LIBERTY REALIZED The Root of Liberty
013 LIBERTY REALIZED: The Root of Liberty
Romans 8:1-4
August 24, 2025
It’s already been quite a journey.
We’ve walked through:
FREEDOM REVEALED (6:1-7:6)
Namely that we are free in Christ and therefore should not present ourselves once again to slavery.
The means of that freedom was our identification with Christ.
· It was the Spirit of God who immersed us into Christ
· Thus we shared in His death, burial and resurrection
· And where therefore made free from sin and the Law.
Slavery ends at death
Prison ends at death
The jurisdiction of the Law ends at death
WE ARE FREE.
That was Paul’s point.
But it was also important that we learn to value that freedom and to understand where it comes from.
SLAVERY REMEMBERED (7:7-25)
Paul carried us through perhaps the darkest part of his life.
· The moment when he read the Law and was condemned.
· The frustration of trying harder to obey the Law in his own strength only to fail
again and again.
And we learned two really important truths.
1. The Law is not the problem – sin is.
2. The Law is not the solution – Christ is.
And THIS MORNING we witnessed Paul cry out to Jesus
To deliver him out of his prison cell and to rescue him from sin.
It is a glorious picture, and one that we relish in as believers in Christ.
“Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray— I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.”
I can’t help but think that
Charles Wesley had a firm grasp on the agony of Romans 7
And that he understood the joy of finding salvation in Christ.
· He understood the prison.
· He understood the misery.
· And he understood how Christ broke in and pulled him out.
Well TONIGHT we go to the 3rd and final segment here in Romans 6-7.
(Certainly not the end of our study on sanctification,
But the completion of this important segment)
Tonight we begin looking at:
LIBERTY REALIZED
We have re-lived the agony of prison and the joy of deliverance
It is now time to give serious thought
To the implications of that freedom in our lives.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE IN A STATE OF LIBERTY?
· Certainly liberty is a concept that as Americans hold dear.
· But I will tell you that American liberty isn’t nearly as precious as Christian liberty.
THAT IS WHAT WE WANT TO BEGIN TO STUDY TONIGHT.
Interesting then, on that note, that Charles Wesley must have had this passage in mind in his great hymn.
For after writing that great stanza about breaking out of his dungeon, here is what he wrote in the next verse:
“No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head, And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’ eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own.”
And that’s exactly what we’re going to be looking.
TONIGHT we’ll look at THE ROOT OF LIBERTY
· Where it came from and what it is intended to be.
Then we’ll look at THE REALITY OF LIBERTY
· The difference now we enjoy over those who are enslaved.
Then THE REQUIREMENT OF LIBERTY
· What liberty expects of you.
And finally THE REWARD OF LIBERTY
· Where this is all headed and the glory that follows.
And all of this is bound up in our understanding of sanctification.
God is in the process of
Taking us from a wretched condition as slaves of sin
And is transporting us to the glorious condition as sons of glory.
We are in route even today.
And that journey is called: SANCTIFICATION
SO TONIGHT let’s begin looking at: LIBERTY REALIZED
And we’ll begin by looking at THE ROOT OF LIBERTY.
At the end of chapter 7
· We emphatically declared Paul to be free from sin.
· He gave thanks “to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” for that freedom which he now enjoyed.
BUT WHAT EXACTLY IS THIS FREEDOM?
· What does it look like?
· And more importantly, how did it come?
I mean chapter 7 ended with Paul thanking God,
But there weren’t many details to reveal how it happened.
THAT INSIGHT OCCURS HERE.
Let’s talk about WHAT this freedom is and HOW it came to be.
3 points tonight.
#1 FREEDOM FROM SIN’S PENALTY
Romans 8:1
I don’t know if it is the most popular verse in the Bible,
But it certainly makes the short list.
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
“condemnation” is the Greek word (ka-TOK-ree-ma)
It’s only used in Romans by Paul
And it means “damnatory sentence” or “condemnation”.
We saw it in:
Romans 5:16 “The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.”
Romans 5:18 “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.”
In both of those uses Paul is referencing
The effect that the work of Adam had on us.
But the point of Romans 5 is that when we immersed into Christ
We left Adam behind and were found to be in Christ.
When that happened Paul said that Adam’s condemnation was over
Now we are recipients of Christ’s justification.
“there is now no condemnation”
If we are not in Adam then throw “condemnation” out the window
Because that came through Adam.
If you are “in Christ Jesus” then “there is now no condemnation” for you.
· There is no damnatory sentence awaiting.
· There is no eternal torment in hell in your future.
· There is no eternal punishment coming.
The sentence of judgment which was earned through Adam
Has now been eradicated
Because you are no longer in Adam, you are in Christ.
AND THIS MAKES PERFECT SENSE.
You weren’t just in prison, you were on death row.
When you leave the prison you skip the sentence.
And that is the point Paul makes here.
Our freedom includes a FREEDOM FROM THE PENALTY of sin.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
When we are in Christ, we no longer go to hell.
That’s good news!
John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
All that sin had in store for me has now been eradicated through Christ.
In Christ, my entire destiny has changed.
“there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
But that’s not all that we are free from.
#2 FREEDOM FROM SIN’S PRINCIPLES
Romans 8:2-3
When you read these 4 verses you find that Paul is actually working backward.
He starts with the glorious revelation
That in Christ we no longer are condemned,
And then works backward to tell us the reason.
(2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
When you see the word “law” there DON’T think Mosaic Law.
· What he is talking about there are principles.
Think of them like “THE LAWS OF NATURE”.
The laws of nature are not laws that are written in a book and enforced by a government.
· The laws of nature are just principles that are true.
· They are principles which govern life.
· No one had to put them into effect,
· They are in effect whether you like them or not.
One of those governing principles
Is the one that was on full display in chapter 7, it is “the law of sin and of death.”
WHAT IS THAT LAW?
SIN BRINGS DEATH.
Romans 5:12-14 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
Adam sinned in Gen. 3, death showed up in Gen. 4 and it never left.
· It is an immutable principle.
· It cannot be changed.
And we, because we were in Adam, were absolutely subject to that.
We were sinners by nature and sinners by practice.
We were under condemnation, we were facing death.
THAT WAS OUR SLAVERY.
Just go and reread chapter 7 and remember how awful that slavery was.
· No matter how hard we tried.
· No matter how much knowledge we amassed.
· We could not leave our prison.
But that principle was ABSOLUTELY OVERTHROWN in our life.
It no longer applies to us.
It’s like living in a world where the law of gravity no longer applies to you.
Only this is even better.
The law of sin and of death no longer reigns over us.
(Grace is greater than sin. Our sin will never bring death)
“Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
We have been set free from that principle.
PAUL SAYS, (2) “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free…”
WHAT A STATEMENT!
It is the emphatic answer to the cry of chapter 7.
And that should delight your heart.
What you have gained in Christ you will never lose.
That principle will never again have dominion over you.
· Yes, you will sin again.
· Yes, you will make mistakes.
· But do you realize that never again will one of your sins send you to hell?
YOU ARE IN CHRIST.
You are not subject to sin’s rules anymore.
When you live in America, the laws of China mean nothing to you.
We live in Christ, and the laws of sin have been overthrown.
Those principles have been stripped of their power.
NOW, THIS IS WHERE IT GETS EVEN BETTER.
Not only is Paul describing to us exactly what our freedom is,
But he is also revealing how it came about.
In verses 2-3 Paul will show you HOW freedom from sin’s principles and sin’s penalty came about.
And what you need to see here is the work of THE TRINITY
· You see the Spirit referenced in verse 2.
· You see the Father and the Son both referenced in verse 3.
What we see here is NOT a stepping stone
Or a series of consecutive events.
WHAT YOU WILL SEE HERE IS THAT
All 3 members of the God-head were all at work at the same time,
Doing different things, in order to set you free.
And it will benefit us tonight to see that.
Look at HOW we gained this freedom from sin’s penalty
And HOW we gained freedom from sin’s principles:
1) BY THE CONVERSION OF THE SPIRIT (2)
It is a glorious thing to find out that we are “free from the law of sin and of death.”
But it is also important to see WHY.
It was “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus [that] has set you free”
THIS IS THE SPIRIT’S WORK.
What did He do? How did He do it?
While this is the first time the Holy Spirit is directly mentioned,
It is not the first time in this segment Paul has referenced His work.
Back in chapter 6:
Romans 6:17 “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,”
I hope you remember from our study of that text,
· That even though it can be read that way,
· This verse does not speak of something you did,
· But rather of something that was done to you.
Remember that word “form” there is better understood as a mold.
And “you were committed” is not some change of mind you made,
It is something God did to you.
GOD POURED YOU INTO A NEW MOLD.
HOW?
By making you to become “obedient from the heart”.
· You didn’t do that, God did that.
DO YOU REMEMBER HOW?
Hebrews 8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, And I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”
Ezekiel 36:26-27 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
WHAT WERE WE TALKING ABOUT?
THE NEW COVENANT
That God would, by His Spirit,
· Transform you from someone who hates His word into someone who loves it.
· Transform you from someone who loves sin to someone who hates it.
· Awaken you from the dead, like those old dry bones in Ezekiel 37 and breathe life into you.
And you, newly resurrected,
Would leave that old domain where sin’s principles ruled
And would walk in a new domain where life in Christ is the norm.
IT WAS THE SPIRIT THAT DID THAT.
· It was the Spirit who awakened you.
· It was the Spirit who transformed you.
· It was the Spirit who gave you life.
· It was the Spirit who converted you.
But He was not the only one at work.
We also gained this freedom:
2) BY THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE SOVEREIGN (3a)
Again, Paul builds on the statement he just made.
(3) “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin…”
Do you remember how weak the Law is?
Do you remember how the Law had no power to save?
It was weakened by our flesh.
HOW?
Because every time the Law showed up and exposed our sin,
OUR FLESH SIDED WITH SIN.
AND AS WE SAID REPEATEDLY,
The Law was not the problem, but it wasn’t the solution either.
So the Law could not rescue us from sin’s principles.
The Law left us under sin’s control.
BUT “what the Law could not do…God did:”
God entered the battle.
And His objective was to provide a suitable sacrifice to atone for sinners.
While the Spirit was awakening us from the dead,
The Sovereign Father was providing a sacrifice
To atone for the sin that bound us.
God set out to set prisoners free,
But He DOES NOT provide freedom apart from justice.
· God DID NOT orchestrate a prison break.
· God determined to atone for every sin we had committed.
· Justice demanded that someone pay, God paid with His own Son.
· God provided a replacement for our empty cell.
What was the payment God provided?
“His own Son”
God sent “His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin”
· He sent Jesus in the form of a man.
· He took on our likeness.
· He put on our prison jumpsuit as it were.
He sent His Son to pay the penalty of the sentence we were escaping.
Earlier in the book of Romans Paul said that we were “justified as a gift by God’s grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” (3:24)
And then speaking of Christ Jesus, Paul said:
Romans 3:25-26 “whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
God determined to defend His justice.
Someone had to pay for all the sins committed before the time of Christ.
· God had not crushed Abraham and sent him to hell.
· God had not crushed David and sent him to hell.
· Those sinners escaped condemnation.
· Those sinners escaped prison.
But their debt remained.
God sent His Son to pay their debt.
And not just theirs,
But even those who would come after Him and believe in Him.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
The Law had no clue how to save sinners, but God did.
While the Spirit was making them alive,
The Father was at work making a propitiatory sacrifice for them.
He sent “His Son…as an offering for sin”
HERE WE WERE, LIVING IN SIN’S DOMAIN,
Under sin’s authoritative principles, under sin’s law.
· We were indebted there.
· We had broken laws and had been tried and sentenced to death in hell.
BUT GOD RESCUED US.
· Someone had to pay off the offense.
· Our freedom came with a price.
· We had to be purchased.
1 Peter 1:18-19 “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”
The Spirit awakened you in your cell
The Father paid the price to get you out.
But there was a third at work.
3) BY THE CONDEMNATION OF THE SON (3b)
We find that the Father sent “His own Son”.
You might be thinking that When I say “The condemnation of the Son”
That I mean that He was condemned so that we could be saved.
And that would be true.
He was.
But that’s NOT what we mean here.
For here we find that when that Son was offered as a payment for sin,
“He condemned sin in the flesh”
Sin made a terrible miscalculation
When it agreed to accept Christ as a payment.
For sin had no power to hold what it grabbed.
JESUS CHRIST HAD NO SIN.
While He would offer His life as a payment,
It could not be an eternal exchange.
SIN HAD TO GIVE HIM UP.
Acts 2:23-24 “this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”
Psalms 16:10 “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.”
1 Peter 3:18-22 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.”
Christ conquered death.
Christ condemned sin.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
It means your former master will never incarcerate you again.
Christ killed him.
And that is HOW our freedom came to be.
1. The Spirit awakened us from our tomb of death.
2. The Sovereign Father paid the price for our release.
3. The Son conquered the one who had owned us.
We were released from sin’s principles.
1 Corinthians 15:21-22 “For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”
1 Corinthians 15:55-57 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT OUR FREEDOM?
1. We have freedom from Sin’s Penalty.
2. We have freedom from Sin’s Principles.
AND THAT FREEDOM HAS COME TO US BECAUSE OF
1. The Conversion of the Spirit
2. The Contribution of the Sovereign
3. The Condemnation of the Son
And there is still one more element of the freedom which we now enjoy.
#3 FREEDOM FROM SIN’S POWER
Romans 8:4
Paul examines the full details of our freedom
Which The Spirit, and the Father, and the Son provided for us.
And that is that sin no longer has power or dominion over us.
IT USED TO BE THAT
· Sin had laws that we had to follow.
· And even if we tried not to follow those principles,
· We were defeated and brought under control
FOR SIN HAD POWER OVER US.
And just as we saw in Romans 7,
It didn’t matter how much strength we exerted we could not break free.
Sin had us and we were headed to condemnation.
“Once my heart was a prison, defiled and cold
Where sin and the enemy reigned
I was bound by the chains that enslaved my soul
No hint of repentance or shame
BUT then Jesus appeared like the morning sun
Defeating the shadows with light
And forgiveness flowed through His precious blood
Oh, the steadfast love of Christ”
https://sovereigngracemusic.com/music/songs/the-steadfast-love-of-christ/
And when the Son sets you free you are what?
FREE INDEED!
Not only is it a freedom from sin’s principles
And a freedom from sin’s penalty.
IT IS A FREEDOM FROM SIN’S POWER.
Sin can’t make you obey it anymore.
NOW YOU ARE FREE TO OBEY GOD.
“so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
You’ll understand that “Spirit” and “flesh” analogy better next week,
BUT BASICALLY PAUL IS SAYING THIS.
· Those are saved.
· Those who have been made alive by the Spirit.
· Those who have escaped the power of the flesh.
· They are now free to obey God.
· They are now free to be sanctified.
· They are now free to bear godly fruit.
Wasn’t that the point earlier?
Romans 7:4-6 “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”
The freedom we found IS NOT a freedom to sin.
As Paul would say, “May it never be!”
IT IS A FREEDOM TO OBEY.
NOW THINK BACK AGAIN TO THAT FORMER SLAVERY.
Could you ever imagine being able to do this?
Could you ever imagine there would come a time when you would no longer have to do what sin said?
Could you ever imagine there would come a time when you could defy sin’s orders?
THROUGH CHRIST THERE IS!
Sin no longer has power over you.
Romans 6:12-14 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
We aren’t taking orders from him anymore.
We are free.
CHRISTIAN, I JUST WANT YOU TO BASK IN THAT FOR A MOMENT.
I just want you to take a deep breath in and then let it out.
Because of the work of the Spirit to make you alive.
Because of the gift of the Father to pay your debt.
Because of the power of the Son to kill your enemy.
YOU ARE FREE.
You don’t live under sin’s laws anymore.
Sin no longer has the power to make you obey it.
And you will never be forced to pay the penalty of your sin again.
YOU ARE FREE.
YOU HAVE LEFT THE PRISON.
We call that LIBERTY!
We call that FREEDOM!
AND YOU NEED TO BREATHE IT IN TONIGHT.
If you don’t get this, we’re going to have a very difficult time moving forward in our understanding of sanctification.
It’s going to be incredibly difficult
To give you practical commands about godly living
If you don’t first understand that you are free.
YOU NEED TO GRASP THIS.
Romans 6:11 “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
You’ve got to (in a sense) impute that to yourself.
If you are a child of God you are free.
And obedience is now within your grasp.
Tonight if you are NOT a child of God.
Can you see that freedom comes no other way?
· How else were you planning on escaping the prison?
· How else were you planning on satisfying your debt?
· How else were you planning on overthrowing your master?
· You can strain on the bars of that prison all you want.
· You can kick and scream.
· But you aren’t coming out.
· You are on your way to condemnation.
And look, pretending to be free when you aren’t doesn’t help either.
It does a prisoner no good to live in denial in his cell.
He can deny it all he wants but he’s still on the way to the gallows.
ONLY JESUS SETS FREE.
Humble yourself, deny yourself, and run to Jesus Christ!
· Cry out, “God be merciful to me the sinner!”
· Cry out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”
Romans 10:11-13 “For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”