Radio Broadcast Monday 07/24/2023

Classic Christianity – The Book of John P73 (07-24-23)

You Come to Christ Jesus Because Your Sins Are Already Forgiven at The Cross

~ One of the biggest lies and misunderstandings of the gospel that is taught today, is the lie, that you come to Christ Jesus to get your sins forgiven. Satan has convinced the world that you come to Jesus, and then he forgives you your sins when you ask for it, or faith it. Another way of saying it, is most people don’t believe that Jesus died for everyone’s sins, only those that place faith in Jesus. So called grace teachers will teach this one point of Calvinism very subtlety. They won’t say that Jesus had limited atonement but they will indirectly say there is limited propitiation of sins only for the elect. One well known teacher will even go so far as to say “that anyone that teaches that Jesus forgave everyone’s sins at the cross is a charlatan.” They will not even tell a lost person their sins are forgiven, because in their mind they don’t know if that person will ever have faith or not to believe their sins are forgiven, thus they don’t know if a person’s sins are forgiven or not. And so, these false gospel teachers focus on the aspect of confessing sin (as in a blanket form of asking God to forgive a person) instead of boldly declaring your sins are forgiven (agreeing with God) and now receive Jesus for LIFE. They even teach another variation on the 1 John 1:9 passage, as being a conditional “If” which it is not.

But here is the thing, if Jesus didn’t die for the sins of the whole world, reconciling the world unto himself, not counting anyone’s sins against them now, and each of us is born into this world lost and dead, then how would you or I ever know for sure that Jesus died for you then and forgave you or me personally at the cross? Is it your asking for forgiveness, or faithing it that causes God to go back to the cross and take your sins right then and there? And how could you ever be sure you exercised enough faith for God to have forgiven you at the cross? Are you the one that determines whether your sins are forgiven by God? Are you the initiator and God becomes the responder? Is that the gospel? Is the gospel message a forgiveness vending machine to God whereby you plop in your forgiveness requests in to him and out plops forgiveness by God? Is that what scripture really teaches? Did Jesus reconcile the world to himself or not? Come, let us reason together says the Lord.

~ Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. ^{Isaiah 1:18}

~ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ^{2 Corinthians 5:19}

~ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ^{2 Corinthians 5:21}

~ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ^{John 1:29}

~ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ^{John 1:29}

~ And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. ^{1 John 2:2}

~ “You don’t come to Christ to get your sins forgiven, you come to Christ because your sins have already been forgiven. You come to Christ, for the solution to the wages of sin which is death, by the gift of God which is life. Reconciliation required total forgiveness, not partial. Jesus cried out from the cross Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing. Do you think the Father answered that prayer? For Christ died for sins. How many times guys? Once. Without the shedding of blood, there’s no forgiveness of sins. Is there any more shedding of blood? Is he is he going to come back and die again? No, he’s not. He died once and for all. The righteous that’s Jesus for the unrighteous that was us. In order to bring us to God. He was put to death in a body, but he was made alive in the Spirit. When you and I were dead in our sins in the uncircumcision, of our sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ, He forgave all of our sins. He canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us. That’s the law. That’s the 10 commandments were cancelled and replaced by Jesus. We don’t realize the law was there until the seed came. But the law has been replaced by Christ Jesus. All the law can do for you is kill you. Kill you. Jesus came to give you life.” ~ Bob George

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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
You don’t come to Christ to get your sins forgiven, you come to Christ because your sins have already been forgiven. You come to Christ, for the solution to the wages of sin which is death, by the gift of God which is life. Reconciliation required total forgiveness, not partial. Jesus cried out from the cross Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing. Do you think the Father answered that prayer? For Christ died for sins. How many times guys? Once. Without the shedding of blood, there’s no forgiveness of sins. Is there any more shedding of blood? Is he is he going to come back and die again? No, he’s not. He died once and for all. The righteous that’s Jesus for the unrighteous that was us. In order to bring us to God. He was put to death in a body, but he was made alive in the Spirit. When you and I were dead in our sins in the uncircumcision, of our sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ, He forgave all of our sins. He canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us. That’s the law. That’s the 10 commandments were cancelled and replaced by Jesus. We don’t realize the law was there until the seed came. But the law has been replaced by Christ Jesus. All the law can do for you is kill you. Kill you. Jesus came to give you life. He hung the law and nailed it to the cross and replaced it with his resurrected life. It says that he canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us remember Paul saying, I would not have known what sin was, had the law not said Do not covet. But when I read, don’t covet, it says that the law stirring up every kind of sinful desire inside of me, it killed me. And so we’re told that Jesus took away the law in order to replace it with himself. We’re told and I’m sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Jesus didn’t come to cover sin, He came to take it away. How was he identified by John the Baptist? Behold, look, the Lamb of God, who does what? Takes away the sins of the world, it has been taken away guys, from the eyes of God. He’s dealing with you now on the basis of what did you do with my Son? The only question that God will ever ask you when you go into His presence at your death is what did you do with my Son? Did you ignore him? Did you receive him? Or did you play religion? What did you do with my Son? That’s the only question that will be asked is did you walk by faith in what I came to do? To save you? Christ was so I sacrificed one time to take away the sins of many people. And when he appears a second time, he won’t come to bear sin, but to bring salvation for those who are waiting for him. But you know that he appeared so that he may take away our sins and in him is no sin.

First, John, my children, I write this to us, though, that you won’t sin. God is not seeing your sin. So now we’re dealing down here, I write to this so that you won’t sin. But if anyone does, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And he is the one who turns aside God’s wrath, taking away our sins, and not only ours, but also the sins of the whole world. You believe that? Remember, atonement, that was the shedding of the blood of a bull and goat covered sin. Only Christ took it away. He did not come to atone for sin, a blood of a bull and goat did that. He came to take it away from the eyes of God. Is that good news, guys, or isn’t it?

Now what does that mean? Again, we know what it says. What does it mean? It means very simply, that if you are in Christ, if you have come to Him by faith, and not only what he did for you at the cross, but what he did for you in His resurrection, and we’re going to deal with that in a minute the meaning of the resurrection, and you have come to him for life. That you are a forgiven person in him you have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Are you in him? If you are you are forgiven person. You’re not a person who gets forgiven. You are a person who is forgiven. Do you believe that? I have some people who function in guilt over what they’ve done in their past all their life. I remember a guy up in Canada one time he came up to me after a lecture that I gave never seen such a dejected looking human being in my life. Beat down wrinkled. He said to me, Bob, do you think that God could forgive me? For what I’ve done? I said, Well, quite frankly, already has but what are you talking about? Well, when I was a young boy, this guy was in the 70s. When I was a young boy, I did something very bad. And I’ve asked God to forgive me over and over and over again, but I just I just can’t I just can’t feel like I’m forgiven. I asked him a question. I said, Sir, do you have any children? He said, Yes, I do. Did any of them ever do anything wrong? Yeah, they did. Did they ever come and ask you to forgive them? Well, yeah. Now I said, what if that kid would come back every year and say, Dad? Are you sure you forgave me? Come back next year. Dad, are you sure that you forgave me? Dad? Are you really sure that you forgave me? How would you feel? He said it would break my heart. And I said, then why don’t you quit breaking the heart of God? Because that’s exactly what you’re doing is breaking the heart of God by saying, I don’t think you did it Jesus. When he said, I’ve taken it away, he meant I’ve taken it away. Are you willing today to finalize this in your life? And we got on our knees together, and that man finalized that forgiveness and got up. I’ve never in my life, seen it before. Since his whole countenance had changed. Everything had changed about him, as the weight of guilt fell off of him.

Many times we accept the forgiveness of God, but we will not accept ourselves and I say, if that’s true, then your standard of righteousness is higher than that of Christ Jesus. Because if Christ has forgiven you, then why don’t you forgive you? Your standards are not higher than his. And if he God was willing to forgive you, then why don’t you forgive you? You’re a forgiven person.

Now we go back to the story. Later on Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus but secretly because he feared the Jews as was many people including Nicodemus. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. And this is a picture of the tomb where I believe with all my heart was the tomb where Jesus Christ was buried. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, a man who earlier had visited Jesus by night you remember that story. And Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes about 75 pounds. And taking Jesus body, the two of them wrapped it with the spices, in strips of linen that was customary for the way in which Judaeans, the Judaeans, buried people. That’s the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden. And if you go there today, you’ll see the Garden Tomb that is directly behind where the Golgotha is. And it’s a beautiful tomb with water, providing water underground wells of water, that obviously would be necessary for a garden, I don’t think there’s any mistake at all as to where his resurrection took place. There was a garden and in the garden was a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Judaean day of preparation. And since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one who loved Jesus, John, and said, they’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him. And so Peter, and the other disciples started for the tomb, both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. In as much as this account is being written by John, He probably wanted to let everybody know that he did beat Peter to the tomb there. So we don’t know Peter’s account, but that’s John’s account. He said that he bent over and looked at the strips of linen line there, but he did not go in. And then Simon Peter, who is behind him arrived, and he went into the tomb. And he saw the stripes of linen line there, as well as a burial cloth that had been around Jesus head. The cloth was folded up by itself separate from the linen 75 pounds around you. How would you get out of that? Resurrection. Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went inside and he saw and it said he believed.

Now listen to this guys. They still did not understand from scripture, that Jesus had to rise from the dead. They saw the tomb was empty. They saw Jesus die on a cross and taken away the sins of the world, but even so did not comprehend yet. What the Scripture had to say that Jesus had to rise from the dead or why he had to rise from the dead. We’ve been on the radio for well over 20 years now. I’ve asked this question hundreds of times to people, what was the meaning of the cross? Everybody will tell you, that’s where Jesus died for your sins. What was the meaning of the resurrection? And you hear silence on the other end, the best a person can come up with is, well, maybe that’s just to prove that Jesus was God. People do not many times have a clue that the meaning of the resurrection, the meaning of it, is that Jesus who was raised from the dead, so that that life that raised Him from the dead, can raise you and me from the dead. We are born into this world spiritually dead. What is death? The absence of life. And if you do not have life, that is your problem. But in order to give you life, he had to take away the cause of death. That was the preparation day of the cross. God’s provision, saved by His life. You’re not merely saved by the death of Christ, but by the life of Christ, Romans 5:10 When we were God’s enemies. What does that mean? Lost when you were lost. You were reconciled to him through the death of his Son. Do you realize that you were born into this world, reconciled to God, through the death of his Son? You were born into this world, a forgiven person? As far as God was concerned, does that mean you’re saved? You see, that does not if you think that you’re saved by getting your sins forgiven, that truth would be universal salvation, would it not? But that is not salvation. Read on. How much more having been reconciled this being an accomplished fact. shall we be saved by what? His life not by his death, but by his life.

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Bob George 13:48
Now, folks, you cannot have one without the other but don’t mistake one for the other. The cross is what prepared you for salvation. And had it not been for the cross you could not have been saved with eternal life. The thing that caused death was sin. And if he would have given you life apart from taking away the cause of death sin, the next time you sin you die again, would you not, and you’d have a Dracula theology dead today alive tomorrow, dead today alive tomorrow. In order to give you and me eternal life, he had to eternally take away the cause of death, which was sin. That’s why the sins of the world were taken away at the Cross preparation for salvation, salvation being coming to faith in His resurrected life. Colossians 2:13 When you were dead in your sins, and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you what? Alive with who? Christ He forgave, how many of your sins? All of them. Is this good news? A thief comes only to kill and to steal and destroy I came that you might have what? Life. What do you need life for because you’re dead. And to have it to the fullness in him we’re told was life. And that life was the light of men. Jesus identified himself is I am the bread of what? Life.

He said to the Pharisees. And the same thing would be true today, guys, in many of our intellectual so called intellectual circles. We study the book and study the book and study the book, to get to know the book, and we miss the author. I don’t think that there’s ever anything that we ever did, and any intellectual pursuit where we ever studied a book to get to know the author. I didn’t, did you, I studied the book to get to know what was in a book to put it in a blue book and get a grade you get enough those you get a degree. That’s how tough it is to get a degree. You regurgitate what the book said into a blue book, you don’t care whether it’s true or not, I don’t care who wrote it, I don’t care if the guy had a brain in his head or not. You just regurgitate what you’ve learned in the book, and you get a grade. We do the same thing in Christianity. We carry that same mentality over into our Christian faith. And we began to study the book to get to know the book, I did that, and was missing the author. There’s only one reason to pick up the Bible. And that’s to read about Jesus. Jesus said, you diligently searched the scriptures, because you think that by them the scriptures, that you possess eternal life, because of what you know about the scriptures. But these are the scriptures, he said that testify about Me, Jesus, and yet you refuse to come to me to have what? Life. Jesus said on the way, not a way, the way I am the truth, not a truth, but the truth. And I am the life, not some life, I am the life. The only spiritual life available to us is Christ Jesus. It’s not being dogmatic friends, is not being narrow minded. It is just playing practical information. God saw his creation as dead and provided a way for us to come alive. And there’s only one source of that and that’s Christ Jesus, Buddha can bring you alive, Mohammed can give you life. The Pope can’t give you a life. Billy Graham can’t give you a life. We can’t give you life. Only Christ Jesus can bring life to the dead. The wages of sin is death. The consequence of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life, life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Because of His great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us what? A live with who? Christ, even when we were dead, in transgressions, it’s for by grace, that you have been saved. He said Before long, the whole world will not see me anymore, but you will see me why? Because I live, you also will live. I tell you the truth that whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal what? Life and will not be condemned. Folks, do you realize that there is no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus? Do you believe that? Now have we been taught there’s condemnation? That God’s gonna get you? God’s gonna zap you. We’ve heard all of that heavenly. But is that true? I haven’t quoted anything from Bob George here. Those are not Bob George passages. Those are passages out of the Scripture. Is there any condemnation up here? There is no condemnation, you will not be condemned. What is the condemnation of God for sin? What is the wages of sin? Death. Have you been freed from death? Absolutely. The law of the Spirit of Life has set you free from the law of sin and death. You’ve been freed from it. You’ve crossed over from death to life. Jesus Christ came to this earth to identify with us in our death, so that we can identify with him in his resurrection. What is salvation then? Restoring man, to true humanity. Paul said, I become its servant by the Commission. God gave him to me to present you the Word of God in its fullness not to stop at the cross. But to go on to the to the resurrection.

Thank God for the cross folks, but that was preparatory and we have missed the dynamic of the resurrection. We come and celebrate Eastern we have our lilies And our Easter bunnies and eggs and all that kind of stuff. But it’s mean nothing. What it is, is new life has been given to us that Christ was raised from the dead, He died for you then so that he can live in you now. It’s a mystery that was kept hidden for ages and generations, but as now this is disclosed to the saints, and to God to them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles, the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, your hope of glory, Christ living in you, is your hope of glory. So what did God do? And what is this season all about? Restoring and us what we had lost an Adam, that being the Spirit of God living in us, for God in the man is indispensable to the humanity of the man. Gasoline in your car is indispensable to the function of the car. Am I were right or wrong? How come? Made that way. Electricity that bulb was indispensable to the function of the bulb. Is that right or wrong? How come? It’s made that way. Oil in an oil lamp is indispensable to the function of the lamp. Is that right or wrong? Why it was made that way? Take the oil out of the lamp, you got a lamp on your hands can’t behave as one. Go out and buy a $60,000 car and the dumb thing will go without $2 with the gas in it. Why? It was made that way. Why does man need God living in him? He’s made that way. You take God out of the man what’d you get? What do you have? You got a man on your hands but he can’t behave like one. He’s not an animal. So he can’t behave like an animal. He’s not a true man as God made man to be so he can’t behave like a man so he behaves like an idiot. Why? Because until you are indwelt by God, you are not complete. You’re always searching. How many of you remember the days when you were searching, longing, bouncing prayers off the ceiling saying is there any meaning and purpose to this life down here? There is a great book out on meaning and purpose. You know what your meaning and purpose in life is is to be engulfed by God to be used a body available to Christ Jesus to live his life in and through you. That’s what we’re here for. What profits, a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul. We’re here to be available to God, to live his life and in through us. It may be in your lifetime to just give a cup of water to someone in the name of Jesus, we don’t know what God wants to do through you and me. But be available to him. That’s our purpose in life. God in the man indispensable to the humanity of the man. That’s what resurrection means.

Well, the disciples, they went back to their homes. Mary Magdalene stood outside the tomb grind. The tomb was empty. That huge stone had been rolled away. Some people say they believe in us Swoon Theory that Jesus just kind of passed out. Think of that for a minute and passed out beaten is no man unbelievably weakened condition nailed to a cross and then wrapped with 75 pounds of stuff. And then move that stone after nails had been in your feet and your hands. didn’t make much sense. Well, maybe they maybe those Jews stole him? Well, they’re in worse shape than they were before. Because the last thing in the world that they wanted was resurrection. Maybe as the apostles it took him away. Well, how could you do that? When the Roman government had a sign guards there put a seal across that stone that if you broke it, it was death. So I hardly believe that anybody came and stole it. But again, guys, even if they did, can you imagine 12 guys Who knew that Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead, they they got even stolen or being hung upside down on a cross dying for that truth? Or that lie? You know, you might get a couple of to do that. But I’ll tell you if I was there and they’re getting ready to hang me upside down. I’d say guys, the gig is up.

Now Jesus was raised from the dead, it’s the only tomb that is famous for who isn’t in it. He was raised from the dead. prophesied in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the new. So Mary Magdalene stood outside the tomb crying and as she wept she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels and white seated where Jesus body had been one at the head and the other the foot and they asked her, Woman why are you crying? She said they’ve taken my lord away. And I don’t know where they put him at She turned around and she saw Jesus standing there. But she did not realize it was Jesus woman. He said, Why are you crying? Who is it that you’re looking for? And thinking that he was the gardener. She said, Sir, if you’ve carried him away, please tell me where you’ve put him. And I’ll get him. Jesus said to her, Mary, and she turned and she cried out in Aramaic rabbi, which means teacher, you know, sometimes there’s a way in which you pronounce someone that you love, name, that they know who’s speaking, Mary, and she recognized Jesus. Jesus said, don’t hold on to me, I’ve not yet returned to the Father, but instead go to my brothers and tell them, I am returning to my Father and to your Father and to my God into your God. So Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news I’ve seen the Lord and she told them, that he had said these things to her. Jesus did many other miracles guys, in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these things are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. He has risen. The most important fact in human history, the resurrection of Christ Jesus. Jesus said to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, you must be born again. What is birth? Life. He said, You Born born spirit, physically from your mom and dad. Now you must be born from above spiritually. There’s a natural birth and there’s a spiritual birth. Only God can give you spiritual birth. Nicodemus did not understand what he said. He said, How do you expect me to climb back in the womb my mother be born again? And in essence, Jesus was saying, Nicodemus, you’re thinking on human terms, but I’m speaking to a spiritual truth that if you don’t grab a hold of you’re going to die in your sins.

Announcer 27:16
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’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 in praise the Lord. Amen.