Loose Him and Let Him Go
Loose Him and Let Him Go
11/25/00 and 11/26/00
Review:
We have been talking about submitting to God..in authority, being born again, water baptized, Spirit-filled and especially the issue of righteousness. Who you are in Christ is the key to being who God says you should be. We talked about putting on Christ and taking up the armor of God. All of this is kind of like basic training or boot camp.
-We are still headed for “FREE FROM THE DARK SIDE”.
-We are going to use a couple of Biblical examples to serve as a foundation or backdrop to this point.
THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL
-When God led the Israelites out of Egypt, He did a great miracle. Yet even though they had been delivered from bondage in Egypt, they never really were delivered in that first generation from the bondage on the inside. There were constant struggles with:
Authority/Rebellion
Murmuring and Complaining
Sexual Immorality
Viewing themselves as Grasshoppers
1 Corinthians 10
1 ¶ For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
2 They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
3 They all ate the same spiritual food
4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
6 ¶ Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry."
8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did-- and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.
9 We should not test the Lord, as some of them did--and were killed by snakes.
10 And do not grumble, as some of them did--and were killed by the destroying angel.
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfilment of the ages has come.
12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!
13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
-We see God specifically addressing IDOLATRY/GRUMBLING/TESTING THE LORD/SEXUAL IMMORALITY ETC.
-Someone said that God took the Israelites out of Egypt but He couldn’t get Egypt out of their hearts.
-This is significant because as a Christian you have followed Jesus and have received a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.
-Yet there may be things from Egypt, so to speak, still attached to you.
-You still live in bondage to the extent that you let idols and attitudes from the past rule you.
-The people came OUT OF EGYPT but didn’t make it INTO CANAAN.
-They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years because they needed a check-up from the neck-up!
-I’m going to do some more extensive teaching on this in December on Wednesday nights.
-You can tell if you are in a state where you’ve been brought out by never been brought in.
-You can repent and be delivered from this.
-You can be a Caleb and Joshua even in the midst of a really bad situation.
-This type of oppression is marked by things like:
BEING INHIBITED FROM THE FULL EXPRESSION OF YOUR PERSONALITY
SOMEONE WHO IS A HARD WORKER BUT THEY CAN NEVER MAKE HEADWAY
CONTINUAL DEPRESSION
CONSTANT DEFEAT
THE RAISING OF LAZARUS
-The story of Lazarus is a good illustration of what we are talking about.
-Lazarus had died and Jesus came to where he was laid.
John 11
17 ¶ On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
18 Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,
19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.
20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24 Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;
26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
27 "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
28 And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you."
29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.
30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.
31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33 ¶ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
34 "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" 38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
39 "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days."
40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"
44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
Loose him, and let him go. (KJV)
Make him free and let him go. (BBE)
"Unbind him, and let him go." (NASB)
-You get the point, even though the dead man had been raised, he still had grave clothes on.
-That’s what those things are in your life…they are grave clothes…they smell like death…the old you before you were raised.
-We are told to:
Col 3:5 ¶ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Ro 8:13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,
-A good example of that is WWII. D-Day happened when the Allies landed on Normandy Beach. Several years later V-E day occurred when the war was finally over.
-You are born again. Yet there is still resistance to the new you.
-Put to death whatever is left from the old guy.
-The Bible speaks a lot about being an OVERCOMER.
-There is a difference between being an over comer and a Christian on the way to heaven.
-The difference is whether or not you are wearing grave clothes.
-You need to be FREE!
STEPS TO FREEDOM
-GET OUT OF EGYPT/GET SAVED.
-GET EGYPT OUT OF YOU.
BE HONEST WITH GOD
REPENT/CHANGE YOUR MIND
DON’T ACCEPT SOMETHING AS FINAL (HABIT/ETC.)
FORGIVE ANYONE WHO HAS WRONGED YOU
RENOUNCE ANY REBELLION OR OCCULTIC INVOLVEMENT
ACCEPT GOD’S MERCY AND FACE YOUR ENEMY
-If you find that you have a deeper problem; come Wednesday nights the first 2 weeks in December.
PRAYER OF SUBMISSION TO GOD
Father,
I come before you in the Name of Jesus. I turn from anything that is not pleasing to you. I repent of rebellion against you. I renounce any involvement with cultic influences. I repent of looking to wrong sources for help instead of you. I judge myself so that I won’t be judged. I repent of anything that goes against your Word. I submit to you. I renounce and resist every influence of the world, the flesh, and the devil in my life. The blood of Jesus sets me free.
COMMUNION
1 Corinthians 11 KJV
23 ¶ For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.