Thou art loosed. Luke 13:10-17

At Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural shortly before his assassination in 1865, he spoke about both parties deprecated war, and yet war came. He continued, "Neither party expected the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Each looked for easier triumph. Both read the same bible, and prayed to the same God; each invokes his aid against the other."
and with that, Lincoln let his own feelings show through as he spoke of how strange it was," that any men should dare to ask a just
God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces. Ultimately, the black slaves were set free. Theoretically, it became legal as early as the first day of the year, 1863, in what has become to be known as the Emancipation Proclamation. "The word spread," the words of one historian, "From Capitol hill out across the city, down in the valleys and fields of Virginia and the CROLINAS AND EVEN INTO THE PLANTATIONS OF GEORGIA AND MISSISSIPPI and Alabama. 'Slavery legally Abolished!' read the headlines, and yet something amazing took place. The greater majority of the slaves in the south went on living as though they were not emancipated. That continued throughout the reconstructed period."
The Negro remained locked in a caste system of 'race etiquette' as rigid as any had known in formal bondage, and that every slave could repeat, with equal validity, what an Alabama slave had mumbled when asked what he thought of the great Emancipator whose proclamation had gone into effect. 'I don't know nothin' 'bout Abraham Lincoln cep they say he sot us free. And I don't know nothin' 'bout that neither.
How tragic. A war being fought. A document had been singed. Slaves were legally set free. The word emancipated. And yet most continued to live out their years, and many of their children some of their years, in fear, saying "I don't know nothin 'bout that neither.' In a context of freedom, slaves chose to remain slaves, though they were legally freed. Even though emancipated, they kept serving the same master throughout their lives.
Sadly, many believers in this world are like the slaves in Civil war times. All the official documents have been signed, all the legal matter have been taken care of. God has accepted the "emancipation proclamation" made by Jesus on Calvary, when he said, " It is finished" In Christ we have been set free forever! We are no longer in bondage to our sins, our past, our guilt, or anything else that we might name. Yet, we still live in bondage because we will not except the freedom available to us in Jesus. This passage is all about how Jesus can set us free. as we watch him deliver this women from the bondage of eighteen years of sickness, we get a picture of what he can do for us, if we will come to him. Let's spend a few minutes in this passage together as we share some thoughts with you on the subject, " Thou art Loosed". Perhaps today will be the day when you identify that which binds you and you get free from it forever! One Sabbath as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, He saw a seriously handicapped women who had been bent doubled for eighteen years and was unable to straighten herself up. Calling her over to him Jesus said," women, you are healed of your sickness!" He touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised and thanked God! (V.10.11,12).
THIS WAS A WOMEN WHO WAS IN SEVERE physical PAIN. Her body was bent double at the waist. Surely, every day was a struggle for her. She found herself in a physical condition that prevented her from looking up. She could not, by her own power, overcome her condition
Sadly, many have found themselves in a spiritual state in which they cannot look up either! Totally unable to see past the torment they are experiencing in their lives. ( Note: if you are the lord's, even your afflictions are part of his plan for your life, Rom. 8:28).
She was attacked spiritually for eighteen years ( verse 16) lets us know that this women was an Israelite and a believer. Yet she is under attack of the devil! Satan has bound her and has caused her body to be broken by affliction. ( Note: Even believers "saved people" can be attacked by the devil). Now we need to understand that no saint of God can be demon possessed! Jesus did not cast out any demons here. He merely spoke to her condition. She was not demon possessed, she was demon oppressed! Most of the time, our illnesses are just that which is part and parcel of the human experience. Let's not blame every cold on the devil. The point here is that believers can come under attacked of the enemy. He will seek for ways to bind our lives and to hinder us from being all that Gods wants us to be. What has you bound this morning? Sin? Bitterness/ Temptation? Hatred? Unforgiveness? GUILT? ADDICTION? Lust? envy? Greed? Religion? Fear? Worry? Finances? The list goes on forever, but the fact is, anything and everything, when the good things of life will be used by the enemy to bind, hinder and devastate our lives. ( if we allow him to!) No doubt, she was affected socially because of her condition, she was considered a Freak. She was an oddity to be laughed at and imitated by children. She was an outcast. and probably unwanted, unloved. She was the kind of person you would avoid on the street. She was a social pariah. Like her if you are afflicted in any way, then you know the pain of rejection! Beware that you do not let your rejections change to bitterness! The enemy will use that to trap you and bind you, ( if he is allowed to!) (NOTE: TO ME, she is one of the most powerful pictures of faith and faithfulness in the New Testament. She has been in this condition for 18 years! If she has been to the synagogue every Sabbath for those 18 years, she has attended some 1,000 meetings there She has been sick for 18 years She has not been healed, still she believes in God! She prays, but even when it seems like God isn't going to answer, she remains faithful. she comes to the services, in spite of the fact no one would miss her if she didn't. She had suffered for years while God only watched.
Still she remained faithful! What a rebuke she is to the mentality that abounds to day! If we have a headache, we run to the medicine bottle and knock ourselves out. She was bent double, yet she came to the house of God. She persisted in her faith. We allow the slightest bump in the road of life to derail us and cause us to want to throw in the towel, she persisted in her faith, even when life didn't go her way, because she loved the Lord our God! She stayed faithful because she knew that God was worthy of her worship. She loved him and would continue in spite of her obstacles she faced. This women wasn't the only one who came to the synagogue to worship. Jesus Christ was in attendance that day and he came to worship as well. The Bible says, Verse 12, " he saw her" Jesus went to the house of God to worship. He knew that genuine worship involved more than merely sitting in ones place. Worship was more than an experience of the head. It was an experience of the heart that found reaction in His hands. You see, too many sit in a pew shift their brain to neutral and glide through the service, neither moving or being moved by what they experience. Genuine worship occurs when our belief moves from our head, down to our hearts and out through our hands, James 1:27. Time spent in church that doesn't move your heart and motivate your hands is not worship. ( it is just time spent in church).
When Jesus saw the women, she received a compassionate word. he called her to him. She struggle her way to him. He spoke to her. He called her 'WOMEN." WHAT A WORD OF COMPASSION! Here was a women whose beauty had long gone left her, yet Jesus saw her as women and loved her as she was. He doesn't see us in light of our past, He sees what we have become through his grace. Then he spoke the words that must have thrilled her soul, "Thou art loosed from thine infirmity. What she tried and failed to do, Jesus did with a word! Jesus knows our burdens and emotional demons that encumber us, but, if you will come to him at His call (Matt. 11:28) and you will hear his words that will set you free.
Only by letting go can you let God carry out His will in your life.

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