To be free means to be released from something that shackles us. We are free when we allow the truth of God’s Word and His will to establish our identity. But we must normalize God’s perspective in our thinking and in the way we operate. Dr. Tony Evans gives a powerful message illustrating the Power of Truth.

when you got saved he signed your

emancipation proclamation

but there is a gap

between when he signed it and when

2000 troops show up to activate it

because there is a

system that’s been so used to being

there that doesn’t want to let you go

but when the sun shows up he’s able to

take the mess that’s held us hostage and

say to us free at last free at last

thank god almighty you are free at last

[Applause]

there is another kind of slavery

that hold people hostage

it is a slavery that keeps them from

being what they were created to be it is

a slavery that holds them

bound

to illegitimate

incarceration

and that is the slavery

that jesus talks about

in john chapter 8.

he says in verse 31 so jesus

was saying to those jews who had

believed him

if you continue in my word

then you are truly disciples of mine

verse 32

and you will know the truth

and the truth

will make you

free

amen

he speaks to people

who had believed

in him

so these were already

christians

but they were christians who needed

still to be set free

because having accepted jesus christ

did not remove

automatically

all of the things that held them

illegitimately

hostage

to be free means to be released

from something that ought not to be

shackling you

limiting you

so that you can

be what you were designed to be

and jesus tells them that

their salvation has set them up

for an experience of freedom

but the unfortunate reality is that

many people

still find themselves

illegitimately

shackled as spiritual pows

prisoners of war

they find themselves behind enemy lines

unable to get free they have

accepted jesus christ

like many who had believed in him had

but

something was still holding them back

limiting them

keeping them from

fully realizing the greatness about

their salvation

for many there is a gap between the time

of salvation

and the time of their

liberation

that when they received jesus christ

there was an emancipation proclamation

but what they needed was a juneteenth

experience

because there was a gap of time

between what was done legally

and what was experienced

relationally and the question is

how do we get released

freed up from the

strongholds

now that’s the spiritual word for what

the secular world calls addictions

a stronghold is an addiction

that has a spiritual component

attached to it that is

something spiritual has grabbed hold of

something

that is either is legitimate or was

legitimate and made it illegitimate and

so it’s a stronghold it’s something that

you can’t buckle because there is a

spiritual

component and that means that

all your human efforts can’t really get

you free because the spiritual component

has not been either understood

or dressed and what you need is

two thousand union soldiers

you need a power

to set you free to set us free

from whatever it is it can be an

addiction of drugs

it can be an addiction of alcohol it can

be an addiction

of profanity not being able to control

what you say an addiction of identity

you you pick the stronghold

the addiction that has been

wrapped

in this spiritual

vice grip

like a snake that’s wrapped around

your thinking

so that no matter how many promises you

make

how many new year’s resolutions you make

it just won’t let you go and what many

people do including christians

to try to

address this is they uh

they decorate their cells

they’re in jail they have concluded i’m

never gonna get out of this so at least

let me

decorate myself so i look good being an

addict

so we dress it up with church

we dress it up with piety

we dress it up with bible study we got a

good looking cell but we’re still in

jail

others seek to

manage their slavery

you’re trying to manage it just if i can

just hold it hostage

for a while so it don’t doesn’t just

break out

jesus recognized that there is the need

even when jesus raised lazarus from the

dead

he had to tell some folk lose him and

let him go he still needed to be free

still need to be released

and even if that’s not you

you know somebody who’s in that

situation

who has something tattooed on their

souls

that they can’t get rid of

that they want to shake

that they need release and relief from

we find ourselves often in spiritual

quicksand

where the harder we try to get out the

deeper we sink

and the need to be free

jesus gives us the clue the secret if

you will the

the guidance that we need

when he says

in verse 32

and you will know the truth

and the truth will

make you free

it’s like he’s saying

if you get this thing called the truth

it’ll force you to freedom

it’s going to make you free

so if i can say it another way if you

don’t have the truth you may have to

settle for being a slave

the first thing he says is that truth

exists we’ve talked about that already

there is such thing as truth an absolute

standard by which reality is measured

the truth that exists is knowable you

shall know the truth so this truth that

jesus is speaking of that sets people

free is not hidden information

you shall know the truth

and the way you know that you really

know it

is that you’re finding yourself being

freed by it

so he’s not merely talking about

intellectual acuity he’s not merely

talking about

intellectual information he’s talking

about

transformational data

you shall know the truth

and the way you know you know it

is that you are being released freed

by it

so let’s go a little deeper

he has told them in verse 31

if you continue in my word

if you

continue in my word now they’ve already

believed in him

they’ve already accepted him they’re

already on their way to heaven

but he says the key to freedom

beyond your initial salvation

is continuing in his word

which will give you the truth that will

set you free

the word continue is our key word

it is the word

that means to abide

now we’ve explained that strongholds

is more that’s more than an addiction

a secular concept of just being

owned by circumstance or substance

but it has to do with the spiritual

reality that’s because of what jesus

says next

they said we are abraham’s descendants

verse 33. and have never been enslaved

to anyone how is it that you said you

will become free

jesus says truly truly i say to you

everyone who commits sin is a slave of

sin

the slave does not remain in the house

forever the son

does remain forever

he says

the reason that folks aren’t free

is because sin which is a spiritual

issue has a vice grip

it’s not just a bad habit

it is an enslaved situation

you know you need to be free

when your sin becomes your identity what

i’ve done is i’ve taken the sin

and i’ve made it normal

in other words i’ve turned it into my

identity that’s why you put i am in

front of it because it has become such a

vice grip on the soul

that it is now how you view who you are

and he says you become a slave to it

they say wait a minute wait a minute

wait a minute wait a minute they say

we’re abraham’s descendants talk about

father’s day

we are descendants of our father

abraham

how do you say we are a slave

they say don’t you know who we are

and where we’re from

nothing will keep you

locked down

in spiritual slavery

like having a wrong view of yourself

they said we are abraham’s seed we have

never been enslaved now right then

they’re enslaved to rome

they have been enslaved to babylon they

have been enslaved to persia they have

been enslaved to egypt in other words

they weren’t dealing in reality

you know

they were turning a biological reality

and thinking that gave them spiritual

privilege

they had a spiritual miscalculation

and when you have a spiritual

miscalculation

that winds up

causing you to lead to an erroneous

spiritual conclusion you won’t get the

spiritual help

to give you the spiritual release

that you are looking for

jesus has to tell them you are

not using the right standard for the

freedom that you need

one of the reasons

that we’re held hostage

by all of this stuff that we’re facing

today racism and culturalism and

classism and

political conflict

is that we don’t continue in his word

oh we may get started with it with an

invocation

we may bring god’s name

we may even quote a scripture

but what we don’t do is

abide

he says if you continue if you abide if

you hang out in my word he says

freedom is attached to that

by

hearing it

learning it

memorizing it quoting it referring to it

and most of all utilizing it

if you continue in my word if it becomes

an a way of life a mindset an

orientation a perspective if it’s how

you roll

if you continue in my word you want to

know what i think about it how i feel

about it what i say about it and you

interact with me

and my word

then the truth will be activated

in your experience

satan’s goal is to get you

to contaminate the truth get me to

contaminate the truth

so that the truth loses its

its pop

it loses its ability to do what it does

so here it is

you’re believer you’re saved you’re on

your way to heaven but you’re

incarcerated in some form or fashion

that’s why some of these things we try

to fix don’t get fixed because we keep

it in the secular addiction category and

not in a spiritual sin category

he says

if you will continue in my word

you will know the truth

and the truth will make you free

it’ll make it happen

and then he gives you the kicker

the kicker is in verse

36

so if the son makes you free

you will be free indeed

so if the son makes you free

you will be free indeed indeed means

show enough

for real

you can bank on it

if the sun makes you free well wait a

minute i’m confused because he told me

you will know the truth and the truth

will make you free

but verse 36 says

if the son makes you free

you will be free indeed so which is it

is it the truth making me free

or is it the son making me free

well in verse 31 says if you continue in

my word

the truth will set you free so what you

and i need to understand is the dynamic

relationship between the written word

and the living word

there is a dynamic

cooperative

unified

empowerment

when jesus takes

the word

makes it his word for your

problem if the son

sets you free

you will be free in deed

why must the son make you free

well i’m gonna get a little ahead of

myself but let me show you verse 44

you are of your father the devil and you

want to do the desires of your father he

was a murderer from the beginning and

does not stand in the truth because

there is no truth in him

okay

what holds us hostage

is

satan’s ability to keep a lie going

he has

impeccable ability

to make you treat the lie like it is the

truth

so you need somebody stronger than him

to override him for what he’s doing to

you

and me

you are no competition for him

but we know somebody who is

in the previous verses

he says the slave that’s in the house

is different than the son that’s in the

house

the slave is a temporary servant

the son

is an inheritor of the benefits of the

father

jesus says i’m the son

and i have final authority in god’s

house so if you’re being held hostage

illegitimately

because i have authority in the father’s

house i can roll overrule anything

illegitimately holding you hostage in

the house

so he says if the son shall make you

free you shall be free indeed

now let me say something very important

it is the truth that sets you free

not what you believe to be true

you got to get this

it is the truth that sets you free

not what you believe i don’t care how

long you believed it i don’t care how

long your mom and daddy reinforced it i

don’t care how long the culture agrees

with you i don’t care how long your

siblings or what they have to say about

it it’s not what you believe he said is

what i say

and that’s why you need to know ii

corinthians chapter 10.

let me

refer to this this probably will come up

other times in our series but it is a

critical passage for your freedom or for

you to help somebody else get free

second corinthians chapter

chapter 10.

he says

in verse 3 for though we walk in the

flesh we do not war according to the

flesh the battle

for the weapons of our warfare are not

of the flesh that is human ability

but divinely powerful for the

destruction of fortresses

we are destroying speculations

and every lofty thing raised up against

the knowledge of god and we are taking

every thought captive to the obedience

of christ

he says we are destroying

he says

we are getting rid of fortresses you

know what a fort is

a ford is an encampment that has been

established to keep things out

it’s a fought

he says we are bringing down every lofty

thing what the enemy puts up is a lofty

thing

why because he wants to block the

knowledge of god from getting through

he doesn’t want god’s perspective to

bleed over

into your thinking so he erects a lofty

thing what are the lofty things that he

erects so he can keep you and me as a

slave

breaking up our lives breaking up our

peace breaking up our marriages breaking

up our plans for the uh our calling our

divine purpose what is the lofty thing

he tells you what the lofty thing is

verse 5 we are destroying speculations

and every lofty thing raised up against

the knowledge of god

speculations you know what a speculator

is

a speculation is um

how you feel about us

an issue

what you think about an issue

do you know we spend a lot of our time

blocking god out

because of what we speculate

how we feel what we think

what we were taught how we were raised

that created a

a partition that blocked out the

knowledge of god

an interesting version of scripture says

you do nullify the word of god with your

traditions

god says you can cancel me out did you

know you talk about cancer culture

you can cancel god out

by what you think

by your speculation

god doesn’t want you to speculate when

he has spoken

he doesn’t want you to debate when he

has spoken yes clarity to understand but

but but the idea is to know the truth

because that’s the only thing he’s going

to use to free yes free us up he will

only use the truth

he won’t use your speculation

he won’t use your orientation and he

certainly won’t use your edumacation

because some of us have educated

ourselves in the speculation

we become brilliantly ignorant

now here’s the kicker here’s what really

will turn it on if you want to speed it

up verse 6 of 2nd corinthians 10 and we

are ready to punish all disobedience

whenever your obedience is

complete

whenever your obedience is complete

so you continue in his word not merely

by knowing it

but by implementing it whenever your

obedience but here’s the word

inc is complete

so partial obedience

won’t bring spiritual deliverance

you have to finish it

now you may say you don’t know my

problem you don’t know my struggle

you don’t know how deep this is you

don’t know how long it’s been there

and mine is different than hers and she

is hers is different than mine and and

how yeah you don’t understand

so i i don’t know what your situation is

but there’s one power source

for whatever your unique situation is

and that is the truth

that you continue in which engages the

son

who brings about

resurrection and the resurrection

is used of jesus

because when jesus rose they say he has

risen

indeed

he’s risen show enough

he can resurrect the situation when you

got saved he signed your emancipation

proclamation

but there is a gap

between when he signed it and when the

2000 troops show up to activate it

because there is

a system that’s been so used to being

there that doesn’t want to let you go

but when the sun shows up he’s able to

take the mess that’s held us hostage and

say to us free at last free at last

thank god almighty you are free at last

[Applause]

[Music]

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just like a seed has life-giving reality

inside of it

that allows it to grow

and to transform itself

into something larger and more

productive

there is life

in god’s word

the power of life to transform

a person from where they are into what

they ought to be setting them free from

anything that would hold them

illegitimately hostage

the power of god’s word when it’s

released

by our activating it through obedience

can transform you

and me

and a world that needs to be delivered

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you