The Purpose
Sunday, April 12
Teaching Series: The Blood of Jesus
As sinners we are held in bondage to the consequences of sin. Yet, through the finish work of the cross, Jesus has set us free from the bondage of sin.
Problem – Bondage
The Bible says that sin has a grip on us in a way we often do not recognize. The sorry truth is that all people, whether they are aware of it or not, “are slaves to sin, which leads to death” (Romans 6:16).
We often get frustrated trying to live a good life. The harder we try to do what is right, the more we seem to fail. Just as we get one part of life under control, we find ourselves falling short in another area. Our bondage to sin only leads us deeper into slavery so that it becomes harder and harder to do what is right. The Prodigal Son is an example of this (Luke 15:11-24).
In every way, the sin nature works against our efforts to live right. Sin has wrapped its chains around the life of every human. Jesus said, “I tell you the solemn truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34).
The Apostle Paul says, “For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18). The “flesh” refers to our sin nature. This is a radical confession of the truth that nothing we think, feel, or do is good. If all people are born with a sin nature, everything they do is a product of sin and, therefore, evil in the sight of God. Even our “good” deeds are sin in the sight of God. All people are slaves to sin.
Not only are we slaves to sin, the Bible speaks of man as being a slave to Satan. The devil manipulates man by temptation and pride to accomplish his ends. Satan works very hard to convince man that he is inherently good. The Bible says that people need to “come to their senses and escape the devil’s trap where they are held captive to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:26).
Just because man is a slave to sin and Satan, does not justify a devilish lifestyle. God still holds everyone responsible for the choices they make. But being slaves does create a dilemma. The sort of perfection man needs to enter the presence of God is far beyond man’s capability to achieve.
Promise – Redeemed and Set Free
For centuries man had been a slave to Satan’s will. Through blatant lies, imitation of the truth, even the denial of his own existence, Satan had manipulated mankind for his own purposes. But even without Satan’s influence, man could not live a perfect life. Man was a slave to sin.
But then Jesus came and redeemed us. It is difficult for us to grasp the rich significance of this word if we do not understand its association with ancient slavery. Let me explain.
A wealthy man would go to the slave market to buy a slave. There he would see the captives chained, humbled, and broken, each being sold for a given sum. The man would pay the asking price, and the slave would become his. So far this was nothing unusual, but now the story takes an interesting twist. On rare occasions the new owner would then take his new slave out of the slave market, break off the chains and set him free. When this happened it was said that the slave had been redeemed.
This is what Jesus Christ did for us. We were bound by the chains of sin and Satan in the slave market of life. We were helpless to deliver ourselves. But then Jesus came and purchased us, paying the price with His own blood. He took us out of the market, broke off the chains, and set us free.
You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed – not by perishable things like silver or gold, but by precious blood like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb, namely Christ. (1 Peter 1:18-19)
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”). (Galatians 3:23)
In him [Jesus Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. (Ephesians 1:7)
Once enslaved, I have now been bought with Jesus’ blood and set free. I am no longer a slave to Satan’s purposes. I am no longer a slave to sin. Jesus Christ is my Redeemer.
Paradox – Christ’s Slave
Every Christian is a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17), no longer living the old life of sin and slavish obedience to the inherited sin nature. However, being set free is only part of it, there is more.
Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to, and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. (I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. So what benefit did you reap from those thing that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:16-23)
Before we were saved, we were the slave of sin. But now that we have received Jesus Christ as Saviour, we are freed from that old slavery to sin. Jesus Christ is our Lord, our Master. We are now the servants of righteousness.
It’s all a matter of to whom we are a slave. You see, unless you could purchase your own freedom, you were a slave. You could be bought and sold in the marketplace. You might have a good and kind owner. You might have an evil and cruel owner. But at the end of the day, someone still owned you. You were not free. So it is with our freedom in Christ. We cannot purchase our freedom. Our ownership has changed. But at the end of the day, someone still owns us. We are not owned by sin. Thank God! We are owned by righteousness. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Believers have been set free from sin and are no longer slaves to it, but are slaves to righteousness. Because they are alive to God and have eternal life they should present themselves to Him and live accordingly, not letting sin master them.
The Blood of Jesus series