Reconciliation, Forgiveness and Freedom

The following program is sponsored by evangelical life

Ministries. Welcome to engaging truth, the manifestation of God's word and the lives of people around us. Join us each week. As we explore the impact of his message of spiritual renewal from the lesson of forgiveness forwards in the crucible of divorce, to the message of salvation by an executioner, from a condemned killer to the gift of freedom found in the rescue of victims of human trafficking. This is God's truth in action.

Welcome to engaging truth. This is your host, Dave Schultz. For this particular program. We have a guest on the air with us this evening, who has never been with us before, but it's with the emphasis upon what we do this month, the area of, of reconciliation, the area of forgiveness, the area of true freedom that the word of God gives us. So with that being said, I welcome to our voice this evening, our guest boy, um, Ted Cober welcome, Ted. Thank you.

It's good to be with you.

We're going to work our way into some of the thoughts that, uh, you've sent to me that I can use, uh, in questions to you. But first of all, what in the word is the senior ambassador for reconciliation? What is that all about?

What it means is that, uh, I am a speaker, an author, uh, a trainer, uh, teaching people about personal reconciliation and how to assist others. But I also am a practitioner, meaning that I help with conflicts to not only resolve their conflicts, but to restore their relationships through confession and forgiveness. We do that by coaching people by mediating and by working with large groups that are in conflict. And that's what we do as a ministry.

A lot of, a lot of districts in our particular church body have little groups, uh, reconciling groups. And I know that here in Texas, uh, we have a group of reconcilers who are very ready and willing having been trained, as I understand it, to go into congregations or situations that the pastor finds very difficult to resolve that's where come in, is it not well? It's

And so the training is in all the districts now.

Well, uh, every district has four reconcilers that are appointed two lay people and two pastors. And, uh, uh, so we have been doing the training of all of them and all the district presidents, uh, training usually occurs every three years, right after a convention.

One of the things that, uh, we get excited about, and that is that the whole act of justification is really summarized in this simple phrase of forgiveness and how wonderfully forgiveness works. Um, it's the holy Spirit's tool to people and groups that are separated from each other back. Um, you've emphasized the apostle Paul's writing in Galatians five. One for freedom. Christ has set us free stand firm, therefore, and do not submit to a yo of slavery. What kind of freedom is Paul talking about here?

That's a great question. He's talking about the freedom from the body to the law that comes through the forgiveness of Christ and it is our forgiveness from God through Jesus. That brings us freedom.

And so what kinds of freedom does forgiveness spring?

Well, I'd like to talk about six different areas that we find freedom in forgiveness. Uh, the first one is freedom from God's condemnation. Uh, by nature, we are, uh, uh, enemies of God. Uh, Isaiah 59 verse two says, but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. And so our sins separates us from God, but forgiveness restores that relationship, uh, Ephesians two 13 says, but now in Christ, Jesus, you who were once far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. And that relationship was restored. It was reconciled as God sent Jesus to die for our sins.

That was the freedom that, um, we all desperately need to recognize that is our God's freedom through forgiveness from condemnation. How about self condemnation? Sometimes we feel bad about ourselves and we put ourselves down unnecessarily, but how do we deal with that?

That's a, a great question. And how it often comes to us is in these words, I know that Jesus died for me, but I can't forgive myself. Let me share a story with you about a young man. I met when I was working in Latin America, I'll call him Diego. That was not his real name, but Diego was a seminary student and he was failing in his studies. He had been a really good student before and a professor and asked if I would meet with him. And so, as I met with him, I found out that, uh, Diego had become very depressed. He could barely get out of bed in the morning. He wasn't completing his coursework. And, uh, I, I asked him what he was so depressed about and he says, Ted, I just can't forgive myself. And I said, well, do you believe that Jesus died for your sins?

And he says, see peril. That means yes, but I cannot forgive myself. So we talked about that. And what had happened was, uh, as a boy, he was introduced to sexual activity and became very active in all different kinds of sexual activity, even before adolescence. But as a later teenager, he learned that Jesus had died for all those sins. And he was now forgiven. And he was so grateful for that, that he wanted to go to the seminary and become a pastor. But once he began his seminary studies, he realized how awful his Sims were, according to God's word. And that's where this guilt was coming on. And he was pouring it onto himself. And as we talked, uh, I, I began to help him understand that what he was doing was making his own forgiveness more important than Christ forgiveness. Exactly. And once he realized that, that he was actually making himself above God, he confessed that and was freed from that.

And I was able to remind him of how forgiven he is in Christ. And the one verse that really made it special for him came from Roman's eight verse one. And I had him read that to me, right? But inserting his name in the verse, there is therefore now no condemnation for Diego who is in Christ Jesus. And when he read it that way, the man just cried and wept as a result of our meeting that evening. Uh, he, his depression left him. His guilt was gone. His professors AO of him to make up his work. And, and today he's a very good pastor, uh, who understands that Christ's forgiveness is more important than me forgiving myself.

Where in the world did this forgiving myself come from? It's been an irritant for me over the course of time when people bring this up. And I say, just wait a second. Tell me where in the Bible do you find it necessary? If you forgive yourself, does that mean for you? That Christ forgiveness is not enough? What this really means is that that as, as Jeremiah has not only have I forgiven you, I don't remember your past anymore. We just continue to give stuff time that God has forgiven. So is that where

It comes from? Well, it comes from three places I believe, and that is, uh, our own sinful flesh, the devil and the world around us. They're constantly there to remind us that we do not deserve forgiveness. And, um, the devil in particular wants us to think that way. And one way to do that is say acknowledge that Christ died for my sins, but then say I can't forgive myself. But when we do that, we are putting ourselves in the place of God making our own forgiveness, Trump Christ forgiveness. So we're just turning things upside down. And once people begin to focus on that and what Christ has really done for them, that's where the freedom comes. I don't have to forgive myself. Christ has done it all for me already.

That's a wonderful explanation. I'm gonna have to put that in my back pocket because I hear it so often, even in the discussion, uh, that we have here with, with, uh, people on the air, um, the forgiveness of myself has become such a, such a caner, you know, in the life of, of the Christian. And it it's become an irritant for me, even when people say it. So I have to learn to become more patient. Maybe I need to be reconciled again, back to what the true freedom that we have is the next freedom that we have is the freedom from sin. You wanna talk about that?

Yeah. One of the things that that Christ forgive this does from us is it frees us from being a slave to our own sin. And, uh, Peter writes about it this way. In first, Peter, 2 24 Christ himself or our sins in his body, on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds. You have been healed. You see, on my own, I have no power to change my life. I have no power to resist temptation, but I don't need to do it on my own in Christ. As Paul says, I can do all things. And that means that I can fight this temptation. What gives us the power to do that Christ, death and resurrection and the forgiveness of sins so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

One of the things that has always bothered me and probably it bothers you as well, when we were young men and faced with some of the temptations, we said, boy, it'll sure be the, when I get old, cuz I want to have those temptations anymore. Well, welcome to the crowd. Uh, they still surround us and we still need the forgiveness. We still need to be reconciled back to the promises of God's word. Um, I'm in my eighties and I have to say, thank you Lord, for reminding be that this body does not carry perfection in. It never will, until we come close to close with Jesus,

You see one of the things I have a hard time grasping is I know these things I ought to know better. I ought not continue to sin again. That doesn't amaze me. What amazing is God still loves me. He knows everything about me. He knows the sins that I don't even begin to understand or fathom. And nonetheless, he still loves me for Jesus' sake. And so the older I get and the more I struggle with my own fight in that regard, the more awe and wonder I have for a God that he continues to forgive me and love me. Anyway,

I heard the statement not too long ago, but I really cherish. Uh, it was from a very, very good friend. And he said, isn't the wonderful that God let it's our mind alone. He looks at the heart. Uh, we look at the mind and the holy spirit helps us through his word to change the thoughts and the motives of the mind to move forward in grace. And so thank you for continued grace. Let me just pause for just a moment until the listen audience, uh, who this is is Evangel. Life ministries is the mother of our program engaging truth. It has been for 12 years. Um, we do this every Sunday night record our broadcast for podcasts. And this broadcast is streamed everywhere in the country and wherever people have a computer. And when to get into the website, E L M houston.org or into the website of the radio station, K K ht.com.

They can hear this program everywhere. I don't know how interested you are, but let me just ask you, would you remember to pray for us? There is no paid staff that we have everything that we do goes right into broadcasting. But if you'd like to support us with prayer, would you also consider supporting us with your dollars? You can do that by giving a donation. We'll say where and how to E L M P O box 5 68, Cypress, Texas 77, 410, or simply click onto the, the website and the donate button. And you can do the same there. Thank you. Thank you. And now back to our wonderful guest, we're talking about the freedoms that we have. How about freedom from anxiety and fear?

This is, um, uh, a special privilege that we have as children of God that as we trust in him, we need not be anxious about what's going on around us. And has this ever been evident to us in this whole, since pandemic, as we've realized that things that we thought were secure, that we thought we could depend upon were stripped away from us. And, uh, we realized that, um, our hope, our strength, uh, is not in the world around us. The things that we think, uh, might be secure, but are in our Lord. Jesus Christ. Paul writes in Philippians chapter four, Lord is at hand, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And so we need not join in with the fear of all of the people around us, knowing that God not only created us. He provides for us, he has redeemed us and he sanctifies us and he promises to never leave us, nor for sake, us doesn't promise that life will be easy, but he does promise that his love is ever lasting and nothing can separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus. Therefore we can lay down our anxieties and fears at the foot of the cross.

We have also the opportunity to address our heavenly father in prayer. We have that freedom to pray. Would you talk about that as well, Ted,

You know, when I was working in India, I got a new appreciation for prayer. The Christians in India take prayer very seriously. And the reason is, is they live in a culture where there's, uh, the, the Hindu religion is, is, uh, predominant, and they have some 3 million gods, but those gods never forget. And you're never good enough to pray directly to God. You have to go through all these intermediaries, but Christ invites us to pray directly to our heavenly father through his name. And one of the things that the Indian Christians taught me is how precious that is. I think in America, we take it. So for granted that when I pray, I can pray directly to God. I don't have to go through all these other channels. I don't have to try to atone for my sin. I don't have to, to, to do all these things, to make myself worthy. Christ has already done it. And so I have the freedom to pray to the very creator because Jesus has opened that door. That's a huge freedom and, and privilege

That freedom to pray is something that, um, we in America kind of take for granted. I think you've mentioned that I got a missionary friend who does a lot of work in, uh, Nigeria. And he said, what's what was interesting to me was there are no hospitals. There are no doctors. Oh, they got which doctors, but no real doctors. Prayer is a real, a real blessing event when people get together, cuz they believe that God answers prayer. And so prayer is a vital tool. Whereas we sometimes think, well, let's throw some of these little thoughts of ours to the, um, the Cosmo and maybe something will happen. No, that's not prayer at all. Thank you for just reminding us again, how we have that freedom to address the throne of God because of what Jesus did for us. We also have the freedom to confess and receive God's forgiveness. What, what a joy that is. Do you wanna explain that and share that with the audience too?

Yeah. Many people don't see confession as, as a, a path for its freedom. But if you look at much of the, uh, uh, anxiety, uh, uh, some of the depression, uh, uh, and much of the, the shame in our society is when people don't feel free to confess, they have to self justify. They have to explain things away. And yet they're always in term oils in their heart because of those kinds of things. But because of what Christ has done for us, we know we can come to God and be open and honest about our failings, because my value is not based on what I think, what I do, what I say my value is based on what my Lord Jesus Christ has done for me. And so, so in first John one, we read, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. We stay in that prison. And, uh, the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God is faithful and justice to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all righteousness because of what Christ has done for us. So when I say is, we are free to confess because we know that God forgives, uh, otherwise we'll stay in this prison of our guilt and our, uh, uh, lack of admitting our wrong

Sometime ago. I was, uh, the chaplain for 11 years of a retirement village in the Houston area. And, um, one of the ladies that belonged to the prayer group that we had there, um, also was a leader in the past years, in a, in a group called Bible study fellowship BSF. And she said, one of the things that we leaders had to do every time we got to together was get on our knees and confess our sins. She said, every meeting of the leaders, that's what we did. And that's so unreal to us and our particular, uh, culture, isn't it, uh, to confess, but how wholesome it is to be able to confess our, uh, to our heaven father and know that in the name of Jesus, we stand forgiven

And it's not the confession by itself. That brings freedom, but it leads to receiving that gift of forgiveness from God. And that's what gives us the complete freedom.

Tell us a little bit about this prison of unforgiveness. Uh, I know, and you know, that people sometimes wallow in unforgiveness, they can't face the simple fact that God has declared them righteous in Christ. Would you talk about that prison of unforgiveness for a moment?

This has been very troubling to me since I've been doing this work for three decades now, and that is Christians of either say they can't forgive, or they won't forgive two slightly different, uh, versions of a similar thing. But what it does is it, it puts them in a prison. Unforgiveness is the poison. We drink, hoping the other person will die. And what it does is it builds in us bitterness and over time can separate us from God. And there's only one way to get relief from that. And that's to go to the cross. I know a man named Jean who was born to an UNW mother. She never married, they were poor. And over time he learned that he had a father, but his mother wouldn't talk about him. And Jean learned to hate that man for putting him and his mom in such, uh, deplorable situation.

And over the years, his hatred grew for that man. In fact, it caused problems in his teen years and even in his young adult life. And, uh, he had stopped going to church, but one day, uh, a young woman, a friend invited him back and he started going again. His pastor asked him if he would teach Sunday school after he'd come back for a while. And, and he agreed to, but the, then he thought he was a hypocrite. He says, how can I teach children rev without Jesus who forgives? When I can't forgive a man I've never met. And so he was gonna quit teaching, but he had one more lesson to teach. And that was on the passion of Christ. And as he was preparing his lesson, he came across these words in scripture, Jesus speaking on the cross father, forgive them for, they do not know what they are doing.

I wanna say wonderful. This conversation has been, it seems like only two minutes that we've spent together, but I want to thank you, Ted, for being willing to be on with us and to articulate the simple need of the freedom that forgiveness provides for us. So thank you. And we'll do this again because, because forgiveness is the very center point of the gospel message of what Christ has done for us. Thank you G uh, thank you, Ted. And come back to us again on engaging truths. Good night.

Thank you for listening to this broadcast of engaging truth. Be sure to join us each week at this time, to help support our ministry, contact evangelical life ministries, post office spots, 5 68, Cypress, Texas 77, 410, or visit our website@elmhouston.org, or find us on at evangelical life ministries.