How The Truth Can Set You Free, Part 6

Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. Do you feel like you were held prisoner to your past?

God's power can transform any life. Learn more as the series on how the truth can set you free continues. Don't go anywhere. Don't go anywhere.

Don't go anywhere. All of our forgiveness is past tense. He settled the issue 2000 years ago about your forgiveness.

All of your confession may be present tense. All of your forgiveness was already provided 2000 years ago at the cross. When you take one step away from the cross, you're in trouble. Everything is centered around the cross.

Everything is attached to it. All of our hope and all of our help comes at the cross. So he says we are the living possessors of redemption and forgiveness. So I want you to move to verse 3 of chapter 1 of Ephesians and let's begin with our possessions in Christ.

And you have to relate this to what we're talking about. The feelings, the battle we have with insecurity, inferiority and inadequacy to meet life's situations. Listen to what he says in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

Now look at that. Look at that word blessed. That word in the Greek is made up of two words which means to speak good about something. And in this one verse there is the blesser, the blessed and the blessing.

Look at this. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is our praise to him, who, listen now watch this, has blessed, that is the same word but in the aris tense which means in the past God did something for you and me. Listen, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heaven is in Christ Jesus. Now what does he mean by that?

Now watch this. We are talking about our possessions based on our relationship to Jesus Christ which he enacted at the cross which became a living reality in your life the moment you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior. What does he mean when he says he has blessed us, blessed us in the past tense one time, blessed us in the Lord Jesus Christ? It means simply this, that before you were ever born God Almighty deposited to your account in heaven, listen to this now, every single blessing that love will allow and that God's omnipotence can provide.

Did you get that? Here's what God is saying to you and to me about us. That God Almighty in his love because of the price Jesus Christ paid on the cross which was his life, on the basis of that, not on the basis of how good you are, not on the basis of how good you promised to be, not on the basis of what you've done, not on any basis of anything within you, within me there is no good thing, on the basis of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, God Almighty could do this and still be God, still be just, still be righteous. Deposit to the account of those who came into this world as sinners bent away from God, deposit to your account and my account every single thing we would ever need as long as we live on the face of this earth, every single thing that love will allow and his omnipotence will provide and if that be true and it is true, tell me my dear friend, can you name one single legitimate reason for ever feeling inadequate, for ever feeling incapable of facing any situation in life with that promise dedicated and committed to you as a child of God? Because you see my friend, there is not one single thing that you could possibly think of, our feelings of inadequacy are straight from the devil. We are inadequate within ourselves but we are not inadequate in him. How could you ever feel worthless when God Almighty loved you enough before you were ever born to deposit to your account every single thing you will ever need as long as you live on the face of this earth?

There are no legitimate reasons and every time that feeling comes to your mind and your heart, that is Satan's lie straight out of hell. When he says every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, somebody says, wait a minute, why am I having such a hard time? Listen, the Bible says that he provides all of our need.

Sometimes you and I need to get in the valley. Sometimes God needs to do what? Prune us and sand us and sift us and cut us back to do what?

Because every good orchard grower, every grove man knows that if he wants the best fruit for next year, he's got to prune the dead limbs, those little sprouts that began to soak up the sap and so he must prune the branches. When God begins to prune your life, you say, well, where's God's blessing now? What's God doing in my life? I thought I had every spiritual blessing in the heaven as in Christ Jesus. But remember this, that he who is your keeper, he who is your God, he whose love has allowed and he whose power has provided knows exactly what you and I need, exactly when we need it.

It is all spiritual blessings in heaven is in Christ Jesus and God is the one who gives the blessing. He says, you and I, listen, we're not going to possess it. He says, we already have every single need we will ever experience in life already met in the heaven as in Christ. And I've been saying some things over and over and over and over and over again. And I'm saying to you again, the biggest battle of your life is the battle to believe what God says versus what the devil says. So he says, here's what we have.

Now think about this. Think about you creeping and crawling up to God and saying, Oh, Lord, Oh, dear Lord, you moan and you groan and you gripe and you complain. Listen, why go to a loving Heavenly Father who says in his word that all his love will provide, he's provided. All his supernatural, unlimited omnipotence will create for you.

He has already done that, willing to give to you what you need when you need it. And you come creeping up and crawling up and crying to God as a beggar when he says, come as a child of God, believing and expecting and anticipating and receiving the blessings of God. There's no room for the feelings, the scathing, binding feelings of inadequacy and inferiority and insecurity when we have a God who has so committed himself as he has in chapter one, verse three.

That's only part of it. If you look in the same chapter and go down, if you will, to verse eleven. He says in verse eleven in Christ Jesus, we have obtained this in past tense. We have obtained and inheritance having been predestinated according to the purpose, his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of whose will, his will. We are talking about what God has willed, not what we deserve. And you see, here's what we'll do. We will say it with our lips.

We will think it with our mind. But underlying that, Satan throws in his little static. But that's not meant for you. That's not what that means. That's not what that says. And that is Satan. He says that what God has done, he has done according to the counsel of his own will.

Now, he says that you and I have past tense obtained and inheritance. Look, if you will, in Romans chapter eight for just a moment. And look in verse sixteen and seventeen.

You know verse sixteen. He says the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Now listen, and if condition, that is if we're children having been saved by the grace of God through faith, and if children heirs also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Now listen, he says that you and I have become inheritors. Now if you look that up in the Greek, what that means, what he's saying, the word means one who has been given has been deeded a land grant.

That's what that means. What he's saying in this passage is that God has deeded you and me something. But he says likewise that you and I have become joint heirs with the person of Jesus Christ. That is all that God the Father has given his son. He says he's put your name and my name on the title deed to the inheritance of all of that God owns. All that Jesus Christ has, he says, we've become joint heirs. You say, now wait a minute, there's no way for me ever to deserve it.

And I want to tell you, my friend, that's the whole issue. It is the cross and not your deserving. You see, that's after the counsel of his will.

That has nothing to do with how good or how bad you are. It is on the basis of what Jesus Christ did at the cross. He made it possible.

Now watch this. A will is not executed until after the death. And when Jesus Christ went to the cross, you recall the night before in the upper room with his apostles. He says this is a new covenant, a new will.

This is a new contract between the Father and you. And when Jesus Christ went to the cross, he died. The Holy Spirit came into your life and my life to do what? Making it possible for us to enjoy here and now the inheritance which we have. Now on the one hand, we are part of Jesus Christ's inheritance.

God the Father has given us to him. On the other hand, he says that you and I have become joint heirs of Jesus Christ of all that God the Father has provided and all that Jesus Christ is providing even now. We are joint heirs.

That is, we are participators. He says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has deposited our account. That's our inheritance.

He says it's already there. Our inheritance has already been deemed and it is already being deeded out to us. We are already being able to share and to participate in that inheritance if of course we meet his condition. He says we have obtained past tense and inheritance.

We've already obtained it and we are now in the process of being able to enjoy and share it. He is a loving Father who has already provided and he says you are a joint heir with Jesus. Now look back if you will in Ephesians for a moment. Look if you will in verse 14. He says the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a pledge of that inheritance.

Now you see God doesn't miss anything. It isn't just that he said well one of these days you're going to inherit something. The Bible says at Pentecost the Holy Spirit came, he says in the same chapter, to seal us. It was God's pledge that the inheritance that he has provided for us that every single person who, listen, every single person who has that pledge, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, sealed by the Spirit of God, that person has the right in this present day here and now to participate in and get involved in and become the recipient of part of that inheritance that God has provided for us.

Because the inheritance will never be exhausted for all eternity. But now watch this next verse. Let's move down to chapter 2 of Ephesians verse 18. Let's start with verse 17. He says that he came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him, that is through Christ, we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. Now turn, if you will, back over to Romans chapter 5.

And let me show you something interesting here about this word access. In chapter 5, Romans beginning in verse 1. He says, therefore, having been justified, declared righteous, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch this. Listen, through our Lord Jesus Christ, we have peace with God through whom also perfect tense.

Now watch this. We have obtained in the past and in the present tense what we obtained in the past is going on in full action and full speed ahead because he says, listen, through whom also we have obtained our what? Our access or introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. Now listen, all of us know that we're living in grace. The cross has made it possible for us to live in grace. That's all we have is the grace of God. He says there's not anything within your old self that's of any value.

It is Christ within us, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, living in grace, standing upon grace, walking in grace, living in grace, dying in grace. Now he says, not only has there been that deposit, he says, but our name's on the title deed which says we have a right to it. Thirdly, he says not only that, he says we have access to it. Now listen, it is one thing for God Almighty and all of his omnipotence and love and generosity to make this provision for us of every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. That's one thing. But how do I get what God has down here in my life to meet my needs on a daily basis?

Listen to what he says. He says through whom also we have obtained once and for all and we have that in our possession, our access by faith into this grace because you see, his resources is a result of his grace. That is the grace of God in living color. Every single thing we need, God has provided. Now back to verse 18 in chapter 2 of Ephesians. For through him we both have our access in one spirit of the Father. Let me show you how that word access is used in the Greek.

Now watch this. It is used to refer to a channel. Here is a ship out at sea and the ship comes through the channel into the safety of the harbor.

The channel is the way of access into the safety of the harbor. The word was also used to describe one who had the privilege of coming and having a conversation with the sovereign, with the king. That is the king made himself accessible. That is the way was opened. What he is saying in this passage is this.

Now watch this. That through the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross and your response to accept him as your savior, the Holy Spirit came into your life. Now he says we have opened unhindered access to God the Father. We don't have to pray to any man on the face of this earth. We go straight to God the Father through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit leads us, he says, he makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. He leads us into the very presence of Almighty God the Father. In the presence of Almighty God the Father who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. The presence of Almighty God the Father who has written our names on the great title deed to eternity. On the great title deed to eternity, God the Father has written our names on the title deed. That's why in the book of Hebrews he says we can come boldly, listen reverently, but boldly we can come to the throne room of our loving Heavenly Father who is there sitting already waiting to bless his children, waiting to give them their needs, waiting to glorify himself within every single one of them.

God is looking for people who are willing to risk their faith in Almighty God. Listen to me my friend. Listen to me carefully. Almighty God wants to bless you but he will not force his blessing upon you. You're listening to the wrong voices. You're listening to your feelings.

You're taking account of that which you should not take an account of. Get your faith centered in God. God wants to bless you. God wants to build you. God wants to strengthen you and not have you fumbling through life with a settle for life. There is no glory to God in a settle for life.

None whatsoever. I just want to ask you one simple question. According to this book, he says through Jesus Christ we have access by one Spirit into this grace wherein we stand, access to God the Father. Let me ask you this. Is it not true that the loving Heavenly Father whom you and I profess to believe, is it not true that every single second of your life God your Father is available to you at that moment?

Then my friend, let's stop doubting him, crawling around in a settle for life and let's stand up like godly men and women and claim by faith what is ours and be freed, liberated from these feelings of insecurity, inferiority and inadequacy and claim our rightful possession in Jesus Christ by faith. 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 InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.