I don't know what you need to be free from, but whatever it is, freedom is staring you right in the face. Dr. Tony Evans says there's no need to be enslaved by detrimental thoughts or emotions anymore. I know somebody who's been duly authorized and anointed with supernatural power to set captives free. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr.
Tony Evans. The good news of the gospel is that freedom is free, so why aren't more of us experiencing it? Dr. Evans will have the answer today in an encouraging message taken from Luke chapter 4. Let's join him.
In the harbor. Of New York City. Stands a lady. Inscribed On Lady Liberty. as you so well know of these words.
Give me your tired. And you're poor. Your huddled masses yearning. to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shores, Senna V's the homeless tempest toss.
To me. I lift. My lamp. Beside The Golden Door. On Lady Liberty's crown are seven spikes.
Reflecting seven seas and seven continents. Where the invitation stands open to all. to come to freedom. Freedom is not something that belongs to a country. or nation Freedom is something that God offered in the Garden of Eden.
From every tree of the garden you may freely eat. We have defined freedom as release from illegitimate bondage.
So that you can now experience becoming what you were created. and redeemed to be. that the freest people in the world ought to be Christians. Paul has made it clear in one of our previous discussions that It was for freedom. Christ has set you free.
He set you free to be free. He didn't set you free to stay in bondage. And yet Many of us today find ourselves bound. Things that are holding us hostage and keeping us. From being What we know God wants us to be.
I'm not talking about the person who doesn't care now. I'm not talking about the person who's in rebellion. I'm talking about the person who really wants to be free. They want to leave. where they are.
and get the way they're supposed to go. And you're looking for freedom. Freedom does not mean no restrictions. Freedom means being released from illegitimate restrictions. You're not free to live in water.
Because you weren't created for that.
So you're bound by air. and land.
So, freedom doesn't mean the absence of restrictions. It just means the removal of illegitimate restrictions. God in the garden gave a restriction from every Tree of the garden you may freely eat, but the tree in the midst of the garden you may not. That is off limits. That is a legitimate restriction.
So the issue in freedom is not whether there's a restriction versus no restriction. When you watch a football game, there will be restrictions, there will be boundaries.
so that the game can be free to be played. No boundary, there's chaos in the stadium. It is the removal of illegitimate boundaries.
So the question. To discuss freedom is: is this boundary legitimate or illegitimate? And one of the things that you will always know about freedom. And that is that boundaries will always enhance it. Never destroy it.
If it's a legitimate boundary. Jesus Christ has now gone public. He is now asserting who he is. As the Son of God and the Son of Man, all God, all man, in one person. The most unique person who has Ever entered history.
There is Nobody like Jesus Christ. He is fully God. But he's also fully man. As a man, his job was to represent God in history. And so he got hungry because he was a man.
He said, I thirst because he was a man. He had to sleep because he was a man. But he could walk on water because he was God. He could raise the dead because he was God. He could move in his humanity.
based on his relationship to deity. He comes to the synagogue in it. The neighborhood where he grew up, Nazareth. And they hand him. The book of Isaiah, and he turns the pages and comes to Isaiah chapter 61.
He says in verse 18 of Luke 4 as he's reading Isaiah 61, the Spirit of the Lord. is on me. And he has anointed me. To preach good news. The gospel.
And it was Good news about freedom. He says, I have good news for poor people. He says, I've got good news to captives. I've got good news to the blind. And I've got good news to the oppressed.
All of them need to be freed from something. The poor from poverty. The captives from their captivity, the blind from sightlessness, the oppressed. from their slavery. He says, I have come to declare good news.
And the Spirit of God is upon me and has. Anointed me. When he says that he has been anointed, it means he has been. Dooley Dubbed He has been Identified and recognized by God through the Holy Spirit. to proclaim good news.
Jesus Christ has good news to you and me today about freedom. He's the authorized representative of God. as a man to tell other men and women The good news of freedom. In the Old Testament, to be anointed meant to be dubbed. David was anointed as king.
That means he was one recognized. As having been identified with God by God as the new leader for Israel or as the next priest. He has been selected, if you will. Jesus Christ has been uniquely selected to proclaim to people Good news. About freedom.
And the Spirit is backing him up. The Spirit of God is upon me. In other words, this is a supernatural offer. This isn't folk talking to other folk about freedom. This is a supernatural offer.
Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. Has come here today based on his word to make a supernatural offer because he's been offering. Authorized to do so. I made a phone call for a repair. I made it at my home, and I called.
Called, and I was trying to get it worked out where the person would work out the repair, and I needed some. other things done and her statement was Sir, I'm going to have to get my supervisor because I'm not authorized to do that. She sincerely wanted to help, but she didn't have the anointing. You say, well, not duly dubbed. And recognized as having the capacity to give me what I needed to fix what was broke in my house.
Her supervisor, a gentleman, came to the phone and I explained to him the situation that I was having to get rectified. And he said, I am not authorized. To do what you're asking me to do. And so I said, well. Can you get me somebody?
Who has the authority? The authorization. The power. to respond to my need. I got something broke.
But everybody I'm talking to. They want to help me. But they can't help me because they haven't been authorized. I need somebody with some power.
Some clout who has been anointed to be able to speak. I don't need somebody that's got to go to somebody else, it's got to go to somebody else, got to go to somebody else, got to go to somebody else. I want to get to the right person. Who has been duly authorized. Two.
Fix my broke down. Situation. Finally, I got somebody on the line. Who had been anointed? Who have the power to take care of.
What a lot of other folks wanted to help me with. But we're incapable of solving. See a lot of us been seeking freedom in all the wrong places. We've been going to scenarios that maybe want to help. Would like to help, but they've not been anointed.
They are not duly authorized. To be able to set you free. But Jesus said, the Spirit of the Lord is on me. And I have been duly authorized. I have been anointed.
In order to set the captives free or to proclaim good news. That Freedom! Is staring you right in the face. And I don't know what you need to be free from. But whatever it is.
I know somebody who's duly authorized to offer it. doctor Evans will return with more of today's message in just a moment. You know, if you've got the right tools and know how to use them, almost anything in your home can be fixed. And if there are areas in your life that need repair, the tools and tips you need for a proper restoration can be found in Tony's current series, The Spiritual Toolkit. This 10-message compilation focuses on finding your purpose as a child of God and then living it out successfully.
And right now, you can get the Spiritual Toolkit as our gift when you come alongside Tony's ministry and make a contribution to help keep his messages coming your way on this station. For another few days now, you can also receive a special bonus resource, a book from Dr. Evans called Free at Last, Experiencing True Freedom Through Your Identity in Christ. If you've been frustrated by the gap between what you know spiritually and what you actually experience, this book will help close that gap. Dr.
Evans explains how your identity in Christ can break the chains of sin, end the cycle of self-effort and defeat, and lead you into the true freedom and victory God intends for you. Don't miss this special double offer. Visit tonyevans.org today to make your donation and request these resources. Or call our resource team anytime at 1-800-800-3222. Again, that's tonyevans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222.
Well now here's Dr. Evans with more of today's lesson.
Some of us have been trying to be free from something for years. You name it. And there's somebody in here that has it. It may be pornography, it may be gambling, it may be drugs, it may be alcohol, it may be cigarettes, it may be a cursing tongue, it may be an illegitimate relationship, it may be whatever it is you've been trying for years. You've been like a hamster.
You ever seen a hamster on a wheel? It's trying to go somewhere. That hamster is trying to go somewhere.
Sometimes it goes slow and sometimes it goes fast. It's trying, but all it is is going in circles. It's going in circles because it's been boxed in a cave. You know what that hamster needs? It needs somebody to reach in there.
And pick it up out of its situation. Because no matter how hard it tries and how fast it goes, it will never be any further when it finishes than when it started. Why? Because it's boxed in to an enslaved situation. But if somebody that's not locked in can reach in and lift it out, it can deliver it from its wheel kind of life.
And somebody that's been churning on a wheel and you're tired. Of running in the same spot. But I know somebody. who's been duly authorized. And anointed with supernatural power.
to set Captain Shree. There's some here. People that you know. Who feel like it's hopeless? This is my lot in life.
And I'm just gonna muddle through. Try to make it. Get by the best that I can, and you've given up on ever thinking about being free. In other words, you've gotten used to slavery. You've gotten used to whatever mental, emotional, physical incarceration.
you're going through this has become your lot in life this is Yes. way it is. You know, how many have gone to Disneyland or Disney World? You've been to either one of those two.
Okay, most of you. You know, after about two or three hours. In Disneyland and Disney World. You begin to think. That all That stuff has been sized correctly.
Now, in other words, these are miniature buildings. When you walk in there, these are miniature buildings. But if you're there long enough, It looks normal. Because That's all you're surrounded with.
So it looks like this is the way it's supposed to be till you come back out. And you're faced with the real deal about the real size of things. In other words, you can be duped into thinking this is how things are supposed to be. Because you've been hanging there for two, three, four, five, all day. You've been hanging out there.
So, this is the way it's supposed to be. When that's not the real world. You've been duped to think that's the real world because you've been hanging there too long. Jesus Christ says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. And he has anointed me.
To proclaim good news. The gospel is good news. It is good news about eternity. Because when you trust Jesus Christ. That means you're on your way to heaven.
When you go to the cross for the forgiveness of sins, You're on your way to heaven. That's good news. It's good news to know the thing you fear most will never happen. Death. Most people, if they gave their greatest fear, would be to die.
The good news of the gospel is, you will never die. The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. As soon as you die, you won't be dead long enough to know you died. Because you are immediately ushered into the presence of the Lord.
So the thing you fear most. is the thing that will never ever happen. Because immediately you ushered into the presence of the Lord if you've come to Jesus Christ for salvation. But the good news. is more than heaven.
The good news includes Earth. Please notice the passage. He says, I've come to proclaim Good news. to the poor.
Now If you're poor, what's good news? that something is going to address your poverty. That something is going to change your status in life. If you're poor, that means something better is coming along. That's good news.
If you're poor... And you hear next week, you're gonna be poorer. That's bad news. If you're in captivity. Good news is That you are going to be released.
That somebody has posted bail. If you're in jail and somebody posts bail, that's good news. That you're going to be released from your captivity. If you're blind and now you know you're going to get to see. That's good news.
If you're oppressed, somebody's got their foot on your neck, on your back, and you've discovered now that you're going to be released from that oppressive situation. That's good news. But this is not just about heaven because you are poor in heaven. You aren't oppressed in heaven. You are blind in heaven.
These are Earth issues.
Now, when people write about this passage, you'll see. extremes There will be the spiritual interpretation that none of this is physical, it's spiritual poverty, it's spiritual captivity, it's all spiritual.
So, it doesn't relate to people's social condition. It doesn't relate to people's slavery in America and South Africa. It doesn't relate to that. It's all spiritual. Then you've got the liberation theology.
That makes it all social. Come to Jesus and he'll change the economics of the day and he'll change the social structures of the day and he'll change the political environments of the day. And to pick either extreme is to miss the point. Jesus starts off with, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me.
So he starts off spiritual. But his spiritual perspective goes to a practical reality. I am glad that Jesus Christ and my relationship with him is going to take me to heaven. I'm glad about that. But I'm also glad that my relationship with him can affect circumstances in history.
Okay. To affect circumstances in history, and I miss out on eternity.
Well, that's not good. If a man doesn't have a place to stay, that's bad, but he can recover from that. If a person doesn't have the best food to eat, That's bad, but he can recover from that. If a person doesn't have the nicest clothes, that's bad, but he can recover from that. If a person doesn't have a great job and is living on minimum wage, that's bad, but he can recover from that.
But if a man or woman dies without a relationship with Jesus Christ, you just hit him with a blow he can never recover from. Dr. Tony Evans on the importance of accepting the freedom Christ offers. Here's a word right now on how to start that relationship. A lot of people exist.
but don't feel like they're living. The good news of the gospel is Jesus came to give you life. That is The experience of God's reality operating within you. That's what the Bible calls eternal life.
So he gives you heaven as a location, but eternal life is an experience. And he gives it to you for free. That's what grace is about: it's a gift. You can't earn it, you can't buy it, you can't be religious enough to get it, but you can receive it. And so, God offers the opportunity for you right now to receive the forgiveness of sins and the free gift of eternal life, which will set in motion.
A whole lifelong experience of growing in the knowledge of God.
So let's get this thing started right now by you going to Jesus Christ and saying to Him, Lord Jesus, I believe you died on the cross. in my place. For my sin. I now accept you as my personal Substitute. come into my life.
I receive you now. as my only Saviour. I receive the gift of eternal life. that you promised to give me if I came to you for it. Thank you for your salvation.
In Jesus' name. Amen. If you pray that prayer for the first time today, We invite you to visit tonyevans.org and follow the link at the very top of the home page that says Jesus. You'll find helpful videos and other resources there to help get your new life in Christ headed in the right direction.
Now before we go, I hope you'll take advantage of that special package of resources I mentioned a little earlier. For a limited time, when you make a contribution to help keep Tony's messages coming to you and others here on this station, we'll say thanks by sending you all 10 full-length lessons in his current audio compilation called the Spiritual Toolkit. And if you contact us right away, along with the audio package, we'll also include an add-on bonus of Dr. Evans' book that goes hand in hand with today's message, Free at Last, a powerful guide to experiencing the freedom Christ provides. Get both of these valuable resources today at tonyevans.org or give us a phone call at 1-800-800-3222.
That's tonyevans.org or again by phone, 1-800-800-3222. On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in the Confederate States of America were freed. But it wasn't until six months later, on June 19th, that people in Texas received that news.
Well tomorrow Dr. Evans digs deeper into the Christian's liberation from spiritual bondage as he continues his exploration of the good news of freedom. Hope you'll be with us.
