Daily Radio Program with Charles Stanley - In Touch Ministries - Free at Last

Episode Date: September 11, 2026

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Welcome to the In-Touch podcast with Charles 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 wasn't ever quite right. There was something out there they never got a hold of. And so probably the most accurate thing they could put on their stone is free at last. I 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 I always do the things that are pleasing to him. Isn't that a tremendous thought? I 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, 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, everyone 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 would 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 live

their hands say, well, I am. Now, I'm talking primary to believers because more than likely most of you here tonight are saved. That is, you have already trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior. You know that you're 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 able to be. To be. to enjoy to do. There's just something there. Now 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 into 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 tie with 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 the Bible. one form of bondage into another. Friend, that's not freedom. Jesus said, when you know the truth, the truth will set you free. Now, the problem is, if you can't identify the bondage, how will you

ever be set free? And there are 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 sub sub and some of them 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. Now, 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. pardoned 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. Because 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, because 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 see him. It's the way I

see myself. So the Bible says, as a man thinketh in his heart, what? So is it? 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. So, 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, if you live your life that way, then let's think about this. You'll 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 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 that 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. When 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 that 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.

Fourth form of bondage. is sensuality. Sensuality isn't just the 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, is 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. And that's why I've said to you, put on the whole arm of God every morning when you get up. Put it on.

How many of you are putting it on? Say amen. Amen. All right. Some of you are. Some of you aren't you headed for 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. Jesus said. He said, ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Now here's the question. What truth is this that sets me free? Well, I know the Ten Commandments. Will that set you free? No. Well, I know the sermon on the Mount. You can quote that every day. That set you free? Not necessarily. Well, I can quote John 316. That set you free? No. There are many, many truths in the Word of God. There is a lot. 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 out of the truth of the truth of who He is in me, and, now watch this, and responding to life out of the truth of who who I am. Now let me apply this. He said, now what do you mean by all that? Now let me tell you see, 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. What truth? The truth of who you are in your relationship to Jesus Christ, who he is in you in all of his power, who 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 owned by him. You are a possession of Almighty God. Your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. You're 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, will 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 the form of bondage begin to respond out of life to who

you know you are in him accepted in the beloved you said but now what about that sensuality part 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 endwelt by the sovereign God of this universe through the Holy Spirit. All power Jesus has has given unto me, and I give it unto you. You're end dwelt by God. Who are you in Christ Jesus? You are totally secured in Him. The angel of the Lord encampeth 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 fiery missiles, 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. We 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. 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 app, listen to me now, the application by, by the truth,

faith in a very practical real way of who I am in him and who he is in me, if that won't set you free, we are in bondage forever. And 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 that. You give till you give millions and you'll still be in bondage. You can win a thousand people of Jesus Christ the year and still live in bondage. But when you begin 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, now we don't say this literally, 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 can step out of any and every form of bondage. It makes no difference. And if you

sit there and I tell me, say, yeah, but you don't know my bondage, I want 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, cuddly. 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 avalanche you with bondage. But all you have to do is, I want to thank you all to 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. I'm accepted in the beloved. Hallelujah. Freed. Listen, you don't have to wait till you die to have somebody say about you, free at 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 missed the whole freedom of life. Now, I 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. What 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 InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.