How The Truth Can Set You Free, Part 4

Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley.

Do you feel unworthy, unloved, and insignificant? When you allow God's Word to take root and grow, you can live in peace and joy. Here's more on how the truth can set you free. If you'll turn to John chapter 8, and we have been in a series on how the truth can set you free, and you'll recall that Jesus is speaking to those who had begun to believe on him. And he says in verse 31, Jesus, therefore, was saying to those Jews who had believed him, If you abide in my word, that is conditional, that is, if you're continuing, focusing your attention, absorbing my word, he says, then you truly disciples of mind, and you shall know the truth. And the only way to know the truth is to be in God's Word.

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free, set you free, that is, from the bondage that keeps us from becoming the person God wants us to be and achieving the goals that God would have achieved. And I'll tell you, I do not know of anybody any more to be pitied than a man or woman who gives their life day after day working at it, driving, pushing everything possible to achieve more, accomplish more, and to accumulate more. And at the end of all that, be miserable. There are people out there who have so little comparatively, but who know what contentment and joy is.

So what we're doing in this series is digging down to find out why is it we can work so hard, achieve so much, and at the same time, never quite be able to enjoy. And haven't you met people who have so little and they just tickled to death, just enjoying life, and they're just so free and liberated and everything is just absolutely great with it? You think, what's the deal with those folks? Well, the deal is, real simple, they have discovered who they are in Christ Jesus. They're not hung up on guilt, a poor self-image, they don't feel inferior, inadequate, worthless, full of insecurities. And you see, you and I know that there isn't anything in life that the world has to offer that can build security.

It can't do it. And you see, God doesn't want his children living on a lower level than he has provided. So we're talking about who we are in Christ. That is, he says, by the Holy Spirit, he baptized us in the Christ.

That is our position. We are in him and he's in us. Now, who are we? Who are you now that you've been saved and placed in the Christ? Once you begin to see yourself as God sees you, not only are you going to be able to enjoy what you have, who you are, where you're headed and what you're going to achieve, you're going to enjoy that more.

But my friend, your life is going to be a tremendous influence in the lives of other people. So he says who we are, we are saints. We are new creations in him.

You're either going to see it from your viewpoint or somebody else's viewpoint, and sometimes we allow people to program into our thinking what is not true. It is the truth that sets you free from the bondage of keeping you from achieving or becoming or enjoying the person God wants you to be. So if you'll turn to, first of all, Ephesians, chapter two, and there's a little passage here in this 10th verse that I want you to notice. He says now, speaking of who we are in Christ Jesus, for we are, present tense now, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for or unto good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. He says you are the workmanship. Now, let me tell you what that word means in the Greek.

That word in the Greek comes from the same word, which means to make or to do. So when he says that you and I are the workmanship of Jesus Christ, he's referring to what God is doing with us. Notice he says we are his workmanship created where in Christ Jesus.

It is because of our relationship to him. Now, the word means to do or to make, which means that God, having saved us and placed us in Christ Jesus, he is still making something of us. He says that you and I are his workmanship.

We are the products of God. That is, he has saved us out of the kingdom of darkness, out of Adam, placed us into Christ Jesus in the kingdom of light. And then the moment he saved you, he began working on you. He calls it pruning. We say he sands us. He chisels us. He prunes us.

He chastens us. He's in the process of growing so that no single person who's saved today can be expected to be mature tomorrow. All of us are saved and he says his newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word.

So here's the problem. The problem is that some people have been saved and after 40 years, they're still babies. There are many of God's people who've been saved, but what are they doing?

You see, they're not growing in the Lord. He says we are his workmanship, which is an indication that he's still working on us. Now, he says the purpose for that is that you and I, you and I would accomplish something. Now look if you will in verse 10. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for what? For or unto for the purpose of good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in. And I want you to listen very carefully. He says for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto for the purpose of what?

Good works. That is that God has saved you and made you one of his children in order that through you he may produce. He may bear the fruit of good works. Now, friend, the truth is if there are not any spiritual works that are the overflow of your life, there is something disastrously and desperately wrong in your life.

You can go to church for 40 years. He says created not on the church going created unto good works. And listen, he underlined that by saying which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. He says he created us in Christ Jesus unto good works which God prepared. That is, listen, God has provided and prepared a work for you to do. He did that before you were ever saved. Imagine getting saved and saying, thanks, God, I appreciate that.

I'm on my way. I know I'm not going to hell, so I've got everything made. I'm eternally secure in Christ Jesus.

I'm going to tell you what a disgrace to God. He says every ounce of energy that you have comes from God. The ability to make money comes from God. Your family, your friends, your health, your strength, every breath you take comes from God. He says he is working in you. You are his workmanship.

He hasn't finished, but let me ask you this. Have we taken the gift of salvation? Have we received the Lord Jesus Christ? Are we absorbing his blessings?

Are we just the receptacles of God's blessings? Not understanding that before you were ever saved, he prepared a work for you to do. And he says that work was to be of the nature that we should walk around in them.

When he says that we should walk in them, the word there means this. It speaks of a lifestyle that is on the basis of what he's provided. God says that's the way you to walk your life. That's the way that you live your life. You to live your life in the pattern that I have provided for you.

Christ Jesus being in you. My plan for your life. God's will for your life. He says you to live out your life and in living out your life in that style of life which he has provided.

He says your life is to overflow with good works. And you see, unless we are attached and anchored to Jesus Christ and his will for our life, we're going to be swept with the world. If the world says this, we go that way.

If the world says this, we go this way. But notice what he says in that verse. He says you're his workmanship.

You know what that means? That means the master carpenter still has his hands in your life. He says he predestinated us. Listen, Romans 8 29. He predestinated you to be conformed to the likeness of his son.

That is, that's his workmanship. I'm talking about your life being the overflow of whatever God has called you to do. Whatever that is, have you ever stopped to ask yourself the question, is my life an expression of the living will of God in the human body, or am I just sort of floating along doing my thing, making a living, having enough of my family just so I have enough of me, myself and I, and all the things that we want to do.

That's all that matters. That's the way the majority of people in this nation live. Outside the will of God, tip their hat to God once in a while, not understanding that he says before he ever saved you, he had already pre-prepared a lifestyle, and that lifestyle is good work unto the glory of God. What are you doing in the will of God, by the grace of God, by the power of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, to the glory of God that counts in this life now?

That's what it's all about. And he says that's who we are. And my friend, don't look at yourself as somebody who's not important, incapable, unworthy, inferior, insecure, when Almighty God says he's got only, he only has one you. He says we are his workmanship. Another scripture here I want you to notice in this passage, which is very important, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, he says not only are we his workmanship, but he says we're something else. In this passage in verse 17, he says we're new creatures in Christ, and we've been reconciled unto him in verse 18. And verse 19, he says that God was in Christ reconciling, bringing the world back to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, because he nailed them to the cross, and he has committed us to the word of reconciliation.

Now look at this 20th verse. Therefore, we are what? Ambassadors for Christ as though God were entreating through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God.

Now think about this for just a moment. He says that every single believer is an ambassador. Now what is an ambassador? An ambassador is someone who represents a foreign country. An ambassador speaks his original tongue, is a different language more than likely. An ambassador does not speak his own message. He delivers the message of the one to whom he must pay respects and authorities the king of the president. He's a representative in a foreign country. He is to deliver a message that was given to him. He is on assignment. He has been commissioned.

He has a specific task. Here's what he says. You and I who are in Christ are ambassadors for Jesus Christ. Listen, think about this for a moment. You and I are the representatives of Jesus Christ. We speak another language this world does not understand. They do not understand reconciliation, being drawn back to Christ, justification having been pardoned, sanctification being set apart like other holy things of God. They do not understand redemption having been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ from our sinful life. They do not understand being filled to the Holy Spirit, being anointed with the Spirit. They do not understand the things that you and I can speak of on a day-to-day basis of our position in Christ, who we are and what we have in Him. They don't understand. We speak a whole different language.

Oh, they may talk about being born again because they've heard it, but they don't understand it. We have a different language. We represent the King of Kings. We are here on assignment having been saved. We were appointed ambassadors to a foreign land. He says we are pilgrims on our way to glory. We're only here temporarily. And the message that we are to share in this foreign land is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that God is in Christ reconciling, loving, accepting, redeeming, justifying, glorifying those who will receive Him.

We're here in behalf of Jesus Christ. He says it's expedient for you that I go away. I'll send the Holy Spirit. He'll be in you, with you, and upon you. He'll speak of me. He will equip you. He will enable you.

He will empower you to do what? To share the truth to the world. You and I are on assignment, appointed ambassadors for Jesus Christ. We have only one message, and that is the cross. That's the only message we have. Everything's wrapped up in the cross. That's our only message.

We are here on assignment with a commission, and we're here to represent the person of Jesus Christ in our conversation and in our conduct. God saved you, listen, to raise you up, for you to give yourself to Him and to say, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do while you're in the process of conforming me and shaping me? And listen to me, friend, with all of my heart, listen to me. Let me tell you what happens. I've seen it happen over and over. I've seen it happen to some of my friends that breaks my heart. I've seen it happen to other people. I've seen people listen and listen and listen to sermons, and they come right up to the truth, and they get a glimpse of what God wants, and all of a sudden they start backing off, afraid of what God is going to require, and so they just back right on off. Then you know what happens? They get under conviction, they come right back up to it again, and they look at it again, they think, no, and you know what the real problem is? And I've seen this. I've seen some of the finest, most qualified, gifted people I know keep coming up to the line of commitment and back right off. And I want to tell you something.

My friend, I've watched this. You'll keep telling God what you want for years, and you'll keep rationalizing for years. And one of these days, you're going to lie down to die, and you will have settled for a life of excuses, rationalization, because you are unwilling to commit yourself totally without any reservation to Jesus Christ. And I want to tell you, listen, if it doesn't do anything to you, can you imagine how God's heart must be grieved when He has invested so much in you and He has so little return? You see, He says the truth will set you free, but listen, it will only set me free if I'm willing to abide by the truth that I know.

You have so much to give to God. And you keep bumping the point of commitment and backing off. And you come up and you bump the point of commitment and you keep backing off because you see, there are those who do not love God enough to say, Lord, here's my time. Whatever you want, Lord, here am I. And you see the reason I kept saying to you, insecurity, inadequacy, in-theority, that's not the real issue. You see, these things are there, they're going to make you back off, but listen to me. He says the truth sets you free.

And I'm simply asking you, do you believe what He said about you, that you're His workmanship, His workmanship, that you're His ambassadors, His ambassadors, that you belong to Him, and that the natural, normal life of the believer is for you to be pouring out your lives and other people's lives, in your vocation, in your worship and your devotion to Him, that somebody's life ought to be different because you cross their path? Let me ask you this. Let's be honest. How many of you would have to say in your heart, the real truth is, I know that I'm not committed to you.

I'm committed to convenience, whatever suits me. But let me ask you this. How many of you have ever told Jesus Christ with all of your heart, all of your heart you've ever told Him, Lord, whatever you want me to do, here am I. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Now, what is that you want me to do? Now, you've told Him, I want to be obedient, I want to be obedient, I want to be, mm-mm, that's not it. No, not I want to, God, here's my life. The truth will only set me free if I am willing to yield to the truth that requires of me and enables me and equips me to be what God wants me to be.

You know what we need? We need some good old, down to earth, old time religious repentance and my plea to you today is to ask God to show you what you are on the inside, the way He sees you, the things that are keeping you from becoming, yielding and applying the truth. What are you holding onto that's allowing you to listen to the sermons and enjoy them maybe or at least understand them, but somehow they don't get that hook in you.

I'll tell you what it is. If you're holding onto one or more things that you have no intention of giving up, I want to tell you, my friend, you cancel out the power of God's message in your life and that is the most dangerous thing you can do. I plead with you to examine your heart and ask God what is He trying to say to you in these messages.

I can tell you this, He wants to free you so your life will be a beautiful expression of His life. Thank you for listening to How the Truth Can Set You Free. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by In Touch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.