The Full Gospel Includes Complete Freedom from Sin
The Full Gospel of the Kingdom - Part 5
The full Gospel also includes complete freedom from sin. We are not only freed from the penalty of sin, but we are also freed from the desire to sin.
“And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires.”—Galatians 5:24 (AMPC)
“In the past your spiritual lives were dead because of your sins and the things you did wrong against God. Yes, in the past you lived the way the world lives. You followed the ruler of the evil powers that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God. In the past all of us lived like them. We lived trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. We should have suffered God’s anger because we were sinful by nature. We were the same as all other people.
“But God’s mercy is great, and he loved us very much. We were spiritually dead because of the things we did wrong against God. But God gave us new life with Christ. You have been saved by God’s grace.”—Ephesians 2:1-5 (ICB)
Jackie Pullinger led many drug addicts to the Lord, not through a traditional explanation of salvation, but by leading them to freedom from their addictions through the power of God. After these former addicts realized that they had been completely freed from their addictions, they received salvation and gladly became disciples of Christ.
When Jesus died on the cross, He took your sins upon Himself. He took your bad habits and addictions, putting them to death on the cross. They are no longer part of you. Your old sins, addictions, and any desire to do them was put to death with Jesus on the cross. You are a new person now! You are free to live without the influence of those old sins.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”— 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
“We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.”—Romans 6:6-11 (NLT)
“In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but in a [spiritual] circumcision [performed by] Christ by stripping off the body of the flesh (the whole corrupt, carnal nature with its passions and lusts).”—Colossians 2:11 (AMPC)
We enter into the reality of freedom from the power of sin (and any desire to sin) through faith, just like we enter into the salvation experience.
“[Thus you were circumcised when] you were buried with Him in [your] baptism, in which you were also raised with Him [to a new life] through [your] faith in the working of God [as displayed] when He raised Him up from the dead.”—Colossians 2:11-12 (AMPC)
And now, after Jesus has freed us from the desire to sin, we can give our lives instead to good works—to doing what is right, instead of doing what is wrong.
“Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds.Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.”—Colossians 3:9-10 (NLT)
“He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.”—Titus 2:14 (NLT)
“Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”—Romans 6:18 (KJV)
“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”—Romans 6:22 (KJV)
“God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.”—Ephesians 2:10 (ERV)
Next: The Full Gospel Transforms Your Spirit, Soul, and Body
Back: The Full Gospel Includes the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
