Chains to Salvation: Tracing the Path from Physical Bondage to Spiritual Freedom through Jesus Christ

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!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Jesus is the one who breaks the chains of people who are in bondage to sin. As we take this truth, trek together through a messianic prophecy found in Isaiah 42. Near midnight on September 21st 1862, eight slaves escaped from their master's Wilmington plantation into the North Carolina night. They waited exactly an hour after the watchman's final rounds before silently stealing away one by one. William Benjamin Gould, a small and soft spoken 24-year-old, was among the band of fugitives. He slipped outside and crept toward the river, where they untied a docked rowboat and started the night long trip from Wilmington down Cape Fear River toward the Atlantic. The men were well aware of the danger they faced as they traveled downstream. Though their tiny boat had to cover 28 nautical miles before daybreak, they could not risk hoisting the sail. There were centuries posted on the length of the river, any one of whom could be on the lookout for eight fugitive slaves.

Speaker 1: 1:26

One of the busiest ports in the Confederacy, wilmington was heavily fortified. Fort Caswell, the main source of protection for the city, stood at the mouth of the Cape Fear River where it empties into the Atlantic. Wilmington was under blockade by a Union naval patrol and Caswell held it in check at the coast. To William Gould and his fellow fugitives. That meant there would be soldiers and plenty of them in between their stolen boat and freedom. Gould was intelligent and well read and he knew that the timing of his escape was of key importance. Once caught, a fugitive slave had no chance of ever attempting such bad behavior again. Most were hanged on the spot to make an example.

Speaker 1: 2:12

The Civil War quickly proved to be just the opportunity he was waiting for. As the war was about to begin, as Gould later wrote in his journal, he decided just after the start of the war to leave the land of chivalry and seek protection under the banner of the Free. The war started in April 1861. In September, some of the female slaves who worked in home heard news that the Union had started conscripting escaped slaves from the south into the war service of the North. Rumors quickly spread among the slaves that any who made it into a Union camp would be seized as enemy property. While many of the slave masters were away at war, whole families of slaves walked off their plantations and into Union camps, proclaiming I'm contraband at the gate as contraband. A slave was not freed, he was merely accepted as confiscated confederate property. But he would not be returned to his master, and that was close enough for William and the others.

Speaker 1: 3:14

Just after dawn the boat slid under the nose of Fort Caswell and into the swells of the Atlantic. Lofting a sail high in the morning breeze, the men approached two ships flying the Union colors. The ship nearest, the rowboat, brought William and the others on board, still within sight of Fort Caswell, but safely on deck. The men excitedly declared themselves contraband. They were met with exclamations of welcome to the USS Cambridge men.

Speaker 1: 3:42

On the very same day, barely more than half an hour after the eight fugitives were picked up by the USS Cambridge, president Abraham Lincoln walked into a meeting with the members of his cabinet. After making some light conversation he said gentlemen, I have, as you are aware, thought a great deal about the relation of this war to slavery. With that, lincoln officially announced his Emancipation Proclamation. Though it wasn't signed until January 1st, the effect of the edict on the Union was immediate. The document proclaimed all persons held as slave would thence forward and forever be free.

Speaker 1: 4:21

The black press that had criticized Lincoln's weak stance on slavery a year before was ecstatic. We shout for joy that we live to record this righteous decree, wrote Frederick Douglass. Oh, lift up now your voices with joy and thanksgiving, for with freedom to the slave will come peace and safety to your country. Today, it is easy for us to hear a story like this and think, wow, what it must have been like for those slaves. The life of slavery was awful. I just can't imagine it.

Speaker 1: 4:56

Yet every one of us started out as a slave, and some continue today. That's right. Every one of us was born into slavery. The slavery we were born into is far worse than the slavery we normally think of. Our slavery is of a spiritual kind. The slavery we were born into is far worse than that of human slavery, because it is an eternal slavery. The slave on this earth can at least have the peace of knowing that, whether it be by death or redemption, there will be a day when no one owns him any longer. The kind of slavery we are all born into no human can break free of on their own. Nor can any humans, through teamwork or ingenuity, be freed of their slavery. This is because each of us is born a slave of sin and there is no way for us to free ourselves from it.

Speaker 1: 5:50

For all of history, mankind has struggled with the realization that they are guilty and there is nothing they can do to free themselves of the guilt of their sin. For the thousands of years of people walking the earth, they have tried to earn for themselves a way to pay for the cost of their sin. They have done this through sacrifices, through self-deprivation and self-abuse. They have tried to make things right with God by doing good works, yet no action we take on our own can make things right between us and the holy God we have sinned against. I believe that in every heart there is a realization that we have not lived up to God's standard of living and because we don't live up to His example of holiness, we deserve death. We deserve the righteous punishment of God, and the fact that we have not lived up to His rules for living means that we are slaves to our sin, since we cannot free ourselves from the awful realization that we deserve punishment.

Speaker 1: 6:51

Most of us have had one or many times as children when we broke a household rule and we knew that eventually we would be found out. There was a punishment deserved, and the realization that punishment was coming was sometimes worse than the punishment itself. I remember the terror, sometimes lasting for hours, because I had done something wrong, and those terrible words came. Just wait until Dad gets home. It is a miserable feeling, that feeling of knowing that punishment is due and while we await it, it is terrifying. No wonder why when people who don't know the Lord, at the time of their death approaching, show signs of struggle that go beyond just the medical, and the witness can attest that there was a certain panic and fear as the dying person saw the end approaching. What a terrifying prospect death is to the one who doesn't know Christ. The feeling of the impending judgment of God must cause the unrepentant person to quake and be stricken with fear of meeting the Maker without any way to make right their sins against Him. The Bible tells us that for the sinner, there awaits eternal conscious torment. It is an eternal dying For the one who never turns to Christ. Their entire life is one full of moments like this. There is no peace on earth for the one who rejects God. Still at Christmas, we again reflect on that hope that we have in Jesus Christ, the Messiah who came to offer His life.

Speaker 1: 8:23

We've been reviewing some passages from the prophet Isaiah. These words were written hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. The prophet Isaiah made many prophecies that are called messianic prophecies. This means they were prophecies that in some way predicted some element of the life of the Messiah. Messiah means anointed one. It is a Hebrew idea of one who would be sent by Christ to make all things right. The word Christ comes from the Greek translation of the same word, and this is why some refer to the Son of God as Jesus Christ and others refer to Him as Messiah. If you are not familiar with the Christian faith, you should know that the Old Testament is full of messianic prophecies. These prophecies were written over the span of hundreds of years and, amazingly, were fulfilled in the life of Jesus.

Speaker 1: 9:26

In the passage we have been studying, we have seen a description of Jesus that included him as being a humble person, one who did not seek fame or, as the passage says, he did not shout or cry out on the streets. Next, we see that Jesus was gentle. He does not break someone who is bruised or snuff out someone whose flame of life and faith is flickering, but instead he would raise people up. We also see that Jesus is the light of the world in this passage. He is the light that gives everlasting life. He wants to draw people out of darkness into his marvelous light. And today we are going to look at Jesus as the one who sets the prisoners free, the one who opens blind eyes and the one who brings people out of darkness.

Speaker 1: 10:16

I will read the passage Isaiah 42, verses 1 through 9. Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom I delight. I will put my spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice. He will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth In his teaching. The islands will put their hope.

Speaker 1: 10:52

This is what the Lord God says, the Creator of the heavens, who stretched them out, who spreads out the earth and all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people and life to those who walk on it. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness. I will take hold of your hand, I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place and new things I declare. Before they spring into being, I announce them to you.

Speaker 1: 11:40

So we want to open our eyes to the freedom that Christ offers, and so we're going to look at verses 7 to 9 of the passage I just read and it gets me very excited, like a child waiting for a gift on Christmas. With great anticipation I've been waiting to share these verses with you, because in them is the greatest hope you will ever find. In them is the main focus and purpose of Christmas. That is why Christmas is so special, and even those who do not know Christ have a sense of what a precious time this is. That is because all people can have peace on earth, and it is because of Christmas. Because of our sin, god was unapproachable to us, so he came down to us.

Speaker 1: 12:26

Jesus was the one the prophets had spoken of. There were well over 100 specific prophecies that were fulfilled in Christ. Remember that the prophecies about Jesus were made hundreds of years before his arrival, and by the time he arrived, the 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 around the world want to be free, and the only way that they will be free is through the blood of Jesus Christ. All over the world, people are still trying to make things right between them and God, but aside from Christ, they are hopeless. They cannot earn their way into heaven and eternal life. They cannot perform any acts of service that can offset the sins of their lives. These people are slaves to their sin and they are blind to the truth. That truth is that there is only one way to stand before God on the day of judgment without fear. There is only one way to face death with peace in the heart. There's only one way to be free from the bondage of sin, and that is through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1: 13:37

You see, before Jesus came, men needed to make sacrifices to atone for or to pay for their sins. This never completely did the job, though. They would have to return to the altar with a sacrifice again and again. Why? Because after making a sacrifice for sins up to that point, they would go back to sin again, even those who genuinely sought to appease God and to live a righteous life could not do it. This means for all of mankind. They were in a real pickle. It was a situation that could not be solved. There was no way to make oneself right before God, because no sacrifice could sufficiently pay the price for all of one's sins, past, present and future. That is, until Christ made himself the sacrifice for all. That is why Christmas is so significant. That is why, as the song says, a weary world rejoices, the weary world of men and women who knew that things were not right between them and God had a new light gone on them. The weary world of people today who have the same realization can rejoice as well that a savior has been born.

Speaker 1: 14:56

That night of his birth, a message was brought by an angel announcing to some shepherds that God had come and a multitude of angels had a worship service. Something glorious had happened. I can only imagine how wonderful that moment was, as recorded in Luke in chapter two, starting at verse eight. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks. At night, an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. But the angel said to them do not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

Speaker 1: 15:36

Today, in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be assigned to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared, with the angel praising God and saying glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth.

Speaker 1: 15:58

Peace to those on whom his favor rests. Imagine that those shepherds were in the same state as you and I, in need of some way out of our predicament that our sin puts us in On earth. Peace to those on whom his favor rests. And who are those on whom his favor rests? Those who accept Jesus Christ. You see, he came to seek and save the lost. He came to open the blind eyes. He healed blind people, but, more importantly, he opens spiritually blind eyes and makes people to see the light of truth, and he is the light of the world. The chains he breaks are broken for good.

Speaker 1: 16:46

These chains of bondage we are in are our sin, but different people have different types of chains. I think of the ghost of Jacob Marley in a Christmas Carol, and he said this about his chain I made it link by link and yard by yard. I girded it on my own free will and of my own free will I wore it. Each of us has made a chain of our own, link by link. Some chains have links of pride in fact most do. Some have chains of hurt feelings turned into hate. Some have chains of despair because there is no hope in this 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 will happen to them after death. Some carry chains of shame because in their heart they know that they are guilty, guilty, guilty. All of these chains come because people are blind to the fact that Jesus Christ has already made a way for them to be free of those chains.

Speaker 1: 18:02

Jesus Christ stands ready to break the chains forevermore, setting you free from the bondage you have only placed yourself in by ignoring his love and sacrifice for you. Today, Jesus would say to you be 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 and find hope in me. Be free of your shame and guilt. Be free of the fear of your judgment. I have paid the price. I will set you free, and who I set free is free. Indeed, jesus Christ tells you today that if you are still a slave to your sin, he will help you. He went all the way to the cross so that you don't have to die.

Speaker 1: 18:45

Jesus Christ offers this gift to you freely. You couldn't have earned it anyway, so why not accept his gift? His gift is not only salvation for your eternal life, but he also offers you a chance to become like him. He offers you healing for your broken heart, your broken spirit and your broken body. He offers you the opportunity to follow him all the way to heaven. There is no need to dread death, because those in Christ will have eternal life. There is no need to fear the judgment of God, because Jesus took the punishment already. There is no need to live in this life alone and feeling helpless, because he will be near you. Jesus promises that he will never leave nor forsake you.

Speaker 1: 19:30

Jesus is the answer. Jesus is why we celebrate. Jesus. That humble gentle one is the light 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 me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And when he said this, he was quoting 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 to do and he will do all he has promised to do. Jesus is the answer.

Speaker 1: 20:20

Jesus is the answer to your need. He is the one who will heal your broken heart and renew your mind. He is the one who will heal your body and renew your soul. He is the one who will set you free from the impending punishment for your sins, because he already paid the price. He is the one who will break your chains of addiction. He is the one who will free you from the dungeon of despair. He is the one who will break the bondage of bitterness that binds you. He is the one who will break hatred in your life and replace it with love. He is the one who will wipe every tear from your eye. He is the one who will lift you up when you are down.

Speaker 1: 20:57

He is the humble servant who came to seek and save the lost, who did not come to be served but to serve. He is the gentle man from Galilee who won't break the bruised reed or snuff out the smoldering wick. He is the lifter of the world who gives everlasting life. He is the one whom God sent in righteousness, the sinless man who walked the earth and was perfect. He was the only perfect sacrifice that there ever was or will be. Since he was the perfect sacrifice, he is the only way for you to be saved. There is no other name under heaven by which men can be saved other than through Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1: 21:41

He is the one we celebrate this Christmas. He is the one we worship and adore. He is the one who deserves all glory 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 oppression shall cease. Won't you worship him with me today? Won't you submit to him today? Won't you let him be your healer today? Won't you let him be your Savior today? Won't you let him break your chains today? Be free. Jesus, the Son of God, wants to set you free, and who the Son sets free is free indeed. Do you live in the victory of Jesus Christ? Does your life reflect what he has 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 is free indeed, and it is for freedom that Christ has come. Oh, come. Let us adore Him. Let us adore Emmanuel. Let us adore the wonderful counselor. Let us adore the Prince of Peace. Let us adore the everlasting Father. Let us adore Christ, the Lord.

Speaker 1: 23:13

Thank you for listening to this episode of Truth Track. I appreciate your listening and I hope you've been enjoying with me studying God's word together. I want to remind you that during the holiday season I've got some special gifts to you and that is some stories. I've recorded Christmas stories that just kind of warm the heart and they will be posting throughout the holiday season here, so I hope you'll enjoy those. These are great to listen to in the car, if you're traveling for the holidays or playing with the kids at before bedtime. It's just a great opportunity to relax together and listen to a story. So continue to be looking for those, and there will be some more still coming out. God bless you and have a great day.