Set Free
A bricklayer had an accident on a construction site and had to file a detailed report for his insurance company. This is what he wrote: "I’m a bricklayer by trade, and on the date of the accident I was working alone on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work, I discovered that I had a sizable pile of bricks left over, and rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel using a pulley that was attached to the edge of the roof on one side of the building. After securing the rope at ground level, I went back up to the roof, swung the barrel out, and loaded the bricks into the barrel. I then went to the ground and untied the rope, holding it tightly to ensure slow descent of the bricks. You will notice I stated in block number 2 of the accident report form that I weigh 150 pounds. The bricks, I was soon to discover, weighed slightly more than 500 pounds. My weight was not enough to keep me down. Because of my surprise at being jerked off the ground by the weight of the bricks, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded up the side of the building at a rather rapid rate of speed. In the vicinity of the third floor I met the barrel on its way up. This accounts for my broken ankle and lacerations along the left side of my body. This encounter with the barrel slowed me down enough to minimize my injuries when I landed on the pile of bricks on the ground. I’m sorry to report that as I laid on my back looking at the empty barrel six stories above me, I again lost my presence of mind and let go of the rope. The empty barrel weighed more than the rope, so it came zooming back down. This explains my broken right arm."
There are some people who are living wounded lives this morning.
You have come in here with a weight and burden that has shackled you and burdened you to the point of distraction.
Listen to this story from Jesus life on earth.
“He was teaching in one of the meeting places on the Sabbath. There was a woman present, so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn’t even look up. She had been afflicted with this for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her, he called here over. “Woman, you’re free?”!” He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God.
The meeting place president, furious because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the congregation. “Six days have been defined as work days. Come on one of the six if you want to be healed, but not on the seventh, the Sabbath!
But Jesus shot back, “You frauds! Each Sabbath every one of you regularly unties your cow or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water, and thinks nothing of it. So why isn’t it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these eighteen years?” Luke 13:11-17
She had known nothing but misery, defeat and frustration for 18 years. She was set free in a moment of time.
When you read the spirit of this story it does no injustice to the text to infer the attitude of Jesus on this day.
It is as though He were saying to her, “You have had this for eighteen years. It’s enough! You need to be set free!”
Today those who have planned this service have been praying that you will hear Jesus say to you, “Isn’t it about time you found deliverance from the thing that have you bound and fettered?”
Some of us today in this room are imprisoned by some sin or sinful thing which we can never seem to be set free from.
We have been chained, hand-cuffed, shackled, imprisoned, and trapped.
It is an incredible dilemma to know the pardon of the Lord but not know His power to deliver.
Some of you are chronically bound. Sometimes you find a way out only to find yourself back in the chains of some sin which seems to easily sidetrack you.
In Romans 7, Paul describes what Adam Clarke says is a person in a pre-Christian state. Someone who has been awakened to God but has not yet accepted His pardoning power.
“Yes, I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. . . I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions such as they are don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.”
Let’s look at this woman and her interaction with Jesus.
1. This Woman had a Desperate Plight.
We can relate to this woman and her bondage because we sometimes find ourselves in situations that feel as though we are imprisoned by them.
A.
Her situation was distracting. “she was twisted and bent over. . .”
The position she found herself in way distracting. Have you ever thought about your perspective on the world? Having a son who is taller than me makes me wonder at times what it must be like. I’ve never lived in a world where I could see the top of the refrigerator.
She was bent over. Sin will bend you in ways you never thought possible. You will think in twisted ways and you will have no ability to be objective about it.
What sin is warping your perspective this morning? What is it that you would hang on to that is dragging you down and keeping you shackled?
B. The Delivering Power of the Lord. It had been a dilemma for a long time. “she had been afflicted with this for eighteen years.”
What a tragedy that she had been in this condition for so long!
For 18 years she had been a slave to something that kept her in this condition.
How long have you been struggling with some issue in your life?
How long will you go on without seeking deliverance from God?
Why would you attempt to break free on your own when God stands ready to help you.
I am amazed sometimes at how long a person will go down a road that they know is not right but sin had such a grip on them that they can’t let go.
What happens to you is the longer you go on and participate in some sinful habit or act the easier it is to tune out your conscience.
You become “hard of hearing” to the things of the Spirit of God.
You become skill-full in shutting out the voice of reason within you.
The Psalmist prayed a prayer that I one day hope to preach on.
Psalm 19:12-13, “. . . Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me.”
Are you presuming on the grace of God?
Doing things that you know are wrong yet you’ve done them so long they almost feel right?
C. She could do nothing about it on her own. “she couldn’t even look up.”
She was powerless to set herself free. She had lived all those years in a state where it just became easier to look down all the time instead of fighting to look up.
Some of you have given up. You think there is no way that you will ever be free from the sin which so easily besets you or is destroying your life.
Some of you have only experienced defeat and despair and very little victory in your life.
Day after day, week after week, year after year. How long will you go on like this?
You relate to this woman and her inability to look up.
D. She longed to be free. “There was a woman present” she was in a place where God was.
It is not a stretch to say that if you want to be free or you need help escaping from the prison of your life, put yourself in a place where you will interact with God.
The miracles of Jesus were known all over the country. People were flocking to see what he was going to do next. It is not out of the realm of reason to think that she was in the synagogue that day for a reason.
The great thing about this church is that it is not filled with a bunch of shiny-faced, sparkling little Christians who are obsessed with how they appear before other people.
This is not a showroom it is a maintenance shop.
This is not the fancy wing-backed foyer of some hospital this is the room where real work is done. (Emergency room, ICU, surgery.)
This is not the dining room, this is the kitchen where preparations are done.
She longed to be free from her prison of physical challenge.
I believe that some of you are longing to be free of your weakness and fondness for some sin. You don’t want anyone to know about it really, but you are so tired of trying to do it on your own that you are here because you are looking for help.
2. God Provides Deliverance.
A. She fell at His feet.
When Jesus called her over she came. She came to where He was. Too often we think God should meet us where we are. That’s great when it works that way but there are times when we have to come to where God is.
Can you envision this lady hobbling over to where Jesus is standing?
I think she came expectantly, hopefully and with much faith. She needed deliverance.
That is the way you come to God. Expectantly. Hopefully. Much faith.
He is waiting today to set you free. He is waiting today for you to come to him to experience freedom and deliverance.
B. She heard His words.
Jesus said, “Woman you’re free!”
Do you realize this morning that having the Lord say that to you is better than a pardon from the governor or even the president of the United States?
It is God’s will to deliver us from sin.
It is God’s will to set us free from bondage.
Quit living and wallowing in sin. Quit going back like a dog returning to its vomit or a pig to the mire. (God’s words not mine!)
John 8:34-36, “Jesus answered them, Most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave of sin does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
Free to sin. . .preposterous! He sets us free from sin and delivers us from bondage.
Romans 6:11-12,14, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. . . For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
Grace is not there to cover your sin it is there to deliver you from sin.
2 Timothy 4:18, “And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!”
Jesus Christ offers us deliverance from the things that bind us and restrain us.
C. She felt His touch.
He laid hands on her.
Bill Gaither wrote a little testimony song several years ago that includes the words, “Shackled by a heavy burden, neath a load of guilt and shame, then the hands of Jesus touched me, and now I am no longer the same.”
When Jesus touches you, you are never the same.
Once he touched a blind man and he saw.
He touched a deaf man and he heard.
A boy was touched and raised to life.
People with leprosy were made clean.
Everything Jesus did when He was on earth was demonstrating what He wants to do for you.
He wants to touch you this morning at your point of need.
D. She received His deliverance.
He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall.
When God delivers, it’s a miracle.
She once was crooked and now she’s been made straight.
She once was in bondage and now she is free.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now I’m found was blind but now I see.
One of the few hymns that was left in the modern day hymnal of the last 60 years or so is a song entitled, And Can It Be That I should Gain.
Listen to these words.
He left His Father’s throne above, So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love, and bled for Adam’s helpless race;
Tis mercy all, immense and free; For O my God, it found out me.
Long my imprisoned spirit lay. Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused and quickening ray, And I woke the dungeon flamed with light.
My chains fell of, my heart was free, I rose went forth and followed Thee,
Amazing love, how can it be that Thou my God should die for me?
E. She gave God praise.
He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God.
A crooked life can never glorify God.
A life bound by sin brings no glory to God.
A life that is self oriented never brings glory to God.
Some of you need help this morning.
You look pretty good on the outside. You’ve figured out how to mask over and hide what’s going on inside you.
This is not just about people who are new and who don’t know anything about church. Some of you who have been around a long time are struggling with issues that have you bound and shackled.
I don’t know who you are or what your need is but God does.
He knows everything about you. He knows what no one else knows. He knows what prison you are in this morning.
He stands waiting for you to come to Him.
John 6:37, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”
