This morning I want us to go back to the series of messages that we've been dealing with the last several weeks entitled, Satan's Most Successful Lies. There's no way that we could cover all of his lies, but I'm covering those that I think are major ones that he has used down through the years over and over with such great success that you can count on him to continue using these in the future. One of the first things that Jesus said after his baptism and when he began his preaching ministry, his public ministry, is something that Satan has built a lie around. Luke 4, verse 16 to 21, And Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, He went to the synagogue, and I'm not preaching on this, but folks, that's the custom of God to go to church. You follow me? People say, I'm going to follow Jesus. Well, brother, Jesus was in the synagogue every Sabbath day. That was his custom. It was God's custom to obey God's laws. You would expect that. Well, back to our text. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read from the scriptures. Now, these would be the Old Testament scriptures. And I'll read to you in a minute the scripture he wrote from Isaiah 61-1. And there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He owned the book and he found a place from which he desired to read. He picked his text. Alright? Here is the text he picked. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of the sight of the blind, and to set at liberty them that are bruised." Now Isaiah 61-1 reads like this, "'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,' which is prophetic of what Jesus just got through saying, but the text goes, "'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek, He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Now, from Luke's Gospel and from Isaiah, I want us to focus our attention on these two portions of those texts. Isaiah said, the Messiah, when he comes, will proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Now Luke said in that Gospel, Jesus said, I have come to preach deliverance to the captives and to set at liberty them that are bruised. Now when Jesus spoke these words, the nation Israel was under the bondage of the Roman nation or the Roman Empire. And the people were not free in Israel to rule their country. They were subject to Roman law. Roman authority, Roman control, and not Jewish law or Jewish control. And so there had been some who had been arrested by the Romans, and they were political prisoners in Roman jails. There were many also imprisoned because of great indebtedness. They had sold themselves into slavery to pay off their debts, so they were imprisoned to their slave owner. Many Jews had been dispersed all over to various nations and they were as dispersed slaves owned and ruled and controlled by their Gentile owners. So there were lots of people who were bound either in prison or in slavery when Jesus made this announcement. He had come to deliver the captives and to set at liberty those that were imprisoned. And so when Jesus said he had come to set the captives free, he had come to open the prison doors, this would have been a very appealing message to a lot of people, especially those in that circumstance. It was a wonderful discussion topic. It was something most all people were interested in, were glad to hear either they were in that situation or they knew someone or were related to someone who happened to be a prisoner or a captive or a slave. But as you followed Jesus around during his three and a half years ministry, you never hear of him freeing anybody from slavery. You never have him anywhere, to my knowledge, going into a prison house of the Roman Empire and freeing any captives. He didn't even free John the Baptist from prison. I don't read anywhere where he attempted to negotiate with the Roman Emperor for the freedom of the nation of Israel. He was not like Moses, who was sent by God to Pharaoh, and said, let my people go. Jesus never, to my knowledge, uttered this command to the emperor of Rome, let my people go. Release them from Roman bondage and slavery. And yet he said from the very start as he stood up to read this text, today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears. I am the Messiah prophesied by Isaiah to come to set the captives free. I think that was one thing that really puzzled John the baptizer as he was in the prison put there by Herod. He thought, well surely the one who is going to set the captives free will set me free. And John was confused. Now maybe you are confused too as I introduce this subject because you say, well, he said he had come for that purpose. Why didn't he do it? The thing Jesus was referring to was not political or national or personal servitude freedom. What he was talking about was spiritual freedom. And this is the two things that people get mixed up. They think in terms of political and national and personal freedom, and Jesus was thinking in terms of spiritual freedom. Now, a lot of folks say, well, I don't want to be set spiritually free. I don't even think I'm spiritually bound. And it's at this point, folks, that the devil has brought forth one of his biggest lies. Here it is. To be truly free, you must be free of God. I'll repeat it. To be truly free, you must be free of God. The number one thing that Satan has instilled in the minds of man is God is out to take away your freedom. You have freedom. You get in touch with God and give God control of your life and you will lose your freedom. So if you're going to be free, if you're going to stay free, then you must stay free of God. And so, in one sense, Satan says of the broad road, Jesus says the broad road leads to destruction. Satan says the broad road is the only road to freedom. On this road, you get to do as you please. If you put yourself on the narrow road, which is the one God wants you on, which is the road to eternal life, but Satan said that that's the road that'll put you in bondage. In other words, on that road you have to do as God pleases. On the broad road you do as you please, on the narrow road you must do as He pleases. You'll lose your freedom if you get in touch and get in obligation to God. If you let God in your life, you're going to lose your freedom. Now this is the lie that Satan sets forth. And so Satan argues, if you want to really put a bind on your lifestyle, if you want to have just about everything you desire and want to do, eliminated from your life, then you get hooked up with Jesus. But if you want to be free, you stay away from Jesus. He'll give you a lot of dos and a lot of don'ts, a mile long, and they'll forbids you from doing the very things you feel bring you pleasure, and I would agree, Satan says, so stay away from God. Because He's going to put His laws on you, and His laws are going to bind you, and control you, and you'll end up losing your freedom. So if you stay free of God, Then you can do what you want, go where you please, buy what you want, see what you please, and say what you want, and associate with anyone you want to. But you get involved with God, and you have to ask His permission and prayer for everything. You have to ask, is this your will? If He says no, then you can't do it. And He's not going to grant you every wish you have. But if you're free of God, then you can do whatever you please. You don't have to ask His permission. You ask Him, and He'll take away all your fun. He'll tie you down with all kinds of obligations. He'll make you be submissive to His will. He'll put you in the back of the road, put Himself in the front. He'll make your life miserable. He'll take away all your chance for happiness. He'll lay claim on your time and your energy and your strength. He'll place you under lots of laws, and in a sense you're going to be enslaved. You're going to be in bondage if you get yourself tied up with God. So to be truly free, Satan argues, you must stay free of God. Now, I believe the masses of the world, folks, especially the lost, and I find even many of those who claim to be Christians still buy into this lie and see God as a threat to their freedom, a threat to their happiness, a threat to their welfare, a threat to their advancement, a threat to their life. They can't have anything. They can't do anything. And so they push God out and say, I've got to keep God at a distance if I'm to maintain my freedom. Now, as I go through this, a lot of people say, yeah, yeah, yeah, I follow you. And it's sad to say, I agree with you. Well, don't agree with this, folks. This is a lie. I'm telling you, these are Satan's favorite lies. Here is the lie that Satan is telling. Being free from God does not mean you are free. Here is the great confusion. Man away from God thinks he is free. That's the lie. He is not free. He just thinks he is. To be honest with you folks, spiritually speaking, There is no such thing as freedom, period. No one is free to do as he pleases. No one, that's the message of Satan, he's lying to you, no one is free to run their own life. Not one single solitary person on the face of this earth is free to run their life. When Jesus came, He said, I have come to set the captives free. I have come to release the prisoners. He's going to give them release and freedom from a prison house, folks. And He's not saying, I've come to set you free from God. But you're in prison. And they say, hey, wait a minute. We're free. And He says, no, you're not. You're a captive. You're a slave. You're in prison. And they look back at him with puzzles on their face and questions, what is he talking about? He's saying, folks, people are not free. And he has come to give these people freedom. Now, Satan says, he's wrong. You are free. Satan is a liar. Jesus says they're in bondage. Somebody's wrong. Either Jesus is wrong in saying I have come to set you free or Satan is wrong in saying everybody has freedom outside of God. Somebody's wrong. Either Jesus is lying and there are no captives for him to set free or Satan is lying and everybody is a captive and nobody is free and people are in bondage and they are in chains and they are bound in prison and so that's what Jesus is saying I have come to set them free if everybody is free then there is no one for Jesus to set free Does this make any sense to you? If no one is in their lost state, bound, in prison, and in bondage, and a captive, then this makes no sense for Jesus to come to somebody who is free and say, I've come to set you free. Because I would ask you, hey, I am free, you can't set me free. And that's what people say. But that is the lie they buy into that Satan tells them. And guess who the Bible says really holds man captive? Guess who really owns the prison house? Guess really who has everybody in bondage? This is a real interesting thing. 2 Corinthians 4, 4. The devil, can you believe this? The God of this world, the devil, blinds the mind of man so that he cannot see and cannot believe. What is he cannot see? He cannot see his chains. He cannot see the bars on the windows. He cannot see himself being bound by Satan. Now, have you ever noticed people, you tell them something that's really bad for them, and they'll tell you, folks, I can't see what you're talking about. I can't see anything wrong. They can't see, people. Blind folks can't see. And no wonder they can't see the change, no wonder they can't see the prison bars. Why? They are blind. And Jesus announces to blind people, I have come to set you free. Believe me, there are bars in front of you. Believe me, you're in a prison. Believe me. You can't see the bars, and you can't see the prison, and you can't see the prison keeper, and you can't see the chains, but I'm telling you, you are bound, and you are blind, so you cannot see the state you're in. Satan has blinded the minds of man and makes him think while he has chains on his hands and chains on his feet and chains on his mind and chains on his thoughts and chains on his imagination. He says, man, you are free. Man is not free. How much control does Satan have over man's mind? 2 Timothy 2.26. The devil has taken his captives at his will. Whenever he just desires to snap his finger, his captive will respond in like manner as to how he has suggested they respond. He can take his captive at will. In other words, they have no freedom. They are bound to do exactly as he prescribes, and he blinds them and they think it's what they are prescribing. He's got a little neat game going there. Satan is very persuasive in this area. While enslaving his captives, he makes them sing songs of freedom. He makes them think they are free. While they are doing what he wants, They are saying we're doing what we want. You talk about blind. You talk about being deranged. You talk about being mixed up. They're doing what he wants and they're saying this is what we want. And they're in bondage. And they don't realize that the devil is running their life, is controlling their thoughts, making their decisions for them, controlling their activities, instigating whatever thoughts they have as to what they're doing and they think all these are my thoughts. This is what I want. It's not what you want. These are dictates from above. Dictates from the prison keeper. So you end up, you're not free. You're his slave. You're in his control. And again, he blinds their minds to the point they can't see. You know, folks, when God comes to let the captives free, the first thing he has to do is perform a miracle healing. He has to open their eyes so they can see the bars and see the chains and see the prison walls. That's one thing God has to do to get them inside. He opens their eyes and they look around and they realize, man, I'm not in control. I'm not doing things for my best interest. But until God opens a man's eyes, he'll never see himself as captive. Instead, his philosophy will be, I am free. So Satan has his captives in prison, and they all think it's wonderful. They all think they're running the prison house. That's a lie. Now, not only is a sinner a captive of Satan's will, he's also a captive of his own flesh, his own sinful nature, his own carnal passions. The lust in his own life controls and rules him and puts him in bondage too. In Romans 7, 18 and 19, 23 and 24. Paul says, in my flesh, nothing good dwells. I have a will, but how to perform what I will, I don't know how to do it. What I would will to do good, the evil I do not want to do is the very thing I end up doing. Something's got a control of me. Something forces me. Something enslaves me. Something chains me. Something makes me do things at times I don't think are right to do. I see that there is a law in my mind, now notice, that brings me into captivity to the wishes and demands of my sinful nature. And he says, Oh, wretched man that I am. Something makes me a captive to the wishes and demands and lusts and cravings of my carnal nature. I am not free. I'm not even free of myself, of my sinful nature. And so these lusts dictate my actions, my thoughts, my conduct, my character, my pursuits, my words. They dictate, folks, I'm saying you're enslaved. And so I'm not free to make decisions on my own. My soul just can't say, I don't want to make decisions. The flesh says, no, you're going to make the decision, Mr. Soul, that I tell you to make. You're going to lust after what I tell you to lust after. You're going to say what I tell you to say. Just this week, Tuesday, February the 9th, 1999, I read this. Kind of interesting. Now remember, folks, I told you the flesh will tell you what to say. And you will say what the flesh says. I don't care if it gets you in trouble. Wish this man got in trouble. And I'm going to say this, and you're going to finally wonder, well, I don't know about that, Prager. All right. A judge Monday upheld an 1897 Michigan law against cursing in front of children or the man who let loose with a three minute stream of profanities after he fell out of his canoe to stand trial. The man's name is Timothy Boomer, he's 24 years old. The ACLU got into the case because they said this man's freedom of speech, now notice that word freedom, this man's freedom of speech is being violated. The judge ruled against the ACLU because he said the Constitution does not give a man the right to have this kind of speech. This case probably will go on down the road, folks. But anyway, Brewer faces a fine of 90 days in jail or $100. Now he said, well, this guy ought to have the freedom. If he wants to curse, he ought to have the freedom to curse. Let me tell you, people. He, his soul, told his mouth to utter the curse words. Okay? But what told his soul to swear for three minutes because he was so mad? What told his soul to get mad? What controlled that man? It wasn't his soul. Something controlled his soul in return his soul responded as a slave to the command. His carnal nature told him, open your mouth and swear, swear, swear, swear, swear for three straight minutes. and get hot in the collar and get mad as you can get. Now folks, something told him, get mad and swear for three minutes. I believe it was his sinful, carnal nature, his old, sinful, lustful flesh put him in chains and told him, you open your mouth and you say exactly what I tell you to say and what I tell you to say is a string of three minute cuss words. And you'll do what I tell you to do. Folks, that man's soul, poor old Timothy Boomer's soul, was under slavery, servitude, and bondage to the old carnal nature that told him, you make an idiot out of yourself, and just show them how possessed you are of an evil mind. Timothy Boomer was not free. And yet the ACLU said, you can't take away his freedom. I'm telling you people, he wasn't free in the first place. That's why he went through this cursing charade. Because he was not free. Something made him do this. It was his own sinful nature. So Jesus said, man gets himself in a bind, in prison. None of his own choosing. None of his own making. Satan puts him there. His own carnal nature puts him there. But Jesus said, I have come to set the captives free. If nobody's in prison, there's nobody to set free. But there are people to set free. Freedom from Satan and freedom from their own carnal nature. Jesus said in John 8, 36. If the Son shall make you free, there has to be somebody to set free. If the Son shall make you free, and we're not going to be set free from God by Jesus. If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. Free of what? Free of the control that Satan and the carnal nature put over you. That's what Jesus' gift of salvation can do. It sets you free from the trap you're already in. But it doesn't set you free to run around and do what you please. You are set free now from having to do that, what the sinful nature says you have to do, and Satan has to do, and you can now are free to do what God tells you to do. And what God tells you to do, folks, is not bad. If what God tells you to do is so bad, why do you want to go to heaven? What do you think he's going to tell you to do there? I believe God's way is the way to happiness and joy and peace and well-being here and hereafter. But I don't think God sets me free to be free of Him and free of everything. He sets me free so I can be a servant of His. I have a new freedom. Now I have a freedom that lets me escape the prison made and built for me by the devil and by the flesh. I'm now free to serve God. But I'm never free. I'm either free of God or I'm free of the devil and the flesh forever. I'm either free of one or free of the other. But you're never free one way or the other. I'd rather be in God's house, which is not a prison house, than be in Satan's house, which is a prison house.