Truth Will Set You Free: BEING TAUGHT BY GOD

Now, it’s becoming clear.

If you stand in the presence of Christ continually, listening to His voice, He’ll teach you as His student. He’ll lead, teach, and correct you. Something in listening to His voice will set you free from your slavery to sin. Without this, you remain slaves.

You can even be born again and find yourself as slaves to sin, constantly doing what you don’t want to do. The apostle Paul talked about that. And yet, you can be free. When you listen to Christ’s voice, it sets you free.

I’m talking about maturity. I’m not talking about being born again. When you’re born again, you’re born as a baby in Christ. However, God wants you to grow up. When you grow up, you experience all the promises in the Bible. Consider the works Jesus did. Consider the works the apostles and prophets did. Those were just a foretaste. God has much more for you. What are the limits?

Some people say it’s impossible to leave sin behind completely. Others say if you sin it proves you weren’t born again. Others have other ideas. All these opinions bring up many questions. Hopefully, God will answer all your questions before you’re finished. You can see that Truth sets you free from sin. And listening to Jesus Christ is the key to Truth.

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TRUTH IS REAL AND YOU CAN KNOW THE TRUTH

Truth is real. Truth exists. And you can know the truth. Truth is within your reach. Consider the following Scripture:

If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. ~ John 8:31a-32

Keep in mind that, in Scripture, when it refers to God’s Word, it’s always using a term in the original language that means a spoken word. It never uses a term that means “Scripture.” God speaks through Scripture, but so does the fallen, rationalizing human mind. God speaks through Scripture and every meand of divine revelation mentioned in Scripture. Truth isn’t too high of a goal regardless of what the intellectuals tell you. There’s a way you can find the truth, and that way is Jesus Christ and the revelation that flows from Him to you. While only apostles can establish apostle’s doctrine, every member of the body of Christ must have a real relationship with Christ and must yield to the Spirit to the point that the Holy Spirit can lead, teach, correct, comfort, and do His works through them. If fact, that is the only place of wisdom and knowledge.

Here’s a question you must answer before you can go forward. How can you take hold of what you just read in John 8:31a-32 and make it useful to you today? How can you know the truth and be set free?

Set Free

John 8:31a-32 tells you listening to the voice of Christ and acknowledging Him is the path to freedom. The truth will set you free.
Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

You want to be free, but free from what?

Read on from the same place in the Bible to find the answer.

Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ~ John 8:34-36

Everyone who sins is a slave to sin. However, Christ sets you free from sin, but you must continue to listen to Him and yield to Him. You must continuously live, move, and have your being in His leading, teaching, and correcting. If you hear without responding, you aren’t abiding in His leading, teaching, and correcting. However, if you respond to His voice in willing submission and obedience, you abide in His leading, teaching, and correcting. If you allow Him to say His words through you and do His works through you, He will set you free from your slavery to sin. If He sets you free, then you are free indeed.

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THE POWER OF GOD

What about the power of God and what He intends for the church? That’s something that I’m still not able to grasp. You may find God telling you His power and authority is already in your hand. If God’s people could just know and understand all the power and authority He’s put into their hands, then, every sickness would be healed. Then, no problem could stop them. Then, they would defeat every evil foe. Then, nothing good would be impossible for them. You’ll have to work that out with God directly. Focus on how you can know the truth and what that means for your life.

Nothing of the truth God is revealing is complicated. If anything, it’s too obvious and simple. However, some of it may be new and different. Anything outside of what we already think we know seems weird and unreal. That’s the trouble with paradigms or worldviews. They seem real, but they aren’t reality. Reality is truth, and ALL truth is hidden in Christ. Only He can reveal it to you. That’s an ongoing process.

God brings up truths you had never considered. It’s normal for human beings to have trouble accepting extreme changes in their thinking. People who easily change from one view of the world to another are just as easily swayed toward lies as they are toward the truth. If some of what God reveals to you seems a bit much for you, that’s normal. God may tell you things that conflict with what you considered reality. Some truths may be too hard to accept right away. In those times, turn to God. Ask Him about those truths that seem hard to understand. Ask God to sort them out for you and help you understand any truth. Don’t rush. Give it time.

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WHAT GOD IS DOING NOW

I can only imagine what unbelievers would think if confronted with the truth. They already turned away from the Light of Christ because they knew what that Light would do. It would convict them. It would expose their self-righteousness. It would expose their sins. That Light would ask them to turn from their sins. Those sins are their meaning and purpose. Those sins are the center of their lives. They look at the call of Christ to righteousness and holiness as a form of slavery. They hear about heaven, and it sounds like hell to them. They take pride in their intellect. They take pride in their self-generated goodness and self-styled morality. They love their independence from God, His righteousness, and His love. Then, God tells them everything they value is worthless. Picture the truth falling into the hands of people like that and what they would think. If they do hear the truth, I pray they have the patience to listen. I pray they ask Jesus Christ to reveal Himself to them and show them God’s ways are far above ways that exclude God.

And yet, God is currently working in a sovereign way. Many are turning to Christ every day. What death to self that must be! What a radical change!

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HEARING GOD’S VOICE

Preconceptions become strongholds and stumbling blocks. Worldviews and paradigms are preconceptions that seem real but aren’t real. They can deceive you. However, if you seek the Holy Spirit, He will begin to weaken those preconceptions and set you free. “If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.” 1 Corinthians 8:2

Rationalized theologies are some of the worst preconceptions. The Bible plus one assumption is an assumption. Once anyone rationalizes, it doesn’t matter how wonderful the personality teaching the lie is, it’s still a lie. Religious lies (called doctrines) bind you spiritually and keep you from hearing the voice of Jesus Christ.

Some of your friends and acquaintances make it harder to hear God. Peers pressure you. They’re under the influence of the false teachers, lying counselors, and false prophets you’ve been avoiding. They work against you spiritually. Some of your most caustic contacts stir up fear within you, and you react to that fear instead of listening to God’s voice.

Enemies from the outside distort your judgment. These are false teachers, lying counselors, and false prophets. They hide their lies in news media, all other media, and education. They plant their seeds through the themes of movies, cartoons, and novels. They influence you through entertainment and magazines. They can be very subtle or in your face, but they have their effect. If you’re spending time with any of these, you may wonder why you aren’t making spiritual progress and why God’s voice is hard to discern. Wonder no longer.

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Worldviews and paradigms are preconceptions. They seem real. They aren’t real.

Preconceptions become strongholds and stumbling blocks. Worldviews and paradigms are preconceptions that seem real but aren’t real. They can deceive you. However, if you seek the Holy Spirit, He will begin to weaken those preconceptions and set you free. “If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.” 1 Corinthians 8:2

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emotions can deceive you

Your emotions can help Satan deceive you with false teaching. If you are deceived, your deception is likely to hurt those around you. Even if you’re seeking the mind of God, your own stubborn will and emotions can make you susceptible to deception. Which emotions? Feeling sorry for yourself. Anger. Fear. Bitterness. Fear of missing out. Wanting to be important. Religious pride. Wanting to prove yourself right, better, or more understanding than others. Covetousness. Envy. Wanting people to like you. Those aren’t the only possible emotions that could cause problems. Many emotions can make it hard for you to know the difference between God’s voice and your own voice. If you are deceived, your deception is likely to hurt those around you. Even if you’re seeking the mind of God, your own stubborn will and emotions can make you susceptible to deception. Which emotions? Feeling sorry for yourself. Anger. Fear. Bitterness. Fear of missing out. Wanting to be important. Religious pride. Wanting to prove yourself right, better, or more understanding than others. Covetousness. Envy. Wanting people to like you. Those aren’t the only possible emotions that could cause problems. Many emotions can make it hard for you to know the difference between God’s voice and your own voice.

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Living in a World of Christian Rationalism, Naturalism, and Materialism

I confess that I suffered from cognitive dissonance as God was speaking to me about many truths. I grew up in a world of religion without the kind of power God shows you in Scripture. I grew up in a world of Christian Rationalism, Naturalism, and Materialism. As God peeled back the layers, each layer was difficult for me to accept. I kept asking, “Could this be true?” I didn’t just balk at one thing. I balked at many things God showed me. I just had trouble believing any of it. Fortunately, God didn’t unload everything on me at once. He spoon-fed me a little at a time. He was patient with my unbelief.

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CHOOSE TRUTH OR DECEPTION

A calculator is a wonderful tool, but it calculates nothing until someone punches in some numbers. If the numbers are right, you get the right answer. The same goes for a spreadsheet. Artificial intelligence is a fancy and complex calculator that uses data that someone put into it or goes out to websites to get whatever someone wrote on those websites. It has not capacity to tell the difference between truth and make-believe but must take the word of the persons who write on those websites.

Many of those people write things that are not true in the sense of absolute truth. The same with your mind. It can’t self-generate truth. It can calculate. It can make up stuff. It can get information from books, media, websites, movies, etc. It can also do something no calculator, spreadsheet, or artificial intelligence can do. It can receive revelation of the truth from the only Source of all truth, Jesus Christ.

I asked ChatGPT about this. Here’s what ChatGPT answered. “I don’t have direct access to reality. I work with patterns in data humans produced. That means I can reflect errors, biases, satire, fiction, or misinformation right along with solid facts. AI is more like a very advanced pattern processor than a truth-detector.”

The choice before you is truth or deception. Truth is absolute by definition. Relative truth is at best just an opinion or at worst an outright lie. Reasoning based on anything less than truth is deception.

So, you know all truth and wisdom are hidden in Christ. And you know He is the secret key to knowing the truth. Now, you need some answers. How do you apply this to your life in a meaningful way? How do you discern Christ’s voice from all others? How do you grow up in Christ? How do you mature so it’s easier to walk in truth than to be deceived?

Just keep walking with Him. Maturity will give you more discernment. You start by turning your mind’s attention toward Jesus. Speak to Him out loud. Praise and worship Him. Glorify Him in your heart, and allow His Spirit, His glory to flow through you. Quiet your mind and listen. What does He speak into your mind? You can even write it down. But you must spend some time with Him. Then, as you go about your day, look to Him for wisdom. Give Him the glory for any knowledge of wisdom you receive. Realize that your carnal mind can’t self-generate any wisdom or knowledge or truth.

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God’s plan has phases

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse. ~ Romans 1:18-20 Berean Study Bible

Other translations say God revealed it, made it evident, showed it, or manifested it to them. God reveals reality through the things He has created. And God also speaks other ways. However, He never contradicts Himself. For instance, we’ve already mentioned no true divine revelation of any kind will ever contradict the Bible since God knows all things and can’t lie. God doesn’t get confused or make mistakes. He knows the end from the beginning and doesn’t need to change His mind or change His plan.

However, you must keep in mind that God’s plan has phases. For instance, God worked differently before Christ died and rose again than He worked after Christ died on the cross. That’s because some parts of the Old Covenant are fulfilled in Christ. God fulfilled some through the cross. God is now fulfilling some in you. For instance, the blood of animal sacrifices was a symbol that looked forward to the real sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for your sins. God fulfilled that sacrifice in Christ. God used circumcision and all the rituals of purification as symbols. They looked forward to the real removal of the flesh and purification of our hearts in this age. God is fulfilling that purification in you. God is removing your fleshly nature. And yet, Jesus said until heaven and earth shall pass away, not even one iota nor one stroke of a letter shall pass away from the law until everything is fulfilled.

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