To Encourage You

Romans 6:16 “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”

Galatians 5:1 “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

Are you free?  There are many definitions of this term.  And there are many misconceptions of this term, especially from a religious or spiritual sense.  Many people despise religion, and in particular the religion of the Bible, because they see it as nothing more than a system of laws and regulations that does nothing more than restrict their freedom.  They want to do what they want to do, and they don’t want anyone placing any restrictions whatsoever on that “freedom.”  No “thou shalt not’s” in their world, so to speak.  However, the Bible makes clear that such a person is not free.  While in a sense they are “free” to do what they want, the fact is that that freedom is only a bondage to sin. 

Each of us comes into this world as a slave of sin.  The fact that we naturally have an adverse attitude to the Law of God and want nothing to do with it is an evidence of this.  Such a person is free only from righteousness in the sense that righteousness, the righteousness of Christ, has no place in their life.  They can’t live a truly righteous life even if they try to, because they are in bondage to a rebellion to righteousness.  And while they live in that bondage, they are inevitably headed for a coming judgment from the righteous Judge who has commanded all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).  The inevitable result for those who are slaves to sin is eternal slavery in Hell.  Such a person was never really free, and they never will be, unless they turn to the only One who can truly set them free.

Jesus declared that one of the reasons He had come into the world was to “proclaim liberty to the captives” (Luke 4:18).  As we are told in Galatians 5 above, “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” By “freedom” here, the Bible is talking about freedom from sin, freedom from death, and freedom from Hell.  In other words, it is freedom from the judgment of God and His righteous Law regarding sin.  It is also talking about freedom from slavery to ceremonial religious laws that so many people in this world believe they must follow in order to escape the judgment of God.  The freedom of Christ is freedom, for the first time, to be able to actually live in a way that brings glory to God. It is the freedom that comes from the new birth, and the freedom that comes as a result of the gift of eternal life. 

The freedom of a Christian is a freedom from the yoke of sin, which is nothing but a wearisome and overwhelming burden that is bound to anyone who doesn’t know Christ.  Christians then find themselves in a new wonderful bondage, a yoking together with Christ, becoming one with Him spiritually.  It’s a relationship in which one will never be forsaken.  It’s a relationship of love in which a person is changed from viewing obedience to Christ as a type of slavery, to viewing such obedience as a privilege and a joy. 

So, are you free, really free, or is your freedom nothing more than a bondage to sin, which only leads inevitably to death?  If you want to be free, turn to the only One who can set you free, “for if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).