Written by Don Byrd
There can be no liberty aside from the grace of God.
“For ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear; but
ye have received the Spirit of adop-
tion, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”
(Romans 8:15). What is the spirit of
bondage? Israel was in bondage in
Egypt for four hundred years. It is
obvious that if a child was born to
an Israelite in Egypt they were born
into slavery. One of the traits of the
flesh is to find a way to make itself
comfortable even under the most
adverse circumstances. It is not
an unreasonable thing to attempt
to live without causing any undue
burdens upon one’s self. The Isra-
elites learned how to please their
taskmasters by obeying every wish
and command given to them, thus
alleviating any discomfort.
What
they did was learn how to be good
slaves. They found ways to please
their taskmasters and this obedi-
ence to their taskmaster alleviated
any undue burdens. Their lives were in the hands of the Egyptians, so the thing to do was keep them
happy. It was not something they
wanted to do to please themselves,
but to please their taskmasters. This
condition for Israel lasted four hun-
dred years while in Egypt.
“And the children of Israel said unto
them, Would to God we had died by
the hand of the LORD in the land of
Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots,
and when we did eat bread to the
full; for ye have brought us forth into
this wilderness, to kill this whole as-
sembly with hunger” (Exodus 16:3).
This became the spirit of the Isra-
elites who were previously under
bondage in Egypt. The way to make
it easy on yourself is to please your
taskmaster; keep them happy and
things will be much easier. Within
a matter of a just a few days, of be-
ing liberated from Egypt, they be-
came dissatisfied with living in the
desert. Many cried out to go back to
Egypt, that life in Egypt was not as
cruel as living in the desert because
they had learned how to please
their taskmasters and thus making
it easy on themselves.
It is obvious that something was
wrong, but most did not realize
what. Israel was now in the des-
sert and was very unhappy with
the conditions. How do they make
things better? They do whatever
their taskmaster wants and when
he is happy their lives will be eas-
ier and better.
Now they are not under Egyptian taskmasters, but
are totally under God’s care. What
they need to do is find out what He
wants them to do and obey it and
their lives will be much easier. In
other words, God became their new
taskmaster in the wilderness. This
was the spirit of bondage that was
developed in them and followed
them out of Egypt.
This same principle has entered
into Christianity because of the
commingling of law and grace as
preached by preachers. Most Chris-
tians think that the born-again be-
liever must be obedient to the law,
its statutes, commands, and pre-
cepts. This is nothing more than
what Israel did while in bondage in
Egypt. Most Christians think that
they must obey the law. God is not
our taskmaster demanding obedi-
ence to laws, statutes, precepts, or
commands! However, this kind of
thinking is due to a lack of under-
standing of the realm of the eter-
nal work of the cross and its grace.
Grace provides a freeborn birth-
ing from God our Father through
“Christ in you” both now and for-
evermore. Born again believers
need to begin to live life on earth
through this “free born” grace prin-
ciple. All things to all men but only
one thing to our Father—we are His
free born sons!
There can be no liberty aside from the grace of God.
“For ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear; but
ye have received the Spirit of adop-
tion, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”
(Romans 8:15). What is the spirit of
bondage? Israel was in bondage in
Egypt for four hundred years. It is
obvious that if a child was born to
an Israelite in Egypt they were born
into slavery. One of the traits of the
flesh is to find a way to make itself
comfortable even under the most
adverse circumstances. It is not
an unreasonable thing to attempt
to live without causing any undue
burdens upon one’s self. The Isra-
elites learned how to please their
taskmasters by obeying every wish
and command given to them, thus
alleviating any discomfort.
What
they did was learn how to be good
slaves. They found ways to please
their taskmasters and this obedi-
ence to their taskmaster alleviated
any undue burdens. Their lives were in the hands of the Egyptians, so the thing to do was keep them
happy. It was not something they
wanted to do to please themselves,
but to please their taskmasters. This
condition for Israel lasted four hun-
dred years while in Egypt.
“And the children of Israel said unto
them, Would to God we had died by
the hand of the LORD in the land of
Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots,
and when we did eat bread to the
full; for ye have brought us forth into
this wilderness, to kill this whole as-
sembly with hunger” (Exodus 16:3).
This became the spirit of the Isra-
elites who were previously under
bondage in Egypt. The way to make
it easy on yourself is to please your
taskmaster; keep them happy and
things will be much easier. Within
a matter of a just a few days, of be-
ing liberated from Egypt, they be-
came dissatisfied with living in the
desert. Many cried out to go back to
Egypt, that life in Egypt was not as
cruel as living in the desert because
they had learned how to please
their taskmasters and thus making
it easy on themselves.
It is obvious that something was
wrong, but most did not realize
what. Israel was now in the des-
sert and was very unhappy with
the conditions. How do they make
things better? They do whatever
their taskmaster wants and when
he is happy their lives will be eas-
ier and better.
Now they are not under Egyptian taskmasters, but
are totally under God’s care. What
they need to do is find out what He
wants them to do and obey it and
their lives will be much easier. In
other words, God became their new
taskmaster in the wilderness. This
was the spirit of bondage that was
developed in them and followed
them out of Egypt.
This same principle has entered
into Christianity because of the
commingling of law and grace as
preached by preachers. Most Chris-
tians think that the born-again be-
liever must be obedient to the law,
its statutes, commands, and pre-
cepts. This is nothing more than
what Israel did while in bondage in
Egypt. Most Christians think that
they must obey the law. God is not
our taskmaster demanding obedi-
ence to laws, statutes, precepts, or
commands! However, this kind of
thinking is due to a lack of under-
standing of the realm of the eter-
nal work of the cross and its grace.
Grace provides a freeborn birth-
ing from God our Father through
“Christ in you” both now and for-
evermore. Born again believers
need to begin to live life on earth
through this “free born” grace prin-
ciple. All things to all men but only
one thing to our Father—we are His
free born sons!
