Breaking Spiritual Bondage

To be in spiritual bondage is to be trapped in a situation you can't get out of. And if you've been trapped, Dr. Tony Evans says there's only one cause.

Strong holds are sins that have gained control contrary to the will and the word of God. This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. When our day-to-day troubles turn into a trap we can't escape, we don't just have a problem, we're in bondage. Today, Dr. Evans explains how we can break free as he tells us what happened to the people of Israel in Exodus chapter 2.

Let's join him. One of the great tragedies of war are POWs, prisoners of war, people who have gotten caught in the conflict of the battle and have gotten captured by the enemy. Prisoners of war are often detained for an inordinate period of time until deliverance comes. Many of God's people are prisoners of war. The battle in the spiritual realm has caught many and made them captives in enemy territory, being controlled by enemy hands. It is a painful thing to be in a war. It's even more painful when the enemy is calling the shots. Israel finds themselves in Egypt in bondage.

We're told in the middle of verse 23, the sons of Israel sighed because of their bondage. They were incarcerated in enemy territory, under an enemy regime, and they were tired. Have you ever been tired because the enemy is in control?

Have you ever been tired because the place you are is not where you want to be? And you see no exit signs, no way to get out. That was Israel's situation. You know things are bad when the only option you have is to sigh. It says they sighed because of their situation. They were trapped, stuck with no way out. They were being held hostage, we are told, by a king, an evil king. He was the same king that wanted to murder or kill Moses. They were under bondage to a regime, a kingdom, Egypt, led by a king, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who would not let them go. This king had no sympathy for them.

He had no concern for them. His concern was for his kingdom and his regime. And now, living in Egypt had become a burdensome situation. If you really want to know how bad it got, we're told in verse 7, And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their suffering. In other words, Egypt was a place of suffering, of pain, of hurt, of anguish, of spiritual bondage. To be in spiritual bondage is to be trapped in a situation you can't get out of. It is a situation that causes you suffering and sighing, discouragement and despair, and there's no way out.

At least no legitimate way out. Another word for this in the Scripture is stronghold. A stronghold has a specific nuance because it refers to a sin that has gained control.

Like a snake that wraps itself around the mind or the will or the emotion so you feel helpless. The secular, non-Christian word for a stronghold is addiction. Addiction. But we won't use that word because the phrase addiction does not bring in the spiritual element. Addictions can just be, from the secular world, a bad habit.

Strongholds are sins that have gained control, wrapped themselves around you, so that there is an entrenched pattern of thinking or acting contrary to the will and the word of God. Either way, you're in bondage and you don't know how to get out. Like an animal caught in a trap, and every time you try to get out, it hurts to even budge. Usually in bondage or stronghold, you wonder even how you got here.

You wonder how what was here wind up over here. Israel was in Egypt, miserable, unhappy, with no way out. See, they didn't cry to God till the physical died. It wasn't till the king of Egypt died that they even thought about going to God. In other words, as long as the king of Egypt was alive, they were looking to him to solve their problem. But how can you look to the king of Egypt to solve your problem when he is the same king that's got you as a POW?

The one who has incarcerated you is not concerned about delivering you. It wasn't till the king of Egypt died that they even got around to understanding that the king they should have been talking to was very much alive. The Bible is clear that Christians can get caught.

When you're caught, the fundamental concern is, how do I get from where I am to where I need to be? And we're told two things went into play that gave way to their deliverance. Verse 23 says, when they sighed because of their situation, they cried out. Their cry for help is the word cry again. Verse 7 says, and God took heed to their cry. The question is, what does it mean to cry out?

When an animal gets in a trap and it understands it's stuck forever unless somebody else delivers it. That leads to a cry from the heart. To cry out isn't a cute little prayer. To cry out is not, now I lay me down to sleep. Pray the Lord my soul to keep.

If I die before I wake, pray the Lord my soul to take. That ain't crying out. People who are crying out can't wait till bedtime to pray because they can't take another day of this.

People who are crying out don't have a week between prayers because this is too desperate a situation. People who are crying out are looking for every single opportunity. If you really want to understand crying out, look at a person who is a perpetual complainer. Anybody know anybody that complains all the time? Something wrong all the time, so they're complaining. When a person is crying out, it dominates them. It is the chief thing that they are doing.

It is the dominating thing. It says, and they cried out to God. They didn't cry out to people. They didn't cry out to counselors. They didn't cry out.

This thing was bigger than a counselor or a preacher or a sermon. This one only God could fix. They were in a situation that only God could fix. However, they did not get God's attention until they cried out. They didn't get His attention until they were desperate. Prior to them crying out, they had not made the connection between their bondage and their spiritual condition.

Why? Because they were not even in touch with God. They thought that problem was social, not spiritual.

That's one of our major problems. Whenever you extract, delete, or miss the spiritual connection to your situation, there's no need to cry out. One of the great successes of the evil one is to disconnect the spiritual from the visible and from the physical. Once he makes the disconnect and you don't see that this issue is spiritual at its root, although it may be physical in its fruit, then you're going to spend all of your time trying to find secular solutions without getting to the spiritual causation and therefore solution to the issue.

If you are in bondage to anything, it is spiritual at the root. Don't spend all your time with the fruit, because you will not get to the core. You'll be picking apples off the tree when there's a disease under the ground.

And you won't have gotten to the core. A person who's a drug addict has a spiritual problem. It just shows up with drugs. Or an alcoholic, that's a spiritual issue. It shows up in alcohol. But if all you treat is alcohol, you may solve it for a week or two. The wagon may come along and pick them up for a block or two.

But because the root has been traded in for the fruit, there is no long-term solution. They cried out. And we're only told they cried out in one direction. They cried out to God. Now, I want to know, whatever is holding you bondage, if you're in bondage, has it driven you to cry out to God? I'm not talking about you're saying grace around a meal and throwing in, and, Lord, help me out of this situation. See, when you're in a crying out situation, you don't even feel like eating. You know?

I mean, it's that bad. You're crying out to God. I need release, and you are the only one who can get me out of this. Dr. Evans will have more for us on what happens when we cry out to God when he continues this message from his powerful audio compilation, Coming to the Comforter. These 20 lessons cover why God allows painful circumstances to come our way, how He cares for us as we're going through them, how He uses them to build our strength and devotion, and what we can do to approach Him for His help and healing.

That includes bonus material we won't have time to present on the air. And if you contact us right away, it's yours with our thanks when you make a contribution in support of the ministry of the alternative. And right now, we'll also include a special bonus, a copy of Tony's brand-new book, Hope for the Hurting. In it, he shows that no matter how negative the realities of life get, we don't need to let them define how things are going to work out for us, because there is help and hope even in the midst of our hurt. To request your copy of this special resource bundle, visit us today at TonyEvans.org, or call us at 1-800-800-3222. And if you're looking to go even deeper into this subject or want to present this material to your small group, check out Obtaining the Companion Hope for the Hurting Bible Study DVD and Study Guide. Again, this is a limited-time offer, so visit us right away at TonyEvans.org, or call 1-800-800-3222 any time of the day or night, and let one of our team members assist with your resource request.

That's 1-800-800-3222. Well, Dr. Evans will come back with more of our message right after this. Alaska is a land where ancient glaciers drop house-sized chunks of ice into the sea, where grizzlies fish for spawning salmon, where the lush green canopy of trees is offset by distant snowy mountains, and where the word majestic is hardly enough to describe what you see. Nowhere else in North America is the scenery so spectacular and God's creative wonder so vivid. Come journey here with Tony Evans on an unforgettable urban alternative Alaskan cruise. You'll discover powerful scriptural truths from Dr. Evans and other gifted instructors, experience meaningful times of worship, and enjoy inspirational musical performances from talented musicians. There's plenty of time for rested relaxation, luxurious accommodations, and incredible meals, all while surrounded by the breathtaking creation that is Alaska. To find out more about the urban alternative Alaskan cruise, visit tonyevans.org today.

That's tonyevans.org. The second thing that happened, we're told that God remembered His covenant. God can't forget, so the word remember doesn't mean He forgot, and He said, oh yeah, I did say that.

No. It's not the concept of the word remembering. The concept of the word remembering is God revisited His covenant. See, God has made a promise to Abraham through Isaac through Jacob that I'm going to make you a great nation and I'm going to deliver you to the land of promise. This lets us know about their cry.

You know what they were crying? God, remember your word. Their cry got connected with God's word. You see, God—watch this now— God remembered His covenant because they remembered His covenant. You see, as long as the king of Egypt was alive, they didn't have to remember God's covenant. They only had to remember the king's covenant. When the king died, they said, now, there's got to be something better than this, and they remembered God's covenant. And when they remembered God's covenant, God remembered God's covenant.

Why? There's one thing you can hold God hostage with, and that's His word. He's going to tell Moses later on, I'm going to kill all these folks.

I'm going to get rid of them, and I'm going to start all over with you. And Moses said, well, God, that's a problem. You can't do that. Because if you do that, then the people, the nations are going to say about you, you had the ability to get them out, but you didn't have the ability to get them through.

Your name is going to be an embarrassment. You would have not kept your promise. God, you can't do that. And the Bible says, and when God held Moses, he changed his mind. Moses held God hostage to his own word.

Now, listen to me. God is God. That's like real risky to go up to God and say, you can't do that.

You can't do that. That's like real risky. Unless God wants to be held hostage. See, God likes it when we hold Him hostage to His word. He gets excited.

They're holding me hostage to me. See, because when you hold God hostage to His word, you're only holding Him hostage to Himself. So it's not like He got to do something else.

All He got to do is be Himself. It says He remembered His covenant because they remembered His covenant. But if you are a secular thinking saint, you won't think of His covenant. You won't think of His promise.

You won't think of His word. You'll just think of your situation and the secular solutions you've been always taught to think about. And you will have a partition in the mind. I mean, you'll get a couple, and all couples do, you'll get a couple fighting over a problem. They will fight over a problem.

And they will get mad and not talk for days and weeks and months and some of you for years. Obviously, this human battle is not working because it has not been able to be resolved. Maybe nobody has thought that this may be a spiritual conflict we're having, and we need to return to what God's solution is to this problem.

But as long as Satan can divide you, he can keep you talking about the same thing for years with no spiritual progress. God remembered His covenant, which was based on His word. One of Denzel Washington's great performances, I think, was when he played Reuben Hurricane Carter, who had been imprisoned in bondage. He spent his time studying law books. He wanted to see how the law worked in his situation. So he happened to read his biography, came to visit him in jail, and then sent the word to do something to let this prisoner free. Although in jail, he learned the law.

He did bondage. He could not get free because he was incarcerated. But the one thing he could do was learn the rules, the law. Learning the law did not solve the problem.

That was just information gathering. But it happened by a quote-unquote chance that for one dollar, a little boy picked up a book, read a biography, wind up at the jail, then got other people involved, ultimately leading to his release. What God is saying, if you will simply read the law, read what I have said, I've got the Holy Spirit to send to your jail cell to bring what is necessary to release you from your bondage and set you free. God saw, verse 25, and took notice.

He says, I see a situation because you've now remembered me in first place. So, chapter 3, verse 1, now. Somebody say now. Now has to do with temporality.

It has to do with time. What was special about now? Now, after they called on God, now after God remembered his covenant, now after they saw, now Moses was pastoring a flock. Remember, when the Bible was written, there were no chapter divisions. So, pretend that we're not moving from chapter 2 to chapter 3.

We just got a running story. When they called on God and God took notice of them, God went over to Midian, set a bush on fire that would not be consumed, told Moses, come on over here, take off your shoes, this is holy ground. After Moses responded to God, Moses is in a land called Midian. The sons of Egypt are in Israel.

In other words, they are a long way away with no association with one another, and they haven't talked to each other for 40 years. There has been a 40-year gap between Moses and the Israelites even talking to one another. But when they called and God remembered, God said, hold on over here. He took a tip over here to Midian, set a bush on fire, got Moses' attention. Moses says, what's up, Lord? God says to him, I have seen, verse 7, the afflictions of my people who are in Egypt and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their suffering. I have come down, whenever God comes down, something very happens, I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land and a spacious land flowing with milk and honey, productive, to give them the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, and the Hibites and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me. Furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the sons of Israel are oppressing them. Therefore, come now, I will send you to Pharaoh.

Watch this now. When God had their cry, He went way over there to create their solution. The beautiful thing about God hearing you and coming down, see, once He comes down, something very happens. The problem is, He's not coming down till we're crying out and till we cry out based on His Word. When we cry out based on His Word, He comes down. When He comes down, He starts doing stuff you don't know anything about. Because while you're crying over here, He's working over here. He's listening over here, but He's working over here. Dr. Tony Evans with Biblical Counsel on the first steps to freeing yourself from the grip of spiritual bondage.

He'll come back in just a moment with a final illustration for the day. But first, today's lesson is part of that special resource offer I mentioned earlier, the 20-message teaching compilation, Coming to the Comforter, along with Tony's brand-new book, Hope for the Hurting. There's even a companion Bible study guide and DVD to help you dig deeper into understanding God's hope and peace in times of trouble. To get all the details, just visit tonyevans.org, make a contribution to the ministry, and let us say thank you by sending these powerful resources your way.

Again, that's tonyevans.org, or by phone 24-7 at 1-800-800-3222. Throughout history, there are certain things that haven't changed. One of those is that people still need the Lord, today as much as ever. Well, Dr. Evans believes when we share kindness with one another, we're doing both a good thing and a godly thing that can help point those around us to God's kingdom. We encourage you to look for opportunities to be His ambassador through your deliberate acts of kindness each day. When wedded bliss falls short of happily ever after, the results can range from disappointment to divorce.

Well, next time, Dr. Evans will take a look at marriage matters from a biblical perspective. Right now, though, he's back with this closing thought. Anybody ever been stuck in an elevator? That's like a scary situation, especially if you're suspended between floors. Now, you can get real scared if you're stuck in an elevator, especially if you're afraid of heights, you know, you get stuck in an elevator because it's claustrophobic, too.

You're in a little shell. And then on top of that, you don't know what's going on. Now, screaming don't generally help you when you're caught in an elevator. You can't even hear the banging on the door if it's a full thick elevator. But all modern elevators are now built with phones or alarm signals to connect you either to the fire department or some maintenance entity within the structure itself designed to hear that particular cry and to respond. You screaming is not what they're designed—the fire department is not gonna hear that.

The maintenance department is not gonna hear that. But if you will pick up the prescribed line when you're stuck in an elevator, they will dispatch your deliverance to your entrapped situation. I want to challenge all of us, rather than complaining to start crying, crying out to God for deliverance for the bondage that you're tired of being in. And we'll know if you're, like, really tired. Because I'm sure God is saying to some of us, you're not tired enough yet. Because if you were, like, really tired and you really wanted my will, I'd be hearing from you a lot more than I am, because you will believe that I am your solution to your bondage. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.