Our Lord said in John 8:32: βAnd ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.β To this the religious leaders replied: βWe be Abrahamβs seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free?β But our Lord answered: βVerily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sinβ (Ver. 34). St. Paul says the same thing in Rom. 6:16:
βKnow ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?β
Sad to say, many sincere religious people think that they can free themselves from sin by putting themselves in bondage to the Law, the Ten Commandments. This never works, for the Law can only condemn the sinner. Rom. 3:19,20 declares that the Law was given βthat every mouth may be stopped and that all the world may be brought in guilty before Godβ¦ for by the law is the knowledge of sin.β Again we have to turn to Christ for salvation and true liberty. He βdied for our sinsβ (I Cor. 15:3) and has βredeemed us from the curse of the lawβ (Gal. 3:13).
Having believed this and trusted Christ as Savior, true Christians serve the Lord, not from fear, or to gain favor, but out of sheer love and gratitude. This is true liberty and this service is the only kind that God desires from us. Probably no man ever served the Lord more sincerely or tirelessly than the Apostle Paul. In II Cor. 5:14 he gives us the secret: βThe love of Christ constraineth usβ¦β source
