Join your host Rick Hughes in this episode of The Flatline, where we explore the journey of spiritual freedom through grace. Discussing the vital importance of freedom as cherished by Americans and protected by countless soldiers, Rick shares insights drawn from scripture, emphasizing the liberty found in Christ. Our conversation delves into how grace provides a unique relationship with God, free from the usual constraints of organized religion and ritualism. As you listen, discover how truth, as taught by Christ, leads us to a liberated life in God’s presence.
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
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Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please stay with me. It won’t be long, only about 30 minutes of inspiration, some motivation, some education, and all of it done without any type of manipulation. That means we’re not going to con you. We’re not going to ask you for money. We’re not going to try to sell you anything. We’re not going to ask you to join up, fess it up, or give it up. We just ask you to listen up. Listen as I try to do my very best to verify and identify the plan of God for your life. If I’m able to do that, and then you could orient and adjust to the plan if you’d like to do so. It’s your life. You got one shot at it. No redos. So I pray you’re listening. I pray you’ll pay good attention. This morning, I’d like to welcome several new stations to our Flatline broadcast. If you’re a regular listener, you might remember that last year, back in December of 2024, we dropped some stations where we had very little listener response. I mean, we have over 100 stations, and we like to keep up with where we’re hearing from people. And if we’re not hearing from anybody after being in an area for a year, maybe sometimes as much as two years, then we’ll change that station and go to another location. So I want to announce to you that we are now expanding again the shows based on why we took a look around and see where it is we can go. So we’re going to expand these shows based again while we look for those that are anxious to understand the plan of God for their lives. You know, I’m a fisherman, and I consider this outreach to be a fishing expedition. I’m always casting the truth out and always try to get listeners to wait and see if we get a response or get a bite. Remember, we’re not asking you for money. We’re not trying to sell anything. What we’re looking for is positive volition. Hopefully, what we can teach you will give you a degree of confidence that we are legitimate people if you see we’re not trying to con you, if you realize we’re not trying to trick you into doing something for our advantage. So sit back and relax and listen. as I try to verify and identify God’s plan for your life. That’s my prayer for you today, that you’ll be joining our show and that you’ll start listening every Sunday and that you’ll take advantage of the many materials that we offer through our website, rickhughesministries.org. The show you’re listening to today is 1,033. That’s 1,033 Sundays we’ve been on the air all across the United States of America trying to represent our Lord Jesus Christ and lift up God’s Word. So, I want to talk to you today about freedom. This morning, let’s talk about freedom, F-R-E-D-O-M, freedom. As Americans, we love freedom and we cherish our freedom. Many men and women have given their lives to defend this freedom since this great nation was founded. Many prayers have been offered to God requesting the divine assistance in preserving our freedom. You might not know this, but since our new president got in office, we’re paying attention to the military, trying to get it back on track, get it away from the agenda that it’s been on the last few years. But the United States Army Special Forces has a prayer that they offer to God. It’s a prayer for freedom. I’m gonna read you this prayer. And remember, many prayers are being offered to God requesting divine assistance and preserving freedom. So this is the prayer the special forces, the United States Army Special Forces, this is the prayer they offer. Almighty God, who art the author of liberty and the champion of the oppressed, hear our prayer. We, the men of the Special Forces, acknowledge and depend upon thee in the preservation of human freedom. Go with us as we seek to defend the defenseless and to free the enslaved. May we ever remember that our nation whose oath in God we trust, quote, expects that we shall acquit ourselves with honor, that we may never bring shame upon our faith, upon our families, or our fellow soldiers. Grant us wisdom from thy mind, and courage from thy heart, and protection from thy hand. It is for thee that we do battle, and for thee belongs the victor’s crown. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. I love that. What a phenomenal prayer the Special Forces have. That’s their special private prayer. You know, the Bible talks about freedom in a lot of different areas. Listen to these verses that I give you. This is from Galatians chapter five, verse one. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ has made us free. There we go, freedom. Free from the bondage of organized religion. That’s one thing. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul wrote back and said, stand fast in that liberty. Christ made you free. You don’t have to be under organized religion anymore. You don’t have to be following the rituals anymore. There’s now grace. It’s a wonderful way to have a relationship with God based on grace. It’s not based on your baptism. It’s not based on your circumcision. It’s not based on the adherence to the laws of Moses. Grace is the ultimate expression of freedom in Christ Jesus. Grace is freedom, freedom from trying to earn your way to heaven, freedom from worry. A lot of things we’re going to show you this morning, but remember Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 says, for by grace are you saved through faith. Faith and freedom go hand in hand. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself proclaimed grace in knowing him. He said in John 8, 32, and you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you what? Free. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. The question is, what freedom comes from knowing the truth? And what is the truth that Jesus, our Lord, is actually speaking about? In John 14, 6, here it is. This is what he’s talking about. Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life, and no man can come unto the Father but by me. It’s now obvious that Christ was referring to himself, and he was saying there’s only one way to come to God, and that’s through him, Jesus, the anointed Son of God, and that’s the grace blessing that God gives you free, freely, freely. Once any individual believes in Christ and receives him as Savior, there’s an amazing thing that happens. John 16, 13, the Lord Jesus Christ told them, when he, the Holy Spirit, comes, called the Spirit of truth, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things that are to come. And so remember this, that the Holy Spirit is your guide through life, taking the scriptures, the word of God. This promise gives assurance to you and to me that we never have to be deceived by Satan again, just as Eve was deceived in the garden. We don’t have to be deceived. Why? Because John 16, 13, he will guide you into all truth. He will show you what’s to come. So let me make a few principles here. The first freedom you receive when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior is you are now free from the penalty of sin and death. In Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God through freedom now, grace is freedom, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That’s Romans 6.23. You and I are the guilty ones because we’re the sinners, not him. But as a great act of obedience to the Father and his love for others, he took our place on that cross. Romans tells us that in 5.8, but God committed his love towards us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Because of this act of love, you and I are now given the honor of possessing eternal life. John 3.16, you’ve heard it before, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. You are now free if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive him as your savior. You’re free from the penalty of sin and death. And this freedom is provided by grace. Grace is not a license to do what you want to do, but rather it’s an opportunity to replicate God’s love through our behavior with other believers. Galatians 5.13, For you were called to freedom, brother, there it is, but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Again, I repeat, the freedom we have been provided by grace is not a license to do what you want to do, but an opportunity to replicate the love of God. So there’s another freedom also, and that freedom is given in Christ Jesus, and that’s freedom from the control of your sin nature. Once you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are given the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit offers you freedom from the slavery to sin nature domination. We see in Ephesians 1.13, in whom after you trusted, you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom after you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Now, you actually have a choice in your sin nature. You don’t have to obey it any longer. Galatians 5.16, this I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you won’t have to fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh fights against the spirit, and the spirit fights against the flesh, and these are contrary one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. This is why you feel like two different people sometimes. Every believer has this battle going on with inside of them. The flesh wants to control your life as it always did before you accepted Christ. But now the Holy Spirit says, I want to control your life. Let me run the show. And so you have to make a volitional decision. Are you going to say no to sin and yes to the Holy Spirit? Prior to your salvation, you didn’t have a choice. You were under sin nature control 24-7. That does not mean you never did anything good, you never did anything helpful. I’m not saying that. It simply means you could not manufacture enough good deeds to equal God’s righteousness. In Romans 3.10, there are none that are righteous, no, not even one. Notice Isaiah 64, six. All of us have become like one who is unclean, and our righteousness acts are like filthy rags to God. So you can try to impress God with not smoking, not drinking, not cussing, not dancing, whatever you want to say. God’s not impressed. What he is impressed with is the righteousness of Jesus Christ credited to your account. So being free from slavery to the oaths in nature is a wonderful thing. And this is how you overcome lifelong flaws in your life that you chose to hesitate in. Because now that you’re a believer, now that the Holy Spirit lives in you, sustains you, and strengthens you, you can walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. This means you no longer have to commit those sins that used to dominate your life. It means you now have a choice. And when you do fail, when you do mess up, when you do commit that sin that you wish you hadn’t have done, You can always use problem-solving device number one, which is rebound, which means to recover from that sin by problem-solving device number one, found in 1 John 1.9. If we confess our sin, he’s faithful and just to forgive us and purify us from all of our wrongdoing. So staying filled with the Holy Spirit is the key to overcoming the lust of the flesh. And we are actually mandated in Ephesians 5.18, don’t be drunk with wine, which leads to accessory debauchery, but instead be filled with the Spirit. That’s a command. That’s not a request. It’s a command. There’s another freedom the believer possesses, and that’s freedom from worry about our daily needs. Notice Matthew 6, 25 through 34, rather long passage I want to read to you, but it gets the point across. You are free from worry. Matthew 6, 25, the Lord Jesus Christ said, therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life. If you’re sitting around worrying about your life, you’re sinning, I promise you. You don’t have to do that. If you’re a child of God, there’s no reason to worry. I read on. Worry about what you’re going to eat, worrying about what you’re going to drink, worrying about what you’re going to wear. The Lord said, is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than a bird? Can any one of you by worrying add one single hour to your life? No, so why do you worry, the Bible says, about clothes? Look at the flowers in the field and how they grow. They don’t labor or spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these. So if that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not even much more clothe you? So don’t worry. Freedom from worry. What a wonderful thing. Lord Jesus Christ made that clear. Don’t worry. Say, what do we eat? What are we going to drink? Oh, what are we going to wear? You can just hear it. Oh, my goodness. For the pagans run after all these things, the Lord said. Your heavenly Father knows what you need, so seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all of these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. So you’re free from worry, free from the lake of fire, free from eternal damnation, free from control of your sin nature, free from worry. This promise is a divine provision provided by God himself. And I promise you, I assure you, he will never throw you under the bus. So when you say, what does that mean, throw me under the bus? That’s slang for turning his back on you. In Psalm 55, 22, the Bible clearly tells us, cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous be shaken. You are considered the righteous. You are, since why are you righteous? Well, you have the righteousness of Christ, and it’s been credited to your account. If you take the letter R and put R plus or R minus, maybe that’ll help you understand it. As good as you are, as good as you can be, all the good deeds you can do is the letter R with a minus by it, minus righteousness. You cannot manufacture equal righteousness with God. But if you take the letter R and put a plus by it, that’s plus righteousness. And that’s the righteousness of Jesus Christ given to us. In 2 Corinthians 5, 21, he who knew no sin was made sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God through him. That’s how you get plus R. Free, you don’t earn it, you don’t buy it, you don’t deserve it, it’s free. The gift of eternal life is free. In Isaiah 41 10, so do not fray, I’m with you. Do not be dismayed, I am your God. I will strengthen you and I will help you and I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Wonderful freedom in Christ Jesus. freedom that we have. So let’s recall some of this freedom again from Christ Jesus. One, we’re free from eternal damnation, the lake of fire. You’re free, your penalty has been paid. Christ stepped up to it and he paid the price for your freedom. He bought your freedom on the cross. Two, you’re free from sin nature domination. Never again do you have to submit to the sin nature and let it control your life. Now you actually have a choice. Now you can decide what you want to do. The Bible clearly tells you don’t quench the spirit. Don’t grieve the spirit. That means when you use your volition to go negative to God’s plan, you’re making a terrible mistake. You don’t have to live like that. You can let the Holy Spirit guide you and lead you through the truth. That’s the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ. Once you accept Christ as your Savior, all truth is found in the Scripture. So when you have the Scripture and you have a well-qualified pastor teach it to you, then you don’t have to worry about what you’re doing, whether it’s right or wrong, because it’s there. You can see it in the Word. So we could also be free from worry, as I showed you, free from stress, free from being concerned about the details of life. What am I going to eat? What am I going to wear? What am I going to drink? Your Heavenly Father promised He would provide all of that for you. And finally, you are given the freedom to choose. You can choose who you wish to follow. In the Old Testament, in the book of Joshua, as he approached the end of his life, he had taken over command from Moses and he had gone into the Promised Land and led the people into the Promised Land, starting with the Battle of Jericho. And now Joshua’s coming up to the end of his life and this is the challenge that he tells his family. And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, And you choose, there it is, you choose for yourself this day who you want to serve, whether the gods of your father, whether the god that your father served that were on the other side of the Jordan River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose, what? The gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now dwell. And here it is, listen carefully. but as for me in my house we will serve the lord that’s a choice that’s a choice you know god would never bully you into serving him he’s not going to force you to do it if your eternal destiny is secure you can go on down the my way highway Just whatever you want to do, go do it. Until your time on earth runs out. I did a message called TOE, T-O-E, time on earth. All of us are granted a certain amount of time by the grace of God. So you accepted Christ. I’ve seen this happen. I’ve seen people get saved. They got on fire for the Lord for a couple of months and then they just finally slid back into their old lifestyle. Quit going to church, quit studying their Bible, quit praying, kind of got caught up in the process of life. You can do that. Whatever you want to do, it’s your choice. But why? Why on earth would you choose to reject all the divine advantages that God offers you? Are you crazy? The Word of God gives you insight, understanding. The Word of Proverbs 2 talks about this, insight and understanding and discernment. What a protective shield around your life, being able to know if you’re making the right decision or the wrong decision. It’s no longer flip a coin. It’s no longer, oh, I hope I’m doing the right thing. Now you can see it from the Scripture, and God the Holy Spirit will lead you to the answer and tell you this is what you do. You may fall in love, you may want to get married. May be a wonderful person and you’re a Christian and maybe that person’s not. You say, oh, we’ll work it out, it’s okay, we’ll get together. The Bible says don’t marry unbelievers. There’s your answer right there. Don’t do it. You think God’s got something against you, you think he wants to keep you from having a good time, stop you from being in love? No. I mean, God’s got something better. The problem is you don’t want to wait. You’re not willing to wait for the better. You want to get it done now. That’s where you mess up. You’re not willing to wait on the Lord. So what is the reason that you neglect your spiritual life? Why do you neglect to serve a risen Savior? Are you just too busy hustling through the day that you cannot stop? You don’t have time for God any longer? You don’t have time for what God has done for you? Are you a Christian? Have you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you accepted Him as your Savior? Maybe what the Lord Jesus Christ said in Revelation 3 refers to you. Has your spiritual life grown cold? When I accepted Christ, the first night I went to bed, it was an unbelievable, peaceful night. When I got up the next day, it was peaceful. Every day I found out I had to make decisions. I had to learn the Bible. I was given a Bible. I had to read the Bible. I had to learn. The first thing I read was the book of John, and I thought, gee, how did God know all of this stuff about me? A year or two into the Christian life, again, those struggles, those choices I had to make. Am I gonna do what the Bible says or am I gonna do what I wanna do? So many people do what they wanna do or they try to blend them together. I’ll do what I wanna do and add God and try to give him the glory while I do what I wanna do. Crazy. In Revelation 3, 15 through 16, this is what the Lord Jesus Christ said. I know your works. I know that you’re neither hot and you’re not cold. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then because you’re a lukewarm, not cold and not hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. That means to vomit you out of his mouth. In Matthew 8, 18, we find Jesus boarding a boat in order to cross the Sea of Galilee because of a great crowd that followed him when he went to Peter’s home to heal Peter’s mother-in-law. It was getting dark late in the evening and thousands of people were pushing the Lord Jesus Christ And several followers made excuses. And the Lord says, let’s get in the boat and let’s go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Let’s leave this crowd. And several followers made excuses so they would not have to get in the boat with him. What’s your excuse? Why are you not willing to get in the boat with the Lord Jesus Christ? He offers you freedom. He offers you a wonderful life. He offers you protection and encouragement and freedom from worry, freedom from sin nature control. All the advantages the Lord Jesus Christ offers you, the scriptures offer you, and you won’t even take time to do it any longer. You don’t have time for God in your life anymore. You’re too busy running around, too busy doing whatever you want to do on Sunday morning. I pray you’re listening. I pray you’re paying attention. I gave a message not long ago on a well-qualified pastor and why you must have him. My prayer is that you will find that pastor, that you will do whatever it takes to get under his authority and learn the scriptures on a daily basis so that you can truly be free, free to live life the way God wants you to live it. free to follow God’s plan. But it’s your choice. You have volition. That’s one thing about God. He didn’t make you a little robot. He gave you a choice. He gave you freedom. You can do whatever you want to do. Go down to my way, highway, or I will serve you, Father. What’s your choice? What’s the choice that you’re going to make today? Because the freedom is there if you want it. I hope you’re listening. I hope you’re paying attention. It’s my prayer that I’ll be able to come back next week, same time, same place. If you have questions, you can go to our website, rickhughesministries.org. You can always write us from there. You can order the books from there. We’ll be glad to do anything we can to give you assistance and help, and even provide you the transcripts of these messages. So thank you for listening. I pray you’ll come back next week, same time. Until then, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
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Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
