How and why did God create us?
God created us in just two types of image-bearers – either male and female. He created us not because He had to, or was lonely, but because He wanted to. He created us to bring glory to Himself, and so that we might enjoy fellowship with Him forever. He put us on this earth He designed to be fruitful and multiply in it, and to rule over it and set it in order the way God says is good.
Rebels
But because of sin, we want to rebel against God's order. We are proud and want to choose our own adventure. We are rebels against a perfectly good and holy God who loves us. We are all actually treasonous at a cosmic level. And it is because of this sin that we all deserve the wrath of God, which is the just punishment for traitors such as ourselves. God is love, but He is also perfectly just.
Worse than rebels: dead men
See, the problem is not simply that we are proud and rebellious, but that we are actually dead, spiritually. Ephesians 2:1ff says that in our natural condition, coming into this world, we are already dead in our trespasses and sins. Romans 8:7-8 says, “the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” So apart from the work of God Himself, we are completely unable to obey God, we are unable to walk in His ways, we are unable to please God, and Jesus says in John 3:18 that apart from Him, every man stands condemned already by his own sin.
Wages of sin
God's word says that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23); in other words, death is the payment owed to us for our rebellion against a holy God. And we are spiritually stillborn when we come into this world. The Bible says we are actually slaves to sin (Romans 6:20). We have a slavemaster over us and it is our sin, and sin is a cruel tyrant.
“I'm not a slave”
You may say, “I'm not a slave to anything! I'm a free man!” People said the same thing to Jesus. You probably have heard this saying, but you might not know it comes from the Gospel of John.
Jesus says, "'You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.'
They answered Him, 'We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone;how is it that You say, "You will become free"?'
Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin'"(John 8:32-34).
What is enslaving you?
If you have not bowed your knee to Christ, you, friend, are a slave to sin. What is enslaving you?
Is it fear of the future?
Are you enslaved to pornography?
Are you a slave of seeking after status and career and notoriety?
Of pleasing people and avoiding conflict?
Are you a slave of money – either the pursuit of it or worrying that you don't have enough?
Are you a slave of pursuing your own comforts?
Are you placing all your mental energy into politicians or the current thing the news is trying to get you to worry about?
Have you bought into the slavery of gender dysphoria, pursuing an identity other than how God created you?
Are you a slave of your own unforgiveness for some terrible thing that someone else did to you in the past?
Are you enslaved to drug use or too much alcohol?
What about entertainment and gaming?
Are you a slave to your smartphone? To Tiktok or Twitter or Instagram or Facebook?
Are you a slave to making other people believe that you have it all together, especially strangers online?
Are you enslaved to your own anger and hot temper?
Are you enslaved to continuous consumption, whether that's food or shopping?
What about pursuing the perfect body through workout routines and diet and supplements?
Are you enslaved to bitterness? To envy? To jealousy? To desiring what your neighbor has?
Are you a slave of despair or depression?
Do you pursue your own hobbies and neglect raising up your own children?
Are you enslaved by a job which causes you to neglect your love for your own husband or wife?
Are you a slave of gossip and the vapid lives of celebrities?
Are you a slave of the shame of sins of your past – maybe an affair, or maybe you had your own child murdered through abortion?
Are you enslaved because you have practiced witchcraft or toyed with the occult?
Are you enslaved through making an idol of a good thing, like pursuing a spouse or romantic relationship or higher education?
Cruel taskmasters lead to death
All of these things are cruel taskmasters. All these things don't just make us miserable, but they lead to death. And this is all very bad news. And because I love you, and I have a great burden for the people of our local area, I have to deliver this bad news, if you want to hear the good news.