Loren Larson - Live Free (Romans 6:6-7,11)

And uh something that I want us all to experience is the victory that Jesus has won for us. And so while I might be touching on something that you have known. Uh something that you have known well, something that you have embraced for a period of time. Peter said that I it's a good thing that I put you in remembrance And Paul warned us that we should not let the things that we know slip.

Amen. So uh let's take a look tonight, Romans chapter six, and uh verses six and seven, and then we'll skip down to verse eleven. The text says knowing this that our old man is crucified with him Expositors notes all that we were before conversion text that the body of sin might be destroyed Notes, the power of sin broken. Text. That henceforth we should not serve sin. Can I read that again? That henceforth

From heretofore, from that moment forward that we should not serve sin. Notes The guilt of sin is removed at conversion. Because the sin nature no longer rules within our hearts and lives. Verse seven. Text for he who is dead notes he was our substitute, and in the mind of God we died with him upon believing faith. Text is freed from sin. Note set free from the bondage of the sin nature. Now jump down to verse eleven. Text. Likewise reckon, notes, account.

you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto thee sin Notes while the sin nature is not dead. We are dead unto the sin nature by virtue of the cross and our faith in that sacrifice, but only as long as our faith continues in the cross. Text, but alive unto God notes, living the resurrection life. Text through Jesus Christ our Lord notes refers to what he did at the cross, which is the means of this resurrection life.

Satan wants you to believe, and he works hard and endeavors hard to cause you to believe that you cannot be free from the thing that's driving you crazy right now. That you will never be freed from that issue, that thought, that burden, that You're gonna have to lose the halos if you're gonna walk with me tonight. That that you'll never get rid of that thing that's troubling you right now. Well, what is that thing?

That thing for each of us. Because we're all in a process of growth. We're all learning. None of us have uh have arrived, but if we really love God and we l really love Christ, we're pursuing. I said, we're pursuing. And one of the greatest efforts of the devil is to make you think that that thing that's hindering you right now in your walk with God is something that you will never be free from.

Something that you'll never get out of your life. Something that has been there since the day you got saved, and now X number of years later, you're still not free from it. But I've come to talk to you tonight. About dead snakes. I want to talk to you tonight about dead snakes and teach a little while on dead snakes. When I was a boy growing up in Montana, one of the things we liked to do was hunt down garden snakes.

Get us a big old stick, run around in our stingrays with our banana seat bicycles, and just run them over or hit them with a stick. And you know, when you crush the head of a snake, And you kill it, there's an amazing thing that happens. Its body will lay on the ground and writhe. It has the appearance of still being alive.

But I've just run over it three or four times with my stingray bicycle. I've just knocked it in the head with a stick four or five times and stomped it with my red ball jets and there's no way. There is no way that that snake is alive, but it has an appearance of being alive. I want you to know tonight that whatever it is Whatever it is that's troubling you, whatever it is that you haven't quite gotten victory yet.

Over, you haven't realized it yet. I want you to understand tonight that what you're looking at isn't a live serpent, it's a dead snake. It's a dead snake. And in 2013, we're going to learn how to live free by faith in the cross and what Christ has done, and we're going to live free from every obstacle that Satan has erected in our lives. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you tonight for the opportunity that we have to teach your word, to proclaim your word to the saints of God. Lord, I pray tonight that you would encourage us through your word. Through the moving and operation of your spirit, confirm your word to the saints of God. Move upon us tonight, Lord, in a supernatural measure, in a supernatural way. Anoint me to teach your word and anoint these to receive it.

And as well by television, as well by internet, as well, Lord, by recorded device, we'd ask it all in Jesus' name, and everybody said Amen. And amen. I want you to know that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is so powerful, and I'm gonna say a statement that I like to make again and again and again, that anybody and everybody. can be free from anything and everything. I want to say it again. I said everybody and anybody. I said everybody and anybody. can be freed from everything and anything.

Because of what Jesus Christ has done for us at the cross.

There's no doubt, but yet there's some things that we need to know. Romans 6 and 6 starts off this way. It says, knowing this. Now stop. That means you need to know something. If you're a believer, you need to know something. It's great that you feel, and I'm glad that you do. And I'm glad that the hair on the back of your neck rises at times and you get goose mumps and you get all bubbly and emotion. And I'm glad. I'm glad I've got a God that I can feel.

I've g I'm glad I've got a God that'll make me shout and dance and cry. But when it all comes down to the bottom line, it's not really all about what I feel, it's all about what I know. Because my knowing will keep me through the midst of my feeling. If my knowing is right. It'll aid me in the proper emotion regarding the things that I travel through. So I've gotta know something. And to be honest with you, in this section, which I count out as

6.3 through 611, there's four times that the scripture indicates through the apostle Paul that we need to know something. Chapter 6 and verse 3, knowing. It says, know ye not, and then six and six our text, knowing this, again in six, nine, knowing, and then and finally in eleven, reckon, which is a type of the word knowing. Four times it talks about what.

You and I need to know. Now you and I need to understand what it is that was accomplished for us at Calvary. It was a prophecy that was fulfilled given way back in the Garden of Eden. We can take it all the way back, Calvary was, that prophecy fulfilled, to that which was given in the garden in Genesis three fifteen. And you're Bible students, you know what the Bible says, I'm sure.

That there in the Garden of Eden as God was handing out, meeting out the punishment to both uh Adam and Eve, and as well the serpent. for disobeying him and rebelling against his word, he said this to the serpent. He said, And I will put enmity between thee and the woman. And between thy seed and her seed.

And it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Now enmity means war, it means hostility, it means hatred and so between the seed of a woman or the woman if you will and the seed of the serpent there would always be hostility.

But the prophecy given way back at the initial fall, way back when men first fell and fell into the power of sin and the dominion of sin, the prophecy of God, the promise of God was stated that that there would be one that would come from the seed of the woman. There would be one that would come, a redeemer that would crush the head, bruise the head of the serpent.

And let me tell you, if he showed up, that's exactly what he did. When he came, that's exactly what he did. Oh, not in his life, not in his miracles. Not in his teachings, but on Calvary, Jesus Christ. The head of the serpent. It wasn't in his life that he fulfilled the prophecy of Genesis 3:15. It was on the cross in his death that he fulfilled the prophecy. For this purpose. the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Was Jesus manifested? Was he made obvious?

Do you know that? I said, do you know that? I said, do you know that? Then you need to understand and believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that not only was he manifested, but yet that he also destroyed, rendered useless, rendered idle, all the work. All the works. I don't know who your enemy is, but I know who my enemy is. Besides the enemy I see in the mirror whose heart needs to be changed, my enemy is uh spiritual forces.

Not flesh and blood, but wickedness in high places and principalities and powers. And 2000 years ago, on the cross of Calvary, the prophesied Redeemer destroyed Destroyed the works of the enemy. But let's not stop there. Another witness, Colossians chapter 2, verses 14 and 15. What you need to know. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. Which was contrary to us, took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, and having spoiled principalities and power.

On the cross, Jesus destroyed principalities and powers. He spoiled. He disarmed. I don't have to yell. But I like to you, he destroyed the works of the enemy. He spoiled the effort of Satan. He showed who was the strong man. He showed who was the dominant person. He showed who really had the power. And it wasn't the devil. It was Jesus who gave his life at Calvary. He was too hot for the devil to handle. Somebody help me up in here.

I said he was too much for the devil to handle. And at Calvary he spoiled, disarmed principalities and powers, knowing this. Knowing this that for this purpose was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Knowing this that he spoiled principalities and powers. Hebrews 2 and 14 says that. through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. Hebrews two and fourteen, that through death, where did he die? Where did he die?

Where did he die? Where did he die? I just want you to know something. Where did he die? He died on the cross. So on the cross, he took the power of him that had the power of death and destroyed him, that is, the devil. So Jesus became the seed of the woman. And there's enmity between the seed of the woman. There's enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

Well, the serpent doesn't have any seed. Well that's funny. Jesus told the uh Pharisees in his day, you are of your father, the devil. And so everybody that doesn't believe in Christ and the cross remains the seed of the devil. Is that too hard? And there's enmity because it's sad when the word of God tells us what we should know and what we should realize and what we should embrace by faith.

And the rest of the church is fighting what we're trying to bring to the world and to the church that will set them free. But there's enmity, there's war. Don't be don't be discouraged when you face it. Don't be discouraged when you face it in your families. Don't be discouraged when others don't quite understand it. Just keep proclaiming it was Christ.

at the cross that defeated the power of the devil. Not fasting, Not a Daniel fast, not 21-day fast, not 37-day fast, 45-day fast, fasting fast, fasting slow, a What's a Daniel fast anyway? It's a partial fast. It's a fast that says I can eat my fried chicken and still call it a fast. When Daniel fasted in that capacity, I'm not being mean and cruel, but he was an elderly individual and he couldn't fast totally without food and and and that and he had to have sustenance because he was older.

I used to be able to stay up all night long and run for three or four days. I can't go 12 hours now before I'm crawling for the bit. So as a person, never mind. You're not set free from fasting. You're set free from knowing this. I said, from knowing this, what the plan of God is, what the plan of redemption is, what Jesus did for us at Calvary, knowing this.

Knowing this, that the prophecy was fulfilled, that the seed of the woman came, that the seed of the woman destroyed, bruised the head of the one that was in fact in charge of death. He took it over, holding the keys. And says, I'm alive forevermore. Somebody shout amen. Do you know that?

And that's the old man. Ladies, I'm not excluding you. I just don't like saying old woman. The old man is that individual then that's dominated by the corrupting force that we're born with. Psalm 51 says it plainly. David said, In sin did my mother conceive me. Didn't mean she was fornicating or a harlot. It meant very simply that she was passing on to her son David, the very element of the fall that was existing in every human being from the time of the fall. So that old man that I was.

That old person that I was, that alcoholic that I was, that drug addict that I was, that fornicator that I was, that bully that I was, that not so nice of a guy that I was, all of that. The Bible says that we need to know this, that our old man is crucified. Listen, God doesn't rehabilitate man, he eliminates man. And how does he do it? The moment the believing sinner comes to Christ, he's united with Christ.

And in the mind of God, if you're united with Christ, you're one with him. Therefore, his past is your past, his present is your present, his future is your future. When you're united with him, you become one with him. His past is your past, his present is your present, his future is your future. So when you were united with him in the mind of God, it was also true that you were crucified. With him.

In the mind of God, you're crucified with him. Paul would say it this way in Galatians two and twenty. I am crucified with, not apart from, not distinct or at a different time. I am crucified with Christ. Well how is that true, Paul? You never knew him in his life. earthly ministry, the moment on the road to Damascus that the apostle Paul then saw said, What do you want me to do, Lord? And was ushered into the kingdom, he was united with Christ and crucified with him.

Our old man, the man that I was, dominated by the sin nature, was crucified the moment I said yes to Jesus.

Our crucifixion with Christ, you and I now have the potential of living free from sinful act, sinful deed, and sinful thought. That's the mind and purpose of God for your life. That's the message of the cross. Now, the thing that we don't quite get is this. If that's true, Brother Larson, that I have been baptized into Christ, crucified with Christ, and set free from. Every aspect of sinfulness and selfishness, what's this? that I see in my life. writhing around in my spirit.

Do we just ignore the truth of what we see? Do we ignore the fact that you're still going to internet sites you shouldn't? Lying to your boss? Have a propensity to be a cussin' Christian? A sippin' saint Green eyes of jealousy and envy still run amuck within your soul.

So there has to be a means and a way that God has has has given to us. to walk in the truth of what he proclaimed.

That you love God and that you're moving forward with God and you're moving through the processes of living life and loving Jesus and moving forward. But man, there's just that one thing that gets your goat. Makes you yell at your wife.

Has been crucified with Christ to the end result that the body of sin might be destroyed. And that's a wonderful thought. That means that every aspect of sin has been destroyed. The power of sin, the penalty of sin. The push of sin, the pull of sin, all of it has been destroyed. If that's not true, then let's throw this book away and go home and do something else. Every aspect of sin has been destroyed.

Every aspect of sin has been destroyed. Every power of sin has been destroyed by Christ at Calvary. All the pull of sin has been destroyed by Christ. At Calvary. All the push of sin, all the penalty of sin, all the power of sin has been fully destroyed. There is no power of sin that can dominate us if we'll go God's way. Don't you know? Knowing this, that the whole aspect of sin, the whole body of sin should be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is free.

Amen, amen, amen, hallelujah. Okay. How many dead people do I got in here? I got one. I got two three. How many dead people I got in here? You know you're dead. The Bible says, Colossians 3:3, for you are dead, and your life is hid with God in Christ, or in Christ with God. You are dead. You're crucified with Christ. Well well well no no no butts. Leave the butts in the cigarette can. I am crucified with Christ.

This is my emancipation proclamation. He that is dead, who's dead, every single person who's ever been joined to Christ. Why? Because they were crucified with Christ. He that is dead is He that is dead is freed from the power of sin, the penalty of sin, the push of sin, the pull of sin. Don't you know? Or is it just too good for you to believe? See what the devil wants you to do is when he starts showing you the symptoms of something contrary to these words in your life.

He'll say, See, you're not free. He'll say, You're not free. You're still in shape. You know, I don't know what it'll be like in Cuba when that dictatorship Of that era that's lasted what Donnie, forty, fifty years now. When it finally ends, and it will end. But I can tell you this For all those people that have lived all those years. Under the osmis of a dictatorship.

When somebody starts running through Cuba shouting, we're free, we're free, we're free, it'll take a little while for them to really believe it and start acting like it. In the timeframe of the Civil War, when our African American brothers and sisters were finally set free from the degrading, dehabilitating, awful bond of slavery. They didn't know what to do with their freedom. Many of them went right back to where they had been all their lives. Because they didn't understand what free man.

that they were free to enjoy the liberty that blood had paid for. And I need you to believe that you are free to enjoy the liberty that the blood of Jesus has paid for.

God operates by the principle of faith and grace. When you place your faith in the revealed word of God, he gives you the power, the grace. What you don't work for, what you don't earn, what you don't deserve, that'll equip you to move beyond the symptom. So you mean I gotta keep believing even if I'm feeling something? You mean I gotta keep believing even if I see something contrary? You mean I gotta keep believing? What do you think faith is all about? What do you think faith is all about?

You're freed from the power of the enemy. By the prophecy that was fulfilled by Jesus at Calvary. You're free. I said you're free. I said you're free. I said you're free. I said you're free. Not by effort, not by disciplines, but by believing. That's why verse 11 is so important. Look at it quickly.

Your relationship to the sin nature was changed the moment that you were united with Christ, you became dead to sin. That means your relationship to the sin nature changed. Before the sin nature was a corrupting force that dominated you, moving you towards selfishness and sinfulness. It dominated you. It reigned like a king on the throne of your heart. You couldn't help but follow the dictates of the sin nature before you were saved.

But now, But now, but now being freed through the death of Christ. Being freed through your union with Jesus. that is dead is freed from sin, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto the sin nature. Means that that relationship you once had with the sin nature has been smitten, broken. put in a dormant state as a result of your union with Christ. Don't you know? Don't you know? Now you need to be careful here because a change in relationship which was granted to you by faith can be reversed.

if you're not living and walking. The only sin that reunites the believer with the power of the sin nature is. Is the sin of unbelief, the sin of looking towards another way to overcome. The sin or the weight that does so easily beset us. If you look to any other source, act, or deed other than Christ and the cross, That relationship that you were granted, that freedom from the sin nature that you were granted, is reversed.

And Paul would say in Romans 7 that when the commandment came, when he placed his faith in something other than the cross, the sin nature revived. It came back into life, and I died. So it's vital that we remain in faith, that we walk by faith in the cross.

You don't listen, you don't fight. The sin nature. As a believer, the sin nature, if you understand what Calvary do, it doesn't have any effect on you. The things that we're dealing with. Is the heart that has been affected when we were in relationship with the sin nature. The sin nature is a corrupting force. It corrupts your heart. Okay, let's go this way. Let's say you have a friend. He's not good for you.

He teaches you wrong things. He gives you wrong ideas. He loads your mind and your heart up with the wrong direction. And seeing that, You cause the end of the relationship, that relationship is dead. You know what you're still dealing with, even though you're not dealing with that relationship. You're dealing with the effects of that relationship and all that information and all that thought and all that bent that got into your heart as a result of a bad relationship.

And as I put my faith in Christ, now the sin nature, once a corrupting force, silenced, is replaced by the Holy Spirit, who is a correcting force. And the Holy Spirit now, the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, is free to start working in my heart and removing all the effects of that old relationship.

And little by little, line upon line, precept upon precept, thought upon thought, deed upon deed, deed, act upon act, the Holy Spirit starts taking out of my heart the want to that the corrupting force of the sin nature Plant it in. So now as a believer, this heart is being transformed by the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit as long as my faith is in who Jesus is and what Jesus did for me at Calvary.

As long as I reckon myself to be dead indeed unto the sin nature, but don't stop there, I'm alive to God. I'm receiving the power that I need. I'm receiving the information that I need. Little by little, I'm being changed. My heart is being transformed, it's being conformed, my mind, my spirit, my body, all of it is coming into line as a result of my faith in God's redemption plan.

Oh, I'm gonna say this, somebody will get mad at me. We're all screwed up. I'm sorry. But we're not as hot as we think we are. Honey, you're not all that. Like they tell us. We're not a champ. We're a fallen race.

Dependent upon a Saviour who gave himself at Calvary, so that I could be free from the impact and the effect of the sin nature so that I could receive the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus on a regular daily basis and so that this heart of mine could be conformed into the image of Jesus. Day after day, moment after moment, issue after issue. And so I must keep my faith there because what's gonna happen is when God wants to correct something in me, He shows me where I'm wrong.

Okay, he brings the trash to the surface. He puts you in a situation where you get squeezed, pushed, pulled, and all of a sudden instead of thank you, Jesus, it's And you see that thing coming up. out of your life, out of your heart, and you go, oh, is it true? Is it true? Is it true that I'm dead indeed unto sin? Is it true that I've been crucified with Christ? How could it be true in this thing? No, no, no.

God's not discounting his word. He's showing you the next thing he's about to get rid of in you.

who he is and what he's done, so that his spirit can continually move and flow and heal and change and alter and conform us into the image of Christ. Will it ever be done? Nope. He that hath begun a good work in us. will continue to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Christ. What's that? That's the day of the rapture. He's going to keep working in us, exposing what needs to be changed about us, transforming us into his image, and everything that's unlike God in you. fall to the power.

The truth is it's already been defeated. Do you know that? Do you believe that? And when those things surface, will you apply the fight of faith to the truths you've heard tonight and other nights and other days? It's difficult. But I ask you to believe You're not fighting Satan and you're not fighting sin. You're dealing