Real Freedom - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, July fifth. Salvation through Jesus grants anyone liberty from sin, now and for all eternity. Root yourself in God's truth and find the power to live in real freedom. That's very clear in the Scripture why Jesus came. He tells us there are three reasons primarily why He came. Number one, He says He came to seek and to save that which is lost. Came into the world giving His life on the cross and paying our sin-debt in full in order that you and I might be saved and be the children of God. A second reason He came, the Scripture says that you and I might have life and have it abundantly. That is, not just enough for us to be saved, and I meet people all the time who say, well, I'm saved as if that's the end of the Christian life.

It's not. But He came that we might have life more abundantly. And that is life that's full, fulfilling, where we discover the will of God. We discover the ways of God. We discover God in a very personal, intimate way and realize that He is intimately involved in every single aspect of our life. And so, when they said to Him, for example, on one occasion, help us to understand.

Jesus was never in too big a hurry to give them understanding. He came that we might be saved. He came to reveal Himself as the Savior. But He also came, as He said, to give us abundant life.

And He says, I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly, the very best life. And then He said He came for another reason, to set the captives free. So, the point that I want us to deal with in this message is that whole idea of setting the captives free. And if I should ask you today, how many of you feel like that you are captive?

Probably most people say, well, I'm not captive. I have financial freedom. I have freedom on my job with my family and so forth. You can name all the things that you feel free about. But are you spiritually free? You see, you're not really free until you are spiritually free. Are you really and truly free? Or are you really in captivity to something that you never even thought about captivating you and controlling you? Jesus said, I came to set the captives free. And the truth is, all of us, every single one of us has been captive to some area of our life, which we'll talk about in a few moments.

So, I want you to listen carefully because you may be suffering in an area of your life. You do not even realize what it is, what the cause is, why you don't feel free, why you don't have His peace and His joy and all the things that we talk about in the Christian life. So, as I think about what Jesus said and how He said it, I think about what does it take to be really free? And why are some people not free? What is it about them that makes them not free? But the question I want to answer is, are you free? And if not, how are you free? And someone came forward and said, I am captive for certain and I need to be free. Would you pray that God would set me free?

And naturally, I would. So, what are the things that captivate us? What are the things that cause us to live in captivity all of our life? One of those things, for example, is error that we've been taught. There are many people, for example, who do not believe that Jesus is the only way of salvation. And so, they're always looking for this and looking for that and looking for the other and trying to figure out what is the best way to go.

You know what they are captive to? The confusion of error that they've heard somebody teach or imply. And then, the feeling that you never can please God.

And there are people who say, you know what? I just can't please God. I've repented and I've done this and I've been baptized twice. I've joined three different denominations and I've tried to tithe and I don't know how to please God.

That's because you don't know who He is. He doesn't want you to run around trying to please Him. He wants you to let Him be in you what He desires to be in you. Not making some big deal out of, oh, I've got to please God. You'll live in captivity until you're willing to lay that down and God sets you free of it. Then, one of the worst is unforgiveness.

That is total captivity. When you cannot forgive someone else for what they've done to you, that is a form of captivity that'll drive, listen, it'll drive you and impact you in every single area of your life. You can't have an unforgiving spirit and harbor that because you see, you say, well, I have this unforgiving spirit.

No, this unforgiving spirit has you. And you must be willing to deal with it and you can deal with it and you can be set free no matter who you are. You see, these are the things that we don't see oftentimes in people. Each one of these emotions that we're talking about and the whole idea of feeling insecure. If I should ask you, how many of you feel very secure today? I wonder how many people could say, yes, I do. What's the basis of your security? Your money? No. Your relationships? No.

Where you came from? No. Your family?

No. What's the basis of your security? The truth is none of us has any security apart from Jesus Christ, none of us, because we can't control life. And everything is in a state of change. And listen, Jesus is the stabilizer in our life. That no matter what's going on around us, He doesn't change. And if I can lock into Him, which I can by faith, if we lock into Him and we begin to see things as He sees them, we begin to view ourselves as He views us, we begin to recognize that He's the giver of life. In other words, when we see things from God's point of view, then we start getting free.

And until we do, we're not free. And one of the tragedies is, for example, you've got a godly woman here who loves the Lord and wants to teach her children what's right. And she does what's right. And she's faithful and loyal and devoted.

And you've got a husband who wants to live it up and he wants to be gone here and there and do this and his friends and so forth and so on. And so, you have this conflict. This conflict's always going on. And they're going to just cause one heartache and one burden. And I see this in families and see children growing up. And I think sometimes God, those kids don't have a chance.

If you don't get them early, God, they don't have a chance because of the examples of their parents. And yet, those parents would say, well, I'm free to do what I choose. Let me tell you something. Nobody is ultimately free to do what they choose. We are influenced and affected by either that which is righteous and good and godly, or that which is sinful and wicked and unholy.

Then, let's think about this for a moment. Any one of these emotions or these attitudes has its effect on us. First of all, some of them would certainly affect your personal testimony.

Use profanity to smoke and drink and run around. It's going to affect your personal testimony for one thing. Secondly, it's going to hinder your spiritual growth. As long as you allow something that you know is not right and ungodly in your life, you know it's there. And you say, one of these days I'm going to deal with it. It's hindering you already.

You've become a slave to it. God doesn't want habits in our life that hinder us, hinder our testimony and hinder His use of us. For example, as long as you have any of those attitudes in your life and you're not willing to deal with them, they're going to hinder you in some way or the other. It's going to hinder God's use of you. You can't have an unforgiving spirit and be very effective for the Lord.

You can't be selfish and greedy and holding on and be used of God in a profitable way whatsoever. You see, none of these things fit who we are. When you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, I want to show you in a few moments what He did for you so they don't fit.

If they don't fit, then I'm responsible for dealing with them. So, let's think about that for a moment. These things being true, what is the truth that sets us free? Because if you don't answer this question, we're wasting our time. What's the truth that sets us free?

Well, watch this carefully. First of all, the truth about our salvation, that you and I trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior for the forgiveness of our sins based on one thing, His death at Calvary, which atone for all of our sins, past, present, future. Therefore, I'm not going to be lost after I'm saved. That is, all of my freedom is based on a personal relationship with Him. Listen, He is the freedom maker.

He is the one who sets the slaves free. Not only does He provide salvation, but He says the Holy Spirit came into your life and my life to do what? To seal us forever as a child of God, to live within us to give us direction for our life, to convict us of our sins, and to guide us and lead us to show us His will for our life.

So, look what we have. We have this wonderful relationship with the Lord and the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us and direct us in whatever way God wants to use us. That's the beginning. The truth that sets me free begins with a cross. And it also is built upon, listen, by the presence of the power of the Holy Spirit within me. That is the beginning of all true freedom.

And the second one is this. That is the truth about our position. Because you hear what I just said all the time. What is your position now that you've trusted Christ as your Savior? We're talking about our position scripturally. Beforehand, you were enemies of God. Now the Scripture says you're children of God. Before you were aliens, not only separated, but you were distant from God out there.

Now the Scripture says you were joint heirs with Christ of all that God has. Before, you rejected Him. Listen, now He accepts you.

You're no longer rejected, but you're accepted. Once you were guilty, you were guilty, but now you're forgiven, forgiven child of God. Once you walked in darkness, not knowing what was going on, now you walk in the living light of the Son of God. Once you were dead in trespasses and sins, and now you are spiritually alive. All of those things God has done in your life and does do in our life when we come to Him as our Savior. And He begins to work in our life, setting us free of everything and anything. Listen, it's the will of God to set you free of anything and everything that hinders His will and purpose and plan for your life. He's willing to dig as deep into your life and deal with things back there that have been there since you were a kid. He wants everything out of our life that hinders His awesome will and purpose and plan for life. And think about it, this is our position. We are children of God for whom God has a will and a purpose and a plan.

That's who He is. And if I'm going to be set free, I've got to understand that not only am I saved, but this is my genuine, spiritual, godly, divine position, the things we just mentioned. So, likewise, what are my possessions? Now that I'm a child of God, I do possess some things and so do you. For example, and I want to turn to this passage.

This is one you may not know. But in Second Peter, listen to what he says and oftentimes people will read right over this verse. But he says, for example, in verse three, chapter one, seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him, that's Jesus, who called us by His own glory and excellence. Listen to that. This is an awesome promise.

You can, don't let this one get by you. Seeing that His divine power, He did it, has granted to you, not going to, granted to you everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. Now listen, for by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that's in the world by lust.

Look at that. This is the reason you and I can be free. We trust Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. We have a different position.

Different possessions in life. And He says, one of the things He's given us, He's given us His nature. We, listen, we have the privilege and the power to live godly in Christ Jesus because we have the nature of God within us. And if you'll notice, He also says He's provided everything we need to live a godly life. If I want to be free, it starts with Jesus. If I want to be a free person, then I must begin to claim what is mine, claim who we are in Christ, and claim what we have in Christ, and walk in the ways that He would walk. Because He says, I've provided all of that for you. His divine nature, His eternal life, His access to the throne. And you know this passage in Hebrews chapter four, but I want to read it again here.

Listen to what He says. We don't have a high priest who can't sympathize with us, which means we have one who does, that's Jesus. Who's been tempted and tried in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Listen, do you see what you have? You have not only God in heaven as your master and sovereign ruler, but you have Jesus on the inside of you in the presence of the Holy Spirit, with all the possessions that we're talking about. And that's who you are. You have access to freedom in every single solitary area of your life if you choose to claim it.

And so, I look at that. I think, okay, God, how am I going to be free? First of all, I must choose it. I must choose to be free of whatever is in my life that shouldn't be there. Secondly, I become free when I face any and every circumstance of life, listen, based on what? Who I am according to Jesus. What I have according to Jesus. What my position is according to Jesus.

In other words, then what happens? I'm going to be free. God, this doesn't fit who I am. Here's what you said. You said your divine power is within me. The Spirit of God would set me free. And I'm claiming that by faith in the name of Jesus Christ, God will set us free. But the tragedy is if you don't know that you have captivity in your life, if you don't know that there are things in your life or you have not been willing to acknowledge it, you're going to live in captivity, listen, on a level, on a level that's way down here when He wants you to live way up there. And so, He said it's a choice you make. It's a choice we make based on the truth. So, all that I've said to you is simply the truth.

It's about who He is, what He's done in your life and what He's done in my life, what He will do, what He promised to do. And He said, trust Me. He says the truth will set you free. But you've got to know you need to be free. You want to be free. You're willing to believe that you can be free and you trust Him. You say, are you mean to tell me that all this sermon's all about trusting and obeying God?

Do you think God would make it complex? Since God plays no favorites, no favorites, any person who can read these passages of Scripture, you can be free. And the question is, do you want to be free? Is there something in your life that you'd have to say, well, you know what, the truth is at this point in my life and I've heard this. Well, at this time in my life, now don't give me that stuff.

At this time in my life, no, this is the time to be free. Listen to me carefully because I love you. I want to drill it in. If I could just cut a hole up here, drop it in your head and seal it up and let it work into your whole life, I would. Because I know what freedom's like and I know what captivity is like. And I know that whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever's going on, some of you would say, that's what I want. I want freedom.

You can have it. It starts with Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. You desiring freedom, accepting His promise of freedom, claiming that freedom, trusting Him to be in you, everything you need Him to be and to do for you everything you need Him to do for you.

Let me just say this. When you are free, there's a feeling that you cannot describe. You cannot describe it adequately because what happens? The weight's gone. The guilt's gone.

All that junky stuff that you thought was important in your life, that's all gone. Now what's important is this. Just pleasing Him and loving Him. Not pleasing Him because what's going to happen, but pleasing Him because I want to and because you want to. It's a freedom that only comes in the person of Jesus Christ. So think about all the people who've never trusted Christ as their Savior, they're living in captivity. It is not my responsibility to you as to walk up to somebody and say, you're a slave. You know why you don't have to do that?

Many of them are already aware of it, but not why. And my message is simply this. You don't have to keep living the way you're living.

It's a choice you make. And God's made it so simple you stumble all over it. Receiving Him as your personal Savior, trusting Him to be everything you need because He promises it, trusting Him to work this out in your life because only He can do it. And watch Him work. Trust the Lord and watch Him work. Thank you for listening to Part 2 of Real Freedom. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia. ...