Freed From Sin, Alive To Christ

What if the rules were never the cure—and freedom didn’t mean doing whatever you want? We walk through Romans 6–8 with Pastor Carl to face the hard truth about sin’s empty promises and the hopeful reality of grace that changes us from the inside out. The law shines a bright light on our condition, revealing why our best efforts fall short, yet it also guides us to the door of mercy. From the stark image of “wages” that pay out in death to the gift of eternal life in Christ, we explore how belonging to Jesus breaks the old bond and creates a new union that bears real fruit.

Together we unpack why the law is holy but limited, how conviction differs from condemnation, and why Paul’s raw confession—“What I hate, I do”—offers comfort to anyone caught in the tug-of-war. Rather than hiding the struggle, we name it and chart a path forward: renewing the mind, walking by the Spirit, and cultivating habits that starve the flesh and nourish life. Holiness emerges not as a grim duty but as the happiest way to live, rich with purpose, peace, and durable joy.

We close with a steadying promise: there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. That truth is not an escape hatch; it’s the starting line for transformation. If you’re hungry for clarity on law and grace, honest about the inner battle, and ready for steps that lead to freedom, you’ll feel seen—and invited into life that truly lasts. If this resonates, subscribe, share with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review to help others find the message.

Come On Up is the radio ministry of The Mountain Cross in Waynesville North Carolina. To learn more about us please visit: TheMountainCross.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Welcome to Come On Up, the radio ministry of the Mountain Cross in Waynesville, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

That's a good path to walk in, and I want to walk in it. But in my flesh, I still see that there's a path that my flesh wants to walk in. And I'm captive to the law of sin which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that I am. Do you recognize the depths of your sin? If you don't recognize the depths of your sin, we'll never recognize the heights of God's grace and his mercy and his new life for us.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

If a bee stings you, you likely have no qualms about killing that bee. It's an immediate response for most of us. When we consider who we are on a universal scale, we're so small in contrast to the creator of all things. He could simply say the word and wipe all of us out, and in the next breath, create a whole new, compliant, obedient species. Yet he loves us and became one of us so he could offer himself up as a sacrifice to atone for our sin and restore us to a right relationship with him. And now, here's Pastor Carl.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

We're now to present our members as slaves to righteousness for holiness, not to have a license to sin, but to be more and more like Jesus. And isn't it so much better to be more and more like Jesus? That the promises of life and excitement of sin in this world are so empty, ultimately. They're exciting for a season, but they lead to death, and he'll talk more about that too. But life in the Lord is abundant, it's eternal, it's full, it's so much better than the things that we ever long for and yearn for and try to fill with the things of this world. Being set apart for holiness is a good thing. Verse 20. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. That's an interesting phrase, huh? You were free for being righteous. When you were under the law, when you were, you know, even ignoring the law, just living out in your sin, you didn't have any regard to righteousness. Being holy wasn't a goal for you. And you were no longer you were not serving holiness. You were free to righteousness. But what fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? How was that working for you? Was another point. When you're living for sin and fulfilling the lust of your flesh, what did that lead to in your life? Perfect peace. Great relationships. Did it? No. No, you always had strife. You always had, you know, bad relationships. You never were fulfilled. For the end of those things is death. Sin was leading to death. You might think you were free from having to do good things. You were free to do whatever your heart desired. But how'd that work for you? What did that lead to? Death and destruction. Ultimate death, but along the way, just dying along the way. You think you've got a leg up on the rest of the world. You think you have found the way to finagle your way in to get what you want out of life, but it's not fulfilling. It doesn't do what it's supposed to do. You're just dying more and more inside. So you go after more and more of that sin, and you just get deeper and deeper, and you go after more and more. That's what happens in our fallen self, doesn't it? And Paul's saying we're free from that. But now, having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end after everlasting life. Now, when you become slaves to the Lord, servants to the Lord, and you deny your flesh and grow in his grace, the fruit of that is righteousness, is holiness, which is good, and it leads to life. Life with no death, life with no end, life with no end in chronological senses, and life with no end in the area of fulfillment and purpose in life, and just excitement and joy that God has for us. Just imagine when when we we we totally do away with sin, when we when we have our new resurrected bodies and we see the Lord face to face, face to face, and there's no more sin and no more death. Just think of all we can do and experience, and it is gonna be exciting. This is what he has for us. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of sin. When you go to work, you get a paycheck. What do we get paid for the works that we do in our flesh? What do we get paid for the sin that we do in our life? It leads to death. That's the payment. But the gift of God, the work of God in our lives, the work of Jesus on the cross, that leads to eternal life. A life that's full, a life of meaning in Christ Jesus our Lord, not in our flesh, not in our own efforts, but in Him. That's a good word, isn't it? Chapter 7, verse 1. Or do you not know, brethren, for I speak to those who know the law, that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives. For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then, if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she's also called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. He's not bringing this up so that we can be nitpicky about, okay, when can I divorce or when can I not, or when can I remarry, or when can I not? That goes back to our trying to justify what we want to do in our flesh. The point he's making is if the law is eliminated, or if you are dead to the law, it has no power over you. If you've made a commitment in marriage under the law, that commitment cannot be broken until one of you pass away. And then you're free to go remarry. And there are other nuances to uh marriage and divorce, and again, that's not what we're focusing in on. But we're focusing in on is there's an obligation and uh being under the law. Therefore, verse 4, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ. Again, you are dead. You have died with Christ on the cross, your sins have been covered. The law has no more power to show you the sin in your life because there is no more sin, because Christ has taken it. So you're not under the law. That you may be married to another. You're no longer married to the law and what it does to your flesh, and it causes you to sin, but you're freed from that sin now, so you could be married to him. This is this is an everlasting union. This is his desire to have relationship with us forever. To him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. We're free from sin, we're free from the law, so that we could not only be slaves to Christ, but be one with him, to be the bride of Christ, so that he can work fruits in and through us. Verse 5. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we've been delivered from the law, having died to want to to what we were held by, so that we could serve in the newness of the Spirit and not the oldness of the letter. We're new creations, so don't walk in the old ways. We tend, as Christians, to fall back into the old ways. But we don't have to. We can walk in the grace that He's given us to bear fruit to life. And so the law was a bad thing for us. The law exposed our sin, the law um multiplied our sin, but the grace is so much greater than all our sin. So then that begs the question: is the law a bad thing? What shall we say then? Is the law a sin? If that's what the fruit of the law is in my life, the law must be bad. And Paul's saying, certainly not. The law is good. On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. The law is there just to show us how bad we are. The law isn't bad. The law reflects the holiness and the righteousness of God, and it shows us our inability to walk in it. The law is real good at pointing out sin, pounding, pointing out sin. The law is really good to help us to realize that we're in a bad position with God. The law is given by God's grace so that we would acknowledge that we're not in good shape with God. Without the law, we wouldn't even acknowledge God. We'd just go our own way and we'd be doomed forever. But because God loved us, he revealed our sin to us through the law so that we could repent and so that we could accept the antidote to the law, which is the Lamb of God on the cross, taking our sin and changing us from the inside out. Certainly not. On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said you shall not covet. Well, if you didn't know how to covet before the law, maybe you shouldn't have had the law, because the law is saying this is coveting. And if you wouldn't covet unless you knew that, you wouldn't know that the cookie jar was there unless we pointed out the cookie jar was there, and you wouldn't have had any temptation. So now the question is, what good is the law? Then why do we have the law? Verse 8, but sin taking opportunity by the commandment produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law, sin was dead. That's an interesting phrase. At least in my life, at least in my conscious understanding, I didn't have sin until the law came into effect. But that's not what he's saying, right? He's saying we did not realize our sin until the law came. At least not to this extent. Because ever since Adam and Eve, we've been born into sin, and that's what we do. We're sinners. And the law was given by God's grace to reveal our sin to ourselves. So we realize the problem that we're in. Verse 9, I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Until I heard the commandments, I was just living life and thought it was okay. I could be rude to my parents, I could steal things, I could do all these things. I just thought that was part of life. They were sin, they were leading to death, but he didn't know it. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. So I got I got excess, I got exposed to the law, and it told me all the things that I'm doing wrong, and and it's all I could do. I could not be good. My parents told me to be good. I couldn't be good. I kept sinning. I might outwardly try to do things that looked good, but inwardly I was still sinning and wanted to sin very, very, very passionately. For sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me and it killed me. It wasn't the law. The law is holy, the right law is just, but my wicked heart was so wretched. The law came like a light and shone into my darkness and showed me how ugly it really was. And sin, sin it deceives us. Uh we we try to excuse it, we try to justify it, we we try to point out other people's sin to make ourselves feel more holy. But it really killed me. We were walking dead without the Lord. Verse 12, therefore the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good, but it shows us that we're not. Are you following? This is what Paul does. He he gets us to think about these concepts and and and we try to put these things together. So the law is good, even though it brings about bad in me, but it's not the law that's bringing about the bad in me. It's my sin that was exposed to the truth that brings about bad in me. Verse 13, has then what is good become death to me? The law, you say, is good, but all the fruit of the law is death to me. Again, it's not the law, it's your sin that is death to you. You didn't know you were dying, now you know. That's a good thing. You need to know the problem. The first step to healing is acknowledging the problem, right? But sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. And no longer can I just do it without feeling anything about it, just feeling, oh, this is great, this is life. Now it actually convicts me and actually challenges the way I think and act. And at that point we have a choice to suppress it, to become harder in our hearts so that we don't hear that condemnation, so that I can justify my sin and feel good about myself, even though I'm headed to death, I'm headed to hell. Or we can cry out for the mercies of God, saying, Lord, I realize that I'm a sinner and I'm far, I am far from your holiness and your righteousness. I need help, I need a savior. Verse 14. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal and sold under sin. The essence of my humanity, of my flesh, of my worldly perception on things is carnal. But the law is spiritual. I need to be changed by the Spirit. For what I am doing I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do. Have you noticed something? Paul is no longer talking about your sin, he's talking about his sin. He's talking in the first person here. He and he's talking again to believers, people that have come to faith in Jesus Christ, that are struggling with sin. They may or may not realize that they are, they may be justifying it and going on. But Paul is saying, boy, even though I am, I've I've been given the gospel of Jesus Christ, I've I've seen the freedom that comes from applying the gospel to one's life. I've seen it in my own life, and yet, and yet I still have these things that are happening within me, these struggles. I don't understand. What I want to do, I want to live righteously, like the like the law says, that I don't practice. But what I hate, the sin and the things that I've been freed of, I've reckoned them dead, but they it's like zombie life. They're coming back. Those things I find myself doing. If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is not, that it is good. If if if I I find myself doing these things, I agree with the law. The law is good. The things that I'm doing are not good. I want to do the things that the law says are good because I see that they are good. But now it is no longer I who did it, but sin that dwells in me. Somehow that sin is still there. Somehow it still has its deceitful mannerisms to convince me that this is a good thing to do, and I fall into it. Verse 18, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh. I'm not talking about the work of the Spirit right now. I'm talking about the fact that the flesh, even though it's supposed to be rendered dead, still comes back to life. Nothing good dwells. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We've all been born into sin. So anything we try to do on our own is like filthy rags before the Lord. Our good works are not good. Our desires, our justifications from the flesh, there's nothing good in me. And that's not a very encouraging message for people to hear, is it? Y'all are a bunch of sinners and you're hopeless. That's that's that's very encouraging, Pastor. I'm just saying what Paul is saying. It's the word of God. He's been anointed by by God, he was given these words. Because we need to hear this. Because understanding the good news means understanding the bad news. Even though we've come to faith in Jesus, we seem to forget and fall back into our old ways, and we need to be reminded of the good news. We need to look to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, and allow him to work in and through us. Nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me, I want to do the good things, but how to perform what is good I do not find. In my flesh, I may want to do the good things, but I just don't have the power to do it. The law is real good in exposing our sin, but it does not give us the tools to overcome sin. For the good that I will to do I do not do, but the evil, but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Do you ever feel that way? Even as a believer? Man, I did it again. I wanted to not do that, but I did it because my flesh wanted to do it, and then talked myself into it, and I did it, and now I feel lousy about it, and I just have to repent again. Do you feel that way? Now, if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who did it, but sin that dwells within me. We're still giving sin that authority in our lives. We haven't rendered it dead in that situation, and it has come back. I find then a law, another kind of law, a truth of what's going on within me, that evil is present with me, the one who will I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Again, before hearing the law, this wasn't even. A deal. I just sinned and didn't think a thing of it. When the law came, and especially when the Lord came and forgave me and gave me a new life, and I was born again, I realized that there is a path that's a good path to walk in, and I want to walk in it. But in my flesh, I still see that there's a path that my flesh wants to walk in. And I'm captive to the to the law of sin which is in my members. Oh wretched man that I am. Do you recognize the depths of your sin? If you don't recognize the depths of your sin, we'll never recognize the heights of God's grace and his mercy and his new life for us. Who will deliver me from this body of death? Of course, it doesn't end on a down note, it ends on an up note. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He is my hope, he is my peace, he is my righteousness, and in him I have victory. So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. I acknowledge in my mind and in my heart that the Lord has saved me, and I agree with it, but I but I realize at the same time my flesh still seems to have some control. And it and it and it has power of sin in my life. Do you find yourself at that place of struggle? Paul wants us to get to that place of struggle, to realize, yeah, I know Jesus, but I'm just I'm still walking in the flesh. I'm still walking in sin. I have victories, but uh, but I trip up more than anything. And I just I just got to read the first verse of the next chapter here. Chapter 8, verse 1. There is now, therefore, now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. We acknowledge that in the flesh we have problems, but we also realize that we have solutions in the Spirit of God. Because of the work that Jesus Christ did in our lives, we can walk free in it and we can have victory now, even in these bodies of death, as Paul describes it. But it takes some work, doesn't it? It takes a lot of hard work to walk in the grace of God. And as we go on in the book of Romans, he's going to take us through some exercises of how we can walk in the freedom that is in Christ, how we can walk in victory over the flesh, and how we can officially render our flesh dead, like we saw in that coffin. If I am dead to sin, it has no power over me. Lord, help me to walk in that way. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the Apostle Paul. We we thank you for all these angles that he takes to show us where we are and our need for you. And even though we've acknowledged you, Lord, we've we've come to faith in you, we've been changed by you, our we we see great changes in our lives, we see victory over addictions from the past, and now we're free. And yet there are days that we find that our flesh w rears up its head once again. It's supposed to be dead, Lord, but it comes back. So, Father, we ask that, especially over the next few weeks as we study this word, but even in our private time, Lord, as we seek you and grow in you, would you help us to find that victory so that not only are we justified, not only are we positionally made right with you, but practically speaking, we're more and more like you and have victory over sin and death, and and that that sin, that old man, is truly dead in our lives. And we're alive to Christ. Teach us, Holy Spirit, to walk in that way and be glorified in the lives that we live. In Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

Thanks for listening to today's edition of Come On Up. Pastor Carl of the Mountain Cross has been taking us through a study in the book of Romans. Did you know that the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to those who lived in Rome and who had begun a church there? He was encouraging them to keep the faith, not compromising with the culture around them. The practices that were going on at that time were ungodly and against the morals that God established. Roman gods were worshipped, these false idols that had no power or authority. Sexuality was subjective and was going in all kinds of directions that go opposite to what God created between man and woman. As you listen to some of the corruption that was going on in that society, it may not sound very far off from what's going on today. When people stay rooted and grounded in God's Word, it leads them to the truth and the pure understanding of everything God created and why. But when you lean into popular opinion for the sake of not offending, it quickly leads you astray from what God created in the first place. You can find all of the messages in this series on our website. It's themountaincross.com and look for Bible studies. The Mountain Cross is a group of believers in Jesus who seek to grow in faith by simply teaching the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter. We meet on Sundays at the Smoky Mountain Cinema in Waynesville, beginning at 10 a.m. If you'd like to learn more about us, go to themountaincross.com. Come on up is sponsored by The Mountain Cross, a Calvary Chapel fellowship.