The Truth will set you Free (2)
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The Truth will Set You Free
The truth will set you free! I’m here to tell you that I’ve been set free from the pits of hell and it’s all because of the Amazing Grace of Jesus Christ, the fervent prayers of a righteous woman, and a merciful God that looked down from heaven and saw a drug-addicted sinner and said, “I want that one, and I have plans for that one…and he doesn’t know it yet, but my Holy truth is going to set him free. And once he’s free, he’s going to boldly preach the gospel.
Church, I’m here to tell you that the truth has set me free! And that same truth will set you free! The only catch is you have to be willing to let Him set you free, and you have to be diligent to do the things that go along with being set free.
I’m going to tell you exactly how God showed me to get the freedom I have today.
#1 What is Truth?
#1 What is Truth?
Truth is the Word of God, the Bible. The Word contains God’s truth or truths. Truth is God’s viewpoint on every matter. It is not subject to redefinition. If the Bible calls it a sin your opinion does not matter. God Himself gave us the absolute truth so that a mere man cannot fool us with lies!!
See when you know the 100% truth that comes straight from God you then know and have the ability to discern when the devil tries to lie to you or when someone tries to take the truth and make it fit their agenda.
But the only way for us to know about this truth I’m talking about is to read the Word, read this Bible, and then live like it teaches us to live.
Salvation is far from the wicked because they do not study your statutes.
The word statutes means anything God says in the Bible. So you could say salvation is far from the wicked because they do not study God’s Word, they do not study God’s Bible!
So if the requirement for being wicked and far from salvation is not studying and living God’s Word, that has to mean that the way to freedom and living in righteousness comes by studying the Word which is truth which sets us free!
Christians, the wicked are far from God because they don’t read the Word…but the truth be told, a very, very large percentage of Christians today do not read God’s Word.
How can we be free if we are not filling ourselves with truth? How can we be the light of the world if we’re just as sinful and bound in sin as the world?
See the truth can’t set you free if you keep feeding on the lies of the world! The truth will set you free when you fill your mind with the truth, which is the Word, which is Jesus, who is God!
Psalms 119:160 says “The entirety of your Word is truth. Each of Your righteous judgments endures forever!”
The entirety of your word is truth, each of your righteous judgments endures forever.
So right here, the Scripture is telling us that everything in this Bible is truth and it’s gonna stay the truth for-ev-er!
So now we can say the Truth is the Word and Word is the Bible, so “The Bible will set you free!”
In Ephesians Chapter 6, Paul calls the Word of God the sword of the Spirit! The word Paul uses in the Greek for sword is Machaira, which could be up to 19 inches long, but it was usually smaller, more like a dagger, but also had a razor-sharp blade like a scalpel.
The Bible serves several different roles in our lives. The dagger for fighting others, the scalpel for cleansing ourselves, and then believe it or not, it has a first aid kit in it too because it teaches us how to heal our wounds.
The dagger part of the Bible fights the evil that is against us, while the scalpel surgically removes evil that has taken root within us. After it gets that evil out of us, it’s first aid kit then inserts righteousness.
At the same time you use the word as a dagger to break yourself free from a chain of the devil. You are surgically removing sin from your heart and now that the Word has removed the chain and the sin, it then proceeds to fill that new empty spot it just created.
It then can send the Counselor in; it can then send the great physician in; it then heals you with the mighty blood of Jesus, which is known as Rest. That rest is known as freedom, and that freedom is the best I’ve ever experienced!
Friends, the Truth Will Set You Free.
Friends, the Word Will Set You Free!
Friends Jesus Christ, the King of all creation, will most definitely Set You Free!
Because who the Son sets free is free indeed.
It’s Christ in us that is the hope of glory.
The church is a hospital for sinners and the Bible is Jesus’ scalpel…but if we come through these doors every week for an hour or two hours and that’s the only time we spend with Jesus, then we’re coming to the hospital and we’re filling out the forms, but then when the doctor calls us to his office, we’re leaving for not real good reason.
You can’t just show up, sing a song, fill out a tithe check, hear a sermon and leave and expect freedom! If you want freedom, you’ve got to talk to the doctor, spend time with the surgeon. You have got to go to the preop and postop.
Church, you have got to come to church, you have got to surrender all, you have got to build a relationship with Christ by reading the Word every day, by praying, by asking God to make you hungry. You’ve got to do what it takes to be free!
The Lord promises that if we abide in His Word and know the truth, that we will be free…and I don’t know about you, but if the Lord said it, I believe it!
Christians, I cannot express to you the importance of reading the Bible. It is pivotal for every single part of the Christian’s life.
You can’t grow without it;
You can’t witness without it;
You can’t transform your mind without it;
You can’t learn the character of God without it!
But if you consistently study God’s Word, those cant’s become can’s.
I’m standing here as a living testimony that when you make studying God’s Word a daily priority…
You can’t help but grow
You can’t stop your witness
You won’t believe how much your mind will transform, and
You won’t only learn God’s character, you’ll be living God’s character!
#3 Abide
John 8:31-32 says…then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, If you abide in my Word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth and truth will set you Free!
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples.
You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
So what Jesus is saying is that believing in Me is the requirement for salvation but unless you continue in the Word, you won’t go deeper or function as a true disciple!
Notice that you can believe in Jesus but not abide in His word, which means you are not functioning as a true disciple. Jesus is telling us right there that you must abide in My Word and Him and only then are you a true disciple.
Being set free is reliant upon the discipleship and the discipleship is reliant upon abiding in His word.
That word ABIDE is a very strong word. One of the definitions says to remain as one. So we are to become one with God’s word and God’s Word is Jesus, so we are to become one with the Word and one with Jesus and remain that way.
So when we become one with God’s Word, when we become one with God’s truth, then Jesus says we really are His disciples. Then Jesus says you will know the truth and then Jesus says that truth will set you free!
So, I’ve got good news and bad news. The bad news is we’ve become lazy. We want the freedom without the process. We don’t want to work for it.
But, the good news is God has shown us the way. God always honors His process. You can stand on the promises of God.
For example, when you become one with God’s Word and truth you start dwelling on the things God instructs us to dwell on…such as Philippians 4:8
Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things.
which says…Whatever is true (what’s true? God’s Word), whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy, “Dwell on these things”.
Because, see when you are hungry for God you have an appetite for the things of God and you will start filling yourself with Godly things to dwell and feed on.
But, if you are not hungry for God, that means you don’t have an appetite…and if you don’t have an appetite, then you’re already full and if you haven’t been feeding on God, abiding in His Word, then you are full of the world and worldly things.
The world is negative so that makes you dwell on your faults and shortcomings. And all of a sudden, you’re putting time and energy into a situation you’ve made up in your head because that’s how Satan works.
So Church, the first part of being set free is abiding in the Word, which in turn is knowing and living in truth and being consistent.
Salvation does not automatically result in continuous discipleship. Christ said go to all the world and make disciples of Me…not a one-time-prayer Christian. It’s a discipleship that is based on truth and that truth is the Bible.
#4 Who is the “Truth or “Word”?
In one word, it is Jesus! In John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
the Bible says “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
So, we’ve gone from “The truth will set you free” to ”The Word will set you free”, and now to “Jesus will set you free”!
The crazy thing is that the Truth is also the Word
and Word is also Jesus
and Jesus is also God
so there’s another way to say it. God will set you free!
We as Christians say these things but we act like God is going to snap his finger and set you free from problems that you are still active in.
YOU have to continue in His Word and seek His face and put some action with your prayer and some consistency with your study of the Word
…and then you will see the promises of God playing out in your life
…then you will see that grace produces renewal
…then you will be set free!
[Illustration: Smoking testimony…How mom was thinking God would just change me in my sleep.]
#5 Who and What sets us free?
The who is Jesus and the what is study and prayer, and prayer with fasting. Jesus living in you and the Word renewing you transforms your mind, spirit and soul…which is freedom!
[Illustration: Mom’s fasting for me and prayers.]
What will the truth/Word/Jesus/God set us free from?
Definition of sin
List of strongholds –
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity,
idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions,
envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Our war is not against flesh and blood so if our problems are not from flesh and blood then how can flesh and blood fight it? It can’t. But the spirit of god living in you can if you feed it! And how do you feed it? By living in the Word.
The power that God gives us who believes. If that power can raise Jesus from the dead, then it definitely can set us free from anything this world tries to bind you in.
So, What will the truth/Word/Jesus/God set us free from? In one word EVERYTHING! The truth will set you free…period!
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.