The scripture is very clear. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess, it's not if we hide, rationalize and explain away our struggle, it's if we confess. Listen to what Jesus said. If you abide in my word, you are my true disciple.
And you will know the truth and the truth will set you up free. Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for Leading the Way Audio. In this episode, grace and freedom. Many of you have reached out to share how this series, Got Freedom, has been a life changer. And we so appreciate that. And if you've missed any of the episodes, let me encourage you to catch up by listening with the Leading the Way app.
Subscribing to the podcast or streaming messages online. Learn more at ltw.org. OK, since you're here, listen with me as Dr. Michael Youssef begins his teaching time. About 20 years ago, there is a movement of teaching across so-called the evangelical churches that is teaching something erroneous. It's a very disturbing teaching for anyone who is a genuine believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. And who have put their faith in him by grace alone. That message sounds so good.
And it goes something like this. We live in a broken world. We live in a fallen world. And in this broken world and in this fallen world, we all sin, we all fail, and we all have imperfections. So why even think about them and just struggle along in these sins?
Now so far, maybe OK. But here comes a zinger, struggling along. Most people hear that and say, yeah, well, I struggle, everybody struggles, sure.
But that's not what they mean. I call this struggle theology. How can you spot this struggle theology where a person is habitually and deliberately and without any conviction, sin. And then they claim that's just part of the struggle that we all go through. They keep going back to the same sin over and over again without any need for repentance, without any need for confession, without any need and explain it away.
It's just part of the struggle. Struggle theology redefines sin as emotional affliction that is caused by poor self-esteem or childhood issues or environmental and social influence or maybe even genetic deficiencies. And today, we're hearing very little preaching on the promises of God in the word of God that are very core of the Christian faith is that when Jesus died on that cross and he bled his precious blood, he not only saved us from our sin, but he gave us victory over sin in this life that he gave us power over the power of sin.
Now, it doesn't mean that we don't fail. I don't want you to walk out of here and say, my goodness, Michael is preaching sinless perfection. I'm very familiar with that heresy. I'm not preaching that at all.
Don't misunderstand me. We all fall and stumble. But the difference is those who understand the grace of God, when they fall and stumble, they come under conviction. They confess and they repent and they receive strength to move on and to get from victory to victory and glory to glory.
The scripture is very clear. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if what? If we confess. It's not if we hide and rationalize and explain away our struggle. It's if we confess. Listen to what Jesus said. If you abide in my word, you are my true disciple and you will know the truth and the truth will set you what?
Free. Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin, that is deliberately and without remorse, without repentance, without confession, anyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. Again, he said, if the son sets you free, you are free indeed. And here in Galatians chapter 5 verse 1, the apostle Paul begins that chapter by saying, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free and do not let yourself be burdened again by the yoke of slavery. Most of the people who preach this struggle theology, this rationalizing of sin, it is that way all sin is that we can't do anything about it, we can't help it and so forth. Most of them grew up either in a legalistic home or a legalistic church or both.
That's what legalism leads to. Living in bondage. He's a slave. He is depending on outward observance.
He's depending on his efforts. Verse 2 all the way to verse 6. Look at it, Galatians 5, I hope you have your Bible open. The apostle Paul is saying that legalism and grace cannot coexist together. Because he's saying, if you think that legalism can save you, then why believe in Christ at all?
If circumcision saves you, then you must remember that you are under obligation to keep all of the law perfectly, all of the time, meticulously and no one can. As we've been seeing throughout the series of messages, no one can. Because when it comes to the law of God, one strike and you're out. It's just the way it works.
I don't make the rules. That is why we can only be set free by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We can only have victory over sin when Christ is formed in us. We can only overcome by the power of the grace of God. And that is why he comes to verse 4 and he makes a very powerful statement. And it's a very important statement. He's not talking about the Galatians losing their salvation because nine times throughout the epistle he calls them what?
Brothers. It has nothing to do with losing salvation. Fallen from grace is abandoned about without proper understanding and what it means. What Paul is talking about here, he is saying that when we persist in this erroneous false thinking that we can be justified by trying harder, by keeping the law, we are rejecting grace. We are rejecting the grace of God. Legalism leaves no room for grace.
It really doesn't. And that is why he is saying to these Judaizers, these people who misled them, the people who brought in false teaching, they are going to pay a hefty price. They really will.
They'll pay for it. And we judge far more severely than we can even imagine. Many years ago I heard a fable. Now I want to repeat the word fable until you get it because I don't want you to think that I believe that fable.
It's a fable. A man died and went to the gate of heaven, the pearly gate. I don't believe there is a pearly gate. I don't believe that the apostle Peter is a ticket taker at the pearly gate.
But that's how the medieval stories go. This man died and went to the pearly gate. And Peter said, on what basis should I let you into heaven? He said, I've done a lot of good things.
I've done a lot of good things in my life. He said, all right, you have to get 100 out of 100. You can't get 99.
It has to be 100. And so they began to count. And I did this, and I did this, and I did this, and I did this. And they counted all the things he's done. And they came up to five. He said, five. And the man was astounded.
He was stunned. And then in sheer frustration he said, it's impossible for me to get in. It's going to have to take the grace of God to get me in.
He said, that's 100, get in. You understand, I'm saying it's a fable. But it makes the point.
It makes the point. It's only the grace of God that is going to get us in. Nothing else but only the grace of God is not only take us to heaven. He's going to give us the power here and now to live victoriously. Regardless of how dark it gets out there.
Galatians 7-12, Paul is so disheartened at how the Galatians have fallen out of the grace of God. And he said, you were running a good race. Who cut in in front of you?
Now I want you to imagine, this is really an image from the Olympics. And these guys were running. I mean there was somebody running, running, running. And somebody cuts on you and you fall. You see the question is, it's not that you fell. What do you do when you fall?
That's really what the epistle is all about. It's what you do when you fall. I want you to listen to me very carefully. We all fall. We all stumble. The question is, what do you do when you fall? Do you come under conviction, then you confess and repent and move on?
Or do you stay in your puddle? Grace will lift you up when you believe that it's the grace of God. When the legalists fall, he struggles. Because he doesn't know how else to do it. So they keep on staying down.
And never get up again. And what Paul is saying here, look at verse 13. Paul knew that some clever person going to come and say, it's all of grace, it's all of grace. I have liberty. And they take their liberty and turn it into a license. Beloved, this teaching is rampant in churches today. It's what breaks our heart. It's rampant.
Listen to what he said. All my brothers are called to be free. Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature.
Rather, serve one another in love. Today, so many people are teaching what is called hyper-grace. You heard me talk about hyper-grace.
What is hyper-grace? Hyper-grace teaches that by God's grace, I am now free. I am free to ignore the word of God. I am free to redefine sin. I am free to reject the will of God for my life. I am free to flaunt my sin. They say, God's grace will take care of it.
So I indulge myself. After all, I'm at church every Sunday, am I not? See, the other extreme is legalism. Another extreme is hyper-grace. The scripture is innocent of both extremes. You cannot please God by performance. And you cannot honor God by presuming on his grace. Neither of these extremes is biblical. The Libertines on the one hand or the hyper-grace pride themselves on sending to their hearts content without conviction. Their pride says, I am not bound by biblical morality like those saps. I'm free to indulge in all sorts of lust and immorality. I'm free to do anything. And the grace of God is going to pick up the tab.
Please listen to me. You don't have to be a seminary graduate to know that folks in both extremes have very little understanding of what the grace of God is all about. For the genuine believer does not belong to either extremes.
Both are erroneous. A genuine believer stands in gratitude to God the Father, through God the Son, what he did on the cross for saving us by grace. They stand in wonder, in awe of the grace of God. And out of that awe and gratitude and thanksgiving, they long to obey God.
The very thought of deliberately and freely sinning without conviction horrifies the genuine believer. The genuine believer grasps what grace does. And what does grace do?
Listen to me. Grace drives us to repentance every time we stumble and fall. The genuine believer understands that the love of God and in deep gratitude to his grace, he empowers us to obedience.
Grace prevents us from indulging of the flesh. Grace compels us to love others and serve others. Grace drives us to faithfully live for the Lord and serve him gladly. Grace gives them understanding that the law is our friend, not our master, like we saw in the last message. That grace will stop them from hurting or hating or harming others, but rather serve one another. That's what the grace is all about.
But then there's something else here that's very important I really don't want you to miss about the grace of God. Grace will empower you to destroy any strongholds. What's a stronghold? A stronghold in the Bible is a heavily defended fortress. A fortress that is almost imperitable. And Paul tells the Corinthians that Satan builds these strongholds in the human spirit and soul. And the question is, how do I know if Satan has set up a stronghold of any kind within me? That's the important question. Let's talk about that.
It's very important. A stronghold forms through our thought pattern, our thought pattern. And I really just summarized seven. I mean, it could be anything, but I'll just summarize them in seven, okay? It could be a pattern of a defeatist thinking.
You know what I'm talking about? I never do anything right. God cannot use a loser like me. God must not love me.
That's a stronghold. Or it could be an envy and jealousy pattern. Why is he successful and I'm not?
Why is she married prince charming and I'm still single? Why everybody's happy except me? Third stronghold, pattern of fear and anxiety. I cannot trust God to do the best for me. I can't trust God to protect me.
What if God lets me down? Or it could be a pattern of performance and people pleasing. And most likely that individual always keep their face secret. I don't want people to know that I'm a Christian. After all, my life is not showing it.
I keep my faith to myself. Or it could be a pattern of lust. I am told that getting hooked on pornography is now the number one stronghold among professing Christians today.
It's the number one. Or getting close to somebody of the opposite sex who's not your spouse. Are we just friends?
No, you're not. Or flirting on Facebook and saying, well, as long as my spouse doesn't know. Well, they don't know it doesn't hurt them.
It does. Or it could be a pattern of deception and lying. I can't let people know what I'm really like. I can't take responsibility for my sin and my failure. It's my grandfather's fault. It's so-and-so's fault. It's my boss' fault. It's somebody else's fault. I can't let my spouse know why I was late last night.
Or it could be a pattern of addiction of all sorts. Adultery, homosexuality, fornication, pornography, compulsive spending, gossiping, backbiting, or destroying people's reputation just as a hobby. Listen, the list can go on and on, but I pray that the Holy Spirit, if he's speaking to you, do not shut him up. Do not shut his voice. Because the question is this. Is there an area in your life where Christ has not been formed in you? Because, beloved, I want to tell you something. And I'm speaking from experience. I'm the authority of the Word of God. But I tell you from experience. That area where Christ has not been formed in you, and you're keeping it to yourself, it does not stay neutral.
Satan is watching you. And he will come because that is the territory now he claims for himself. First as a beachhead. And then he comes in, a beachhead cannot stay as a beachhead. He will build a fortress. And he will come in and out. And he will harass you. I'm not saying about your salvation.
I'm just talking about his harassment. And Satan will not be contented just to have one area, one stronghold. He starts building bridges to other areas. But Christ has not been formed in it. And when you rationalize it, and you say, well, I'm struggling, everybody else is struggling. I'm sinning, well, everybody else is sinning. That's a signal for Satan to take over.
That's a signal. And that is why we, on a daily basis, by the grace of God, do self-examination on a regular basis. Open our hearts and our lives before God. Hold nothing back. Hide nothing from his searching gaze into your life and mind. Constantly say with the psalmist, search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thought.
See if there is any offensive way in me. And lead me to the way of everlasting. Please hear me right. Strongholds, have they not dealt with strongly, forcefully, consistently, and continuously, is what Paul says it would cause us to fall from grace. I'm not saying salvation now. I'm not saying losing salvation. But these strongholds will deprive you from the spiritual abundance in Christ that he has for you, that he longs for you to have. They'll deprive you of having Christ form in every area in your life. They will deprive you from the joy of your salvation.
Strongholds will force us to live in a spiritual poverty of struggle instead of living in the mansion's freedom. If you, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you spiritually living under a bridge, spiritually, I want to tell you on the authority of the word of God that today you can begin the process of moving into the mansion of the grace of God. If you have a stronghold in your life and Jesus has been speaking to you, the Holy Spirit has been convicting you that he wants you to experience the abundance of his freedom, then today is the day.
Encouragement to pursue freedom from the strongholds in your life. Thank you for listening to Leading the Way with pastor and author, Dr. Michael Yousaf. And if you would like to speak with someone about what you heard today, consider talking with a Leading the Way pastor or counselor. Start your conversation at ltw.org slash jesus. ltw.org slash jesus. In times of trouble, where do you run?
When bad things happen, where do you find comfort and assurance? In his newest book, My Refuge, My Strength, Dr. Michael Yousaf takes you on a 60-day journey towards a deeper understanding of the peace God offers us through Christ. For a limited time, for your gift of any amount, Leading the Way will send you your very own hardcover copy of My Refuge, My Strength. Visit ltw.org to get your copy today. Well, have you ordered your copy of Dr. Yousaf's book, My Refuge, My Strength? This is a beautiful hardback devotional book.
It would make a great gift for friends and family during the coming holidays. In fact, right now, when you give a gift of any amount to the ongoing ministry of Leading the Way, Dr. Yousaf is offering to send you a copy of My Refuge, My Strength as his expression of thanks. Here's the number to learn how you can take advantage of this special offer. Call us, 866-626-4356. You can also go online to ltw.org.
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Again, that's Post Office Box 201100, Atlanta, Georgia, 30325. As we bring today's episode of Leading the Way to a close, allow me to invite you also to watch Leading the Way television. Each week, dig into the truth of God's Word and be challenged to love and serve the Savior. Leading the Way television is available in most areas on TBN, Daystar, NRB, INSP, TCT, Fox Business, and more. Visit ltw.org for details. Once again, that's ltw.org. This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yousaf. Connect further with audio and video content at ltw.org.
