Divine Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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John 8:34-36

Hymns 321, 294

The need for a way (Problem)

slavery

The state of being an unpaid servant, whether through forcible subjection or voluntary submission. Slavery was common in biblical times, and Scripture lays down strict guidelines as to how slaves are to be treated by their masters, stressing the new status that slaves have as a result of being believers in Jesus Christ. The image of slavery is also used to describe the state of sinful human beings.

SERVANT (Heb. ˓eḇeḏ; Gk. doúlos).† A male or female person who is under obligation to render obedience to a master.
Next week Tuesday the first of August marks the date that Jamaica will celebrate emancipation day. I do not know how many of you remember or are aware of these dates in Jamaican History: (1494) Christopher Columbus sighted Jamaica; (1509) First Spanish colonists occupied Jamaica; indigenous Arawak community died from exposure to European diseases; African slaves brought to work on sugar plantations;
(1655) Jamaica was captured by the British; (1657) Admiral Robert Blake defeated Spanish West Indian Fleet in the battle over the seizure of Jamaica; (1670) Jamaica formally ceded to the British in accordance with the Treaty of Madrid; (1692) Earthquake destroyed Port Royal, capital of Jamaica; major part of island submerged; estimated 3,000 killed, 23,000 injured;
(1838) Slavery was abolished That is our Emancipation Day, Celebrated on August one; This was not easy to attain because slavery brought Great gain to slave owners; the fact is when, If one knows anything about the history of Jamaica, you would have learned of the severe struggles our fore-parents had to endure during slavery - getting here and working in the inhumane, cruel and barbaric plantation system. It was brutal. But with resistance and continued lobbying (particularly between 1780 and 1838) by several anti-slavery champions including persons like Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce, Joseph Sturge, William Knibb, Thomas Burchell and Samuel Sharpe, the colonial powers did the inevitable. Why is Emancipation Day Celebrated In Jamaica? (my-island-jamaica.com) We defined slavery earlier but have you ever asked yourself, what was slavery like for our Jamaican ancestors?
The transatlantic slave trade is largely responsible for bringing to the Americas enslaved Africans. The slave trade is said to have drawn between ten and twenty million Africans from their homeland, with approximately six hundred thousand coming to Jamaica (one of the largest importers of slaves at the time) between 1533 and 1807.
Referred to as the triangular trade, it involved three points, Europe, Africa, and the West Indies, and represented a complex financial business at its peak in the 18th century. The cruel and inhumane conditions experienced by the Africans from their initial capture, their journey along the middle passage, and enslavement in the West Indies demanded that the slave trade be abolished and slaves be freed.
After much agitation by anti-slavery individuals and groups in and outside of the Caribbean, as well as passive and active resistance by the Maroons as well as the enslaved, the Slave Trade Abolition Bill was passed in the British House of Lords on the 25th of March 1807. https://nlj.gov.jm/slave-trade/
https://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/caribb/jamaica/jmtimeln.htm#:~:text=1%20%281907%29%20City%20of%20Kingston%20destroyed%20by%20earthquake,Crown%20Colony%20status%20in%20Jamaica%20More%20items...%20
But what was slavery like? well, mostly it was about working on sugar plantations.
Slaves were abused and treated as less than humans
I thank God for the abolition of slavery in Jamaica; Emancipation came at a great cost, many lives were lost and emancipation always comes with a high price. but other types of slavery still linger on in Jamaica and the world. Crime and violence continue to hold us hostage. there are those who are slaves to alcohol; there are those who are slaves to drugs; there are persons who are slaves to work. some persons are not comfortable in their own skin so they bleach it out.
some persons don’t want to be committed in a relationship and get married but they are sexually active and they can’t seem to stop. their persons who can’t save because they are addicted to gambling. some people are addicted to video games and dance hall music. some people are addicted to makeup. all these and more are different forms of slavery, and if you are a slave you can’t get away you don’t have control over yourself, you are bonded in mental chains that are not easily broken. they are kidnapped and held captive by one who wants to have dominion over them.
John 8:34–36 NASB95
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
The Jewish leaders did not think that they were slaves they didn’t think that they were in bondage because they were deceived and trapped; they were blinded by pride as self-sufficiency. they were trying to work out their own salvation but sinking deeper into the quagmire of sin they were bondservants to the devil and could not set themselves free. But whosoever the SON Sets free is free indeed
This is how he the Israelites must have felt as they suffered 430 years of slavery. 40 Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. they must have cried to the Lord daily as they work whipped and forced to work for extraordinary hours under extreme conditions many of them died because of the pressure. 7 The LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.
this is good to know, the sovereign God is aware of our sufferings. He is never missing in action He is ever present to help.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ex 3:7.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ex 12:40.

The need for the Truth(solution)

the truth is we can’t help ourselves only God can Help us. God knows our deepest internal struggles and He wants to help us with these struggles He wants to emancipate us. God wants to set us free from the Pharaohs in our lives. the promiscuity, the gambling, the drug addiction, the low self-esteem, the anxieties in life the sickness, and the struggles that you face on a day-to-day basis. God wants to emancipate you.
In the narrative today God set His people free with mighty acts. God inflicted the Egyptians with ten plagues and the Bible says in Exodus 12:29-34.

29 Now it came about at amidnight that bthe LORD struck all cthe firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of dcattle.

30 Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was aa great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead.

31 Then ahe called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, bget out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, 1worship the LORD, as you have said.

32 “Take aboth your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”

Exodus of Israel

33 aThe Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, “We will all be dead.”

34 So the people took atheir dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders.

What I’m trying to say is whom the Son shall set free is free indeed God commanded them to prepare for an immediate release. He had warned Pharaoh of the final judgment on the Egyptians, and He directed the Hebrews to gather their families within their dwellings. Having sprinkled the doorposts with the blood of the slain lamb, they were to eat the lamb, roasted, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. “And thus shall ye eat it,” He said, “with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s Passover.” Exodus 12:11. At midnight all the first-born of the Egyptians were slain. Then the king sent to Israel the message, “Rise, and get you forth from among my people; … and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said.” Exodus 12:31. The Hebrews went out from Egypt an independent nation.
Ellen Gould White, The Desire of Ages, vol. 3, Conflict of the Ages Series (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1898), 77.

The need for a new life (Transformation)

Appeal:
What is your struggle today? what has held you captive for a while now? is it sex Iss it Gambling? Are you having an affair with a married person? are you struggling to let go of the alcohol? are struggling with low self-esteem? Jesus wants to emancipate you today. Just say it in your heart today Jesus I surrender my heart to you. Please take it and give me a new heart. please free me from these emotional chains. they’ve been holding me for a while now and I want to serve you but I need your help. God’s emancipation proclamation was proclaimed on a Hill called Calvary upon a Cross that was high and lifted up, when JESUS Said FATHER FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO. Luke 23:34
Luke 23:34 NASB95
But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.
Today we don’t have to be slaves to sin we have been held captive for a while but over 2000 years ago we were bought with the precious blood of Jesus.
If you are here today and you want to commit your life to Jesus in the watery grave of baptism would you raise your hands today? God wants to set you free.
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