Radio Broadcast Monday 02/26/2024

Classic Christianity – Book of Hebrews P71 (02-26-24)

Jesus Changes Everything, Rest in Him Alone

~ When you come to Jesus and the Holy Spirit comes to live in you, He starts stripping away your dependencies on all things except Christ Jesus. Many have been kicked out of churches for preaching the truth about forgiveness being finished at the cross. Some of you have lost friends and close relatives because you realized it is ALL Jesus and nothing of yourself and when you share that with others, they don’t want to hear it. And we have to understand that God separates us from those within the world. And the more that you dive into the word of God and rest in the finality of the cross, the more you realize the major lies that people are believing from that of religion. Yet there are some, that like to hold on to tradition no matter what. And that is NOT good. For the Holy Spirit wants to teach us truth yet some place up road blocks to learning the truth of the word of God. Some need to be reminded that church is Not a building on the corner of walk and don’t walk. Some are still listening to the preaching of Satan’s liars, and have never come to the full knowledge of Truth. Many are way too comfortable in their Sunday traditions, they still identify with their religion instead of being identified with Christ Jesus. They don’t want anyone to accuse them of not going to “church” on Sundays. And instead are all too willing to listen to the lies of Satan from the pulpit no matter what is said. However, the book of Hebrews addresses that directly. Get rid of all your traditions. Get rid of your man-made religions. Get rid of worshiping at the feet of the agents of Satan. And make no mistake about it, most indeed are agents of Satan today, whether they know it or not. For they are promoting the lies of Satan left and right, because after all they have been to the Jew university. And those of you that have the Holy Spirit know that in your heart, for the Holy Spirit has made that perfectly clear to you. Start proclaiming the TRUTH. The Holy Spirit is testifying to the fact that most are teaching lies.

Start walking as Children of LIGHT, not of children of darkness. For you are No longer darkness.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth— discerning what is well-pleasing to the Lord. And do not have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even expose them. For it is shameful even to mention the things being done by them in secret. But everything being exposed by the light is made visible, for everything becoming visible is light. Therefore it says: “Awake you, the one sleeping, and rise up out from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you.” Therefore carefully take heed how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Because of this, do not be foolish, but understand what is the Lord’s will, and not to be drunk with wine in which is debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit, speaking to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks at all times for all things in the name our Lord Jesus Christ to the God and Father. ^{Ephesians 5 8-20}

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~ “As I continue to look and to study through the book of Hebrews, my thought, it makes me wonder that although sometimes the date of the writing of this was sometimes prior to 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed, and of course, in the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple was destroyed, all the genealogies were destroyed, everything was destroyed. So there was literally no more temple worship available. And the writer of Hebrews was, was certainly I don’t believe the apostle Paul, because of things that are certainly stated in there that were intimate that the writer was a second generation believer, and we talked about that, as we studied through it. Some people attribute this book to either Apollos or to Barnabas. But the more I read this, the more I wonder if it was not written after 70 AD after the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the temple. The reason being that, as I look at that, and to think of all of the years and years and years of tradition that took place in the temple of worship, and the dependency upon that, what kind of a desperation would be in a person’s heart? Who, suddenly all of those things were gone? And, and in essence, there’s nothing else to rely on. But Jesus, God forbid. And, and, and, you know, we stopped to think about that, all of a sudden, you say, well, what would that be like, until we think, in our own hearts and our own minds many times how, traditionally, we hold on to our own traditions. And I’ve known people who say, Man, I was born a Catholic, I am a Catholic, and I’ll die Catholic, or I was born a Baptist, and I’ll die a Baptist, if you punch me, I bleed Baptist. And, and all of that kind of stuff. And and I’m gonna hang in there, the place is a zoo, but I’m gonna hang in there until the pastor leaves. And, and you get all of that kind of stuff of these false misplaced dependencies. And we can see how easy that is, in our own life. We’ve got some friends of ours that said, boy, when they moved from that church that they used to go to this one, I told my husband, that’s the last move we’ll ever make. And we’re gonna hang in there until we die, and they will. And they’re in a dead place. And so nobody know the difference. And but, in essence, that’s the way we do we want to hang on to those things, hang on to what is familiar, if you have been brought up and been used to a certain tradition, a certain way of doing things, that’s where you feel comfortable is when people are doing things that way. And that’s why people sometimes walk in here and see these round tables and say, I think I’m in the wrong place, I was not looking for a place to eat breakfast, I was looking for a place to go to church. And because they’re not used to seeing that after you get used to it, and you take the tables down, then everybody gripes and complaints and all that. But at the beginning, it’s a shocker because we’re not used to those things. And we tend to want to gather where we’re comfortable. So you can imagine the frustration, the emptiness, the having to let go of tradition with the Hebrews, if their tempo was suddenly gone, and all of those traditions were gone. And I would assume that what was taking place there is with those things being gone. Then there was a talk and a movement of let’s go replace them. Let’s go set it up again. If there isn’t a sacrificial place, if they’re in an altar, let’s go build one. Let’s keep the thing going. In other words, it’s been destroyed, but let’s get it going someplace else. And that’s our tendency, isn’t it? To want to do that. Let’s go get the familiar rebuilt again. Because we have that tendency to want to migrate toward the familiar. Many times people hang in to marriages and hate each other just because it’s familiar. And, and so we do have that tendency to want to hang in there. Now whether that is true or not in regard to this book, I can’t be dogmatic about it. But the more I read, the more it comes to me that I believe it some of the things that the author is addressing there, as he is saying, let’s hold on a minute before we think about that wonderful tradition that we were latched into. Let’s see what God did for us. And in that, it starts off in the book of Hebrews in the first chapter in the past, and he’s talking about in the past, God spoke to our forefathers, through the prophets, and in many times, and in various ways, various in sundry ways. But in these last days, he has spoken to his by his Son. And so granted, there were ways in which God spoke to us in the past. But today, let’s think about it. It’s the Son. And it could it be that God has arranged to strip away all of these dependencies, until there’s nothing left except Jesus. And instead of looking at that is woe is me look at it as a joyful situation. Because through this book of Hebrews, I’m going to show you where Christ is greater than all these things. And in essence, many times these false dependencies become a stumbling block to that personal relationship with Christ.” ~ Bob George

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Join Bob George in this chapter by chapter exposition of the book of Hebrews. Available for download the complete series on the Book of Hebrews. The Book of Hebrews is key to understanding the New Covenant.

Announcer 0:12
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.

Bob George 0:29
As I continue to look and to study through the book of Hebrews, my thought, it makes me wonder that although sometimes the date of the writing of this was sometimes prior to 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed, and of course, in the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple was destroyed, all the genealogies were destroyed, everything was destroyed. So there was literally no more temple worship available. And the writer of Hebrews was, was certainly I don’t believe the apostle Paul, because of things that are certainly stated in there that were intimate that the writer was a second generation believer, and we talked about that, as we studied through it. Some people attribute this book to either Apollos or to Barnabas. But the more I read this, the more I wonder if it was not written after 70 AD after the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the temple. The reason being that, as I look at that, and to think of all of the years and years and years of tradition that took place in the temple of worship, and the dependency upon that, what kind of a desperation would be in a person’s heart? Who, suddenly all of those things were gone? And, and in essence, there’s nothing else to rely on. But Jesus, God forbid. And, and, and, you know, we stopped to think about that, all of a sudden, you say, well, what would that be like, until we think, in our own hearts and our own minds many times how, traditionally, we hold on to our own traditions. And I’ve known people who say, Man, I was born a Catholic, I am a Catholic, and I’ll die Catholic, or I was born a Baptist, and I’ll die a Baptist, if you punch me, I bleed Baptist. And, and all of that kind of stuff. And and I’m gonna hang in there, the place is a zoo, but I’m gonna hang in there until the pastor leaves. And, and you get all of that kind of stuff of these false misplaced dependencies. And we can see how easy that is, in our own life. We’ve got some friends of ours that said, boy, when they moved from that church that they used to go to this one, I told my husband, that’s the last move we’ll ever make. And we’re gonna hang in there until we die, and they will. And they’re in a dead place. And so nobody know the difference. And but, in essence, that’s the way we do we want to hang on to those things, hang on to what is familiar, if you have been brought up and been used to a certain tradition, a certain way of doing things, that’s where you feel comfortable is when people are doing things that way. And that’s why people sometimes walk in here and see these round tables and say, I think I’m in the wrong place, I was not looking for a place to eat breakfast, I was looking for a place to go to church. And because they’re not used to seeing that after you get used to it, and you take the tables down, then everybody gripes and complaints and all that. But at the beginning, it’s a shocker because we’re not used to those things. And we tend to want to gather where we’re comfortable. So you can imagine the frustration, the emptiness, the having to let go of tradition with the Hebrews, if their tempo was suddenly gone, and all of those traditions were gone. And I would assume that what was taking place there is with those things being gone. Then there was a talk and a movement of let’s go replace them. Let’s go set it up again. If there isn’t a sacrificial place, if they’re in an altar, let’s go build one. Let’s keep the thing going. In other words, it’s been destroyed, but let’s get it going someplace else. And that’s our tendency, isn’t it? To want to do that. Let’s go get the familiar rebuilt again. Because we have that tendency to want to migrate toward the familiar. Many times people hang in to marriages and hate each other just because it’s familiar. And, and so we do have that tendency to want to hang in there. Now whether that is true or not in regard to this book, I can’t be dogmatic about it. But the more I read, the more it comes to me that I believe it some of the things that the author is addressing there, as he is saying, let’s hold on a minute before we think about that wonderful tradition that we were latched into. Let’s see what God did for us. And in that, it starts off in the book of Hebrews in the first chapter in the past, and he’s talking about in the past, God spoke to our forefathers, through the prophets, and in many times, and in various ways, various in sundry ways. But in these last days, he has spoken to his by his Son. And so granted, there were ways in which God spoke to us in the past. But today, let’s think about it. It’s the Son. And it could it be that God has arranged to strip away all of these dependencies, until there’s nothing left except Jesus. And instead of looking at that is woe is me look at it as a joyful situation. Because through this book of Hebrews, I’m going to show you where Christ is greater than all these things. And in essence, many times these false dependencies become a stumbling block to that personal relationship with Christ.

And you and I have also seen how that occurs in our lives, where the activities and the programs and the programs on top of programs, and the Sunday morning meetings, and the Sunday evening meetings, and the visitation meetings and the prayer meetings, and then try to have a day of rest at the church. Got together at the church to get rested. But you got to have a day of rest, and and you have committees and committees and committees, and then you have to have committees on committees. And what we have done is organize the Holy Spirit right out of our Christian experience. And many and many times God has to strip those things out from under us in order to get us to see it’s all Jesus. It’s all him. And we get into a performance orientation which legalism forces you into, legalism, the law forces the flesh to behave, it insists on the flesh to behave. And again, the only thing that can occur with that is total utter frustration. When you are serving a God that you think is demanding this and this and this demanding total obedience out of you, demanding total perfection out of you, and your whole life is spent realizing you can’t do it. How can you help except getting angry at the one who’s forcing you to try to do something that you can’t do? It’s like living with someone who is constantly demanding perfection out of you, and you can’t do it. After a while, you began hating them. A person who’s constantly demanding constantly demanding constantly demanding, I can’t do it. And the only thing you can ultimately do, is to say, get me out of here. And that’s when people run. They run from a mate like that. And you’ll run from God. You say, God, I believe you. I love you. As much as I can’t, I can’t stand your demands, I can’t live under it. I can’t live up to them. We can do the same thing with our kids. And many times put such terrific demands on our kids and expect perfection out of them to the point where when they get old enough to run, they run so I can’t live up to it. I can’t do it. I’m just getting chewed out all the time. I can’t do anything right. And before long, we ended up running. Now, in many instances, that’s what God has to do. And I believe that’s exactly what happened in Hebrewism. That’s what happened with this whole deal. In the times past. God spoke to our forefathers through these things, through the prophets at many times in various ways. But contrast, in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe. The Son, Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory, not the temple. The temple was the radiance of God’s glory. You wanted to see God’s glory had to go the temple, no. Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being sustaining all things by his powerful word. And after he Jesus had provided purification for sins, in other words, total taking away of your sins. Jesus did that not a sacrificial system, Jesus, after he had done that, then he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. So we’re talking about Christ. And it goes ahead to say then that he Jesus is greater than the angels. It goes ahead to talk about the fact of Moses that was in certainly the follower that to the Hebrew would have said, we are followers of Moses. And we follow Moses teaching. Well, the problem with Moses teaching is it was teaching you couldn’t follow. Isn’t that amazing we say, I follow something that I can’t follow. And and so he was saying, Christ is greater than Moses, nothing wrong with Moses, he was named by God, he was God’s man for the day, but something greater than Moses is here. And that is Christ Jesus. And it goes ahead in the third chapter to talk about that, through therefor brothers who share in you the heavenly calling fixture thoughts on Jesus now, not on Moses, not on the temple, not on the sacrificial system, on Jesus, the one who is and was, and is coming again. Thoughts on Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest, it says, Whom we confess, he was faithful to the one who appointed him just as Moses was faithful and all God’s house. But Jesus has been found worthy, greater of greater honor than Moses. And just as the builder of the house has greater honor than the house itself, for every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful, it says, as a servant in God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But again, contrast, Christ is faithful as a Son, over God’s house, and we are his house. Now again, Where would people back in those days, what would they call the house of God? Well the temple. What do we call house of God? Well, the church building. We say, Welcome to God’s house. Is this God’s house? If it is, he lives in a warehouse needs to go out and kill some calves on 1000 hills of this is God’s house. But you see, if it’s God’s house, well, then the goal is build a bigger and better one. Again, looking better get the stained glass windows in it, get it looking nice. If it’s God’s house, if that’s God’s house, it would be true. He said, That’s not God’s house. The temple wasn’t God’s house, the church building isn’t God’s house, that place down on a corner of walk and don’t walk is not God’s house, that’s just a building it just bricks and mortar. Who’s God’s house, people, Christ came to do something different. You people are God’s house. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying about what would be said in the future. But again, Christ is faithful as a Son, over God’s house, and we are his house.

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Bob George 13:44
So something new is happening. A person wants to hang on to that temple. He said, wait a minute, that’s not the house of God. That’s not the house of God. You’re the house of God. All of these things, folks are a change in mindset. See what it says Don’t be conformed to the world, but be transformed how? By the renewing of your mind. We’re not born into this world with wisdom. We’re born in this world with human stupidity. And the only thing stupidity needs is corrected. And if we’re going to look toward wisdom, we’re going to have to find our wisdom from God because there certainly isn’t any in the world. All the world is is total deception. If you don’t believe that, just watch the advertising campaigns. And we realize as we’ve said before, this great when it’s out there that a lure is based on the principle of deception. That’s what a lure is. You’re lured into something I said there’s no fish that ever bit into one of those thinking that it was a lure. They bit into it thinking it was the real thing and was deceived by the lure and ended up in the skillet. That’s what happens you and me. We bite into the lures. There’s not a one of us that bite into a lure thinking we’re going to end up in the frying pan. But we’re deceived. And that’s what the world does. It’s a deceiver. It’s a deception. That always makes things look better than they are. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

I was this morning talking to a young guy that we just were briefly there, and he was talking about his wife have a new baby. And he said, man, every time that baby cry, she’s up like that. And he said, I keep telling Hey, hold on, we don’t have to go. And I told her, you don’t have a wife. You just got a woman. They all do that. He Oh, really. He said, mine is on you knew they’re all same way. And he was a great relief to him to realize that he didn’t have a weird one on his hands. That’s just just wait things go. Now you’ll see the world go out. And so that’s if you’ve got a weird one that other one over there wouldn’t do that. You just stay in bed snuggle with you all day while the baby’s crying. There are none like that. Unless they’re deaf and dumb. The lures of the world. They’re all out there aren’t they? And religiously, well, they’re also lores. And the lore is the Tinseltown the lore is the the big mega church idea and make it big and programs. If I can get the kids Oh, if I get the kids, I have people sometimes I sit down, say why do you keep? Why do you keep supporting what you’re supporting? And I’m not talking about dollars? I’m just talking about in? Oh, well it’s good for the kids. Well, where were your kids? Oh, they were all they’re one of them is a drug addicts. One of them’s lost as a goose and yet it was good for him. It was good for him good to be in church. Folks, we’ve got some kind of a mentality around where we totally ignore what is being taught all we care about is something is being taught. If like I mentioned last week with the with the books, this school teacher was up on top of the building because their students had read 1500 books, no one asked what were in those books. What was contained in those books is that good literature is that bad literature is a truthful literature isn’t lie, it doesn’t make it there. We just read 1500 books. That’s all it matters. And we don’t care what’s being taught as long as something’s being taught it as long as the atmosphere is there, and as long as there’s some recreation. And as long as there’s some programs, and all that. That’s all it matters. I cannot tell you the number of kids that I know today that today are my daughter’s were my daughter’s age who are dead today of AIDS. Who were in all the choir tours. And singing in the choir. And praising the Lord with their lips with the best who are dead. I know at least 10 of them. Dead today with AIDS.

So folks if we’re going to think about our youth, then we’re gonna have to quit thinking about entertaining them. And think about what’s being taught to them. Because only truth sets a child free. The same way that truth sets you and me free. And error will put you in bondage. I don’t care what kind of an entertainment section you’ve got for them. So children need to be taught truth, not error. And you can have a Christian lore Just like you can have a porno lure. It doesn’t make an ounce of difference. Any thing that can get you away from truth is truth. A fisherman doesn’t care whether he catches a fish with a worm, or a good look and lure as long as he catches the fish. And it doesn’t make a difference whether you get people into error through religion or you get them into error through porno. You’ve got them in the error. And folks, we have got to realize that this whole Bible, this whole book of Hebrews is a book that is saying get your eyes off of outward performance and get it on to Jesus. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. He is the one that we are to keep our eyes on.

Now to the Hebrew there was Moses and He said, There’s someone greater than Moses. He then talks about Joshua, Moses got him out of Egypt. That is the equivalent today of us being lost. And getting into the desert, Moses put them there. But Moses didn’t get them into the Promised Land, and there is another lure. That Manna is okay. God said, I want you to go to the Promised Land, I want you to go into the Promised Land. I want you to go be able to eat from trees that you didn’t plant and drink from wells that you didn’t dig. I want you to go in and enter into that Sabbath rest where you rest from your works, and walk by faith in him. That’s a Sabbath rest. Moses didn’t take them into their. Joshua had to take them into there. So the one that got them out of Egypt didn’t take them into the Promised Land. And somebody else had to do that. And that was Joshua. That he said, and this is in chapter four. In verse eight, for if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains then a Sabbath rest for his people of God, for anyone who enters God’s rest, also rests from his own work just as God did from us. And then it says, Let us make their for every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the example of disobedience and all that is, is unbelief in God. For the word of God is active and it’s sharper. It says that a two edged sword, it penetrates the dividing between the soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and it judges, the thoughts and the attitude of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him, whom you must give an account. Give an account for what? Did I trust him for this. Was I depending upon my synagogue, was I depending upon my temple was I, depending upon being a follower of Moses, was iOpener, upon being a member of the Baptist Church was I remember, depending on being a member of the Presbyterian Church, or whatever else it is, or did you come to Christ for him and him alone? Did we come to Christ so that I could have some kind of a manifestation that make me all happy and give me goosebumps? Did I come to Christ, so that my leg would get shorter or longer? Did I come to Christ for him? Did I come to Christ so that I could walk around and say, Look at me, how, holy I am? Or did I come to Christ? Because I came to the realize how wretched I am? Why did we come to Christ for gain? Or did we come to Christ, because we saw our condition, lost, wretched and understood his provision and accepted him, not ceremony, not form, not the temple, not a follower of Moses, as great as those men were not a follower of Joshua as great as those men were. But of Jesus. We say, Well, wait a minute, well, what about Abraham? Because Abraham was even before Moses, no leaven, boy, all of us the father. Okay, let’s talk about Abraham, the book of Hebrews talks about Abraham. And he talks about the fact that someone greater than Abraham is there. And he gave the proof of that, in the fact that Abraham himself when he conquered, and went back in and saved his nephew Lot, and defeated the Kings, that on his way back gave a 10th of his plunder to this priest called Melchizedek. And said, a person gives to someone greater than you. So there was a priest called Melchizedek greater than Abraham. And why did he say that? Because the Hebrew couldn’t understand a person who was all tied up and Abraham couldn’t understand they’re gonna ever be someone greater than Abraham. And they said, Well, wait a minute, that makes sense. Isn’t it strange that the Bible is supposed to make sense? It’s supposed to be logical to most logical book on the face of the earth. And people need their minds renewed with these things. I mean, you just can’t go through folks like we’ve been doing and put our brains on the shelf and say, Well, I just believe because I just believe. God said it. I believe it that does it.

God didn’t stop there. Said I gave you a mind, I want you to think with it. He said, Come, let’s reason together. Why do we need to reason together? Because my mind needs to be able to reason there’s a logic behind all of this. So the person who is a follower of Abraham, he’s saying, wait a minute, let’s take a look in the very scriptures that you believe in. Did Abraham or did he not give a 10th of his plunder? Which was accustomed to someone greater than themselves? Did he? Or did he not do that? Said, Yes, he did. Well, then there was someone greater than him. Of course, what he gave was what was called a 10th of their plunder. So what have we done? Take that and tell everybody I’ll be tithing. Missed the whole point of what it was, this whole thing was about, was there someone greater than Abraham, and that’s Christ, and we make a tithing deal out of it. That’s what religion always does. Because religion is more interested in me and what I’m doing than him and what he’s doing. So every time the building campaign comes along, and every time somebody gets the idea to go build a new building, then we have a season of tithing. And we teach tithing. There isn’t tithing in the New Testament. And a church that’s teaching tithing isn’t teaching truth, and a little bit of leaven spoils the whole thing. If you teach the leaven of tithing, you’re gonna teach the leaven of everything else, you show me a church teaching tithing, and I’ll show you teaching legalism all over the place. That’s not the only part of the problem. Tithing is not in the New Testament never has been never will be. If you’re talking about giving in the New Testament, you’re talking about giving joyfully freely and without compulsion, you’re not talking about tithing. Tithing was to support the Levitical priesthood. Again, what are we talking about? Someone greater than the Levites are here, and that’s Christ Jesus. And he doesn’t need supported by us. His work needs carried on. But tithing was bringing foodstuffs.

Announcer 27:11
Thank you so much for tuning in to Classic Christianity with Bob George. We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s program. We truly hope that today’s message has inspired you to walk a life of faith in the Lord find more information online at BobGeorge.net. There you will also find available CDs, DVDs and Bible studies available for purchase. It’s through your help that we are able to spread the good word of Jesus Christ. Until next time, walk in faith be good to one another and praise the Lord. Amen.