Radio Broadcast Monday 07/11/2022

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Your Identity in Christ P52 (07-11-22)

God Has Made You Holy (Set Apart) Forever in the Sight of God in Christ Jesus

The original words of Scripture such as (sanctified and holy) are important to understand. If our understanding of the words written in the Scriptures are wrong, we will have a wrong understanding of God. God made us holy. He set us apart for all those in Christ Jesus. You can’t make yourself holy anymore than you could redeem yourself. God is the one who did it all for you. He set you apart for His purpose. Now rejoice in that. Thank God for that. Be who you are, set apart. Quit calling God a liar by continually asking for what He has already done, and instead rejoice in all aspects of your new Identity in Christ Jesus. Thank God for who He has made you to be!

Hebrews 10:14
¹⁴ For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

Listen in to 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.

I look at that story, but I say, there’s somebody that understands something about themselves. They’re guilty, and they also understand something about the court system, that if you don’t give me mercy, I’m gonna spend the rest of my life in jail. And if I do spend it, I deserved it. Now, when we come to understand that, that we do not approach God with a mindset of deserving anything. We came, we came to the Lord and and as a child of God He keeps him embedding that into our hearts. It’s only through His mercy, and His unconditional love and kindness, that I have forgiveness, that I have reconciliation, that I have all of these things. Now, all of that was wrapped up in this New Covenant. Then you couldn’t have had a new Covenant apart from Jesus. So you can’t sit and talk about a New Covenant without talking about Jesus, because they’re one of the same. But instead of looking at all these so-called theological issues dangling around out here in space, we have to realize that those have all been there now encased in a circle, called the New Covenant. And so, the issue isn’t am I reconciled or aren’t I? It’s are you a part of, are you in Christ Jesus, who is in the New Covenant? If you are, then you’re reconciled. You don’t have to talk about that anymore. Could you ever be unreconciled? Not unless I get out of the New Covenant. Can you get out of the New Covenant? Not, unless I get out of Jesus. Well, can you get out of Jesus? No, He won’t let me go. And so you see all of those things and how important all of those things are to realize.

And what we have done is watered down, our helplessness and His mercy through this confession mentality. Where, if I go out and blow it all, I got to do say, oh God, please forgive me. Presumptuous as can be, and, you know, just one of those. I’m going to do it again. But once you forgive me, I want you to wipe it off the slate. Thank you very much, man, and take it off, instead of realizing that, if you truly know you’re guilty about something, what you would be, your attitude should be. Lord Jesus, I just thank you for your mercy. Your kindness that went to a cross to forgive that sin, when I didn’t deserve an ounce of it. Lord, thank you, not for your forgiveness, that was but for your mercy, that brought about that forgiveness. Now, that mindset keeps you, in my opinion, it keeps you in tune with the heart of God. Not just somebody who forgives you, the judge can do that. But with a heart of God, that is full of mercy and compassion and love and understanding, who, as a result of that gave me, not only forgiveness, but all the other things that we have been studying. To me, it puts all of these identity things into the proper perspective. Indeed.

Now, with all of that, let’s go ahead and start with the first question, there in regards to Colossians 1:22. Now we’re going to be talking about what it means to be sanctified or to be made holy, and they both come out of the same root word. In other words, a set apart person. I want to clarify again, two things before we get started into our study if we ever get into it today. But as two things I want to establish before we get into this, and I want to, I’m going to do one definition. I’m going to give another story. I was listening on television the other night on a Christian television station. They had three theologians discussing a major issue, all three of whom I certainly respect as children of God. There’s one man that I’ve known about and known for a number of years. Made a statement that I almost fell off my couch, but you see I got to thinking about that. That’s because somebody has studied sanctification as a doctrine instead of it being encompassed in the New Covenant as part of the New Covenant. And so we think sanctification is progressive. In other words, you are saying your program, it’s called progressive sanctification. Now with this terminology, progressive sanctification, he said something that I personally have never heard verbalized before, but that was that we are to be holy, you know. Well my friends I want to tell you something that verse came out of the gospels where Jesus said be holy. How? As your Father in Heaven is Holy. And somebody says how holy is that? Lord, as holy as your Father in Heaven. That’s all it’ll do. And then he said on another occasion. Be perfect. And you kind of go, what do you mean, Lord? What’s the Greek word for that? He said, perfect. And what do you mean by that? It means to be as perfect as your Father in Heaven. That’s all that will do. And you say, Lord, I’ve had it, he says good now you got it because you could never make yourself holy. You could never make yourself perfect to the sight of God. Everything Jesus said in the gospels was a total impossibility for man to do. We can’t even keep the Ten Commandments let alone be holy and be perfect. But what he was saying is that’s what’s required. In other words for someone to go into the presence of a perfect, holy, set apart God, you have to be holy and set apart. So what do you do?

Hebrews 10:14 by that one offering he made forever. What? Perfect. Where? In the sight of God, all of you whom he has made holy. So what do you do? Said, got to be perfect as your Father in Heaven. Got to be as holy as your Father in Heaven. So what did He do? Made us through our identification with the Son who is perfectly holy, is perfectly perfect. Through identification with His Son made us perfect and made us holy. Where? In the sight of God. For how long? Forever forever.

Now, that’s what Colossians 1:22 says, now he has reconciled You by Christ’s physical body through death to or an order to present you holy in His sight, set apart without blemish and free of accusation. And you notice in that verse it says in His sight not in mine not in yours but in His. So my friend, how does God see you today? If you are in Christ he sees you as holy as His Son who you’re identified with. He sees you as perfect as His Son. He sees you as clean as His Son. He sees you as everything of His Son. He sees you as He sees Christ Jesus.

Now if I had donated my eyes to you, I was going to go to the electric chair, going to die, and I left as a part of that in my will, to donate my eyes to you and if you were blind couldn’t see and I died and had your eyes. I gave you my eyes and the transplant took place and can you imagine someone coming up to you? And look at you and say, hey, Bob you’re looking good. But you got old Bob George’s eyes in there. And you’d say that is ludicrous if I saw with my eyes placed in your body, they become your eyes. When we were placed in His body we became His.

We were talking about this thing of being made holy in His sight, which is like being sanctified in His sight. Which means I’ve been set apart. What have I been set apart from? Well, who I was before I’ve been set apart from the world who is the unsaved world. We’ve been set apart to become a part of the saved world. I’ve been set apart from being a part of the body of Satan’s to being part of the body of Christ. So we’ve been set apart from something. If I deny my Russian citizenship and become an American citizen, I have been set apart from the control and the identity of being a Russian citizen, in order to accept a new identity of being an American citizen. So we’ve been set apart. There’s also a connotation in sanctification of circumcision, whereby you’ve been sanctified, you’ve been separated and that was a very visual picture of what it meant to be set apart as a Israelite. And the same thing is true, of course, today in regard to being set apart no longer as an Israelite, but as a child of God, where in Christ, there is no Israelite or Gentile. So it’s another setting apart.

Now when we, when we don’t see that then we’re going to, and we think that being set apart or being made holy is something progressive. Then you’re going to be in doubt dealing with the deal, well, how set apart am I? And so you’re gonna have some people where you’re not set apart. And as you wear a bun on your head, or you wear, you know, wear only black. And you got some people so set apart that don’t drive cars, and if they do, they paint their bumpers black because that shiny stuff is what does not set you apart. You got people set apart, I wouldn’t let liquor touch my lips, if my life depended on it. I’ve always grinned about that one, some people, but at any rate all these different ways of setting yourself apart.

So as I was saying the other day, listening to that television program, I heard this man that I have great respect for so it make a statement. There are some people holier than I am, but I’m working on it. And I thought to myself my Lord, what kind of a statement is that?! Why would you say there’s someone holier than you are? When Christ is one who made you holy. So in other words God come down, say I’m going to make you holy Bob, but not as holy as Bob George or vice versa. Now it says in the Bible that a man who compares himself by himself is a fool. So how could I not be involved in comparing myself by myself when I’m saying someone else is holier than me? That’s self condemnation. At the same time going to turn around and say, I’m holier than somebody else. And that’s pride. Both of those out of the pit. And so, whenever you’re talking about these gifts from God being progressive, I immediately set myself up for comparison to either be prideful or self-condemning. There’s no exception to that and there’s no escape from it. So, for a person to say, there’s somebody over there holier than me or less holy than me, you’d have say, well, how would you know, because a way a person acts, how would, you know? And I guess that in the final analysis, if you could just get somebody, put in an isolation ward in prison, he’d be really holy because he couldn’t do anything. But that’s the way that’s the way we think. And there are many people who are involved in that type of thinking and I’m not saying this of them to be critical. I’m just saying you need to go back and study the scripture because there isn’t anything in the scripture about progressive sanctification. It says you were sanctified, you were set apart. There’s nothing progressive in the New Covenant. In the New Covenant I have been given everything that I need for life and godliness. So how could there be such a progressive going on? I am not more sanctified. I am not more justified. I don’t get more glorified. I don’t get more reconciled. I don’t get more of anything. I’ve been given everything that I need from God, for life and for godliness. So how can I be getting more? Now in that position, I can be learning more of what I have. I can be rejoicing more in what has been given to them, but that’s not getting more. That’s just learning more of what I already have, which is beautiful when you stop to think about it. Now, the other thing that I want to clarify is, is the fact and what I was getting at there, I do not believe there’s anything to even hint of something called progressive holiness, progressive sanctification. The Bible says, you were it’s a done deal. You’re already set apart. Now if you are set apart, in other words, if we used to be a caterpillar, now I’m a butterfly, set apart from caterpillars. Well you better believe I’m set apart. Even if I go down and crawl with them. Yes. Somebody’s going to look at one and say there’s a worm doing what comes naturally and there is a butterfly acting like an idiot, like a worm acting like a worm. Yeah, he’s set apart. He’s sanctified, he’s acting as if he was if he was not.

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So there’s the issue. Now the other thing that I want to clarify is sanctification. We’ve looked at that word is some kind of a big, theological, pious word. I’m sanctified. I put my Bible under my arm a certain way, tilt my head one side and get glassy eyed and walk down the street nearby says oh, they’re a sanctified guy, has nothing to do with that. It’s not a big religious term. It’s a very practical term. Now as an example, Bob, you and I both have shoes on right now. Thank God. And what are we doing with those shoes? We are using those shoes for the intelligent purpose for which they were manufactured, which they were made. The manufacturer didn’t make shoes with a thought in mind of hanging them on your ears as an earring. He made shoes with a thought in mind of putting them on your feet in order to walk in them. So they’re made for that purpose. You and I are using them for the intelligent purpose for which they were created. What are we doing with our shoes right now? Sanctifying it. If you have glasses on, right now you are sanctifying your glasses. The manufacturer of glasses made glasses so that you can see through them and improve your eyesight with them. When I put them on if I have poor eyesight and I can now see to read, where without them I can’t. Then I am sanctifying my glasses. I am using them for the intelligent purpose for which they were manufactured or created. Now I can take them off and use the stem to stir my coffee with it. If I want to. But I wouldn’t be sanctifying my glasses. I can take it and scratch the back of my head if I want to do with it. But I’m not sanctifying them; they were not made for that purpose. The manufacturer didn’t sit around and say gee, there’s a shortage on spoons, let’s make glasses with these rims so that we can stir coffee with them. They said I’m gonna make them so I can see through them. Now when I put my glasses on, what am I doing? I’m sanctify my glasses. Now isn’t that a complicated term?

Now, that is exactly what it said, Bob, you have been set apart by God as a child of the living God. You have been sanctified. Now be sanctified, be set apart. And that’s what 2nd Timothy 1:9 is talking about. That Christ who saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of His own purpose and grace, that grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. So in other words, he’s saying, were these glasses made to see through? Yes, they were. Then put them on. They are set apart for the purpose of seeing through them. Use them to see through. In other words, they’re holy, now use them, live a holy life, use your glasses. Are you a forgiven person? Yes, I am. Then walk in your forgiveness. Enjoy it. Rejoice in it. Tell people about walking in it. Whenever Satan comes down and tries to beat you with guilt and condemnation, tell him there is no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus and I belong to Christ Jesus therefore there’s no condemnation awaiting me, so bye-bye get rid of it. Get rid of the voice. What am I doing? I’m walking in a set apart life. So do you mean you’re being holy when you’re claiming you’re forgiven? Absolutely. I have been set apart as a holy person and I’m gonna walk in there. Now when we as Christians are walking around, begging God to do what he’s already done. Are we living a holy life? No, but we think we’re just so holy, why went down, confessed sins for 10 hours. And that’s exactly what Martin Luther did when he was in the priesthood. He was I forget how many hours a day he was in prayer begging God and he finally read the passage, justified by faith. He wasn’t living a holy life. Someone looking at him say, was that guy holy? We’ll call him Oh, calumnies. I mean, man, he is just down on his knees constantly. Is he holy? No. He wasn’t holy. He was living a total life contrary to the truth of Scripture. Looking holy on the outside to the people, walking around in a robe and on your knees all the time. I don’t know why wearing a robe makes you holy, but I guess it does for some people, but not to God, He doesn’t care what you have on. So you see, we’ve taken all these things and defined them according to our mentality and ignored what is really holy in the Scripture. If I am walking around, acknowledging the fact that my God made me his child, and as we were talking about where it says in the scripture, that He inherited us, He wants us.

It says I need you, I want you. Do we understand that? I don’t understand it. But I can walk around rejoicing in it. What am I doing? Living a holy life. What do you mean living a holy life? What did you do? I walked by faith in what He said is true. I am walking a set apart life by what I believe is true. Now is what I believe, if indeed it is true, it’s going to affect the way I behave with you ultimately, but that’s just a byproduct of my belief system. So the holy life might be measured by you and me by what we’re doing, but from God, it’s measured by what we believe. Are we walking in truth? So when he’s talking about the one who saved us, He called us to a holy life. He said, I’ve set you apart. Live that kind of life. If I’ve forgiven you, walk forgiven. If I’ve redeemed you, walk as a person who has been bought back. Don’t if you were a slave, and I bought you, quit getting up on a slave block. You don’t have to sit around, bowing and scraping anymore; you’re free. I bought you, I bought you out of the slave market, stand up tall and be a man of God.

Now, if I believe that it’s going to affect the way that outwardly I live my life, but we’ve got all of our eyes on that outward appearance instead of what’s going on inside. So we were called to this life not because of anything we’ve done, but because of his own purpose and grace. In other words, He has a purpose for all this. He had a purpose for saving you Bob, He had a purpose for saving me. He had a purpose for saving every single person who knows that they’re in Christ Jesus today.

Before we go to our next question here in a 2nd Timothy 1:9 passage that we’re talking about that He saved us and called us, called us to a holy life, a set apart life. I want you to keep one thing in mind, folks. I can teach anybody to act like a Christian. I can teach anybody to act what we think is holy. I can teach you to go into a service and lift your arms up and sing praises to God with your head thrown back. If we think that’s holy, I can teach you to do that. I can teach you to go into a service and sit very piously with your hands folded and not making a sound. I can teach you to do that. And you sound set apart, you’re set apart from those with their hands up, making a noise. I can teach you how to go witness, and not know the Lord from a spook. I can teach you how to preach, and not know the Lord. I’ve known many pastors, I know one in Dallas came to the Lord through his own alter call. So they can teach you that Charlton Heston has done a beautiful job of playing Moses, but he isn’t. I can teach you all of those types of things. So you’re not set apart by how you act, folks. You’re set apart but what you believe. I am not set apart as an example from a Mormon who because of the way I act, or because of the way they act, I’m set apart because of what I believe. I am not set apart from as an example of Jehovah’s Witness because of the way I act or because of the way they act. I’m set apart from them because I believe and know that Jesus is God, and they do not believe that he is God. That’s one of the many things where we are different, but it’s pretty basic. So I, we don’t set ourselves apart by what the way we act, because the way we act has to be judged by us. And we’re not capable of proper judgment. But the way we truly believe in our hearts is only between you and God. And He alone is the only one qualified to judge my own thoughts. And it says he will discern my own thoughts.

So folks, when we are called to live a holy life, don’t judge that by the way you act, judge it by what you’re believing. Now, will what you believe change your life? Yes, it will, but then it will be as a result of what you’re believing. But I can get you behaving and not believe any of those things. You see what I’m getting at? You can in other words, you can be a con artist, called a hypocrite, you’re an actor, we really really don’t believe it. Now that is to me precisely to the person who is saying well I believe that Jesus died for all my sins, but I spend the rest of my time begging him to do what he said was already done. You’re not leading a holy life at all. None at all. In fact, quite the opposite. A holy life is a life consistent with what you have been made. You had been made a holy, forgiven person through your identity with Christ, He redeemed you so that He can and in Him you have redemption, the forgiveness of sins; you already have it. So I’m not leading a holy life if I’m begging God to have what already happened. How could I be living a set apart life? I’m not set apart in my mind at all. I’m still thinking like the religious world. But I am not living a set apart life because I don’t believe in what God said. Now, that might sound harsh to some people. But folks, I’m gonna tell you from my own personal experience and my continual study of the Word of God, the longer that I study the Word of God, the more adamant I become about the importance of getting the finality of the cross over to people so that not just so they can understand I’m a forgiven person, but so that I can be free to walk in a newness of life. What is that newness of life, believing truth that does one set you free.

Now, Hebrews 10:10 what does it say there? By this will, ties in what we were talking about the beginning of the broadcast, this New Covenant that we’re in today, we have a will and a testament. That’s what your Bible is. It’s an old will, an old testament, and a new will, a New Testament. The only problem that I have with the way that we have divided it up, which then folks I’m just saying it has nothing to do with the veracity of the Bible, nor the inerrancy of the Bible, as to how we divided up the different books. In fact, James was the first book written, but it’s not the first book in the New Testament. So that’s man, that’s done that. And the only difficulty that I have with any of this is really if you were going to delineate the Bible properly, you would have the Old Covenant, the Old Testament that instead of ending, that ends really at the end of Molokai, then you’ve got the gospel. That is just the life of Jesus on earth. And then you got the new Covenant that began in the book of Acts, because the new Covenant began with His death, not His life. Now, again, that’s nitpicking things, but I’m just saying from a standpoint of just chronology, that the New Covenant did not go into effect at Jesus’s birth that went into effect at his death. And therefore when we study about his life in the Gospel, you’re studying, one who taught under the Old Covenant proclaiming the new, announcing the new telling the importance of the new and burying us with our inability to live up to even the old and that’s why we needed to do was because of our total destitution, totally destitute, totally incapable of living up to the righteous demands of God and so through His mercy He ushered in this New Covenant. Now, Hebrews 10, by this will by this new Covenant that we are in liquid, it says, folks, we have been made that didn’t say he is making. It says, we have been made, look at that word, holy, through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, once and for all.

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.