Radio Broadcast Monday 11/21/2022

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Law & Grace P28 (11-21-22)

The Law Was Given to Show Us Our Unrighteousness & The Need For His Righteousness

~ Turning to Christ Jesus for His Righteousness is Called Repentance Unto Life

~ “The purpose of the law we’ve studied is to show us our need for salvation and to point us to Christ. Once this is done, the law’s done its job. So therefore there’s no purpose of the law. In as much as the Spirit of God is now indwelling, a true believer, and leading them constantly into the truth of Christ Jesus. And it is through our knowledge of Him, it says that we learned that we have everything that we need for life and godliness. And so the law has done its work, it showed me my face was dirty, it’s like a mirror. But the mirror cannot wash your face. The mirror merely shows you your need for cleansing, and you turn with empty arms. And you hear the voice behind you saying, Bob, turn to me, come to me. And that’s what turning is. That’s what repentance is, it’s changing your mind. I’m looking into the mirror, and I’m looking at me, and you hear the voice turn around, and we turn around, and he says, Do you want me to wash your face, the mirror has shown you your condition. I’m here to provide your provision, and we turn to Christ Jesus, and we are born again. The law cannot save us any more than a mirror can wash your face. A law can’t give us life. We’ve studied the law cannot forgive our sins, and the law cannot make us righteous. And that’s why as believers we are no longer under the law. But we’re under the grace of God who accomplished for us in us what we could never accomplish, in and of ourselves.”

Listen in to today’s lesson with more in-depth teaching, from the Bible study booklet, A Closer Look at Law & Grace, available for purchase from our online Bob George Ministries ecommerce store.

Jesus asked how does God love and accept us? And how does he expect us to live the Christian life? To answer those questions, this insightful study explores a vital issue at the heart of the Christian experience, the biblical relationship between law and grace, understanding their role in our relationship to God will bring joy, freedom and spontaneity to your Christian life. Now, let’s take A Closer Look at Law & Grace.

Bob George 0:38
And now we’re going to pick up on page 47, Chapter Seven, we’re no longer under the law. The purpose of the law we’ve studied is to show us our need for salvation and to point us to Christ. Once this is done, the law’s done its job. So therefore there’s no purpose of the law. In as much as the Spirit of God is now indwelling, a true believer, and leading them constantly into the truth of Christ Jesus. And it is through our knowledge of Him, it says that we learned that we have everything that we need for life and godliness. And so the law has done its work, it showed me my face was dirty, it’s like a mirror. But the mirror cannot wash your face. The mirror merely shows you your need for cleansing, and you turn with empty arms. And you hear the voice behind you saying, Bob, turn to me, come to me. And that’s what turning is. That’s what repentance is, it’s changing your mind. I’m looking into the mirror, and I’m looking at me, and you hear the voice turn around, and we turn around, and he says, Do you want me to wash your face, the mirror has shown you your condition. I’m here to provide your provision, and we turn to Christ Jesus, and we are born again. The law cannot save us any more than a mirror can wash your face. A law can’t give us life. We’ve studied the law cannot forgive our sins, and the law cannot make us righteous. And that’s why as believers we are no longer under the law. But we’re under the grace of God who accomplished for us in us what we could never accomplish, in and of ourselves.

So we look at our key verse in chapter seven, Galatians, 3:24 and 25. That states that the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. And now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. Now, folks, how much more clear does the Scripture need to read? I mean, I just don’t know how much clearer you could make it than this, you really don’t need a deep interpretation. When someone says you’re no longer under the supervision of the law, it means you’re no longer under the supervision of the law. And how come? well, because faith has come faith in who faith in the One who released you from the law, whereby the wages of sin is death under the law that says you’re under a curse under the law, because you’re under a death penalty, has released us bought us from that into a newness of life to be led internally by His Spirit. So now that faith has come faith in who? faith in Christ. As I’ve said, before, we suffer unbelievably, with spiritual dyslexia. We see everything backwards. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, but not seen. In other words, faith is in what Jesus has done for you and me. That’s the blessed hope that I have when it talks about in the Scripture, faith, hope and love, always in triplicate, faith, hope and love, faith, hope and love. How can well you can’t have one without the other. You can’t mistake one for the other. But you can’t have one without the other. If you’ve got faith in the object of your faith is Christ Jesus, you’re going to have hope in Christ Jesus. And when you have faith in Him and hope in Him, you’re going to have the love of Him. And so you can’t separate those. And so when we’re talking about when you’re talking about being born again of the Spirit of God and Christ, Jesus coming alive, living in us, he and he alone is who gives us that ability to walk now in the newness of life totally freed from the bondage of the law. We had to be freed from the law. The law brought death, but the Spirit of God brings life period. Now that is, to me is pretty good news. I would think that we would be elated over that. But there’s something inside of man that he says no, I still want to accomplish something. Now when it talks about After the fact that we had that we have been completed in Christ, and, and everything has already been done for us. And I said, this spiritual dyslexia is, we look at faith as me, by my faith causing God to do something on my behalf. There is nothing in the scripture to even indicate that faith is not that I have faith that God is going to do something. Faith is faith in Him who has already done something. That’s why it says that we have been given everything that we need for life and godliness, through our knowledge of what? of him, of him. That’s why I said, I didn’t come to alter your mind, I came to renew your mind. So that you might know what God’s perfect will is. So it’s through our getting to know him the author, that’s the only reason for studying the Bible, incidentally, folks is to get to know the author. And it’s through coming to know Him, that we know what he has accomplished for us in our lives, and will be the rest of our lives. Learning that and, and the truth of that thinking involves that never the knowledge, the cursory knowledge of that is just cursory, I’ll spend the rest of my life exploring the depths of what Christ Jesus has done for us. It’s what Paul says, the height and depth and width and breadth of the love of God. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you might be filled to the measure with the fullness of God. We’ll spend the rest of our lives studying the depths of that truth. So what true faith is now that this faith has come, it says we’re no longer under the supervision of the law, what faith is, is coming to realize, and to know, which we have the privilege of knowing through the word of what God has accomplished for us. And walking, by faith in that. And we keep thinking faith is, is around what we are doing instead of what we are believing. Now, if I truly come to understand and believe and to exercise faith in the fact that my relationship with God is eternal, that’s what it says, then I’m going to walk on this earth totally different than if I believe it’s temporal. I am going to be walking in fear. If I think it’s temporal, if it’s up to me, instead of him, I am going to be walking in all kinds of ways that are contrary to what God said that He wants us to walk in. And so what I believe is totally going to affect the way I behave. And but we’ve concentrated on behavior, instead of what people believe.

The apostle Paul, in Galatians, we just read it now that faith has come we are no longer under the supervision of the law. And the reason we’re not under the supervision of the law is because the law has done its work. Christ did His work and fulfilling the law. The law has now been fulfilled in you who do not walk any longer after the flesh, but in the Spirit, which means you’re born again, it doesn’t mean after you’re born again, you’re walking fleshly it means that you are no longer out of the law because you’re saved. You’re now in the Spirit. You’re not in the Spirit, because you roll around on the floor, you’re not in the Spirit because you say you’re in the Spirit, you’re in the Spirit, if you’re in Christ, Jesus Christ lives in you, and you live in him. So it’s it is a it is a position that you are in it’s your condition, doesn’t have anything to do with your behavior, it show your behavior should be a byproduct of that. And as evidence of that byproduct, but it does not cause your condition, your condition is I’ve stepped out of Adam into Christ, and Christ is stepped out of heaven into me. And I’m now in the newness of life indwelt by the Spirit of God.

Now, in Romans 6:14, Paul said For sin shall not be your master, because you’re not under law, but under grace. So isn’t that strange? And it says that sin will no longer be your master because you’re not under the law. But you’re under the grace of God. Now what is let’s reverse that whenever there’s a positive statement, the negative also has to be true. So what is the opposite of that? Well, if sin is not your master, because you’re under, you’re not under the law, then who is your master when you’re under the law? sin and who is not your master when you’re under the law? Grace? Because you cannot commingle and mix law and grace you cannot pour new wine into old wineskins. Romans 11 says if it’s by grace and it’s long no longer by works if it weren’t Grace would no longer be grace. And so we’re talking about the fact that as long my friends a you remain under the law.

Now, if you’re lost under the law, which is who the that’s the object of the law, the law was given it says, to the lost, not to the righteous, but to the unrighteous. In order to do what? bring you to Christ. So I want you to think this thing through with me for a moment. If if you have now been freed, bought back, you’ve been bought back from the bondage and the wages of sin under the law, which is death. And you’ve been freed from the law of sin and death by the law of life. That’s why Paul was able to say there’s now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus for the law, the spirit of life, set me free from the law of sin and death. What is the law of sin and death? If anyone who violates the least of these my commandments is violated all of them? It’s the law folks. It’s not the ceremonial law. It’s the 10 commandments. It’s all of them. It’s Mount Sinai period. You and I do not go to Mount Sinai anymore. You go to Calvary, you go to the empty tomb, that’s where we live. We live in a newness of life no longer under that oldness of life under the law, where sin is your master. Why is sin your master? Man, it has you. As long as you’re under the law, you’re under the wages of sin. It’s gotcha, it masters you. You feared death all of your life, folks, when you’re under the law. Now sins no longer your master. How come? Because you’ve been freed from the law in order to do what walk under the grace of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. No condemnation waiting you geez, all you tell lat boy, people are gonna live like the dickens. I haven’t noticed anyone not living like a dickens who are under the law. If the power of sin is in the law, then why would you say that people are living godly lives under the law. Oh, outwardly, you may see some of that, folks. But the meanest people that I’ve ever known on the face of this earth, are legalists. And the meanest people that has ever recorded on the face of this earth. Were the legalists who hung the Lord God, the most kind, sweet, loving, forgiving man that ever walked on this earth, Christ Jesus, and they hung him on a cross, because they’re afraid everybody was going to be following him, and they would lose their position as law teachers. And so folks, don’t kid yourself, when you’re mean as a hornet. Don’t call yourself Christian, call yourself religious, because that’s consistent with being religious. But please don’t call yourself a child of the living God. Because what comes out of you has nothing to do with what it is to be a child of God. If you were to look at one quality of Christ Jesus, when I think of him, Bob, I think of his unbelievable kindness, his kindness and His mercy, to those of us in need of kindness, and of mercy. And when you’re not merciful, and you show no mercy to people, and you show unkindness to people, and you have no regard for their feelings, no regards for the outcome of your actions toward them. No regard at all for a person’s family for his inner life or anything else. You’re not walking with Christ. Christ causes you to think of others more highly of yourself that more highly than that of yourself. It causes you to consider other people rather than always thinking about number one.

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Bob George 14:13
And so, folks sin is your master under the law. Now in Romans, in Romans 7: 1 through 3, you’re going to turn the page there, and you’re going to see the next question. It says, Do you not know brothers, for I am speaking to men who know the law, that the law has an authority over a man only as long as he lives? So he’s saying, I’m speaking to you who know the law. But anybody can figure out can we not that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? Now we we don’t have to be too smart to figure that that no one goes in and to a corpse looks down and says you violate these 10. I mean, the law is just he’s dead to the law and the laws dead to him. Now did not Paul say that? I am dead to the law, and the law is dead to me, I’m dead to the world and the world is dead to me. I’m dead to these things. Now he’s going to give an example folks out of the Hebrew law. He’s going to give an example because Paul was an expert on Hebrew law. So he says, I’m going to get you I’m going to teach you the truth of what I’m trying to teach you here, by an example, out of your own law, under your own law, the Hebrew law. For example, by law, a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law of marriage. So we know that, don’t we, that as long as we are alive, that we’re under the law of marriage, that was certainly under the Hebrew law, you’re bound to that relationship, as long as you’re alive. But if your husband dies, you’re released from that law of marriage. So it goes ahead if she marries another man, while her husband is still alive. She’s called an adulterous, that under the law is exactly what a person who divorces and marries someone else under the law, they’re called an adulterous. But if her husband dies, she’s released from the law, and is not an adulterous even though she marries another man. So the issue is not whether or not you have been married to someone and then marry someone else. The issue is, is have you done that while your first husband is alive, because if he’s dead, you’re released from that law of marriage. And this was the Hebrew law that was as stringent as can be. So I jokingly say Don’t divorce your husband, just Kili. Jokingly jokingly. Please don’t take that as advice. So we’re dealing with with being released from a law and this is the whole purpose of this, the whole purpose of this isn’t to discuss divorce, the whole issue of this is giving an example out of their own law under marriage, as to what death does, it releases you from a law.

Now why was he saying that? Well, because he said that in order to explain Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. And I no longer live. But it’s Christ now that lives in me. And the life I live in his body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. In other words, I have died. And as a result of my death, I’ve been released from that law of being married to the law. I am now released from that so that what? I can marry another Christ Jesus, our Lord. Now, folks, that is precisely what the picture of water baptism is, if you’re going to have baptism as a picture, then sprinkling isn’t gonna do that. Because that doesn’t give a picture and whether you’re Ducktor sprinkled Inga save anybody anyway, that has nothing to do with salvation. It’s a picture of that should be a visual aid in order to to shows somebody what happened to them spiritually. What happens at that? Well, it’s a picture of dying. I have been crucified with Christ, I died with him. When Christ died, it says, We all died. I died with him. Now who was I married to? Well I was married to the law. I was married to the law of sin and death. I was under it couldn’t be separated from it. I was married to the law of lostness. I was married to the law of being in darkness. I was all of those things were true of me. When I entered into this world, now I died. When I died, what was I released from? Well, I died so that I could be raised in the newness of life and married to another therefore being able to be called what? The Bride of Christ and that’s who you and I are. We’re the Bride of Christ Jesus. I couldn’t have been a bride of Christ Jesus and still be married to another I’d be called a spiritual adulterous or an adulterer. And so I had to die in order to be released from that law. Not so that I could just be released, but so that I could marry another. It isn’t I’m going to divorce so that I can just get a no man’s land. I’m going not to divorce, but death is going to occur so that I can be freed from that law to marry and other and that’s Christ Jesus. So have you been crucified it? What is the meaning of that? It means I died to the law that killed me. Paul said through the law, I died to the law.

As Paul said, I’ve been crucified with Christ. And I no longer live but it’s Christ who lives in me now there’s that’s what it means to now walk in the newness of life. It means to walk as a person in whom Christ Jesus lives. Jesus told us about that. He told His disciples before he went to the cross, that it’s good for you that I go away that I’m going away. And yet none of us Why am I going away. But it’s good for you that I do. Because when I do that, he said, I’m going to send my Holy Spirit to come and to live in your heart, bringing Christ to your heart. And you will have now for the first time in your life, a personal, intimate, vital, pulsating relationship with the Living God, I’m going to restore in you, what was my desire for man, since the day that Adam fell, to restore life to the dead, and give them a life that could never be taken away again, by sin, because I’m going to deal with sin once and for all at the cross. And when I do, I’m going to take it away. And in so doing, I’m going to destroy the power of Satan over you, because the wages of sin is death. And sin can no longer be your master, because I’m going to buy you and I’m going to buy you out of that condition of being under the law. I’m going to place you in a brand new condition of being under the grace of God. And so I’m crucified with Christ, I died when he died. And when I did, I died to the thing that killed me. And that was the law. The apostle Paul said, Did he not it was through the law, that I died to the law. What does that mean? Through the law, I died, when I died, I died to what killed me. And that was the law.

Now in Romans seven, four through six, all of this is explained, I’m going to read it to you. So my brother’s you also died to the law, through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law, were at work in our bodies. Now, what caused the sinful passions to be aroused? It says the law, at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death, we bore the fruit of death. But now by dying to what once boundless, that’s the law folks. We have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. Folks, do you see the difference? You can’t serve the law and the grace of God at the same time. Paul told us that, that you foolish Galatians in Galatians, three said, You’ve been bewitched and our folks, when you’ve been bewitched, you have really been deceived. Before your very eyes, Christ, Jesus was clearly portrayed as crucified. He said, you used to see the meaning of Christ’s death as clearly as though I placed a place card in front of you, I painted a picture for you. And he said, I’d like to learn just one thing from you. Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or Bible or by believing what you heard? When you see folks receiving the Spirit is receiving the life of God. So it’s like saying, Were you born again by observing the law? Or by believing what you heard about the one who fulfilled the law? And that’s Christ Jesus. Are you so foolish? He said, After beginning with the Spirit. In other words, with the spirit of life, are you now trying to attain your goal? By human effort by living up to the law? You can’t live up to the law, folks. It’s not that it’s not a noble goal. Man, there are a lot of noble goals in this world in which we live today. There are a lot of things that people say standards of morality promises to keep principles to live by. Man, I remember a number of years ago, Bob, or some men would flock in 20,000 people to center in order to learn principle after principle after principle after principle, but just another name for law. And boy, if you do this, God will do this. And again, it’s, I will do so that God will do instead of God has done and I’m going to walk by faith in it. And when I walked by faith in it, there’s a repercussion to that there’s a byproduct of that God works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.

In Galatians, one, six through eight, Paul said, I’m astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by His grace of Christ, and turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. Now, if the gospel saves you, then what gospel Have you turned to? And Bob, I think that is something that is worth exploring. Paul goes ahead to say that evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we are an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one that we preach to you. Let him be eternally condemned. Now, folks, when when Paul says that a gospel that commingles Law and Grace, a gospel that even says you are saved by grace, but you live by works, is not any gospel at all. And if it tells us in the Scripture, that it is the gospel that saves us, it’s the truth of the gospel that saves us, then, could a false gospel save this? And the answer that is no, it cannot do that.

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.