Ephesians 4:7-8 - But to each one of us grace was given
according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men.”
Everyone is either a salve to God or a slave to sin. Christ came in order that He might set us free from the captivity of sin and lead us in captivity to Himself. Captivity doesn't sound like a pleasant thing, and if we're talking about captivity to sin, it isn't. But that's the state that every non-believer is in right now. 2 Timothy 2:24-26 says - "The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." Everyone who doesn't know Christ is being held captive by the devil to do his will. But God desires to save us from that and make us His bond-servant. Jesus said in Luke 4:18-19 - “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” Christ came to set us free from the captivity of the devil. Galatians 5:1 says - "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." It was for freedom that Christ set us free. We're free to live as His servants. This may seem like a contradiction but it really isn't. He doesn't want us to be subject to the slavery of sin once again so He gives us the freedom to submit our lives to His authority and live in captivity to Him and be truly free from bondage. "He led captive a host of captives." Christ set us free from our captivity by leading us captive to Himself.
There is a danger though of, once we're free from captivity, using our freedom as an opportunity to sin. And the Scriptures deal with this directly. All I will say about it is this, 2 Peter 2:19 says - "for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved." We need to keep Christ as the center of our focus. We need to be overcome with Christ to keep us from falling again into captivity to sin.
2 Peter 2:19 - "for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved."
Everyone is either a salve to God or a slave to sin. Christ came in order that He might set us free from the captivity of sin and lead us in captivity to Himself. Captivity doesn't sound like a pleasant thing, and if we're talking about captivity to sin, it isn't. But that's the state that every non-believer is in right now. 2 Timothy 2:24-26 says - "The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." Everyone who doesn't know Christ is being held captive by the devil to do his will. But God desires to save us from that and make us His bond-servant. Jesus said in Luke 4:18-19 - “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” Christ came to set us free from the captivity of the devil. Galatians 5:1 says - "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." It was for freedom that Christ set us free. We're free to live as His servants. This may seem like a contradiction but it really isn't. He doesn't want us to be subject to the slavery of sin once again so He gives us the freedom to submit our lives to His authority and live in captivity to Him and be truly free from bondage. "He led captive a host of captives." Christ set us free from our captivity by leading us captive to Himself.
There is a danger though of, once we're free from captivity, using our freedom as an opportunity to sin. And the Scriptures deal with this directly. All I will say about it is this, 2 Peter 2:19 says - "for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved." We need to keep Christ as the center of our focus. We need to be overcome with Christ to keep us from falling again into captivity to sin.
2 Peter 2:19 - "for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved."
No comments:
Post a Comment