Radio Broadcast Tuesday 03/08/2022

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at The Reality of The Resurrection P43 (03-08-22)

Professers vs Possessors of Jesus Christ

Let’s continue on our journey in a Closer Look at the Reality of the Resurrection.

Bob: I think that you will probably agree that teaching through this series on A Closer Look at The Reality of The Resurrection, is one of the most exciting series that we’ve ever done. And, the resurrection of Christ is paramount to the Christian faith. It’s a matter of fact, it is so paramount that Paul said that without the resurrection. our faith is futile. We’re to be pitied of all people because we’re still in our sins. And so the whole essence of the Christian faith rests upon, was that tomb empty? Or was it as I’ve said so many times that the tomb of Jesus is the only one that is famous for who isn’t in it. And again, we have to either explain that away or fall on our face and give our lives to it, that tomb was empty. There had to be a reason for it. That could have been a reason of course, that possibly the apostles came in the middle of the night and stole the tomb or stole the body out of the tomb. That would be a very difficult thing to not only speculate, it would be an impossible thing when you understand and know the history behind that type of event. First and foremost, the tomb was sealed. And in those days that was a seal that if it was broken, it was automatic death to anyone who would break a metal seal. Secondly, you had guards who were on duty now, they went back to the high priest and testified that the apostles came and stole the body while they were asleep, which is interesting because if they were asleep, how would they know the apostles came and stole the body? You’d have to be sleeping pretty soundly to remove a multi thousand pound stone and with all the noise that would be connected and that type of thing. It’s not like opening up a soundproof door of some kind. So you’d have to have been sleeping, very soundly. The other thing that you have to understand is once again, when a guard was assigned by Roman rule and someone escaped, or a body was stolen or a person was stolen, the punishment for those guards was death.

And so if someone came and stole the body, the guards would have probably been long gone. They would not have gone back to and reported that. They would have headed for Egypt and a place because their destiny would have been that of death. So the mere thought of someone coming and stealing the body is ludicrous. If any court of law would present this into evidence, there would be no jury in the country that would convict somebody based on that kind of feeble evidence. Secondly, when you look at the empty tomb, you are looking at the fact that if the apostles indeed did come and steal the body away, why then you have to look at that and say, well then that would be a sham wouldn’t that? In other words they were going to try to form a religion and they would be the leaders of it. Now that their founder messed up and got himself killed. So in order to make the religion that they want to be the founder of, or the, the leaders of legitimate, why, let’s steal the body and then claimed that he was raised from the dead and we’ll see if that doesn’t draw some attention and you’d say well, I suppose, especially when you see what’s going on this day and age. I suppose that there could be somebody that would be that deceived and that kind of a con artist that maybe they might do something like that. But I want to tell you something to be engaged in a sham, to be engaged in some kind of a lie to perpetuate something along that line, you can do that if there’s benefit. In other words, if I could get people believing that and be driving around in a Rolls-Royce and live in a three million dollar home and, and take vacations all over the world, and that type of thing, you’d say, well, it’s worth the risk of doing that. But what was the lifestyle of the apostles who were out proclaiming His resurrection? Was it driving around on a Rolls, mule or was it living in the Jerusalem Hilton or just what was it? They were treated like dirt and beaten and every kind of atrocity that you could bring to mankind. That was the repercussion of being a follower of the Lord.

Secondly, I think that when you came right down to it and someone is getting ready as they did, supposedly according to tradition with Peter hanging upside down on a cross. I think, I would say, folks. The gig is up. This has been a real fun time. But let me, let me tell you some truth about that. And quite frankly reveal where the body was hidden in order to verify that fact. I’ve had all the fun and I intend to have. So you might get involved in something if there is some personal benefit to it, but when someone’s going to kill you and crucify you over, what you are testifying to be true, I quite frankly don’t think there’s too many people that would stand there and say, okay guys go ahead and do that. I’m going to be dedicated to die on behalf of my lie that I’ve been perpetuating.

So when you look at that type of thing, the evidence of the apostles coming and stealing the body, it isn’t even worth consideration. Some people will come along and say, well Jesus didn’t die on the cross. They just thought he was dead. And so they put him in that tomb and he was revived later on and kind of walked out. Well you stop to think about that for a minute. It’s a little hard to get out of 3 to 400 pounds of the embalming materials that they had him involved in. How did he get out of that? I don’t know. Also kind of weird that the headpiece that was wrapped around was totally in place. It was just like a head went out of it and it was not unwrapped. It was just there.

Secondly, how could someone who had been beaten half to death as the scripture said, beaten as no man, nails driven in his feet and his hands, get out of the grave clothes, cobble to the front of the tomb, take a multi thousand pound stone from the inside, get rid of it and then hobble out without the guards hearing or seeing very quietly, of course, because they were sound sleepers, and, and then hobble away to Egypt or someplace, never to be seen again? So the idea of that occurring is absolutely ludicrous.

The other thing I guess that some people would say, well, the spiritual leaders came in and stole him, because outside of that that’s about, that’s about it. And you say well what in the world the motivation would that be? They said, did they not, this man was talking about being raised from the dead and if that occurs why we’re going to be in worse shape than we were before and obviously Judaism has been in pretty bad shape ever since the resurrection. So there was no motivation at all. As a matter of fact they said if we don’t allow this man to continue before long, the whole world’s going to follow, and we’re going to lose our post. There was no motivation there. So what you’re looking at is that fact of an empty tomb, it’s not the case of if there was, that’s a noted fact by history, as well as the Bible. The issue is, how did it get that way? Was it stolen? Did he come out on his own? Or was he raised from the dead? The answer to that question, quite frankly, determines where you and I are going to spend our eternity in a cold grave or in the presence of a living God.

As we contemplate, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which ties in of course to the assurance of our salvation. Because if he was not raised from the dead but then as the scripture said, we could not be raised from the dead. And if we are not raised from the dead, again, we are to be pitied of all people because life is just eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die. Life would just merely be here and now that’s just it. And so the resurrection, not only was the proof of Jesus Christ, being who he claimed to be and that was God. Not only was the proof that when He died on the cross that He completed the work in regard to sin for us to reconcile us unto Himself, presented His blood to the father, His life. The life is in the blood. He laid down His life for you and me, presented that to the Father. Just as the priest entered, the blood of the bull or goat into the Holy of Holies, spread it on the mercy seat and forgiveness took place instead of the blood of bulls and goats that could never take away sin, cover it, yes, take it away, no. He presented his own blood and propitiation took place. The Father said, I am satisfied. The wrath of God, which was death, went upon his Son in all of the fullness of the wrath of God. I don’t think we can even begin to enter into that. And so, having completed that work through His resurrection, proving the fact that that was completed. He had made an announcement prior to that to the apostles that it is good for you that I’m going away. Because that resurrection life is what now is available to every man and woman boy and girl on the face of this Earth, resurrection life.

There are many people who are followers of Christ. I was a follower of Christ for 36 years before I ever knew Christ. Now was I a steady follower? No, I believed in him and in that respect would be called a follower of Christ. Just like Judas believed in him and was a follower of Christ, but never followed Him to where He was going. He never followed Him to the cross. He never followed him to His burial. He never followed Him to his resurrection and therefore was never indwelt by Him. Merely a follower of Him, a professor of Christ but never a possessor of Christ. And so all lost people are in that state. Not all lost people are followers of Christ until the day that they finally hear about it. Most Americans in one degree or another, I would say are what would be called a follower of Christ in some form or another. Not a possessor just a follower. And normally like the song goes, at a distance. So we are into a situation where we follow Him.

There comes a point where we have followed Him, even though we may not realize that, that’s what we were doing. We followed Him to where He went and that was a cross. And there, we hear the good news that I Jesus died for you. Had you been the only person on the face of the earth, I Jesus would have died for you. And there on the cross, He who knew no sin, that was Jesus, became sin for you and me, so that in his resurrected life, we could become the righteousness of God. Many people have followed Christ only in his physical form. We followed Jesus as a man. And that was certainly my understanding. I had not a clue that he was God, I had said the Son of God, and had no idea what that meant. But just the Son of God, that, well, I guess God had a son or something I have thought. And most people don’t even inquire. It’s just kind of a statement that you make. It’s kind of like Abe Lincoln was president. President of what? I don’t know for sure, but president. And you know Thomas Edison was an inventor. That’s nice, what did he invent? Well, I’m not sure, I think maybe a light bulb or something, but I’m not sure, but it’s a statement. And so Jesus was the son of God as a statement, a reality of what that meant; not a clue. So, we follow him as a person, the physical Jesus clothed in our humanity. But that physical life is not what saves me. It’s the resurrection life that saves me.

Click to Donate to Bob George Ministries

Classic Christianity Radio thanks you for your support of our online and radio ministry. Bob, George Ministries offers nine in-depth Bible study guides, please visit shop.BobGeorge.net to find the Bible study books, along with many helpful materials to help you grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ. Let’s continue now, with our Classic Christianity Radio program.

It’s in His resurrection. And again, I state what Paul stated so clearly, that without the resurrection we are still in our sins and to be pitied of all people, even though in His physical form He died for the forgiveness of sins. Had it not been for the resurrection there would have been no resurrected life available to you and me. And folks, the object of the cross, which was his death; was to be able to give us life through His resurrection. And so He said that I’m going to go away and when I do there’s something brand-new that’s going to occur on this world and in this world. That this body that you see physically is going to go away. But My body is still going to be on the Earth. Well, you can imagine saying, would you go over that again? Your body is going to go away. But your body’s going to be here. That doesn’t make a lot of sense. He said, I know you will not be able to understand it until you experience it. But on the day of Pentecost, he did something that Satan didn’t even know He was going to do. He sent his own life into believers. The Counselor. He called it, the Counselor is going to come to you because I am going to send Him to you. That is the Holy Spirit of God, the third person of the trinity. Now when the Spirit of God comes to live within us, which occurs at the very day of salvation, the Spirit of God comes to live within us permanently. If it wasn’t permanent why then it really couldn’t be called eternal life could it? And in our lesson in first John 5:11-13 were told, this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life. And this life is in his Son. So the life that He’s talking about is in His Son. If his Son’s life is eternal, and He’s given us His Son, we have eternal life. We have eternal Son life.

Now he who has that Son, has that life. And that is past tense and forever. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. That is also true forever. Until you have the Son, you do not have life. Now if I don’t have life, it means that I’m dead. I can figure that out. Obviously, as Adam not dead, physically, and not dead soullessly, but dead spiritually. So he said I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This was not a salvation passage. This is a passage of scripture to believers to let them know that you have a life called eternal life. Now if that was not important to God He wouldn’t have put it in here. And again, it’s outside of God’s love for you and me, it wouldn’t be that important to Him, whether you understood it or not. He’d just give it to you and let you flounder around down here, like a chicken with its head cut off if you wanted to and say, well, I know it’s a little sadistic but it’s kind of fun to watch you flapping around down there. So the reason that He communicated this to His body, those that have the Son that they have a life called eternal life is because the knowledge of that does something to you. It does something for you. It does something through you. It will captivate your life if you ever grab a hold of it and yet the large majority of the Christian world today believes that you can lose what God said is eternal.

Once again, man, blatantly whether it’s blatant or not I guess is not the issue either. Ignorant lie, blatantly rebellious, whatever. It might be standing in the face of Christ Jesus and saying, you are a liar. Your work at the cross was not completed. Your resurrection was not complete. You have left something for me to do. And if the life that You said that You gave me is eternal is not eternal, it’s only temporal and I can either walk away from it or I can lose it through sin or whatever, it might be You are a liar. And folks, whether you want to realize it or not, whether you like what you hear or not is not the issue. The issue is, that to call God a liar is to say that you do not have eternal life. That’s all it takes to call him a liar. Is the fact that I do not have eternal life. Now, if that eternal life is in his Son, then to lose eternal life what would you have to lose? Well you’d have to lose the Son. Because life is in the Son. Now, how are you going to lose a life of the Son? When the Son says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So once again, let’s call Him a liar again when He says I’ll never leave you or forsake you, you say, oh no, You will leave me.

Isn’t it amazing what is taking place? It’s amazing to me. When I think about these unbelievable events of the cross and the resurrection and the implication of them, how man continually stands and denies the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. And ultimately too I realize that there are passages in the epistles and passages in some of the writings that would lead a person to say, well I wonder about that but when you look at it in context is that passage describing a lost person or is it describing a saved person? You’ll see that those doubtful passages are a passage to the lost not to the saved and you must interpret those passages in light of, in light of the grace of God, in which we stand today. How do you interpret those passages? You do not interpret a passage in light of the law of God. How do I interpret those passages? If you’re in Christ, you’re not under the law, you’re under the grace of God. In light of the grace of God how is this passage interpreted? And what people are doing is they are going to the obscure and attempting to interpret the obvious in light of the obscure instead of interpreting the obscure in light of the obvious. And that’s why there is so much confusion today in regard to this area called eternal security or our assurance in Christ Jesus.

The Spirit of God came to live in us forever to guide us into all truth. This is the truth that obviously, he’s wanting to guide us to. Otherwise, it would not have been testified to. and he would not have said I write these things to you, who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

As we are completing the last lesson in our series that we’re doing, we’ve come to this passage in 1st John 5:11-13 and we were just talking about. You know, it is interesting that the preface to that is the fact that you believe the testimony about man. But here’s God’s testimony. If you know isn’t it strange, anybody can come up with anything? You just believe it. In fact, we just love to hear rumors about people. We’ll just get there and just gobble it up and believe it. So he’s saying you’ll believe the testimony about man just as readily as anything in the world. Why don’t you believe the testimony about God? And he said, this is the testimony. Now folks, if you have your Bible to put a circle around, this is the testimony. Not a testimony. It’s the testimony. It’s like Jesus saying, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life and no one comes to the Father, except through Me. He didn’t say, I am a way. He didn’t say, I am a truth. He didn’t say, I am a life. He said I am The Way. That means The Way. Now, this is the testimony. It didn’t say, this is a testimony. Let’s give a testimony that might be good today and not so good tomorrow, but let’s give one anyway, let’s call it a testimony. It’s not a testimony. This is the testimony about the new Testament that Jesus Christ ushered in, when he died on a cross, where on that crossed He who knew no sin gave His life for you. So that three days later raised from the dead, He could give his life to you. That’s salvation.

Now, this is the testimony about that Testament. This New Covenant that we live in. This is a new covenant that you’re going to, and we studied about in the book of Hebrews a New Covenant, a new will that could not and did not go into effect until the day that the one made it died. Just like a will of yours will not go into effect until the day you die by the same token a new will, a new agreement between God and man did not, could not, and will not go into effect until the day that He died. But on the day He died, having fulfilled the law with his physical life, upheld the law through his death, He now ushered in through His resurrection, a brand new covenant whereby He said their sins and their lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven there is no longer any sacrifice for sins. There is no more sacrifice for sins. That means there’s no more sacrifice for sins.

Now because there is no more sacrifice for sins, then it means that since it has been dealt with by God once and for all, not by man, we like to keep dealing with it. But by God once and for all, one sacrifice laid down on our behalf and by that one sacrifice, He made forever perfect in His sight you and me who are in Christ today. All of us who have been made holy in his sight, not by anything we did, only by everything that He did. Now folks that act on the cross is what enabled Him therefore through His resurrection to offer and to give to you and me a life called eternal life. Otherwise a life that He would have given us would have only lasted until the next day we sinned because if there was still a sacrifice for sins, then sin would still have to be paid for. That would mean the wages of sin is death. Life would have to be restored. We would have lost our life and back we would have been again to not just receive forgiveness, but we would have been again in order to receive life. And so, the whole act at the cross is what paved the way for the divine action to take place at the resurrection of the restoration of life to you and me who were dead as a hammer. And so the testimony was around the Testament around the New Covenant their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more so that I can now give you a life called eternal life. The only thing that could cause that life to depart from you would be sin. Same thing it was that caused the life to depart from Adam, sin, the life to depart from Jesus sin, who’s sin? Ours. Why can’t sin cause the life of God to depart from you? Because of the cross where He took it away, had He not taken it away, He would have given you a life called temporal life. He could never have called it eternal. So this is the testimony not a testimony. The testimony. Now folks, our only conclusion that you have to come to, is, am I going to believe God’s testimony? See he said, you really believe man’s testimony. And that’s what most of you are doing out there who are still doubting your salvation. You’re not believing God’s testimony. God didn’t testify to that. God said I’ll never leave you nor forsake you, and He said, I gave you eternal life. He said I gave you an eternal inheritance. Man comes along and says, no, and you want to believe, man, rather than God.

So there’s a lot of preachers who have a testimony, but that’s their testimony. But the testimony about God is the testimony. I may have a testimony, but that’s what it is, a man-made testimony, but it’s not the testimony.