In Touch Ministries

Guest (Male): Jesus is a stabilizer in our life. No matter what's going on around us, he doesn't change. If I can lock in to him, which I can by faith, we begin to see things as he sees them. We begin to view ourselves as he views us. We begin to recognize that he's the giver of life. When we see things from God's point of view, then we start getting free. Until we do, we are not free.

Guest (Male): Does it feel as though you're in the grip of something destructive? If you've been wondering if there's a way to be free, stay with us for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Today's program reminds us that believers who root themselves in God's truth are able to live in real freedom.

Dr. Charles Stanley: It's very clear in the scripture why Jesus came. He tells us there are three reasons primarily why he came. Number one, he says he came to seek and to save that which is lost. He came into the world, giving his life on the cross and paying our sin debt in full in order that you and I might be saved and be the children of God.

A second reason he came, the scripture says, that you and I might have life and have it abundantly. That is, not just enough for us to be saved. I meet people all the time who say, "Well, I'm saved," as if that's the end of the Christian life. It's not. But he came that we might have life more abundantly.

That is life that's full, fulfilling, where we discover the will of God, the ways of God, and God in a very personal, intimate way, realizing that he is intimately involved in every single aspect of our life. When they said to him, for example, on one occasion, "Help us to understand," Jesus was never in too big a hurry to give them understanding.

He came that we might be saved. He came to reveal himself as the savior. But he also came, as he said, to give us abundant life. He came that you might have life and have it more abundantly, the very best life. Then he said he came for another reason: to set the captives free.

The point that I want us to deal with in this message is that whole idea of setting the captives free. If I should ask you today, how many of you feel like that you are a captive? Probably most people would say, "I'm not captive. I have financial freedom. I have freedom on my job, with my family, and so forth." You can name all the things that you feel free about.

But are you spiritually free? You're not really free until you are spiritually free. Are you really and truly free, or are you really in captivity to something that you never even thought about captivating you and controlling you? Jesus said, "I came to set the captives free." The truth is, all of us, every single one of us, has been captive to some area of our life, which we'll talk about in a few moments.

I want you to listen carefully because you may be suffering in an area of your life you do not even realize what it is, what the cause is, why you don't feel free, why you don't have his peace and his joy and all the things that we talk about in the Christian life. As I think about what Jesus said here and how he said it, I think about what it takes to be really free and why some people are not free.

What is it about them that makes them not free? The question I want to answer is: Are you free, and if not, how are you free? Someone came forward and said, "I am captive for certain, and I need to be free. Would you pray that God will set me free?" Naturally, I would. What are the things that captivate us? What are the things that cause us to live in captivity all of our life?

One of those things, for example, is error that we've been taught. There are many people, for example, who do not believe that Jesus is the only way of salvation. So they're always looking for this and looking for that and looking for the other and trying to figure out what is the best way to go. You know what they are captive to? The confusion of error that they've heard somebody teach or imply.

Then the feeling that you never can please God. There are people who say, "I just can't please God. I've repented, and I've done this, and I've been baptized twice. I've joined three different denominations, and I've tried to tithe, and I don't know how to please God." That's because you don't know who he is.

He doesn't want you running around trying to please him. He wants you to let him be in you what he desires to be in you. Don't make it some big deal out of, "Oh, I've got to please God." You live in captivity until you learn to lay that down and God sets you free of it. Then one of the worst is unforgiveness.

That is total captivity. When you cannot forgive someone else for what they've done to you, that is a form of captivity that will impact you in every single area of your life. You can't have an unforgiving spirit and harbor that. You say, "I have this unforgiving spirit." No, this unforgiving spirit has you. You must be willing to deal with it, and you can deal with it and be set free no matter who you are.

These are the things that we don't see oftentimes in people. Each one of these emotions that we're talking about and the whole idea of feeling insecure. If I should ask you how many of you feel very secure today, I wonder how many people could say, "Yes, I do." What's the basis of your security? Your money? No. Your relationships? No. Where you came from? No. Your family? No.

The truth is, none of us has any security apart from Jesus Christ. None of us because we can't control life. Everything is in a state of change. Jesus is the stabilizer in our life. No matter what's going on around us, he doesn't change. If I can lock in to him, which I can by faith, we begin to see things as he sees them.

We begin to view ourselves as he views us. We begin to recognize that he's the giver of life. When we see things from God's point of view, then we start getting free. Until we do, we are not free. Where the tragedy is, for example, you've got a godly woman here who loves the Lord and wants to teach her children what's right. She does what's right, and she's faithful, loyal, and devoted.

You've got a husband who wants to live it up. He wants to be gone here and there and do this and his friends and so forth. You have this conflict. This conflict is always going on and is going to cause one heartache and one burden. I see this in families and see children growing up, and I think sometimes, "God, those kids don't have a chance if you don't get them early because of the examples of their parents."

Yet those parents would say, "I'm free to do what I choose." Let me tell you something: nobody is ultimately free to do what they choose. We are influenced and affected by either that which is righteous and good and godly or that which is sinful and wicked and unholy. Let's think about this for a moment.

Any one of these emotions or these attitudes has its effect on us. First of all, some of them would certainly affect your personal testimony. Use profanity, smoke, drink, run around; it's going to affect your personal testimony for one thing. Secondly, it's going to hinder your spiritual growth.

As long as you allow something that you know is not right and ungodly in your life, it's hindering you already. You've become a slave to it. God doesn't want habits in our life that hinder us, hinder our testimony, and hinder his use of us. As long as you have any of those attitudes in your life and you're not willing to deal with them, they're going to hinder you in some way or the other.

It's going to hinder God's use of you. You can't have an unforgiving spirit and be very effective for the Lord. You can't be selfish and greedy and holding on and be used of God in a profitable way whatsoever. None of these things fit who we are. When you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, I want to show you in a few moments what he did for you. If they don't fit, then I'm responsible for dealing with them.

These things being true, what is the truth that sets us free? Because if we don't answer this question, we're wasting our time. What's the truth that sets us free? First of all, the truth about our salvation: that you and I trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior for the forgiveness of our sins based on one thing, his death at Calvary, which atoned for all of our sins—past, present, future.

Therefore, I'm not going to be lost after I'm saved. All of my freedom is based on a personal relationship with him. He is the freedom maker. He is the one who sets the slaves free. Not only does he provide salvation, but he says the Holy Spirit came into your life and my life to seal us forever as a child of God, to live within us to give us direction for our life, to convict us of our sins, and to guide us and lead us to show us his will for our life.

Look what we have: this wonderful relationship with the Lord and the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us and direct us in whatever way God wants to use us. That's the beginning. The truth that sets me free begins with the cross and is built upon the presence of the power of the Holy Spirit within me. That is the beginning of all true freedom.

The second one is the truth about our position. What is your position now that you've trusted Christ as your Savior? Scripturally, beforehand, you were enemies of God. Now the scripture says you're children of God. Before, you were aliens, not only separated, but you were distant from God out there.

Now the scripture says you are joint heirs with Christ of all that God has. Before, you rejected him. Now he accepts you. You're no longer rejected, but you're accepted. Once you were guilty—you were guilty—but now you're forgiven, a forgiven child of God. Once you walked in darkness, not knowing what was going on.

Now you walk in the living light of the Son of God. Once you were dead in trespasses and sins, and now you are spiritually alive. All of those things God has done in your life and does do in our life when we come to him as our Savior and he begins to work in our life, setting us free of everything and anything.

It's the will of God to set you free of anything and everything that hinders his will and purpose and plan for your life. He's willing to dig as deep into your life and deal with things back there that have been there since you were a kid. He wants everything out of our life that hinders his awesome will and purpose and plan for life.

Think about this: this is our position. We are children of God for whom God has a will and a purpose and a plan. That's who he is. If I'm going to be set free, I've got to understand that not only am I saved, but this is my genuine, spiritual, godly, divine position, the things we just mentioned. Likewise, what are my possessions?

Now that I'm a child of God, I do possess some things, and so do you. For example, in Second Peter, listen to what he says in verse three, chapter one: "Seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him, that's Jesus, who called us by his own glory and excellence."

Listen to that. This is an awesome promise. Don't let this one get by you. "Seeing that his divine power"—he did it—"has granted to you," not going to, "granted to you everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. For by these 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 by lust."

Look at that. This is the reason you and I can be free. We trust Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. We have a different position, different possessions in life. He says one of the things he's given us, he's given us his nature. We have the privilege and the power to live godly in Christ Jesus because we have the nature of God within us.

He's provided everything we need to live a godly life. If I want to be free, it starts with Jesus. If I want to be a free person, then I must begin to claim what is mine, claim who we are in Christ, and claim what we have in Christ and walk in the ways that he would walk because he says, "I've provided all of that for you."

His divine nature, his eternal life, his access to the throne. You know this passage in Hebrews chapter four, but I want to read it again. We don't have a high priest who can't sympathize with us, which means we have one who does. That's Jesus, who's been tempted and tried in all things as we are, yet without sin.

"Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." You see what you have? You have not only God in heaven as your master and sovereign ruler, but you have Jesus on the inside of you in the presence of the Holy Spirit with all the possessions that we're talking about.

That's who you are. You have access to freedom in every single solitary area of your life if you choose to claim it. I look at that, I think, okay God, how am I going to be free? First of all, I must choose it. I must choose to be free of whatever is in my life that shouldn't be there.

Secondly, I become free when I face any and every circumstance of life based on who I am according to Jesus, what I have according to Jesus, what my position is according to Jesus. In other words, then what happens? I'm going to be free. "God, this doesn't fit who I am. Here's what you said. You said your divine power is within me. The Spirit of God would set me free, and I'm claiming that by faith in the name of Jesus Christ."

God will set us free. But the tragedy is if you don't know that you have captivity in your life, if you don't know that there are things in your life where you have not been willing to acknowledge it. You're going to live in captivity on a level that's way down here when he wants you to live way up there.

As we said, it's a choice you make. It's a choice we make based on the truth. All that I've said to you is simply the truth. It's about who he is, what he's done in your life and what he's done in my life, what he will do, what he promised to do. He says, "Trust me. The truth will set you free."

But you've got to know you need to be free, you want to be free, you're willing to believe that you can be free, and you trust him. You say, "Are you meaning to tell me that all this sermon's all about trusting and obeying God?" Do you think God would make it complex since God plays no favorites? No favorites.

Any person who can read these passages of scripture, you can be free. The question is, do you want to be free? Is there something in your life that you'd have to say, "Well, you know what, the truth is at this point in my life," or "At this time in my life." Don't give me that stuff. This is the time to be free.

Listen to me carefully because I love you. I want to drill it in. If I could just cut a hole in you, drop it in your head and seal it up and let it work into your whole life, I would because I know what freedom's like and I know what captivity's like. I know that whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever's going on, some of you would say, "That's what I want. I want freedom."

You can have it. It starts with Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. You desiring freedom, accepting his promise of freedom, claiming that freedom, trusting him to be in you everything you need him to be and to do for you everything you need him to do for you. When you are free, there's a feeling that you cannot describe adequately.

The weight's gone. The guilt's gone. All of that junk stuff that you thought was important in your life, that's all gone. Now what's important is just pleasing him and loving him. Not pleasing him because of what's going to happen, but pleasing him because I want to and because you want to. It's a freedom that only comes in the person of Jesus Christ.

Think about all the people who've never trusted Christ as their Savior. They're living in captivity. It is not my responsibility or yours to walk up to somebody and say, "You are a slave." You know why you don't have to do that? Many of them are already aware of it, but not why.

My message is simply this: you don't have to keep living the way you're living. It's a choice you make. God's made it so simple you stumble all over it. Receiving him as your personal Savior, trusting him to be everything you need because he promises it, trusting him to work this out in your life because only he can do it. Trust the Lord and watch him work.

Guest (Male): With the Holy Spirit's help, believers who think correctly can live correctly. Dr. Stanley's message today on In Touch urged you to take the Lord at his word and replace misinformation and lies with his truth. You'll learn more about living in the freedom Christ offers when you visit our website. Stop by intouch.org and also look for the link to "Today on Radio" to hear this message again.

To order a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, "Real Freedom," visit our online bookstore. That's intouch.org. You can also call or text 1-800-INTOUCH. If you prefer to write, our address is In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357. The word of God is powerfully life-giving, but are we taking it to heart? Today's "Moment with Charles Stanley" is coming up.

Guest (Female): At times, life can be stormy, and each one of us will face many trials. Questions are asked, and doubt may set in. The answers are found through faith in Jesus. He is within every believer, always ready to offer his comfort, hope, and peace in times of great trial. So you can trust him with any circumstance. To order Dr. Stanley's book, *How to Let God Solve Your Problems*, call 1-800-INTOUCH or go to intouch.org/store.

Guest (Male): "From the Pastor's Heart" is an in-depth teaching letter inspired by the teachings of Dr. Charles Stanley. To receive In Touch's "From the Pastor's Heart" letter, call 1-800-INTOUCH or visit intouch.org/pastorsheart.

Guest (Male): In Touch Plus is streaming on Local Now, featuring all the best of Dr. Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Better to have strong convictions based on the word of God. He's working out things that you and I would never know about in our future.

Guest (Male): In Touch Plus, your streaming network for quality Christian programming 24/7.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Now watch this.

Guest (Male): In Touch Plus, streaming free on Local Now.

Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch. Are you in the habit of applying God's word to the situations and circumstances of your life? With a reminder for believers, here's a "Moment with Charles Stanley."

Dr. Charles Stanley: One of the most important lessons that you and I can learn as a Christian is learning how to listen to God. Now, most of the emphasis that you and I hear about, we talk about prayer. We talk about how we talk to God and our faith and what we should say and what we should not say and the things we ought to pray about.

But if you'll think about it, would not God be just as interested in, if not more so, interested in what he is able to say as well as what he's able to hear? That is, sometimes God wants to speak. Not just listen to what I have to say, but God wants to speak. You see, in a real conversation, there has to be give and take, listening as well as speaking.

Learning to talk to him is rather simple. Learning to listen to him may not be quite so simple. In any kind of a conversation, if you're going to develop any kind of relationship with anybody, you've got to be able to listen as well as to speak. Most of us probably do a whole lot better talking than we do listening.

But learning to listen is a vital part of the Christian life. Think about it: all the decisions you have to make in life, all the difficulties and hardships you go through, all those decisions about your children and your business and your finance and all the rest. If you know how to listen to him, you'll be wiser, your decisions will be wiser, and your life is going to be happier.

Guest (Male): Visit us at intouch.org for help applying truth to your life. If today's program gave you renewed motivation to obey God, we'd love to hear from you. Coming soon on In Touch: "Does it matter what you believe?" You'll hear a resounding "Yes" when you return for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.