Radio Broadcast Tuesday 03/21/2023

Classic Christianity – The Book of John P20 (03-21-23)

Until you Have a Spiritual Healing in Christ Jesus, you Haven’t Been Healed

~ And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. ^{Revelation 21:3,4}

~ “We’ve got everybody infatuated with signs and wonders and miracles and, and healings and everything under the sun, that’s all you talk about. You wonder if there are any well Christians.

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Announcer 0:12
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.

Bob George 0:29
How many of you have found that you came to Christ and suddenly had no honor in your own family? Any of you found that? Yeah, yeah, that’ll happen. All kinds of things take place in life. In my particular case, going back and saying to my mother and father that I had become a Christian, was like, pouring hot coals on them. What do you mean, you’re a Christian? Well, we’ve had you in church since you were a kid. And I can remember when I told my folks that I was getting baptized. What do you mean you’re getting baptized but we had you baptized when you were a child? And it was almost Are you saying it you didn’t raise me properly, or we didn’t raise you properly? And so many times you have to be unbelievably sensitive to your relatives, especially your parents, if you’ve come to Christ, and they haven’t, to assure them that you are very grateful for the upbringing that they that they gave you and for the fact they had you in church and had me exposed to these things, but But Mom and Dad, I didn’t know Christ at that time I was there, thank God, you took me there, and I appreciate that. But I didn’t know Jesus and I came to know him. So there’s a lot of things that you have to be sensitive to people with. And so but in essence, a prophet didn’t get to have any honor in his own country. When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, for they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover feast for they also had been there. So they had seen the works of Christ Jesus. But once more, he visited Cana in Galilee where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official who son lay sick in Capernaum. And when this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee, from Judea, it said, he went to him and begged him, begged him to come into heal his son who was close to death. You understand that? Here’s a man with a son close to death, he’s worried to death about him, scared to death, his son is going to die. He sees Jesus, he knows that he has done miracles, He knows that he is the Savior of the world. And so he comes to him, begging him to come and to heal his son, who was close to death. Now, it’s an interesting response of Jesus, because he had, there was obviously he had no thought of anything except of providing what was necessary to heal this son. So it wasn’t that his heart was cold to the problem of the father in regard to his son. But he makes a statement here, that to me is so important to us. He said, Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe. We have the same thing going on today. Unless you can show me a sign and a wonder. I’m not going to believe. Well you show him a sign and wonder and they don’t believe anyway, otherwise, you wouldn’t need another miracle. Jesus said to people like that, I’ll show you a sign tear down this tip on I’ll build it up in three days, he was talking about his own body. And what are you saying to us, If you cannot believe in me, with the resurrection, you’re not gonna believe in me, regardless of what I do for you. And the same is true today. We’ve got everybody infatuated with signs and wonders and miracles and, and healings and everything under the sun, that’s all you talk about. You wonder if there are any well Christians.

And you see people packing in 20 30,000 strong to watch somebody heal somebody. I want to tell you something. You can heal somebody today, but they’re gonna die tomorrow. Is that right or wrong? A doctor can also give you some medicine that might heal you today, but you’re gonna die tomorrow. And what he is saying to them, in essence, don’t come to me for signs and wonders. Come to me by faith in what I accomplished for you at the cross, and in the resurrection, where I came to give you life. But he’s just identifying a problem. He’s saying to this man, you’re coming to me, because you have a son that is sick, and you want him healed. And I understand that my heart relates to that. But I’m looking around and saying, Look, guys, this is not why you come to me. You can come to me to get your son healed. But if you don’t get saved as a result of this, I may as well not of healed him. Because until you have a spiritual healing in Christ Jesus, you haven’t been healed. That’s why when you have Jesus in your heart, it makes no difference what kind of physical ailments that you might go through. There’s a certain peace that is there that passes all understanding even in the midst of pain, and some of the tribulations that you can have bodily, they’re still, when you know Jesus, is a certain peace in your heart that passes all understanding. And so the royal official said, Sir, come down and eat you can almost hear the pain in his heart. Lord, please come down. Before my child dies, get there before he dies, please, sir. And Jesus replied, You may go, your son will live. The heart of Jesus saying to the man go your son live. Well what did this guy exercise? Well he believed him. Jesus told him go your son to live. The guy is desperate trying to get his son, come down there, come there, Jesus, my son is dying come and heal him. He says, Go, He’s okay. He’s okay. And the guy believed you. So what do you say? The man took Jesus at his word. Isn’t it amazing how easy it is, to take someone at their word when they’re trustworthy, and how hard it is when they’re not? Jesus is trustworthy, He can be trusted. He says what He means and he means what he says. So he took him at his word and departed. While he was still on his way, we’re told that his servants met him with the news that his boy was living while he was still on his way. He had just taken Jesus at his word, he said, Go, he’s gonna be okay. And they came and said, the boys living. Now, when this man inquired, and you can, you can almost see his inquisitive nature there. He’s saying, This man told me to go, that my son is going to be healed. And I’d like find out what time was my son healed. I want to see if there’s a correlation here. And when he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, the fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour. And the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, your son will live. The guy said, I took him at his word, I believed him. But I think I’ll check him out. He checked him out. And at the very moment, that he said, Your son will live, the fever broke. So what happened? All the household believed. And this was a second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea, to Galilee.

Now sometime later, we’re told that Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Hebrews. And they’re in Jerusalem near the sheep gate, a pool, which in Aramaic is called Masada and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. And here a great number. We’re told of disabled people used to lie, the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. We’re told that there was one who had been an invilid for 38 years. That’s a long time. And when Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for 38 years for a long time, he asked a question. Do you want to get well? Now guys, let’s think about that for a minute. A guy’s been in that condition for 38 years, he’s been at the pool. And you asked, Do you want to get well? Doesn’t that sound like a dumb question? Do you want to get well? Do you know, folks, that there are people that are in those kind of physical conditions that they don’t want to get well? They get a lot of attention. They can beg and get their income provided. There’s a lot of advantages maybe of being there for 38 years, and which we’ll learn later, I can’t get in the pool to get healed. So I just sit here and get whatever I’m getting.

In counseling, one of the first questions that I normally ask somebody in counseling, who comes in for counseling, do you want to get well? A person comes in with a marital problem. And the first question asked, Do you want to get well? Do you want this marriage to work? Do you want to get well? Or do you want to get your position heard? Or do you want sympathy? Do you want to get well? Because if you want to get well, Jesus can get you well. If you don’t want to get well, nobody’s gonna get you well. So it’s not a dumb question at all. It’s a very profound question that we all have to ask ourselves. Do we want to get well? Sometimes we’re with habits that we say I can’t break. Nonsense, you can break any habit. You don’t want to have a right or wrong? If I wanted to, I could break it. So the issue is, do you want to break the habit? I’ve had people who say, no. Okay. Will you ask God to make you want to want to? Yeah, I can do that. Well, why don’t you ask God to make you want to want to? You just tell him Lord, I don’t want to quit doing what I’m doing. But will you make me want to want to? Are you sincere praying that prayer? Well then pray right now and ask God to make you want to want to. And I’ve seen people break their habit within a week, when they understand that if I’ll pray and ask God to make me want to want to, that he’ll make you want to want to. And when I want to, I can quit any kind of habit. So it isn’t the fact that we can’t, it’s the fact that we won’t. Why? We don’t want to. Now, am I right or wrong, guys? And so this question Do you want to get well, is a very vital question to somebody. Because that’s what you have to deal with. Do you want really want to get well? There are people who have addictions. Do you want to get well? Because sometimes the answer is that it’s not really because this addiction makes me feel good temporarily. I don’t have a problem with that. The issue is do you want to get well? Do you want to substitute the peace of God that passes all understanding for a temporary peace that you’re getting from, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, whatever it might be? There’s a certain gratification that you get temporarily and but if that was permanent, you wouldn’t need another one. If cigarettes satisfied, you’d only need one. Am I right or wrong, guys? But you see, it tells you that and I understand that I’ve been there. I understand that. But the issue is, are you willing to sacrifice the peace of God that passes understanding for a temporary peace, that’ll go away when the minute it’s over?

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Bob George 13:53
So the question Do you want to get well? It’s a big question, guys. It’s a big question that we have to answer in our hearts. Do we really want to get well? People have problems with temper with bad responses. Do you want to get well? Do you want that changed? Well, not really. It feels good when I rip somebody off. And that probably does. But do you want to get well? Do you want to get the heart of Christ living in you? You do want to get some information in you that will set you free. Do you want to get well? You ever have kids wake up grumpy. Our kids tried that. But they didn’t succeed it was Amy said you’re not gonna wake up grumpy. Now the kid said yes, I have. No you’re not. Good Jedi. Then let me wake up grumpy either You don’t have to? Do you want to get well. And want to wake up with an attitude of gratitude. I like being depressed, feels good. You don’t have to stay depressed. Depends on where your thinking is gonna go. Depends on whether you want to think depressing thoughts and be miserable. Or whether you want to think as God says, the things that are pure and good and holy and be joyful. Do you want to get well? Or do you want to stay grumpy? You want to be a control freak? I want things done my way. I understand that. The issue is do you want to get well? Do you want to serve people? Or do you want to get from people? I’m not interested in serving I want to get I want to get what what do you want to get? My own way. All we like sheep of what? gone astray. We all want our own way. Is that right or wrong? We went our own way. And we want it now. Well, that’s fine. But it isn’t going to produce a very happy relationship with people. If you want your own way, all the time. That’s where Jesus at the center of marriage is the key to marriage because it’s not that I want my way. And she wants her way. And that’s head knockin. But we want his way. So our minds go to Him and His will instead of my will be done. You want to get well, God can change that thing, change those attitudes, if you let him. And so folks, that question Do you want to get well? is a very important question for you and me to ask ourselves, when we ourselves are trapped in a mindset that we don’t want to be in. Do I want to get well sometimes your answer will just be No, I don’t want to live this lifestyle. And you can do that. But there’s repercussions. You will reap what you sow.

Sir, the invalid replied. And he didn’t even answer don’t want to get well. His retort was this. I have no one to help me into the pool. When the water is stirred. While I’m trying to get in someone else goes down ahead of me and I just never get a chance to get in the pool. Now what this pool was they said that the first person to get into the pool, God would heal them. So you can see this guy struggling to get in the pool and but nine other people get in under for him. So he just having a pity party beyond major. Lord. I want to get in this pool. But when I went and into the pool when the waters stirred because that was the tradition. When the water gets stirred. The first one in the pool gets healed. But I’m trying to get in somebody always gets there hit me. So Jesus ignored the pool, just ignored that. And he said, get up. Pick up your mat and walk. He didn’t say get in the pool when the water is being stirred. He didn’t say yeah, I know that you’ve been beat out and getting into the pool. He just said, Look, man, get up, pick up your mat and walk. And at once the man was cured, he picked up his mat. And he walked.

The day on which he took his place was the Sabbath. Now do you suppose Jesus knew that this was the Sabbath? And so do you suppose that he knew that just possibly, that he may get in trouble by healing this man on the Sabbath by telling him to pick up his mat? That’s working! You can’t work on a Sabbath. Remember, you can’t push an elevator button in Israel today. You got to wait for the elevator go up and get off the floors. Because you can’t push a button because it’s work. And He, Jesus knew that. So this was the Sabbath. And so immediately, the Jews said to the man who had been healed, it’s the Sabbath. God forbid you to carry your mat. Here’s a guy for 38 years had been an invalid. Do you think the Pharisees knew that he had been an invalid for all these times they’re not blind. They knew he had been an invalid. 38 years sitting by that pool. That’s a long set guys. They knew that they knew he was an invalid. They knew he couldn’t walk. What are they griping about? You’re picking up your mat on the Sabbath. They don’t care that he’s healed. They don’t care that he used to not be able to walk and now he can walk. All they’re concerned about is you picked up your mat. Guys, that’s how stupid religion is. That’s all you can care about is your picked up your mat. Well, the guy said, the man who made me well said to me, pick up your mat and walk? Would that be a natural answer? Look, I was an invalid. This guy healed me. And the guy who healed me said pick up your mat and walk. What was it to do? So they said to Him, who is this fella who told you to pick up your mat and walk? You can hear the anger in her voice? Who is this guy? Who told you this to work on the Sabbath? Who is this person? The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. Later on, Jesus found him at the temple. And he said to him, see your well again. It’s like you see that you’re well again. So stop sinning or something worst may happen to you. Quit living in your unbelief. The man went away and told the Judaeans that it was Jesus who made him well. Immediately, look at this guy’s Jesus had just made this man well, after 38 years of being an invalid. He told him pick up your mat and walk. And the Judaeans got after him. The leadership got after it, man, who is this man? I don’t know who he was. So Jesus found him now why do you suppose Jesus found him? It’s all headed towards something. And he said to this man, you see your well again? STOP SINNING or something worse happened to you. What is sin in the Bible guys? Unbelief, stop living in your stupid unbelief. And what these leaders of the Jews are telling you Stop being fearful of them and start learning to trust me. What the guy do? He went away and immediately went to who? The Judaeans that it was Jesus, who made me well, I’m gonna identify that guy that you’re looking for. I’m gonna tell you who it is. And it just made him well, but I’m gonna tell on him. So because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Judaeans persecuted him. Jesus said to them, listen to this, guys. My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too, am working. Now would that have been good news to the Sabbath keepers? What are you talking about? That your Father is at work on the Sabbath? And you too are working on the Sabbath? Who do you think you are? For this reason the Judaeans tried all the harder to what? Killing? Why? Because he healed the crippled on the Sabbath and told him to pick up his mat and walk. Well, that ought to be worthy of death. And that’s something nice think about this. It’s okay to kill you on a Sabbath. Just don’t pick up your mat before you do it. There is nothing more stupid than religion. Nothing more stupid than religion. People all wrapped up in their religion. Somebody once said the most worthless thing in the world is a small package that covers people who are wrapped up in themselves. And that’s what those religions all wrapped up into themselves all wrapped up in their religion all wrapped up in everything except truth. And so they wanted to kill him because here’s why they wanted to kill him. Not only was he breaking the Sabbath. Now was he breaking the Sabbath by healing somebody? No, but to them he was. Why? You can’t work on a Sabbath.

Remember what I told you that the law as an example, you can’t spit on the ground on the Sabbath. Because spitting on the ground makes mud. And that’s constituted as work. So if you’re going to spit, you got to spit on a rock, but don’t spit on the ground. That’s how nitpicky this thing got. Remember when Jesus healed the blind man, what’d he do? He spit. And then he got down and made the mud. Did he have to do that to heal that man? Absolutely not. Why do you do it? To drive the Pharisees nuts. And he was driving those nuts here too. So he was not only breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father making Himself equal with who? God. Now guys, this ties in to in the Gospel of John, the declaration that these people who are hearing what Jesus was saying about himself, was that he was equal with God. Now if you’re equal with God, who are you? God. And people many times cannot understand that truth. They don’t want to understand that truth. They do not know that God is Spirit. And you must worship Him in spirit and in what? Truth. Truth about what? Who he is, what he is, what he came to do. All of those things about God. Now don’t put flesh and blood on God. The only face that we have ever had on God is the face of Christ 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, 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.