Set Free: Recap

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Edwin Crozier
08/25/13 - Set Free

Set Free: Recap

“I am of flesh, sold under sin… Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:14, 24-25, ESV).

For nearly four months we have considered our daily battle. Jesus freed us from the guilt of our sin. Yet, every day Satan fights tooth and toenail to get us back in his clutches.

We have all struggled. We have all known the feeling Paul described in Romans 7:14-23 of wanting to do right but doing wrong anyway. Paul claims we can overcome. Paul claims through Jesus Christ and by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2) we can overcome.

What must we do? We must first admit who we have allowed to be our master. We have allowed sin to control our lives (Romans 6:16, 19). Further, we must admit our weakness (II Corinthians 12:7-10), recognizing we cannot beat Satan on our own.

We must then turn to God, recognizing He does have the strength to overcome. If we will win the victory, it will only come through the strength He supplies (Ephesians 6:10; Philippians 4:13). If we wish to be free from sin, we must learn to confess our sins. We need to confess them to God (I John 1:9). Why wouldn’t we? He knows them already. We must learn to confess to our shepherds, seeking their prayer and help (James 5:14-15). We must learn to confess to one another, relying on one another for strength and accountability (James 5:16).

As we continue our fight, we must get to know our enemy. That first means remembering that Satan is the enemy. That means knowing and constantly reminding ourselves no matter how well we have done in the battle that our enemy is the vicious devil, who is real and who does attack daily. That further means becoming familiar with his schemes, learning where he attacks and preparing our defenses (II Corinthians 2:11).

We must erect the same defenses the early Christians did, devoting ourselves to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer (Acts 2:42).

Finally, we must remember Paul’s encouragement in Galatians 6:9. “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (ESV). Fighting a battle every day of our lives is tiresome. Sometimes we just want to give up or just take a break today. We must not. We must keep up our fight. We must keep up our reliance upon God, His Word, and His people. We must keep up the habits that strengthen us for the daily battle.

We will reap the reward if we do not grow weary. Remember, Jesus died to set us free. We will win if we stay with Him.

—Edwin L. Crozier