God Has Redeemed You from Slavery

[This post is an elaboration on a point in my sermon “The Consolations of God in the Gospel” from Acts 13:13–52. You can also see the distillation of that sermon in this post].

 

Acts 13:17
and with uplifted arm [God] led them out of [Egypt].

 

God redeemed you from slavery. Just as Egypt enslaved Israel, sin enslaved you:

 

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34).

 

You made a practice of sinning like the Hebrews in Egypt made a practice of making bricks. That is, practicing sin was all you could do because you were a slave to it. Sin ruled over and oppressed you in the way Egypt ruled over and oppressed Israel. And just like the Hebrews, who could not deliver themselves by their own power, you could not deliver yourself from your sinful flesh. You were dead in it, and you willingly went along with it,

 

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world (Ephesians 2:1–2).

 

Any time you had a mind to stop making bricks, your oppressive task master (your sinful flesh) whipped you into submission. You were a slave to sin, following the ways and orders of the world. Therefore, as a slave to sin who followed the ways of the world, you were also a slave to the false god of this world, Satan (1 John 5:19),

 

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked…following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2).

 

Satan enslaved you. Not only were you taking marching orders from your oppressive task master—your sinful flesh—as a slave to sin, you were doing so under the oppressive rule of Satan himself. With every sin, you were doing his bidding and carrying out his desires like Israel did for Pharoah. Or, like an obedient child carrying out his father’s wishes,

 

“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires” (John 8:44).

 

Satan enslaved you. And because you were a slave to sin and Satan, there is another who also enslaved you and ruled over you—death,

 

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…(Romans 6:16),

 

For the wages of sin is death…(Romans 6:23).

 

Death enslaved you. Sin, Satan, and Death are the three rulers who enslaved you. And like the people of Israel who found themselves actually wanting to remain enslaved to Egypt (Exodus 14:11–12)—like a hostage with Stockholm syndrome—you aligned yourself to your slave masters. You were a willing slave and prisoner, happy to do their bidding. You were not strong enough to break the bonds of Sin and Death. You were not strong enough to overcome the strong man, Satan, who held you in those bonds. But Jesus was. And Jesus came to overpower Satan, bind him, and shatter your twin fetters of Sin and Death to set you free from your slave prison (Mark 3:27; Luke 4:18–21; see Isaiah 61:1). How did Jesus perform this great feat of power and strength? Shockingly, through death.

God, with uplifted arm—just he as spared Israel in the plague by the blood of the Passover lamb, just as he parted the chaotic waves of the Red Sea to lead Israel out of Pharoah’s ruthless rule—passed over you by the blood of Jesus on the cross, parting the chaotic waves of Sin and Death, leading you out of Satan’s clutches and into freedom in him,

 

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery (Hebrews 2:14–15).

 

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:22–23).

 

God has redeemed you from slavery. This is a gospel consolation for you.