John 8:34
“Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.”
I remember as a young man going to the local rescue mission once a month to hear my father preach. Every once in awhile he would have me preach to those dear men. I remember standing at the front door shaking the hands of these men who came in, not to hear the preaching, but to get a free meal and a cot to sleep on for the night. The smell on their bodies was bad. When the room was filled, you could smell the body odor and the stench of alcohol. Truly, it was something I’ll never forget.
I remember driving home with my father after the services and asking him why these men would live that way. He responded by telling me that these men lived this way because they were servants of alcohol. They lived their life to serve the desire to have one more drink of alcohol.
What was amazing were the backgrounds of these men. I met men who were once lawyers, doctors and businessmen. Many of these men were at one time contributors to their community, but they became a servant to sin. Sin caused them to lose everything. Sin caused them to leave their homes and live on the streets. Sin caused them to lose their jobs and income. No, they didn’t purposely leave their lifestyles, but sin’s command and their submission to that command is what caused them to eventually lose everything.
God says that “whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” He did not say that you had to commit the sin several times before you become its servant, but the very first time you commit any sin you become its servant. All sin tries to do is to get you to commit it the first time. These men in the rescue mission never saw themselves where they ended up the first time they had a drink of alcohol, but that first drink is what made them a servant to it. It’s not how many times you must commit sin to become its servant, but it’s the first time you commit it that you become its servant.
Moreover, you will find that sin, though you are its slave from the first time, will allow you to enjoy it for a season. Hebrews 11:25 shows us there is pleasure in sin. The only reason sin is allowing you to have pleasure is so that it may bind you in its grip. Proverbs 5:22 says, “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” Once sin binds you, then you no longer have the power to release yourself from its cords.
I don’t know what your sin is, but you do. The Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart at this moment and showing you your sin. It’s that sin that you feel you still control. It’s that sin that you keep on saying that you will quit. What has happened is that you have become its servant. You may never end up on “skid row” away from your family, but it will eventually destroy you.
So, you wonder how you can be delivered from sins cords? Paul wondered the same thing in Romans 7:24 when he said, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” The answer is found in the next verse when Paul says, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Friend, your only hope to being freed from the cords of sin is Jesus Christ. Daily you must yield yourself to Christ and ask Him to control your mind. I encourage you today to stop serving your sin, and yield to the Holy Spirit and let Him lead you into a life of freedom from sin’s grip.