Jesus gives us freedom from bondage. This devotion looks at how He releases us from the bondage of evil deeds, disbelief, and not hearing the truth.
Nuggets
- Jesus is the one who saves us from bondage.
- One of the consequences of the original sin was man became separated from God.
- Sin took over this world until the point God had had enough.
- Bondage to sin does change us.
- Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection has been fully documented.
- We come to believe in Jesus by faith.
- If we don’t hear the Truth, we are in bondage to Satan.
Devotions in the What I Believe series
Devotions in the Religious Freedom category
We’ve been using Sunday School Times’ sermon entitled Bondage and Freedom to serve as the foundation for the last two devotions. We do still have one point to pick up at the appropriate time.
In the last devotion, we started also using Sunday School Times’ A Glorious Liberator. I don’t think we are going to be able to complete it in this devotion, either.
Resource
Let's Put It into Context #1
Freedom is, according to the Holman Bible Dictionary, “the ability of a person or group to be and do what they want instead of being controlled by another.” It is also referred to as liberty.
Resource
We talked about liberty before. We said that it runs the gamut, hitting all the things the worldview stresses.
• We do what we please with no authority over us.
• We make our own choices.
• We don’t have to follow rules or limits.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Let's Put It into Context #2
“So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free” (Jn. 8: 36 CSB)
This was the point from the Spiritual Freedom devotion that we deferred to this discussion.
Jesus is the one who saves us from bondage. He did this by shedding His blood on the cross so that it was used to pay the penalty for our sins.
That sacrifice allows us accept the gift of salvation when we believe that Jesus’ death was the only sacrifice that God would accept because Jesus is the only one who never sinned. We are set free by this acceptance.
- “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure” (Ps. 40: 2 ESV). While this verse is usually used in reference to trials, it does describe our salvation from hell when we set our feet in the Rock of our salvation.
- “Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free” (Ps. 118: 5 ESV). God will always answer when we genuinely make a profession of faith.
- “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6: 23 ESV). When we ABCD, we are set free from the punishment if death for our sins.
- “For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave” (I Cor. 7: 22 NIV). We talked in the last devotion that disciples don’t exchange one captivity for another.
The bondage from which Jesus saves us has a couple of different aspects. Jesus saves us from the bondage of evil deeds, disbelief, and not hearing the truth.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Bondage Because of Evil Deeds
“You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies” (Jn. 8: 44 CSB)
One of the consequences of the original sin was man became separated from God. The result put us into bondage with Satan. It also unleashed the devastation of sin on mankind.
That was what Satan was going for — but he used deceptive means to accomplish it. “Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate’” (Gen. 3: 13 ESV).
Did you catch how selfish Adam’s and Eve’s answers were. “Somebody else made me do it.” It is called pass the blame.
Do you think — in that moment — they realized all they had lost and were sorry for it? That meant sorrow had to have been almost instantaneous.
What got them to the bite probably wasn’t. It probably took a while to fester.
Maclaren gave a good explanation. He wrote, “Evil does not spring spontaneously in the unfallen heart. Sin is not, as some would have it, a necessary step in man’s development, nor does it spring from his own nature; it is an importation.”
Resource
It is an importation — it is not native to mankind. It is purposefully carried in from someplace else to take root in the new place.
What is evil? Evil is equated with sin because it is that which goes against God and His purposes.
Unfortunately, sin took root and multiplied.
“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6: 5 ESV)
Sin took over this world until the point God said, “No more.” He had had enough.
Did you see how bad it was? “… every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6: 5 ESV). This wasn’t an occasional occurrence. I read it as every intention of every thought.
I just noticed the only evil. The New Living Translation put it as “… consistently and totally evil” (Gen. 6: 5 NLT). Okay, less words than I had — same gist.
We would say evil was in their hearts 24/7/365. Bondage was total.
“All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (Mk. 7: 23 ESV)
Usually when we think of bondage, we think of the outward chains. This is describing bondage from within.
Bondage to sin does change us. It takes us farther and farther away from where God wants us to be.
No one is free from sin. Everyone in a human body is going to sin.
“You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” (Ac. 13: 10 NIV).
What is happening in this verse is Paul (still named Saul) is telling off a sorcerer. The sorcerer is opposing God’s ministry and attempting to turn the audience against Barnabas and Saul.
The question is pertinent. “… Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” (Ac. 13: 10 NIV).
Satan’s answer is no. He will always try to pervert God’s ways. He will continue to fight until Revelation is fulfilled.
“But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil” (I Jn. 3: 8 NLT).
The bottom line is that those who continue to sin belong to Satan. Even if they don’t acknowledge, “I am following Satan” — they are.
Fisk put it this way. He wrote, “He may be a free member of a free community, but his heart, his intellect, his body, all are bound in unresisting submissiveness to Satan.”
Resource
Remember, if we do not make a conscious decision to choose God’s gift of salvation and submit to Him, we have chosen Satan.
Bondage by Disbelieving the Lord
“Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me” (Jn. 8: 45 CSB)
Disbelief. Satan tries to use this a lot to get us to not accept the gift of salvation.
“Who has believed our message? To whom has the LORD revealed his powerful arm?” (Isa. 53: 1 NLT).
Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection has been fully documented. It is all spread out before us to believe. If we don’t believe, we are still in bondage.
The powerful arm expression, in my way of thinking, is usually expressed as God’s mighty hand and outstretched arm. Meyer said this was referring to “… the active, saving energy of the Most High.”
Resource
God brought the Israelites out of Egypt with His outstretched arm (Ex. 6: 6). Part of Mary’s song goes, “He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts” (Lk. 1: 51 NIV).
“But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me” (Jn. 6: 36 NLT).
The Jews Jesus was talking to saw Him standing right in front of them. We don’t get that.
We come to believe in Jesus by faith. Faith is the belief that the doctrines stated in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them.
Why is faith important? Bushnell wrote, “The grand distinction of Christianity is that it makes its appeal to faith, and upon that rests the promise of salvation.”
Resource
The only way we get salvation is to have the faith to believe what God is telling us. We can’t be skeptical.
Bondage by Not Hearing the Truth
“The one who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God” (Jn. 8: 47 CSB)
We have to listen. As children of God, that is our duty.
If we don’t hear the Truth, we are in bondage to Satan.
That means we have to pay attention. The focus has to be there.
We have to be intentional — my word for last year. We have to be dedicated to seeking God.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
We have to remember. I know. Memorization is hard, but we have to retain what we are hearing and reading.
“For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them” (Mt. 13: 15 NIV)
Those in bondage have a calloused heart. The input may or may not come in through the eyes and ears where it may or may not lodge in the heart.
We’ve said before that obedience has to come from the heart. His laws and commandments are supposed to affect our character or our core – our heart level. We are going for circumcision of the heart.
Glossary
Making the Connections
The gospel is all laid out for us. It is up to us to make a choice.
In order to make an informed choice, we have to review the evidence. It was written in the Essex Remembrancer that “It is right for every man to sift Christian evidence, but he must do so with humility — there must be a teachable.”
Resource
Being teachable means we are to be docile. We’ll looked at that toward the first of the year.
Docile devotions
To read a devotion the The Beatitudes Show Us How to be Docile series, click the button below.
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
We’ve been looking at defending our beliefs when we are witnessing. That means we have to be secure enough to convince someone to accept our beliefs.
Our questions should still serve us to determine on what we need to focus.
- What does the Scriptures say?
- What do I believe?
- Why do I believe the same/differently than the Scriptures?
- What are the talking points when witnessing to a non-believer?
Related Links
I have created a worksheet of the questions above. Click on the button below to access it.
How Do We Apply This?
So, if we are going to be docile, that means we are to be studying God’s Word. That means we are seeking God.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Remember, we just said we have to be intentional about it. We have to have a focus.
If we intentionally seek God, we break free of the bondage of sin. We can only find God through Jesus.
Father. We seek You. Help us find what You would have us know. Amen.
If you have not admitted that your relationship is not right with God,
have not asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior,
and have not confessed your sins,
please read through the Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
Related Links
Related Links
I have created a worksheet of the questions above. Click on the button below to access it.
Don’t know what your spiritual gifts are?
Take this Spiritual Gifts Inventory
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Job Duty #4
Proclaim the Gospel (Mark 16: 15)
Job Duty #6
Make Disciples (Matthew 28: 19-20)
Job Duty #1
Be a Living Sacrifice (Romans 12: 1-2)
Job Duty #2
Work Out Our Salvation (Philippians 2: 12)
Job Duty #3
Bring Him Glory (Matthew 5: 16)
Job Duty #4
Proclaim the Gospel (Mark 16: 15)
Job Duty #5
Love People (John 15: 12)
Job Duty #6
Make Disciples (Matthew 28: 19-20)
Job Duty #7
Other Duties as Assigned
(Ecclesiastes 3: 1)
It Was Enough
Vocalist: Elaine Guthals
Keyboard: Chris Vieth
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email daily or weekly providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.
Pingback: What Is Truth? – Seeking God with Elaine