Overview

1. Grace frees us from the power of sin
2. Your sins have been put away once and for all
3. Living free from sin starts with a guilt-free conscience
4. The obedience of faith: trusting in Jesus’ obedience

Grace frees us from the power of sin

Pastor Prince begins this message with Romans 6:1, where the apostle Paul addressed a question people asked in his day and still ask today: “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”

This question arose because Paul had preached strongly that “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Rom. 5:20).

In Greek, “abounded much more” is the word huperperisseuō, which means to “abound exceedingly” or “superabounds,” and it describes a picture of God supplying a disproportionately greater measure of grace far beyond the measure of sin.

But because Paul emphasized this abundant grace so much, some misunderstood him and accused him of giving believers license to sin freely. Yet, look at how he responded:

Paul didn’t simply say, “Stop sinning.” He said something much more profound: “How shall we?” In other words, “How shall we live in sin when it is no longer who we are?”

As believers, we have been united with Christ. When He was crucified, we were crucified with Him. When He died, we died with Him; and when He rose, we rose with Him. Today, we are dead to sin and alive to God (Rom. 6:11).

This means that while we may still stumble through weakness or temptation, we cannot remain in sin—because something within us, our new nature in Christ, is averse to sin and knows, “This isn’t who I am anymore.”

Pastor Prince used a simple analogy to illustrate this: When a pig falls into the mud, it is pleased and feels at home. But when a sheep falls into the mud, it cries out, sensing immediately that it does not belong there. In the same way, a believer may stumble, but cannot and does not want to remain in a lifestyle of sin.

And as we grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus, a transformation starts to take place. The negative things that once bound us—unclean habits, addictions, harmful patterns—begin to lose their grip. As our hearts are filled with the Lord, the attraction of things not good for us, that once pulled at us, grows dim.

From all this, we can see why grace is never a license to sin. Grace transforms us from within. It renews our desires, reshapes our affections, and enables us to walk in the victory Jesus came to give us. And it is this inward transformation that empowers us to live free from sin’s power.

Your sins have been put away once and for all

To help us understand how the power of sin is truly broken in our lives, let’s look at this foundational truth: the impeccability of Christ. For centuries, believers have wrestled with this question: Could Jesus, during His earthly life, have sinned?

Hebrews 4:15 tells us that our Lord Jesus was “in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

But this does not mean that He felt sinful desires the way we do and was simply better at resisting them. James 1:13 tells us plainly that God “cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”

So what does Hebrews 4:15 really mean?

The word “tempted” also carries the meaning of being tested, as in tried, proven, or examined. Our Lord Jesus experienced trials, pressures, and human testing the same way we do, yet without sin, because there was nothing, no sin, in Him that could respond to evil or temptation.

Temptation can only take hold when something inside a person responds to it. As James explained, “each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires” (James 1:14). This is possible in humans because we still carry weaknesses in our flesh.

But in the Lord, there was no such desire. He came “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Rom. 8:3)—similar to us outwardly—yet without the sin nature. There was no lust in Him, no bitterness, no darkness whatsoever. Even His anger was pure—never petty, self-serving, or desirous to hurt others, always aligned with His Father’s heart.

So, why then, was He “tempted”?

Just as pure gold is placed in the fire—not to expose impurities, but to demonstrate its flawless purity—the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness not to discover whether He might sin, but to reveal that He could not. After forty days of testing, our Lord emerged “in the power of the Spirit,” His perfection unmistakably and evidently on display.

And here is why this matters so deeply for us: We know that the One who could not sin is the One who carried our sins on the cross. So what part of our sin did the Lord actually deal with?

At the cross, Jesus did not die to the power of sin—He was never under its power. He died to the guilt, the punishment, and the imputation of our sins. And Scripture tells us:

This means we are to see ourselves dead to sin in the same way Jesus died to sin—dead to the guilt and punishment of sin.

The judgment we deserved fell fully upon Him. And because He bore it completely, our sins have been put away entirely, eternally, once for all. This is why Paul declared:

The word “justified” is dikaioō—to be declared righteous. In Christ, we stand before God not partially forgiven, not conditionally accepted, but completely cleansed and fully righteous in His sight. This is the solid foundation of our freedom today!

And when this truth settles deep into our conscience, it becomes the turning point, the moment when the power of sinful habits begins to lose its hold on our lives.

Living free from sin starts with a guilt-free conscience

Why is it so critical that we see ourselves dead to the guilt and punishment of sin?

William Romaine, a renowned 18th-century preacher and author, answered this question so simply, yet so beautifully, when he wrote, “No sin can be crucified, either in heart or life, unless it be first pardoned in conscience.”

Sin cannot be uprooted from a person’s life until the guilt of that sin is first uprooted from their heart. This is the key to what Romans 6 is showing us.

Many believers who are trapped in addictions or repeated failures actually despise the very sin they’re caught in but feel powerless against it. Guilt and self-condemnation weigh heavy on their conscience. The result? They fall, feel ashamed, and then return to the same behavior again because they are kept focused on that sin through a nagging sense of guilt. And so the cycle continues.

And this is why the words of our Lord Jesus to the woman caught in adultery were so tender and powerful. Before He told her, “Go and sin no more,” He first said, “Neither do I condemn you” (John 8:11).

He lifted her out of her guilt and set her conscience free before calling on her to walk in that freedom. In that moment, grace—not fear or shame—broke the power of sin in her life.

Romans 6 calls us to see ourselves in the same way Jesus does: dead to sin’s guilt, dead to its punishment, dead to every claim it once had on our conscience.

But does having a guilt-free conscience mean we live carelessly? Of course not.

Knowing we are forgiven is not a license to sin; it is what keeps us from sin. As Romans 6:14 tells us clearly: “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

Now, this does not mean we disregard the law. The law is holy, just, and good. But it was never meant to make us holy. In fact, Scripture tells us, “The strength of sin is the law” (1 Cor. 15:56).

The law can expose sin in our lives, but it cannot remove the guilt that fuels sin. It can reveal the problem, but it cannot supply the freedom or the strength to overcome that sin.

Grace, however, accomplishes what the law never could. Because when we are under grace, the very morality that the law demands from us begins to be fulfilled in us by the Holy Spirit.

Grace does not cause us to bend or lower the standard of the law—it empowers us to go beyond what the law demands of us.

A man under the law may say, “I do not steal,” yet remain tight-fisted. But grace will make us generous. The law says, “Do not commit adultery,” but grace enables us to love, cherish, and honor our spouses in a way that reflects the Lord’s love.

And all of this begins with right believing: That our conscience has been washed by the blood of Christ, that we have been declared righteous, and that we are forgiven, accepted, and deeply loved in Him.

This is how the power of sinful habits is broken in our lives and how we can walk in true freedom and holiness!

The obedience of faith: trusting in Jesus’ obedience

Romans 6 continues to show us that living free from sin is not about correcting our behavior, but about allowing our minds and hearts to be shaped by the right doctrine or belief system, that is, the right teaching about Jesus and His finished work.

At first glance, this may sound like: If you sin, you die; if you obey, you become righteous.

But that cannot be what the verse means because it would contradict what has just been established in Romans 5—that it is by one Man’s obedience, Jesus’ obedience, that many are made righteous (Rom. 5:19). Our righteousness does not come from our performance or our obedience, but from His.

So in Romans 6:16, what Paul is contrasting is not our outward actions, but two doctrines or “masters”:

• sin unto death—the old covenant mindset, life under sin and condemnation
• obedience unto righteousness—the new covenant mindset, completely forgiven to live an overcoming life

This becomes even clearer in the next verse:

What was it that they obeyed?

They “obeyed from the heart,” not a list of rules, but the doctrine handed to them—the good news that Jesus has finished the work, that His obedience has made them righteous!

This is what the Bible refers to as “the obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5; 16:26 ESV).

In the new covenant, the highest form of obedience is not your doing but your believing: To believe that Jesus’ obedience has made you righteous, to believe your sins are forgiven, and to believe God will never impute sin to you again.

So practically, how are you to walk out this “obedience of faith”?

When you stumble, the flesh would say, “How could I do that?” and sink into self-condemnation. But even that is a subtle form of self-righteousness—as though you ever had the strength to stand against sin on your own. And the more you stay in guilt, the more you will be drawn back into the very sin you long to be free from.

But if, in that moment, you look away from yourself and say by faith, “Lord Jesus, I thank You that I am still the righteousness of God in Christ. I’m dead to the guilt of this sin. I bring it to You, and I thank You that it has already been judged at the cross,” the hold that guilt has on you will start to loosen, and the power of that bad habit will weaken.

Friend, once you know that your sin is behind you and that your heavenly Father will never again impute sin to your account, you can draw near to Him without fear, bringing every area of your life to Him.

And as you invite Him into the ordinary moments of your day, into the way you think, plan, respond, and carry yourself, something beautiful begins to happen. You will start to see your pain being exchanged for His healing and wholeness, your confusion for His wisdom, your anxieties for His peace, your weariness for His strength and joy.

In other words, you will no longer be living in the prison of sin and guilt, but will have moved to a different location, a place of righteousness and freedom. Now, you will be living unto God, in His power, His goodness, and His presence, and to His glory!

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These sermon notes were taken by volunteers during the service. They are not a verbatim representation of the sermon.