The Truth That Sets Us Free - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, February twenty-seventh.

Have hurtful words or unresolved anger devastated your thoughts and attitudes? Find hope and relief by applying basic principles from Scripture that lead believers to live in the truth that sets us free. I want to talk about how Jesus can set you free of the bondage that you're in. And you may reply, But I'm not in any bondage.

Listen carefully and let's see if that's really true or not. Because one of the reasons Jesus said He came is to set us free. We're not talking about people who were in slavery necessarily, though many of them were. We're talking about people who were in all kinds of bondage. And I want us to think about it for just a moment because as we do, more than likely, you may find yourself saying, You know what?

That sounds like me. So, when we talk about things we need to be set free from, set free from what? Well, first of all, set free from guilt over past actions. Things that happened in the past. If you had to do it over again, you wouldn't do it. If you could not say it, you wouldn't say it. If you could not say it, you wouldn't say it. If you could not say it, you wouldn't say it.

You look at situations and circumstances that you would change in a split second if you could, but you can't. And so, you live with a guilt and you live with a regret and you live with deep, deep sorrow in your heart, because you can't lay it down. Listen, whatever's happened in your past, no matter what it is, and you are a child of God, and you've asked Him to forgive you, He has forgiven you. Now look, when you ask Him to forgive you, here's what He says. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just, which means He always will.

Just means He has the right to do so. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if He says He's cleansed me of it, here's what He says, I will remember your sin against you no more. In the depths of the ocean, for as the east is from the west, there are people who live with regrets of the past. And those regrets run deep and they are intense and they're emotional and they're hurtful and they're painful and they can't get away from it. If you are asking God over and over and over to forgive you for the same thing, you are in bondage to it.

And secondly, you're in unbelief because you don't really believe He's forgiven you. Oh, yes, yes I do, but it still keeps coming up. Then you've got to deal with it.

And we're going to talk about that in a few moments. But that's one of the worst when I think about jealousy and anxiety and all the rest. And then one of the worst things, of course, is when a person gets bitter. When a person becomes bitter and resentful and hostile in their life. Listen, you cannot cover up bitterness, hostility, anger in a person's life. You can't cover it up.

It's a form of bondage. And here's what happens. Usually when you are bitter toward someone, it doesn't run like a straight line. Bitterness just gets, listen, it's just not over. It's just not all into your life, but you're going to spill it on this person's life and that life and his life and her life because you can't control bitterness in a little capsule. It affects your personality. It affects your lifestyle. It affects your conversation, your conduct, your character. Everything about you is affected by bitterness and resentment and hostility.

And if you ask somebody, well, what are you so bitter about? Well, here's what they did, which leads me to another form of bondage. And that is the bondage of unforgiveness.

It is a terrible form of bondage. If you just knew what they did to me, that's not the issue. But let me tell you what happened. I understand. You don't understand.

I understand more than you think I do. No one knows the kind of hurts and things that have gone on in everybody's life. You have to be forgiving. Here's what the Bible says.

He says we're to forgive one another even as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven us. And people living in unforgiveness is like thirty pounds on their shoulders every day they get up. And all kinds of bondage. I wonder how they ever stand up straight. Now, if you and I could see how people really are on the inside in their emotions, they may stand up physically, but emotionally they're all bent over.

Because they're carrying bondage that God never intended. An unforgiving spirit. So, how many times have you asked God to forgive you? Many times. Has He ever said, no.

No, He has not. Then let me ask you this. Then how can you say to someone, I'm not going to forgive you until. I'm not going to forgive you unless. I'm not going to forgive you because. God has never said that to a single one of us. It is terrible bondage to live in an unforgiving spirit because it affects your entire being. You can't live with an unforgiving spirit without it affecting your whole life.

And yet some people do. And they go to church and sit in church on Sunday and sing songs about the forgiveness and the blood of Jesus and so forth. And hold against somebody something they've said or done to them that they just can't, they say, I can't give it up.

Yes, you can. I remember a pastor friend of mine who was a counselor. He counseled this lady almost a year. And part of the problem was an unforgiving spirit. And he said one day when he was talking to her, she got up, walked over to the window and she says, I can't give it up, I can't give it up, I can't give it up because it's all I've got. And what she was saying is she was in such bondage to an unforgiving spirit. It had become such a part of her life. If she forgave the person, what would she do?

How would she feel? You see, this is the subtlety of bondage of all kinds of sin in a person's life that takes its toll upon their life. I can't give it up. Can't give up unforgiveness, can't give up bitterness, can't give up anxiety, can't give up hostility toward someone else. Why not? Because it's become such a part of their life, there would suddenly be this vacuum there.

If love moved in, they'd have a difficult time probably dealing with it. And then, of course, there's the whole idea of feeling inadequate. There is an inadequacy that's healthy. For example, I feel inadequate every Sunday. And I'm not just saying it.

Yes, I do. I feel inadequate. That's why I want to study as hard as I can. And I want to pray and always acknowledge that apart from Him, it is a total disaster. So, there is a healthy sense of inadequacy that we are dependent upon God.

And that's what Paul talked about. He talked about being inadequate. There is a sense of inadequacy when God requires of us to do things that we can't do it in our own human strength. So, there's a healthy kind of inadequacy.

Listen, watch this carefully. Whatever drives me to God is good for me. Whatever it is, whatever drives me to God. So, if I feel inadequate and it drives me to Him, that's good. The whole idea of being a perfectionist. Well, somebody says, I'm not perfect. Listen, a perfectionist is not a person who's perfect. A perfectionist is a person who is just controlled by doing everything exactly the way they think it ought to be done. And when it can't be done like that, they're totally frustrated.

It's not that they're perfect. It's the expectation they have of themselves. Now listen, a perfectionist usually is also someone who has a very difficult time not being a procrastinator.

Because watch this. A procrastinator, why do they procrastinate about things? Because they've got to have it just right. And so, because they've got to have it just right and they're afraid they can't have it just right, they don't get it done. Listen, they'd rather fail at getting it done than having to feel they didn't do it right. I've known people like that, people who are very capable but perfectionist and because they couldn't do it perfect, they just didn't do it. Well, how many of us would get much done in any given time in our life if we had to be perfect at it?

We're not. There are all kinds of bondage. Now, I'd simply ask you, have I named one of yours? Don't raise your hand, please. Have I named one of yours? Listen, my naming it's one thing, your naming it is the beginning of getting free. Now, here's the next issue.

What's the destructive power of these things? Well, the first thing is that any form of bondage hinders your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You cannot be what He wants you to be as long as you're tied up in something out of unbelief and in bondage. You can't just ignore it and say, well, I have these things in my life and I'm sure He understands. Well, He does understand. But listen, God's understanding doesn't give me license to keep doing something that's not right.

So, first of all, you can't have the relationship with Him that you want to have. The second thing that's destructive about it is it hurts your personal testimony. Listen, if you have an unforgiving spirit, I guarantee you, you can't keep it to yourself. You're bitter toward somebody else, people see that. You have an unforgiving spirit, it's going to spill out.

You name it. Those types of bondage, you can't keep it to yourself. It hurts your personal testimony. A gossip, it hurts your personal testimony. Somebody says, well, I just drink a little bit.

Well, you can drink a little bit or a whole lot, but you just mark it down. It does hurt your personal testimony. You see, watch this. The world has a right to expect you and me to live above it. The world has a right to expect us to have a different lifestyle.

Why? Because we say that we are followers of the Son of God. We are followers of Jesus Christ. They know better. Hurts your personal testimony. Not only that, it grieves the heart of God. Now, if you're a parent and when you see your child do something that you know hurts them, it hurts you. When you see them heading in a direction that you know is going to be self-destructive, if you are any kind of parent at all, it hurts you deep down inside.

It grieves your spirit. You stay up at night praying for them. You try to talk to them. You try to reason with them. And not only, for example, it's your children.

It can be your husband or your wife or your friend or your person you're going to marry, whatever it might be. If you see something in their life that you know is destructive and it's hurtful and it's hurtful to them and it's hurtful to you, you're grieved in your spirit. You can't be happy seeing somebody on the road to self-destruction when you know it's true. If you love them, you want to stop them. And when you talk to them and pour out your heart, and I would say to students, listen, if you are fortunate enough to have a godly parent, respect your parents and thank God for them every single day. Because most kids today are going to grow up in a home, there's not going to be any Bible, no mention of church and no mention of God, most. When you've got a godly parent, don't take it for granted.

Another thing that happens is this. It limits God's use of you. If you're in bondage to these things, God is only going to use us to the extent that we walk obediently before Him.

The only thing that'll keep you from reaching your full potential is you. Because listen, God can change your circumstances. He can work miracles in your life. He can put you where you would never imagine you'd be.

He can use you in ways that are absolutely beyond, totally beyond your understanding this morning, if you'll follow Him, if you'll obey Him. But if you don't, it's a choice. And oftentimes people make the wrong choice. They get bound up with things that make no real difference in their life.

God has the best for every single one of us. But we've got to be willing to deal with these things and handle them carefully. Now, one last thing about what it does to you is what it does to your human body. You say, well, look, being jealous has nothing to do with my human body.

Oh, yes, it does. Well, having an unforgiving experience between me and them, not my body, oh, no, it's not. I'm not even talking about drinking and drugs and smoking. I'm talking about emotions. Your emotions work on your body. Listen, bitterness, resentment, hostility, anger, unforgiveness, anxiety works on the human body. Because when you're anxious, you're tense.

When you're tense, things begin to feel the pressure on the inside. The majority of people who go into doctors today are trying to feel better. They don't know how to deal with anxiety. They say, I'm a depressed doctor. And usually you can meet somebody you know they're depressed.

And you want to help them out. Sometimes, well, I'm going to my doctor and he's doing this for me. Well, have you been to Dr. Jesus to find out what he will do?

He knows all about depression. So, it works on the human body. Because what you think affects the human body. The way you feel affects the human body. Listen, why live in such a way to limit God's use of your life? God doesn't do it.

We do it to ourselves. And you can be free of that if you choose to be free. Now, here comes the most important thing. So, you say, okay, now I've heard all about these things.

What am I going to do about it? Several things. Several things you need to remember.

And I'm going to start them all with a P so you won't forget them. Listen, are you listening? Say, amen. Whatever bondage, whatever evil deed, whatever you're facing that you're having to deal with, this is the way you deal with it. First of all, you remember you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, God the Father.

Personal relationship. That means that you've been forgiven of your sin. That He is your Savior, your Lord, and your Master. And that you are indwelt by His Holy Spirit, which means there's power within you. And you recognize that you are eternally secure. That is, you have to think about this. Who you are as a believer. I have a personal relationship with God.

The second thing is this. I have a position. What is that position? My position is that I'm no longer an enemy of God. I'm a child of God. That's my position. Not only that, I have as in my position the privilege and the right to have personal access to the throne of God at any moment.

He says, by His grace and His mercy, He will hear you. I have a personal relationship. I have a position.

Child of God. I have a possession. I have the Holy Spirit who will empower me in any and every circumstance of life. Now, I'm going to read a passage because this is one that most people probably are not familiar with. But in Second Peter, I want you to listen to what he says. I want you to remember what you have.

Your personal relationship, your position. You're a child of God. You have access to the throne of God. You're indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

Listen to this. Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him. That is, God has placed within every single one of us, listen, He's placed within every single one of us the capacity to do what? To face life with everything that we deal with in life. Everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him. For by these, all that God has given us, 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.

What is He saying? Here's what you have. Watch this carefully. You have the nature of God within you. You were sealed, He says, by the Holy Spirit. When you were saved, sealed by the Holy Spirit, you can't be lost. The Spirit of God sealed you forever.

Access to the throne of God. He says He's made available to you and me everything we need to live a godly life. And the Holy Spirit, listen, is the supernatural power of God that inhabits these bodies of ours in order to enable us to overcome difficulty, hardship, and to break out of the bondage, whatever's there. And then remember who you are, your personhood. You're a child of God. You're not just something floating out here. You're a child of God. So, when you think about your personal relationship with Him, you're saved. Your possessions, your position, your personhood, all of this. You say, well, how do I overcome these things? When I'm facing them, I remember those simple words. This is who I am.

This is what I have. This is my access to the throne. And therefore, I reject that in my life. I choose not to walk that path. I thank God for His forgiveness. And I claim His victory over this in my life.

And I have a right to claim it because of who I am, what I have, what my position is. And God is going to keep His Word. He has given to us inside of you everything needed to live a godly life. Thank you for listening to part two of The Truth That Sets Us Free. If you would 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.