Set Free by Jesus

“I was in prison and you came to me” (Mt. 25:36b).

One of the great things about having missionaries in our church is we get lots of opportunities to see the great stuff Jesus is doing in and around our city. This week a group of us traveled with Mrs. Edna Romulo and her Youth for Christ team to a Christmas worship service at a prison in Bekasi. The service was typical of what you might expect in many evangelical churches. There was worship through singing, praying, preaching, and we celebrated the Lord’s Supper together. The only big difference was that about a dozen of us left at the end, while the other 200 or so stayed behind. Of course they were prisoners and could not leave until they had served their time.

I have been thinking about those men some more this week. Of course, not every person sitting in the service we attended is born again. Nevertheless, a good number of those prisoners were true believers, transformed through faith in the blood of the Lamb! This means they were free men in the greatest possible sense of the word, even though they remained behind bars. While they still experienced the effects of their past, they were not slaves to the past. While the truth that all men are sinners seems especially obvious among convicts, these men were free from their sin! They were free from guilt in the eyes of God, free to be His children, and free from the threat of eternal judgement. Free, in the greatest way!

Interestingly, there are plenty of people walking at will through the streets who are imprisoned by selfishness, doubt, guilt, anger, addiction, and a multitude of other sins. They are prisoners who need to know Jesus. The Lord declares that he is “the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6) and those who believe in Him will “know the truth and the truth will set them free” (Jn. 8:32).

How about you? Are you free?

Your servant,

Stephen

Rev. Stephen St. John
Pastor/Elder