Free Slave

Free Slave

Romans 6:16-23

The bible says: When I was a child I thought like a child… How do children think?

They think that true happiness is out there in the future when they can leave their parents’ house and rules and control.

They see those rules as chains

They think they will then be able to do what they want, when they want, where they want, how they want, and with whomever they want

Why do they think that way?

2 reasons 1 They are human… it is natural for all humans to want to throw off the chains of restraint and be free

2 They are children… they have not lived long enough to get away from their parents and learn the truth

What is the truth? The truth is what Jesus said in Romans 6:16-23

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.

Look at verses 18 and 22… what truth do they teach?

The Bible declares in no uncertain terms: Everyone is a slave to something…

1. You’re either a slave to sin and free from God

2. Or you’re a slave to God and free from sin.

3. There is no other option open to you.

God’s Word tells us: If you FREE yourself from obeying God, you will be a SLAVE to sin. You can deny it, fight it, reject it – do whatever you wish - it’s still going to be true.

If you are not a servant of God’s, you will be a servant to sin.

For the 18 year old, hot to rip the chains out of the hands of their parents and cast them away and BE FREE

ONLY TO FIND OUT that they do not cast off the chains of captivity… they just take the chains out of the hands of their parents and hand them to others

THEIR BOSS who tells them when to come and go, what they can do and what they can’t, what to wear, where to sit, etc

Their LANDLORD who tells them what they can and can’t do, how much they have to do, where the boundaries are

THE GOVERNMENT who makes rules about how they can spend their money, how they can save it, and takes it away to give it to others

THE CLOCK which rules their day and night, controlling what they do and where they go and disallows them to do what they want with their time

AGE which places increasingly restrictions on everything and takes away more and more of our choices

The truth is… we go from being slaves to our parents to being slaves to others… WE ARE NOT EVER FREE

I remember when I was a child… thinking that I could not wait until I was on my own… I would have a job and money and my parents could not tell me what to do.

But I left home and went to college… and I didn’t have any money and I could not do what I wanted

Eventually I got out of school and thought… now, at last, I’ll be able to do what I want, I will be in charge

But I got married… and had kids… 1…2…3…4…and I still had no money, no control I worked hard and the money was gone before I got it. I had no free time. My time was controlled by little mouths that cried and bellies to be fed and diapers to be changed, and baths to give