“And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.” Luke 13:10-13.SAJC 7.4

Notice how exactly this woman’s condition corresponds with our own:-SAJC 7.5

1. We are bound by Satan. “Every one that committeth sin is the bond-servant of sin.” John 8:34. R.V. “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” Proverbs 5:22. Sin is the cord with which Satan binds us.SAJC 7.6

2. We have a spirit of infirmity, and can in no-wise lift ourselves up. It was when we were “without strength” that Christ died for us. Romans 5:6. These two words, “without strength,” are translated from the very same word that is rendered “infirmity” in the account of the woman whom Jesus healed.SAJC 7.7

What now does Jesus do for us?-He takes the weakness, and gives us in return His strength.SAJC 7.8

“Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Matthew 8:17. He becomes all that we are, in order that we may become all that He is.SAJC 7.9

Although He knew no sin, He was made “to be sin for us; ...that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21.SAJC 7.10

What is sin?-“Sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4. To be a bond-servant of sin, therefore, is to be unable to keep from transgressing the law. Why does Christ make us free? Only in order that we may walk in the law blameless. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.” Romans 8:3, 4.SAJC 7.11

Pay special attention to the words of Jesus to the woman, uttered while she was yet bound down, and unable to lift herself up: “Thou art loosed from thine infirmity.” “Thou art loosed,” present tense. That is just what He says to us. To every captive He has proclaimed deliverance. “The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.” Psalm 145:14. There is not a single soul that is bowed down with the weight of sin which Satan hath bound on him, whom Christ does not lift up. Let the message be sounded far and wide. Let every soul hear it, that Christ has given deliverance to every captive.SAJC 8.1

Does anybody doubt it? Let me prove it to you. You will agree that we are made free by faith. When faith comes, we are no longer in prison. That is what we have learned in the third chapter of Galatians. But we can not believe a thing that is not so. Faith lays hold of acts, things actually accomplished, and nothing else. Faith does not make facts, it only believes them. We do not make a thing so by believing it; we believe it, or at least ought to, because it is so. Therefore the fact that we get freedom in Christ by faith, and that anybody can have the same freedom by faith, proves that the freedom is already given to all. They have only to grasp it, and walk at liberty. Our part is to say with the psalmist, “O Lord, truly I am Thy servant; ...Thou hast loosed my bonds.” Psalm 116:16.SAJC 8.2

Don’t go to arguing with the Lord, and saying that you can not walk straight. He says that you are loosed, and that is enough. Hold fast to His words in the face of the devil, and you will find that they will never fail you. The word which says, “Thou art free,” is the word that keeps you free. Don’t let it go from your mind.SAJC 8.3

E. J. WAGGONER.

3. OUR SINS PURCHASED