From Slave to Son: Jesus Paid Your Debt

Introduction

In this sermon, Pastor Samuel Mabboux, from the church of Nice l'Ariane, starts from a documentary on modern slavery in Pakistan. Fifty million slaves worldwide, more than two million of them in Pakistan, one in every hundred people. Families go into debt for medical care, a wedding, or a bit of food, and end up making bricks generation after generation. Behind this unbearable reality lies a powerful spiritual picture: the picture of your own debt, the debt of sin. And above all, the picture of a Savior who came to pay the price in your place, to turn you from a slave into a son.

Sermon outline

1. A terrible slavery, still real today

• Nearly 50 million people are still enslaved in the world today, including about 2.3 million in Pakistan, one in every hundred people.
• To pay for medical care or get through a hard time, families take on debt they cannot repay and become slaves.
• Many work in "brick kilns," making up to 2,000 or 2,500 bricks a day as a family, for about 70 cents per thousand bricks.
• The debt grows instead of shrinking, because of sickness and the cost of food, and it gets passed down from generation to generation. A large share of these slaves are Christians.

2. A spiritual picture: slavery to sin

• Beyond physical suffering, the Bible speaks of an even more serious slavery, one that lasts into eternity: slavery to sin.
• "So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world" (Galatians 4:3).
• "Everyone who sins is the bondservant of sin" (John 8:34). We are born into this slavery by nature, falling short of the glory of God.
• Sin is like quicksand: the more you struggle, the tighter it grips you and pulls you down.

3. A debt passed down from generation to generation

• Like the Pakistani children born already inside the brick kilns, we spiritually inherit our family's burdens: occultism, alcoholism, violence, drugs, abuse.
• In Exodus 20, God promised to bless a thousand generations of those who love him, while the guilt of the fathers falls on three or four generations. Paul, for his part, reminds Timothy of the faith of his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice (2 Timothy 1:5).
• One life event, one tragedy, one fall, and you too find yourself in debt to darkness, with no human way out.
• We are sinners by nature, falling short of God's grace. "There is no one righteous, not even one" (Romans 3:10).

4. A Savior who comes to pay your debt

• "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children" (Galatians 4:4-5).
• In Pakistan, it sometimes takes 700, 1,000, or 2,500 dollars to free an entire family. Organizations come to negotiate with the creditor and pay the price.
• Jesus, though, went to face the darkness and asked, "How much must be paid for this person?" Then he paid, not with gold or silver, but with his blood on the cross.
• "You were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold... but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18-19).

5. From the broken brick to adoption

• In the documentary, each freed person receives a brick and breaks it themselves. The weight of sin falls away, the condemnation is broken.
• "So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ" (Galatians 4:7).
• In a single day, these families go from slaves marked by debt to free men and women. You can experience the same thing tonight, in Jesus.
• "Precious in Yahweh's sight is the death of his saints" (Psalm 116:15). You too have value in the Father's eyes: you are not a worthless slave.

6. Belonging to Jesus, true freedom

• You belong to whoever holds your debt. Without Christ, you are under the power of the prince of this world. In Christ, you belong to Jesus, body, soul, and spirit.
• True freedom is not doing whatever you want. It is being reconciled with your Creator, when sin no longer has a hold on you.
• When Jesus intercedes for you, he shows his pierced hands to the prince of this world: the debt is settled, and a single drop of his blood is enough to set you free.
• Being a "bondservant of Christ," as Paul calls himself, is no longer a shame: it is an honor. You go from being a slave to sin to being a beloved son, an heir together with Christ.

Key takeaways

• Modern slavery still exists today, with nearly 50 million people affected worldwide. Pray for them, and let this picture speak to you about your own spiritual condition.
• Sin is not a small weakness: it is slavery, a debt impossible to repay through your own effort, a chain that can be passed down from generation to generation.
• No gold, no effort, no merit can pay for even one of your sins. Only the blood of Jesus, shed on the cross, is a sufficient price.
• When you call on Jesus over your life, he himself settles your debt before the darkness and turns you from a slave into a son, from a debtor into an heir.
• True freedom is not doing whatever you want, but belonging to Christ. That is where fear, guilt, and death lose their grip on you.

Personal application

1. Where, in your life today, are the "bricks" you have been carrying for a long time: addictions, wounds, patterns of sin, family burdens? Name them before God.
2. Is there a burden you received from your parents or grandparents (occultism, anger, alcohol, abuse) that you want to refuse to pass on, in the name of Jesus?
3. Are you still trying to pay your own debt through your own efforts (good works, religion, promises to God)? How does the price Christ paid change the way you live out your faith?
4. You may feel worthless, "priced like a slave." Take a moment to let God tell you that you have value in his eyes, so much so that he gave his Son for you.
5. Who around you can you tell this week about this freedom you have found in Christ, the way the pastor does for these Pakistani families?

Verses cited

• Galatians 4:3-7 (main text)
• John 8:34
• Exodus 20:5-6
• 2 Timothy 1:5
• Romans 3:10-23
• 1 Peter 1:18-19
• Psalm 116:15
• Luke 15:11-32 (prodigal son)

Frequently asked questions

What does it mean to be "a slave to sin" according to the Bible?

Jesus says it plainly in John 8:34: "Everyone who sins is the bondservant of sin." By nature, we are born into this bondage, just as children in Pakistan are born into the brick kilns, without ever choosing it. This slavery cannot be fixed by personal effort: the more you struggle, the tighter its grip becomes. Only a Savior's intervention can settle the debt and break the chain.

How did Jesus pay the debt of our sins?

He did not pay it with gold or silver, but with his blood. On the cross, he was whipped, crowned with thorns, his hands and feet pierced. "You were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold... but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18-19). In a single act, he covered the debt of everyone who would call on him.

What is true Christian freedom?

It is not doing whatever you want, traveling wherever you like, or depending on no one. True freedom is being reconciled with your Creator, when sin no longer has a hold on you. Paul himself calls himself a "bondservant of Christ": this is not a step backward, it is an adoption. You go from being a slave to sin to being a beloved son, an heir through the grace of God (Galatians 4:7).