When those slaves in Texas who should... have been released two years earlier after the Emancipation was signed by Lincoln, and then were finally set free after federal troops arrived in Galveston, ... did they owe the country an apology for being set free?

 

 Or how about when a criminal is convicted of a crime, sent to prison to serve time for what he did (broke the law) and then after he serves his time,  is released and set free...does he owe society an apology for being set free? 

 Well...do they? 

 I recall a story shared in the 9th chapter of John’s gospel where a blind man was just sitting there minding his own business when Jesus comes by one day, spits into the ground and makes some clay with His saliva, applies it to this blind man’s eyes and then instructs him to go rinse. The man’s eyes are miraculously opened and he can see. What a great thing to happen for this man, is it not? 

 Apparently, not everyone in his town was excited for him. Want to take a guess who? Yep...the religious folks down at the local synagogue (church). They were actually a tad indignant that such a thing could happen. They wanted an explanation...then called his parents in for an interrogation. Finally, in exasperation, the formerly blind man just says...”Look...I don’t know what else to tell you...I just know that I was blind and now I see.” (25) 

 So they kicked him out of church.(34). Go figure. 

 You are probably familiar with the story in Acts 3 where Peter was used by God to heal a lame beggar outside of the temple. He was brought there daily to beg for alms by the gate. I find a bit of irony in that opening verse in 3:1-2 where he sits in front of ‘church’ daily- begging...unable to walk...in the manner in which he was created to walk. Can I ask you to look at 1 John 2:6 and tell me how those who say they abide in Christ are ‘supposed to walk’? How many are actually doing that today? (waiting for a couple of ‘dots to connect’ here for you.) 

 So Peter sees him, prays for him and God raises him up by the miraculous power of the Spirit. Needless to say, this created quite the stir. And while this lame beggar was pretty excited (and rightly so) as demonstrated by him entering the temple ‘walking and leaping and praising God’, not everyone shared in this excitement. Want to take a guess who? Right again...the religious crowd. In fact, as you read on into chapter 4, they have Peter and John arrested. We are told the religious leaders were ‘disturbed’. (4:2) 

 And since we are here, just flip over to the next chapter once again and read how God was working through those apostles in vs. 12-15. People start getting set free, healed of diseases, having demons cast out, etc. Look at vs. 17 where we are told that the ‘high priest rose up’...and was ‘filled with indignation’. 

 Do you see a pattern developing here? Why would religious folks be upset when God’s people start getting set free...having their eyes opened...being able to walk in the manner in which they were created to walk? Seems this would be a cause of celebration, would it not? 

 One more example...found in Luke 13. It’s the story of a woman, who Jesus said was a daughter of Abraham whom had been ‘bound by Satan’ for 18 years. (16). We are told she was ‘bent over’ unable to ‘raise herself up’ and that a ‘spirit of infirmity’ was the cause of this. (11). Jesus called for her to be brought to Him. He prays for her, loosening her from this affliction and ‘Immediately she was made straight and glorified God’. (13). Sounds like more good news to me and cause for celebration, does it not? Not everyone was pleased. Want to guess again who did not share in this excitement? Yep...right again- the ruler of the synagogue who was ‘indignant’. (14) 

 Sigh.... 

 People...who are set free by Jesus owe nobody and apology for being...set free. How absurd is that to even consider? I mean, that is, after all...what Jesus came to do, is it not? (Luke 4:18). Was He not ‘anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and with power to go about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil?” (Acts 10:38). And yet...this angered people to such a degree...that they had Him arrested and then crucified. One more time...want to guess ‘who...had him killed’? Once more...you are right again – the religious establishment. 

 I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that most of you know why people today are arrested and sent to prison – they break the law. 

 Are you aware as to how and why God’s people are ‘taken captive’? (Jer. 13:17, 2 Tim.2:26; Deut. 30:3). Same reason – they break the law. 

 Do you know what ‘sin’ is? Why don’t we let the bible answer that for us: Sin is breaking the law, or ‘lawlessness’. (1 John 3:4) 

 And herein lies one of several reasons why so many of God’s people today are bound up, captive, suffering, and in torment. By their own admission, they continue to ‘sin’ and sin regularly. That is not a good thing. Yet, we should all have some general understanding that this is how ‘life works’. When you break the law, there are consequences to be paid. (Gal. 6:7-8) 

 That man Jesus healed in John 5...do you remember what Jesus told him when they cross paths later there in the temple? Jesus says to him...”Hey...I see you are well. Here’s some good advice...go and sin no more (don’t break God’s law) or...something worse may come upon you.” (5:14). 

 In Matthew 18, Jesus gives a rather insightful lesson on the importance of forgiving others. You probably have read that parable (21-35). A servant was forgiven a great debt which he could have never repaid the king. He then in turn goes out and finds someone who owes him a debt. 

 Unable to repay, this servant has the man thrown in prison. The king hears about this and is not happy at all with this servant whom he had forgiven. This man is brought before the king and told he is a ‘wicked servant’, being reminded of how he was forgiven a great debt and should have done likewise for this other man. (32). So the king, who is now very angry, has this man ‘turned over to the torturers/tormentors’. Oh- do you remember what Paul advised the church there in Corinth as to what should be done with this one man who was in gross immoral sin? You might read that now: 1 Cor. 5:5. 

 Now please pay close attention to how Jesus ties up this whole story in warning us: “So My heavenly Father also...will do to you...if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother of his trespasses”. (35) 

 So...let’s connect some more dots here. Contrary to popular belief and/or opinion, the law God set in place many, many years ago was never abolished or done away with. Jesus affirmed this in Matt. 5:17. This same law, we are told by Paul, was set in place some 430 years after God established covenant with Abraham. The law was given because of sin. (Gal. 4:17,19). Paul tells us that the law is good, and holy. (Rom. 7:12; 1 Tim. 1:8) 

 We read on more than one occasion when people came to Jesus asking what they needed to do to receive or inherit eternal life, Jesus pointed them to ...the law. (Luke 10:25-28; Matt. 19:16-17). And just to clear up any confusion, Jesus condenses what all this ‘law’ entails in two very concise commandments. We are going to love God with all our hearts and we are also to love our neighbor as ourself. (Matt. 22:35-40). Do this...and you will live...you will receive or inherit eternal life. One of many things, that is so great about Jesus...is His willingness to make things clear to those who truly desire to seek and know Him. In John 13:34-35, He clarifies this ‘new commandment’ by explaining that we are to love others as He has loved us. In fact, He makes it clear that this is how all will know we are His disciples. Pretty simple, is it not? 

 And just how on earth do you think it would be possible for us to ‘love others as Christ loved us’....unless we had His nature abiding in us? Welcome to being ‘saved’ and abiding in Christ. He leads His children to put to death everything about our old sinful nature, so that He can increase in us and empower us by His grace to do this very thing. Jesus came to fulfill the law and then leads us to do the same thing. You might look up these verses: (Rom. 8:13-14, Matt. 5:17; 1 John 2:6; Romans 8:4: John 3:30 Gal. 5:24). I know this has to be a bit confusing if we have not been taught the whole counsel of God. So when you come across verses like Romans 2:13 where Paul says it’s not the hearers of the law who shall be justified but the doers of the law, it gives us pause because it does not ‘fit’ with the man made doctrines so many of us were taught to adhere to. 

 People might be quick to quote Romans 6:14 saying ‘we are not under the law, but grace’. Well, yes, that is true, but you might want to look at Gal. 5:18 for more insight. Those who are ‘led by the Spirit’ are not under the law. And those who are led by or walking in the Spirit no longer fulfill the lust of the sinful, flesh nature (which is sin). (Gal. 5:16). And honestly, there is no conflict here because those who are actually walking by faith are upholding the law. (Rom. 3:31) But again, because the law has been lost, or failed to be taught in most churches today, we have opened the door to the enemy to come and take us captive and ‘steal, kill, and destroy’. They are the ones who actually carry out God’s wrath and judgments and curses that come for breaking the law. You might look over Deut. 28 sometime this weekend. 

 Join me tomorrow? ;- )