Exodus 8:1
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “This is what the Lord says: let my people go, so that they may worship me.”
In Egypt, the children of Israel were slaves of Pharaoh. They were forced to serve him under painful bondage. That is a picture of the life of the unsaved. Without Christ, we are slaves to Satan, sin and this present darkness.
As the Lord demanded His people’s emancipation in order to worship Him, so has the Gospel done. Christ has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col 1:13). We are no longer slaves to sin!
“But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:17-18).
Note that, by definition, slaves have no option but to serve their master. So before we are saved, we serve the devil diligently without any option. Now, salvation in a sense only changes masters. Instead of being under satanic ownership and dominion, when we are born again we come under the loving authority of Jesus Christ our Lord. But now we are “slaves to righteousness”.
That means we have no option but to live right. We are under obligation to live for God. Our duty is to glorify God. We are saved to serve and worship Him. Let us not think worshipping God is optional. Complying with the will of God is not negotiable, Obeying God is not debatable. There is no such thing as a voluntary Christian!
Pastor Josh