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The liberties we enjoy in this country that many in other countries do not enjoy make many of us feel we live in the greatest country on earth. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of petition, the right to bear arms, the right to equal justice, the right to own private property, freedom to live or travel anywhere in our nation, to work at any job for which we can qualify, to marry and raise a family, to receive free education in public schools and many other freedoms. So we call this the land of the free. And today our country celebrates our freedom and honors those who have given their lives for it. And I think rightly so, we should thank God and honor everyone who has sacrificed in the fight for our freedoms.

But did you know, despite the freedoms we enjoy in this country, from the Lord’s perspective, most Americans are not very free at all. They think they’re as free as people can be. But most have no idea the freedom they could have. Many Americans are very much like Rapunzel, if you can remember the fairy tale. She grew up locked in a little room in a high tower and the wicked witch whom she thought was her loving mother would tell her, “You have to stay here because it’s a very bad and dangerous world out there. This is where you are safe and where you’ll be happiest.” So growing up she didn’t realize her captivity and the freedom she was missing. Most Americans do not realize the freedom their missing. And even many Christians do not realize the extent of the freedom that’s possible.

I’d like to first point out from the Scriptures…

Various Aspects of the Bondage Most are In

First, the place most people are in is very dark.

Ephesians 4:18, people “are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of heart.” Most cannot see much beyond what their physical eyes see. They cannot see where they come from, who they are, why they are here. They cannot see the reality of God and how close and attentive and available He is and what He’s actually like. They don’t know of His love. They don’t know what’s coming upon the world. They don’t know of the resurrection, judgement and the new creation. And not only can they not see these realities, but they’ve been very misinformed about what they can’t see.

Like the wicked witch deceived Rapunzel, there’s one who deceives people about what they haven’t seen. Revelation 12:9 calls satan the deceiver of the whole world. II Corinthians 4:4 calls him the god of this world, who has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Amazingly he has convinced many that they are just the accidental product of atoms colliding and chemical reactions and natural processes, no more significant than a tree or a bug who are also just accidental collocations of atoms. And there’s no reason for their existence except that it just happened. There is no purpose for their life. So there’s nothing better to do than just consume and enjoy. Or as I heard someone say, “Get all you can, can all you get, sit on the can.” Just amass, horde, indulge and die. And then Satan has convinced others that while there may be some higher power responsible for the world and us, He’s distant and indifferent toward us or too busy or would never accept us because of things we’ve done. He’s convinced others of all sorts of other lies about God and the unseen realm and who they are.

Another aspect of where most people are, is they are slaves to futility.

I Peter 1:18 says we inherited from our forefathers, futile ways of life. I know a lot of people whose main ambitions in life are having a nice home, built and decorated how they like, and a nice yard, landscaped and manicured how they like, and nice vehicles and other nice things, and yet it’s all going up in smoke. And sometimes I catch myself slipping into this, getting too preoccupied with stuff that’s not going to last. There’s an old lady who walks by my house about every day and she tells me that one of her main goals is to live to be 100 years old. So she walks a few miles every day hoping to maintain her health so she can make it to a hundred. But you know, if you make it to a hundred, you’re still going to die. And does it really matter much if you kept breathing for a few more years? You end up the same either way. I told her my goal is to live forever and I’m convinced that’s available through Jesus. I’ve tried a couple times to convince her of that, but I think she’s really made up her mind that can’t be. So many people are captives of futility, striving for possessions and experiences that are fleeting.

People are also enslaved to sin.

I suspect we all discovered in our youth that sin has surprising power. Certain sins just seemed like a convenient way to get something we wanted quickly. And we just wanted to try a little of certain other sins to see what it was like. We didn’t intend to do it more than once. But we soon found it was harder to resist the temptation the next time and all the more the time after that. We all got ourselves into the sort of situation that’s described at the end of Romans 7, where we keep doing what we hate. The good we want to do we don’t, but the evil we’re ashamed of we keep on doing. We can’t get out of it by our own will power.

And sin is not a kind master. He afflicts us with guilt and shame, which are perhaps the most miserable feelings there are. Sin destroys friendships and families, brings fear, consumes our time and energy and resources.

And according to the Bible, sin can make us physically sick. There are lots of examples in the Bible. Psalm 107:17 for instance, “Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction; they loathed any kind of food and they drew near to the gates of death.” It’s describing people who are so sick they loathe food and appear to be dying, and it says it’s not just germs, but their sinful ways.

And sin can open doors for evil spirits. It’s like we can give evil spirits legal rights to us by sinning. Maybe you know the story of king Saul who kept disobeying the Lord and wasn’t repenting and it says the Spirit of the Lord departed from him and an evil spirit came instead and tormented him. Jesus said in Matthew 18:34-35 that when you refuse to forgive someone, you will be handed over to the tormentors. I think He may be talking about that kind of thing that happened to Saul. In ancient Jewish literature, demons are spoken of as the tormentors of mankind on the earth (Enoch 15:9-16:1). Ephesians 4:27, Paul said not to let the sun go down on your anger and do not give a place to the devil. Holding on to anger, bearing a grudge, gives the devil a place, a foothold against us. Slavery to sin brings with it all sorts of terrible stuff. I’m convinced that many people’s problems, afflictions, psychological disorders, more than we realize are caused or magnified by demons. In Jesus’ healing ministry, about everywhere He went, He was driving demons out of people. Sometimes when Jesus healed people of their afflictions, He drove out the spirit causing it. Like with the man who was mute and deaf, Jesus commanded a mute and deaf spirit to leave him. And then with a woman who had severe scoliosis, bent over for 18 years, it says it was a disabling spirit that caused it, and Jesus drove it out.

What else are people bound in? They’re bound in fear, especially of death, and anxiety and anger and despair. Henry David Thoreau famously stated, “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

The very heart of the gospel is that Jesus Christ has made real freedom available to everyone.

In Luke 4, early in Jesus’ public ministry, He went to His hometown of Nazareth and on the Sabbath day He went to the town synagogue and stood up to read some scripture to the congregation. The synagogue attendant went to the cabinet of sacred scrolls, took out the scroll of the prophet of Isaiah and handed it to Jesus. He opened the scroll and rolled it until He found the passage that He was looking for. We call it Isaiah 61. Then He read this to the congregation, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” “The year of the Lord’s favor” is what the Law of Moses called the year of Jubilee that came every 50 years and was the year when all debts were to be canceled and all slaves set free. I’m not sure if the Israelites ever kept that command, but anyway Jesus read this passage about someone being sent by God and anointed with His empowering Spirit to proclaim and provide freedom to the destitute, the captives, the blind, the oppressed and the slaves. Then Jesus rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the synagogue attendant and sat down, which was the typical teaching posture for a Rabbi; they would sit down to teach. All eyes were fixed on Jesus, everybody was wondering what He was going to say about that passage. Then Jesus said to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” He was saying He had been sent and anointed by God to set people free. The mission and message of Jesus was all about setting people free (cf. Luke 1:68-75; 19:10).

John 8:12, “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus came as the light of the world so that we no longer have to live in the darkness.

I Peter 1:18 says that we can be ransomed from our futile ways of life inherited from our forefathers, not by perishable things like gold or silver, but by the precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ on the cross. Jesus made it possible for us to actually live and work in ways that have lasting value.

Acts 13:38-39, “Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, ³⁹ and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” When all you have is the Law of God, just words on pages telling you how you are supposed to live, that doesn’t free you from your addictions and sinful habits and the terrible stuff that slavery to sin is doing to you; words on a page don’t change your nature or empower you. But Jesus will set you free.

II Corinthians 3:6b, “…not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” II Corinthians 3:17-18, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” The Spirit of Christ will do for us what words on a page cannot.

Jesus’ requirement is that we take Him as our one and only Master.

He will free us from all our old masters, from sin, satan, and fear, if we will take Him as our master instead.

The writers of the New Testament often called themselves bond-slaves of Jesus. But those same writers also tell us that it is in serving Jesus that true freedom is found. It’s a bit of a paradox. To be truly free you must be a slave of the Lord Jesus.

You see, slavery is a wonderful thing if you have a perfect master. The reason slavery is immoral when it’s just between people and other people is because there are no perfect people who are going to make all the right decisions for other people. But when you have an all wise and capable master who totally has his slaves’ best interest at heart, then slavery is a wonderful thing. Because what the master is going to tell the slaves to do is only what is good and right and best for them and their families and for everyone, what they would want to do if they were smart enough to want it.

And what does a slave have to worry about if he has the perfect master? Having a roof over his head? No. Having food on his table? No. Clothes on his back? No. The Master will take care of him. He only has one thing to worry about, just doing the will of the Master. With a perfect master you can be free from worrying about yourself. That’s real freedom! You’re free to focus on helping people and the spread of the gospel. That does not mean, of course, that you should quit your job. Working a job to provide for your family is likely part of what the Master wants you to do. But as long you’re honestly trying to do the things the Master wants you to do, He will take good care of you; you can be free from worrying about yourself.

It’s not a one and done thing. We don’t experience complete full freedom the moment we make him Lord of our life. But we begin to experience freedom there. We continue to experience more freedom as we learn from Christ and submit to Him.

There’s a minister I’ve listened to on occasion. His name is Graham Cooke and he tells about this dream he had one night. It powerfully illustrates the freedom Christ has made available to us. In his dream, Jesus comes up over a hill, marching to him, looking rather annoyed. And Graham backs up as He approaches, kind of worried. Jesus walks right up to him, stops 4 feet away and says, “Graham, give me back my stuff!” He said, “Excuse me?” “Give me back my stuff!” “I don’t know what you mean, Lord.” “Graham, don’t mess around with me, give me back my stuff!” I don’t know what you mean.” “You know that you have taken stuff that is mine and it does not belong to you and I want it and I want it right now. Right now!” “But Lord, I… everything I have you gave me.” “Part of that is true. But you took some stuff that belongs to me that I don’t want you to have, give it back!” Graham said he was thinking of all the gifts the Lord had given him. “I don’t know what you mean Lord.” The Lord looked at him and said, “Ok Graham, this is the last time. Give me back my stuff!” Graham was on his knees and crying, saying, “Lord, I don’t know what you mean. I don’t know what you mean.” “That worry. That anger. That resentment. That bitterness. That fear. I died for it. I paid a price for it. It belongs to me. It doesn’t belong to you. Give me back my stuff!” Then he could see it so clearly, he was holding on to all this stuff that Jesus paid the price for so we wouldn’t have it. And he was appalled and said, “Lord, I’m so sorry. I am so sorry, You’re right Lord. You’re right.” Then the Lord smiled at him and he reached down and pulled him up and kissed him on both cheeks and said, “Graham, have you any idea how utterly delighted I was to die for all those things. When I was on the cross, the joy that was set before me was knowing that I was taking all of those things away from you so you would never have to experience them or encounter them ever again. Do you have any idea how excited I was to give you this new life where you can be absolutely free? A life where those things would be absent: you would never be resentful again, you would never have to be fearful or anxious or worried or panicked, you would never have be angry or bitter, you would never have to do any of that stuff. You could be free, Graham. Totally and completely free of all negativity. It doesn’t belong to you. I died for it. I paid a price for it. It’s mine. Give me back my stuff.”

Now whether you think Graham just had too much pizza one night, or that dream was from the Lord… it’s the truth. Jesus came to set us free. Isaiah 53:4, He bore our griefs, He carried our sorrows. And He doesn’t want us to pick those back up and bear them and carry them. He died that we might be free. Freedom from the darkness and futility of life, and sin and anxiety and anger… We have no reason to be afraid when we’re completely yielded to Jesus. And the more we get to know Him, the more we learn from Him, the more we surrender to Him, the freer we’re going to be.

Jesus holds out to us… We need to take Him as our Master.

-James Williams