Ep. 371 - The Idol of Freedom

True freedom is often misunderstood as the ability to do whatever we desire. Still, Ray, E.Z., Mark, and Oscar examine how Scripture defines freedom as living to glorify God and walking in righteousness. The guys explain that the idol of freedom emerges when something good is taken too far, causing people to violate God’s commands in pursuit of their own desires. They emphasize that without Christ, humans are enslaved to sin, passions, and self-righteousness, and that true liberty comes through surrender to Him. Freedom is not chaos or lawlessness; it is the disciplined ability to function within God’s boundaries and enjoy Him forever.

The guys explore how civil freedom can often be confused with spiritual freedom. Even in a society with many liberties, humans remain bound to sin unless Christ reigns in their lives. They describe sin as addictive, like a drug that offers pleasure but leads to bondage, and they challenge listeners to think about what they are worshipping. Self-rule cannot coexist with devotion to Jesus, and the guys encourage believers to seek God’s will every day, align their desires with His, and develop contentment in the unique path He has planned. Freedom is not measured by what we can do, but by obedience to the Lord who governs all parts of life.

The guys also discuss how personal freedom affects others. Using examples from universities and conversations with college students, they show how passions can enslave people and how sin acts as a dictator in life. True liberty means doing what is right regardless of others' opinions, yielding to the fruit of the Spirit rather than the flesh, and living without fear or hidden agendas. The guys encourage listeners to examine their lives, consider how they spend unstructured time, and evaluate whether they are genuinely free or secretly controlled by desires, habits, or societal pressures.

Finally, the guys remind believers that freedom is relational and transformative. Walking in the light and desiring the Lord above fleshly pleasures reorients identity, repentance, and surrender. They challenge listeners to resist modern distortions of freedom, from self-mutilation to justification of sin, and to remember that God’s commandments lead to life, not restriction. The pursuit of man often rejects God, but when the Son sets someone free, they are free indeed. The guys call believers to continually return to Him, yield to His authority, and embrace the true liberty that only comes through Christ. 

Thanks for listening! If you’ve been helped by this podcast, we’d be grateful if you’d consider subscribing, sharing, and leaving us a comment and 5-star rating!
 
Visit the Living Waters website to learn more and to access helpful resources!
You can find helpful counseling resources at biblicalcounseling.com.
Check out The Evidence Study Bible and the Basic Training Course.

You can connect with us at podcast@livingwaters.com. We're thankful for your input!
Learn more about the hosts of this podcast.
Ray Comfort
Emeal (“E.Z.”) Zwayne
Mark Spence
Oscar Navarro

Transcript

What Real Freedom Means

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I was thinking of what it says in Second Peter, by whom a person is overcome, but by him he's he is brought into bondage. You know, it it's that which masters us to do what we shouldn't be doing that becomes our master. You know, I'm and I I I love the analogy you shared, Oscar. Freedom is is having the ability to function as you were designed to function. Like it's not freedom for uh an eagle to be digging ditches in the ground. Like freedom for an eagle is to soar with the wings it's been given. You know, for us as God's people, our freedom is to function in righteousness. I remember as a new believer, uh, I was, you know, working uh at our family's gas station, and uh I was a new believer. Look, before I got saved, I was enslaved in you know, immorality and sexual sin. And and so I'm a new believer and I'm I'm you know getting my bearings. And I remember one day in particular, I'm at the gas station, it's in Huntington Beach, right? Girls are coming in and bikinis all the time, and and I was struggling, I was struggling with lust. And I remember a distinct moment where that that term popped into my mind, which is a biblical one, and it was simply this I no longer have to do that. Right. I no longer and it was like this this final like freedom because without Christ, I'm bound. Like all I know is my sinful nature. I don't have the new nature, the Galatians 5, right, 16th through 26 dynamic, the spirit and the flesh battling. All I had was a flesh, and I served sin willfully, joyfully, gladly. Now I no longer had to do that, which was destructive for me. Welcome to the try not to laugh segment. Try not to laugh at what? Dad jokes. Oh, this is a try to laugh segment for me. All right, here we go. Try not to laugh. I think we can do it. I really think we can. Okay, here we go. At the airport, my friend suggested we just try that.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

All right, here we go.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

All right. At the airport, my friend suggested we disguise ourselves as luggage. I said, let's not get carried. Get a ready woman.

SPEAKER_05 2:38

I like that. Stop it. You can let it easy.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

No, I'm gonna do it this time. Here we go. What did the grape say when it got stepped on? Nothing. It just let out a little whine.

SPEAKER_05 2:54

A little wine. A little wine. Try not to ruin the punchline. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Uh I want to tell you about a girl who only eats plants. You probably have not heard of her before. Her bear before. What did the ghost say when it woke up with a bad hangover? What's a hangover, Izzy? I have no idea. Man, I really need to lay off the booze. Booze.

unknown 3:21

That was.

SPEAKER_05 3:22

Oh, that took me a minute. You got it, right? Yeah, yeah. You should have said booze. We almost made it.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Almost fully made it.

SPEAKER_05 3:28

You should have said booze with a little different emphasis.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

The booze. One day this guy was driving down the street and he came to a fork in the road. You can go left or you can go right. So he decided to go right. And right after he goes right, his car breaks down. So he's like opened up the hood of the car and he's taking a look and he's trying to figure out. And then all of a sudden, over his shoulder, he hears, It's your alternator. And he looks over and it's a horse. And he's like, What?

SPEAKER_04 3:51

What's this?

SPEAKER_00 3:51

A talking horse? So he continues to work on the car and he's trying to figure it out. And the horse again is like, It's your alternator. So finally the guy starts, you know, looking at the alternator. He's turning wires and screws or whatever. I'm not a mechanic, I don't know how this works. But he eventually gets the car working again. So he's like, ah, thank you so much, horse. And he drives off. And then eventually he gets to this restaurant and he gets out and he sits down and he orders a meal. And the guy's like, Man, how's your trip out here? Oh, it's really good, you know. But you know, the weirdest thing, like my car broke down and I couldn't figure it out. And this horse walks up to me and goes, Oh, it's your alternator. And it turns out he was telling the truth. And the guy goes, Oh, well, it's a good thing you didn't go left because the horses over there don't know anything about cars. It's just so stupid. We waited all that time for the like this better have a good payoff.

SPEAKER_04 4:36

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

I saw one uh yesterday that said, um, it goes perfect at Living Waters. And so I tried it with Laura. I said, Hey hun, somebody at Living Waters died. And she said, Who, Ray? And I said, Why are you celebrating?

SPEAKER_02 4:56

Oh, that's funny. Look at Ray, Ray, it steam up your glasses. I can't believe how you can do that. That's great. Yeah, we love them, Ray. Thank you. You look smooth. Hooray. Hooray. What's a good YouTube song?

SPEAKER_05 5:12

Um, anyway, I got a text. I got a text uh yesterday from um a friend. So I thought I'd write back and says, How are you doing? He says, Really good, and he says, How are you doing? And I answered, getting old and ugly. Other than that, everything's fine. And then I read read his text and it says, How are you and Sue doing?

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Oh. Did you show it to Sue?

SPEAKER_05 5:34

Yeah, I she laughed. I wrote back and says, Oh, I didn't read your text clearly, and uh, Sue's beautiful. That belongs in your book. Yeah, it does. 101 Thanks.

Listener Letter And Ministry Updates

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Wise man. Wise man. All right, friends. Time for a cool, classy comment. Look, another printout, guys. These are gonna, you know, these will be obsolete one day. They are already. Pretty much, huh? All right. This is from Ethan. Dear Ray, Easy, Oscar, and Mark. My name is Ethan. I'm 21 years old, and my brother and I are stopping by in LA to visit the ministry. We've both been beyond blessed by your guys' ministry, especially the podcast this past year. My history experiencing Living Waters began when God was taking me through my rebirth four years ago. I had a growing desire to learn how to defend the faith. As before, I was very much What did you do?

SPEAKER_05 6:24

How was it possible? It was just a there was the cup from the coffee. I don't know what a hit.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

All right. So I carry on. Let's carry on here. My history experiencing living waters began when God was taking me through my rebirth four years ago. I had a growing desire to learn how to defend the faith. And before I was, uh, as before, I was very much into debating political issues. But after 2020 exhausted me, I realized that I never knew how to have conversations about Christ, which led me into the world of Christian apologetics. And that led me to discover Living Waters through Ray's Evangelism on the Street videos. I was completely mesmerized by his confidence, not only with him riding that motorcycle with Sam. It's a motorcycle now, right? With Sam and those classic aviators, but even more so, his confidence in the transformative power of the gospel and the boldness to approach complete strangers and tell them how guilty of a sinner they are. It became clear he was not acting by his own will, but the power of the spirit. Months later, I joined an apologetics small group with my church, and we often watched Ray's videos to get us hyped up to go out and spread the gospel in our local parks and shopping malls. About a year ago, my younger brother wanted to join our group. He was very timid and unsure of at first. So I decided to show him a couple of Ray's videos before we went out, and the spirit moved through him like fire. He took that and ran with it. And over months, he grew an even bigger fire for evangelism than myself, which the Lord has used in him to grow his faith incredibly, which has been such a blessing to see. He even aspires to become a professor slash teacher in biblical studies now, which is totally awesome to see. He introduced me to the podcast last year, and I've absolutely loved keeping up with you guys each week. I currently work as a commercial plumbing apprentice, and the times when I get to pop my earbuds in and listen to worship sermons and podcasts, you guys are one of the first I go to on Spotify. To be able to trade slash drown out the unnecessary negative talk and filth that you often hear in construction with comedic Christ-centered fellowship, banter and edification concerning today's real world issues has been amazingly enriching and uplifting. Yes, believe it or not, I would take easy's vocals any day over the kind of stuff you would hear on the work site. Thank you guys for all you do. Thank you guys for all you do. And I ultimately praise and thank God for the effects he has allowed you guys to have on my brother and myself. To God be the glory forever. Amen. They're encouraging me. Wow, Ethan.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Bless him. And for pursuing such an incredible career. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

Ethan, the song is for you. Can you imagine having to listen to that every day? You like that, Mark? I can tell. He's just gone back to the construction. He's like, I didn't mean that, actually. Forget it. All right, friends. Oh, podcast rankings. Number nine in Turkey. Turkey. Number nine in Turkey. That's right. Our brothers Nurula and Mark. Pastor Mark and Nurula. They were such a blessing to us out there.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

That's amazing because there's only 15,000 Christians in Turkey, which means there's quite a bit of people that are missing.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

And number six in Zambia. Zambia. Thank you, brothers and sisters in Zambia.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Favorite people of all time.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

And now a radically revolutionary resource. This podcast is branding me. The vault. I look, I even brought it today. New pair of shoes. You like it? Sneakers, Nikes. And we open it to reveal. Look at that, Ray.

SPEAKER_05 9:47

I never get tired of seeing that. Isn't that cool? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Money, money, money. What is it, Ray? Tell the people.

SPEAKER_05 9:53

It's the Gospel of John where they cover. When I first told Vanna White. Lynn Copeland, who edited it, edited it, it edited it edited. She said, I said, I don't want any title on the cover or any text on the back. She says, That's never been done. You can't do that. I said, Well, let's do it anyway, and we did it. And it's wonderful. Really cool.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

Seriously, I mean, you just want to keep it, read it, put it in your shirt pocket, right? Yes. And what's cool about these is you run out and you can what, Ray? Revolt. Revolt. No, these are cool to put by your door. You know, you get salespeople that come. You mean to come and take that off there for you? You're not going to be able to close it. Was that? Ah, forget it. Put it on the ground, Oscar. Don't forget it, friends, and don't forget the Living Waters Mug. Is that how you do it, Ray? Yeah, just one example. Experience in doing that, didn't you?

SPEAKER_05 10:39

Good hit. And it goes down.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

What?

SPEAKER_05 10:42

Look at that. You've done hundreds of them.

SPEAKER_02 10:45

Yeah. Don't forget to get it, friends, along with the Living Waters Mug, from which you can chug. Devon Study Bible, Living Waters TV, all that. But the Living Modern. And uh don't forget the podcast YouTube channel. Subscribe, like, and tell others about it.

SPEAKER_05 11:00

If there's an idiot award, we would get it.

Naming The Idol Of Freedom

SPEAKER_02 11:02

We would get it immediately. Idiotly. Yes. Yes. That's pretty good. Should buy the book. It's not great. Alright, Franza. Today we are talking about the idol of freedom. How did American Idol make the word idol acceptable? You know? It's kind of like uh it's almost cool. I have an idol, you have an idol. He's my idol. He's my idol. Billy Idol. Billy Idol, my idol. Did you guys ever listen to Billy Idol? I could not tell you one song, but I could probably sing them. What's that? Rebel Yell White Wedding. What were you singing?

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Yeah, one of those. Money, money. Money, money. Oh, money.

SPEAKER_05 11:41

Oh, that is a sort of rebellious guy. Do you know about Bonnie? He's been around for a long time. You too. Yeah, I they that group gets always quoted when you say God bless you to someone. They say, You too. That's good that I see what you did there.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

So the Idol of Freedom.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Yeah, what do you mean by this?

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Yeah. The Idol of Freedom. Well, I think I think it's indicative of something good being taken way too far to where it's not just now something good that we enjoy as a gift from the Lord, but it becomes something that um we're willing to pursue. What are you classic rate of comfort? What's down there, right?

SPEAKER_05 12:28

I don't know, but it's making a lot of noise. Clanking and clanking and he's still a ghost. Oh, then what it is.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

Oh no, don't pull that.

unknown 12:39

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Oh no, not those. We need to get rid of those. We don't even use them anymore.

SPEAKER_05 12:44

No, we don't.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Um freedom? Yeah. So basically, taking something that may be good, maybe a virtuous thing, and then you take it to an extreme to where you're willing to violate what is righteous in order to attain it.

Western Myths Versus Biblical Freedom

SPEAKER_00 13:01

I think it's important to determine what is freedom. I mean, you think about it, we live in the United States of America, and freedom is such an esteemed value or virtue here in the United States. I mean, we talk often about it, you know, like you just mentioned, it's almost like this idol. We talk about fighting. Yeah. We talk about fighting for freedom, we talk about dying for freedom, we talk about voting for freedom. But all the talk of freedom in the United States, we talk about free tacos. Oh all the talk in the United States, and how often do we actually define what freedom is? Because I think Western culture has its own definition of freedom. I remember watching this uh YouTube video and it was like National Geo Geographer. They went around the 27 different Western countries and they asked people what freedom was. I wrote down some of the things. Uh a girl in Italy. A girl in Italy says no freedom of tongue today for a girl in Italy said, uh, freedom is liberating yourself from other people's expectation. A boy in Hong Kong said, freedom is doing what is right in your own heart. Uh someone in France said freedom is freedom of expression, thought, and action. One of my favorites is some guy in Serbia said that freedom would be running around uh in your streets naked, which is like not the kind of neighbor you want, by the way. But here, let me describe it like this. If you took all of that ways of talking about freedom, I think the myth, and myths can either be true myths or false, false myths, the myth that is found in the West is that freedom is doing whatever you want to do. But you think about what the scripture describes as freedom. As a matter of fact, the scripture describes it almost the opposite that doing whatever you want to do, pursuing your passions actually ends up in slavery. The scripture describes freedom not as doing whatever you want to do, but doing what you were meant to do. The freedom, not the freedom from, but the freedom to, the freedom to worship God.

SPEAKER_05 15:04

Freedom from, freedom to. I'm going home.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Sorry, Bono. Freedom to worship, the freedom to glorify God, the freedom to pursue righteousness, the freedom from sin, the freedom from slavery to sin, the freedom from your own passions that often get you ensnared in things.

SPEAKER_05 15:25

That was nothing. Um freedom in the eyes of the world is absence of law. You're free to do this, free to do that. But that makes no sense. You you do that in a football game, you say, okay, we're not gonna have law in this football game, we're not gonna have penalties, not gonna have any rules, everyone does their own thing. That's not freedom, that's absolute chaos.

SPEAKER_03 15:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:47

That the law in a football game gives freedom. If there's a transgression, the whistle blows, then there's penalty.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

That's really good.

SPEAKER_05 15:56

And we're uh and we think freedom in a nation is absence of law, but it's the exact opposite, it's chaos. And when the law is instilled, civil law, and obviously over the top of it, God's law, you get absolute freedom that law brings. No murder, no rape, no adultery, no fornication, no lying, no stealing, no passwords.

Law, Order, And True Liberty

SPEAKER_02 16:13

No passwords, please because everyone's on the book. My greatest dream is for passwords to be abolished. I mean, we are we're at a place where you you we should have the technology. You don't need it. Use my iris.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

So let me get this straight. You you got a genie. Your one wish, not world peace, not help kids no longer starve to death. It's no more passwords. Yeah, I agree with easy. I agree with easy.

SPEAKER_05 16:40

Seriously, it drives me crazy. You think I'm there, this is the last thing I have to click, you click it. It says nope.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

Drives me nuts.

SPEAKER_05 16:47

You're wrong, you're wrong.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Yeah. Anyway, they try to get me to use that one password, and that still gives me problems. What's the password?

SPEAKER_00 16:53

One, uh, two, four, five, four.

SPEAKER_03 16:57

Password.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Word. I, you know, I I think I I'm thinking I always think about when I talk about this uh from like a non-believer's mindset, how this must sound. Because a non-believer might hear this and go, mate, but like Christianity doesn't offer freedom. It has all these rule rules, regulations, restrictions. But think about it like this sometimes restriction actually frees you to do something. For example, if you're disciplining your body for a sport, you gain the freedom of playing that sport. If you play it professionally, you gain the freedom of the wealth and whatever else that comes along with the success of that, right? In other words, often discipline actually frees you for more. And and for furthermore, again, your passions. This is what's amazing, is that Jesus, the the scriptures often talk about sin as breaking God's law, and it is that. But what's fascinating about Jesus in John 8 34 is that he talks about sin as addiction, not just the breaking of God's law. He says, Everyone who practices sin is not free, but is a slave to sin. Here's an example that I often give is like the movie Aladdin. Most of us have seen the movie Aladdin. Do you ever think about the way Aladdin defeats Jafar in the end? So you think about it, Jafar gets his three wishes. He's got his genie.

SPEAKER_05 18:22

I was watching Jack and the Blain Store, rather.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

You were, yeah. All right, so think about this. Jafar gets his three wishes. His first wish is that he'd be an all-powerful wizard. His second wish is that he'd be the Sultan of the land. Jafar's idol, his passion, his ultimate power over all things. And Aladdin, he doesn't defeat him by taking away his desire for power. He actually defeats him by giving it to him. At the very end, Aladdin looks at him and says, You're not as powerful as a genie. You will never be as powerful as a genie. And in a drunken rage, Jafar says, My third wish is to become an all-powerful genie. And it is that wish that enslaves him. And that's how Aladdin beats Jafar, not by taking him away from his passions, but by handing him over to his passions. And that's the thing about our own hearts is that when we hand them over to our passions, we become enslaved to them. We don't experience freedom. We are enslaved to sin. But Christ offers us true freedom because he doesn't ask us to lay down our lives without first laying down his life for us. And him laying down his life provides for us the true freedom that we were made for. We were made not to do whatever we want to do, but to do what we're meant to do to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

Discipline, Addiction, And John 8:34

SPEAKER_02 19:57

Yeah, you know, I was I was thinking of what it says in Second Peter. By whom a person is overcome, by him he's he is brought into bondage. You know, it it's that which masters us to do what we shouldn't be doing that becomes our master. You know, I'm and I I love the analogy you shared, Oscar. Freedom is is having the ability to function as you were designed to function. Like it's not freedom for an eagle to be digging ditches in the ground. Like freedom for an eagle is to soar with the wings it's been given. You know, for us as God's people, our freedom is to function in righteousness. I remember as a new believer, uh, I was, you know, working uh at our family's gas station. And uh I was a new believer. Look, before I got saved, I was enslaved in you know, immorality and sexual sin. And and so I'm a new believer and I'm I'm you know getting my bearings. And I remember one day in particular, I'm at the gas station, it's in Huntington Beach, right? Girls are coming in and bikinis all the time, and and I was struggling, I was struggling with lust. And I remember uh a distinct moment where that that term popped into my mind, which is a biblical one, and it was simply this I no longer have to do that. Right, I no longer and it was like this this final like freedom because without Christ, I'm bound. Like all I know is my sinful nature. I don't have the new nature, the Galatians 5, right, 16th through 26 dynamic, the spirit and the flesh battling. All I had was a flesh, and I served sin willfully, joyfully, gladly. Now I no longer had to do that, which was destructive for me.

SPEAKER_05 21:44

We're like a magnet to sin. You think about what sin does, what pride does, you become a slave to your pride, you become a slave to your lust, you become a slave to overeating and greed, uh, alcohol, all those things enslave you. And yet when we come to Christ, um we're set free. Love those words. Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. Ever heard that?

SPEAKER_02 22:03

Ooh, no. You heard that? Is that original, right?

SPEAKER_05 22:07

No, it's from a song called Me and Bobby McGee. It's very famous from 1960s. Oh. Yeah. I don't know what it means. Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. You just like how it sounds. Yeah, I can sing it to you if you like. Okay. Yeah. No.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Easy. Did I ever tell you that I used to steal from your family's gas station?

SPEAKER_02 22:27

Wait, the credit cards? Is that the one you told me about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell these guys your wicked evilness, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

No, I used to steal from your family. I mean, really. It's true. Oh my um, because I had a friend that worked there, and people would leave their credit cards. Your shirt's that same one. Yeah, if is it the one that was next to Oshman's? Beach Boulevard in Edinger.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Right next to the Arby's.

SPEAKER_05 22:48

Yes. Oh my. Should you be saying this?

SPEAKER_02 22:50

It's past seven years. Is your brother gonna kill me? Yes. Statue of Frank's gonna kill you.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Frank's coming for you. Uh so my my friend Jason used to work there, and people would leave their credit cards because you wouldn't pay at the pump, you'd have to go in and pay. And you'd leave your credit card there.

SPEAKER_05 23:02

You're not gonna give ideas to people as to what you're saying.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

What's Jason's last name?

SPEAKER_01 23:07

And so then uh Jason would call me up and he would say, uh, hey, got a new credit card. So then we take the credit cards of your customers that would give you money to put food on your table. And I apologize for that, easy. Um but yeah, I did. Sorry. Shame on you, but I'm free now. I don't I don't do that anymore because I need to slash it.

SPEAKER_05 23:22

I don't know anymore. Um Yeah, you never boast about your sins to your kids because I remember one guy said he had uh uh some soil delivered to his principal's front yard by a trucker just to be annoying. No, it wasn't. And then his son had manure delivered to his principal's uh front yard and got and he got kicked out of school. I wish I hadn't told my son what I did.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

I know I've been hesitant sometimes with my kids, like, should I at this age before?

SPEAKER_05 23:47

This is what I used to do. I used to rob banks.

Testimony: From Lust To Liberty

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Their kids are changed now, though. Uh my daughter, she's a junior now, but last year the seniors at her school, instead of doing some their senior prank, was that they all like snuck into the front yard of the principal's and uh house and spent the night there. So when you open the door in the morning, there was all these seniors just sleeping on his lawn. Which I love that.

SPEAKER_05 24:10

It's like no one got hurt. He thought it was funny. Do you think it was funny? He did, he's like, I remember when someone left 50 pumpkins on our front lawn when we first came over here. Oh, is that the really and the pink and the blue tree?

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Oh, the great.

SPEAKER_05 24:20

Yeah, I was gonna say the pink and blue and the pink and the blue tree as well. Yeah, it takes long. Same guy, yeah. So I took him around the food ministry and got praised for every everyone praised me for delivering them 50 pumpkins. 50. They actually bought 50 pumpkins. Just a bit annoying to me. We just arrived in the U.S., I thought, so this is what we're in for.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

That was your welcome. Yes. Um You know, I I think another element that that's a reality is sometimes people will will mistake like national patriotism uh for freedom or or civil freedom for like spiritual freedom. You know, we're free in this country, we're so we're we're spiritually free, but we have to be careful uh to make a distinction between that. You know, you can be free in terms of your civil liberties, but still be bound because you're not walking in the spiritual freedom that the Lord has given us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:13

Speaking of that, sorry. Um I hear, and I've always heard, and it makes me cringe because I'm from a different culture, where a lot of Americans and they still say we are the greatest country on earth. And I think there's gotta be a better way to put it. Like uh America has been greatly blessed by God rather than we are the greatest country on earth.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

Aaron Powell How about this? We're better than you. Basically, we're better than all of you.

SPEAKER_05 25:38

Or any greatness that we have is because of God's grace. Yeah. Would be a much nicer way to put it.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

Isn't it interesting how often Paul referred to himself as a as a prisoner of Christ Jesus or as slave or a bondservant of Christ.

SPEAKER_05 25:52

But that's a good feeling, isn't it? You just he's our Lord.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

Yeah. The Lord's what is our verse about the Lord's bondservant is a is the Lord's freedmen or something like that? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

Galatians, version of you.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

Oh, yeah, whatever, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Well, and the way that's braggadocious is because we recognize that every single human being was created to worship, which means uh, you know, as as David Foster Wallace once said, the question isn't whether or not you are worshiping, but what are you worshiping? Uh and he, I mean, we've talked about it before, I've quoted it a thousand times. Like he goes on to say that maybe the reason for worshiping God is that you you actually worship something of value because if not, then you worship money and you'll never feel like you have enough. You worship power and you'll always be afraid of losing it. You worship beauty in allure, you'll die a thousand deaths before life takes you. You know, he goes on and on and on to show us how like our hearts are prone to worship and these things are gonna eat and destroy us. And so when Paul talks about being a bondservant to Christ, it's braggadocious because he is serving the one thing that's actually gonna bring him life.

SPEAKER_05 27:33

Could you define braggadocious? I thought it was like bragging, but it's obviously something different. It's it's it sounds like something from Mary Poppins movie. Yeah, it's celebrating. He's the expialadocious.

Patriotism, Pride, And Spiritual Freedom

SPEAKER_00 27:44

Well, because if someone says like I'm a bondservant, I'm a slave, it's like, ooh, yikes. But he's saying it in a way that's celebrating. Look, I'm I'm be by being a slave to Christ, I am freeing Christ. I'm free to worship the thing I've meant to worship. I'm free to live the life I was meant to live to glorify God and enjoy other people. I'm freed from the bonding and slaving power of sin, the thing that was destroying me. I'm now free from that captivation. And I, you know, I've said it before, like to I think one of the best examples, again, I think it comes from John 8.34, is the power of being enslaved to sin. It really is like a drug addiction. You know, I've I've shared, like I've seen loved ones be addicted to drugs. I've seen them almost go bald from the from this the the what drugs do to your hair. I've seen their skin get as thin as paper, losing all of their teeth, destroying relationships with loved ones, ending up in jail. All the while the person wanting more and more and more of the very thing that's unwinding them. What drugs are to the body, sin is to the soul. We desire the very thing that's undoing our humanness. What do I mean by that? Your humanness is that you were made in the image of God to glorify Him and to worship sin, to pursue false idols is to become less and less human, less and less of who you were meant to be.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

You know, when I was in the world, I I never looked at my friends who didn't cuss or who didn't drink or didn't engage in sexual morality. I never looked at them with like, poor you. I honestly looked at them with admiration. Really? I mean, yeah, I mean, I shared my my story with you guys before with one of my good friends where I um I I I remember throwing out a scenario to him that was really just foul as I was new in the area. We were riding our bikes, and he goes, Man, I'm a Christian. Like, I don't give myself over to thinking on stuff like that. I'm 12 years old. I was, I mean, I I I remember it like it was yesterday. I was blown away. And my respect for him just shot through the roof. I thought, whoa, like I how how can he do that? Like, how could he resist that? You know? And and then I remember irony and what a lesson that is for us.

SPEAKER_05 30:05

No, it was huge. It really impacted me. So do you think the conscience your conscience was in play? Oh, big time.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

I'm like- Did you have Christian influence besides going to the crusade? Did you have Christianity? Yeah, going to church.

Worship, Slavery To Christ, And Joy

SPEAKER_02 30:19

Going to church with that friend. Yeah. That was the influence that you're talking about. That was the influence. And you know, his family and being around. Still in contact with him today? Still, yeah. You are what happened was he so then as we grew, he ended up straying from the Lord. I don't know that he was ever genuinely saved. Um, and then I started, I I remember, I remember he started to cuss, and it disgusted me. I cussed. Like what did he say? That's crazy. Ray, Ray will teach us. Uh but I was disgusted by it. And so I remember one day we were we were drunk out of our minds, and we we pulled up. Oh, he we we were driving, he was driving drunk. We pulled up to our to my house, and I I'm drunk. I look at him, I go, dude, what happened to you? I go, you used to be this like good Christian kid. I go, dude, I used to respect you. Well, and I go, now you're like me. And I go, man, you've changed. And he goes, dude, get out of here. You're drunk. But he told me later, he said it was like a sword to his heart. Like, oh, you know. Um, and then God used him. Eventually, he he took me to the to the harvest crusade where I got saved, you know. And then he's, I mean, he's on fire for the Lord now. He's doing great. Yeah, it's awesome. But but I'm just saying, like, you know, there's that thing in unbelievers that I think looks at the Christian and doesn't think you're a slave, you're in bondage, you can't. They look at him and say, You you have something unique to not do the stuff I'm doing, you know? Because I've never seen a cigarette or a joint or an alcohol bottle fiending for a pair of lips, right? Oh no, but it's the other way around. You know, you don't see a you know, a needle running around fiending for a vein, right? It's like we we're in bondage to those things, right? And a smoker having a nicotine fit, man, it's like it's almost worse than than heroin sometimes. Like, oh man, I gotta have it, you know. And so that's why, I mean, on planes, it says in the in the you know, bathroom, like you you could be penalized because they know people are prone to go in there because they're addicted, you know.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

They should be tossed out the door. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

Ron Alex.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

You know, it's so interesting the points that you're making, right? I mean, you're overlapping to what Oscar's talking about earlier. That, you know, a drug addict, he thinks that he's free. He thinks that he has the ability to do these things. But in reality, every time he does these sort of things, it demonstrates that he is in bondage. The more you smoke, you're in bondage. The more you look at porn, you're in bondage. And you think that you have freedom. You think that you have liberties. In reality, you are becoming more and more of a slave. You are worshiping the very things that you think you're free of.

SPEAKER_05 33:01

But there's an irony there because they're like a man in a prison who says, I'm free, I'm free. So you're trying it out.

unknown 33:07

Right.

SPEAKER_03 33:07

Trying it out.

SPEAKER_05 33:08

And you say, I got I smoke 40 cigarettes a day. I'm not in bondage to it. Try and stop. Same with the alcohol, try and stop. You're in you're in a prison.

SPEAKER_02 33:15

Yeah. Yeah, that's that's real bondage. You know, and then we we transfer over to what what does freedom really look like for the believer? You know, you look, you read the book of Galatians, and Paul was intensely dealing there with the spiritual bondage that we as believers can go through. He says in Galatians 5:1, stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made you free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. He's talking about the law there, you know. Um, and and Oscar, that's I think that's an element that we often overlook. Like there are times when someone will come to Christ, they'll be set free by the gospel, and then as Paul asks in Galatians, you know, you know, you've been you've been set free by the Spirit. Are you now being trying trying to be made perfect by the flesh? You know, so there is that tendency to to lose real freedom by thinking we're pursuing freedom by trying to obtain our own righteousness.

Freed To Choose What Profits

SPEAKER_00 34:16

Yeah, that's huge. And it's the reality that our we are so prone to self-salvation. We are so prone to try to save ourselves. And actually, like the to if I can describe the antinomian and the legalist, the antinomian is the person that says, I'm gonna do whatever I want to do and just depend on grace to save me, and the legalist is the one that says, I'm gonna earn my salvation through my works. Uh as uh Sinclair Ferguson says in his book, The Whole Christ, those two errors are actually they're they're twins born in the same womb. And what's motivating those things is self-salvation. We we you know, we self-save ourselves through self-sufficiency or through self self-righteousness, which is pursuing our own ways of doing things. And both those things are enslaving to us. And it's so interesting how we can get pulled into that, how we can lose the freedom that we have in Christ by all of a sudden earning our own salvation. I think about the story of the prodigal son. Do you think about that younger brother? You know, he he squanders his inheritance, and then he thinks to himself, man, if I could just be a bond servant in my father's home. And so he makes this plan. When I get there, I'm gonna say, Man, let me just earn it all back, let me work it all, work my debt off to you. And what's so amazing about the moment when they finally meet is that the father wants nothing to do with it. He starts launching off into his like premeditated tirade, father, let me be a bondservant. And he's like, Nope, we are killing the fattened calf. He clothes them, he gives them rings. What is going on there? The father is like, you will not be a bondservant to me. You will be my son. And so often we approach God going, Let me be a bondservant. Lord, let me be. I know I've sinned against you. Let me just be a bondservant and earn it all back. And God's saying, No, you are my son. You have been saved by the blood of Christ. I have killed the calf. The calf is Christ, and you will be my child.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

Ray, what do you what do you make of what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6? It's wonderful. You like it? Yeah, is it nice? Is it good? Is it good if I'm sorry? Always thought about how wonderful that is. Isn't it great? Ray, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. So there's there's that freedom of like all things are lawful, but but they're not all profitable. How does that play out in the Christian's life?

SPEAKER_05 36:44

I I think the Christian needs to redeem the time because the days are evil, and there's certain things I can do. I could travel, I could play sports, but I choose not to because there are certain things that are more important to me. Mainly the salvation of the lost. That's what I live for. So I've got incredible liberty, liberty to do what I want. Um, I can think I can say this. A millionaire once said to me, uh, he'd flown us around the world in different places, Mark and I. He said, Where would you like to go in the world? And I said, Home. And uh and I really meant it. And and there's a there's a huge satisfaction in being content with what you've got. Yeah. Because we've got a new world coming that we can enjoy pleasure forevermore. In the meanwhile, we choose to serve the Lord with all our heart, all our mind, all our strength, because he gave us life. And so all things are lawful for me, but not all things is what's expedient. Profitable, yeah. Profitable, yeah. Helpful.

SPEAKER_03 37:39

Yeah.

Others May, You May Not

SPEAKER_02 37:40

Yeah, uh that reminds, as you said, that rate reminded me of something that Ray, Mark, you may have introduced it to me a long time ago. At least we both heard it somewhere together. But uh uh G. D. Watson, it's called Others May You May Not. If God has called you to be really like Jesus, he will draw you to a life of crucifixion and humility and put upon you such demands of obedience that you will not be able to follow other people or measure yourself by other Christians. And in many ways, he will seem to let others, other good people do things which he will not let you do. Other Christians and ministers uh uh may uh we are all called to the services of ministering, even if it's for the Lord alone, who seem very religious and useful may push themselves, uh pull wires and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot do it. And if you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent. Others may boast of themselves, of their work, of their successes, of their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing. And if you begin it, he will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works. Others may be allowed to succeed in making money or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you poor because he wants you to have something far better than gold, namely a helpless dependence on him, that he may have the privilege of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury. Wow. That's crazy. I mean, it's so good. One more he says the Lord may let others be honored and put forward and keep you hidden in obscurity because he wants you to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for his coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. You remember that, Mark? That's good.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

That's beautiful. Whoo! Very powerful. Uh I I've meditated on that many times over the years. I I think I first came across it in 1994. And I believe that was written on the wall of a missionary's hut.

unknown 39:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 39:39

It's so powerful. You know, you you can't be your own Lord and still call Jesus Lord. Yeah. Right? When we start talking about freedom, we we have the freedom. Our our free let me say it like this. Our freedom is is bound up in Christ. You don't want to do anything other than what God wants you to do. If if you want to be free, then you want Christ calling all the shots. You you really don't want to make any decisions on your own. You don't want to say, I want this job over that job. You don't want to say, not so, Lord, right? The idea of being free in Christ is experiencing the blessings that are only found within the boundaries that He sets up. Right? If you if you in other words, if you want to be blessed by God, his blessings are found within the guardrails of Of the word of God. And when you when you leave the word of God, when you uh go outside, when you meander outside there, you're not gonna find blessings, you're gonna find chains, you're gonna find a curse, you're gonna find everything that you don't need. So today is a day about Lord, what what is it that you have? What is it that you want to do? Because that's what I want to do.

SPEAKER_03 41:00

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_01 41:01

Who do you want to talk to? Yes, well, that's what I want. Do you want me to have flat tires? Then Lord, I want to have flat tires. I want what you want. And in the midst of finding what God wants and walking with him, there's blessings there. There's blessings within the boundaries that he sets up.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

Amen. Yeah, and then and then our freedom being really examined in the light of how that might affect other people. You know, I think of uh 1 Peter 2.16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Right, Ray? Like when we we take that liberty and we begin to use it in a selfish way for ourselves rather than thinking, how is that affecting other people? The whole thing of Paul saying, if eating meat makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, nor drink wine, nor do anything by which my brother has stumbled or is offended or is made weak.

Blessings Within God’s Boundaries

SPEAKER_05 41:58

Amen. You know, um Yale University, etched in stone, uh, and the architecture is the truth will make you free, John 8 32. And there's a whole stack of Bible verses. Wisdom is the principal thing thereof, get wisdom, whatever things are true and pure, throughout the whole university, and yet it's so strange from the liberty that obviously had in Christ to serve bondage and sin. I remember when I came over here, I was very embarrassed to let any American hear me say it, but I didn't want my kids to go to university. I didn't want to have their brains taken out and end up thinking they're primates and puffed with pride that comes through knowledge, uh worldly knowledge. And yet I think that's what Charlie Kirk was big on. Just saying, don't send your kids to university. Teach them the fear of the Lord. And our universities have haven't become places of freedom, but places of bondage, serving sin and straying from God and embracing atheism, acting like apes, bondage.

SPEAKER_02 43:00

Isn't that crazy that just about every Ivy League school was originally a Christian institution, right?

SPEAKER_01 43:08

Harvard, Princeton, you had to graduate from an Ivy League school in order to become a preacher. Really? Yep. Wow. That's why David Brainerd, when David Brainerd wanted to graduate uh from Yale and he wasn't able to graduate from Yale, he Jonathan Edwards came and he spoke at the university. And um he was so provoked by what Jonathan Edwards had said that uh he that David Brainerd said that the chair has more of the spirit of God than the rector in charge. And when he had said that, he got kicked out of the university and he was so upset because he wanted to become a preacher. And Jonathan Edwards felt so responsible for this that he ended up taking David Brainerd underneath his wings, and then he died uh there in the home of Jonathan Edwards, and he went to throw his journal into the fire the night that he died at 29 years old of tuberculosis. And Jonathan Edwards uh took that journal and uh and then published it. And then Hudson Taylor, the great missionary, went on the mission field with the Bible and David Brainerd's journal. That was the only two books that he had when he went on the mission field. But yeah, to your point, you had to graduate from an Ivy League school to become a preacher at the time.

unknown 44:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:18

Yale's um uh original motto. No, Yale, yeah, yeah, uh, was um urnum it thumumnum. That's the Latin and truth. That's what I mean, right? Light and truth. Biblical light and truth. Yeah. So how far we've fallen.

Liberty That Loves The Weaker Brother

SPEAKER_02 44:36

And also, too, just indicating to people that right, you're either governed by God or ultimately you're governed by people, thoughts, emotions, and circumstances. You think about that. Like, what are the things that influence us to do or not to do, right? I mean, how how many times do we use that term? And I've talked about this before, but he pushes my buttons, she pushes my buttons, that pushes my buttons. What's what's the indicator there? Well, it's, I mean, the analogy is there, like it's it's a machine or remote control. A button is pushed, sends out a specific signal, solicits me for a specific response, and I respond in that way. Just like when I turn my TV on, power on, power off, you know, power back on, channel five, seven, nine, eleven, right? So who you who you respond to or what you respond to ultimately is an indicator of who you're controlled by. Because God at the same time is pressing buttons on his remote that's soliciting you for the opposite response. It's always in keeping with the fruit of the flesh or the fruit of the spirit, one or the other. You know, and and again, your emotions, circumstances, your thoughts, all of these things are seeking to influence you to act in accordance with the fruit of the flesh. Who do you yield to? You know, and if you're a person, I mean imagine that someone's going off on you, going crazy, flipping out. I'll see that sometimes with certain apologists, and the person's fired up and they're, and the apologist is just as cool as a cucumber. Well, listen, let me let me explain to you. Like to me, that's freedom. Not the person that explodes and goes off on them. And no, freedom is like, I'm free to do what's right, despite what you do or don't do, despite what my thoughts tell me or don't tell me, what my feelings influence me to do or don't influence me to do. I'm free to do what's right. And that, man, that is liberty. Because that's something no one can touch. You can be in a prison cell, you can be in a sick bed, you can be being persecuted, and they can't touch that. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they obey God, you know. So we gonna say something, Mark? Gotta look to those cucumbers.

SPEAKER_03 46:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:39

Cucumbers. Look like you're gonna say something.

SPEAKER_01 46:42

No, you know, I think hell is full of people who demanded to be left alone. And when when we talk about freedom, you it's a good idea to just pause and take inventory. I mean, are you free?

SPEAKER_03 46:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:00

Are you free or do you have to watch that thing? You know, uh, you've often said, Easy, that uh who you are in private is who you really are. And when you're alone and no one's around, I mean, that's really who you are. What do you do if you knew no one's gonna come home, nobody's gonna visit, nobody's gonna call, nobody's gonna knock, and you have four hours all to yourself. Where do you gravitate towards? First thing Oscar does is he grabs a book, he grabs the couch, you know, and he goes, Man, I'm gonna love this. Um, but is it let me watch that thing? Let me let me swindle through this thing, right? Let me try to, you know, fill in the blank. Yeah, but hell is filled with people that say, you know, leave me alone. And so if you're saying leave me alone with this subject, whatever it is, or if you have the uh the desire to say, you know, I don't I don't care what it is, you have freedom to ask me any hard question that you want to ask. You know, when the whole fiasco with uh Steve Lawson went down, you know, many if many of my friends and I, we had conversations, and I'll tell you the top thing that came out as I talked to these guys individually was you have freedom to ask me whatever you want to ask me. Yeah, that that demonstrates somebody who's free, and that demonstrates somebody who wants to walk with Christ. I want that to be said of all of us. Yeah, amen.

Universities, Truth, And Bondage

SPEAKER_02 48:30

Yeah, because you know, at the heart of it, there's either a desire to want to be genuine and walk in the light, or not, you know. Um I I love that book, Finally Free by Heath Lambert. He was talking about pornography in it, and he said, you know, he was out of town a thousand miles from home on his way back to college. He was in a kind of podunk area. He's driving down the highway and he looks and he sees a bill, big billboard says adult bookstore. And he said he knew he could exit that highway, go into that bookstore, and spend hours in there indulging himself. No one knows who he is, no one's around that that could call him out on it. But I love what he said. He said, but I realized that I didn't want to do that. And he said, it was at that moment that I realized that I was finally free. And that's the title of the book, you know, and that was kind of the kicker of the whole thing. Like, wow, like it's it's no longer, oh no, you know, people, what are people gonna think? Or how's it gonna affect my reputation, or how's it gonna even hinder me from being effective or useful? Or no, no, no. I don't want that because I want God, because I want to be pleasing to Him.

SPEAKER_05 49:52

Love the New Covenant, the Um Old Testament God says, I'll cause you to walk in my statutes. Living Bible says I'll cause you to do the things I want you to do without my even telling you to do them. I thought that was beautiful rendering.

SPEAKER_00 50:04

Yeah. Mark, when you were talking, it reminded me of um, and I had to look it up because I had read this somewhere, but I couldn't remember who it was. It was Frederick Nietzsche. He talks about the the doctrine of divine reoccurrence. Uh, and he says, Imagine the thing that you're doing right now, imagine doing that thing for all of eternity. Would you still be doing that thing?

SPEAKER_05 50:25

Sometimes a podcast seems like that.

SPEAKER_00 50:28

But it's to it's to the point that you just made, you know, imagine an eternity of looking at that thing. Would you be doing that thing? Because the thing that we do shapes, you know, who we are. And then I to apply that to Cecil Lewis, uh he says, he says that the that the that the gates of hell are locked from the inside. And he goes on to say there are two kinds of people in this world. There are people to look at God and say, Thy will be done. And then there are people who God looks at them and says, Thy will be done.

SPEAKER_01 51:05

The first I've heard it said that the first sign of God's wrath is for God just to pull back and give man what he wants. Yeah. Ouch.

Buttons, Self-Control, And Real Agency

SPEAKER_02 51:13

Well, you look at what's happening today in the in the name of freedom, you know. Um today I came across something and it it they're saying it's false, but uh it was this indicator that uh Bruce Jenner, who took on the name Caitlin Jenner and had transgender or whatever done, it was like detransitioning. Um I I'm not saying that's true. I heard other sources saying no, that's false or whatever. But but you think you think about the generation of people that we have right now, how many young people who in the name of freedom have mutilated themselves, you know, have have utterly destroyed their their lives biologically, you know. And I I'm I'm convinced that you give it another 5, 10, 15 years, and you're going to have like massive suicide rates that they're gonna go through the roof in that community because people are gonna realize they and it's happening already. People are getting not just that, but people saying, What have we done? There's like a new kind of uprising of detransitioning, right? Like, what if what did we do? It's like buying that lie. That's why if you know the truth, the truth will set you free. God made man, God made woman, be free. And Mark, you've said this, and it's so true. It's like if if um if you're supposed to be your true self, and that's real freedom, then why are you trying to be someone you're not? You know, like I was thinking about uh Bruce Jenner, my heart breaks for him, man. I don't know what influences are in his life, but here you had one of the most manliest of men, one of the most successful athletes in all of history. And then he goes down that line. And I just can't help but the haunt of think about the haunt that comes on people's minds. Like, wait a minute, I'm actually really fake. I'm pretending to be what I'm not, as opposed to being who I really am, and and dealing with whatever issues are going on in my heart and mind, you know. So I don't know, man. It breaks my heart. Same thing, Ray. Uh abortion, how many women are like the the total horror of the regret from what they've done?

SPEAKER_05 53:24

And the continual justifying of it, and even instigating more abortions to try and justify what you've done as being right.

SPEAKER_02 53:33

Yeah, it just keeps compounding.

SPEAKER_05 53:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:36

But guys, I'd like to end here. You know, I I was um I was thinking about atheists. And Ray, you've had a lot of experience with atheists. I mean, a lot of times you'll talk to them about isn't this why you really wanted to be an atheist? Because of pornography and sex with your girlfriend.

SPEAKER_05 53:54

Gorgeous girlfriend.

SPEAKER_02 53:55

Oh, gorgeous. Don't forget gorgeous. And I mean, more often than not, they'll they'll yeah, you're right. The jig is up, like you, you caught me, right? Um, and and it made me it made me think of um you know what what scripture tells us in terms of those that want to cast God off. And it reminded me of Psalm 2. Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us. I mean, that that ultimately is the true pursuit of man. We want to overthrow God from being sovereign over our lives.

SPEAKER_05 54:46

It's like being offended by the fact that the sun's shining, and we're gonna stop that from coming at us. Absolute futile.

SPEAKER_02 54:54

Yeah, it's insanity. And and what does the psalm go on to say? He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision, then he shall speak to them in his wrath, and distress them in his deep displeasure. And uh, and then I I love what the psalmist says, yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. And the way that psalm ends says, Now kiss the sun lest he be angry and you perish in the way.

SPEAKER_05 55:26

When his wrath is kindled but a little.

SPEAKER_02 55:29

Kiss the sun, like know him whom to know is life eternal. When the sun sets you free, you are free indeed. And and friends, I know some of you listening right now who profess to be believers are choosing to go back and put yourself under the yoke of bondage. You know, Paul talks about how, you know, you've been set free. And it's like, you know, they they wonder that you don't run with them in that same measure or degree of dissipation that you used to run with them in. And maybe that's getting to you. Maybe you're cracking under the pressure of the world, under the pressure of temptation. You know in your heart of hearts that true freedom is surrender to the Lord, that true bondage is walking away from the Lord. Sin is pleasurable for a season, but it's gonna come back. And the things that you've sown are going to be reaped in a very destructive way. So, as your brothers and friends, if you've been listening for a while, we just want to plead with you today, come back to freedom. Repent. Repentance is one of the most beautiful words in the world. Yield and surrender to the Lord. And remember what first John says it says, and this is love that we keep his commandments, and this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. So remember that. You know, you know true freedom because you know that God has designed you to function in a certain way, and when you don't, you're actually doing something unnatural. So get back to him who wants to set you free to take his yoke upon you to learn from him. And um, his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

SPEAKER_03 57:13

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 57:13

Amen. And on that we'll end the podcast at livingwaters.com. We want to hear from your friends. Thank you for joining us. We'll see you here next time on the Living Waters podcast.