SOVEREIGN JOY

Rom.6:20-22 – For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

One of the controversies that has been present since the earliest days of the church is connected to Paul’s message of grace. There are those who think grace is a free ticket to live however we want, after all ‘this is the way God made me’. Then there are those on the other side that believe that since I have been crucified with Christ and I have the revelation of the cross that I no longer sin. Paul dealt with all of these issues as well as Augustine, Luther, and Jonathan Edwards in their day. What is the Biblical position of this issue of freedom from sin? I have found a solid foundation in the teachings of Augustine on this matter. This is one of Augustine’s greatest quotes on freedom from sin.

“During all those years [of rebellion], where was my free will? What was the hidden, secret place from which it was summoned in a moment, so that I might bend my neck to your easy yoke? . . . How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose! . . . You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. [There’s the key phrase and the key reality for understanding the heart of Augustinianism.] You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure , though not to flesh and blood, you who outshine all light, yet are hidden deeper than any secret in our hearts, you who surpass all honor, though not in the eyes of men who see all honor in themselves. . . .O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.”

This is the essence of our final freedom from the snares of sin. Sin’s power is found in pleasure. It is the pleasure found in knowing the Lord that liberates us from sin’s pull. Augustine nailed it, knowing Jesus is sweeter than all earthly pleasures, it is His sweetness that has totally set us free.