December 6, 2023 • 24 mins
Are we truly free? Or are we all, in some form, enslaved? Our latest episode takes you on a journey from physical to spiritual bondage, tracing the footsteps of William Benjamin Gould, a Civil War slave who found freedom. We shed light on our collective guilt, our self-inflicted chains of sin, and our desperate need for a savior. Our exploration leads us to the one who holds the key to our spiritual liberation - Jesus Christ.
His birth isn't just a Christmas story but a beacon of salvation, having fulfilled over a hundred prophecies, and marking the arrival of the ultimate sacrifice for mankind's sins. We highlight how His birth changed the world and still holds the power to transform our lives today. We conclude our discussions with delightful Christmas stories to warm your hearts and brighten your holiday season. Tune in for our deep dive into freedom, sacrifice, and redemption. Don't let these life-changing truths pass you by!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jesus is the one who breaks the chains of people who
are in bondage to sin.
As we take this truth, trektogether through a messianic
prophecy found in Isaiah 42.
Near midnight on September 21st1862, eight slaves escaped from
(00:36):
their master's Wilmingtonplantation into the North
Carolina night.
They waited exactly an hourafter the watchman's final
rounds before silently stealingaway one by one.
William Benjamin Gould, a smalland soft spoken 24-year-old,
was among the band of fugitives.
He slipped outside and crepttoward the river, where they
(00:58):
untied a docked rowboat andstarted the night long trip from
Wilmington down Cape Fear Rivertoward the Atlantic.
The men were well aware of thedanger they faced as they
traveled downstream.
Though their tiny boat had tocover 28 nautical miles before
daybreak, they could not riskhoisting the sail.
There were centuries posted onthe length of the river, any one
(01:22):
of whom could be on the lookoutfor eight fugitive slaves.
One of the busiest ports in theConfederacy, wilmington was
heavily fortified.
Fort Caswell, the main sourceof protection for the city,
stood at the mouth of the CapeFear River where it empties into
the Atlantic.
Wilmington was under blockadeby a Union naval patrol and
(01:44):
Caswell held it in check at thecoast.
To William Gould and his fellowfugitives.
That meant there would besoldiers and plenty of them in
between their stolen boat andfreedom.
Gould was intelligent and wellread and he knew that the timing
of his escape was of keyimportance.
Once caught, a fugitive slavehad no chance of ever attempting
(02:07):
such bad behavior again.
Most were hanged on the spot tomake an example.
The Civil War quickly proved tobe just the opportunity he was
waiting for.
As the war was about to begin,as Gould later wrote in his
journal, he decided just afterthe start of the war to leave
the land of chivalry and seekprotection under the banner of
the Free.
The war started in April 1861.
(02:29):
In September, some of thefemale slaves who worked in home
heard news that the Union hadstarted conscripting escaped
slaves from the south into thewar service of the North.
Rumors quickly spread among theslaves that any who made it
into a Union camp would beseized as enemy property.
While many of the slave masterswere away at war, whole
(02:52):
families of slaves walked offtheir plantations and into Union
camps, proclaiming I'mcontraband at the gate as
contraband.
A slave was not freed, he wasmerely accepted as confiscated
confederate property.
But he would not be returned tohis master, and that was close
enough for William and theothers.
(03:14):
Just after dawn the boat slidunder the nose of Fort Caswell
and into the swells of theAtlantic.
Lofting a sail high in themorning breeze, the men
approached two ships flying theUnion colors.
The ship nearest, the rowboat,brought William and the others
on board, still within sight ofFort Caswell, but safely on deck
.
The men excitedly declaredthemselves contraband.
(03:36):
They were met with exclamationsof welcome to the USS Cambridge
men.
On the very same day, barelymore than half an hour after the
eight fugitives were picked upby the USS Cambridge, president
Abraham Lincoln walked into ameeting with the members of his
cabinet.
After making some lightconversation he said gentlemen,
(03:57):
I have, as you are aware,thought a great deal about the
relation of this war to slavery.
With that, lincoln officiallyannounced his Emancipation
Proclamation.
Though it wasn't signed untilJanuary 1st, the effect of the
edict on the Union was immediate.
The document proclaimed allpersons held as slave would
(04:17):
thence forward and forever befree.
The black press that hadcriticized Lincoln's weak stance
on slavery a year before wasecstatic.
We shout for joy that we liveto record this righteous decree,
wrote Frederick Douglass.
Oh, lift up now your voiceswith joy and thanksgiving, for
(04:39):
with freedom to the slave willcome peace and safety to your
country.
Today, it is easy for us tohear a story like this and think
, wow, what it must have beenlike for those slaves.
The life of slavery was awful.
I just can't imagine it.
Yet every one of us started outas a slave, and some continue
(05:01):
today.
That's right.
Every one of us was born intoslavery.
The slavery we were born intois far worse than the slavery we
normally think of.
Our slavery is of a spiritualkind.
The slavery we were born intois far worse than that of human
slavery, because it is aneternal slavery.
The slave on this earth can atleast have the peace of knowing
(05:24):
that, whether it be by death orredemption, there will be a day
when no one owns him any longer.
The kind of slavery we are allborn into no human can break
free of on their own.
Nor can any humans, throughteamwork or ingenuity, be freed
of their slavery.
This is because each of us isborn a slave of sin and there is
(05:46):
no way for us to free ourselvesfrom it.
For all of history, mankind hasstruggled with the realization
that they are guilty and thereis nothing they can do to free
themselves of the guilt of theirsin.
For the thousands of years ofpeople walking the earth, they
have tried to earn forthemselves a way to pay for the
(06:06):
cost of their sin.
They have done this throughsacrifices, through
self-deprivation and self-abuse.
They have tried to make thingsright with God by doing good
works, yet no action we take onour own can make things right
between us and the holy God wehave sinned against.
I believe that in every heartthere is a realization that we
(06:28):
have not lived up to God'sstandard of living and because
we don't live up to His exampleof holiness, we deserve death.
We deserve the righteouspunishment of God, and the fact
that we have not lived up to Hisrules for living means that we
are slaves to our sin, since wecannot free ourselves from the
awful realization that wedeserve punishment.
(06:51):
Most of us have had one or manytimes as children when we broke
a household rule and we knewthat eventually we would be
found out.
There was a punishment deserved, and the realization that
punishment was coming wassometimes worse than the
punishment itself.
I remember the terror,sometimes lasting for hours,
because I had done somethingwrong, and those terrible words
(07:13):
came.
Just wait until Dad gets home.
It is a miserable feeling, thatfeeling of knowing that
punishment is due and while weawait it, it is terrifying.
No wonder why when people whodon't know the Lord, at the time
of their death approaching,show signs of struggle that go
beyond just the medical, and thewitness can attest that there
(07:35):
was a certain panic and fear asthe dying person saw the end
approaching.
What a terrifying prospectdeath is to the one who doesn't
know Christ.
The feeling of the impendingjudgment of God must cause the
unrepentant person to quake andbe stricken with fear of meeting
the Maker without any way tomake right their sins against
(07:56):
Him.
The Bible tells us that for thesinner, there awaits eternal
conscious torment.
It is an eternal dying For theone who never turns to Christ.
Their entire life is one fullof moments like this.
There is no peace on earth forthe one who rejects God.
Still at Christmas, we againreflect on that hope that we
(08:19):
have in Jesus Christ, theMessiah who came to offer His
life.
We've been reviewing somepassages from the prophet Isaiah
.
These words were writtenhundreds of years before the
birth of Christ.
The prophet Isaiah made manyprophecies that are called
messianic prophecies.
This means they were propheciesthat in some way predicted some
(08:43):
element of the life of theMessiah.
Messiah means anointed one.
It is a Hebrew idea of one whowould be sent by Christ to make
all things right.
The word Christ comes from theGreek translation of the same
word, and this is why some referto the Son of God as Jesus
(09:04):
Christ and others refer to Himas Messiah.
If you are not familiar withthe Christian faith, you should
know that the Old Testament isfull of messianic prophecies.
These prophecies were writtenover the span of hundreds of
years and, amazingly, werefulfilled in the life of Jesus.
(09:26):
In the passage we have beenstudying, we have seen a
description of Jesus thatincluded him as being a humble
person, one who did not seekfame or, as the passage says, he
did not shout or cry out on thestreets.
Next, we see that Jesus wasgentle.
He does not break someone whois bruised or snuff out someone
(09:48):
whose flame of life and faith isflickering, but instead he
would raise people up.
We also see that Jesus is thelight of the world in this
passage.
He is the light that giveseverlasting life.
He wants to draw people out ofdarkness into his marvelous
light.
And today we are going to lookat Jesus as the one who sets the
(10:09):
prisoners free, the one whoopens blind eyes and the one who
brings people out of darkness.
I will read the passage Isaiah42, verses 1 through 9.
Here is my servant, whom Iuphold, my chosen one, in whom I
delight.
I will put my spirit on him andhe will bring justice to the
(10:30):
nations.
He will not shout or cry out orraise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will notbreak and a smoldering wick he
will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bringforth justice.
He will not falter or bediscouraged till he establishes
justice on earth In his teaching.
The islands will put their hope.
(10:52):
This is what the Lord God says,the Creator of the heavens, who
stretched them out, who spreadsout the earth and all that
springs from it, who givesbreath to its people and life to
those who walk on it.
I, the Lord, have called you inrighteousness.
I will take hold of your hand,I will keep you and will make
you to be a covenant for thepeople and a light for the
(11:14):
Gentiles, to open eyes that areblind, to free captives from
prison and to release from thedungeon those who sit in
darkness.
I am the Lord, that is my name.
I will not yield my glory toanother or my praise to idols.
See, the former things havetaken place and new things I
(11:35):
declare.
Before they spring into being,I announce them to you.
So we want to open our eyes tothe freedom that Christ offers,
and so we're going to look atverses 7 to 9 of the passage I
just read and it gets me veryexcited, like a child waiting
for a gift on Christmas.
With great anticipation I'vebeen waiting to share these
(11:56):
verses with you, because in themis the greatest hope you will
ever find.
In them is the main focus andpurpose of Christmas.
That is why Christmas is sospecial, and even those who do
not know Christ have a sense ofwhat a precious time this is.
That is because all people canhave peace on earth, and it is
(12:19):
because of Christmas.
Because of our sin, god wasunapproachable to us, so he came
down to us.
Jesus was the one the prophetshad spoken of.
There were well over 100specific prophecies that were
fulfilled in Christ.
Remember that the propheciesabout Jesus were made hundreds
of years before his arrival, andby the time he arrived, the
(12:42):
world desperately needed him,just as it desperately needs him
today.
The world needs him because,like William Gold wanted his
freedom, slaves to sin aroundthe world want to be free, and
the only way that they will befree is through the blood of
Jesus Christ.
All over the world, people arestill trying to make things
right between them and God, butaside from Christ, they are
(13:04):
hopeless.
They cannot earn their way intoheaven and eternal life.
They cannot perform any acts ofservice that can offset the
sins of their lives.
These people are slaves totheir sin and they are blind to
the truth.
That truth is that there isonly one way to stand before God
on the day of judgment withoutfear.
(13:25):
There is only one way to facedeath with peace in the heart.
There's only one way to be freefrom the bondage of sin, and
that is through the blood ofJesus Christ.
You see, before Jesus came, menneeded to make sacrifices to
atone for or to pay for theirsins.
This never completely did thejob, though.
(13:46):
They would have to return tothe altar with a sacrifice again
and again.
Why?
Because after making asacrifice for sins up to that
point, they would go back to sinagain, even those who genuinely
sought to appease God and tolive a righteous life could not
do it.
This means for all of mankind.
(14:08):
They were in a real pickle.
It was a situation that couldnot be solved.
There was no way to makeoneself right before God,
because no sacrifice couldsufficiently pay the price for
all of one's sins, past, presentand future.
That is, until Christ madehimself the sacrifice for all.
(14:31):
That is why Christmas is sosignificant.
That is why, as the song says,a weary world rejoices, the
weary world of men and women whoknew that things were not right
between them and God had a newlight gone on them.
The weary world of people todaywho have the same realization
(14:52):
can rejoice as well that asavior has been born.
That night of his birth, amessage was brought by an angel
announcing to some shepherdsthat God had come and a
multitude of angels had aworship service.
Something glorious had happened.
I can only imagine howwonderful that moment was, as
recorded in Luke in chapter two,starting at verse eight.
(15:15):
And there were shepherds livingout in the fields nearby
keeping watch over their flocks.
At night, an angel of the Lordappeared to them and the glory
of the Lord shone around themand they were terrified.
But the angel said to them donot be afraid, I bring you good
news that will cause great joyfor all the people.
(15:36):
Today, in the town of David, asavior has been born to you.
He is the Messiah, the Lord.
This will be assigned to you.
You will find a baby wrapped incloths and lying in a manger.
Suddenly, a great company ofthe heavenly host appeared, with
the angel praising God andsaying glory to God in the
(15:56):
highest heaven and on earth.
Peace to those on whom his favorrests.
Imagine that those shepherdswere in the same state as you
and I, in need of some way outof our predicament that our sin
puts us in On earth.
Peace to those on whom hisfavor rests.
(16:16):
And who are those on whom hisfavor rests?
Those who accept Jesus Christ.
You see, he came to seek andsave the lost.
He came to open the blind eyes.
He healed blind people, but,more importantly, he opens
spiritually blind eyes and makespeople to see the light of
(16:38):
truth, and he is the light ofthe world.
The chains he breaks are brokenfor good.
These chains of bondage we arein are our sin, but different
people have different types ofchains.
I think of the ghost of JacobMarley in a Christmas Carol, and
he said this about his chain Imade it link by link and yard by
(17:02):
yard.
I girded it on my own free willand of my own free will I wore
it.
Each of us has made a chain ofour own, link by link.
Some chains have links of pridein fact most do.
Some have chains of hurtfeelings turned into hate.
Some have chains of despairbecause there is no hope in this
(17:24):
life.
Some have chains of regret,always wishing they had done
something differently.
Some have chains of addiction,whether to drink or drugs or
gambling or any other vice.
Some have chains of ambivalence, who don't really think about
eternity or care what willhappen to them after death.
Some carry chains of shamebecause in their heart they know
(17:48):
that they are guilty, guilty,guilty.
All of these chains comebecause people are blind to the
fact that Jesus Christ hasalready made a way for them to
be free of those chains.
Jesus Christ stands ready tobreak the chains forevermore,
setting you free from thebondage you have only placed
(18:09):
yourself in by ignoring his loveand sacrifice for you.
Today, Jesus would say to yoube free of your sin, be free of
your heavy, burdensome chains.
Be free of your addictions.
Be free of regret.
Be free of your despair andfind hope in me.
Be free of your shame and guilt.
Be free of the fear of yourjudgment.
I have paid the price.
(18:30):
I will set you free, and who Iset free is free.
Indeed, jesus Christ tells youtoday that if you are still a
slave to your sin, he will helpyou.
He went all the way to thecross so that you don't have to
die.
Jesus Christ offers this gift toyou freely.
You couldn't have earned itanyway, so why not accept his
(18:52):
gift?
His gift is not only salvationfor your eternal life, but he
also offers you a chance tobecome like him.
He offers you healing for yourbroken heart, your broken spirit
and your broken body.
He offers you the opportunityto follow him all the way to
heaven.
There is no need to dread death, because those in Christ will
(19:14):
have eternal life.
There is no need to fear thejudgment of God, because Jesus
took the punishment already.
There is no need to live inthis life alone and feeling
helpless, because he will benear you.
Jesus promises that he willnever leave nor forsake you.
Jesus is the answer.
Jesus is why we celebrate.
Jesus.
(19:34):
That humble gentle one is thelight of the world.
He is the truth.
He is the one.
Jesus said of himself in Luke 4, verses 18-20,.
The Spirit of the Lord is on mebecause he has anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaimfreedom to the prisoners and
(19:55):
recovery of sight for the blind,to set the oppressed free, to
proclaim the year of the Lord'sfavor.
And when he said this, he wasquoting another of the
prophecies of Isaiah.
God spoke through Isaiah,telling the world that the one
with good news would come.
Jesus was that one.
He did all that he was going todo and he will do all he has
(20:17):
promised to do.
Jesus is the answer.
Jesus is the answer to your need.
He is the one who will healyour broken heart and renew your
mind.
He is the one who will healyour body and renew your soul.
He is the one who will set youfree from the impending
punishment for your sins,because he already paid the
price.
He is the one who will breakyour chains of addiction.
(20:40):
He is the one who will free youfrom the dungeon of despair.
He is the one who will breakthe bondage of bitterness that
binds you.
He is the one who will breakhatred in your life and replace
it with love.
He is the one who will wipeevery tear from your eye.
He is the one who will lift youup when you are down.
He is the humble servant whocame to seek and save the lost,
(21:02):
who did not come to be servedbut to serve.
He is the gentle man fromGalilee who won't break the
bruised reed or snuff out thesmoldering wick.
He is the lifter of the worldwho gives everlasting life.
He is the one whom God sent inrighteousness, the sinless man
who walked the earth and wasperfect.
(21:23):
He was the only perfectsacrifice that there ever was or
will be.
Since he was the perfectsacrifice, he is the only way
for you to be saved.
There is no other name underheaven by which men can be saved
other than through Jesus Christ.
He is the one we celebrate thisChristmas.
(21:43):
He is the one we worship andadore.
He is the one who deserves allglory and honor and power.
He is the Savior.
He is Christ.
The Lord Chains shall he break,for the slave is our brother
and in his name all oppressionshall cease.
Won't you worship him with metoday?
(22:05):
Won't you submit to him today?
Won't you let him be yourhealer today?
Won't you let him be yourSavior today?
Won't you let him break yourchains today?
Be free.
Jesus, the Son of God, wants toset you free, and who the Son
sets free is free indeed.
(22:27):
Do you live in the victory ofJesus Christ?
Does your life reflect what hehas done for you, or are you
still in bondage to sin,depression, addiction, hatred or
bitterness?
Let Jesus set you free.
Whom the Son has set free isfree indeed, and it is for
(22:48):
freedom that Christ has come.
Oh, come.
Let us adore Him.
Let us adore Emmanuel.
Let us adore the wonderfulcounselor.
Let us adore the Prince ofPeace.
Let us adore the everlastingFather.
Let us adore Christ, the Lord.
(23:13):
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of Truth Track.
I appreciate your listening andI hope you've been enjoying
with me studying God's wordtogether.
I want to remind you thatduring the holiday season I've
got some special gifts to youand that is some stories.
I've recorded Christmas storiesthat just kind of warm the
heart and they will be postingthroughout the holiday season
(23:37):
here, so I hope you'll enjoythose.
These are great to listen to inthe car, if you're traveling
for the holidays or playing withthe kids at before bedtime.
It's just a great opportunityto relax together and listen to
a story.
So continue to be looking forthose, and there will be some
more still coming out.
God bless you and have a greatday.
Jesus is the one who breaks the chains of people who
are in bondage to sin.
As we take this truth, trektogether through a messianic
prophecy found in Isaiah 42.
Near midnight on September 21st1862, eight slaves escaped from
(00:36):
their master's Wilmingtonplantation into the North
Carolina night.
They waited exactly an hourafter the watchman's final
rounds before silently stealingaway one by one.
William Benjamin Gould, a smalland soft spoken 24-year-old,
was among the band of fugitives.
He slipped outside and crepttoward the river, where they
(00:58):
untied a docked rowboat andstarted the night long trip from
Wilmington down Cape Fear Rivertoward the Atlantic.
The men were well aware of thedanger they faced as they
traveled downstream.
Though their tiny boat had tocover 28 nautical miles before
daybreak, they could not riskhoisting the sail.
There were centuries posted onthe length of the river, any one
(01:22):
of whom could be on the lookoutfor eight fugitive slaves.
One of the busiest ports in theConfederacy, wilmington was
heavily fortified.
Fort Caswell, the main sourceof protection for the city,
stood at the mouth of the CapeFear River where it empties into
the Atlantic.
Wilmington was under blockadeby a Union naval patrol and
(01:44):
Caswell held it in check at thecoast.
To William Gould and his fellowfugitives.
That meant there would besoldiers and plenty of them in
between their stolen boat andfreedom.
Gould was intelligent and wellread and he knew that the timing
of his escape was of keyimportance.
Once caught, a fugitive slavehad no chance of ever attempting
(02:07):
such bad behavior again.
Most were hanged on the spot tomake an example.
The Civil War quickly proved tobe just the opportunity he was
waiting for.
As the war was about to begin,as Gould later wrote in his
journal, he decided just afterthe start of the war to leave
the land of chivalry and seekprotection under the banner of
the Free.
The war started in April 1861.
(02:29):
In September, some of thefemale slaves who worked in home
heard news that the Union hadstarted conscripting escaped
slaves from the south into thewar service of the North.
Rumors quickly spread among theslaves that any who made it
into a Union camp would beseized as enemy property.
While many of the slave masterswere away at war, whole
(02:52):
families of slaves walked offtheir plantations and into Union
camps, proclaiming I'mcontraband at the gate as
contraband.
A slave was not freed, he wasmerely accepted as confiscated
confederate property.
But he would not be returned tohis master, and that was close
enough for William and theothers.
(03:14):
Just after dawn the boat slidunder the nose of Fort Caswell
and into the swells of theAtlantic.
Lofting a sail high in themorning breeze, the men
approached two ships flying theUnion colors.
The ship nearest, the rowboat,brought William and the others
on board, still within sight ofFort Caswell, but safely on deck
.
The men excitedly declaredthemselves contraband.
(03:36):
They were met with exclamationsof welcome to the USS Cambridge
men.
On the very same day, barelymore than half an hour after the
eight fugitives were picked upby the USS Cambridge, president
Abraham Lincoln walked into ameeting with the members of his
cabinet.
After making some lightconversation he said gentlemen,
(03:57):
I have, as you are aware,thought a great deal about the
relation of this war to slavery.
With that, lincoln officiallyannounced his Emancipation
Proclamation.
Though it wasn't signed untilJanuary 1st, the effect of the
edict on the Union was immediate.
The document proclaimed allpersons held as slave would
(04:17):
thence forward and forever befree.
The black press that hadcriticized Lincoln's weak stance
on slavery a year before wasecstatic.
We shout for joy that we liveto record this righteous decree,
wrote Frederick Douglass.
Oh, lift up now your voiceswith joy and thanksgiving, for
(04:39):
with freedom to the slave willcome peace and safety to your
country.
Today, it is easy for us tohear a story like this and think
, wow, what it must have beenlike for those slaves.
The life of slavery was awful.
I just can't imagine it.
Yet every one of us started outas a slave, and some continue
(05:01):
today.
That's right.
Every one of us was born intoslavery.
The slavery we were born intois far worse than the slavery we
normally think of.
Our slavery is of a spiritualkind.
The slavery we were born intois far worse than that of human
slavery, because it is aneternal slavery.
The slave on this earth can atleast have the peace of knowing
(05:24):
that, whether it be by death orredemption, there will be a day
when no one owns him any longer.
The kind of slavery we are allborn into no human can break
free of on their own.
Nor can any humans, throughteamwork or ingenuity, be freed
of their slavery.
This is because each of us isborn a slave of sin and there is
(05:46):
no way for us to free ourselvesfrom it.
For all of history, mankind hasstruggled with the realization
that they are guilty and thereis nothing they can do to free
themselves of the guilt of theirsin.
For the thousands of years ofpeople walking the earth, they
have tried to earn forthemselves a way to pay for the
(06:06):
cost of their sin.
They have done this throughsacrifices, through
self-deprivation and self-abuse.
They have tried to make thingsright with God by doing good
works, yet no action we take onour own can make things right
between us and the holy God wehave sinned against.
I believe that in every heartthere is a realization that we
(06:28):
have not lived up to God'sstandard of living and because
we don't live up to His exampleof holiness, we deserve death.
We deserve the righteouspunishment of God, and the fact
that we have not lived up to Hisrules for living means that we
are slaves to our sin, since wecannot free ourselves from the
awful realization that wedeserve punishment.
(06:51):
Most of us have had one or manytimes as children when we broke
a household rule and we knewthat eventually we would be
found out.
There was a punishment deserved, and the realization that
punishment was coming wassometimes worse than the
punishment itself.
I remember the terror,sometimes lasting for hours,
because I had done somethingwrong, and those terrible words
(07:13):
came.
Just wait until Dad gets home.
It is a miserable feeling, thatfeeling of knowing that
punishment is due and while weawait it, it is terrifying.
No wonder why when people whodon't know the Lord, at the time
of their death approaching,show signs of struggle that go
beyond just the medical, and thewitness can attest that there
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was a certain panic and fear asthe dying person saw the end
approaching.
What a terrifying prospectdeath is to the one who doesn't
know Christ.
The feeling of the impendingjudgment of God must cause the
unrepentant person to quake andbe stricken with fear of meeting
the Maker without any way tomake right their sins against
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Him.
The Bible tells us that for thesinner, there awaits eternal
conscious torment.
It is an eternal dying For theone who never turns to Christ.
Their entire life is one fullof moments like this.
There is no peace on earth forthe one who rejects God.
Still at Christmas, we againreflect on that hope that we
(08:19):
have in Jesus Christ, theMessiah who came to offer His
life.
We've been reviewing somepassages from the prophet Isaiah
.
These words were writtenhundreds of years before the
birth of Christ.
The prophet Isaiah made manyprophecies that are called
messianic prophecies.
This means they were propheciesthat in some way predicted some
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element of the life of theMessiah.
Messiah means anointed one.
It is a Hebrew idea of one whowould be sent by Christ to make
all things right.
The word Christ comes from theGreek translation of the same
word, and this is why some referto the Son of God as Jesus
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Christ and others refer to Himas Messiah.
If you are not familiar withthe Christian faith, you should
know that the Old Testament isfull of messianic prophecies.
These prophecies were writtenover the span of hundreds of
years and, amazingly, werefulfilled in the life of Jesus.
(09:26):
In the passage we have beenstudying, we have seen a
description of Jesus thatincluded him as being a humble
person, one who did not seekfame or, as the passage says, he
did not shout or cry out on thestreets.
Next, we see that Jesus wasgentle.
He does not break someone whois bruised or snuff out someone
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whose flame of life and faith isflickering, but instead he
would raise people up.
We also see that Jesus is thelight of the world in this
passage.
He is the light that giveseverlasting life.
He wants to draw people out ofdarkness into his marvelous
light.
And today we are going to lookat Jesus as the one who sets the
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prisoners free, the one whoopens blind eyes and the one who
brings people out of darkness.
I will read the passage Isaiah42, verses 1 through 9.
Here is my servant, whom Iuphold, my chosen one, in whom I
delight.
I will put my spirit on him andhe will bring justice to the
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nations.
He will not shout or cry out orraise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will notbreak and a smoldering wick he
will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bringforth justice.
He will not falter or bediscouraged till he establishes
justice on earth In his teaching.
The islands will put their hope.
(10:52):
This is what the Lord God says,the Creator of the heavens, who
stretched them out, who spreadsout the earth and all that
springs from it, who givesbreath to its people and life to
those who walk on it.
I, the Lord, have called you inrighteousness.
I will take hold of your hand,I will keep you and will make
you to be a covenant for thepeople and a light for the
(11:14):
Gentiles, to open eyes that areblind, to free captives from
prison and to release from thedungeon those who sit in
darkness.
I am the Lord, that is my name.
I will not yield my glory toanother or my praise to idols.
See, the former things havetaken place and new things I
(11:35):
declare.
Before they spring into being,I announce them to you.
So we want to open our eyes tothe freedom that Christ offers,
and so we're going to look atverses 7 to 9 of the passage I
just read and it gets me veryexcited, like a child waiting
for a gift on Christmas.
With great anticipation I'vebeen waiting to share these
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verses with you, because in themis the greatest hope you will
ever find.
In them is the main focus andpurpose of Christmas.
That is why Christmas is sospecial, and even those who do
not know Christ have a sense ofwhat a precious time this is.
That is because all people canhave peace on earth, and it is
(12:19):
because of Christmas.
Because of our sin, god wasunapproachable to us, so he came
down to us.
Jesus was the one the prophetshad spoken of.
There were well over 100specific prophecies that were
fulfilled in Christ.
Remember that the propheciesabout Jesus were made hundreds
of years before his arrival, andby the time he arrived, the
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world desperately needed him,just as it desperately needs him
today.
The world needs him because,like William Gold wanted his
freedom, slaves to sin aroundthe world want to be free, and
the only way that they will befree is through the blood of
Jesus Christ.
All over the world, people arestill trying to make things
right between them and God, butaside from Christ, they are
(13:04):
hopeless.
They cannot earn their way intoheaven and eternal life.
They cannot perform any acts ofservice that can offset the
sins of their lives.
These people are slaves totheir sin and they are blind to
the truth.
That truth is that there isonly one way to stand before God
on the day of judgment withoutfear.
(13:25):
There is only one way to facedeath with peace in the heart.
There's only one way to be freefrom the bondage of sin, and
that is through the blood ofJesus Christ.
You see, before Jesus came, menneeded to make sacrifices to
atone for or to pay for theirsins.
This never completely did thejob, though.
(13:46):
They would have to return tothe altar with a sacrifice again
and again.
Why?
Because after making asacrifice for sins up to that
point, they would go back to sinagain, even those who genuinely
sought to appease God and tolive a righteous life could not
do it.
This means for all of mankind.
(14:08):
They were in a real pickle.
It was a situation that couldnot be solved.
There was no way to makeoneself right before God,
because no sacrifice couldsufficiently pay the price for
all of one's sins, past, presentand future.
That is, until Christ madehimself the sacrifice for all.
(14:31):
That is why Christmas is sosignificant.
That is why, as the song says,a weary world rejoices, the
weary world of men and women whoknew that things were not right
between them and God had a newlight gone on them.
The weary world of people todaywho have the same realization
(14:52):
can rejoice as well that asavior has been born.
That night of his birth, amessage was brought by an angel
announcing to some shepherdsthat God had come and a
multitude of angels had aworship service.
Something glorious had happened.
I can only imagine howwonderful that moment was, as
recorded in Luke in chapter two,starting at verse eight.
(15:15):
And there were shepherds livingout in the fields nearby
keeping watch over their flocks.
At night, an angel of the Lordappeared to them and the glory
of the Lord shone around themand they were terrified.
But the angel said to them donot be afraid, I bring you good
news that will cause great joyfor all the people.
(15:36):
Today, in the town of David, asavior has been born to you.
He is the Messiah, the Lord.
This will be assigned to you.
You will find a baby wrapped incloths and lying in a manger.
Suddenly, a great company ofthe heavenly host appeared, with
the angel praising God andsaying glory to God in the
(15:56):
highest heaven and on earth.
Peace to those on whom his favorrests.
Imagine that those shepherdswere in the same state as you
and I, in need of some way outof our predicament that our sin
puts us in On earth.
Peace to those on whom hisfavor rests.
(16:16):
And who are those on whom hisfavor rests?
Those who accept Jesus Christ.
You see, he came to seek andsave the lost.
He came to open the blind eyes.
He healed blind people, but,more importantly, he opens
spiritually blind eyes and makespeople to see the light of
(16:38):
truth, and he is the light ofthe world.
The chains he breaks are brokenfor good.
These chains of bondage we arein are our sin, but different
people have different types ofchains.
I think of the ghost of JacobMarley in a Christmas Carol, and
he said this about his chain Imade it link by link and yard by
(17:02):
yard.
I girded it on my own free willand of my own free will I wore
it.
Each of us has made a chain ofour own, link by link.
Some chains have links of pridein fact most do.
Some have chains of hurtfeelings turned into hate.
Some have chains of despairbecause there is no hope in this
(17:24):
life.
Some have chains of regret,always wishing they had done
something differently.
Some have chains of addiction,whether to drink or drugs or
gambling or any other vice.
Some have chains of ambivalence, who don't really think about
eternity or care what willhappen to them after death.
Some carry chains of shamebecause in their heart they know
(17:48):
that they are guilty, guilty,guilty.
All of these chains comebecause people are blind to the
fact that Jesus Christ hasalready made a way for them to
be free of those chains.
Jesus Christ stands ready tobreak the chains forevermore,
setting you free from thebondage you have only placed
(18:09):
yourself in by ignoring his loveand sacrifice for you.
Today, Jesus would say to yoube free of your sin, be free of
your heavy, burdensome chains.
Be free of your addictions.
Be free of regret.
Be free of your despair andfind hope in me.
Be free of your shame and guilt.
Be free of the fear of yourjudgment.
I have paid the price.
(18:30):
I will set you free, and who Iset free is free.
Indeed, jesus Christ tells youtoday that if you are still a
slave to your sin, he will helpyou.
He went all the way to thecross so that you don't have to
die.
Jesus Christ offers this gift toyou freely.
You couldn't have earned itanyway, so why not accept his
(18:52):
gift?
His gift is not only salvationfor your eternal life, but he
also offers you a chance tobecome like him.
He offers you healing for yourbroken heart, your broken spirit
and your broken body.
He offers you the opportunityto follow him all the way to
heaven.
There is no need to dread death, because those in Christ will
(19:14):
have eternal life.
There is no need to fear thejudgment of God, because Jesus
took the punishment already.
There is no need to live inthis life alone and feeling
helpless, because he will benear you.
Jesus promises that he willnever leave nor forsake you.
Jesus is the answer.
Jesus is why we celebrate.
Jesus.
(19:34):
That humble gentle one is thelight of the world.
He is the truth.
He is the one.
Jesus said of himself in Luke 4, verses 18-20,.
The Spirit of the Lord is on mebecause he has anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaimfreedom to the prisoners and
(19:55):
recovery of sight for the blind,to set the oppressed free, to
proclaim the year of the Lord'sfavor.
And when he said this, he wasquoting another of the
prophecies of Isaiah.
God spoke through Isaiah,telling the world that the one
with good news would come.
Jesus was that one.
He did all that he was going todo and he will do all he has
(20:17):
promised to do.
Jesus is the answer.
Jesus is the answer to your need.
He is the one who will healyour broken heart and renew your
mind.
He is the one who will healyour body and renew your soul.
He is the one who will set youfree from the impending
punishment for your sins,because he already paid the
price.
He is the one who will breakyour chains of addiction.
(20:40):
He is the one who will free youfrom the dungeon of despair.
He is the one who will breakthe bondage of bitterness that
binds you.
He is the one who will breakhatred in your life and replace
it with love.
He is the one who will wipeevery tear from your eye.
He is the one who will lift youup when you are down.
He is the humble servant whocame to seek and save the lost,
(21:02):
who did not come to be servedbut to serve.
He is the gentle man fromGalilee who won't break the
bruised reed or snuff out thesmoldering wick.
He is the lifter of the worldwho gives everlasting life.
He is the one whom God sent inrighteousness, the sinless man
who walked the earth and wasperfect.
(21:23):
He was the only perfectsacrifice that there ever was or
will be.
Since he was the perfectsacrifice, he is the only way
for you to be saved.
There is no other name underheaven by which men can be saved
other than through Jesus Christ.
He is the one we celebrate thisChristmas.
(21:43):
He is the one we worship andadore.
He is the one who deserves allglory and honor and power.
He is the Savior.
He is Christ.
The Lord Chains shall he break,for the slave is our brother
and in his name all oppressionshall cease.
Won't you worship him with metoday?
(22:05):
Won't you submit to him today?
Won't you let him be yourhealer today?
Won't you let him be yourSavior today?
Won't you let him break yourchains today?
Be free.
Jesus, the Son of God, wants toset you free, and who the Son
sets free is free indeed.
(22:27):
Do you live in the victory ofJesus Christ?
Does your life reflect what hehas done for you, or are you
still in bondage to sin,depression, addiction, hatred or
bitterness?
Let Jesus set you free.
Whom the Son has set free isfree indeed, and it is for
(22:48):
freedom that Christ has come.
Oh, come.
Let us adore Him.
Let us adore Emmanuel.
Let us adore the wonderfulcounselor.
Let us adore the Prince ofPeace.
Let us adore the everlastingFather.
Let us adore Christ, the Lord.
(23:13):
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of Truth Track.
I appreciate your listening andI hope you've been enjoying
with me studying God's wordtogether.
I want to remind you thatduring the holiday season I've
got some special gifts to youand that is some stories.
I've recorded Christmas storiesthat just kind of warm the
heart and they will be postingthroughout the holiday season
(23:37):
here, so I hope you'll enjoythose.
These are great to listen to inthe car, if you're traveling
for the holidays or playing withthe kids at before bedtime.
It's just a great opportunityto relax together and listen to
a story.
So continue to be looking forthose, and there will be some
more still coming out.
God bless you and have a greatday.
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