Slaves of Sin or Slave of Righteousness?

Introduction:

Slavery has been around for an awfully long time since ancient times. People that were enslaved had to follow their masters’ rules and had to diligently obey them. Some slave masters were good/decent to their slaves, however, their were others that were cruel and abused their power against their own slaves.

When reading the Old Testament, we have a prolong list of Israel’s disobedience/lack of faith towards the Lord, which leads them to be defeated/overtaken by their enemies. We can examine God’s people have been:

Oppressed by Pharaoh, king of Egypt (Exod 1:8-22).

Before the destruction of Jericho, God commanded Israel when they overtake the city of Jericho, they were to ONLY take all the gold silver, vessels of bronze and iron, and consecrate to God, for they shall come into the treasury of the Lord (Josh. 6:19). However, Achan, the son of Camri, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things in Jericho that God told the people not to plunder (Josh.6:18); this lead to Israel being defeated by the hands of a small nation which was Ai (Josh. 7:4, 5).

In the Book of the Judges, which the main theme states, “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes” (Judg. 17:6). Which clearly indicates that whatever what was right or wrong, the children of Isreal would approve it, because it is due to the fact that their minds have wandered away from their 1st love (Rev. 2:4,5). There is a repeating cycle with Israel’s disobedience and faithlessness from the Almighty God: Isreal would fall away from God, which leads the Lord to send His people under enemy rule, for now. Then God’s people, would cry out to Him, which He (God) would raise up a deliverer to liberate Israel from the bondage from their enemies’ clutch! Next, Israel would start to keep the Lord’s statues and commandments once again. And the land will be at peace for about 8-40 years, moreover, Isreal would again start the cycle over by neglecting the Law and going back to their old sinful ways!

Israel’s disobedience and love for idolatry lead the Lord to send the Northern kingdom in the hands of the Assyrians (2 Ki. 17:6-8) and then the Babylonians for 70 years (2 Ki. 24:10-16; Jer 24:1-52).

There are more events in the Old Testament that shows Israel’s ignorance toward the Lord. However, seeing the events that had taken place with Israel, the sins they committed led: to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, to the Judges era, to the United/divided kingdoms, to the northern/southern captivities, etc. It just shows that when the people of Israel rejected God and His commandments, they rejected His plan of Salvation to them.

And when looking at today’s society, we see many people in the world that don’t follow what the Word of truth says, many are enslaved by: their cellular devices, smoking, drinking, being lovers of money, etc. Even in the work place some coworkers, everyone (including Christians) might be influenced/enslaved by the temptations/lusts by the people we work with. Moreover, the material things we are attached to starts to be a habit, then it is hard to resist; it leads us away from God and serving Him. And in due time their would be a better Law than the 1st.

Shifting gears to the New Testament, when looking in the gospel of John, Jesus was speaking to the scribes and the Pharisees, He told them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin, is a slave to sin” (Jn 8:34). We can tell from that verse that sin separates us from God and the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23a). Unless if we want to make a change of heart/ways from sin, we MUST abide in God’s Word and being a steward for Him, then we should aim for the upward prize that the gift of God is eternal life from Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6:23b); when we dive into the Scriptures, apply what the Bible teaches and know the truth it will set us free (Jn. 8:32). The scribes and Pharisees didn’t understand the meaning what Jesus was stating, since they are teachers of the Old Law (the law of Moses); other than they know, there was going to be a new law that will be better than the 1st!

The Jews that were under the Mosaic law had to follow manifold restrictions, which means, the law of Moses had limits that were greatly narrowed fortunately, the law was there for a short time, until Jesus came along to the scene. It states, in the book of Galatians, Paul preaches to the church of Galatia, “that before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So, then, the law was our guardian until Christ came. in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in so Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female, for you are all on in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:23-29). The Law of Moses wasn’t going to be around till the end of time; we are no longer under the discipline of the Mosaic institution but we are under the law of Christ unto the end of time! Jesus never intended to get rid of the law of Moses but to fulfill it, which Jesus stated that, “Do not think i have come to destroy the law of the Prophets; i have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5:17). Jesus exclaimed that he was going to complete the Law and put a new law in, that new law was going to be established when He died on the day of His Crucifixion!

Furthermore, we read in Peter’s account that he addresses, about suffering as a Christian, how we are going through fiery trails, persecutions, slander, etc. (1 Pet. 4:12-19). The Bible talks about how we stumble, how we are slaves to sin and being enslaved by other individuals outside of the body of Christ due to our faith with God.

Christians then and now deal with the temptations the devil throws at us; he’ll do anything to throw us off that narrow road that leads to eternal life (Matt. 7:14). And Satan is always at work to lead us to the broad path that leads to damnation (Matt 7:13); his desire is for the Christian is to backtrack and be enslaved by his evil schemes. However, the apostle James states, “resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Jesus even states that when there are brothers and sisters in Christ that are being persecuted, they are blessed due to their faith because their reward will be great in heaven (Matt. 5:10-12).

And going back to the beginning of the sermon, we learned that Israel being a stiffed-necked and a hard people to work with. Even though that they had sinned and they had to suffer the consequence for the actions that they committed which lead to their captivities; they cried out to the Lord, they had a change of heart and the Lord will deliver them out of the pot holes that Israel dug themselves into.

When it comes to the world today, with the physical commodities that we are enslaved to, we need to resist the things that are on the earth and search for the things that are above (Col. 3:2). So, put down your phones, throw away anything that will be toxic with your Christian walk, and start a healthy/spiritually habit like: reading God’s Word daily, praying earnestly, applying the New Testament law in our lives, help those that are struggling in the faith and especially those that are spiritually lost, etc.

Throughout the Bible, many Biblical examples from the Old and New Testament have fallen into the clutches of sin repeatedly, yet, they have gotten back on their feet, went from slaves of sin to something much better than the physically desires of the world, slaves of righteousness! We can be redeemed through Christ (Eph. 1:7,8).

Christians that follow the Word of the Lord will be tested and tried! We will stumble as followers/imitators of Christ, however, we have the choice who to be enslaved by, slaves of sin or slaves of righteousness! The choice is yours!