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  THE LIBERATING SPIRIT OF CHRIST
  by Joshua Daniel
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Summary: The sermon emphasizes the importance of humility and the
liberating power of Christ for those who are broken and in need of
healing.

Duration: 41:09 Topics: "Repentance And Revival", "Holy Spirit"
Scripture References: 2 Chronicles 7:14, Psalm 34:18, Proverbs 16:18, Isaiah 61:1, Matthew 11:28, Luke 4:18, Luke 19:10, Romans 12:3, James 4:10, 1 Peter 5:5

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of humility, meekness, and
brokenness before God, highlighting the need for repentance, revival,
and a deep cleansing in our lives. It addresses the decline of moral
values, the significance of proclaiming liberty to the captives, and the
call to bring true freedom to those around us by embodying the spirit of
Christ in our conduct.

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CONTENT
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Now friends, as we turn to the Word of God, Isaiah chapter 61. Here the
Bible specifically tells us to whom the Lord is particularly sent. He
was sent for sinners, and you know when sin is not defined, like today,
when the Ten Commandments are set aside, you see.

You know folks, you don't understand the Scripture, I came to seek and
to save that which is lost. An individual, a nation, which turns away
from the Lord Jesus and the truth of God's Word. You see, the kingdoms,
the history of the kingdoms of this world, show very clearly how moral
decline always preceded the collapse of those empires.

You see, that's a fact of history. Now, if we want to repeat that same
mistake in America, or anywhere else in the world, well, it's a case of
bullheadedness. We can be asinine and stubborn, but here the Bible tells
us, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek.

So, here is a qualification which does not easily fit us. When was I
meek? You know, I was never brilliant, but I was foolish and proud. If
you ask me, what have you to be proud of? Foolishness, I suppose.

You know, it was just not in me to be meek. I don't know whether that is
in you. And what are the things which you regard as your greatest
qualifications? You know, folks, when I see that the Spirit of God is
particularly upon our Lord for this purpose, to preach, to bring good
tidings, great tidings to the meek.

Now, do we fit in here? So, are we to say, no, this is not for me, can't
apply to me. Jesus definitely brings no good news to me. Sure.

When sin comes in, there comes in a degree of hardness. We become
somewhat hard, intractable. You know, when suddenly you find that your
gas pedal, the accelerator, sticks and will not budge, and you cannot
control the speed of your car, oh, you know, there is disaster.

And sometimes that happens, when your car cannot be controlled, or
rather the speed of the car can't be controlled with oncoming traffic,
and so on. You see, there are certain sticking points in our nature, and
one of those strong sticking points is pride. You might well ask
yourself, why am I so proud? Is there any real cause, and can I justly
be proud? You will find that the greatest people are the humblest
people, and they are ready to listen and ready to learn.

Now, that is a quality that true meekness endows you with. You see, it
is all mightiness we talk of, the biggest, the greatest, the most
powerful. You see, that's what we glory in.

But the Lord Jesus Christ said, Come unto me, all you that labor and are
heavy laden, I will give you rest. Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly
in heart. Well, my dear friends, even if there's nothing that I need to
learn, I need to learn that.

I feel the humbler I get, the stronger I am. The more broken in spirit I
get, the greater the power of God flows into me. So I need that broken
spirit.

I need that meekness of heart. You know, my dear friends, we're all, we
used to have in our prep school a weekly ranking system, and the
principal of the school used to read out our ranks before the whole
assembly. Oh, boy.

And that puts you into great competition, you know. You want to stand
first. Not always did I manage, but on a few occasions, let us say.

But that kind of says, Well, I need to top the class. So this weekly
ranking system made our school such a premier institution that when the
inspection time came around, they said, Oh, the whole school needs to be
promoted a grade higher. You see? Because the quality of your students
is such, you're a grade higher.

The whole school was promoted, was given a double promotion at the end
of the year. Well, that was the weekly ranking which did it for us. But
let me tell you, my friends, there is no such ranking in life.

We often rank ourselves. And of course, we rank ourselves very
favorably, don't we? Yes, the other fellow is wrong. The other fellow
has failed.

The other fellow has messed it up. I am fine. I'm great.

Now here, the Bible tells us that Jesus brings good tidings unto the
meek. He has sent me to bind up the broken heart. Well, I don't know
what you are broken hearted about, but if you want the Lord Jesus Christ
to minister to you, you had better find a broken heart, that is, a
humble heart.

The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken spirit, says the Bible.
The Lord is nigh unto them. What? To have the all-powerful God just at
hand, close by.

What assurance that gives me. You know, my dear friends, I don't know
how many of you lost a dad early. You know, I lost my dad when I was
thirty-five, when I was just getting a little wisdom slowly.

And I was beginning to say, hey, I had better learn. And oh, let me
learn. And I began to value the message of my father.

After having heard some of the greatest preachers in the world, I said
to myself, hey, none of these men have the depth of daddy. They don't
have that clarity of a walk with God. They're great expositors.

They're great Bible students, yes, but they don't have that practical
walk with God. So I began to value my father at last. I was so foolish,
you know.

I always make a point of telling people that. And when he was suddenly
taken away, here I was saddled with a big responsibility. And a lot of
people who had been transformed, and I had to feed them.

I had to take the place of my father all of a sudden. Now that gave me
quite a bit of brokenness, let me tell you. Where was I to turn? You
see, my father's religion was not just bookish, not just borrowed.

He did not plagiarize anybody. That is, you know, somebody's writing,
you take it, and you begin to talk as though it is your own. But daddy
had original material, because he learnt at the feet of Jesus, you see.

And here I was, a little spiritual pygmy, and I had to fit into his
shoes. That cut me to size. Where was I to go for any help? The bills
had to be paid, and of course it has always been our principle never to
ask anybody or appeal for funds.

There were always my rich relatives who would have come forward to help
us, but that was no-no. That was the very last thing to do, never to
show that the life of faith had failed to any of my relatives. So
friends, that brought to me a humble heart, a broken spirit.

I knew that I did not know. I knew that I could not do it. I knew how
inadequate and frail I was, and therefore my eyes got fixed upon Jesus.

Some of you may not have passed through some of these experiences, and
so you feel quite equal to anything I presume. But let me tell you that
the Lord Jesus is particularly sent to those who are of a broken spirit.
You know this illusion which pleasure and property gives us today.

You know Australia is a country given much to games. And over in
Switzerland, where they have a very high level of living, you know, and
you may not be made very welcome in Switzerland because though
Switzerland's chief industry now is tourism perhaps, yet they're always
suspicious, I found, of strangers. I never had any problem myself, but
normally being a small enclosed country, self-sufficient country,
maintaining their freedom and treasuring their freedom through history,
Switzerland has cultivated that kind of mind.

But the people there will tell you, I've got a boat, I've got all that I
need, why do I need God? Why do I need God? I've got everything. But of
course, you know, some years ago when I got out of the car before a main
station in Zurich, I found that my friend, my host, was not locking the
car. He said, in Switzerland we never lock the car.

Things have changed a great deal now, but that was how it was. Just
leave the car and walk away. You see, my folks, and so that feeling of
self-sufficiency, it's by hard knocks, the school of hard knocks.

Some people don't learn in any other school. They learn only in the
school of hard knocks. And I want to tell you, my dear friends, that's
not the very best way to learn, because the final knock may come before
you have learned a thing.

He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. So I don't believe that
anybody here has any business to complain or to grumble. No.

All you have to do to have everything fixed is to be of a broken heart,
broken spirit. And that's all God is asking. Your supply, your need,
whatever it may be, will be met.

Just fulfill this one condition, and we are not ready to do that. And
why should we be here or call ourselves Christians? You know, some of us
are just playing games with God. That's all.

We're plainly playing games with God. If somebody tells you, when you
apply for a passport or something, hey, you need to supply three
pictures or photographs, passport size, with this particular angle. You
know, I don't know exactly what that angle really is, but you may not
look your very best at that angle.

But they don't care about that. They want you at a particular angle.
Anyway, if you want the passport, you'd better get that photograph with
that angle straight.

And you don't who and how about it. You don't dither about it. Say, boy,
I need that passport.

And here are all the photographs you need. And God gives us one
condition. And we're not ready to meet that condition.

What a sick state. We need to humble ourselves in the sight of God. You
know, this nation has received so much, has received so much.

As a matter of fact, some of you who know Webster, Webster's Dictionary.
Webster says he is very clear in his understanding that there can be no
other way except Christian freedom, which can give a country this kind
of liberty, which it has now. But those freedoms are being frittered
away.

People are proving themselves to be unworthy of such freedom. You see,
cheating in every field, cheating in Medicare, money being embezzled,
stolen at the highest levels. Shocking.

A total misuse of freedom. And how are we to fix this? Some of you may
have never heard of the word revival. By revival, you mean jumping up
and down, I guess.

No, no, no, no. It's not jumping up and down that makes revival. Revival
is a cleansing, a deep cleansing, a repentance towards God.

A getting right with your neighbor, restoring the money that you owe to
the IRS. That is repentance. That is revival.

I don't see that. Going to the offended spouse and saying sorry,
humbling oneself. That is revival, not just a mere talk or an emotional
high.

My dear people, Jesus is sent to us to fix our problem. And we are not
willing to fulfill the one condition that he requires. Why are we so big
headed or bull headed? It is sad.

You know, I want to fulfill that condition. I want to be of a broken
spirit. If I have to ask anybody's pardon, yes, I will.

I will do it in public. It does not hurt me to humble myself. To
proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them
that are bound.

In this day and generation that we have a world which is at such sixes
and sevens, a confused civilization. A dying civilization. Worthy of not
even a decent burial and an immoral civilization.

Which does not even want to acknowledge. What is that the root of the
problem? A civilization that exalts immorality. My dear friends.

And irresponsible sex. Such a civilization does not deserve to spread
its deadly tentacles further. And here God says to proclaim liberty to
the captives.

Are we doing that? Do we hold the prospect of liberty? You know, I find
many Christians like a bunch of escaped convicts. You know, a bunch of
escaped convicts. They have to lay low, you know.

They can't be out looking people, the cops in the eye. You and I should
be able to look any man in the eye. What have we to hide? What have we
to fear? You know, fear him, you saints, and ye will then have nothing
else to fear.

How true that is. When you fear God and fear his word, you have fear of
nothing. To proclaim liberty to the captives.

Oh, I see many captives. You know, friends, many people used to come for
prayer, for this, that, and the other. All kinds of diseases.

And now they come for AIDS. Pray for me. I have AIDS.

Shall I tell them? Okay, if you had a headache, I would. But AIDS is
something which Jesus can't tackle. So all I can do is just pat you on
your back and send you on your way.

Now, the Lord is healing these full-blown AIDS patients. He is doing it.
And it is amazing that the number of these AIDS patients.

Are we going to, as they just grow in leaps and bounds, are we going to
proclaim liberty to such captives? Or are we going to draw a little
circle and say, this is where God can work. Only within this little
perimeter. No.

Proclaim liberty to the captives. Let them be captives of anything. My
dear friends, that is the spirit of Christ.

And when you say you follow Jesus, you should be imbued with that
spirit. And nothing less. You know, with all our education and our--we
have glorified our education and our lifestyle too much.

Our lifestyle is just a little kind of empty dream. It does not produce
anything except more fighting, more arguments, more divorces, more
instability in families and in character. What kind of stuff is that?
Big educated people, what are they making? High bracket.

They are in the top bracket. Earnings. What is their inward quality of
life? Nothing.

Zero. A husband and a wife who can't even pray with each other. And love
each other.

And not be rude to each other. You know, being rude has become the
American way of life today. You know, my dear friends, there are some
people in the world who resent it.

In England, they resent it. And it is shocking to find that some
Englishmen will look an American in the face and say, you an American? I
have nothing to do with Americans. Why? They resent the rudeness.

You know, we feel being brash and brunt and grunt all the time is the
way to live. No, it isn't. We can be very pleasant.

We can be very gracious. We can say please. We can say thank you.

We can be very generous. I have found the English to be very cold and
distant till you really speak to them. When I could not carry some of my
heavy cases, oh, they would just pick them up and say, where are you
going? To the station? Okay, I'm going that way.

Pick it up and walk up the hill to the station. Now, you know, we are a
very busy people, and we feel we have the right to be rude. Why? We are
very busy.

We have no time. Now, let's crack out of that kind of mentality. A
Christian is a very gracious person, a very loving person.

He walks a second mile with you. Let us apply the spirit of Christ to
our conduct. Then we will be able to declare true freedom and bring true
freedom to those around us.

Today, the world seems to have imprisoned itself and thrown the keys
away. Whose prisoner are you? Tell yourself, I am my own prisoner, and I
have chosen to throw the keys away. We wouldn't dare do it in an actual
situation, but we do it with eternity in view, which is so shocking.

Eternity is one breath away from you. The next breath, if you do not
take, you are in eternity. Let us pray.

Loving Father, at a time when this world is crying for this freedom,
crying for someone to free them, to break their chains, here is the
spirit of our Savior teaching us. This is my spirit, which breaks the
chains, declares freedom to the captives. Oh, my Father, are we not
going to enjoy this freedom ourselves and bring it to those around us?
Or are we going to be captives of ourselves and sink and die that way?
Save us, Lord, save us.

Then we can save others. Hear our prayer. We beseech you in Jesus' holy
name.

Amen. PO Box 737, London SW2, 4XT, United Kingdom. View and order books
written by Joshua Daniel at www.lef-beautifulbooks.co.uk. For more
information about the Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International,
visit our website at www.lefi.org. Please tune in next week.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/yGWPN4nQLhQ.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/joshua-daniel/the-liberating-spirit-of-christ/
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