Romans chapter 12 verse 11 says,
Be not slothful in business, but be fervent in the spirit,
serving the Lord. One of the greatest heresies
that was ever perpetrated on this world is that of lukewarm,
mild religion. We need to be burning up in the
Spirit, serving the Lord. We need to have our whole hearts
in this business of honoring and serving our God. The Lord
Jesus said, quoting out of Psalm 69, verse 9, in John 2, 17, He
said, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. The zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up. Now this was at the time when
Jesus had run the money changers out of the temple, overthrown
the tables. He said, drove them out so that
my Father's house was a house of prayer. The zeal of the Lord
Jesus Christ for the majesty of His Father's house. I remember
a story about, and this is typical I think of a lot of our churches, There was a church that put up
this scripture, the zeal of thine house hath eaten thee up on a
sign out in front. And they posted a different verse
every week or two. But when they had that verse
up, there was a little girl that came along that attended that
church. And she was standing there looking at that sign, and
she began to cry. And one of the elders of the
church came up to her and said, well, what are you crying about?
And she said, that sign scares me. I'm afraid to go in. The
zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. And he said, young lady,
you don't have to worry about that here. There isn't any of
that kind here. And so it is, in many, many churches, there's
no zeal, no burning up in the Spirit, serving the Lord. I remember hearing a story about
an atheist who was talking with a preacher one day, The preacher
talked him into coming to the service, hearing him preach. He came and listened to him preach,
and when he was leaving, he left as everybody did, but he shook
hands with the preacher and said, Preacher, I don't believe a word
you said, but I believe that you do. And that, my friend,
is very important. That when we're done preaching,
the people that hear us, believe that we believe it, whether they
believe it or not. We need to be fervent in the
Spirit serving the Lord. The book of Revelation talks
about those of the Elodisean church who were lukewarm. They
were neither cold nor hot. And Jesus said, I would that
you were cold or hot. And so may we be hot in the Spirit,
and may we be fervent in the Spirit serving the Lord. I would
invite you this morning to turn with me to the book of Luke,
chapter 13. The book of Luke, chapter 13,
I'd like to read beginning with verse 10 down through verse 17. I hope that you'll be remembering
me as I try to speak to you today. I read now beginning with verse
10. And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
That is, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Master, was teaching in one
of the synagogues on the Sabbath day, on Saturday. And behold,
there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years,
and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called
her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine
infirmity. And he laid his hands on her,
and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue
answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the
Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in
which men ought to work, in them therefore come and be healed,
and not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and
said, Thou hypocrite, Doth not each one of you on the Sabbath
loose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to
watering? And ought not this woman, being
a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound lo these eighteen
years, be loose from this bond on the Sabbath day? And when
he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed,
and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that
were done by him. We read this story about this
woman that had an infirmity, 18 years, and was bowed together,
and could in no wise, as verse 11 says, lift up herself. Now I believe that the infirmity
of this woman was not only physical, but also it was a spiritual infirmity. Her outward appearance was the
index of her deep and continued depression of mind. She was bent
double as to her body and bowed down with sadness as to her mind. There is a sympathy, you know,
between the body and the soul. There seems to be, there seems
to be a sympathy between the body and the soul, but it is
not always so plainly seen as it was here in her case. Imagine for a moment what it
would be, what would be the results upon this present congregation
here today if our outward forms were to set forth our inward
state. What would be, this morning,
the result on this congregation? Think about it with me just a
little bit. If our outward forms were to set forth our inward
states. If we could see the inward in
the outward, what would we see in this crowd this morning? Now,
beloved, this is a very, very serious thought, and I hope that
you will listen carefully to what I'm saying. There would
be deplorable sights that we would see, and you might find
yourself this morning sitting next to a corpse if the inward
was revealed in the outward, because there are those this
morning in this assembly, we're sure of it, it'd be a miracle
of the grace of God if it were not so, that are dead in sin,
that are sitting as God's people sit, the dead among the living
in Zion. They're here this morning, and
if the inward was revealed and the outward, you might find yourself
sitting next to a corpse. Spiritual deformity assumes many
forms, you know, and each form is very, very painful to look
upon. Surely, if the flesh were shaped
according to the spirit, this building this morning, I believe,
would have to be turned into a hospital, and each of us would
probably run from the other, and probably would like even
to run from ourselves. Well, we would see the haunt,
the lame, the blind, the impotent, the dead who are here today. If our inward spiritual ailments
were to be set forth upon our faces, I warn you that we would
not spend very much time looking in the mirror. We would spend
very little time looking at ourselves in the mirror, what wretched
objects our eyes would see. Well, I wanted to say that, I
wanted to point that out, because it's a deep conviction of mine
that this woman, that her outward state was a picture of her inward
depression and her inward situation. I believe she was the daughter
of Abraham. She was a daughter of Abraham when the affliction
started, and bless God, when it was all over, she was still
a daughter of Abraham. She was a child of faith. She
was a believer, one who trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
beloved, Jesus is among His people, and I believe His power is present
to heal us. And we need to reflect upon that
as much as we need to reflect upon our spiritual condition. I believe the Lord is present,
and I have prayed earnestly over each line, over each verse, over
each statement that I would try to make to you this morning,
that God would use it to deliver some poor soul here who is bowed
down. Well, number one, our first subject
for consideration is the bowing down of this afflicted woman.
We read of this as we read of it in verse 11, and there gradually,
as this began, I suppose, in her life, it crept over her,
an infirmity which bent her over, a weakness of the spine, I suppose. I once knew a young man like
this. There was a young man by the name of John Schultz. or
Bill Schultz in Indiana, who used to work for me as a dispatcher
and a bookkeeper, and he was bent over like this. His head
was down and you could hardly tell he had a face because all
you could see was the back of his head when he was walking
toward you. A very good employee. But nevertheless, this was the
condition this woman was in. And she had this affliction for
18 years. Her face was drawn downwards,
her body dropped forward more and more as these years drug
out. She walked around as if she was
looking for a grave. and more than likely would have
been glad if she could have found one. She was bound by this affliction
as much so as if she was tied up with strong ropes. This poor woman was bound towards
herself and towards that which was so depressing. She seemed
to grow downwards. Her life was a life of just stooping. She bent lower and lower and
lower as the weight of the years pressed upon her. Her looks were
all earthward, nothing bright, nothing heavenly could come before
her eyes. All that were in her view was
dust and the grave. Next, she could not lift up herself,
we are told. She could in no wise lift up
herself. Now I'm sure as this affliction
came upon this woman, as she was progressing, that she was
told many, many times to straighten up. to straighten up. Can't you
hear her mother? Can't you hear her mother? Can't
you hear her older sister coming by? Straighten up there. Straighten
up. You're ruining your posture.
Straighten up. Well, this woman was afflicted.
She had a spirit of infirmity and she was not able, she could
in no wise, straighten herself up. No need to tell the blind
to see or the deft to hear or this woman to stand up straight
unless God intervenes by His grace and His marvelous mercy
to heal them and deliver them. She had, and I think the worst
point about this woman's condition was that she had borne her trouble
for 18 long years. Oh, beloved, 18 years is a long
time. In 18 years of happiness, the
years fly by. They come and they're gone. If you're happy and if you're
healthy and if you're able to do as you please, whatever you
want to do, then the time flies on. But 18 years of bodily pain,
18 years of affliction, 18 years of depression, 18 years of groaning
under a heavy bodily affliction, Oh my friend, being bowed down
to the earth, I think it would be, just think of it, twelve
dreary months to the year, eighteen years, dragging like a fallen
chain behind us. What an affliction that this
woman had. Eighteen years bound by the devil. Are not our hearts touched by
her affliction they ought to be. Well, beloved, no further. She yet frequents the house of
God. Here she is. Our Lord was in
the synagogue, and there she was. This woman was there in
the synagogue. She might very well have said,
it is painful for me to go out into the public. I don't like
for people to be staring at me as I'm all stooped over and bowed
together. I don't like that. It's painful
for me to go out in public places. And I ought to be excused from
having to attend the house of God. But no, there she was. There
she was bent over in her affliction. Well, if you were to go to Brownsburg,
Indiana, I suppose even this morning, there's a sister there
who comes in a wheelchair, and the best money the church ever
spent was to buy a van that was equipped with a lift to bring
this woman to church. She was twisted and deformed.
but joyous in the Lord. I never remember a time when
I preached there that this woman, that she did not rejoice to hear
the word of God, rejoice to hear the gospel. And so dear afflicted
child of God, the devil has suggested to you that in his vain for you
to go anymore to hear the word of God. It's vain for you to
go anymore to the house of God. Well, just go anyway. What does
the devil know about going to the house of God? Well, he knows
this. He knows that you're very likely to escape. from his hand
so long as you're a hearer of the word of God. If you can hear
the word of God, then my friend, you're very likely, sooner or
later, Jesus is going to pass by. Sooner or later, you're going
to be an immediate. When the power of God falls,
when God's power comes down to heal, Sooner or later, that's
our hope in this world, that the Lord Jesus will pass by and
that we will be touched with a touch of His hand. So if He
can, He will keep you away. He will do so, my friend. He
will drive you away and keep you from the house of God. It
was while she was in the house of God that this woman found
her liberty. that she found her healing. And
there, beloved, you may find it also. Whatever comes into
your life, come what will. My friend, come to the house
of God. Go hear the Word of God preached. Gather with the saints of God
when they sing the old hymns of Zion. Gather with the people
of God when they pray, when they lift up their hearts. Go to the
place where prayer is wont to be made. A sick child is better
off in his father's house than anywhere else. Wouldn't you agree?
Wouldn't you agree? Well, it was best for her to
be in the house of God where she could hear the Master speak. Number two, notice the hand of
Satan in this bondage in verse 16. And ought not this woman,
being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound lo these
eighteen years, be loose from this bond? Notice, if you will,
some things about this, that it was Satan who had bound this
woman for eighteen years. Satan had not possessed her because
she was a child of Abraham. She was a child of faith. She
was a believer in Jehovah God. But nevertheless, she was taken
captive and tied up like a man would tie a horse. Tied up with
a knot that held for 18 years. You say, I don't believe the
devil is out operating that way. My friend, you just don't know
what's going on around you. I told you that if our inward
would tell us, would tell or speak in the outward form, we'd
all know what's going on around this place, and we'd know something
about the bondage, something about the distress, something
about the discouragement, something about the depression that's in
our minds and hearts, then it would be known. But my friend,
this woman had been tied with a knot that had held her for
18 years. The devil can tie a knot in a
minute that you and I cannot untie, beloved, in 18 years. And don't you ever forget it.
The devil has a way of tying people up in a knot. Sometimes
there are things that happen in their lives. Sometimes it's
a word that's spoken to them. Sometimes it's a line out of
a book. Sometimes it's something that
comes by them that ties them in a knot. Sometimes it's because
they have given their minds over to something for a season of
time. Sometimes it's because they got
over on the devil's territory for a little while. They're a
child of God. They had no business jumping
the fence and getting over there, but they did. And they got into
trouble, and they were bound up. And I want to tell you what,
you can be bound and bound and bound and bowed down and you
can be distressed and you can be discouraged. I'm talking about
a living member of the family of God. Satan can bound you and
you need to be loose and let go. Well, there's some of the
children of God whose thoughts Or like this woman, Satan had
bound this woman downward. She was tied like a horse whose
head had been tied to his knee. And she was bowed down. This
is typical of the way Satan binds the Lord's people. There are
some of the children of God whose thoughts are about themselves.
They've turned their eyes. so that they look inside and
so see all of the transactions of that little world within themselves. The one and only surging of their
thoughts is their own condition. It's their sorrow, it's their
misery, it's their sin, it's their disappointment, and they
cannot see anything else. This is the way Satan binds men,
spiritually speaking. They're tied to themselves. They
cannot look away to Christ as they should. And you can spot
this in a minute. If you, my friend, cannot see
Christ, Satan has your head tied down. You're a believer, you
say. You say, I'm hoping in the shed
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, but I have a difficult time keeping
my eyes on the Lord. I'm constantly looking at myself.
I'm constantly looking at who I am, what I am, what I've been
able to do, what I've not been able to do. I'm constantly evaluating
whether I'm worth being a Christian, whether I am a Christian, whether
I ever will be able to show forth that I am one or not. My friend,
you need to be loosed. Your head is tied down. You need
to be loose so that you can look up and look to the Lord Jesus
Christ, look away from yourself. Note, if you will, that Satan
had done all he could do. You may rest assured that whenever
Satan smites a child of God, he never spares his strength
in the doing of it. He knows nothing of mercy. No
other consideration will restrain him. Either we wrestle not, don't
the Bible say, against flesh and blood, but with principalities
and powers. against the spiritual wickedness
in high places. The devil, we're no match for
that. Remember old Job? Remember old Job? Satan did all
that he was permitted to do. There was not chick or child
left, but morals from the crown of his head, even to the sole
of his feet. The devil was allowed to harass
him, and to trouble him, and to afflict him. Well, Satan had
bound this woman, but he had not killed her. He had not killed
her. He bent her towards the grave,
but he could not bend her into the grave. He could not. Praise the Lord, he could not.
Bless the Lord, O my soul. He could bend her double, but
he could not take her poor, feeble life. That life is in God's hand. And I just read this morning
early where that the keys of death are in the hands of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There isn't anybody dies until
the Lord is pleased to take them out with all his infernal craft,
he could not make this woman die before her time. Even so,
the devil cannot destroy you. O child of grace, you're immortal
until your work is done. You're immortal until God is
finished with you in this world. And we need to rejoice in that.
This world is under the sovereign control of the King, the Lord
of Lords and King of Kings. It's under His control. Our life
is in His hands. He can smite you, but He cannot
slay you. He can worry you, and those He
cannot destroy, He does worry, and He feels a very malicious
joy in the doing of it. He knows how to make a poor soul
fear a thousand deaths, or feel a thousand deaths in fearing
one. He knows how to do that. He's good at those kinds of things. But now note this. This poor
woman was being prepared, even by the agency of the devil, to
glorify God. Now there's a great and triumphant
victory here. And I want you to follow me,
if you will, so that you can rejoice with me this morning.
There was nobody in that synagogue that could glorify God as she
could when she was at last set free. Think about that. All the
people that was in that synagogue that morning. Think about this
woman that's bowed together. Here she is out there in the
crowd. And I suppose that it would have been very difficult
for anybody to see her. Very difficult because she was
so bound together. But nevertheless, my friend,
nevertheless, she was being prepared, even by the agency of the devil,
to glorify God. There wasn't anybody else there
that morning that could glorify God like this woman. Like this
woman, the deeper her sorrow, oh, the sweeter is going to be
her song. The devil lived to regret that
he ever got involved with this woman. He lived to regret it. And I want to tell you what,
we must, by the grace of God, pray, earnestly seek. I mean, do whatever we have to
do, we must pray earnestly, seek the Lord, that the devil will
be sorry he ever touched our lives, that he ever put a noose
around our neck. that he ever tied our head down
like a horse's head tied to his knee, that the devil will be
sorry that he ever got involved in our situation. So it will
be, my friend, with you, some of you anyway, God will cause
the devil to lose all of his efforts on you, and I pray God
he'll lose every effort that he's ever put forth toward me. I'm feeble in some ways, but
I'll tell you what, I believe in the power of my master, and
I believe that he can raise up, and I do believe with all of
my heart that he can deliver. He can deliver our souls out
of trouble. For 18 years he had only been
qualifying her to tell out more sweetly the story of Jesus' wondrous
power. Power, all power belongs to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said power, he says all power
in heaven and earth belongs to me. Power belongeth unto God. There's nothing too hard for
God. Is that true? Nothing too hard
for God. Now the first thing we read of
him here, and this brings me to the third place, and that
is the liberator at his work. And the first thing we read of
him in verse 12 is that he saw her. Notice that when Jesus saw
her, he called her to him and said to her, Woman, thou art
loosed from thine infirmity. Now we might think that he saw
her in the same way that we see one another. Brother and sister,
that's not the way he saw her. That's not right. That's not
the way. He read every line of her character. He read her history
and every thought of her heart, every desire of her soul. Nobody
had to tell him she had been bound for 18 years. He knew all
about this. This, my friend, is God, you
see. And in John chapter 2, verse
24 and 25, it says that there's no need for any man to tell Jesus
what's in man. He already knows what's in man.
He already knows it. He saw this woman. He knew how
she came to be bound, what she had suffered during the time.
how she had prayed for healing, and how the infirmity only grew
worse. He knew that. In one glance he
saw her, and oh the meaning, oh the meaning there was in this
seeing the Lord Jesus. Does he see you this morning?
Pray Godly will. The eye of God is upon us. Scripture
says all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with
whom we have to do. The eye of God is upon us. Oh,
that he sees each one of us this morning. Well, next thing he
did was he called her to him. Did he know her name? Oh, yes.
Oh, yes, he knew. He knows all our names. The Bible
says in John 10 and 3, he calleth his own sheep thy name. He knows his own sheep. His calling is personal and is
unmistakable. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. Thou art mine, I've called you
by your name. Well, see her coming. Notice,
see her coming. If she could not lift up herself,
I can see her coming. Can you see her coming? Oh, does
she have a face, somebody says? Does she have a face? Oh, somebody
says, is it a woman? What is that coming? What is
this coming? up the aisle. What is this coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ? She could not straighten up,
but she could come as she was. She could come just like she
was. And this is the Lord's way, my friend. And don't you ever
lose sight of it. The Lord's way is you come just
as you are. That's how you come. Joseph Hart
said, Let not conscience make you linger, nor fitness fondly
dream. All the fitness he requireth
is to feel your need of Him. This He gives you, this He gives
you, tis the Spirit's glimmering beam. Come, you weary, heavy
laden, bruised and mangled by the fall. If you tarry till you're
better, you will never, never come at all. You will never come. He called her, and oh to believe
that the Master is calling me to come. Oh, to believe that,
that he's telling me to come, that he's saying, come, John,
come to me. Oh, to believe that with all
of my heart. I want to believe that. I want
you to pray. I want you to pray, somebody
on this side, somebody on that side, that everybody here will
feel the tug at their soul this morning. Come! Come unto me,
the Master is calling! Come unto me, come! Bring your
burden, bring your trial, bring your affliction, bring your sorrow,
bring your situation, bring it, bring it, and come to the Master. He called us. Just as I am, poor
wretched blind, sight, riches, healing of the mind, yea, all
I need in thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come. And she came. And she came. Will it be said finally? And he came. Will it be said
finally? And she came. Will it be said? Well, my friend, I trust God
that it will be. The Master said, Woman, thou
are loosed from thine infirmity. Oh, the end of her gloom. The end of our gloom, the end
of her gloom had come. David prayed, for thy righteousness
sake, deliver my soul out of trouble, for thy righteousness
sake. Oh, for thy name's sake, quicken
thou me, David said. When are we going to be filled
with the Holy Spirit? When are we going to be endued
with power from on high? When will the Lord loose our
tongues? When shall we be able to speak a word for the Master?
When will we be able to bear the burdens of life uncomplaining? When will we be able to touch
Heaven with our prayers? When will we be able? My friend,
it's time to be delivered. It's time to come. It's time. Our time has come. The 18 years
is over. The time of your doubt, your despondency is all over. It's over. Come to the Mount.
He laid his hands on her. and His own infinite power and
vitality came into contact with her painful existence and quickened
her, and she was made straight. Is that alright? That's what
happened. That's exactly what happened.
The deed of love was done. Jesus Himself had done it. He had done it. Well, number
four, she was made straight. Let me say a few things about
that. She was passive, now you listen to this, this is good
doctrine, this is sound doctrine. She was made MADE STRAIGHT! She was passive, insomuch as
a miracle was worked upon her. Now what does the Arminian have
to say about that? This woman was passive, insomuch
that the Lord had done a work. Well, I know what the Arminians
would say, now sinner, you're responsible to straighten yourself
up. Well, that makes good preaching. You're responsible to straighten
yourself up. How many times have you ever
heard somebody say that? So-and-so would just straighten
himself up. I can just hear people say it.
I've heard it a number of times in my life. But the Word of God
says, sinner, you're bound by the infirmity of sin, and you
cannot lift up yourself. When you're made straight, it
is God that does it all, and furthermore, He must have all
the glory in it. He must have it all. All the
glory. It's God's work to straighten
up, folks. I believe in human responsibility.
The Bible teaches it. I believe in it. I believe in
human responsibility. But I know that the sinner is
fast bound in sin. And he's in Egyptian darkness.
And I know that he cannot come except to be drawn. And I know
that he must be made straight. He must be made straight. You're
here today and you want deliverance. He must be made straight. The Lord will have to do it.
He will have to do it. And we beg Him. We beg Him constantly.
That's what they do in the prayer meetings. They're begging God
to make people straight. To straighten up folks. For the
Lord to do it. Well, this poor woman knew on
what head to place the crown. She knew. She knew exactly where
the crown belonged. I like that. She glorified God
and attributed all the work to His gracious power. Amen. She
did. I would have liked to have been
there, wouldn't you? I really would. I'd like to have been
there to hear this woman glorify God and to hear Jesus shut the
mouth of this ruler of the synagogue. Oh, he shut his mouth in a hurry,
didn't he? He really did. To see this woman standing straight,
I'd just like to have been there. To see the miracle whenever she
was made straight. I'd like to have seen that. I
wish that I could have seen old Bill Shultz made straight. The
boy I was talking about earlier, after I left Indiana in 1970,
a couple of years I went back and he was in jail because he
had tried to commit suicide and it failed. He was in jail. He was in absolute misery. And
I would to God that I could have seen him make strength. Oh my,
the pitiful cases all around us. How many people are there?
My friend, how many people are there today that's in such misery? They need a touch from heaven.
They need to be touched. Well, what did this woman say?
It's not recorded, but I think we can well imagine what she
said. It was something like this, maybe.
I've been 18 years in and out among you people. And you know
what a poor, miserable, wretched person I've
been. But God lifted me up today. The Master healed me today. He
straightened me up immediately. And I'm a changed person. Blessed
be His name. I've been made straight. Her
whole body, I think, every limb of her body, glorified God. Her
eyes were on the Lord. She could look up now. She could
see Jesus. And she could see that One that
had healed her. That One who had changed her
miserable situation into a blessed, blessed life. Well, fifthly,
let us reflect a little bit on the reason for expecting the
Lord Jesus to do the same thing today as He did over 1900 years
ago. I like this, and if you just
bear with me, I'll be done in just a little bit. But what was
His reason, really, for setting this poor woman free? Well, beloved,
was it not compassion? Was it not kindness? Was it not
that He cared? Was it not that He cared? Do
you remember that old song, Does Jesus Care? when my heart is
pained too deeply from mirth and song, as the burdens press
and the cares distress, and the way grows weary and long. Oh,
yes, He cares. I know He cares. His heart is
touched with my grief. When the days are weary and long
nights dreary, I know my Savior cares. I know He does. Kindness
and compassion moved the Lord Jesus Christ to heal this woman. Notice what he says in verse
15, and I want you to see this. In verse 15, he says, Doth not
each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from
the stall, and lead him away to watering? Well, Jesus was
being criticized, you know, by this ruler of the synagogue, being criticized for healing
on the Sabbath day. And Jesus said, well, you have
an ox or an ass tied up, and you see that it's thirsty, you
untie the knot and lead that poor creature to the creek or
to the tank, to water, don't you? Don't you do that? You do
that on the Sabbath day. None of you would leave a thirsty
animal tied up. This is good reasoning. Tried
soul, would you not loose an animal if you saw it suffering?
Would you not do that? Yes, is the answer surely to
this. The Lord will loose, the Lord will loose those that are
bound. Just as you would surely loose
an animal that was tied up that hadn't had any water. You would
lose it. Are you more compassionate than
God? Absolutely not. If you would pity an animal,
most surely God will pity you. I'm telling you the truth. God
will pity you. He has not forgot you, my friend.
And then there was a special relationship here. He tells this
master of the synagogue that a man would lose his ox. His. Perhaps a man might not think
of it to be his business to lose somebody else's, or to untie
somebody else's, but his own, would he not lose his own? Now,
he bought you with his blood. God the Father chose you in Jesus
Christ before the foundation of the world in eternal election.
and gave you to Christ. He's loved you with an everlasting
love. Will He not lift you? Will He not loose you? Yes, He
will, my friend. Don't you ever accept being in
bondage as a believer. Don't ever accept it. You pray
earnestly. The Lord Jesus will loose you
because you're His. If you're a child of God, you're
His property. You belong to Him. Will He not
liberate His captive daughter? Assuredly, he will. This daughter
of Abraham. Abraham, you know, is the father
of the faith. And she was a believer. And so the Lord liberated her.
Are you a daughter of Abraham? Are you a child of faith? The
Lord will set you free. Depend upon it, he will. He will. Next, there was a point of antagonism
which moved Christ, I think, to loose this woman. This woman
being a daughter of Abraham, belonging to God, whom Satan
had bound. Now, beloved, if I knew that
the devil had tied anything up, I would try to untie, wouldn't
you? If I knew that the devil had
tied anything up, I'd try to untie it. You know, Christ came
to destroy the works of the devil, and so when he saw the woman
tied up like an ox, he said, I'll untie her, if for nothing
else, that I may undo what the devil has done. That I may undo
what the devil has done. Hear me, and as much as our sorrow
may be traced, to satanic influence, Jesus Christ will be more than
a match for the devil, and He will set you free. He will set
you free. And last of all, she'd been bound
for 18 years. I'm talking about reasons why
our Lord loosed this woman. Now the master of the synagogue,
you know, he got quite upset. He got quite upset. And it didn't
make any difference to him. He said she'd been bound for
18 years, she'd wait another day. She'd wait a while longer. We don't want nobody breaking
the Sabbath around here. We don't want that to happen. And he said they got six days
in which men ought to work. Of course, he was healthy in
body. He was strong in body. We got six days that meant all
the work. And then He said, you come during
one of those days and be healed. But you see, Jesus was here on
this Sabbath day. He was there. Jesus was there. The Lord of the Sabbath was there.
He that is our Sabbath was there! Jesus, our rest, He was there! And there was power present to
heal this woman. And he said, you hypocrite, you
hypocrite, you go right out here and loose them oxen and them
asses and take them to the water, but you don't want this woman
to be healed today. You don't want any pardon. That's
a religionist. That's a legalist is what that
is. And their religion, they can take their religion and they
go on to the place where their people go with that kind of religion.
They can do that. That's what Jesus means. Are
you a hypocrite? You haven't got anything. You
have no burden, no concern for this woman. And you know what? Jesus said this woman's been
bound 18 years, she ain't going to be bound another minute. Not
another minute. I'm going to let her loose. She's
going to be loose today. She's going to be loose now. I'm here, she's here. And the
power is here. It's going to be loose. You know, I don't, well, I don't
want to say too much, but I've studied and read a whole
lot about the Civil War. And I remember at Gettysburg
when General Lee and his Confederate troops were there. There's one of his trusted generals,
General Longstreet, that tried to persuade him to leave there,
to take his troops and go around the Union Army and get the Union
Army in Washington, D.C., pick ground that they could fight
on that was to their advantage, that they could fight and that
they would have a chance to win. And the words of General Lee
was, we won't do it. He said, we're here, and the
enemy is here, and we will fight here. Now it didn't turn out
like, you know, we can't talk too much about the way it turned
out, as far as the South is concerned. But that's exactly what Jesus
said. I'm here, she's here, and she's got the problem, and we're
going to do something about it right now. We're going to do
something about this woman. We're going to heal this woman. She's
going to be made straight. Whatever it is, however it affects
religion, However, I'm going to deliver this poor soul. I
like that. I like that. That's alright with
me. Is it alright with you? Amen. It's alright. Alright,
but do not say because your trouble lasts so long it'll never end.
Somebody saying that this morning? Say, I've just had this problem
for years. I've had this problem a long time. I've had it a long
time. I know something about that.
I know something about being tied up. I know something about
it. And I've been loosed a few times.
And when I went to drink, I drunk and drunk and drunk. I did. I tried to refresh and slate
my thirst. Like these oxen and these asses
that have been tied up. But do not say because it's been
so long there ain't no hope. Nope. Nope. You just take your
case. Just argue the other way. It's
been so long. Deliverance has got to be near.
It's surely, it's surely near. The night has been so long. Surely
morning is about to break. Surely it's about to come. Be
of good courage, my friend. Be of good courage. Well, may
the Lord set the captive free. May He loose the prisoners and
let them go. And whatever be your affliction
this morning, the sovereign God has the answer. He has the answer. I hope and I pray earnestly that
the Lord would come by this morning and visit this congregation and
that we'd feel His presence and that we would be done good by
the hearing of the Word of God. And that there would be some
poor soul that would gather strength and they would be helped. to
look away to the Lord Jesus Christ and to trust Him with all their
heart. May God save some and deliver some poor child of Abraham
here this morning. Father, in the name of Jesus,
do Thou use this word and do Thou bring to pass a glorious
victory, that the crown should be placed upon the head of King
Jesus, O that He may be crowned with many crowns, and that we
may rejoice in Him and glorify Him We pray it in Jesus' name,
for His sake. Amen.