TWO CHAINS

Genesis 4:7 If you do well, will you not have honour? and if you do wrong, sin is waiting at the door, desiring to have you, but do not let it be your master. BBE

Did you know that sin desires to have you? Sin desires to have you, it desires to have me, it desires to have all men.

Jesus even told the Apostle Peter: "Satan has desired to have you" [Luke 22:31].

When the Bible here speaks of sin "desiring" something, it is speaking about the Devil, who is the root of all sin, the one who has sinned from the beginning.

What does the devil desire of us? He wants us to be his servants, he wants us to be his slaves. He wants to be OUR Master.

SIN IS A CHAIN

Proverbs 5:22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

I have often used the illustration that Satan has chains wrapped around the sinner's neck and he is pulling him down to hell; and this is the illustration given in this verse. Sin is the cord by which Satan controls people.

When we let sin conceive in our heart Satan finds a place to hook his chain. And he begins to pull you and to control you. In the Book of Acts sin is called a bond or chain [Acts 8:23].

HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN THE SERVANTS OF THE DEVIL?

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Because of the Fall of Adam, all of mankind is now born with a sin nature. They are born with a disposition to serve sin [Psalms 51:5].

So you are born with a sin problem, and as you go through life that problem is going to mature and perfect its self by practice and use. Now let me assure you friends of this one thing, once Satan gets his hooks in you, you cease to control the Sin, and the Sin begins to control you.

SIN CONTROLS THE SINNER

Romans 7:14-17 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I... Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Here is the life of the one who is under bondage to sin, in their hearts they want to do "good", they hate their "sin", yet what they hate they do; and what they think is "good", they don't do.

Now if you're doing something that you don't REALLY want to do, then that means you are not controlling your own life; it means that you have a Master over you causing you to do wrong. Who is this Master? It can be no other than "Sin" or "Satan".

Do you know what it means to be addicted? To be addicted is to be a slave to something or someone. A person that is "Addicted" may want to "Stop", but they can't stop. They are not controlling the habit, but the habit has control of them.

SLAVES TO SIN

John 8:31-34 ... Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant [slave] of sin.

Here Jesus makes the "Slavery" of sin very plain. The one who commits sin is a slave to that sin. And it doesn't matter what that sin is!

We often think about 'drugs' and alcohol, but how about lust, how about covetousness, how about the love of money, how about in-contentment? Whatever the sin is, it is a chain by which Satan rules over you.

THE CHAIN BREAKER

John 8:35-36 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Jesus Christ is the only remedy to free you from the slavery of sin; there is no other remedy in the world today. The Bible says: "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission".

Jesus Christ is the only one who can TRULY make a man free from the slavery of sin.

THAT IS WHY JESUS DIED

Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Jesus came into the world to "Save his people from their sins". If there was some other way to be saved from the slavery of sin then God wouldn't have given his only begotten Son.

If there was a way to be freed from sin God could have just shown people the formula and not let his Son hang on a cross.

We have already seen that "WILL POWER" cannot overcome sin. Because the Sin will MAKE YOU do what you don't want to do. Will power cannot free you from sin.

Jesus is the only way to be saved from the power of sin. He came into the world to save Sinners; Save sinners from what? "Their sins"!

SALVATION IS FREEDOM

1st John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Who is the master of those who practice sin? The Devil. Why was Jesus manifested? To destroy the works of the devil. Jesus Christ destroys the work of the devil in the lives of those who put their trust in him. Jesus Christ not only forgives you, but he

also comes to live inside of your heart, and he has ALL POWER, and with that power he breaks the chains of the devil in your life.

SIN WILL NO LONGER HAVE DOMINION

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Does sin have any dominion over those who are under the grace of GOD? Absolutely not. If you are under the grace of GOD, then that means you have accepted the free gift of salvation, and Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. You are under Christ's dominion and not Satan's.

FREEDOM FROM SIN

1st Corinthians 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

I want to focus on verse eleven, where he says: "And such were some of you". Whom is he talking to? He is talking to the Christian people of Corinth right? What kind of people did these Christians use to be? The bad of the bad, right? And then what happened? They believed upon Jesus Christ and he washed them, sanctified them, and justified them! He freed them and changed them by His wonderful Spirit.

THE CHAIN OF CHRIST

Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

The Christian is not freed from all that binds, but the truly free Christian is bond tightly to Jesus Christ. He is a bond servant to Christ, and serves him out of love. He is yielded to the Spirit of GOD, and is thus obedient to the Commands of the Word.

WE ARE SERVANTS TO WHOM WE OBEY

Romans 6:16 Know 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?

Romans 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

CHRISTIANS ARE NOT TO ENTANGLE THEMSELVES IN THE OLD YOKE

Galatains 5:1 ¶ Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

NO ONE IS BORN A CHRISTIAN

You see friends, no one is 'born a Christian'. We are all born into sin, and that is why we must be "Born again" [John 3:3]. Without Christ men are slaves to sin; some people's sins are more evident than others, but we ALL are born into this world with our backs to GOD. We all go through life at least for a time, under the bondage of sin and the devil.

I'm thankful that Jesus didn't look down here and say: "These people over here aren't that bad, I want to save them". No, he looked down and knew that we ALL were bad, and yet he loved us enough that he came and died for our sins so that we could be forgiven and delivered from sin.

If you will trust in the Lord he will do all of this for you. This is how to be saved: You must believe that Jesus is the Son of GOD, you must believe that Jesus died for your sins, that he was buried and that God raised him up the third day [1st Corinthians 15:1-4]. If you believe these things then simply call upon his name and ask him to save you. If you place your trust in him he promises to save you. The only thing he wants to take from your life is your sin. In fact that is the only thing that Jesus comes to destroy!

The Bible says in Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Will you not call upon him today and be saved?