God’s Grace Breaks the Power of Sin!

The following is a short excerpt from Lesson 1 in The Freedom Journey Discipleship Manual on how God’s grace breaks the power of sin.

It is important to understand that salvation in Christ is fundamentally salvation from sin. There are various aspects of the gospel that touch different parts of our lives, and all of these facets are valuable and needed. But at its root, receiving the gospel brings deliverance from sin, both its penalty and its power.

• • “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

It is also important to understand that we cannot overcome sin in our own strength—that is why we need a Savior. It is only through the power of God’s grace that we can walk in victory and freedom. When we receive God’s grace in our hearts, we are changed from the inside and sin begins to lose its grip. Grace is not simply God’s unmerited favor toward us—it is also His enabling power. What the law could not do in freeing us from sin, grace accomplishes in us.

• • “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:14)

Apart from God’s saving grace at work in us, our very nature is bent toward sin. This will manifest in either obvious ways such as rebellion, immorality, and outward wickedness or in subtle ways such as pride, self-righteousness, and legalism. We need to be saved from self and from sin, and that is exactly what the gospel does. This happens both in an immediate way at salvation and through an ongoing process of transformation after salvation.

The Importance of Repentance

One of the keys for freedom from sin is genuine repentance. This means that we see sin for what it is, have a genuine change in our hearts and minds about it, and turn away from it. A good way to define repentance is a change of heart and mind that leads to a change in behavior.

Sometimes people are trying to change their behavior, but they haven’t yet changed their mind and heart about the area of sin they are seeking freedom from. Or maybe they feel guilty for getting caught in their sin or upset about the consequences of their sin, but they are yet to truly hate the sin itself. This all speaks to the need for truer and deeper repentance. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, show us what it truly looks like in His eyes, and lead us into a place of genuine repentance.

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