Set Free From Sin

(Ephesians 1:7-8)

When Jesus came to the earth around two thousand years ago, there were many reasons and things He came to do. He came to teach us the ways of God and how to live in harmony with Him.

But He also came to reconcile man to God so that we could live in harmony with Him. He did this by dying for us, in accordance with the plan and foreknowledge of God.

While we know it was an horrific thing to have to die, Jesus came for that very purpose. There were a number of things that He accomplished through His death, and Paul mentions one of the chief reasons why He died in this verse. He died to forgive our trespasses, that is, our sins.

Why Jesus Died

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 which he lavished upon us. (Ephesians 1:7-8)

Jesus had to die. It was prophesied that He would come and be the sacrifice for the people.

In fact it was essential that Jesus die otherwise the New Covenant could not come into force.

When the Old Covenant of the law had been established, blood sacrifices were made by Moses and Aaron and all of the devoted things of the temple, the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments and the people of Israel were sprinkled with the bold of the sacrifice.

It was established that a covenant could not come into force without a death, as we see here.

18 Hence even the first covenant was not ratified without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (Hebrews 9:18-22)

Under the law, the shedding of blood was necessary for the purification rites, and in particular, the forgiveness of sins.

Thus, every year the high priest would take the blood of sacrificed sheep, goats and bulls into the temple and offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people.

The reason that the blood of these animals was used was as a substitute for the blood of the people who had sinned. The blood was offered instead of their own blood so that they could be forgiven by God.

So as the shedding of blood was established in the law, so too when Jesus came to be a sacrifice for our sins, His blood had to be shed too. In order to be a sacrifice, He had to die and shed His blood as a substitute for us.

But the blood of Jesus was much greater than the blood of sheep, goats and bulls. The animals’ blood sufficed as a good sacrifice because animals do not sin. So, being sinless, they could take the place of the blood of sinners.

But animals cannot reason as human beings do. They are creatures of instinct and do not have the ability to reason and make choices as a man or woman can. So their perfection is not by choice but is a matter of instance.

Jesus on the other hand had the ability to make choices as a man, and He never committed a sin in His life on earth. Jesus was perfect for He was not born under the power of sin like the rest of mankind, for His father was God.

So Jesus was able to be the true perfect sacrifice because He suffered the penalty of sinners, that is, death, but He had never sinned to deserve death.

And Jesus’ own blood became the perfect sacrifice for that reason. But unlike the continual sacrifices and offerings required of animals, Jesus’ blood was shed only once. He died only once, not multiple times as the many animals offered in sacrifices had to die.

And the reason why He died was not just to be a blood sacrifice, not just so we could take His blood as an offering for sin, but so that we could take his DEATH as our own. He died so that we could enter into His death and put on His death as if it were our own and we could die. And we take on His death by dying with Him through baptism. We go down into the water and die with Him, and are raised new creations in His resurrection as we are lifted out of the baptismal waters.

Everyone who puts on the death of Jesus by faith is looked upon by God as having died, and if dead, then the penalty for sin has been paid.

Death is earned because man sins. We build up a debt of sin in our lives throughout our life, and that debt is cancelled only when we die.

But God in His grace and wisdom has allowed us by faith to take the death of Jesus as our own and so die to sin and be set free from sin…now!

What is Freedom from Sin?

Freedom from sin is exactly that. It is more than just forgiveness of sins.

Under the law it was possible to be forgiven your sins, provided you followed the blood sacrifices laid down in the laws of Moses.

But Jesus did not come to be offered over and over again as a sacrifice for sin. He came to die once, and in His death, to open the way for us to take His death as our own and so be set free from sin.

We need to consider the words of John the Baptist when he bore witness to Jesus as the Christ. John said:

”Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

What we see here is something more powerful than the simple forgiveness of sins attainable under the law.

Jesus came to TAKE AWAY the sin of the world. He removes our sins completely and discards them so that they can never be held against us again.

If you have been baptised into the death of Jesus Christ and accepted His death as your own, your sins are gone. You are totally free from your past sins and they cannot and should not cause you to condemn yourself or give you guilt. They…are…gone!

This is what freedom from sin is all about. But there is more.

What happens if after you have been baptised and believed that Jesus has died for you, you then go and break one of the laws of Moses? Let’s say for instance you suffer from kleptomania and you can’t help yourself to stop from stealing. Have you just sinned and brought all of God’s work and your freedom from sin in Jesus Christ undone?

No! Absolutely not!

Sin is the breaking of the law. So what God in His wisdom did is to set us free from law in Jesus’ death as well. Note these words:

1 Do you not know, brethren–for I am speaking to those who know the law–that the law is binding on a person only during his life? (Romans 7:1)

And;

4 Likewise, my brethren, you have died to the law through the body of Christ… (Romans 7:4)

So, if sin is the breaking of the law, or lawlessness, then if the law is taken away, you cannot break the law. And as we see in Romans 7:1, the law is only binding on a person who is alive. But we have died through faith and the grace of God, and in His death we have died to the law, as we see in Romans 7:4.

The law is gone and so the breaking of the law is gone too. You cannot break a law that you are no longer bound under.

So then, in the death of Jesus Christ, God has set us free from all of our past sins, and has also removed any possibility of future sins by taking away the law that condemns us as sinners when we break it.

How amazing and astounding is that! And all we have to do is to believe it.

So I urge you to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the redemptive power of the blood and death of Jesus Christ to be manifest in your life by setting you free from sin and free from the law. And just believe it…with all your heart, mind and soul.

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