We've seen this before, right? It's destructive. We have desires and cravings and when we are enticed by them and we submit to them, we sin. And Jesus said, "Whoever commits sin becomes a slave to sin." A slave is one who's under a master, lives under its control. None of us like the idea of being a slave to anybody or anything. And yet Jesus clearly tells us and this explains some things in our life. Sometimes we do sin and we tell ourselves, we trick ourselves, we deceive ourselves to say, "I'm just doing this bad action. I've got it all under control. I can stop whenever I want." And there's two deceptions there. First of all, the idea that we could stop whenever we want. As we do this sin, we become a slave to it. But also secondly, like it's no big thing, like it's not causing all sorts of terrible effects on us. Sin distances us from God. Sin hurts other people. Sin hurts ourselves. There's a long list of things sin does for us and none of it is good. In verse 35, he says, "And a slave does not abide in the house forever. But a son abides forever." Any slave in any household in the Old Testament, any slave, they were temporary. They would come, they would go. There was nothing enduring about the slave in the household, but a son, an heir, an inheritor. They abide forever. There's a permanence there. Verse 36, it says, "Therefore, if the son, the son of God, Jesus Christ, if the son makes you free, makes you free from that slavery to sin he's describing." Right? To make you free is to liberate you. It's to remove another's claim. Because remember when you commit sin, you become a slave to sin. You submit under it, it becomes your master. It begins to have a claim over you. But Jesus says if the son makes you free, if Jesus makes you free, then you shall be free indeed. You will be free in reality, not just in appearance, you will be really free. And you may ask yourself the question, how did Jesus make us free? And we're going to cover that in just a moment. Do you believe that Jesus has authority to free you from sin's control from that slavery that we put ourselves into by choice? That mastery that we've submitted ourselves under? Do you believe Jesus has the authority to free you from sin's control? The gospel has more than enough power to set you free from sin. There is so much power in the gospel. That's why it's good news. That's why when Jesus preached it, when Paul preached it, when Peter preached it, it was received with great gladness because the message wasn't just words. It was words and power. It was words and spirit. And it was even manifesting miracles when it was preached because God bears witness to his message being preached. Which brings us to question number two. How exactly does Jesus set me free from sin? We know who the son sets free is free indeed. So, how exactly does Jesus do it? Which brings us to simple truth number 97. Jesus shed his blood as ransom to release us from bondage. Praise God. Mark 10:44 and 45. Here we're going to see that Jesus, the son of God, became a servant and paid the ransom we could never pay ourselves so you and I can be free from sin's authority and free from sin's control. Now we're starting to get to it. Thank you, Father. Mark 10:44. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. Back to that slave word. Verse 45. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life, a ransom for many. So it says, "Whoever of you desires," he's talking to his disciples, he's talking to us, "Whoever of you strongly wants recognition or importance in the kingdom of God shall be a slave of all." And whereas before we're submitting ourselves and we're putting ourselves under the mastery or the control of sin, now we see a Greek word which implies giving up status and serving others. So in this case, slavery is a good thing. So Jesus says, if you want to be first, you will give up your status and you will submit and serve others because that is how you become first in the kingdom. Praise God. Verse 45. For even the son of man, even Jesus Christ himself did not come to be served, but to serve. Jesus didn't come to be served by others. So you and I shouldn't be looking to be served by others. Instead, Jesus came to serve, which means he came to attend to other people's needs. So he identified people's needs. He was led by God's spirit to attend and assist and help and be beneficial to what other people needed. But he didn't just come to serve. He also came to give his life. To give means he willingly offered it. He surrendered it. He was not forced to the cross. It wasn't some kind of surprise. Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane before Judas's chariot and the soldiers came to arrest him. He was praying because he knew it was coming. And his prayer to the father was, "If there's any way for me to not have to go through this terrible crucifixion, please allow that to happen. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done, father." And he submitted himself and he went through the death, burial, and resurrection, the most important event in all of human history. And he gave himself. He willingly offered himself. He surrendered himself. He gave his life. You can't give more than that, folks. He gave his life and he gave it as a ransom. A ransom, we see it in movies with kidnappings and all these other types of things. He gave himself as a ransom. That's a price paid to release a slave or to release the condemned or bringing back into slavery. So it says he gave his life a ransom for many. Which means that by giving his life, he paid a price to release people who are slaves to sin or to release the condemned, people who are on, you know, death row, so to speak, people who are ready to be judged and executed. That's why Jesus came to the earth. He came and he showed us an example. He gave us a path. He was a pattern, right, for how we should live. But most importantly, he went to the cross to die for our sins, to pay a price so that he could release us from being slaves to sin. And he could also pay the price for our condemnation and our judgment. He paid the price for all of our guilt. Praise God. He says he gave a ransom for many. That word for, it seems straightforward, doesn't it? But it's important. The word for in the Greek is in the place of or in exchange for. So he paid a price in place of the price we would pay. He paid a price in exchange for you and I paying a price. And he did that for many. So many people. As many as will come, he can absolutely cover it. Do your struggles make you wonder if sin will always master you? Nope. Jesus gave his life as a ransom for you to break sin's claim and to break sin's control. And let's continue to get into that. Ephesians 1:7. Jesus did more than weaken sin's hold. He didn't just take that hold and break it a little bit. He paid for our freedom. He removed our guilt. And he brought us into a new relationship with God. Because while we were slaves to sin, while we were held captive, while we were among those condemned, we couldn't have a relationship with God. But through the shedding of his blood, through his redemption, he was able to bring us into a new relationship with God, pay for our freedom from that sin, and remove our guilt all at the same time. That's why the gospel is good news. Ephesians 1:7. In him, in Christ, we have redemption. There's that word again. Through his blood, there's that word again. The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. So in him, in Christ, we have redemption. You and I, we have redemption right now. We're not waiting for redemption. We don't need to do seven things to get redemption. We have redemption. And we have it through his blood. Redemption is to release from bondage by paying a ransom. To liberate, to set someone free. For you and I to have redemption means we've been released from the bondage of sin and from guilt and from shame. And we were released from that bondage by the paying of a ransom, which was Jesus's death. He liberated us and he has set us free through his blood. It's literally his blood. Christ's blood. But what does it imply? It doesn't just imply blood. It implies the sacrificial death. He had his blood shed, but he had it shed for a purpose. His blood was given through his sacrificial death on the cross. And it says, comma, the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness is a release. It's a dismissal. It's a pardon from the guilt and a pardon from the debt of sin. So, not only did he redeem us, right? not only to release us from bondage and pay that ransom and liberate us, but he also dismissed, he pardoned the guilt and the debt of the sin itself. That was all a part of it. And it says the forgiveness of sins. Those are our offenses. Those are our rebellions. That's us disobeying God's will. That's us falling short. And he did it according to the riches of his grace. He did it because he's fantastic. He did it because he's wonderful. He didn't do it because you or I deserved it. He didn't do it because you and I knew something secret to say or had a fancy special handshake or we knew the code word to get through the door. He did it because we confessed him as Lord and we believed in our heart that God raised him from the dead. We accepted his gospel. So what exactly did Jesus purchase for you with his blood? He purchased your redemption, a ransom to fully set you free. He paid it. So what's the meaning of redemption? What exactly does redemption mean? Well, redemption is God's act of releasing people, specifically you and I, from sin's penalty and bondage by paying that required ransom. Sin, it's more than just a behavior that God doesn't like. You've got to understand, it's more than just something that God finds frustrating. That's not sin. Sin got Adam and Eve kicked out of Eden. Sin was disgusting. It's deplorable. It's rebellion against a perfect God. There is no sin in heaven. There's no spot, there's no wrinkle, there's nothing inappropriate. God is perfect and he's holy and he's wonderful. And when we sin, we rebel against him. And it always produces guilt. Sin always produces separation, always produces corruption, always produces death and those who do it. So to ransom a sinful people back to God, we needed a sinless substitute, right? We need a sinless substitute. somebody who would take our place, who would pay this debt to take on the punishments and the penalties that we deserved, but they pay the bill. The gospel, right, the good news, it proclaims what Jesus did for us and how we could never do it for ourselves, right? Jesus entered our fallen human condition by being born of a woman, born under the law, as the scripture says, born of Mary. He lived without sin. He did not sin. He walked this earth and he walked perfectly. He and the father were one. He always did the will of the father. He brought his soul under subjection. He fasted. He was water baptized. He spoke God's word. He did the father's will. Powerful. He willingly gave his life. He had to pray it through because it was terrible. And he prayed it through. And he submitted himself to it. And he went through the death, the burial, and then of course the resurrection. He shed his blood at that cross. Physical spilling of blood, beatings, spitting on, humiliation. It was a terrible sight. In season 4 of the gospel, we talk about the crucifixion of Christ. And we walk through it step by step in detail by detail. Feel free to check it out if you haven't seen it. He rose from the dead. Why did Jesus rise from the dead? Because death couldn't hold him. death couldn't hold him. He was sinless. He didn't belong there. He only went there to pay the price for you and me. And the scripture describes him going into hell for three days. Describes what he did in hell. And it says that death could not hold him. And he was resurrected. And when he was resurrected, he said, "All power has been given to me in heaven and in earth." Praise God. That is powerful. It had to be Jesus. It had to be Jesus. It couldn't be anyone else. It couldn't be us. It couldn't be self-help. Jesus was truly human. So, he was able to represent us. He was completely sinless, which means he owed no penalty himself. There was nothing he owed for. He didn't have to go pay a price for his own sins because he had no sin. And he was fully God, which means he is able to save. In scripture, only God is able to save. He was fully God, and only God is able to bridge the gap between the father and us. We're going to take a look at the book of Hebrews a little bit later. And Hebrews does a magnificent job of describing for us, describing for us Jesus as the mediator. Someone who can mediate between us and the father. Only God can do that. For Jesus to stand in God's presence and to represent not only us because he's fully human, but to also mediate with the father because he's fully God. It is a powerful concept which I admit in the beginning I looked at I said this is crazy. Only for my spirit to bear witness for it. only for me to walk through and start believing and obeying some of it and to see powerful results in my own life. I was not raised as a Christian. I did not accept these things that I'm talking about. But after decades of learning about, living and experiencing and also being chastened for not believing, I learned things the positive way and I learned things the negative way. That's why I have a lot to say about these topics. I've done the right thing and I've done the wrong thing and I've learned through both of them. And I'll tell you now, it's better to do the right thing. But you can still learn something doing the wrong thing. Praise God. Thank God for his forgiveness. Thank God for his grace and for his mercy. And thank God that we are all here. And while it is right now and while it is today, you and I have the opportunity to repent, to confess our sin, to turn away from our sin, and to believe and obey him right now. As long as we have breath, we have that opportunity. Praise God. Jesus didn't make freedom theoretically possible. By his blood and by his sacrifice, he literally paid the ransom required to secure our release. Through his blood, Christians are redeemed. We're redeemed, right? We're delivered. The ransom was paid. We are freed from the guilt of our past sins, from the curse of trying to be righteous through the law. Right? Our righteousness comes by faith in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith in his blood, we are delivered and redeemed from bondage, right, to an aimless and a sinful old way of life. We're delivered from that. We're released from that. We're released from the authority of darkness. Darkness has no authority over us. Our sins are forgiven. We have been restored back to the father. The devil has no right over us and he has no authority over us and he doesn't have it because we walk in Jesus' name. Your freedom, it does not rest on your ability to rescue yourself. I think it's important to say what I'm describing here is faith in faith in what God has done. Not in faith in something we're able to do, the cleverness of our mind or the strength of our will or how much we feel in our emotions. That's not where our freedom comes from. Our freedom is freely offered to us if we would believe the gospel. That's why the first message Jesus had when he came out of the wilderness was the time is fulfilled in Mark chapter 1. And the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. Believe the death, burial, and resurrection. And it was not cheaply obtained, was it? This freedom cost Jesus his life. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Let's take a look at Hebrews chapter 9 11-15. I did not want to chop this scripture into pieces. So I have no extra analysis put on top of it. Let's just read it through. Hebrews 9 verse 11. But Christ came as a high priest of the good things to come. Hebrews 8:9 compares an earthly priesthood made up of earthly priests with the spiritual priesthood made up of Jesus Christ our high priest. But Christ came as a high priest of the good things to come. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood. He entered the most holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption. They're creating a contrast to the Old Testament with its sacrifices and its offerings. So Jesus didn't come with sacrifices and offerings of goats or of calves, but he came with the sacrifice of his own blood. this sinless person, 100% God, 100% man, who humbled himself to live a life among us to teach us about the kingdom of God and then to die for us. Incredible. And then he took that blood and he enters into the most holy place, God's presence. Not the Holiest of all, the earthly sanctuary that was built right with Moses, but he went into heaven itself. the most holy place with the blood that was spilled, with this price that was paid. And then it says he has obtained eternal redemption. There's that word again. Verse 13, for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies, sets apart, or makes holy for the purifying of the flesh. Right? He's talking again about Old Testament practices. Verse 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ shed at the cross, right? That sacrifice. How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, without sin, how much more shall it cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Verse 15. And for this reason, he, that is Jesus Christ, is the mediator of the new covenant. He's the go-between. He's the high priest. He's the mediator. He's the one who intervenes between God and man. That's why there is no name above his name. Jesus is a name above all names. He is the mediator of this new covenant, this new agreement between God and us. Verse 15, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Praise God. Let's take a moment. You might be asking yourself this question because this is powerful. God's powerful and what Jesus did on the cross just in the concept of redemption. We haven't even talked about the other facets of what Jesus did through his blood, through his sacrifice. We'll see that later in this season. But if Jesus redeemed me, why do I still return to the sin that I hate? And here's why. Because redemption, it changes what kingdom you belong to. It changes the final outcome of your life. But it doesn't mean that every sinful behavior, every bad habit disappears immediately. Redemption, it breaks sin's mastery. We are no longer a slave to sin. Redemption breaks sin's mastery over you and me. But sanctification, now we're getting into another word which we will discuss later in this season. Sanctification is where we are taught to stop obeying its old patterns. So the ransom was paid. We have been liberated, but we need to be sanctified. We need to be set apart. We need to be made holy. We need to change behaviors. A person who's released from captivity can still carry destructive thoughts, destructive desires, and destructive behaviors that they learned during their captivity. That's why we find ourselves at times returning to sin that we hate. We are truly redeemed, but we need to walk in this gospel. We receive the gospel and we need to walk in this gospel. And we need sanctification in addition to redemption. Through Christ, you and I have been redeemed and we're now being sanctified as our soul is being renewed to live that new life. That means that learning to commit our whole self to God, which we discussed last season, following the Holy Spirit instead of our strongest thoughts or our strongest feelings, and renewing our soul with God's truth is key. If you want to learn more about this, check out the Simple Truth Podcast, episode 5.5. So that brings us to question number three. How should I live in the redemption Jesus already paid for? It brings us to simple truth number 98. Jesus redeemed you so that you could live in his freedom. Let's take a look at Romans 6:es 6-8. You and I are no longer fighting sin as if we're some kind of helpless slave, a master who we can't resist, who has total dominance and control over us. Instead, you and I are free to resist it as someone Jesus has redeemed through his blood and through his sacrifice. Romans 6:6, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that's Jesus, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Verse seven, for he who has died has been freed from sin. Verse eight. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. So knowing this that our old man, that old former self, that sin nature, that self before being born again, our old man was crucified with him. To be crucified is to be put to death, right? Our old man was crucified with Jesus Christ. That the body of sin, right? that former self, that body with its sinful desires, its sinful pastures, its sinful lust, that that body of sin might be done away with. The expression done away with means rendered powerless, inoperable. Our old man is crucified with Jesus Christ so that that those desires and those passions, they are powerless over us. It says that we should no longer be slaves of sin. We should no longer be living under a master's control. We're no longer bound to sin. Sin no longer has power over us. The ransom was paid. We have been liberated, and we need to walk in it. It says in verse 7, "For he who has died has been freed from sin." To be freed means we've been cleared. We've been released from a claim. Sin has no more claim over us. Praise God. And it says now if we died with Christ, we believe we shall also live with Christ. So we don't just die and stay dead. We die to sin that we could be alive to God to fulfill our purpose. Are you defining yourself by the person you were before Jesus? Too often we become a Christian. We have this fantastic born again experience, but too often we start to regress into things. We start to reiterate and reinforce all sorts of bad and old behaviors. And we often define ourselves the way we were before and not the way we are now. And certainly not the person that God has called us to be. The habit may call to you. You have bad habits and desires and passions. And they may cry out, "Come and sin. You want this." But you're free. You're out of captivity. You've left that prison. You have no need to be back in that jail. Sin no longer has power over you. That habit no longer has power over you. You are free from that. This is experience talking. Let's be very clear. Paul described himself as being chief among sinners. I have done plenty of things. I'm not going to list them out. You don't have to tell me your list. I'm not going to tell you my list. There's plenty of things we all have testimonies over. Our testimony is that by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony, we have overcome the devil and we have overcome our past. Praise God. Romans 6:11-13. When the old desire tries to return, remember who Jesus has made you. Refuse sin's command. Tell that sin to shut up. Tell that desire to shut its face and present your mind and your body to God. Romans 6:11. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Verse 12. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lust. Verse 13. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members, your body parts as instruments of righteousness to God. Praise God. It says, "Likewise, you also," he's talking to us. He's talking to you and me. Reckon, right? Reckon is to consider, recognize, count as true yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in our mortal body that we should obey it in its lust and its desires and its cravings. And do not present, right? Present. Do not offer yourself for use. Do not be at the disposal of sin. Do not yield our members, our body parts as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. but instead present ourselves to God, right? Offer ourselves to God for his use. Be at the disposal of God as opposed to sin and desires as those who are alive from the dead and our members, our body parts, who we are, what's being carried out, the actions that we do as instruments of righteousness to God, as weapons, as tools. That's what that word instruments means. righteousness of right action of right standing of right behavior before God of doing what pleases God and it benefits others. What should you do when the sin you hate tries to pull you in again? You should remember that you've been redeemed. You should refuse sin's command. It doesn't have power over you. It's smoke and mirrors quite often. It's something that it's a craving or desire. It feels like it's trying to take control, but you can absolutely take authority over it. Jesus gave you power over it. The blood of Jesus gives you power over it. And then offer yourself to God. Ephesians 4, verses 20- 24. Here we're going to see that living redeemed means removing those old patterns. It means renewing the thinking that's beneath it, right? Renewing our mind and practicing a new response that reflects Jesus Christ. Changing the way we behave. Ephesians 4:20, quote, "But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus." Right? He's describing a process here where if you've heard him, if you become born again and received Christ and have been taught, you're learning the things of God because the truth, it's in Jesus. Verse 22, that you, talking to you and me, that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. It says here that you put off in verse 22 that you lay aside, that you remove what no longer belongs. You're now born again. That behavior, those patterns, that thinking, that attitude doesn't belong anymore. It's not who you are. Jesus paid the ransom and liberated you out of jail so you didn't have to do that stuff anymore. So Paul says, "Lay it aside. Put it off concerning your former conducts, your former behavior." The old man, right? Right? That old nature, that old sinful nature which grows corrupt, it's falling apart according to his deceitful lust. These desires, these cravings, they're deceptive. They're lying to you. They seem enticing. They seem interesting. They seem like it'll be a good thing, but it's not a good thing, is it? You feel terrible afterwards. It's hard to get to God. You feel disconnected. It creates all sorts of repercussions in your life. You may get sick because of it, or you may lose money because of you may hurt somebody because of it. There's a long list of things of what sin does. Heck, the world even has laws against a lot of these sins because they're highly inappropriate and because they're so destructive, even the world knows it. And it says in verse 23, "And be renewed. Be renewed." To be renewed is to be made new in your thinking and your attitude. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Be renewed in your soul. and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. What habits do you still carry that no longer fit who you are now? What are those habits? What are those habits that you have yet to lay aside or remove that no longer belongs to who you are as a Christian? Don't just resist old habits. Replace them with acts of obedience. Be dead to sin and be alive to God. So, what should I do now? Okay. So Jesus took my place. Praise God. Gave his life as my ransom. Thank God. And released me from sin's penalty and bondage. Praise God. I know that I need to count myself dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus Christ. Saw that in scripture. I know I need to refuse to let sin rule my thoughts, desires, body, or my choices. I am no longer sin slave, and sin is no longer my master. Jesus said in John 8, "He who sins becomes a slave to it, but I have been redeemed. I have had my ransom paid. I have been liberated and released because Jesus went to a cross if only for me." He went to it. He went to it to die for my sins, to pay for my ransom, so that I am no longer a slave to sin. I've been released from bondage. I've been released from jail. I've been released from captivity. And he has taken the power of sin away from over me. Praise God. And I know that I need to commit myself, my whole self, spirit, soul, and body to God and live in my new identity and my new purpose. That's what I'm called to do. But what can I do this week to actually try it out? Try this out for the next seven days. The 7-day challenge for episode 6.1. Day one, identify what's still trying to rule you. It's Christ who should be ruling you. But there's something out there that's still trying to rule you. Identify a habit or a behavior that tries to control you, that tries to be your master. It's got something coming. There's something coming. It's direction and it's Jesus Christ and him crucified. I love that Jesus dies for our sins and he wants to be Lord of all. That there's no part of our life. I love the fact that God is jealous and there's no part of our life that he doesn't look at and say, "Let's get rid of that. It's destroying you." I love that. I love that about God. I love that he won't just let us become born again and then stumble and fumble our way through life. And that he teaches us and he ministers to us and convicts us and he gives us his Holy Spirit to deliver us and lead us and guide us into all truth. And I love that he teaches us and he ministers to us through scripture and by his spirit so that he can get in there and find every last outpost and every last piece that's trying to hold us back because there's these things that are trying to control us and they're not God and God is sniffing them out and he's chasing them down. I love that. Thank you, Father. Identify that habit or that behavior that tries to control you. And thank Jesus for paying the ransom to set you free from it. Days 2 through 7, remember your redemption. Remember your redemption. Remember when it appears, take a pause. Don't jump into it. Take a pause and say, "Jesus redeemed me from this through his blood. Sin is not my master and I am alive to God. I am dead to this sin and I am alive to God." Read your Bible. pray and praise to refocus your attention. Something caught your attention. Something's trying to build temptation inside of you. Something's trying to entice you. So, what you're going to do is you're going to call it out like what we said right there. And then you're going to start to focus in on God. You're going to say, "Father, thank you for your redemption." You're going to start praying. Start thanking God. Thank you for all the good things you've done for us, Father. You're going to start reading your Bible. You're going to read out John or Matthew or Acts or Romans. You're going to start reading psalms, reading prayers to God, right? And then you're going to give God praise. You're going to give him worship. You're going to set your heart on him. You're going to refocus your attention. I lift up my eyes to the hills. The scripture says, "From where comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth. When that temptation comes, when that sin tries to come, you're going to look up to God and you're going to say, God, by your spirit, you have given me authority over all this." We know in our mind that God has given us the victory, but what we're going to do is we're going to walk by the spirit of God and we're going to overcome it. And so, we're going to read our Bible. We're going to do the five disciplines like we talked about in season 3, right? And we're going to refocus our attention back on God. In days 3 through 7, we're going to start to walk in that new freedom. Read Romans 6:11-14. Read Ephesians 4:22- 24. Read them each day. Remind yourself about the freedom that God has paid for you through the redemption, through the ransom that Jesus paid when he went to the cross and he shed his blood and he committed that sacrifice for you. Take one action each day that reflects your new identity. So, you're not just resisting and overcoming sin, but you are being dead to sin and you're being alive to God. And I'll tell you this, it gets easier. The more you do it, the easier it actually gets. God bless you. God bless you as you remember your redemption. As you remember that Jesus shed his blood to pay your ransom to overcome and break the power of sin and death over your life. And don't miss our next episode. Jesus, he paid your ransom and he redeemed you. But does he really forgive every sin you've ever committed? So subscribe to follow the rest of season 6 on the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ and keep watching for more simple biblical and essential truth.