“But God
be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from
sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” – Romans 6:17-18
It does
not matter who you are in this world, everyone is a servant. King or
pauper, prince or merchant, young or old, rich or poor; we all serve somebody
or something. We are all a servant of the devil or of God. If you
are living in sin you are a servant of the devil. That’s not the way you
think about living in sin; “I am a servant of the devil.” Nevertheless,
the scripture places you in bondage under Satan when you have sin within; but
thank God, we were not left out without a deliverer!
The
children of Israel were in cruel bondage for hundreds of years. They were
forced to work and labor without wages. They were stripped of their
freedom and ability to serve their God like they should. When you’re a
servant or slave, you can’t just pick up and go out to dinner on a random
Tuesday, or skip off to visit your friends on the weekends. There is no
vacation time, or salary, or Christmas bonus. Your entire life is
mastered by your master. They drive you, they govern you, they decide
your life and in many cases I am sure; your death. The children of Israel
were servants to the Egyptians; and then Moses came along. Moses is a
type and a shadow of Jesus Christ. He is a deliver, redeemer, and guide
to the Israelites. When he comes to Egypt and begins telling Pharaoh what
God is going to do, at first it is not well received by the Israelites (because
it was not well received by Pharaoh). However, things start to happen and
ten plagues later the self-same people that were enslaving them are literally
throwing their possessions at the Israelites as they beg them to leave town.
Not long after the Israelites departure, Pharaoh begins to realize that
he just told his nation's workforce to leave, and sends the best of his army
after them. They find them at the bank of the Red Sea and just when it
looks like the Israelites have no place to turn, God parts the waters and they
cross to the other side. When Pharaoh’s army pursues, the waters recede
and they are drowned in the Red Sea. The Israelites, who are now watching
the entire thing play out on the far bank, begin to see the bodies of their
persecutors washing up on the bank. When the reality of the situation
begins to sink in, and the gravity of their deliverance takes hold; they begin
to sing. They sing a song of salvation, deliverance; they sing and
glorify God. The likeness of the enslavement of the Israelites to the sin
in our own lives is unavoidable. We, each one of us, individually, can
have a “Red Sea” experience. When you come into this world, you come with
sin in your heart and we exhibit the traits of such sin by committing sin.
This is a sad story, but what is far more depressing is that the devil
tricks us into loving our sinful state of enslavement. By any means
necessary he would deceive us into believing that this bondage and enslavement
is the best we can do in this life. He tells us that we are happy in our
sin because we are doing “exactly what we want to do”. Furthermore, he
tells us that if we turn our lives over to God that we will be enslaved and not
get to do what we want to do. He has the world brainwashed into thinking
that his lash is a message and that your labors for him are a workout. “It
is all for you!” He says. This lie consists until the preaching of Jesus
comes, and you begin to see the life that is in righteousness. The
liberty that is in serving Christ; when you become convinced that Jesus is the
way, truth, and life. When you decided to follow Him, like the Israelites
followed Moses, then and only then can you find deliverance.
We can spend our life slaves to sin, or we can
be delivered. Deliverance is in a decision. It is a decision to
follow Jesus, and believe His word. You must confess that you are a
sinner and in need of forgiveness; forsaking your sin. Christ will
forgive. Then you must press on to receive the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit, purging out the inbred sin within and giving you the power to live Holy.
Jesus will give you a “Red Sea” experience. He can take you out of
sin and into a life of righteousness. He can bring you to a place where
you say “I was a servant of sin, but now I am a servant of righteousness.”
