Rise Of The Servant KingsSample

The Father of Lies

We cannot be successful as followers of Jesus until we understand that we have a wicked nature from which we must turn. When Adam and Eve sinned in Genesis 3 and God announced curses on mankind and nature, He was not doling out punishment. He was declaring the consequences of sin. If my son drives drunk and crashes his car, breaking his leg, and I say, “Now you’re going to miss the wrestling season,” I’m not punishing him. I’m simply explaining the consequences of his actions. 

As humans, we want to do good, but we do evil instead. We want to be kind and generous, but something else lurks inside—something that drives us to take and destroy. We fight our own sin nature, the consequences of sin in the Garden.

Jesus died to free us from this state and sent His Spirit to keep us free. As believers, we no longer are slaves to sin; the victory has been won—our sin nature is dead! We still commit sins, but we no longer are compelled to sin by a sin nature. Sin loses its appeal as we grow in Christ and begin to see the world through His eyes. The apostle Paul wrote of this state of desperation and the joy of Christ’s freedom in Romans 7. Christ’s death means we no longer need to suffer the consequences due us.

As we grow as Christians, the Holy Spirit continues to conquer any inclination in us to sin, reminds us of our new nature in Christ, and helps us become a true reflection of God’s image. We begin to learn how to become servant kings. 

Yet too many men today are doing life as if it’s a preseason football game. We think that because we’ve received Christ and can’t lose our salvation, there is nothing left but to seek our own pleasures. We do the best we can to follow the rules, but it really doesn’t count, does it? 

But life is the playoffs, not the preseason. And when the game’s over, we get only one shot to hear Jesus say, “Well done, my son!” So let us do the work that God gave us and, with it, experience the joy and reward of serving our Lord. 

Describe a time when you experienced Christ’s freedom from your desire to sin.