Radio Broadcast Tuesday 03/14/2023

Classic Christianity – The Book of John P17 (03-14-23)

You Must Be Born Again! Born Free!

~ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” ^{John 3:3}

~ “Here’s the problem. Man is spiritually dead and in need of life. God created Adam and said to him, you’re free to eat any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. For the day you eat of that you’ll surely die. You can determine anything you want to accept right and wrong and good and evil. The day you decide, you don’t need God to determine that, that you can determine it on your own, you’re gonna die. And God gave Adam a choice to either remain dependent on him for life, or to become independent from him which is spiritual death. Wanting to become like God, Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and that day he died spiritually. And each of us are born into this world, in the likeness of Adam’s sin and death has been passed on to every human being that is brought into this world. You are born into this world, under the law of sin and death, dead. Were told in Romans that therefore just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin and in this way death came to all men, why? because all sin. As for you were told in Ephesians you are dead in your sins and transgressions and sins.”

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Experience freedom as you walk by faith in His love and acceptance.

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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 0:27
Now, guys, what is the gospel? What’s the gospel? He died. He was buried, and He was raised. And then he was dunked in water. Does it say that? He died. He was buried. He was raised, and he spoke in tongues. He died, He was buried, he was raised and he kept on a tithing. Folks, you add one thing to this gospel, that saves and you have taken away the gospel. When you add baptism to the Gospel, you have taken away Jesus saving you. I asked you on the radio the other day who died for your sins? Jesus. Who was raised from the dead had to give you life? Jesus. Who baptized you? Somebody else. So you’re saying you’re saved by somebody else. There in the church of Christ that believe you’re saved through baptismal regeneration, it’s ludicrous. If you’re saved but baptismal regeneration, then someone saved you beside Jesus. He just by his own admittance, Jesus died for my sins. Jesus was raised from the dead, but my Pastor baptized me, and I think you’re saved by baptism. Make sense? Not an ounce of sense. And yet people add to the gospel. You do not add to the gospel. This is the gospel that saves you. He died, according the Scriptures. He was buried. He was raised from the dead, according to the Scriptures, And He has appeared to us. That is the gospel that just he said, has saved you. That’s the good news that saves you. nothing added, nothing subtracted. Only the truth of the fullness of the gospel.

In our Born Free book, you might take, you’ve got on your table the Born Free book. I chose in the beginning of that to set a stage for how feudal life can be apart from Christ. And I did that by putting down a true story. In 1923, a very important meeting was held at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago and attending this meeting were nine of the most successful men at least they were men who had found the secret of making money. Let’s see what happened to these men. 25 years later, the president of the largest independent steel company, Charles Schwab, died in bankruptcy and lived on borrowed money for five years before his death. The president of the greatest utility company Samuel Insull, died a fugitive from justice and penniless in a foreign land. The president of the largest gas company, Howard Hobson, lost his sanity. The greatest wheat speculator Arthur Cotton died abroad insolvent. The president of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Whitney was released from SingSing penitentiary, the member of the President’s Cabinet Albert fall was pardoned so that he could die at home. The greatest bear on Wall Street Jesse Livermore died a suicide. The head of the greatest monopoly Ivar Kreuger died, a suicide. The president of the Bank of International Settlements, Leon Frazier died a suicide. All of these men chose to learn the art of making a living. But none of them chose to learn how to live. The futility of life apart from Christ. Man is continually seeking a life of freedom and happiness through all of these various means at these men tried trying to find meaning and purpose to their lives and many people turn to financial success friends, social status, marriage, children education, approval of others sexual encounters, occupation and profession, to try to say that these things will bring me meaning and purpose to life. However, there are many people who have had all of these things and are still not found fulfillment in their lives. And I ask a question, could it be that man’s been looking in the wrong place?

Here’s the problem. Man is spiritually dead and in need of life. God created Adam and said to him, you’re free to eat any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. For the day you eat of that you’ll surely die. You can determine anything you want to accept right and wrong and good and evil. The day you decide, you don’t need God to determine that, that you can determine it on your own, you’re gonna die. And God gave Adam a choice to either remain dependent on him for life, or to become independent from him which is spiritual death. Wanting to become like God, Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and that day he died spiritually. And each of us are born into this world, in the likeness of Adam’s sin and death has been passed on to every human being that is brought into this world. You are born into this world, under the law of sin and death, dead. Were told in Romans that therefore just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin and in this way death came to all men, why? because all sin. As for you were told in Ephesians you are dead in your sins and transgressions and sins.

Our spiritual death, which is separation from God, is what makes us ask the question, Who Am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? There’s this vacuum that’s in us. Pascale talked about that there’s a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man that cannot be filled by any created thing. But only by God, the Creator made know through Jesus Christ. St. Augustine said, Thou has made us where thy self Oh God and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in the there is a chasm between spiritual life and spiritual death. From God’s vantage point, the problem of man is not that he’s a sinner, in need of forgiveness, but he has a greater problem that’s he’s dead, and in need of life. What was the God’s solution to all of this? God has provided life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, For God so loved the world and put your own name in there. God so loved Bob, God so loved Stacy, God so loved Amy, that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have and possess eternal life. Jesus said, I’ve come that you might have life, and have it to the fullness, I am the resurrection and the life and he who believes in me, though he were dead, will live. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. And he asked the question, Do you believe this?

Therefore, what is this salvation that is so needed the salvation that Paul proclaimed? That is this message that saves you? It’s being saved from the consequence of sin, the wages of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, but because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead, in transgressions, it’s word for by grace, that you have been saved. When you were dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ, He forgave all our sins. 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. However, before this life could be given sin had to be forgiven, or taken away. And only God can forgive sins. Your priest can’t forgive sins. The Pope can’t forgive sins. I can’t forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins. And in Mark 2:7, it’s stated, who can forgive sins, but God alone. So God became a man, as we said, God is Spirit and you must worship Him in spirit and truth. And God came to this earth and took upon himself our Earth suit. And it says, In finding himself in an appearance as a man, He took upon himself our humanity. And so it said, Jesus Christ, who being in very nature God, He’s God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped or grabbed or held on to, but he made himself nothing. Now isn’t that a little humiliating folks, he became a man and made himself nothing. And kind of shows us the relationship between us and Him. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross, he died in our place, God demonstrates His own love toward us. And while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He’s the sacrifice of our sins, and not only ours, but the sins of the entire world. He is the final sacrifice for our sins without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. And then he adds their sins and lawless acts, I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there’s no longer any sacrifice for sins. There’s no more sacrifice for sins. If there’s no more sacrifice, there’s no more forgiveness. So what do you have to conclude about the one time that Jesus hung on a cross and sacrifice for your sins? What do you have to conclude about that? Just what he cried out from the cross. It is finished. And man and our pride and stupidity say, no it isn’t, no, no, I can get more forgiveness and that’s exactly what the Hebrews did. They kept going back to the Day of Atonement, and killing bowls and goats in order to get forgiveness until finally God had to just take the whole place and shut it down and 70 ad destroyed the temple and there’s never have been sacrifices since. You don’t get forgiveness at a confession booth. You don’t get forgiveness by a priest. You don’t get forgiveness by first John one nineing. You get forgiveness when you and you alone except the one time that Jesus died on the cross and cried out, it’s finished. And then you enter into His resurrected life and we’re told in Him, we have redemption the forgiveness of sins, your sinless law and lawless acts, he said, I’ll remember no more. There is no remembrance BY GOD OF YOUR SINS. Today, tomorrow forever, is that good news? If you were me it would be good news. It ought to be wonderful news. Is it something guy guys think about? Is it something that you can fully enter into? Do you have any experience on that? And I’ve been able to remember your sins? We don’t have anythign to go by with that. We remember everything. Does that make it less true? Because we can’t, but he did. Does that make it any less true that he did it? Not at all. That’s what God can do. The next day, John the Baptist announced as he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Look, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the entire world. This is love we’re told not that he not that we love God, but he loved us and sent His son is the one and only who would turn aside His wrath, taking away our sins. Folks, that was not spikes that held Jesus to the cross. It was love.

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Bob George 13:42
The good news of the gospel, it’s finished, we have been reconciled to God, God’s part. All of this is from God who was reconciling the world unto Himself, not counting man sins against them. What’s our part? We implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. He said, here’s the one part and Corinthians Second Corinthians, he’s saying, this is of God, this is what God did. I reconciled you unto myself, not counting your sins against you. And then in five passages later he has to beg us to be reconciled. And he said, I implore you or I beg you on Christ behalf, be reconciled to God, he’s reconciled to you, be reconciled to Him. I’ve taken it off my accounts receivable, take off your accounts payable. It’s done. God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for you and me, so that in him we could become the righteousness of God. Now because we’re saved by His life, the cross was not an end in itself, but a means of accomplishing the end that of restoring life that had been lost through sin. This was a wonderful passage, once you are alienated from God enemies in your own minds because of your evil behavior. How many of you in your life ever thought that you are alienated from God because of your evil behavior? How many of you ever thought that? That’s all of us. Is that true? No, he says once you are alienated from God and we’re enemies in your mind, not in his, in your mind because of your evil behavior. But here’s the contrast. Now, he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death, in order to present you holy in his sight without blemish and free of accusation. Are you in Christ? He has presented you to God, holy in his sight without blemish, and free of accusation. Is that good news? Did we deserve any of this? Now if when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life? Christ was sacrificed a whole bunch of times. Is that what it says? Christ was sacrifice, how many times? One time to take away the sins of many people, and he will appear a second time not to bear sin, but to bring salvation for those who are waiting for him. You’ve been made into a new creation. Jesus declared, I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he’s born again. And therefore as anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come. You were born of your mom and dad, you were created by God. Your new life that you are today was a creation by God, not by mom and dad. And that’s what he said. You have to be born again, not by water which you were born by your mom and dad, but by the Spirit. You have to be born from above. You were born from down here by your mom and dad. Now you have to be born from above by God. And when you are your a new creation, I’ve created you into a brand new person. Becoming a Christian is likened to a caterpillar being transformed into a butterfly. There was an old hairy caterpillar ground bound, could give it flying lessons and send it to worm you if you wanted to get it educated, but it’s a caterpillar. And all of a sudden God weaves a cocoon around that and it emerges as a beautiful butterfly. It’ll never be a caterpillar again. It might act like one. But you’ll never be one. How many of you have been created into a new creation? How many of you in essence are like this example a butterfly? How many of you have ever acted like a worm? Okay, is that possible? Absolutely. But it’s a butterfly acting like a worm. That’s why Paul addresses to all the saints to all the butterflies in Corinth I Paul. To the saints in Colossae to all the butterflies I Paul. He doesn’t call him a sinners saved by grace. We walk around, saying I’m just an old sinner saved but grace, you look like one. So what God calls you? How did you get to be a saint? You are an old sinner saved by grace. But now you’re a new creation. So quit calling yourself what you used to be. And see yourself as who you are now, a child of God. You’re not a Baptist or Presbyterian or Seventh Day Adventist or anything else. You’re a child of God, if you’re in Christ. You can be any of those other things and not know him from a flagpole. You just joined a club. But to be a child of God, you have to be born again. And there’s only one way to be born again. And that’s born from above by God. So you may act like a worm. But you’re never gonna be one again. And folks, that’s what draws you to the heart of Jesus. Is Jesus looking down on you and me and saying are you a butterfly? Yeah, sure am Lord. Well, what are you doing acted like a worm? I don’t know. Dumb, I guess. Yeah, that’s true. That’s true. I didn’t recreate you to crawl. I didn’t recreate you if you want to get from here over there. You got to crawl. I recreated you to fly. Now get up and start flying. I made you to fly, get up and fly. How long will he be doing that with us? Longer than I’ve been a Christian. You know how long he’ll be doing that with you to the day you die. And the day you die, you’ll be absent from this body and present with the Lord going into His presence seeing him as he is, and becoming exactly like him. Now isn’t that something, talk about a transformation. But we’ll lose this flesh, containing indwelling sin, and our spirit will go into His presence. That’s the good news of the gospel.

In Him, we’re told you’re now complete, so you can add to what I’ve done for you, to them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles, the glorious riches of this mystery, mystery which is Christ in you your hope of glory. For in Christ, all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form, all of the fullness of God lives in that body, Jesus. And in Him, Jesus, you have been made what? Complete, totally complete. Now, can you add to completeness? Can you subtract from it? No, you are just complete, you are exactly what God intends you to be a child of God. In Him now there’s no condemnation. Therefore there’s now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Why? Because through Christ Jesus the law, the Spirit of life, has set me free from the law of sin and death. What is the condemnation of God for sin? Death, there is no more. It’s gone. In Him, we have forgiveness, in Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of your confession [sarcasam]. Are you all awake? Let me read that again. In Him, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. How many of you are in him? How many of you have redemption? How many of you have forgiveness? How many of you ask God to redeem you every day? Why? Why don’t you ask him to redeem you? Are you in him? Or aren’t you? If you’re in him, what do you have? Redemption. How many of you ask God to forgive you? Are you in him? What do you have? Forgiveness. Do you ask for what you have? Or do you keep insulting the one who provided it by asking him to give you what you already have? Would I be functioning by faith to say oh Lord Jesus, I’m a born again, believer. Thank you, Lord Jesus, please redeem me. Would that be faith guys? Oh, Lord, I’m a born again believer. Please give me eternal life. How many of you would know that would be an insult to Jesus to ask him that? Why? That’s what I gave you.

Forgiveness, you don’t get forgiveness. You got forgiveness. In Him, you are a forgiven, redeemed person. You believe that? In accordance with the riches of what? Your confession, you’re going to confession booth, going into the Day of Atonement. First John one nining? In accordance with the riches of what saved you, God’s grace. Now, what does that tell you about yourself? Tells me I’m a forgiven person. Now, if I’m a forgiven person, does that mean we’ve already established this that I never seen again? No. What are you doing when you sin? What do you say to God when you sin? If, if you believe what God says that in him, you have redemption the forgiveness of sin, what’s the only thing that you could intelligently say to God when you sin, what’s the one thing you’d say? Thank you, God for what you did for me. Now if I’m asking him to do what he says, I’ve already accomplished, would I be functioning by faith? And without faith, it’s want? Impossible to please God. So how many people are walking around, asking God to forgive them and saying oh, I’m such a faither? I’m so full of faith, I can hardly stand myself. Are you? Not hardly. If you’re going to function by faith, you have to function by faith and what is true. And what is true is that God was in Christ, reconciling you unto himself not counting your sins against you. Is that true or not guys? Then how do you respond? Thank you. Thank you, Lord, for what you’ve done. Thank you that you took away the cause of death. So that even though I can act like a worm and sin, there is no condemnation awaiting me, who belongs to Christ Jesus. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for what you did for me. And now I have to understand why I did what I did. Because you see the terrible 10 And the dirty nine, nasty nine, the terrible 12 and all that, though it is the fruit, the root is unbelief. The reason for doing the fruit is because of denying the root and you stopped trusting Jesus and the truth of His Word. Is that right or wrong, guys? And the reason I had sinned was because I stopped trusting Jesus. Mo flay says, that’d be a lot more fun doing what you want to do. You say, Yeah, that’s right. And you go do it. Stupid. Yeah it’s stupid. But what’s the root cause of it? Unbelief.

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.