We read the same about the kings of Israel: they did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hands of their enemy. Now this is going on in a physical and political sense in Israel, and this is going on in a spiritual sense among people of God. This is the defenselessness to the enemy. When Israel sinned against God and worshiped foreign gods, then the Lord said to them: You will be carried to the place, where you can worship these foreign gods. Israelites were carried to among those people, whose idols were worshiped by them. This is the cause of their defenselessness. Actually this is the judgment of God, when he says: that*s right! Do, what you want! I extradite you to your addictions, desires and sins. Then Satan exploits it, he throws yoke and shackles around your neck. Then it isn*t easy to be set free from it, it*s impossible.

    In his evangelization Wilhelm Bush told a story: There was an alcoholic miner in his congregation, and his wife regularly complained about her husband. W. Bush went to them, gave him a scold, tried to speak with him, but this was always repeated. When the wife complained again, Bush went up the flat, he found the husband at home, and he reproved him: what did he hear about him. The husband didn*t answer anything, he just went out to the lumber room, brought a rope in, and he tied his 6-year-old son on the chair with the rope. Then he shouted at his son:-Get up! Well, the child wasn*t able to get up. Then he shouted at his son several times again and again. But the child still wasn*t able to get up. After this the miner said to the pastor: -You see, you do the same with me. It is a shatteringly clear picture. We say in vain: -Get up! But he is bound, if we lived faithless and disobediently, because we are extradited by God. All kinds of spiritual and physical addictions can restrain us, and here isn*t an exception.

    Everybody has his/her weak points, where he/she can be bound by the Devil. (Through corporeality, occult acts, money, power, or other addictions, which can get the whip over us.) The Lord Jesus Christ says: who commits sin, he is the slave of that. An addicted servant doesn*t do what he wants. The Apostle Paul describes it wonderfully in the Epistle of Romans, when he says: he sees a law in his limbs, which captures him to the sin, so he doesn*t do what he wants, but what he doesn*t want. Well, this is the addiction. I don*t do what I want. I speak to my wife or to my child on that way, I don*t do things, how I*d like. Man often completely falls into despair: -Everything turns out badly with me, I don*t manage to do anything! Do I spoil everything?! Yes, brothers, because we aren*t free. We are often addicted through a lot of points. It*s so good, that God says in this Word: I forgive you now. Now is the time of the salvation. The Word says it: "So as the Holy Spirit says: *Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts! "(Hebrews 3:7-8)

    This today, this is the moment, when it*s the time of our salvation. When God prepared the opportunity. We have to take it seriously, that the time of our conversion is not in our hands. I very often meet these dilatory tactics, especially with young people. It*s conscious, evil, dilatory tactics: I have plenty of time for my conversion. I have to enjoy life, do they want to restrict me in the enjoyment of my life?! And then comes the ‘THEN LATER* , —but the Lord gives ‘NOW*. Can it be, that He doesn*t give it later again? It can happen! Jeremiah prays so to the Lord: "Heal me, 0 Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise." (Jeremiah 17:14) So the time is in God*s hand, when he prepares the suitable time of our conversion for us. It can be, that in your life the time is now to hold out your bound hands to the Lord in order to tear the shackles off. We should take these acts very seriously, but this present world tells us, the psychologists, the biologists, writers and scientists tell us, that the concept of sin is very relative, and actually there is no sin! After all, man is good, and the man can be treated well, can be educated well, etc. Of course, it is mere idealistic stupidity, because this is not so, but the world echoes with this opinion, and man hears it gladly. They say basically I*m good too, and what is sin?! Today*s thinking is that, actually we aren*t slaves. The Devil make us believe, that we are in a free life, because I act what I want. It was a good picture, what the alcoholic miner demonstrated, because he doesn*t act what he wants. He wouldn*t like to ruin his family, perhaps he*d like to be freed, but he is in the position, of the bound child. He is called and addressed in vain. He hasn*t got power, because he is addicted. The man feels it only when he is really in this situation,—we often then still don’t feel it. That*s a terrible act, if the diagnosis is missing. I don’t know that I*m also a slave, an addicted person. It can be, that I reach a position, that I feel I would not be able to live without my addiction. The sense of my life is the addiction on its own.

    The world is loud of such messages: how the homosexuals are fighting for their rights, which rights are questionable still by the liberal thinker also, if we would think a bit discreetly about it. A believer pastor from Los Angeles wrote a book about homosexuality, which is translated into Hungarian, but dared to publish it, because it is about enormous dirt, what cannot he told! A normal man has no idea of such things. It is very easy to pronounce the word homosexuality, but what is behind this word?! We are not able to imagine it and many people defend it. They need rights! Why? Because there is no sin at all. Who tells it, he/she got to the highest degree of the addiction by apostle Paul. When someone himself commit the sin, and he agrees with his acts (sins), this is the achievement of the sin. Many people commit the adultery, the stealing, or something else, but basically they condemn these acts. That is already dreadful statement, when someone doesn*t condemn them, but he agrees with them completely. In the Epistle of James the Word says: "Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth t sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." James 1:15. It is equal to death, if I stay in the addiction of the sin, because it is full-grown in my life. That’s why it is such great mercy, when God says,

    I tear your shackles down from you. This message is addressed to his people. God offers this salvation only for the converted guilty, and of course He fulfills this action, because I am not able to act it on my own. It is possible, that the shackles may seem fiber-thin, not so thick, not so scandalous. Perhaps they are not seen from outside, but I am addicted. Many people don*t commit bad outward sins, but they are addicted through their thinking, desires. There are people, who are criminal only in their thoughts, with totally damaged imagination, they are bound through their imagination. That*s why many people like watching thrillers, sex-films etc. Each people has got his/her individual internal world. Is this world free or addicted?, this is the question. Am I free or addicted on a spiritual level? Am I capable of setting myself free from thoughts, temptations? If not, then the temptation becomes sin inside of me.

    We, Christians, are in a difficult situation, because the churches around the world don*t endeavor to set people free from their sins. This is not their main concern. They constantly speak about social and political questions, they dispute with each other. They want to help in that area, which is none of their business. The Lutheran theology separates the double-governing from each other so clearly. We have to tell the prophetic word in the world: -You are guilty, be converted! This is the obligation of the Church. But we don*t do it. We put on some kind of syrupy glaze in the society, with it we spill this big muck on everyone, we are no longer, salt, leaven, brightness. The Church is not prophetic, proclaiming the judgment of God for this world. It is a tragedy, that people within the Church don*t do this either. Why? Does the whole Bible speak not about it, is not sin the debaucher of the life? Doesn*t it ruin us? Doesn*t it bind our life and take us capture? We should not deal with, social problems or politics, but with what Jesus Christ said: with the internal setting free of man, with internal addictions, otherwise we abide addicted. We should understand very seriously, that the salvation in Jesus Christ wasn*t social. He didn*t set about setting slaves free, taking revolution, because he knew that there is no sense in it. While the human hearts are addicted of sin, there can be any kind of social formula, we will torment and torture, exploit, ruin each other.

    Let me cite from the Book of Micah, who demonstrates to us the Jewish society: "What misery is mine! I am like one who gathers summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster of grapes to eat, none of the early figs that I crave. The godly have been swept from the land; not one upright man remains, all men lie in wait to shed blood; each hunts his brother with a net. Both hands are skilled in doing evil; the ruler demands gifts. the judge accepts bribes, the powerful dictate what they desire- they all conspire together. The best of them is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen has come, the day God visits you. Now is the time of their confusion." (Micah 7.1-4) What is the matter in Israel? It is, that there are no believers, no freed people, mere slaves, slaves of the sin. Do we see, that Micah cries for not social changes, but he calls people*s attention to be converted. God claim man not to set himself free, but He sends a Redeemer for us. We could speak still for a long time about what can addict us, for example the yoke of the law. In a congregation it is often enough to get a member, who knows only the laws, and not Jesus Christ, and he always pronounces his opinion. He can break into bits the Bible-studies, he tortures the others through his missed point of view.

    If someone recognizes himself/herself among the different varieties of addictions, hold out your hands to Jesus Christ, in order to have Him tear the shackles off. Well we need a Redeemer. God promised, that He would send a Redeemer, and He sent Him in Jesus Christ, whose name also means Savior. It*s so awe-inspiring, that Israel didn’t recognize that is why God sent Jesus. They cried at Barabbas, but they were the addicted people. It is so awe—inspiring, that still the religious stratum, still the specialists didn*t recognize Him either. They didn*t understand, that God wanted to set them free, but the whole Old Testament speaks of it. God promised not setting them free from the Romans, but setting them free from their sins. There can be no duality in the life of the religious people.

    Let*s see from the Bible one of the most tragic characters, Samson. Remember of God*s wonderful promise to the life of this man, his parents were faithful, and this son despising his parents, was in the guilt of adultery during his whole life. God promised, that he (Samson) will be the deliverer, and he wasn’t able to fulfill his mission the way he should have fulfilled it, because he needed the Philistine girls. However, God took his life over, he was converted finally, but for it he had to get complete physical misery. It is so awe-inspiring, that God made this man*s eyes pierced, because he sinned through his eyes, he was addicted through his eyes. What is this God? He is precious and loving, because He does all of these things with Samson, in order that he not be lost. The Lord Jesus says, that: "If your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and thrown into eternal fire." (Matthew 1 8.8) The gracious God fulfilled it on Samson. When the Philistines made a clown out of him, laughed at him, God then gives him the possibility to fulfill the judgment. What he could have fulfilled also with out hurt and poor health, but he had to act it out crippled, so he could be set free in this way. God wants to set us free not in this way. God called also Samson earlier. How many times did God call his attention, but he didn’t listen to it. We also are begged many times in order not to live such a duplicate life, not to have such addictions in our lives. We see, that Jesus is the Deliverer, and His delivering is wonderful, because He really delivers us. He tells the Hebrews, that if the Son deliver you , you will be really free. They didn’t acknowledge that they were slaves.

    They said: -We never served for anybody, but they served for the Romans at that time, they didn*t do anything else, than they served for others. This lie and captivity is dire, Jesus doesn*t contradict them, because He knows, that not this is the trouble, but that they are serving for the sin. This is a fundamental law, that who serves for the sin spiritually, he/she gets into captivity physically too, Jesus Christ is really the Deliverer, and here comes the question of the faith: Do you believe, that He is really able to deliver you? It can be, that we often say, that it is impossible. Especially if it is about someone else. It can be your wife, your husband, your neighbor, your boss. You say about them, that is impossible for them to be delivered. Never say this! Because it can be, that they will be delivered sooner, than me. Then God put me to shame in this way, this is unbelief. Jesus Christ is able to deliver for everybody, there isn*t anybody, who would be impossible. He doesn’t do it, because that person doesn*t want Him to. Jesus tells also to the Hebrews: -how many times did I want you to gather together, but you didn*t want. If Jesus isn*t Deliver, that*s because we don*t want Him to be. It is an experience, that in many people*s lives one sin becomes so powerful, that it far surpasses the desire for the God, or an interest in God. The Word tells about the man of the last times, that they rather like pleasures, than God. It is a characteristic mark of our age. The real base of the addiction is that I don*t want to give up my life style. Accept Jesus and stay just as I am! But He doesn*t accept this. After all He says also to Peter, "if I don*t wash YOU, you have nothing to do with Me!". There is no bargain at all. The delivering must be completed. God offers this delivering. Once I read an awe-inspiring story. In Korea during the war the communists occupied a village, and they executed the policemen and everyone, who wasn*t sympathetic to them. Because they hated the Christians, they captured the two sons of the pastor. They sentenced to death the older one. When the younger interrupted them, that rather me, and not my elder brother, then he also was sentenced to death. Both of the sons were killed by them. A few days went by, the governmental-troops occupied the village. They brought to trial the communists, among them also that young man, who killed the two brothers. He also was sentenced to death. When the pastor heard of it, he sent his 13-year-old daughter to the trial with a message: not to execute the young man, because he adopts him, the killer of his two sons. This act shattered the judges and the soldiers so, that they fulfilled his request. ‘We can say about it, that it is not normal, that there is no similar situation as it! It would have been normal, if he had reported him and used someone*s influence with him to execute, and everybody would have agreed with him. That would be human. However, this is Jesus Christ. Do we recognize Him? "My Lord, forgive them, because they don*t know, what they do!" Is it possible to attain to this? It is possible! The delivering is so great! If I am not in a similarly good statement, perhaps I have got sins, from what The Lord has to deliver me. I have to think. Perhaps there is the hatred and the thought of the revengefulness also in my heart. I told this story. because here we can see real Christlike deliverer love. He is capable of turning to the killers with life-saving love, and adopt them. Brothers, we all are Christ-killers. Jesus was killed by the human sin. Christ*s death is a timeless eternal death, it*s true, that it ensued on a point of time in history, but it was because of the man*s sin, and I am in it too! God adopted us, Christ-killers. This is the revenge of God. Do we think we need it? That is the big tragedy, we think not! We don*t need it, because it commands a price. I have to give my addictions and chains up, and to give them to Christ. Could it be, that someone sticks to their shackles and chains? It*s a pity, but it can be. As we saw in Samson*s life, or in other biblical stories, but in our own surroundings, or in our own lives, is it a great act to forgive? No, I pronounce: I forgive. Well, it isn*t so! I regularly carried the Lord*s supper for an old couple. They weren*t able to attend at the church. The husband didn*t take communion. Once I asked him, why he didn*t take communion. He answered: "because I don*t want to lie." That*s right! Why does he have to lie? Because there is the question: -Did you forgive? And he didn*t forgive. I ask him: -Why doesn*t he forgive? Because I am not able to, he said. I tell to him, that I also am not able to, but I know the method, how I can. We can forgive in this way: I kneel down and I tell it to Jesus, that I am not able to forgive this person. Gracious me, while I am getting up, I forgave. The husband shakes his head: No. You see, I don*t want to, it’s not that I am unable to forgive!

    But it can cost you your salvation. No. I cited the Lord*s prayer, what you say is: as we also forgive, forgive our sins. The Lord Jesus adds to it finally: If you don*t forgive to your heart*s content, it isn*t forgiven to you. —Then? No!

    Brothers! Then who is the merciless? God? We are merciless to ourselves. I’ll stick to my shackles. I am merciless and unmerciful in contradiction to myself. Although the merciful God stands in front of me. This Word always fascinates me. when Paul says:" l ask you for God*s love, convert to God!" This is addressed to Christians, not to pagans. It would be good. that we would observe our life, if we have such shackles. How many people can we meet, who wear the shackles of anger, and who are not able to forgive, because they don*t want to. As Jonah: I am right, I am angry until my death. He dares to tell it to God. Rather I die of it. What tells US the Word? "The thought of the body is death, but the thought of the Spirit is eternal life." Do we want our own death? Are we would-be suicides? We are spiritual would-be suicides, if we don*t accept God*s infinite delivering. The Roman centurion was able to pronounce under Christ*s cross, that really, He was the Son of God. His heart was able to be broken. Are our hearts able to be broken under His love?

"Now I will break their yoke from your neck and tear your shackles away." Nahum 1:13

Pastor István Ittzés