Freedom & Its Cost
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With freedom theres a cost.
And with bondage there is a cost.
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
The cost of liberty cost Jesus His life.
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
We are called to liberty. In our liberty we are called to love by serving one another.
The enemy wants to rob us of out liberty.
And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage),
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.
Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
But theres a cost with living in bondage
For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
This is the last plague but also the most detailed one. And clearly the most horrific one.
But also a plague that could’ve been avoided.
7 They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the animal.
The passover was means of deliverence and excepting death. But it also was a feast.
Some same way Christ blood is a means of redemption for believers.
And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.
He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
And that night at midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn son of the prisoner in the dungeon. Even the firstborn of their livestock were killed.
This tenth plague is described to have happened at midnight.
The Lord struck down all the first born sons in the land of Egypt.
The first born son of Pharaoh, the first born son of a prisoner.
And all the first born son in between.
Even the first born the livestock.
God had destroyed the favored sons of families in every part of society.
From royalty to political prisoner. Struck down by the Lord Himself.
This was beyond tragic. Imagine
Pharaoh and all his officials and all the people of Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout the land of Egypt. There was not a single house where someone had not died.
The fact there was loud wailing doesn’t mean the first born suffered while dying. For all we know the deaths was quite death.
The reason everyone (generally speaking, at least) got up during the night may simply have been because most had heard about the prediction that their firstborn would die at midnight.
So most parents knew that this plague was coming and they stayed up to see if these thins where true.
Imagine a parent getting up and pacing back and forth and periodically checking on there son making sure they where okay and finding out they were dead.
Imagine if that happened in Edgewood. Wailing from house to house.
“Wailing” (ṣĕʿāqāh) is the same term God used of the outcry of the Israelites under their bondage (3:7, 9). Now it was the Egyptians’ turn, in a full and dramatic reversal of fortunes.
Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron during the night. “Get out!” he ordered. “Leave my people—and take the rest of the Israelites with you! Go and worship the Lord as you have requested.
Moses and Aaron didn’t have to request that they should Pharoah demanded that they leave.
God had commanded that Pharoah would let Israel of go.
So I will raise my hand and strike the Egyptians, performing all kinds of miracles among them. Then at last he will let you go.
Then the Lord told Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. When he feels the force of my strong hand, he will let the people go. In fact, he will force them to leave his land!”
Take your flocks and herds, as you said, and be gone. Go, but bless me as you leave.”
For Pharaoh waged war against God now he’s paying the price.
They dig a deep pit to trap others, then fall into it themselves.
We dig a pit when one is complying with evil.
And once that pit is dug out we lead others in deception of that evil.
The practice of making pitfalls was anciently not only employed for ensnaring wild beasts, but was also a stratagem used against men by the enemy, in time of war. The idea, therefore, refers to a man who, having made such a pit, whether for man or beast, and covered it over so as completely to disguise the danger, did himself inadvertently tread on his own trap, and fall into the pit he had prepared for another.
