How The Truth Can Set You Free, Part 10

Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. You hear a lot of people talking about freedom these days, but a person can believe to be politically and socially free and still be oppressed by the power of sin. Here's the wrap-up of the series, How the Truth Can Set You Free. Please turn to John chapter eight and Jesus talking to the hearers on this particular occasion, and if you'll notice beginning in verse 28, he says in John chapter eight, Jesus therefore said, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of my own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me, and he has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. As he spoke these things, many came to believe in him, and Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed in him, If you abide or continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

Now watch this. If you continue, abide in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine. If you're abiding in my word, he says you're going to know the truth, and the truth in which you have been continuing is going to set you free. When you and I were born, these little brains of ours began to receive. Negative thoughts, negative patterns were set up in our thought processes, either rejection or acceptance and all the rest. And so we grew up with an image of ourselves that was built into us by those about us, to make us accept ourselves, to appreciate ourselves, to have a sense of belonging, a sense of worth, a sense of adequacy, a sense of confidence, or the very opposite of all those things was built into our life.

So that whichever it may be, Satan will take advantage as early in our life as possible to begin to whittle away at our self-image, our sense of respect for ourselves, our sense of worth, so that even after a person is saved, Satan will take those negative attitudes which have been built into our life and continually harass us by telling us, but you can't do that. You're not adequate to do that. You don't count.

You're not worth that. Who do you think you are? Making us feel intimidated by people around us, forcing us by his own lies to compare ourselves with other people until the longer we live in the Christian life, it seems sometimes for some people, the less we feel about ourselves instead of going in the opposite direction and seeing what God is saying, we see the opposite. And so the churches today are filled with millions of people have a terrible image of themselves based not upon the truth of God's word, but rather the lies that Satan's told them. But we've seen as Jesus said here, when you know the truth, the truth will set you free from what? It will set us free from anything and everything that hinders us from becoming the person God wants us to be and achieving the things God wants us to achieve. But he says, if you know the truth, the truth will set you free. So what is that truth? And as we've examined the word, we've said that truth is first of all, to know what our position is in him, that we are in him and he is within us and many other facets of that, to know who we are as the saints of God and bastards of his, the salt, the light and all the rest that we said about that, and then what we possess in him. That is, he said, we have everything we'll ever need to live the Christian life successfully, that he has deposited to our account in the heaven is everything we'll ever need.

He says we already have access to that through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that the truth about you and me is that we are the redeemed children of God. We have a brand new nature. We are new persons. We are saints. We are in Christ Jesus. That is our security. We are somebody, he says, we have Christ living within us and that is he's living his life through us. We have no reason to feel inferior to anybody, to feel intimidated by anybody.

He says we have everything when we have him, so therefore we have all the riches of heaven and we have access to that if we only know that and know how to get in touch with what is already ours. So on the basis of that, what is it that I have to be worried about? What do I have to be afraid of?

Why do I have to feel so insecure? Somebody says yeah, but you're not without a job. Now listen to me. Friend, if you're without a job this morning, whoever you may be, I'm going to tell you something that you're not without one without God's knowledge. He knows exactly that you don't have one. You say I've been without one three or four weeks, five or six weeks, six, seven, eight, nine, ten months.

I still don't have a job. Has God forgotten you? No, he's not forgotten you. He says the truth will set you free of worrying about that even when you're saying God, what are you doing? Now listen, sometimes God takes away what we think is absolutely essential to our security to teach us a simple lesson. He uses that sometimes to drive us unto himself to teach us how absolutely and totally adequate he is. If I have all that I need materially and I never have to trust the Lord, how do I know what God is willing to do?

And here's what I want you to notice here. When he says the truth will set you free, I want you to notice two things here primarily at that point. Set us free from what?

From all these entanglements and attitudes and ideas and lies on truths of Satan, the harassment of Satan that keeps the cheetahs out of the joy of walking in the Spirit victoriously and being of service to God. Now it's one thing to be made free from something, but if God frees us from something, he in turn likewise frees us to something. Now listen, he says the truth will set you free from all this junk, all the things that hinder you from being what God wants you to be in order that you may be what? That you may be liberated and freed to what?

Freed to serve God by pouring your life into the lives of other people who are hurting. Friend, listen, you can't pour your life into somebody else's life if your mind is just fastened upon you and the only thing you can think about is me, myself, and I. There's no way to do it until you learn to allow God to love you and accept yourself just the way you are. You can't accept everybody else the way they are.

You can't pour your life into somebody else's life. And so what do we do? We believers, even though we're saved, what we do is we get in the middle of the road. We say, well, I know I'm saved, but you can't be perfect. And so when somebody sees us, they don't see us either black or white, they see us in the gray area.

Here we are saved, but we are acting like the world because we have allowed the world to shape us into its mold to keep on thinking the same old erroneous thoughts that God intended to free us of. And that's when he said, the truth will set you free. We are free to do what? Free to be, free to become, free to do, free to achieve, free to fulfill God's great purpose in our life. But as long as I'm concerned about me, myself, and I, it'll never happen. And I think a very important facet of this is that God doesn't liberate us just so we can sit back in idleness and pleasure and in our own comfort world, God's going to take care of everything.

Well, he is going to take care of it. As I walk in obedience to him, you see, freeing me from all this that hinders and shackles me, freeing me from that still makes me accountable. I'm accountable as a child of God and responsible as a free man, free in the spirit of God, accountable to my brothers and sisters who are hurting, who are in need. So it's free from in order to be free to, free from in order to be free to. And if I'm free from just for myself, I've missed the whole point. Secondly, if I am, I'm not really free.

I'm still in bondage to old self. Now, he says, if you'll notice, if you continue in my word, then you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Now, let's look at the principle for just a moment.

How does that work? And if you'll turn to Romans chapter 12 and look at a familiar passage that most of us could quote, I'm sure, especially these first two verses, listen to what he says. He says, I urge you or plead with you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that is based on everything else I've told you in the first 11 chapters to present your body a living sacrifice that is to give your total self to the Lord, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Now watch these next three words. He says, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. That is the will of God is, listen, the will of God is always good, always perfect. Is it always acceptable?

Not to us. The Bible says that God's will is always good, always perfect, and acceptable. But sometimes we doubt, that is sometimes it's not acceptable to our plans.

Now, how does the believer over here who knows he or she is saved, how is it that we break out of that and begin to live consistently in this life of liberty? All right, here's the principle. Notice what he says.

Three words, I want you to watch them. Verse two, he puts this in an imperative negative. Stop being conformed to this world. Or he says, stop allowing the world to shape you into its mold. Now that word here, and the word in the Greek here means this.

Now watch this. The word in the Greek here means stop assuming an outward appearance and lifestyle that is inconsistent with your inner being. He said, you are allowing the world to shape you back into its mold so that you are looking like you used to be. He says that is incompatible and inconsistent with who you are. You aren't that any longer your new creation in Christ.

Look at the next word. He says, all right, stop being conformed to this world. But he says be transformed. That's the Greek word from which we get our word metamorphosis. That is a transforming experience is taking place.

The caterpillar crawls up the tree onto a leaf, weaves that cocoon, does not come out a caterpillar but a beautiful butterfly. A metamorphosis, a transforming experience is taking place. Now look at this word though. The word conformed means stop allowing the world to shape your outward appearance, your outward thoughts, your outward life pattern inconsistent with what is within you.

Look at the next word. But be transformed. That is allow your outward appearance and lifestyle to be consistent with what is within you.

That is just live out what is within you. Now listen, how do you do that? He says by the renewing of your mind.

Now here's what I want you to notice. How does the truth set me free? The truth sets me free by a metamorphosis, by a transforming process that takes place in our life. And that is he says by the renewing of the mind, what happens? By the renewing of the mind, the outer being begins to live consistent with what the inner man is like.

Christ Jesus living within us. He says he predestined us to be what conformed, shaped into his likeness. What he's simply saying in this passage is this, that apart from the word of God in your mind, in your life, in your spirit, you know what's going to happen?

Without the truth, you're going to be saved but you'll go to heaven in bondage. In bondage to fears and anxieties and worries and theorities and inadequacies and all of this that God doesn't want because you see he says you and I were created in Christ Jesus unto good works. He saved you and me and has equipped us that what? That he may accomplish his great universal goal.

His big picture might be accomplished through you and me and that is that the whole world may hear the truth of the gospel that Jesus Christ is Lord but if I'm living in bondage, my name may be written in the Lamb's Book of Life but if I'm living in bondage, I'm of no use to God. So he says by the renewing of the mind what happens? That is I begin to sit here, to receive, to believe and to understand the truth and as I understand and know the truth, as the truth becomes a part of my thinking, I become a free man.

Then I no longer have to respond the way I used to respond. You see the old thought patterns had us in bondage and so when some kind of stimuli comes along to tempt us what happens? It's the natural normal response but now being a new creature, now being a new creation, now knowing the truth, what is the truth I need to know? One of the parts of that truth I need to know about my position in him is that when Jesus died, he says we died. That is the power, you see before salvation, he is the strong arm of sin but when Jesus Christ comes into our life, what does he do?

He breaks the strong arm of sin. Sin loses its power to overwhelm us and overcome us and destroy us and now we have the living Christ living within us. Now we are positioned with the awesome responsibility of choosing. Before I had no choice, living in sin I had no choice.

Under the strong arm of sin all I can do is submit. Now Jesus Christ is coming to my life. Now the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ is being made known to me. Now I begin to see who I am, what I have and where I am in him. Now I have the freedom to choose.

To choose what? Every time a temptation comes along, whether it is to worry, to become anxious for a moment, to doubt, whatever it might be, you and I are freed as his children to make a deliberate, willful choice at that moment. What God wants is that you and I learn to walk in his Spirit so that it is just the natural tendency of our life to submit, submit, and that's really what obedience is. That's what walking in the Spirit is.

Walking in the Spirit is that I submit here, I submit there. Now walking in the Spirit and letting the old flesh get the best of me and not knowing the truth, decision comes along I think, oh what am I going to do? Satan says you can't do that. Who do you think you are? Look at sin in your life, look at your past and God says but I've accepted you and so the struggle is on. But you see, once I assume my position, once I assume who I am, once I assume what I have and it becomes a living, vital reality in my mind, my soul, my spirit, it's going to affect my outermost being as Paul says in Romans chapter 12 and the outer man is going to begin to be consistent with the inner man who is Jesus Christ. Now listen to me mom and dad and I want all you children to listen carefully, listen to me. When somebody says to you read the Bible, learn everything you can about God's book, search the Word to know it's true. I want to tell you my friend, they're giving you the greatest piece of advice, the wisest wisdom that men have ever known because it is in this truth of the Word of God that men are set free. So our children go to school and listen, you think about the kid today who goes to school with no Christian parents, goes to school 12 or 14, 16 years and then they get saved.

I want to tell you my friend, the battle's on. Unless the truth of God becomes a vital living part of their life, there's no way to survive and you see an even worse truth is this, that some of you who've been saved 30, 40, 50 years are still living in the same old shackles and bondage because somewhere back then nobody ever told you man, you can be freed of all of that. Jesus says the truth will liberate you. The truth will free you to become the person that God wants you to be, to achieve what God has set out for you to achieve in your life.

Now I want to say something to you and I don't know one way to say this and there's no way I know to say it. My friend, when you go home or if you're seated at home today and you look around and there's any other book, any other magazine, newspaper, you name it, makes no difference that grabs your attention with more interest than this book, I want to tell you my friend, your priorities not only are out of order but you need to check up on your understanding of what freedom is. This book in every home ought to be the book that is most worn and most open. When and where you do your reading, this book ought to be found there. And friend, listen, if you are listening to radio and you think this is going to set you free, we can only help you and pray that God will motivate you to get in the Word but you've got to get in the Word yourself and read it for yourself and really asking the Lord, Lord, show me today what I need to free me to live today in the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit fruitfully and productively for you today. You see, every single one of our lives can be a dynamic motivation in somebody else's life every single day if we begin the day the way God intends for us to begin it and that is to begin it soaking up in our minds and hearts another truth about Him. Listen, Jesus said it, the only way to be free is that the truth will set us free. And my friend, if you and I are going to be liberators of mankind, we've got to know it before we can share it. 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.