This sermon emphasizes the true freedom that Jesus offers, contrasting it with the worldly definitions of freedom. It delves into the power of submission, using examples from the Bible to illustrate how submission to God and others can bring about true freedom and victory over bondage. The importance of forgiveness, prayer, humility, and faith are highlighted as keys to maintaining freedom in Christ.

Let's begin with a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for bringing us together here. We thank you that you have a purpose for our lives, Lord. And Lord, we want to fulfill that purpose in our life, Lord. Thank you for speaking to us all these days. We pray that you will continue to speak to us this afternoon. Lord, we want to say like your servant, speak Lord, your servant is hearing. So we humbly wait at your feet. We ask these things in Jesus' name. We ask these things in Jesus' name, Father. Amen. Now, we have been thinking of this verse in John chapter 8. That's the verse we have been thinking of in this conference. John chapter 8 verse 32 and verse 36. Can you read it? So, we have been thinking of the true freedom which Jesus can give us. We read that the truth will set us free and Jesus only can give us that true freedom. Now, in this world, people have different ideas of freedom. Like young people, if you ask them, what do you think of freedom? You ask them, write down what is your idea of freedom. Give us five things you can tell about freedom. They will say, I want to be left alone. I don't want to listen to parents or elders. I don't want anybody controlling me. I want to come and go when I like and how I like. Now, all of us who are older, we know that that's not the true freedom. But because we also went through the young stage, we can be merciful to young people who say like that. We can be merciful and forgive them if they have these strange ideas. Now, if you ask a working woman, who has a job outside and who has some degrees, what's your idea of freedom? She also will have a worldly definition for freedom. My office is important. My office job is very important. I have to please my boss more than my husband. Because if he gets upset with me, I will lose my job. So, whatever happens to the children, whatever happens to the home, the secondary. Now, when you read the papers and listen to the news, that's what people say about freedom. In western countries, they have a thing called women's lib. They say that women are equal to men. And they fight for that and they have speeches about that and they have unions about that. But for a Christian girl, one who really loves the Lord, we cannot follow that worldly definition for freedom. We say that it's like night and darkness. Completely opposite is our definition for freedom. For example, Jesus said, You take my yoke upon you and you will find rest to your souls. That means if something is put on our neck and we are put under that discipline, we will find the true freedom. And the world cannot understand how can a submission give freedom. We cannot explain it with worldly words. But we know from the words of Jesus that it is true. There is power in submission. Such a mighty power is the greatest power. You know how Satan was defeated? Because Jesus submitted to the Father. We think of Samson, he had such power that he crushed the lion. But to defeat Satan, Jesus used the power of submission. So there is such a secret, it's like the power of the atom. It's such a small thing, we cannot even see it. But when it is broken, it can destroy the whole city. And the power of submission is like that. We say, Lord, I want to submit as you submitted. I want to submit to the people whom you have put above me. Maybe it's your father, your husband, whoever God has put. Or the elders in the church. And we submit. The tremendous power is, Satan is driven out of our homes. You have a rebellious son or daughter. When you submit to your husband, that spirit of rebellion will be cast out from the home. So the devil doesn't want us to understand this power of submission. So he hides the truth from us. He distracts us and says, look at the worldly people. Read this magazine and see what it says about submission. Don't listen to the bible, it's old fashioned. We have to be modern now. That's how the devil tries to trap us. And the devil is so cunning, he started first with Eve. The first woman who was created, the devil tried to, and succeeded in fooling her. And he succeeded. If you look at Genesis chapter 1, chapter 3. We read that God made Adam and he made Eve and told her to be the helper for Adam. Chapter 2, verse 18. God said, I'll make a helper for him. And then we read that God gave them a beautiful home. Can you imagine if God gives you a home in the middle of a beautiful garden? Surrounded by beautiful trees and flowers. Where God himself planted. And you look outside, you see the peacocks and the beautiful animals and birds. Such a perfect place to live. But the devil couldn't stand, was jealous that these two were so happy there. And the devil watches you and me having a good relationship with the Lord and he can't stand it. He sees that we want to pray, we want to obey the Lord and he comes and starts his cunning tricks. And he saw the weak point for Eve. What was her weak point? He saw that sometimes she was not in close connection with her husband. Or he must have told, don't ask your husband about it, just listen to me. So many times the devil comes with that trick to us also. In this matter don't consult your husband. Just privately you do it and afterwards you'll find that you'll become wise and your husband will say, oh what a wise woman you are. You made some profit for the house. You made a good bargain. You got something very cheap. We want to become wise in our eyes. That is the point of our weakness. So when such a thing comes we say, I'll never listen to the devil. I always want to do things after consulting with my husband. But she took the wrong decision. And we know what happened. She and her husband were thrown out of that beautiful home. They were punished by God. Separated from God. They had a distance between them also. And their two children, one murdered the other. So to summarize what happened to her. The summary of this is, one time she was free. In the beginning she was free. She had perfect fellowship with the Lord. End of the story, she became bound. Bound by the devil. Punished by God. Far away from God. And she started crying and crying because one son died and the other son was cursed. That's what happens when we want to become wise in our own eyes. So there was one other person in the world who came to the world and he chose a different path. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. He submitted. Jesus submitted to the Father. Look at this verse. John 6 verse 38. All through his life he said, I came not to do my will but to do the Father's will. This is a good prayer for us to pray. Not once a day but many times a day. Lord I want to do your will not my will. Another verse is 1 Corinthians 11. Verse 2 and 3. Verse 2 and 3. That is the divine order which God instituted. Above all is God the Father. Under him is Jesus Christ. And under Jesus is the husband. Under the husband is the wife. Those who are not married under the Father or the elder of the church is the unmarried woman. So all of us women have a human authority above us. And what is our example in submission? We need not say I need to submit so and so to another person on earth. But our example is just like how Jesus submitted to the Father. That is our example. So we need to meditate on Jesus and say Lord show me how you submitted to the Father. In our daily prayer say Lord I want to see you Lord Jesus. Show me how you submitted to the Father on earth. When I read the word of God help me to see how you submitted to the Father. And we say Lord fill me with the Holy Spirit so I will learn to submit in that way. Do you think the Lord Jesus answered back to the Father or argued with the Father? So in our daily situations when opportunities like that come. And we are tempted to talk back or fight back or grumble or murmur. Whatever happens in our daily life, do you think that Jesus would have done like that to the Father? That is the biblical example we have to take. So I may not say oh one lady whom I met many years ago. She was such a good lady. She never grumbled or complained. I may not say like that. But we can say Jesus is our example. He lived such a life that he never committed any sin. And you know one very very precious thing we can learn about submission. We as women can do something which Jesus did. A lot of people think I want to do what Jesus did in healing or feeding people. Things like that. But the greatest thing Jesus did was to submit to the Father. And that's a thing which we as women can do especially. That's the great thing about submission. And we can say Lord I want to submit to you. Teach me how to submit. Give me the power of your Holy Spirit to submit. And God sees who searches all our heart. He can see inside you and me. And he will give us the power and the ability to submit. Now I want to tell a story of a woman who was bound and later set free. Now I want to tell a story of a woman who was bound and later set free. In Eve we saw how she was free and she became bound. Here is a woman who was bound by Satan and set free. Luke 13 verses 10 to 14. I'll just tell the story. Keep the Bible open and then you can follow it. There was this woman who used to come every week to the synagogue. Keep the Bible open and then you can follow the verses. In verse 10. Every meeting she used to attend. For 18 years she was having this terrible problem. Can you imagine if for 18 years some woman comes to our church, she is bent. She can't walk straight. And she comes faithfully for the meetings. And Jesus saw her. Do you know what he told her? Verse 12. Woman you are freed. That's the opposite. The devil bound her. Because we know it was the devil who bound her. In verse 14. Verse 16 he says. Satan has bound for 18 years this daughter of Abraham. And Jesus set her free. Now many of us, many people who are in the world they have this bondage by the Satan. Think of your own life. Is there anything in your life which the devil has put on you and you are suffering for a long long time. Think of the heavy load of sin. Maybe you may have never come to Jesus and asked forgiveness for your sin. You may have come and heard the gospel but really you have not had the experience of your sins forgiven. Sin is a big big burden. Think of all the wrong things we have done in our life from the time we were small. All the anger. All the unforgiving spirit. Fighting. Telling lies. Hating people. All that if you add up it will be a big big burden of so many years. Maybe you have never come to Jesus and said Lord please forgive me. Maybe you asked Jesus once but you allowed sins to keep coming after that. I want to ask you one question. Today if the Lord calls you and me home. And he calls us to be with him. Where will you think we will be? Are we ready to meet the Lord? Is there any sin which you think Christ has not forgiven? Any sin you have not repented Christ has not forgiven. Then that sin is separating you from God. And you won't be with God. This is the time to repent. Don't wait till we get back home. We will be so busy when we get back home. This is the time when we can say Lord I want to repent today. I acknowledge my sin Lord. I confess it. And the earliest opportunity I will go and apologize to whom I have hurt. And we repent. And ask Jesus to forgive us and cleanse us in his precious blood. And just like that woman who had her burden lifted from her back and she could straighten up and she'd look at Jesus once more. We too can stand up and look straight at Jesus. And say Lord thank you for saving me. When that woman was healed and she stood up she glorified God and the multitude also glorified God. So when we come back to the Lord that will be a blessing to many other people also. So that repentance is not just once in our lifetime but a daily experience. The moment you feel that you have slipped up. You find that you have told a lie. Or got angry. Or even had anger or unforgiving in our heart. Immediately say Lord please forgive me. And wash me in your precious blood. Don't wait for next year conference to come and settle all these things. Every day we can do that. Just like every day we need to take a bath. Every day we need to wash our hands. As soon as it gets dirty we go and wash it. Just like that as soon as we feel something has happened between God and us we can ask God to cleanse us. So that is the story of a woman who was bound and she was set free afterwards. What are some of the things which can bind us? Can you give some things? I already said one. The first one is a big load of sin. Traditions. I will come to that later. I was thinking of an unforgiving spirit. Suppose you have something against somebody and you can't forgive them. Turn to this story in Matthew 18. Jesus told this story. Till the end but I will tell you that story. From 23 to 35 I will tell you this story. Here we see a king settling all his debts. He calls all the people who owed him money. He found a man who owed him 10,000 rupees. That man said, Sir I can't pay that. It is such a big amount. Please can you excuse me and pardon me that debt. That kind master said, Ok I will forgive you. Then he went out and he saw somebody hiding from him. He is trying to avoid him. That is this man who owed him 100 rupees. He forgot, my master forgave me 10,000 rupees. He forgot about it. And for this 100 rupees he went after this man. And he said, what what you are hiding from me here. What about that 100 rupees? Don't think I have forgotten it. And caught him by the throat. And dragged him and put him in prison. And then the master heard about this. And he called him. How you forgot I forgave you 10,000 rupees. And you could not forgive this 100 rupees this man owed you. I will put you back in prison. I will make the people come and torture you. Till you pay the full amount. This is how we read of a man who was set free at one time. He was forgiven such a large amount. But because he could not forgive his fellow, his brother. He was bound again. Sometimes when we are free, we find that we are bound again. Because we have not forgiven somebody. Think in your own life, in my life. Is there such an incident happening? When you sit down for few minutes, Does somebody's name come to your mind? Oh, he spoke like that about me. He did like that to me. And we keep on remembering that. And we are not able to forgive that person. Maybe it is some relative. Maybe some mother-in-law, daughter-in-law. Somebody very close to us. Such things are very common. But Jesus said, if you don't forgive others, Your heavenly father will not forgive you. Sometimes we don't take that seriously. We think like, if some mothers tell their children, If you don't eat the food, I will call the police. God does not threaten like that. God does not threaten us like that. He means what he said. If we don't forgive others, God won't forgive us. If I say, I won't forgive others, God won't forgive me. So, examine your heart and say, Is there anybody on this earth whom you are not able to forgive? Right now you say, Lord, I want to forgive that person. Let us examine our heart now. Let us examine our heart and say, Is there anybody on this earth whom I am not able to forgive? Let us ask, Lord, help me to forgive them today. Some time back, I heard that somebody who did a lot of harm to us was sick. Immediately this verse came to me. Lord, I want to forgive that person. At one time, I said, I forgive. But once more, I want to forgive. Let him not die without me giving him that forgiveness. I want to release him. Thank God, that person didn't die. He was healed. I want to have that attitude. To everybody whom I think has done any small thing, I want to have that attitude of forgiving. Not because I am such a big person or such a good person. Because Jesus said that. Jesus said, only if you forgive others, you will be forgiven. I want to take that word seriously. So take that exhortation seriously. To forgive others. Then because all the past sins which we did can come back to our account. Now in Matthew 13, we read about a sower who went to sow some seed. And some seed fell among thorny ground. Matthew 13 verse 22, we read that some seed fell among thorns. And we read what those thorns are, the worry of the world, the deceitfulness of riches. They choke the word and it doesn't grow. That means all these things have choked God's word and doesn't grow and like a bondage, that becomes a bondage. Then another thing which can bind us is what Jesus said to Martha. You are taken up with so many things, earthly things, chaos of this world. We all are like Martha's. We have lot of work to do. Our work never gets finished, especially in the home. You know what I pray? Lord, even though I am a Martha, give me a Mary's heart. So that I can sit at your feet and listen to you. Another thing that can give us bondage is some things like the books we read, the TV programs, the serials. Suppose there is some serial. You know that such and such a time that serial will come on. Our mind is always occupied with that thought. We want to finish and stop what we are doing to watch that. Isn't that a bondage? Very big bondage. I think I rather break up the TV than have that bondage. So that God can set me free. I am not saying break up the TV. Just switch it off and say, Lord, I don't want to be bound to that anymore. Lord, don't let me be a slave to that TV. Lord, don't let me be a slave to that TV. Then my sister said, the traditions and the fear of man can be a bondage. What will my friends say if I do this? What will people say? If I dress like that, what will people say? If I don't join them in the worldly things, what will they say? If I act as if I don't know what's happening in the films, what will they think of me? The word of God says, the fear of man is a snare, it's like a trap. It will trap us and we won't be able to escape. Just like the rat gets caught, it cannot escape. Just like the rat gets caught, it cannot escape. The fear of man is like that. Another thing which can bind us is always if we keep condemning ourselves. Another thing which binds us is when we blame ourselves. We should not keep condemning ourselves. In Romans 8, 1 it says, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. To sum up, what is the secret? How we can remain, maintain that freedom which Christ has given us? Prayer. Always have an attitude of prayer. We heard today about Daniel. And many others, the secret of their life was prayer. Jesus also often used to go alone to pray with the father. Jesus also often used to go alone to pray with the father. Another secret is humility. If we think, Oh! I have reached somewhere. That is the best way the devil will make us fall by pride. Then Jesus said, we should take care to clean the inside of the cup. we should take care to clean the inside of the cup. That is like cleaning the inside of the cup. And then have faith in the Lord. Say, Lord, you can keep me free. And I mentioned in the beginning, how we must take the yoke of Jesus in our lives. And I mentioned in the beginning, how we must take the yoke of Jesus in our lives. And say, Lord, I submit to you. I want to take your yoke. You young girls, from your youth, you say, Lord, I want to take your yoke. I want to be connected with you always. All of us married women, we can say, Lord, I want to take your yoke. All of us married women, we can say, Lord, I want to take your yoke. If you ask me to submit to my husband, I gladly do that. Even if your husband is not converted, you will find, by your good life, your husband will get converted, not by your words. And when you find the way you submit to your husband, your husband will be God will exalt him and make him, use him in the church as one of his vessels. Like that, you can encourage your husband. Now our time is up, so we will close in prayer. Let's spend a few minutes before the Lord. If you have not accepted the Lord, today is the chance for you to ask Jesus to come into your heart. Say, Lord, I want to repent of all the wrong things I have done in my life. I am sorry for all the sins that I have committed. I want to be born again today. And I want to be your child. And if the Lord has spoken to you about forgiving others, right now think of anyone who comes to your mind whom you have not forgiven. If they have done a big thing or a small thing, maybe it is your relative, maybe your child, rebellious, whatever or whoever it is, say, Lord, from the depth of my heart, I want to forgive. Not outwardly act nice, but from the depth of my heart, I want to forgive. And we ask the Lord, Lord, help me to be a good child, a good wife, a good mother. Help me to submit, Lord. Help me not to boss over others, but to live in submission. Help me to see the beauty of Jesus. That beautiful nature which Jesus had in submission. Give me that nature, Lord. Lord, also if I am attached to any earthly thing, if I am attached to it and I cannot give it up, I want to place it on the altar today. Take away my desire for all these wrong things. Help me to have a love for you and your word. And if I have allowed the earthly things to choke your word, I want to repent of it, Lord. Please wash me in your precious blood. If there is any block in this pipe, we pray that you will just open it up and cleanse it, Lord. And Lord, if there is any habit which we cannot break, please give us the strength to overcome, Lord. Help me not to be bound to watching TV or reading unwholesome books. Any habit like that, Lord, please break it away by your mighty power. I want you to be my master, Lord. I don't want any of these wrong things to rule over me. I want to be an example to my children. If I don't overcome, how can my children overcome, Lord? They have so much troubles in this world. Help me to overcome and help them also, Lord. Help me to be an example to my children, Lord. Help me to get victory over my anger so they can see me as a patient mother. Help me to be an example. Help them to look up to me, Lord, and not despise me. I come to you with much need, Lord. Help me not to be anxious about anything, but cast all my care upon you. Help me not to be worried about earthly things. Help me not to be afraid of anything, Lord. Afraid of the future. Afraid of what will happen to us. Afraid of sickness or death. Help me to have victory over all these things, Lord. Make us like Jesus, Lord. When you come, Lord Jesus, there will be so many of us ready to meet you. Let many of us who are sitting here be ready to welcome you when you come, Lord Jesus. Please give us strength, Lord. We are weak. We need your strength. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.