The Only Way To True Freedom

0:00 Hey everyone, thank you for listening to the Faith and Mission podcast, a production of the Gospel Mission Network. I'm your host, Steve Hannon, and I'm excited for all that God desires to do in your life today. The Faith and Mission podcast, it features a collection of teachings, interviews on a wide variety of Christian topics, including leadership and the early church missions, Christian living, all meant to equip you, encourage you. and challenge you to serve and follow God in all new ways. Today is an exciting day as we are here recording this episode live in Times Square, New York. We're with our dear friends from Salem Media Broadcasting and with WMCA AM 570. We're here to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America. The event is called Celebrate America and we're here thanking God for all that he has done through our country. And we want to give special thanks to our friends at WMCA for allowing us to be here with them and partner with them in this commemoration of America. Now, here's a word for you, semi -quincentennial. It's a quarter millennium. That's how long America has been around and we have been celebrating hope and freedom. for 250 years. You know it's significant we're here in Times Square. It got its name in

1:31 1904 when the New York Times moved its headquarters here and it was renamed in honor of the paper's business. But before that it was called Long Acre Square and it was a place where horses were taken care of. But I want to tell you now it has become the crossroad of the world. And in just a few weeks, this exact spot will be the center of America's 250th birthday celebration. And what a lot of people don't know is that Times Square used to be a place that was very difficult and it had a dark season. But the gospel of Jesus Christ changed it. The gospel of Jesus Christ was brought by a dear servant of God, David Wilkerson, who planted Times Square Church. And when that church was planted here, and the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ was released, it changed the very land that we're broadcasting from today.

2:30 Even George Washington, our first president said, is that it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor. Even Samuel Adams, one of the fathers of the American Revolution, he had said that we are to worship God and to acknowledge that he reigns in heaven from the rising to the setting of the sun. My friends, America was built by men and women who believed in the power of the gospel and the idea of freedom.

3:13 And that's what we're going to talk about today, because freedom is something that everyone is looking for. They rarely find it, but they're even willing to die for it. But freedom, freedom is something that is probably one of the most celebrated words in culture, but I can humbly tell you it's one of the least understood concepts in the world. You see, the word freedom appears on national monuments, political speeches, campaigns, social media feeds, and nations have gone to war over it. Even philosophers have spent centuries trying to define it, and our Western civilization has been pursuing it at all costs. But we have to ask a question. Are we really free? Do we really understand what freedom truly is? And I want to tell you that I honor America. I'm proud to be a part of the American history, but I want to tell you that there is a reality we must all face. And that's that in the midst of even civil liberty, there are many people who are bound, many people who are hurting, many people who are suffering right now. And though they may be living even in a free land, and depending where you're listening to this right now, I want to tell you that even if you're in a part of the world, if you're in a country that is not quite free, You can experience a deeper freedom.

4:44 A freedom that is not just external. I want to dare to tell you to experience true freedom. Because true freedom is not going to come from any government of human origin. True freedom will be internal. It will be spiritual. And it only comes through understanding, receiving, and abiding in the kind of peace that only comes through Jesus Christ. You know, a lot of times we think that freedom is a concept, but actually freedom is more than that. Freedom is truth, and truth is not a thing, it's a person. In fact, Jesus Christ said something so powerful. In the Gospel of John chapter 14, Jesus said that he, yes, he was truth, is truth, is light, and he is life. The Bible tells us that truth is a person, and truth sets us free. You know, in the Bible, every 50 years is something called a Jubilee.

5:52 It was a year of release, restoration, and freedom. And every 250 years is five Jubilees. And so we have to ask yourself, in this 250th Celebrate America, what are the things right now that our nation needs to be free from? What are the things that your family needs to be free from? What are the things that you need to be free from? It is vital that we answer this question. It is vital that we understand that we, in many ways, are mentally, physically, and spiritually bound. You know, right now as I share this message with you, the most common mental health condition on the earth, affecting an estimated 301 million people globally, is depression and hopelessness.

6:49 And these numbers keep increasing. There are people who are in high income, high freedom Western nations, and they are experiencing, listen to this, the highest rates of anxiety and depression. Do you imagine that? In the places that are the most free politically. And those that have the highest income are suffering from the highest rates of anxiety and depression in the world. And that's why we must understand that freedom must be approached from a different perspective, from the inside. Right now, the CDC reports that suicide is also among the leading causes of death.

7:31 for Americans aged between 10 years old and 34 years old. That means more than 47 ,000 Americans have died by suicide annually. This is something that we must take seriously. We haven't even discussed the addiction rates and substance dependencies and many things that people are suffering with. addiction to gambling, addiction to pornography, addiction to alcohol. These are among the things that we must ask. Are we free? But I will tell you good news, and that's why we're here. We're here for good news. We're here to be encouraged and we're here to receive the kind of freedom that Jesus Christ can give. So we're not just going to define it today. We are actually going to tell you how to get it. And I want you to take it seriously because there's no one, no matter where you are in the world, who cannot experience the freedom if we listen to the instructions that Jesus Christ gives. So let's do that now.

8:31 Let's go to the Gospel of John. The Gospel means the good news. Let's go there. John chapter 8, beginning with verse 31. This is what Jesus, the King of Kings says. Jesus is our Savior. He came to deliver us. He came to bring freedom to us. This is what it says in verse 31. said to those Jews who believed him, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Well, I want to stop there for a moment because I want to tell you that Jesus Christ is without any confusion, without any debate, telling us that through him we shall know the truth and the truth shall make us free.

9:32 You see, if we have truth and when we have truth, we have freedom. And Jesus, of course, is speaking this message more than 2 ,000 years ago before America was ever on the earth. Jesus spoke about a freedom. The people that he spoke to, the Jews that were there, some of them answered him and they said in verse 33, we are Abraham's descendants and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say you will be made free? You see, they didn't understand that they were bound. They did not understand the nature of their bondage.

10:13 They thought that if they were living with enough freedom externally, they must be free. But this is what Jesus says in verse 34. He says most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. Let me read that again. It's verse 36. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. They thought they were free. They weren't in jail. They weren't bound in handcuffs or chains physically. But Jesus, Savior of the world, the Son of God, didn't just see them physically. He doesn't just see you and I outwardly. His eyes see way deep into us, into the spirit realm, and he describes that where there is sin, there is slavery. My friends, we have to realize that sin is the source of bondage. You see, many people think we can overcome problems through more education. Well, or maybe we can throw more money at it. Or maybe we can

11:44 put more intellectual understanding of psychology and psychiatry and many of the different disciplines that are there. But Jesus is describing that the very root of our bondage, the very root of anxiety, the very root of the things that we're experiencing now, it isn't physical, it's spiritual. And once we come to the understanding, that the root of our problem, the root of our bondage, the root of our anxiety, the root of our depression, even the root of our physical infirmities and sicknesses is spiritual. It changes everything. And that's a good thing because we already know now we have enough experience. We have decades upon decades of decades of experience knowing that education and even money do not solve the problem. We have to go to the root and we have to listen to the one who is all powerful and all -knowing to tell us that we are indeed bound by sin. Now, there are some people who get offended at this. They get upset with this. They begin to wonder, are you saying that I'm a bad person?

13:00 Well, God is good and God is filled with grace and he's filled with mercy. He isn't telling this. to us, to condemn us. He's not telling this to judge us. He's actually telling this as someone who desires us to be free. But we first need to know our problem. If we know the problem, we could begin to understand the solution. A long time ago, God told Noah that the earth was going to be filled with water, that he would flood the earth. And it was a form of judgment of sin. But God told Noah, who found grace in God's eyes. You can find this in the book of Genesis. And God told Noah, rain is coming, a flood is coming, build a boat. Well, Noah didn't have any argument with it. He of course knew, if the problem is a flood, then I understand the solution is a boat. And Noah and his family.

14:03 and the animals of the earth were able to survive the judgment of God. My brothers and sisters and friends, from wherever you may be, a judgment is coming, a flood is coming. It's the judgment of God, and He's going to be judging the sin in our life. And it's His goodness, it's His grace, it's His love that is telling us ahead of time, you've got to build a boat. In other words, you need to be rescued from the sin that you have. And how do we do that? Well, we realize that Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is the one who removes the sin. I can show you all through scripture that sin is the root. Jesus came to take away the sins of the world. Yes, he fed people. Yes, he healed people. Yes, he did mighty miracles like walking on water and bringing the dead back to life. But the very core of the ministry of Jesus Christ was not to give morality or simply good teachings of how to love one another. His ministry went deeper. His ministry was wider.

15:25 His ministry was even more powerful that says, I'm not just going to solve or deliver you or rescue. from the consequences of sin, I'm gonna deliver you from sin itself. My goodness, that means that God is not just taking away symptoms of the sickness, he's taking away the rude cause. And that's why even when Jesus says that he will set us free, that language carries a legal decision, a legal transaction in the spiritual realm that we have been set free. Now I don't know any one of us who could ever declare in disagreement with what the Bible says in the book of Romans chapter 3 verse 23. It says, for all have fallen short. Yes, every single person. There is not one person who has not fallen short. Everybody has sinned. Everybody has made mistakes. Everybody.

16:27 has been through things in their life. And I want to tell you that everybody needs grace. The Bible says in Romans 323, the full verse reads this, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Yes, we all need grace. And through Jesus Christ, this is what Romans says. It says, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. I want to ask you, is it time? Is it time that you and I would come to the reality in the very depth of our being that we can trust what a loving God is telling us? He desires to heal you. He desires to rescue you. I want to tell you, even in our own local church and within our ministry, we have people who actually try to commit suicide, multiple people. They thought there was no hope. They thought there was no way out. Even they've been to church and they they said, you know, there's nothing but hypocrisy there. You see, but I want to tell you something today. Maybe people have fallen short, maybe even ministers, maybe even many churches have fallen short. But someone who has not fallen short is Jesus Christ. I know one person who is not a hypocrite and he never will be a hypocrite.

17:49 And it's Jesus Christ of Nazareth. It's he who is calling you. It's he whose hand is extended to you and he's saying come Come to me all you who are heavy laden It means if you're burdened if you're hurting if you're suffering come to him He didn't say go to religion. He didn't say even just go to Christian things around churchiness No, he he said come to me And that's why no matter where you are, whatever you're doing, wherever you are, you can call on Him because He is the way, the truth, and the life. He and He alone is the one that frees us from sin. How do I know this? Well, He and He alone went to something called the cross. And that's where Jesus Christ, listen now, this is important, He took our sin.

18:49 He took the pain, the punishment of our sin on the cross. And that's why only Jesus died with our sin. Only He suffered with it. And He's the only one that could. Because Jesus was sinless. You see, if a sinner dies for another sinner, they can't help them. But Jesus being perfect, holy and righteous. Jesus, being blameless, he had no sin, was able to take our sin. But listen, it gets even better. He was able to give us his righteousness. Yes, that's the problem that God has solved, the sin problem. But the gift is so much greater than the problem. Because Jesus didn't just help us get past some things or overlook some wrong things in our life. No. Jesus and Jesus alone actually gives us his righteousness.

19:47 That's why if you've even broken one law, the Bible says in James 2 10, that if you keep the whole law but you stumble at one point, you're still guilty. And that's why every man, woman, and child needs for Jesus Christ to forgive and to receive that. All you need to do is recognize this truth. Understand that we do deserve hell. We have broken God's law, but God's goodness and mercy says, let me wash you. Let me forgive you. Let me remove the sin in your life. And he will do it. You call on him. Tell him right now, wherever you are, who's ever hearing my voice now, you can call on him. Whether you're in a Western free country or you're in the Middle East or wherever you may be, you can call on him and say, Jesus, I know that I have sinned and I trust you that you are God. You are the son of God. You can ask him, please forgive me, God. You can ask him, have mercy on me, wash me, cleanse me and give me eternal life. You see, isn't that what it's all about? We're preparing.

21:03 for the reality that no one is staying on the earth. We're preparing for the reality that one day we're going to be leaving these bodies and these bodies will die. But God's promise is those who have believed in Him, those people who have trusted Him as Lord and Savior, they will be saved from their sin. They will be with God for all eternity. This is what Jesus said in the Gospel of John 8 24. This is not a human being speaking. This is God. He says, therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins, for if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. But Jesus describes that if we would but trust him and put our hearts faith in him, you could have the grace. It means undeserved favor, you and I, when we believe in Jesus Christ.

22:00 Can believe that he is the son of God and your sins will be wiped away Now I have seen too many miracles all across the world I just came back from a trip to another nation just two days ago and Saw people give their life to Jesus Christ. I saw their bondage break. I saw physical healing I saw the glory of God upon them. This is for you. I myself years ago was diagnosed with cancer I had a tumor in my neck, and I found the grace of God. I thought cancer was my problem, but I found out that I had sin. I heard the message you're hearing right now, and I put my heart's faith in Jesus. And that same day, moments later, we prayed to the Jesus who was not dead but resurrected, and he heard my prayer, and that cancer left my body 100%. And now I'm able to share that good news with you. We have seen people with mental disorders. We've seen people get released from mental hospitals. We've seen money problems solved because Jesus desires to do it. Because when we're free from sin, we're free from the curse. And my brothers and sisters and friends, it means we're blessed. Today's your day. Receive them. Believe in Jesus Christ. Allow God's love to absolutely overcome every one of your problems.

23:33 Please give Him a chance today. No matter where you've been, no matter what you have gone through, give Jesus Christ of Nazareth the chance to bring His love into your heart. I want to tell you, you are not waiting for Him. He is waiting for you. Will you put your hand out to grab his hand? Will you embrace him? Will you bow before him as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? For he is our champion and he alone is our deliverer. It has been amazing to be with you. Broadcasting live here at Times Square, New York with Salem Media and WMCA and write us at contact at gospelmissionnetwork .org. We want to hear you. We wanna meet you and we love you. God bless you. Thank you for listening to the Faith in Mission podcast. If this episode blessed you, please like, subscribe, and share it with somebody who needs encouragement today. Stay connected with me on Facebook at Facebook .com forward slash Steve Hannett for the latest updates, announcements, and ongoing encouragements throughout the week. For resources, training, and tools to help you fulfill the Great Commission, please visit us at gospelmissionnetwork .org. We will also find the Be Yell podcast, our TV program, The Miraculous Life, and our most recent books including Unleashing Heaven's Breath. Until next time, may Jesus Christ lead

25:04 you guide you and establish you in the fullness of His grace and power. The Faith in Mission podcast is a production of Gospel Mission Network, an apostolic church network called to fulfill the Great Commission by reaching the lost, planting churches, and raising up leaders around the world. If God has used this ministry to bless you, we invite you to partner with us. Your tax -deductible gift helps us continue this work. Simply visit gospelmissionnetwork .org and click the Give button. Every gift makes an eternal difference. Thank you for your prayers and generous support.

25:45 Together we are advancing the Kingdom of God.