Slaves to Sin

May 18

I Samuel 11-12

Psalm 62:1-8

Proverbs 14:1-2

John 8

Slaves to Sin

“Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.   So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’”  John 8:34-36 LSB

John uses strong language here to convey the effect of sin on our lives. We can all understand how some sins can lead to slavery.  Excessive alcohol and drug use can lead to addiction.  I’m sure we can each think of a family member or friend that has succumbed to the slavery those substances can produce.  Pain, heartache, lies, promises made and not fulfilled, anger, broken relationships, and many other consequences can be traced back to sins that started out “small” and got out of control.  Gambling and pornography can lead to similar forms of slavery.  Addiction is powerful. No matter how hard you may want to quit, it has a grip on you that is debilitating.  Paul sums it up best in Romans 7:18b-20, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”  Unfortunately, this does not just apply to addiction.  It applies to all sin.  No matter what the sin, it has the power to enslave. 

Satan is a great spin-doctor.  One of his most effective lies is to convince us that God’s commandments are intended to enslave us and to keep us from experiencing freedom.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  We have only to examine the consequences of the “sexual revolution” from the 60’s and 70’s to see that it has not led to greater freedom, happiness and contentment, but instead has resulted in increased divorce rates, higher pregnancy rates leading to more abortions, higher incidences of sexually related illnesses and deaths, an increase in pornography and exploitation of women and children, and an increase in human trafficking.  God, in His sovereignty and wisdom knows what is best for us.  His laws are intended to help us experience life to the full.  God knows that sin is not freeing.  Sin always leads to entanglement in a web of lies and deceit.  Sin puts a barrier between us and God and never leads to peace, joy and contentment in our lives.  Laws are intended to protect us.  When everyone does what is right in their own eyes it is inevitable that people are going to get hurt.  Every society and culture has to have laws to survive.  Those laws are necessary to protect us from our own sinful impulses and desires.  We each are ruled by the sinful nature living in us and left to our own devises we will inevitably be enslaved by our own sinful choices.  So how can we be free from the slavery of sin?  Paul gave us the answer, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” Romans 7:24-25 LSB  The more we draw close to Jesus in prayer and daily Bible study, the more He is able to transform our hearts and minds and free us from the slavery of sin.