Free at Last

0:00Welcome to the InTouch podcast with Tarle Stanley for Friday, September 11th. Christians often choose to live captive to attitudes that hold them in bondage. Today you'll discover the truth that can open the door to living free at last. Let me tell you what I believe. Most people could put on their tombstones when they die. They would be extremely accurate. Free at last. Because most people, even after they're saved, live in bondage most of their lives. They live in a bondage that they do not even understand. They live in a bondage. They can't even identify. They just know that all of their life, most of their life, something was an ever quite right. There was something out there they never got a whole love and so probably the most accurate thing they could put on their stone is free at last.

1:02I want you to turn to the eighth chapter of John beginning in verse 28 and going through verse 36. Jesus therefore said, when you lift up the son of man, then you will know that I am He and I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as the father taught me. And He who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone for always do the things that are pleasing to Him. Isn't that a tremendous thought? Always do the things that are pleasing to Him. As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him. Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, if you watch this, if you abide in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. They answered Him. We are Abraham's offspring and have never yet been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you shall become free? Jesus answered them, truly truly I said to you,

2:04everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. And the slave does not remain in the house forever. The son does remain forever. If therefore the son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Now if I were to ask you tonight, how many of you are in bondage? Some form of bondage, I wonder how many people to be honest would have to lift their hands and say, well, I am. Now I'm talking primer to believers because more than likely the most of you here tonight are saved. That is, you have already trusted Jesus Christ as you saved you know that you saved. But you've never felt a real genuine true sense of freedom. It's like every time you want to have a lift off, there's something that has a hold on you that's waiting you down. You've never truly been freed to become, to be, to enjoy, to do. There's just something there.

3:04Now Jesus said, if you know the truth, the truth will set you free. Now here's the danger about living in bondage. You can get so comfortable living in bondage that after a while, if somebody offers you a way out, you don't want it. You know why? Because you're not quite sure you can deal with that much freedom. Many people when they're saved, here's what they do. They just leave one form of bondage and slip over in another form of bondage. That is, they leave the bondage of the world, the habits that they had, their attitudes, their fears, they had one form of bondage there, they leave that, and they become a Christian. And you know what they do? They take upon themselves another form of bondage. Now I've got to live by the Ten Commandments. Now I've got to live by the sermon on the Mount. Now I've got to pray so much, I've got to read the Bible so much, I've got to tavern my income. Now I've got to share my faith. Now I've got to do the following things. And so what they do is they move from one form of bondage into another. A friend, that's not freedom. Jesus said, when you know the truth, the truth will set you free.

4:08Now the problem is if you can't identify the bondage, how will you ever be set free? And their multitudes of people, in fact probably most Christians sitting in churches, week after week, are living in bondage, don't even know it, living, living a, a, what they call a normal Christian life that is totally sub, sub, sub, and some of them, the sub, sub, sub, sub, normal Christian living. Because nobody's ever told them that you can be free from all of that. So number one, here's one form of bondage. One of the most subtle forms of bondage that Satan injects upon many people is a false sense of guilt, that is the feeling of being guilty. Notice I said the feeling of being guilty. Did you know that many people live all of their lives feeling guilty? If you should ask them, why do you feel guilty? They would struggle to come up with a legitimate reason for feeling guilty.

5:11Now first of all, if they've been saved by the grace of God, the word justification means that they have been declared by Almighty God not guilty. Pardon means not guilty, that is set free. But when Satan tries to cloud your mind with a false sense of guilt, he says, well, look at you now. And so what does he do? He just, he wants to cloud your whole life with a feeling of guilt. Now let me ask you, when a person feels guilty, what else do they automatically feel? If you feel guilty about something, what else are you? Even if you can't identify it, if you feel guilty, how are you going to feel in your relationship to God? All right, condemn, that's right, very insecure. If I feel guilty, then I'm not too sure what God may do next. So I've got to walk very carefully, and this is a way some people walk all the way through life, very carefully,

6:11because they feel guilty. Guilty about what, it's a false sense, there's a cloud, they cannot grab, they cannot hold, it's just there. It is a terrible way to live your life. A second form of bondage is a poor self-image. Oh, I don't measure up. A poor self-image in essence is this, that is the way I see myself. Now it doesn't make any difference the way other people may seem, it's the way I see myself. So the Bible says, as a man, think it in his heart, what? So he said, that is he's going to act out what he believes about himself. Listen, you can't change this, you're going to act out in life the way you see yourself. If you have been pre-programmed to think little of yourself, to think that you can't, you want, God doesn't, other folks don't, and you live your life with a poor self-image, with a sense of rejection, and that's exactly what part of that's involved in that.

7:13If you live your life that way, then let's think about this. You always live your life in the negative case, inadequate, insufficient, don't belong unworthy. Jesus says, I've come to set you free not to put you in another form of bondage. Poor self-image. Oh, you don't know about me, listen, I don't know about you, but God doesn't. I know who God says you are. There's a third form of bondage, and I think we have to deal with that is an unforgiving spirit. Friend, this has more people in bondage than you could ever imagine, an unforgiving spirit. Oh, but you don't know what he did to me. You don't know how she's treated me. You don't know the kind of raw deal they try to give, or if somebody treated you that way. You see, no matter who wrongs you and what the purpose is, listen, you're the one who chooses to be in bondage or not. Listen to me carefully. Nobody can put you in bondage unless you consent to be there.

8:20When somebody has wronged you and you hold it against them, you choose to put yourself in prison. You lock the door yourself. You put yourself in bondage. You are there out of your own making. It is a subtle form of bondage. It's Satan has more people in than you could ever dream of. Unforgiving spirit. It's terribly damaging to the emotions, damaging to the spirit, damaging to the body. Four form of bondage is sensuality. Sensuality isn't just a sin, it is a form of bondage. It may have begun in many, many ways, but it is a terrible form of bondage. Pornography is a key element, whether it's on the screen or whether it's on a piece of paper,

9:21is a key element in putting people in bondage to sensuality. And you and I are living in a sensual age and we have to work at keeping from falling into the traps of sensuality. That's why I've said to you, put on the whole arm of God every moment you get up, put it on him, and you put it on him, and you put it on say, Amen. Some of you are some of you aren't you, head of a trouble. But you see, it's a form of bondage. And listen, that form of bondage isn't just limited to young people, friend. Adults are just as open to those forms of bondage as young people. In fact, sometimes more so. Now think about this, what Jesus said. He said, you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. Now here's the question, what truth is this that sets me free? Well I know the 10 Commandments, that's set you free? No. Well I know the Sermon on the Mount, you can quote that every day, that's set you free, not necessarily. Well I'm quote John 316, that's set you free?

10:22No. There are many, many truths in the Word of God. There is one truth that sets men and women free. The truth is, understanding and applying the truth of who I am in Christ, who He is in me, and now watch this, and responding to life out of the truth of who I am. Now let me apply this. He said, now what do you mean by all that? Now let me tell you, God didn't mean this to be complicated. He meant it to be very simple. You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. Not truth, the truth of who you are in your relationship to Jesus Christ, who He is in you and all of His power,

11:23who you are in Him with all of your security in Him. The truth that sets you free is knowing who you are in Him and who He is in you. Now who are you in Him? You are saved, you are a saint, you are a child of God, you have been redeemed, bought from your sinful life, justified, declared righteous and no longer guilty, pardoned from your sin, sanctified, set apart under Him, you are owned by Him, you are a possession of Almighty God, your name is written in the Lamb's book of life, you are on your way to heaven, you have been forgiven of your sin, you have an inheritance waiting for you, we could go on and on and on, you are accepted in the beloved, not by performance, who am I? Who are you? I have been accepted in the beloved, I am made acceptable in the eyes of God through His Son Jesus Christ and nothing that anybody on the face of this earth will ever be able to do,

12:29will ever alter my true, total genuine acceptance by God on the basis of who I am in Him, period. I don't have to perform, that frees me. You see, God didn't give you 25 things you had to in order to be set free, He just gave you one thing. When you recognize a form of bondage began to respond out of life to who you know you are in Him, accepted in the beloved. You said, but now what about that sensual depart? What is the truth about you? The truth about you is, now listen, you see, it isn't that you can't be free, the question is, do you want to be free? The truth about you is this, you are in dwelt by the sovereign God of this universe through the Holy Spirit. All power Jesus has given unto me and I give it unto you. You are in dwelt by God. Who are you in Christ Jesus? You are totally secured in Him,

13:36the angel of the Lord in campeth round about you. You have everything in you that you will ever need to meet all of your needs in life, whatever they are. So Satan fires one of those fire emiscles and here it comes. I mean you see it coming, flaming temptation coming your way. You say, oh, I'm in bondage, listen, if you want to be set free of any form of sensuality, you must choose to respond to that temptation out of the truth of who you are. You are a child of the living God. Christ Jesus is your life. You can reject any form of temptation by simply resisting it in the name of Jesus Christ and you do not have to yield. If you have to yield, I'm going to close the Bible and quit because we don't have a message to a world in bondage if you have to yield.

14:39We fall into the bondage of sensuality out of choice and oftentimes out of ignorance. Who am I in Christ Jesus? Child of the living God, my very life is the life of Christ. When I respond to bondage out of the truth of who I am, I am immediately set free. Now that's how simple Jesus made it. He said, if you know the truth, the truth will set you free. That is, in essence, the apt, listen to me now. The application by faith in a very practical real way of who I am and who he is in me. If that won't set you free, we are in bondage forever. Now I'll tell you something else. There isn't anything else in the world that will set you free but that. You can read the Bible for 100 years, 24 hours a day and that won't necessarily set you free. You can pray 10 hours a day, you can get in bondage even to bed.

15:44You can give, or you can give millions and you'll still be in bondage. You can win a thousand people of Jesus Christ a year and still live in bondage. But when you began to choose to walk into life on the basis of who you are in Christ Jesus, you're going to leave your bondage behind and you will be set free. Free. You know what Jesus is saying? Here's what he's saying. He says, look, I've already opened the doors of your prison. Man, walk out, get out. We say but, we don't say this little bit but subconsciously here's what we say. I've been here for years. This is all I know. And I'm going to tell you, I've been there. And I'm telling you my friend, when you understand who you are in your relationship to Jesus Christ, you step out of any and every form of bondage and makes no difference.

16:44And if you step out of that and I tell me, but you're in all my bondage, I'm going to tell you, you just confess you like it. Did you know you can get cozy and comfortable in your bondage? You've been there. It's warm, cutlery. You like it. But I want to tell you my friends, you'll never be what God wants you to be till you break out of it. Did you know that you don't even have to walk the aisle to get free? In essence, the only thing you have to do tonight to be free is to choose in the name of Jesus Christ to start responding from this moment out of the truth of who you are in Him. And you're free. Now this is not to say tomorrow morning, Satan isn't going to absolutely ever launch you with bondage. But all you have to do is I want to thank you Lord of who I am in Christ Jesus. I'm accepted. I know who I am. Nobody in the world may like me, but God, hallelujah, you do.

17:53I'm accepted in the beloved. Hallelujah. Freed. Listen, you don't have to wait till you die to have somebody say about you, free it last. I'd rather write it on my heart and live a few years brother than to have somebody to put it on my stone and I miss the whole freedom of life. Now wonder, are you free tonight? Or if somebody had to draw you up a picture of you, they'd have to draw it like that. Wonderful person, but in bondage. Responding to circumstances out of the truth of who you are in Christ will free you. I'll say one last thing. The next time Satan hits you or the next time you become aware of bondage, you remember this. To stay in it, listen, to stay in your bondage is your choice. Not your problem, your choice.

19:06What I'm doing is offering you Jesus invitation, friend, to get out and to get out tonight. Thank you for listening to Free At Last. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online 24-7 station. And if you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by Intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of Intouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you.