Freedom –

And where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.

2 Corinthians 3:17

When Jesus stood up in the synagogue in Galilee he read from Isaiah 61:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”

Here's what Jesus came to bring, summed up in a single word:

Freedom.

He came to set people free from the chains with which Satan had bound them.

Jesus didn’t just come to talk about freedom…

Or promise freedom for some distant, future time…

He came to give people freedom now.

When people drew near to Jesus, a chain within them would always snap.

They would be set free from their demons.

-- from the bondage of darkness which blinded their eyes.

-- the bondage of a crippled limb.

-- a tangled tongue.

-- a deaf ear.

Women who were bowed down with despair were lifted up…

Weak, spineless men were made strong…

The poor who had been beaten down for so long,

were lifted into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

Always the mark that these people had been touched by the finger of God in some way, was that something, which before was bound, was now free.

This taste of freedom was a sign of the total freedom they could have, if they continued to follow Jesus…if they would go on with him.

“If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

This is the mark of a disciple of Jesus, who has been set free…

- you can’t intimidate him

- you can’t threaten her

- you can’t scare her

- you can’t mislead them

- you can’t bribe them

The people who have begun to truly follow Jesus, who have gone on beyond the first miracle, and have learned to be faithful to him, are always people who know the truth—they can see the truth; they can recognize a lie; they are not misled.

Of course, wherever the word of God goes forth with power, the Father of Lies sends his agents to seek to undermine faith, to twist truth. Agents of Satan seek to draw into their web of deceit those people who started out following Jesus but failed to continue in his word.

In the very shadow of the temple of God you have a multitude of religious people, church people, who think of themselves as "saints"---but they are slaves.

Perhaps they were free five years ago, or six months ago, but not anymore. For a while they had liberty and joy, as they walked with Jesus, as they experienced the expansion of mind and spirit that comes when we obey his word.

But they began to lag, and immediately they were picked up by these subtle agents of darkness whose one weapon is the lie.

Some of these victims fell into the bondage of legalism, they managed to twist the gospel into a set of rules.

These misled saints are now busy running around ramming their do’s and don’ts on everyone else. They have a rule for everything, from how many meetings you have to attend, to whether you can hold hands with your fiancé. This is not life, this is death. Jesus is not in this.

Jesus himself has become to them, instead of their Lord and Friend, their "doctrine machine." The Lord is not in this. "For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

There are those who fall away from walking with Jesus into bondage of self-righteousness. It’s quite easy for us to recognize self-righteousness in other people, but difficult to detect in ourselves. Perhaps the most dangerous kind of self-righteousness is found in people who are quite open, humble, teachable, inside their own circle. But from inside their "sanctified circle" they despise those on the outside. Those outsiders simply don’t measure up. That "sanctified circle," which for them is so good, and so holy, is actually their prison.

We need to ask ourselves if we haven’t been part of our own unique "sanctified circle."

Then there’s the bondage into which many of us fall: the bondage of a lukewarm mind. Don’t ever let Satan try and tell you that the lukewarm mind is a free mind. The lukewarm mind in always an enslaved mind. A paralyzed mind. It’s a mind that has wonderful intentions, but never fulfills them.

The lukewarm mind can see the man who has been beaten and stripped and left to die by the side of the road, but it cannot pull itself together to go over there and help that wounded one.

The lukewarm mind will sit and listen to a lie about a brother or sister, a lie that needs to be challenged--and do nothing about it. It's safer to nod one's head in agreement.

The sad thing about legalism, self-righteousness, and lukewarm-ness is that, when you are in it, you don’t think of it as a prison. You think you are living the "normal Christian life." You look upon yourself as "mature." You look back and shake your head over the days when you had zeal. You are so pleased that you are no longer a "fanatic." You look down your nose at those people who are a thousand times more free than you are.

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

If there is no freedom to do the will of God, in your daily actions, in your mind, and in your heart, it is a sure sign that the Spirit of God is not there. The best thing you can do is admit the truth and go back to the Lord Jesus, asking him to help you make a new start.

The Lord Jesus came to set us free. There is no such thing as going to the cross, throwing yourself on Jesus’ mercy, crying out for deliverance---and not being delivered from bondage.

Everyone who comes to him receives more than they could ask or think…if you continue in his word, you are his disciple indeed, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

For example:

Jesus will set you free from the fear of man.

“So they called them and charged them not to speak or to teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:18-20

This is the same Peter who, not long before, was afraid to admit that he knew Jesus. But now, Peter is delivered from the fear of man and is able to stand before these men of power in the land, and speak the truth about Jesus, no matter what the consequences. Peter is no longer afraid.

This same liberty is what God desires to impart to us as well--- if we continue in our Master's word---if we will do, without delay, the things the Spirit of God has impressed on our minds.

Jesus will set you free from bondage to mammon—money and things.

“Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need.” Acts 4:32-35

They didn’t have Social Security, or pension plans, or General Assistance---so their security was an extra piece of land, or an extra house. But now they begin to relax their grip on these things; they begin to share, because they have been delivered from bondage to mammon—bondage to money and things which had plagued them all their lives.

Many of us are still so busy trying to ensure that we will make it up to our dying moment with plenty of money, we are unaware that we're already dead. Better to be broke and alive than comfortable and dead.

Bondage to mammon is a curse, and from this curse our Lord will set us free if we will let him. We have driven God right out of our lives by making mammon our God.

“You can’t serve God and mammon”, says Jesus.

Who, but the Lord Jesus himself can set us free from our bondage to Mammon? Lord take hold of our hearts, and lead us out of this bondage!

Jesus will set us free from our prejudices.

“Oh, but I don’t have any prejudices.”

The Jewish people didn’t look upon it as prejudice. It was simply a healthy tradition. A self-respecting Jew would have nothing to do with a Samaritan, period!

But now:

“Phillip went down to a city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the multitudes with one accord gave heed to what was said by Phillip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, crying with a loud voice; and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city.” Acts 8:5-8

Samaritans had their prejudices too, but here comes this Jew into our town and he brings us the word of God and all these marvelous things happen!

The Jews were taught to have nothing to do with Gentiles. Not even to go into their house. But now look what happens:

“While Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, ’Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down, and accompany them without hesitation; for I have sent them.’ "

These Gentiles lead Peter and his Jewish brothers to the house of a Gentile centurion. They enter the house and preach the word, and down upon these Gentiles falls the Spirit of the Living God! Prejudice is broken.

It’s not as if they were unique in their narrow-mindedness. Not one of us is totally free of this curse. We are prejudiced about groups, races, churches, doctrinal positions; if you’re Pentecostal, you are wary of non-Pentecostals; if you’re non-Pentecostal, you have your doubts about Pentecostals, and on, and on it goes.

We don’t see people as they really are. We don’t see a man—we see a black man or a white man—and all kinds of ugly things come up in our minds. We are all tainted with this---until Jesus sets us free.

Surely if the Master could free those rigid Jews from prejudice, he can do the same with us---until we arrive at the place where we no longer form judgments about people we hardly know, ready to despise them before they open their mouths. The Lord Jesus can inspire us to take people as they are.

Of course we need to allow the Lord to lead us out of our comfortable circle of friends. We need to confess our tendency to "sanctify" our prejudice by declaring, “The Lord never led me to go there…” i.e. The Lord always manages to lead me only to those places where I’m comfortable…where I have people of my own kind, or my own view. Really? The Lord "led" you? Get real!

Some of us blame our narrow-mindedness on shyness. I was born shy”— But what we call shyness, is often our preconceived ideas about people we don’t know. We're afraid to go over and talk. We've already decided that they don't like us. So we cling to our little shell of "shyness," which is simply our special brand of prejudice.

But when we allow our Lord to set us free from this self-deceit, moving beyond those barriers which man has raised, when we begin to deal with people as God sees them, as God loves them, as God deals with them---we experience liberty.

Of course, you will also have to deal with people who are prejudiced against you. For prejudice works both ways. Keep in mind that their prejudice is their problem. Just make sure that your heart is open to the Lord, and to them.

God deliver us from being quick to say, “I don’t have a prejudiced bone in my body.” There’s not a person reading these words who does not have a problem with prejudice. We all have it. This is why the same Spirit who dealt with prejudice in Peter is dealing with it in us

Finally, Jesus will set us free from the intimidation of our approaching death.

Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned in Jerusalem, but to die for the name of the Lord Jesus."

Paul knew that if he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea, he would probably be arrested, and likely killed.

But he was free, at last, from this fear of death, a fear which lurks in mind of every unregenerate person. It's a fear which rises within us especially when we find ourselves in danger, but it’s there all the time… trying to squeeze another day out of life…seeking to push death away one inch further.

What is it, in our hearts that causes us to have this dread of the unknown? That drives us to go to any length to ensure that tomorrow will be safe? What is it in us that causes us to cringe as we deal with our loved ones death? Our friend’s death? Whenever we look upon the death of someone we know and love, we are reminded of the sentence of death on our own body of flesh and blood.

Jesus took upon himself our nature, "that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage."

Deliverance from the fear of death is not something that comes after you die. It's a gift which is offered to us now!

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to

Preach good news to the poor, sent me to proclaim deliverance to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed…

Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.