Ezr 9:8-9

“But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the LORD our God,
to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place,
that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage.

“For we are slaves;
yet in our bondage our God has not forsaken us,
but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia,
to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God,
to restore its ruins and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

The people of the Lord had been in bondage to Babylon, and now the Medo-Persian, empires.

Still, God had not forsaken them.

The kings of Persia had extended lovingkindness to them to return home and build the house of God…to restore the ruins of the house and the wall of Jerusalem.
The ruin was decades old.
The work was hard.
The work met resistance, as we saw in Nehemiah.

Ezra still considered himself and the people to be slaves in bondage.

Why?

Because, they were still dependent upon the Persians.
And, they were still enslaved to sin and rebellion against the Lord.
We saw that in Daniel 9.

Many professing believers are enslaved today.
Enslaved to fear.
Enslaved to doubt.
Enslaved to anxiety.
Enslaved to the processes of man.
Etc.

Be not enslaved.

Remember…

Gal 4:6-7

Because you are sons,
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

True believers are no longer slaves to sin…

Rom 6:6
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him,
in order that our body of sin might be done away with,
so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;

False believers continue enslaved to sin.

True believers are slaves to righteousness…

Rom 6:18
and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

False believers are not slaves to righteousness.

We all are slaves.
Either to sin.
Or to righteousness.

Which are you?

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