Slaves of Sin.

     We see the world today clamoring for rights, and freedom to do as they please. It seems that more and more restraint is being cast off, as society becomes "liberated" to be who they really are. That is, who they think they are, the "real me".
     People think that they are free, liberated, not to be bound by rules of  right and wrong. What were considered social stigmas in days gone by, are considered restrictive and irrelevant to the culture of today. God's word, and what it declares has been eroded, and for the most part tossed out, in the name of freedom.
     However, let's take a look at what God's word says about freedom, and what true bondage really consists of.

     So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
     They answered Him, "We are Abrahams descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?"
     Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin."
                                    John 8:31-34 NASB

     Stop here for a moment. Jesus is telling these people that the truths found in His word, when studied and applied to ones life bring freedom. Looking at this from the natural viewpoint, they replied that they had never been enslaved to anyone. Now if you look at the Old testament history of the Jewish people, you will see that often they had been in bondage to various nations such as the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Persians, and were now under the Roman government, True they were not slaves now as in the sense of their slavery in Egypt, but they were not their own nation either, a thing which most viewed with much contempt.
     The natural man does not receive the spiritual things of God (1 Cor 2:14). Just as Nicodemus did not grasp the idea of the new birth (John 3:4), these individuals did not understand that Jesus was speaking of sin, and the enslavement of one to it.
     This crowd was in slavery to sin. This is what Jesus came to free them from (John 8:35-36). He was not pointing them to national liberation, but to a spiritual freedom to walk in newness of life.
     Take a look at what Peter writes about enslavement to sin, as he warns of false teachers who promise "freedom".

     Promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
                                2 Peter 2:19 NASB

     Sounds a lot like the preaching today! There are many so called preachers today who declare that we are free to live as we please because we are under grace. Peter declares the opposite however. Individuals who are living in sin are in fact overcome by sin. They are bound by it. And it is interesting to note that so many of these false teachers of the day are caught in corruption, and scandalous affairs, being exposed as who they really are (1 Timothy 5:24-25).
     Let's take a look at the bondage described by the Apostle Paul in the seventh chapter of Romans. You can read it here, (Romans 7:1-25). I will quote a few verses out of this chapter for this discussion.

     For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
                                          Romans 7:5 NASB

     Paul is speaking of the passion and desires that we all have deep within us. In the unregenerate person, these run out of control, resulting in all manners of sinful behavior. The moral law tends to aggravate these passions. Not that there is any problem with the law, the problem is with us (Romans 8:3). We can all relate to the fact that when we know something to be wrong, all of a sudden we want to do that thing. The law is good, but our passions are aroused, nonetheless (Romans 7:7-8).

     So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
     Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.
                              Romans 7:12-13 NASB

     Our passions and desires become aroused, and grow our of control.  Read what Paul writes to the Ephesians,

     And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
                             Ephesians 2:1-3 NASB

     Peter also writes this,

     For by these He has granted to us  His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
                                    2 Peter 1:3 NASB

     You can see that we are the problem. Corruption enters the world through our selfish desires. Sin is achieved when desire gives birth to it, resulting in spiritual death (James 1:14-15).
     It is our selfish uncontrolled passions that are our downfall. Many say "The devil made me do it." This is not true. He may tempt us, the world may throw attractive things our way, but it is ultimately on us, as we yield to those temptations, to the things that excite our passions.
     This is what Paul is saying about the battle that rages in an individual who knows right and wrong, but cannot live right.

     But we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
     But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the law, confessing that the law is good.
     So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
     But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells within me.
                                 Romans 7:14-20 NASB

     This is the enslavement to sin that occurs when we give in to the sinful desires that lie within us. They are aroused, and no matter how hard we try to suppress them and do what is right, we fail. It is bondage. Paul is not saying that we are no longer responsible for our actions, but that we are now enslaved to our own selfish passions. We have been mastered.

     All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
                             1 Corinthians 6:12 NASB

     How many individuals do you suppose have smoked a cigarette, thinking there was no harm in it, and now have been hooked to a habit for years? They want to quit, but they have been mastered by it.
     How many individuals can go into a buffet, without walking out overstuffed? After three or four trips, most still go back for dessert. Their passion for food has led them to gluttony (Philippians 3:19).
     It is the same for one who bought a scratch ticket, thinking "What is the harm?" Many have come to financial ruin because they could not stop gambling. It has led them to the loss of home and family, but they still cannot quit!

     I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
     Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death.
                                  Romans 7:21-24 NASB

     You see, sin will control you, it will utterly consume your life. You will be enslaved to it. You will find yourself in deeper and deeper, doing things you never thought you could ever be capable of doing. And yet you will be held responsible, because it is your own lustful passions being strengthened as you give in to them.
     Paul's cry for freedom comes from a man who has come to the end of himself. There is only one way to freedom, and that is through Jesus Christ (Romans 7:25). As Jesus said to the crowd,

     "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."
                                           John 8:36 NASB

     Jesus Christ has broken the bondage that sin holds. We must come to Him in repentance and faith to receive the new birth. It is through the power and leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives, through the word of truth, that we can walk in freedom (John 8:31-32. 17:17; Romans 8:2-4; Gal 5:16-25; 1 Peter 1:2; James 1:18).