Radio Broadcast Monday 06/06/2022

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Your Identity in Christ P37 (06-06-22)

If You are In Christ Jesus, God Has Already Made You Righteous in His Sight

It bears repeating, because we are as dumb as sheep, and so many are out there are trying to make themselves more righteous in the sight of God, as though they can improve upon what God has already done for them.

“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe” Romans 3:21, 22b

In today’s lesson, from the Bible study booklet, A Closer Look at Your Identity in Christ, available for purchase from our online Bob George Ministries ecommerce store

Just as a person’s physical growth is based on proper diet and exercise, so is the Christians’s spiritual growth dependent on regular feeding upon the word of God and application of its principles. With more false teaching, shifting opinions and general confusion in the world than ever before, Christians need a solid foundation upon which to base their beliefs and build their lives. The word of God declares that Jesus Christ is that foundation of truth. With that in mind, let’s now take A Closer Look at Your Identity in Christ.

We’ve said this, I think every week, but every week that we get ready to teach this, it’s one of the more exciting things that I get an opportunity of doing. We’re dealing, folks, with one of the most important subjects in the Christian life. And that is your identity in Christ. And, you know, and we kind of took that little detour a few weeks ago into the book of Hebrews. That’s a detour again, dealing with our identity. It’s number one the book of Hebrews was dealing with Christ superiority over everything and showing us the completeness of the Cross, and why, and what took place on that that we are a new creation by an oath of God. In other words, a proclamation of God. God said, I’m going to make a new creation out of you. And when we come to Him by faith, that’s what He does. God said it, and again, and He does it. You hear people say, “God says it. I believe it. That settles it.” I say, “oh baloney! God said it, that settles it whether you believe it or not.”

But at any rate, whenever we come to Christ by faith, we have a new identity. And I believe Satan is so clever, that in all walks of life take it out of the realm of religious life all together. He’s got all kinds of identities for us out there. He’s got psychological identities, where, you know, an adult child. We’re a manic-depressive, where a schizophrenic, we’re a paranoid where homosexual, where we’re bisexual, where sexual sexual. We’re just, I mean, every identity Under the sun and then, occupationally we’ve got, well, I’m a doctor. I’m a minister. I’m a carpenter. I’m this, and this, and this until who we are is predicated upon what we do. And it’s like that’s who we are. Well, who are you gonna be? You change jobs and so the world has been duped into that. And then we come into the Christian world, and I think Satan works extremely hard on that one to keep people from seeing that if you are in Christ and Christ is in you, that you are a child of the Living God. That’s your identity. That’s who you are.

Now in the Christian world they say come join our church, so we’ve got, come join our church of Christ or come join our Baptist Church, or Presbyterian, or Methodist, or Plymouth Brethren or Catholic. You just go on, and on, and on, come join our church. And quite frankly Bob, until I was saved at age 36, why that’s all I knew there was. Joined the church and I never knew anything about being saved. I just joined the church. And so my identity was one of a Presbyterian. Now, what does that mean? I don’t know. What do they believe? I don’t know. I don’t have a clue what they believe. I guess, God, but I don’t know what they believe and neither does anybody else.

And so, that’s your identity. You see those are the people I like to go to Sunday on. Why? I don’t know, just like them and so. But Bob that becomes our identity and what Satan is done, I was cleverly through, I believe an overemphasis on denominationalism has taken and duped the Christian world into thinking that they are the names that I just called out, and plus, numerous others. And you never get to see yourself as who you truly are. That’s a child of the Living God.

So we talked about a new identity. We talked about the fact that you’re a brand new creation If any man is in Christ, now, he’s a new creation, old things are passed away. And behold, all things have become new. We spent a terrific amount of time on the fact that you are totally forgiven. And we went through that for a number of weeks. But again, until people come to see the totality of their forgiveness. That that was a one once and for all thing, I don’t get forgiven anymore. I am a forgiving person. I don’t get holy anymore. I have been made a holy person, a set apart person and holiness doesn’t mean that you’re acting a certain way. It means that that’s who I am. I’m a child of God in comparison to people who aren’t children of God. All of those things are so vitally important for us to get a hold of.

Now today we’re going to talk about righteous. I’m not a righteous person because I do righteous things or act righteous. I am a righteous person. I don’t get righteous anymore. I am righteous. I don’t get forgiven anymore. I am forgiven. I don’t get a new identity. I have a new identity. In other words, folks, all of this is your possession. It’s a part of your inheritance. And once you come to grips with that, why your whole life will change because your identity changes. And if we think that what we, and how we perceive ourselves, doesn’t affect ourselves, why you just haven’t been around life very much. But it is so vitally important for us to understand this area of righteousness. Now, not only therefore did God die to forgive us all of our sins, but He rose from the dead in order to live in us. That’s what salvation is, being saved from the wages of sin being that of death, by the receiving of Life. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal Life. Now, in order to give us a life called eternal Life He had to deal with what caused spiritual death to begin with, which was sin, and He did so, once, and did it for all, and He did it for all time. And there’s no more anything else to do, that’s already been dealt with. And as we studied before, when He returns, He isn’t coming to deal with sin, but He is coming to bring Salvation for those waiting on Him.

So, when we receive Christ, we receive His righteousness. He is the one who is totally righteous. Who died for us? The righteous, that’s Jesus, for the unrighteous, that’s you and me. When He came to live within me He gave me His righteousness. So that this life that we now share with Him is a life that is spent rejoicing in the fact that my unrighteousness was cleansed at the cross so that I could receive Him and His righteousness. Now, this righteousness of God that has been given to us through Christ Jesus is not dependent upon us to stay righteous. We are righteous, one way or the other. It’s just right standing with God. I am a righteous person. Now, you see when you say that, say that guy thinks he’s something. No, I don’t think I’m anything. That’s why I’m righteous. If they thought I was something I would never have righteousness because I wouldn’t need His. I’d still be resting in mine. But the fact that He has made me righteous, you and I are able to say without boasting, without any kind of pride or ego, I am a righteous person in the sight of God. I am holy in the sight of God. I am forgiven in the sight of God. I am a new creature in the sight of God.

So this righteousness we’re going to talk about today is completely a free gift given to us at the very moment we put our faith in Christ. We’ve exchanged our unrighteousness for his perfect righteousness, and understanding that we are as righteous as the one who made us, Jesus Christ. Because He lives in us is what frees us from that impossible task of trying to keep ourselves clean before God and righteous before God.

We’re going to go immediately to the Book of Romans in chapter 3 beginning in verse 21 and 22. It says, but now a righteousness from God apart from the law has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness comes from God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all, who believe.

Now folks, did you hear that righteousness from God apart from the law has been known? It’s a righteousness that has to be given to us. It is not something that could ever be earned through obedience to the law. Now, why is that so? If righteousness doesn’t come from the law, then how do we attain righteousness? We don’t attain it. We receive it. It isn’t something that I can do. It’s something that I receive. Now folks when you don’t realize that and you don’t understand that. And if you listen to this broadcast, you hear people night after night, after night, who are talking about and dealing with the fact that they’ve tried for years to live under the law, and they just cannot do it.

The law, I’m going to give some illustrations as to why you can’t do it and what ultimately happens to you. When you keep trying to do something that you cannot do, what Intimately happens to you. It’s like the high jumper. Under the law, you’ve got a law here is your standard of behavior. Now, of course, when you’re five years old, you can’t put the same standards of behavior upon A five-year-old that you would have on a 50 year old. So you got a higher standard the older you get. So the kid gets a standard and even that little standard that you give him, he can’t do it, but he kind of jumps over it, and everybody thinks he can. So what do we do? Well, you raise the bar. And then you try to jump over that bar. And once you get over it, what do you do? Why you raise the bar, and you’re going to keep doing that under law, which is a performance orientation; do this, do this, do this. You’re going to keep at that until you can’t do anymore. And when that occurs and you can’t get over the bar, what you’re going to do is you’re going to keep trying to get over the bar. And you know, what happens to you when you keep trying to get over the bar and you can’t get over the bar? Guess who you get mad at, the bar.

Now if you don’t believe that you watch sporting events. I watch sometimes some tennis matches. Can you watch these professionals out there, and they make a bad shot. What do they do? Why, they pick up their rack and look at it and straighten those strings out. Like it’s that racket’s fault that they made that bad shot. And then, if you watch guys like McEnroe to people like that a few years ago, why are they not only, when he made a bad shot and thought it was rackets fault, they’d throw that thing. I mean, they would throw that totally across the court mad as a hornet at the racket, like the racket made him do it. Never yourself, but the racket did it.

You take a look at the golfer sometimes, and you go out there and you see a guy duck a shot. See what he does. And the guy looks at his club. I’ve seen people wrap them right around trees. It’s those bent shafts. Absolutely wrap them around the tree, gets so mad at the club. Like the club did it. As if the club did it. I will see sometimes, you can see basketball. You’ll see guys miss a shot. And if the ball comes back to him, pitch that thing, 40 rows up into the raftors, they get so mad at it. Get mad at the ball. In football you’ll see the same type of thing. Guy, will miss a pass. Get mad. What at the ball? Find that bomb. Kickin the place. Why why? He’s got mad at the ball. It’s all the ball’s fault.

Are you going to run through sports?
Yeah. Well, I’ve seen carpenters do the same thing. I’ve seen guys hit some nails and start missing it and throw the hammer clear across the roof. So it doesn’t make any difference whether it’s sports or what it is. There is a tendency when you are trying to accomplish something, and you can’t accomplish it, you always blame the wrong things. Right. Now, ultimately deep down in your heart, when you’re under the law, you get mad at the law. There is an anger in it. The law is too demanding. It shouldn’t be that way. It’s too demanding on me. The things I want to do, I don’t do anything. The things I don’t want to do, I do anyway; it’s a demand. And after a while, even though he sits around saying I love God. I hate his law, but I love God, we literally get in rebellion against the law. Now. That’s where it says. The power of sin is in the law. Why? Because the law ultimately is going to create rebellion in you. It has to. That bar I’m not getting over it. It is going to create rebellion in you and me. Now Paul said that type of thing. It’s not unusual that I wouldn’t have known what coveting was had not the law had not said, don’t covet when it did sin seized the opportunity and stirred it up in me. So, if we think that bar doesn’t stir up rebellion against the bar, just watch a high jumper miss his jump. Watch the golfer duck his shot. Watch the tennis player, miss the shot. And you’ll see what it does.

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So we’re living in an age and a religious age where we have to realize that this law that we keep insisting that we are under and keep wanting to be under, is because we keep thinking I’m going to improve my game. Just give me a little more time, I’m going to improve my game. But in the meantime that law serves as a source of irritation and ultimate rebellion. In many instances that is exactly and precisely why you see people who as a teenager rebelled against religion. They, what were they rebelling against? They are rebelling against the demands of law that they couldn’t live up to. They tried. They can’t do it. And yet their parents and the church kept pressuring. You got to do this, you need to do this, you got to do this, then you got to do this. Then the person says, I’m not going to, I can’t do it. And you rebel against the law that says you have to. And so when it says, the power of sin is in the law. The reason the power of sin is in the law, is because your failure creates rebellion inside of you. And the more rebellious we are, the more we hate that which is telling you what you have to do. Now when you’re trying to obtain righteousness through the law, which is what the old Covenant did, and quite frankly what the majority of Christian living is today. Still trying to obtain your righteousness before God by what you’re doing. You ultimately are going to come to no other conclusion, except I’m rebellious against the very law of God, that I say, I know is right and that I love.

Now God knowing that and see every bit of this took place, we’re talking about a righteousness from God apart from the law has been made known. Prior to that, that righteousness was not known in its fullness, because people didn’t know Christ, therefore, they were never able put their faith in Him as the one who came, they I had to have faith in the One who was coming. But that righteousness was something that had to be given to us. And again, that was all a part of the New Covenant that took place on the day of Pentecost, excuse me at the day that Christ died, and a new covenant went into effect where their sins and lawless acts I will remember anymore and He it said He nailed the law to the Cross. He nailed it there. And the reason that the law’s nailed there is because we’re no longer under the law. And therefore cannot be accused by the law. We cannot be deemed guilty by the law because the law is nailed to the cross. So therefore with the law nailed to the cross, gave God then an opportunity to be raised from the dead and through that resurrected undestructable life. And that’s what it says. We have a better promise because of an undestructible life, that’s Christ. Then the old Covenant because of that undestructable life and a Priest that lives forever we are now under a New Covenant whereby, our righteous standing before God is never again dependent upon what we do, or the law or what we don’t do. It’s dependent upon what He did. And so now, a righteousness from God, apart from a law has been known to, which the prophets, and the law and the prophets testify, and this righteousness from God, comes through faith, in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

2nd Corinthians 5:21 tells us that, God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. So that what? In Him, that’s His resurrected life folks, we might become the righteousness of God. Now. I asked you a question. I hope you’re listening. Right now, in the sight of God how righteous are you in the sight of God? Do you, how many of you know, right now that in the sight of God, that your as righteous in the sight of God and saved as the Apostle Paul? Okay, well, gee, the Apostle Paul, and we start comparing him. Hmm. I sure haven’t done as much as him. That’s how we compare ourselves. How many of you in the sight of God, know that in the sight of God, you are as righteous as Jesus Christ? We say, oh that sounds blasphemous. No, no, no. Might sound blasphemous, but it isn’t. It’s exactly and precisely what the Bible says. I’m going to ask you a question. Do you believe the word of God or don’t you?

Now, if you believe the word of God and your righteous standing before God is given to you by God, and it’s a righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ, not in you and what you’re doing, but in Christ Jesus to all who believe, the only thing you have to ask yourself. Do you believe, have you believed? Are you born again? If indeed you are, and that came from believing, then you have been given the righteousness of God. God made him who knew no sin to be sin. He didn’t make you that way, again, so that in Him you might become what? The righteousness of God. You are the righteousness of God right now. Now, is that good news? Why I think it’s terrific news! Did you have anything to do with that? Not anything except receiving his dear Son, the righteous One who made me righteous through my identification with Him. What I’m trying to get you as our listeners to see and to understand right now, and to come to a conclusion, a policy of your life.

It’s like when you come to Christ you don’t come to Christ, well God, maybe if you’re there why then I’ll invite you in, or this. That’s not the way you come to the Lord. You come to the Lord by faith in Him. You see folks, let me tell you something. There’s a lot of speculation. We as human beings are unbelievably opinionated. It’s normally not based on much of anything. But we got opinions on everything. We could ask somebody, who do you think’s going to win the ball game this weekend? And if the Cowboys were playing, why all the Dallas fans would say, the Cowboys are going to win beyond a shadow of a doubt. Of course, the Green Bay people say, oh no, Green Bay is going to win beyond a shadow of a doubt. And people can literally have so much confidence in believing that, that they’ll just gamble all kinds of money on it, believe it. But the fact of the matter is, nobody knows. You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. You don’t know for sure.

But if I said to you, how many of you believe, the sun’s going to come up tomorrow, just in time tomorrow. And if you’re right, why, you put up all your money and I’ll put up all mine. If you’re right, why you’ll win everything you put up. Well, I want to tell you, I’d tear the bank down in order for that bet when you’re sure. Do you have any doubt at all, folks, that the sun’s going to come up tomorrow, any doubt at all? Not a bit. Why? That’s God’s business and He’s right on time, every time. Now, folks, just as God declared that He was the One that all things are created by Him and for Him, and that God is the One that we trust for that sun to come up right on time. He is the same God who said, I made you righteous through your faith in My Son. If you want to be righteous in My sight, have right standing in My sight, you come to My Son by faith, accepting His substitutionary death on the cross for you, and His resurrected life in you, and you do that by faith, and it will be credited to you as righteous from that day on.

Now, why would you believe God when the sun’s gonna come up, and not believe Him when He said, I made you righteous? The same God who said, I’m going to bring the sun up, it’s going to go down. And I’m going to do it is the same God that said, I made you righteous. It’s also the same God who said, I forgave all of your sins. Why do we doubt this, folks? Why do we walk around acting as if I am not forgiving, or that my forgiveness is predicated on what I do? It is as stupid as thinking, the sun’s going to come up because I sit down and pray to it in the morning. The sun isn’t going to come up cause I pray. It isn’t going come up because you pray. It’s going to come up because God said it’s going to come up. And your forgiveness is not predicated because of your prayers. It’s predicated because of His oath. He’s the One who said by an oath your sins and lawless acts I will remember no more and where these have been forgiven, there’s no more sacrifice. So burn your altars, burn your confession booths, get rid of all of these altar calls to come down to get forgiven over and over and over and over again. Quit trying to Examine the Greek on 1st John 1:9.

The whole Bible says God says, you are forgiven. Now if you’re forgiven, why don’t you rest in that the same way that we rest at the sun’s coming up? The same God who did them both. So folks, we have to come to grips with our unbelief and I’m not saying this to put us on some kind of a faith guilt trip. I’m just saying we all function in unbelief and it’s stupid to not believe the God of this universe is plain dumb. But He didn’t call any of us very smart to begin with. He said we were sheep and they’re about as dumb as you can get. So I’m not saying we should be surprised at that, but I am saying we need to get our minds renewed with that. We need to come to grips with that. And folks, you can’t come to grips with it; well, I think I’ll believe God today, but then tomorrow, you know, I don’t know what I’m going to do. No no. You have to make a policy. This is the type of thing. It’s the same thing in regard to forgiveness, and I had to say 8, 10, 12 years ago, whenever I finally came to understand that when Jesus said it’s finished, that’s what He meant. I’d been 1st John 1:9, it all on my Christian experience to try to keep my slate clean. When He said it’s already clean. He said, you’re already righteous in My sight. Well, I’m trying to get righteous again. You couldn’t get any more righteous than what I made you. In other words, Bob, you little self-righteous dude, you. Do you believe that you could improve on what I did? I made you righteous. Now you’re saying, I’m going to improve on that. I got news for you. You can’t improve even on something, your fellow man did let alone. what I, God did, so quit trying to improve on what I did. I took away your sin. Why are you still trying to improve on that by keeping yourself forgiven? I’ve already done it.

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 shop.BobGeorge.net. There you’ll 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.