Their slavemaster is not about to let them know they are supposed to be living in freedom from his control. And most religious people have such confused notions about freedom that they too are still living in slavery, just in a different camp. Satan has many prison camps designed for different styles of life but all still firmly under his control. Romans 1 and 2 describes the two main classes of prisoner/sinners that make up Satan's camps, the first are open, flagrant-type sinners and the second are religious zealots who believe they can manipulate God into saving them. But both classes are imprisoned by their delusions about what God is really like and how He feels about them.
God has to get people to see that no matter which camp we find ourself in we are all still stuck in the lies of Satan and are unnecessarily living under his abusive dictatorship in spite of what we think. When we become aware of the reality of our abject slavery and the truth that we have already been set free, when we accept the fact that we already have access to the key to our own prison cell and can walk out in freedom at any time, then we can exercise our power of choice – the hand that operates the key. By faith we can insert the key of the redemption purchased by the blood of Jesus into the locks of our minds and walk out into the freedom that we are designed to thrive in. We can enter into intimate fellowship with Christ and all the saints which is, in essence, the joy of our Lord.