Radio Broadcast Tuesday 03/01/2022

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at The Reality of The Resurrection P40 (03-01-22)

The Law Kills and The Spirit Gives Life

We are reviewing a little bit of yesterday’s broadcast first, and then continuing along in our bible study book, A Closer Look at The Reality of The Resurrection. Let’s listen is as Bob teaches from the An Eternal Inheritance chapter.

2 Corinthians 3:6
⁶ He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

So He upheld the law. He fulfilled it with His life. He upheld it with His death. When He was buried. He buried the law, meaning we died to the law. The law is what killed, as Paul said through the law, I died to the law. The law killed me. And in my death and resurrection, I died to the thing that killed me. So we buried the law so that we could be raised from the dead in the newness of life, being freed from the law. So Christ fulfilled the law through His life. He upheld the law in His death. He died to the law in His burial and freed us from the law, in His resurrection. Now that is good news of the Gospel and that is all included in the gospel and it’s all a part of what was able to bring about this brand-new inheritance. Whereby you are a joint heir not because of what you have done, but because you are a son, not what you have done. But because you became a son.

Now, in that inheritance, we talked about last week, some of the things that are involved in that. First of all, we talked about that you were justified. And that means totally made righteous in the sight of God. Why? Because of what He did folks, not because of what you have done, but because of the grace of God who sent Jesus to do for you and me, what we could never do for ourselves. So we have been justified freely, it says by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ for we maintain that a man is justified by faith, apart from observing the law. Secondly, he said, you’ve been chosen by God to do what? To be holy and blameless in His sight. He chose us in Him before the creation of the to do what? Be holy and blameless in his sight. That choosing as I understand the scripture doesn’t have anything to do with choosing you for salvation and not choosing someone else. If because of God it is God’s will that all should come to repentance and all should come to salvation. So it couldn’t be God’s will that none should perish but all should be saved and then choose some people that aren’t saved. So it was His will that none should perish in all should come to repentance, all should change their mind but not everyone does. But to those who do become of a child of God and are chosen for all people who come to him by faith, He chose before the creation of the world, to make those people holy and blameless in his sight. So that is not something that you earned again. It was the moment you stepped out of Adam and into Christ and Christ having stepped out of heaven, and into you, becoming a child of God clothed in His righteousness, holy and blameless in his sight because of your identification with the one who made you, holy and blameless was in his sight. Now that took total forgiveness, not total for covering of sin as atonement did, but the taking away of sin such as the Life of Christ did.In so doing as we said, canceled the law in His burial so that we could be raised in the newness of life. And that is then the next part of our inheritance saved through His life. When we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son. How much more having been reconciled, are we saved by his resurrected life.

Now, picking up on page 68, we’ve been made righteous in the sight of God. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. So that in Him in His resurrected life, folks, we might become the righteousness of God. Do you realize right now that in the sight of God, you are as righteous in the sight of God, in other words, right standing as the Apostle Paul? He made you righteous in his sight, His love did that for you. So, right now, you can sit wherever you are standing, wherever you are driving, wherever you are, if you are in Christ, you literally can say I have been made in the righteousness of God. God has given me right standing.

That’s why in The Book of Romans it says, we have peace with God because of our justification by faith. We have peace with God through the access by the grace of God that we entered into His presence, accessing the grace of God. My friends, do you understand what that means? And not because of what you have done, but because of what He has done, you have gained access into the throne of grace, whereby, we as children of God, had the privilege of walking into the presence of God at any time at any place calling Him Abba Daddy Father. That privilege was only reserved and it wasn’t even a privilege for the high priest who went into the Holy of Holies. The only one who could enter in there, and when they did entered in with a rope around their leg, because in the event that they died while they were in there, no one could go get them and they had to pull him out.

But when Jesus died on that cross, that curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from all of humanity was rent from the top to the bottom. It wasn’t ripped from the bottom up, so that man could have done it. It was ripped from the top down, whereby only God could have done it, enabling us to enter into his presence at any time and receiving mercy in our time of need. That is what it means to be made, right. Right in the sight of God.

Hebrews. 10:14 goes ahead to say that we’ve been made perfect in the sight of God, because of one sacrifice. He has (that’s past tense) made perfect forever those who are holy. Now in the NIV, it says, are being made holy, that is not a good translation. You need to go into a New American Standard or the King James. You’ll pick that up. It is those who have been made holy, literally those who have been sanctified, set apart by the grace of God. You can back up to other passages as an example, where in Colossians, where it says we have been made holy in his sight now, so that takes away from the fact that we are being made. That’s not a good translation. We’re not being made holy, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, the death of Christ once and for all. It also says, we’ve been made holy and blameless, but now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight without blemish and free of accusation. Again we’re talking about your inheritance. What has God given to you? And if he’s given this to you that’s therefore from his standpoint, what you are. And again, we’re just talking about a whole bunch of good news.

We’re going through our inheritance in Christ. I don’t know how that could get any more exciting but I think it will. We talked about the fact in Colossians 1:20 too that we have been made holy, that is set apart and blameless in his sight. Now folks, we need to understand that we’re not holy and blameless in our sight obviously. Otherwise we wouldn’t be criticizing each other. The issue is that’s how God sees us. And the whole intent of His understanding to us is that’s how He sees us. It’s not only so that we can be at peace with God, but that should overflow in being at peace with one another. It’s as it says, in the scripture forgive one another. How? As Christ Jesus forgave you. And until we understand the finality of forgiveness that has been extended to us in Christ Jesus, what do we have to pass on? But folks if we don’t pass it on, what have we learned? In other words, if Christ has totally forgiven me and Christ has totally forgiven you, who am I to hold a grudge against you and who are you to hold a grudge against me? You see that is inconsistent with the teaching of the word of God? If Christ Jesus loves you, which indeed He does, it says love one another. That should be a byproduct of your understanding of the love of God. It’s not that we loved Him, but that He loved us first. And as we respond to His initiation of love, we learn to love God and we receive, we respond to, His initiation. So that in responding, we can take His initiative that He gave to us, and initiate that to one another. That’s why it should not be inconsistent with our own experience of loving one another, because as we have received, give. We’ve always looked at giving as in money. But I tell you it has to do with love. And giving, of course, is a part of an act of love, but there’s far more to it than the giving of funds. There’s the giving of our own lives and our giving to one another. And forgiveness, if it is not passed on, it is sitting there like the Dead Sea, so it’s full of water, but it didn’t go any place. And it’s the same thing, if it’s wonderful for me to be filled with the fullness of the love of God and to be basking in that, but if I’m not extending that love to one another, it didn’t go on any one else, it is just a stinkin Dead Sea.

And we need to understand that when God made you and me, set us apart in his sight without blemish and free of accusation, and that’s why it says in the scripture don’t judge one another. What right do you have to judge another person? And when It comes to judging folks, it comes to judging motives. Because actions are appraised, motives have to be judged. I can appraise your action, just like I could appraise your artwork, but I’d have to judge your motivation for doing the artwork. I may say you’re just trying to make money or I can say, you’re just trying to get praised for your paintings or I can say you’re just deceived, you shouldn’t be painting to begin with. I say all kinds of things like that. But in so doing, I’m judging your motive for what you’re doing. I’m praising your painting, but I’m judging your motive. We do that all the time in Christian circles and it’s unfortunate in the Christian world as we said so many times that we’re the only army that shoots their wounded. And that is that instead of basking in this marvelous inheritance that we have received in Christ Jesus, we become like ritual spoiled brats that we’ve got all this inheritance and instead of using it, and give us a heart of appreciation because a kid certainly didn’t deserve to be living in those environments. Kids certainly didn’t deserve to have a pool to swim in and be in his own bedroom and chauffeured cars to drive around in. There wasn’t anything that they deserved it. But instead of living in appreciation of it, we become spoiled brats. And we want more, and we’re out trying to tear down our brothers and sisters, and make them look bad in the eyes of daddy. So that maybe I might get another steak on the table or something. And folks that is so contrary to why God gave you this inheritance. He gave us this inheritance to give us a heart of appreciation and love and respect, and to pass what we have received on to one another. But instead of that our own pride and ego keeps bouncing away where we want to try to destroy our own family, instead of rejoicing with our family.

All of us are heirs of what we’re talking about, every person listening to my voice that is in Christ has the same inheritance. It isn’t that one has more holiness and one has been deemed less blameless than another. One person hasn’t been made a little less perfect than the other. Man, how could you be less perfect than perfect? If you’ve been made perfect, how are you going to get more perfect or less perfect? You’re just made perfect. That’s all ours. All of us have been declared righteous in his sight. Not more righteous than the other. And here, we are trying to get more out of the family.

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Folks, that’s why the Bible says very clearly. And in the Psalms and Proverbs that it is God hates this sowing of discord among the brothers. And yet, you see it going on all the time. It’s time, I believe that we get back in our Christian experience, to realize that if this is our inheritance, what right do we have to be blasting away at one another as brothers and sisters in Christ?

And so God didn’t look at it that way, God doesn’t hold things against you. God didn’t sit around keeping records of wrongs. Got a little filing cabinet down there so that He can get to it right away. And of course, computers help too. Because you could categorize all those sins as someone else has done. And therefore, you can just access anytime you want to and dig it up. Is that of God? It isn’t of God to be keeping records of people’s wrongs. It isn’t of God that if someone is offended, you should not forgive them. That’s not of God there. Anything of God in there? You know, you can get down some, well that husband or this wife, while they, yeah, maybe they did. But from God’s standpoint, what do you do? You forgive. You may not get back together, but you forgive. And forgiving means I am willing to be reconciled to my brother, just as God was willing to be reconciled to us. Why would He want to be reconciled to us? You got me? It takes more love that I can conjure up, or even begin to dream or imagine why He would have wanted to be reconciled to me. Well, some people, we feel the same way with each other. Why would I want to be reconciled to him or to her or whoever it might be? Well, because God reconciled you, you have been reconciled. You, who are you not to be reconciled with your brother, who are you to be holding things against one another? Who am I to be holding grudges against another brother? Who am I to be keeping records of someone else’s wrongs, when anyone ever wanted to dig mine up they dig so deep that they hit China?

And so, you know, who do we think we are? What kind of pride is inside of a Christian’s heart that says that I can justify my behavior in my actions, by holding grudges against someone that God has made holy and blameless, and me and my pride say he may be blameless in God’s sight, but he isn’t blameless in mine. And I’m going to keep after him until giddy. Now folks, that is not of God. We’ve seen that kind of stuff, even take place in ministries. I don’t approve of some of the ministries that have obviously, and they probably wouldn’t approve of me either. I don’t approve of some of the teachings that have taken place. But I’ve seen Christians go after Christians and I think it is an absolute disgrace to do so. I think to leave that to God, intrust those things to God, the one who judges justly. We’re out trying many times to crucify people and I do not believe that that is a part of what God called us to do. If He made you and me holy and blameless in His sight and who are we to think differently of another person? Now we go on to 1st Corinthians 12, 12 and 13, baptized into Christ another area where people have misinterpreted that word, baptized, because we’re talking here about a spiritual baptism. We’re not talking about dunken someone in water.

The body it says is a unit and though it’s made up of many parts. And if you’re sitting there listening to me today, you got a head, obviously, and you got a heart dangling off of that thing. And there are many parts, and though its parts, it says, are many, they form one body. You’re not two bodies. You’re not three bodies. They form one body. And so it is with Christ. Same to you. He is the head for we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body. It’s not being baptized in water. You’re baptized by one Spirit. What Spirit is that? The Holy Spirit of God. He is the baptizer into the body of Jesus. The Spirit of God, you couldn’t be born again until the Spirit of God comes to live within you. That alleviates the fact that being saved one day, and receiving the Spirit the next, that is an impossibility from God’s vantage point. It’s certainly promoted by man, but not from God. That is, you couldn’t even be unless the Spirit of God comes to live within you. We’re told in the scripture, you’re born again of the Spirit. And if you hadn’t been born, obvious Spirit, you couldn’t be born again. So, how could you be born again one day, obviously of the Spirit, and then get the Spirit the next day. So that it is not biblical. The very moment that the Spirit of God came to live within you, He then baptized, placed you into the body of Christ. That was what Jesus was talking about. I am in them. That’s Christ in you. They are in Me. That’s us in Him. How did all that take place at spiritual birth? By the work of the Holy Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God came, bringing Jesus to your heart. He baptized, placed you into His body. That is why you, and I who are in Christ are part of the body of Christ. We have one head folks, and that’s not me as a pastor or someone else is a paster. We are not your head. Christ is your head. We are a part of the body.

We’re going back to the passage First Corinthians 12. That’s 12 to 13 and 18. We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, the very moment of spiritual birth. You and I were placed by the Spirit of God into the body of Christ Jesus. And years ago, folks, if you were to look for the body of God, you had to go back to Israel and look up a band called Jesus of Nazareth. And there you would have seen the body of Christ in one place, singular in form. That is the miracle. He said, I’m going away. The apostles were saying, oh Lord, you can’t do that. He says yes I can because if I don’t, I can’t send the Holy Spirit to you. But when I do go, I’m going to send the Holy Spirit to you. You are going to be born again. You are going to have God living in you, and you are going to be My body here on this Earth. Where’s the body of Christ today? 2,000 years ago. Where was it? Israel? Where is it today? All over the world. Any place where there is a born-again Christian, there is the body of Christ. There are many parts of it, but they form one body. My body is diversified beyond measure. Every finger does it perform the same function, take one of them out and you see how well you do without it. It’s amazing what cutting off someone’s toe will do to their walk, just a little toe. That’s all and yet it will affect the entire body.

We’re all diversified, but God created us in such a way that when the diversity within the body is relying upon the head that there is unity in the body. And the only way that unity in the body will ever be, is through the members of the body walking in reliance and dependency upon the head. This also is what alleviates racial discrimination and racial prejudice because in Christ, there are no Jews. There are no Greeks. There are no slaves. There is no free. In Christ, there is no black or yellow or brown or white or whatever color a skin is. We are just one in Christ.

And when we look at people, we don’t look at people anymore the way that we used to look at people. When you are looking at a person in Christ, you don’t look at them as a black Christian or a white Christian or a yellow Christian or a brown Christian. Who in the world cares what color the jar is? The issue is what’s in that thing and what is in the jar is Christ Jesus and He is the one who brings Unity to the body of Christ. We were all, anyone in Christ, given the one Spirit to drink, but in fact, God has arranged the parts of the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.

Now we’ve got Christians out trying to promote their gift, and it says that God made them as he wanted them to be. God didn’t want everyone to be a teacher. He wanted me to be one. I don’t know why. Surely I wasn’t equipped for it. He has someone else that He wants to be an encourager. He has someone else that He wants to be able to have a sign gift. All of those are God’s doing. And we’re out trying to promote our little gifts to people. Folks, that is not of God. If you have a gift, praise God, use it for the edification of the body, not to divide the body. Now we were also sealed in Christ. You are also included in Christ. When you heard the word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed you are marked in Him with a seal, the promised, Holy Spirit, who has a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. There’s our inheritance again until the redemption of those who are God’s possession to the praise of his glory. Folks, you, the holy Spirit of God living in you is the deposit from God guaranteeing your inheritance. Now, how could you lose a guarantee when the guarantor is God? The one who pulled it off is the guarantor, the one who received it. If it has received the guarantee and the worth of the guarantee is predicated upon the faithfulness of the guarantor, and we’re up there saying that God is not a good guarantor when He guaranteed your inheritance. Now folks, your inheritance is not based upon you. It is based upon the guarantor who guaranteed an eternal inheritance to you until the final redemption of all of us, who are God’s possession. How could you lose that? I’ll tell you how you could lose it when the guarantor becomes a liar.

Now, we are also hidden with Christ for you died and your life is now hidden with God and Christ. What does that mean? Well, it means Galatians 3:27 that you’re clothed with Christ. All of you who were baptized, placed into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. What does that mean? When God looks at you, He sees your clothing, you clothed with Christ Jesus. Who, who are you sealed in? Christ Jesus. Who are you hidden in? Christ Jesus

Folks, there was a story. It’s a true story. Of a man on death row and he had remembered his lifelong friend that he grew up with that was blind. And so he arranged to have a transplant take place of the cornea transplant in his eyes. So that his friend could see. Prior to the execution that operation was done. The man was a convicted criminal who died, so that his friend could see, and that transplant took place, and the guy could see. In other words, the murderer’s eyes was placed into another man. Now, can you imagine how ludicrous it would be to walk up to this guy and let’s say his name was Bill and say, Bill, man you’re looking good. But then you kind of squint, look real close and said, but you got murderer’s eyes in you. See how ridiculous that is? The very moment that Bill got his friend’s eyes they became his eyes. When you are placed into the body of Christ, God doesn’t look at His body and looks and says Jesus, you’re looking pretty good, except those eyes in there, they’re just not doing too well. When God sees you, He sees Jesus.

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.