The reason this message of deliverance has not had the impact it should have on people in America, is that most people in this culture do not believe they really need to be delivered from anything!  We’re deluded!  I remember it like it was yesterday.  About 10 college students were sitting in a circle in the free speech area of campus at the University of Florida when a Christian student and I began to speak with one of them.  The guy we were speaking with told us that he was totally free and could do anything.  I told him he was deluded.  He said, “What do you mean?”  And I said, “Look around the circle and tell me what you notice about everyone sitting here.”  He paused for a moment, looking around at his friends and said, “Well, we all have long hair– at least the guys all do.  We all have roughly the same kind of clothes on...  We all have either ear rings, lip rings and or nose rings...  We are all free!”  I said, “Well, that is one way to look at the those around you, but I don’t think it is accurate.  The truth is that you are all conditioned to wear the same things.  You look and even talk about the same way.  You aren’t really free.”  One of the women in the group giggled and said, “You know, he is right.”  What is true freedom that Jesus is talking about?  How did Jesus bring about this freedom?  The truth is this: all of us need to be freed, to be delivered by Jesus from all sorts of things which keep us in bondage.

All born again Christians are moving towards Christ-likeness, what the Bible calls sanctification.  We can’t do this on our own.  Sanctification, like salvation, is a work of God in us. We participate in this process by our faith.  Part of the process of sanctification is being set free from the bondage of sin, and delivered from the oppression of the devil.  And we need the strength to live a life which does reflect the wholeness Christ has purchased for us!! 

How do we find this strength?  What do we do and what is God’s part?  How do we appropriate the promises Christ has given to us?  How do we get free from all those things which enslave us– enslavement to eating, to shopping, to pornography, to video games, to alcohol, or to whatever else hinders us from walking in freedom in this life Christ has given to us? 

We are continuing in our sermon series on who God has called us to be as a body of Christ at Trinity– wholehearted, worshipers of the Lord, who are healed and delivered, equipped to do every good work, and sent out with the love of Christ to change the world with the gospel!  We are speaking about being a people who have been and are being delivered this morning.  And our theme is Jesus came to set the captives free, so that we might reflect His life to a world in bondage.

I. The work of Jesus to bind up the broken people and to free them from bondage.

Our passage this morning shows us what God has done to heal us and to deliver us.  In verse 1 we are told that the Spirit of their sovereign Lord, their covenant keeping God is on someone, so that this person has been anointed for specific purposes.  Old Testament scholars before Jesus said this passage was speaking about the Messiah to come.  When Jesus is in His home town (Luke 4) and is invited to read the Scriptures and to preach, Jesus sits down in the synagogue, which is what teachers of the law would do, and He prepares to teach the people, as was the custom in His day, by reading from a text of Scripture.  He unrolls the text to this passage and begins to read Isaiah 61:1-2a.  He ends His sermon by declaring that this passage has been fulfilled, has been completed in their hearing.  In other words, Jesus is the One spoken about in Isaiah 61– He is the One on whom the Spirit of the sovereign Lord would fall, so that He would be anointed to do some spectacular things.  The word ‘anointed’ means ‘consecrated’ or ‘set apart for a special work which God will do’.  The fulfillment of this passage came with Jesus!

I was on a retreat one time when a guy said that he was the second coming of Christ– I am not kidding you.  He was completely serious.  When I took in what he said, and stared at him in disbelief, he quickly said, “Now, don’t judge...”  Another Christian brother and I gently said to him that it was not judging him to declare that he was deluded, because he did not fulfill any of the Scriptures regarding Christ’s second coming.  But think about this.  Jesus said a similar thing to his audience– I am the Messiah, because this Scripture is speaking about me!!  No wonder they tried to kill Him after He preached to them that morning.  There were only 2 options– either Jesus was deluded and blasphemous or He was telling the truth!  Of course, Jesus was speaking the truth!

What did the Spirit anoint Jesus to do?  Many things, but they have a common refrain or main theme.  First, Jesus was anointed to preach good news to the poor– to any one who knew he or she had a need.  The spiritually poor know they have needs, so listen when the good news is proclaimed.  I know I am dead spiritually, apart from Christ and that nothing good lives in me apart from Christ!  Those who are rich don’t believe they really have any needs, so don’t listen much to the gospel.  Second, Jesus was appointed to bind up the broken in heart.  There is healing in this idea, which we spoke about last week.  Jesus heals us, especially at those places in our lives where we have been wounded.  I want to stop here for a second, to recognize the reality of pain in this fallen world.  Every person here has been sinned against by those they love and by acquaintances they have run into along life’s way.  This was Jesus’s experience and it will be our experience.  There are various ways people deal with being broken hearted.  They pretend like it didn’t hurt and shove it down deeper.  This usually results in anger coming out, usually in unhealthy ways.  There are some neighborhoods in the Florence area, where people seethe with anger– it is just below the surface, and it is a result of wounds they have received which have never been healed.  Revenge is another way people deal with wounds.  They live for the day when they can hurt the other person.  I read in the newspaper a few weeks ago about a guy whose father was murdered by a teenager on drugs.  The quote from this man was, “I will never forgive him for what he did.”  That kind of declaration is a recipe for bondage.  As long as that man holds unforgiveness, he will be in bondage.  His pain, which he is holding onto, will never be healed until he is willing to let it go and to give it to Jesus.  You see, no matter what pain you have experienced, no matter who the source of that pain was, Jesus heals the heart as we give the pain and our hearts to Him, and ask for His healing and His deliverance!  Wounds can turn into bondage.  They are inter-related, so we need healing and deliverance, which are both spoken about in this passage.

Jesus our Messiah has come to release every prisoner from bondage.  Certainly there are prisoners in jail, but this is speaking primarily about those who are in spiritual, emotional and mental anguish.  Many people are here!  All of us, on some level either have been or need to be delivered!  Many others aren’t aware of their own predicament, but as one tastes true freedom in Christ, he/she realizes the depth of bondage in which he has walked.  The Lord your God wants you to see clearly– to perceive clearly the truth of your own predicament, as well as His gracious and loving solution for you.  It is found in Christ.  The blind see when Jesus comes– both those who were physically blind, and those who are in utter darkness because of sin.  Jesus has come to redeem you, to buy you back.  Jesus has come to deliver you from every blindness.  When my eyes are on me, when my heart is fixated on self, I need for Jesus to show me the way, to forgive my sin, to give me back my sight.

Recognize your own depth of spiritual need.  Ask Jesus to deliver you– this is a part of His plan for you!  This is why Jesus came!

II. The divine exchange which has already taken place through the work of Christ at the cross! (3)

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus has performed a miracle for us.  There is a divine exchange which has taken place and it is glorious to realize and embrace.  Instead of mourning, Jesus has come to give you joy.  Joy is not based upon circumstances, but is like a river which wells up inside of you and pours out of you to others.  Joy is a result of a vibrant relationship with Jesus.  I can testify about this in my own life– the Lord met me on my study leave this past week as I set aside time to worship and seek Him.  His joy flooded my soul...  This incredible exchange has many facets to it as described by Isaiah.  After the judgement the Lord sent on them for their sin– the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians–  the people of God were in mourning.  Faithful Jews would pour ashes on their heads when they were in mourning, symbolic of the condition of their hearts.  God is exchanging these ashes for a crown of beauty– this would have been beyond their wildest imaginations.  If you have been in a war zone, you know something of the devastation which occurs there.  In the midst of this devastation, the Lord Himself is offering you a crown of beauty.  Instead of ashes on your head, there resides a beautiful garland placed there by the Lord.  Oil of gladness is given to us instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.  Jesus has done all that is necessary so you might experience His joy, His delight. 

This passage reminds me of Jesus’s sermon in Matthew 5-7, where Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit– those who realize their true state and need for Christ.  “Blessed are those who mourn”, which is speaking about our recognition of our sin, and the consequences of our sin.  The promise is that they will be comforted!  I find that once I have brought the weight of my sin to Jesus, I leave the cross with joy, because of the divine exchange Jesus has accomplished for me!  I give Him my sin, and He gives me His righteousness.  I give Him my pain, and He gives me His healing.  I give Him my concerns, and He gives me His peace.  I give Him the shackles of those things which hold me captive, and He gives to me complete freedom!!  What a glorious thing God has done for us!

Next, the Lord gives to His people a new name, a new title to describe who they are now– “oaks or righteousness”.  They are to be a planting, a healthy tree planted by the Lord to display His splendor.  When the nations look at those who have been redeemed, those who have been bought by the Lord, they see His splendor reflected in what He has done.  This is what we want others to see in us!!  We desire for people to look at this church family and to see, not the carnage and garbage from our past, but the grace of the Lord, the love He pours upon us, and the mercy which He has extended to us.  When visitors come into our midst, they should sense both the presence of the Lord, and also a loving touch as God pours Himself through us.  We believe this is the heart of the Lord.  Now, this is only possible if you and I have been freed up to really love others.

Think about this for a moment.  A person who is struggling with their sin or their pain from their past is often so inundated by this pain, that they are not able to do much to help others.  It is as you experience God’s grace and love, and healing and deliverance come into your life– when this process takes place in your heart, then you are able to be used by God to touch others. 

Nancy came into my office and said she had something on her heart which she wanted to share with me.  She told the story of abuse she had experienced as a girl, and how horrible she felt about herself for many years.  After she came to Christ and began to grow in her faith, she shared with some mature Christian women in the church about how she often felt.  These two godly women asked Nancy if they could pray over her, and Nancy agreed wholeheartedly.  They began to pray in faith and  they rebuked the demonic spirit which had taken root in her life because of her past pain.  Nancy told me that she felt a physical sensation in her stomach which she coughed out.  She testified that she has never felt the same way about herself since– that God had freed her to be able to love herself as He loved her and to receive much more joy from Jesus than she had ever dreamed was possible.  She asked about a way to help others get free as she had been freed.  The Lord delivers people from bondage and addictions of all types– from lies we have believed to more serious strongholds in our lives.  Some Christians say Christians cannot be possessed by demons, but this is biblically false.  Demons cannot inhabit our spirit, because the Holy Spirit is resident there, but demons can and do take hold in our souls and bodies, even as Christians.  When a person comes to know Christ, it does not automatically remove the demonic from these places. 

We believe that Jesus came to save us from our sin.  We also believe that Jesus took wounds on His body at the cross for our wholeness– if you missed last week’s sermon, you will have to get the theology from there.  Part of what Jesus wants for you and for me is that we would walk in greater and greater fullness and grace each day.  Jesus desires for us to be cut free from anything– physical, emotional, spiritual– which hinders us from experiencing God’s grace. 

III. The Lord will restore the places long devastated. (4)

The news of the deliverance Jesus offers us is great enough, but don’t stop reading yet!  There is another promise pictured in verse 4.  Not only will we be healed and delivered by our Messiah, but, after these things have taken place inside of us, God will use us to rebuild the ancient places which had been torn down.  This refers immediately to the devastation which Jerusalem experienced when God judged her and the temple was destroyed.  But it also refers to a greater work of restoration in the hearts and lives of people.  This has in fact happened with the spread of the gospel across the world.  It is no accident that the places in the world which are undergoing the greatest pain and the greatest loss of life, the highest infant mortality rates and the lowest standard of living are those places the gospel has not yet penetrated.  Take North Korea, or Pakistan, or Nepal, which have very few Christians.  These are the neediest places in the world by any standard you want to use.  You see, God’s plan has been to spread the gospel to every people group on the earth through His church, so that there is a rebuilding of people and then of institutions which help people function.  This is not a perfect process to be sure, because we are dealing with people who still struggle with sin.  But, this is a work God is doing.  And look who God is using to rebuild!  He is using the very people who were captives, who were blind, who were broken hearted.  These are the same people who are called oaks of righteousness.  These are the same people who are rebuilding the places which have been torn down by sin.

People of God at Trinity, this is a Word of great hope for us!  If you are in a place of struggle with sin or feel in bondage to anything, there is hope for deliverance for you!  Jesus has already paid the price for your complete deliverance!  This Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing by Jesus!  How do I respond to what Jesus has done at the cross?  By faith.  If you are not certain that you are born again, you can be certain this morning!!  All it takes is a simple prayer of faith, asking Christ to come into your life, to forgive your sin and to make you His.  Then, as a Christian, list those things which really bother you about yourself–   cursing, lusting, gossip, critical spirit, alcohol, anger, or whatever...  Ask the Lord to forgive your sin, by placing these things under the blood of Jesus, and then renounce your future involvement in them–“Lord, I don’t want these things in my life any longer.  I renounce future thoughts or actions which line up with these.”  And then ask Jesus to deliver you from any demonic spirit which may be influencing you on any level.  By faith, command any demonic thing to leave you.  Often, people need help with this process, which is normal.  God shows up when He is ready to deliver us from things.  Then we respond to God’s revelation by repentance and renouncing future involvement in them, and then we ask for the Lord to restore us.  God is the one who rebuild, heals, delivers and then uses us to rebuild the ancient ruins of our families or cities.