Free To Live A New Life

Sermon Summary

This powerful message centers on a truth that can revolutionize our Christian walk: we are not just forgiven, we are fundamentally transformed. Drawing from 2 Corinthians 5:17, we explore what it truly means to be a new creation in Christ. The Greek word 'kainos' reveals we are unprecedented, novel, and unheard of—completely remade rather than simply renovated. The sermon challenges a common misconception among believers who accept forgiveness but continue living as though they're still chained to their past identity. We learn that Christianity is not behavior modification but heart transformation. God doesn't polish the old person; He creates an entirely new one. Through Romans 6:4 and Ezekiel 36:26-27, we discover three life-changing truths: salvation is resurrection not renovation, sin has lost its legal authority in our lives, and freedom requires daily alignment with the Spirit. The imagery is striking—we're not dead people who need coaching, we're dead people who need resurrection. God doesn't offer self-improvement; He offers a heart replacement. This message reminds us that we fight today's battles with today's identity in Christ, not yesterday's broken self. When we grasp this reality, we stop trying to overcome sin in our own strength and start yielding to the Holy Spirit who supplies what we lack.

Key Takeaways

• Salvation is resurrection, not renovation - believers don't just get improved, they receive a completely new heart and spirit
• Many Christians accept forgiveness but fail to recognize their complete transformation
• Sin has lost its legal authority over believers' lives; the devil has been evicted and has no rights
• The Christian life requires daily alignment with God through walking in the Spirit
• Freedom in Christ is a present reality, not a future hope
• Victory over sin comes through focusing on Christ, not on the sin itself
• The Holy Spirit provides the power to live the transformed life; believers cannot do it in their own strength
• God's love is unconditional, unlike the world's conditional definition of love
• Temptation will still come, but God always provides a way of escape
• Living the Christian life means daily dying to self, crucifying the flesh, and picking up the cross

Scripture

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 (primary focus)
• Romans 6:4
• Romans 6:11-12
• Romans 8:1-2
• Romans 8:11
• Ephesians 2:1
• Ezekiel 36:26-27
• Galatians 5:16
• John 3:16

Reflection Questions

• How does understanding the difference between being forgiven and being transformed change the way you approach daily struggles with sin?
• In what ways do you still fight today's battles with yesterday's identity, and how can you shift to fighting from your new identity in Christ?
• What does it mean practically to be an unprecedented, novel, and uncommon creation as described by the Greek word kainos?
• How does viewing salvation as resurrection rather than renovation change your expectations for spiritual growth and transformation?
• Paul describes believers as having died with Christ through baptism. What parts of your old self need to be recognized as truly dead and buried rather than merely improved?
• If sin has lost its legal authority in your life, why do you think you still sometimes give it permission to reign by opening the door to old habits?
• The sermon compares lingering temptations to a fan that keeps spinning after being unplugged. What momentum from your past continues to spin, and how can you wait patiently for it to stop?
• What does it look like in your daily life to walk by the Spirit rather than gratify the desires of the flesh, especially when facing specific temptations?
• How can you better recognize and take the escape routes God provides during moments of temptation instead of choosing to let temptation become sin?
• Who in your life needs extra grace from you right now, and how can you minister Christ to them through your actions rather than just your words?

5-Day Bible Reading Plan: Walking in Your New Identity

Day 1: From Death to Life

Reading: Romans 6:1-14

Devotional: God didn't renovate you—He resurrected you. When Christ saved you, He didn't polish up your old self; He made you completely new. Your old identity died with Christ on the cross and was buried. Now you live in resurrection power. This means sin no longer has legal authority over your life. The chains are broken, the prison door is open, and you are free. Today, stop fighting battles with yesterday's identity. You are not who you were. Stop listening to the devil's whispers that you'll never change. God's Word declares you are a new creation. The question isn't whether you can change—you already have. Now walk in that reality.

Reflection: What old identity are you still clinging to that God has already buried?

Day 2: A Heart Transplant, Not Self-Improvement

Reading: Ezekiel 36:22-32

Devotional: Religion says, "Fix yourself." Jesus says, "I'll give you a new heart." God promised not self-improvement but heart replacement—removing your heart of stone and giving you a heart of flesh. He places His Spirit within you to empower you to follow His ways. Christianity isn't behavior modification; it's heart transformation. You don't need to try harder with the same broken heart. You need to receive the new heart God offers. Stop exhausting yourself trying to improve what God wants to replace. Surrender your old heart—with all its wounds, hardness, and rebellion—and receive the sacred heart He freely gives. This divine exchange is the foundation of genuine transformation.

Reflection: Are you trying to fix your heart, or have you surrendered it for God's replacement?

Day 3: Sin's Eviction Notice

Reading: Romans 8:1-17

Devotional: Picture a tenant who's been legally evicted. The locks are changed, the lease is ended, yet every morning they knock, demanding entry. You don't have to let them in—they have no authority. This is exactly how temptation works in your life. Old habits will knock. Past addictions will knock. Familiar sins will knock. But because of Christ, they've been evicted. They have no legal right to reign in your life anymore. There is no condemnation for those in Christ. The Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, giving you power to say no. When temptation knocks, remember: you're under no obligation to answer. Freedom isn't promised someday—freedom is now.

Reflection: What evicted tenant keeps knocking on your door, and how will you refuse entry today?

Day 4: Daily Alignment with the Spirit

Reading: Galatians 5:13-26

Devotional: Walking in freedom requires daily alignment with the Holy Spirit. Like a fan unplugged from its power source, old habits may continue spinning for a while through momentum, but eventually they'll stop because the power is disconnected. Your best defense against sin isn't focusing on sin—it's pursuing Christ and yielding to the Spirit. When the Holy Spirit prompts you to take the off-ramp from temptation, don't wait for the next exit. Obey immediately. God never intended for you to live the Christian life in your own strength. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead empowers you. Walk by the Spirit today, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. It's that simple—and that powerful.

Reflection: In what area do you need to stop relying on your strength and yield to the Spirit's power?

Day 5: Living as the Loved

Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Devotional: The Christian life isn't about becoming someone God can love—it's about living as the person God already loved before you surrendered to Him. He loved you while you were still a sinner. He died for you before you ever called on His name. His love isn't conditional; it doesn't depend on your performance. You are a new creation—the old has gone, the new has come. This isn't something you achieve; it's something you receive and then walk in. Stop trying to earn what's already been freely given. Your works don't save you; they prove you believe what Christ already accomplished. Today, live not from a place of striving but from a place of being loved. Let that unconditional love transform how you see yourself and others.

Reflection: How would your life change if you fully embraced that you're already completely loved by God?

Transcript

We have been changed to live a new life.
You see, one of the greatest misunderstandings among Christ followers, people that follow Jesus today, is that many that know they are forgiven, they don't know how that includes being also transformed.
They accept the forgiven part, but they forget they've also been transformed.
They believe Jesus has removed their sin, but they still live as though that they're chained by their past.
Many believers spend their lives fighting today's battles with yesterday's identity. You can't do that.
You have been transformed through the blood of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And if you've been transformed, you fight the battles with who you are today.
My identity is in Christ.
It's not in who I was, but who I am in, and that is in Christ.
That's how I fight my battles.
The devil constantly whispers lies of, you'll never change.
You'll always struggle.
There is just, this is just who you are, and there's nothing you can do about it.
He whispers those things in our ear.
However, God's word declares something entirely different.
Turn with me, if you would, please, to the book of 2 Corinthians.
We're gonna look at chapter five and verse 17.
2 Corinthians chapter five and verse 17.
We're gonna see what God's word has to say here that coincides with what I am speaking about today.
Verse 17, here we go.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
He, she is a new creation.
The old has gone and the new has come.
Glory to his name.
Let's pray.
Father, we come before you right now in the name of Jesus.
We thank you for your word and we pray, God, that as it goes forth, that it would be multiplied in our lives.
Give us understanding by the Holy Spirit and his teaching.
We thank you and we praise you for the freedom that we have in Christ.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Praise God.
Now, that word new, I'm gonna break it down just a little bit for you this morning.
That word new in the Greek, there it is, is kainos.
And kainos means of a new kind, unprecedented.
I love that word.
We are unprecedented, those that are in Christ Jesus.
Praise God, you can't explain it.
Novel, uncommon, unheard of.
Praise the Lord.
The love that we have for people is unheard of.
I mean, the world's defined love, but their definition of love is not the godly love that we read about in the Word of God.
Because the definition of the world's love is conditional.
It's based on conditions.
But God's love is unconditional.
It has no conditions.
For God so loved the world.
Come on, we know it, John 3:16.
That means everyone.
Christianity isn't behavior modification.
It's heart transformation.
I don't just modify things in my life.
Man, I'm transformed.
I'm changed.
It isn't polishing the old person, it's becoming a completely new person.
Praise God.
Theologian John Piper has said, you don't defeat sin by focusing on sin, you defeat sin by focusing on Christ.
I have heard three truths that every believer must know if they are going to walk in the freedom that only Christ can give.
And I want to give those to you today.
First of which is salvation is resurrection, not renovation.
When we are born again, we're raised up.
We're not just renovated.
Man, I'm thankful this morning that he didn't just take the old Kelly and just clean him up.
He took the old Kelly and made a new Kelly in Christ.
Come on, that's a new way to look at it.
Romans 6, 4 says, we were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Amen.
Praise God.
I want you to notice the language that Paul uses there.
He doesn't use words that call for us to improve ourselves.
He says that someone who is in Christ has died, and you can't renovate someone who has died.
What do you do with a dead person?
You bury them.
That's what you do with a dead person.
If I was dead and now I'm alive, that means my dead self is buried and my alive self is new.
Praise God.
You see, Jesus didn't come just to make bad people better.
He came to make dead people alive.
Glory to God.
I want you to imagine walking into a funeral home.
Do you think anyone would tell the deceased, come on, try harder.
Be more disciplined.
Absolutely not.
We wouldn't do that.
A dead person doesn't need coaching.
A dead person needs resurrection.
And that's exactly what Jesus provides for you and I. For everyone.
If they're willing to go that route, Jesus has it for them.
They just have to die to themself.
We must die to ourself to come alive in Christ.
Ephesians chapter two, verse one states this.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.
Not sick, not weak, dead.
Ezekiel prophesied about the spiritual life that God breathes into a person.
It's found in Ezekiel 36, verses 26 and 27.
I will give you a new heart.
and put a new spirit in you.
I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decree and be careful to keep my laws."
Again, God didn't promise self-improvement.
He promised a heart replacement.
He wants to replace the heart of every individual.
He wants to give them a sacred heart.
know churches that are named sacred heart he wants to give you a sacred heart that means your old heart has to go away and be replaced by that heart of god praise the lord y'all religion is that which says fix yourself jesus says no need i'll just go ahead and give you a brand new heart
You don't have to fix what's broken.
You don't have to fix what you have because I'm just going to go ahead and take that out and give you a new one.
Man, I don't know about you, but that is exciting to think of it that way.
Because I think a lot of times, and I've even said it, a lot of times we just think, well, he just improves us.
And there's some great Christian authors out there.
There's some pathetic ones too, but there's some great ones that are out there.
And they have these help books, how to do this and how to do that.
And it's like, what?
No, that's too much work.
I just want Jesus to come in and just change me.
make me new and then every day what do i do i die to myself daily what do i do i crucify the flesh daily what do i do i pick up my cross and i follow Christ on a daily basis how do i do that how do i do that well first of all when temptation comes i look for the escape
I look for it because the escape is always there.
Let me just tell you right now, every temptation that comes your way, there's a way of escape that God has provided for you.
We in our flesh choose not to go to that escape.
We in our flesh choose to let the temptation become sin.
our own sinful ways but there's an escape there's a way that god a route that god has given each and every one of us on a daily basis multiple times throughout the day to take sometimes it's biting your tongue that's the escape we don't say anything am i right sometimes it's turning off the tv
because of images.
Maybe it's turning off our computer or our phone or whatever.
Maybe it's getting ourselves off of social media so we don't see things or read things that aggravate us.
Or don't watch the news because we're sick and tired of hearing this and that.
You gotta know they're all sensationalists and they're all gonna put out negative stuff because that's what sells.
Negative sells.
Positive doesn't sell.
It doesn't sell, it's kind of heartwarming and all these things, but people, they want to beat them up, cut them up.
That's the kind of stuff that people like, the juicy stuff.
Am I right?
Can I tell you why?
It's no secret why that is so appetizing and so much longed for by the world.
because our flesh longs for that.
It's easy.
It's easy to satisfy the cravings of the flesh.
It is more difficult to be disciplined and follow the ways of the Lord.
The second thing this morning that I want to share with you is that sin has lost its legal authority in your life.
Sin has no legal authority in your life.
None at all.
Romans 6, verses 11 and 12, in the same way.
Count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Nothing here states that sin has disappeared.
It simply says that sin's authority has ended.
So sin's still there.
The devil is still at work.
but he has no authority over you if you're in Christ Jesus.
He has no rights to your life.
He has no rights to your family.
He has no rights to anything that you own because everything you own, including your family, is God's.
It's a blessing from the Lord.
I hope that you have consecrated them unto god that you've dedicated them to the lord whether they're serving god or not look past that i don't just like i tell you i see your lips moving devil but i don't hear nothing coming out you may see what's going on in your family but you can't accept it you have to pray past it you got to look past it the hope that we have in christ jesus is the same hope that you need to have for your family for your friends for your co-workers
Before Christ, sin is the master.
After Christ, God becomes the master.
Let God be the master of your life.
If you're born again, man, it's easy to do.
You just surrender.
What's surrender look like?
Surrender looks like you not having any control.
And then when you go through hard times in life, yeah, they can be difficult, but you can say, you know what?
I mean, there's been times in this church during our history that financially it's been rough.
And you know what my attitude is?
I don't panic.
I don't panic.
I don't get up here and start begging you for offerings and different, I don't do that.
You know that.
Those of you that have been here for a long time, you know that.
It doesn't happen.
You know what I do?
I say, well, God, it's your church.
It's your church, it rides upon you.
The success of all things is on you because it's your church.
And God has countless times taken care of every financial need that we have had throughout the years.
Those that have been board members in the past and those that are board members today, you can testify to that.
We see that happen.
Praise God, we have two air conditioners that have gone out.
It's getting a little warm up here and people take off your coat.
No, I like to be a little formal, not much.
But we have two air conditioners that went out.
We're gonna have both of them replaced this week, and we'll be able to pay cash for both of them.
And they're not cheap.
Geothermal is not cheap.
But praise God, that's because of your faithfulness in giving to the work of the Lord, the ministry of the Lord.
We've been able to help ministries, individuals, families, and couples because, not because you've been begged to do it, not because you've been, you know,
Felt guilty made to feel guilty about not giving no it's because you are faithful to the Lord's work This is God's house.
He's gonna bless who he wants to bless He's gonna do what he wants to do because this is his house.
This ain't my house This is this is where we come to worship.
But in the end it is all his and
We are His, amen?
Praise the Lord.
I want you to, in your mind's eye right now, to picture an apartment tenant who has been legally evicted.
So someone that has been paying rent, but now they've been evicted.
The locks have been changed, the lease has ended.
Yet every morning, that tenant knocks on the door demanding to come inside.
Does the landlord have to let them in?
no why because the evicted tenant no longer has authority that's exactly how temptation works the devil will still knock old habits will still knock all desires will still knock however you have no obligation to let them in because they have no legal authority over your life they've been evicted
When you received Jesus, you kicked Him out.
Now, don't, you know, crack the door a little bit and say, well, I kind of want that one back in.
No.
Kick them out and leave them out because the Lord will greatly bless you for it.
While all around us sin may remain, we must not allow any of it to reign in our life.
Romans 8, verses 1 and 2.
Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Jesus Christ, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Freedom isn't promised someday.
Freedom has already been given.
Freedom is here.
Freedom is now.
Hallelujah.
Some people are kind of like, man, I hope God sets me free one of these days.
I know when I get to heaven, I'm going to be free.
You're free now.
Praise God.
Has anyone ever unplugged a fan?
Hello.
Have you noticed that when you unplug that fan that the blades keep spinning?
No.
not because there's power, but because there's momentum.
Our habits may continue for a season.
Old temptations may linger, but the power source has been disconnected and eventually the spinning will stop.
Praise God.
Third and lastly this morning, freedom,
requires only daily alignment.
Freedom requires daily alignment.
Romans 6, 13, do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
Offering ourselves to God is an ongoing daily .
Transforms a believer, setting them apart from sin and making them increasingly holy and conform Christ.
I am being sanctified on a daily basis.
And my sanctification is not defined by me.
It's defined by Christ working through me.
And me becoming less and him becoming more.
Me.
Every day.
Imagine, if you will, someone released from prison.
The gates open and they're legally set free.
But if they voluntarily return to the prison every night, they will find themselves living beneath the freedom that has been given.
Don't be like that.
You've been set free by the blood of Jesus.
Now walk in it.
Don't go back.
I'm not going back.
I'm not making a U-turn to go back to where I was.
I've already made a U-turn to follow Jesus.
So if I go back, I haven't made a U-turn to follow Jesus.
I've made a circle.
I haven't made a U-turn to follow Jesus.
Many Christians have been set free spiritually, yet they keep revisiting old prisons, old conversations, old addictions, old bitterness, old guilt.
God says to these individuals, why are you living in a prison I've already unlocked and set you free from?
Why?
Why?
Galatians 5, 16, so I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
How do we not gratify the desires of the flesh?
We walk in the Spirit.
We follow Jesus.
We know the teachings and we follow it.
When the Holy Spirit convicts us, we look for the off-ramp.
We don't say, well, maybe the off ramp would be up there another mile.
I mean, y'all know what I'm talking about when you're traveling, you're on vacation, and it's like you really don't, you're hungry, but you really don't know what you want, and you see the sign, and you're like, yeah, I'll wait for the next one, see if they have better restaurants at the next one.
Don't do that in the Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit leads you to get off the ramp, get off the ramp.
And go where the Holy Spirit's leading you.
It's nothing like being in the presence of God.
The best defense against sin is pursuing Christ, allowing the Holy Spirit to have control of our life.
Ezekiel 36, 27, once again, I wanna read it again.
And I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decree and be careful to keep my laws.
So what God puts in, we must then protect and be careful.
God never intended for us to live the Christian life within our own strength.
We have the Holy Spirit to help us and to guide us and to lead us and empower us.
Romans 8, 11 declares, and if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you.
It's no magic formula.
I don't have to tap dance for Jesus.
Come on, aren't you glad?
Because I don't know how to tap dance.
Praise the Lord.
I don't have to do anything but follow him.
I call on the name of the Lord, I'm saved, and then I follow him.
We talked about it this morning a little bit of how difficult we as humans make salvation sometimes.
we put so many parameters on it we put so many things on it because it's so easy it's too easy and and you know the old antage if it's too good to be true then it's not true okay if it sounds too good to be true it's probably not true well I'm telling I'm gonna tell you this morning it is by faith that you are saved not by works that anyone could boast anyone could brag
So this morning, if you're born again, it's not because of what you've done, it's because of what Jesus did on the cross.
So the work he did, the finished work he did is all it takes.
And what I do is I come in line with that, accept that.
And then my part kicks in when I start to do my works to prove that I believe what he did.
Praise the Lord.
The resurrection power of God is not merely something that we admire, it is something that lives within us.
When we try to overcome sin in our own strength, when we do that, frustration will follow.
But when we yield to the Holy Spirit, we discover that God supplies the strength that we lack.
The Christian life is not about becoming someone that God can love, it's about living as the person God already loved before we even surrendered to him.
Do you realize that he loved you before you were serving him or following him?
It's not a conditional love.
He doesn't say come to me and then I'll love you.
I love you so much that I died for you.
so that you could have a way of escape from hell praise the lord hallelujah glory to god because of christ we are free not merely to escape our past but to live we are free to live a completely new life
Praise God.
Now, if you're here this morning and you've been serving the Lord for a while, but maybe you've hit a rut in your life.
Maybe you've gotten stuck in that rut.
Well, guess what?
Every day is a new day.
Every day we can say, God,
Be with me, forgive me for what I have done that has been against you.
For the sin that I have committed, forgive me of that Lord and cleanse me from it and give me the strength today by the Holy Spirit's power to not commit it again.
And he is faithful, he is true to forgive us and to give us strength.
Our part though is important in this.
God has his part and we have ours.
And our part is this, again, when sin comes, or temptation comes, I should say, when temptation comes, we look for the way of escape.
We listen to the Holy Spirit's prompting, because if you're born again, you have the Holy Spirit leading you and guiding you, and you know His voice.
We don't ignore it.
He is out to protect us.
He is out to build us up.
to keep us from hurt and harm.
God is for us and he's not against us.
And those he's for, no one can be against.
She was waiting on it.
You were waiting on it, weren't you?
It's the truth.
Praise God.
And so we follow him.
We listen to him.
And we're still gonna have hiccups.
We're still gonna have our personalities to deal with and others' personalities to deal with.
But that's where grace comes in.
And I often use the terminology EGR.
Can you tell me what that means, Crystal?
My wife and Crystal both know that.
Crystal works with me and my wife lives with me.
You'll get it in a moment.
They know what extra grace is.
They have extra grace for me.
Praise God.
Hallelujah.
But sometimes we need to have extra grace for that person.
That's okay.
God will give you that extra grace that you need for that person so that you can love them, so that you can be there for them, and so that you can minister Christ to them.
Because in the end, what is every one of our calling?
Every one of our calling today is to minister with our lives the things of God, to be an evangelist with not so much our words, although he will call us to speak at times.
But sometimes he's going to say, keep your mouth shut and live your life.
Let your life be a testimony of my goodness and my grace. Because in the end, what is every one of our calling? Every one of our calling today is to minister with our lives the things of God, to be an evangelist with not so much our words, although he will call us to speak at times. But sometimes he's going to say, keep your mouth shut and live your life. Let your life be a testimony of my goodness and my grace.