Episode 925: Do God allow slavery?

Hello everyone. In tonight's Bible study we continue reading the letter that the Lord Jesus wrote to the church at Ephesus.

In order to get a firm understanding of the letter one must place oneself back in the first century Roman ruled Province. Ephesus was both a cultural iconic city and a very Romanized city meaning its religious observance and Roman laws were part of daily lives.

Jesus writes to the church expressing the fact that only those who has an ear to hear can hear what the Spirit of God is truly saying to the church.

Anyone can read the letter however just like the entirety of the Bible, only those who are alive to God through faith in Christ and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit can actually hear the voice of God.

Therefore it is impossible for someone who is not born again to understand what is being communicated. Now this description of the ear goes far beyond the human anatomy. It is a description of the cost to purchase a slave.

Wait, what? What in the world does purchasing a slave have to do with having an ear to hear? Well that's exactly the Lord Jesus is communicating to the church at Ephesus and to you and I.

This is about the slaves who have turned away from their master for which in accordance to Roman law carries with it the death penalty. How then can a slave of sin acquire the ability to hear the gospel? He can't!

The only way is that someone else love him and pay the ransom price for the slave. The LORD God placed the payment for our sins upon the cross of His Son, Christ Jesus the Lord then gave us His life when He raised Christ from the dead.

That was and remains the only way to take the slave of sin and make him a slave of righteousness.

Tonight's study is 1 hour and 20 minutes. I have broken it into eight segments.
This is segment 1 of 8 titled Do God allow slavery?