Radio Broadcast Tuesday 04/04/2023

Classic Christianity – The Book of John P26 (04-04-23)

Focus on Jesus ~ Turn Your Eyes on Jesus

~ Jesus said, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.” ^{John 5:46}

“And what Christ said, is to focus on Him, to turn your eyes upon Jesus and to look full in his wonderful face. And the things of the world will grow strangely dim in the light of his wonder and grace to keep your eyes upon Jesus. And what that is meaning is to focus on Christ, he should be the focus of everything that we do, and everything that we say, in this life. And he came into the world to tell people this truth. And there was rebellion against that, because their focus was on something else, their focus, in this particular case, was on their religion, on their traditions, and on the teaching of Moses, and on the person of Moses. And so they would have been saying, Look, we’re followers of Moses, not you. And so he was saying to them, that I’m not going to accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, the very person that you say that you’re focused upon, and that you have your faith in is the very person that’s going to accuse you. Because he is saying to us here, that your accuser is Moses on whom your hope is set, their hope their focus was set on the teachings of Moses, not the teachings of Christ Jesus. If you believe Moses, he said, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. So he’s, he’s nailing him. He’s saying, Look, you say you’re a follower of Moses, but you’re not a follower of Moses. Because if you believed in Moses, you would believe in me, because Moses wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, again, just nailing him. You don’t believe what he wrote. You say you do. But obviously you don’t. But if you believed what he wrote, then how are you going to if you don’t believe what he wrote? How are you going to believe it, I say?”

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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 0:28
Well, let’s pick up in the in the Gospel of John, you’re gonna pick up in chapter five, in verse 45. Jesus was saying to the Pharisees, and to the people who were critical of what he was teaching, he’s saying, don’t think that I’ll accuse you before the Father and accuse you of what? Of not believing the testimony of God concerning himself. And guys, we need to understand something. And we will emphasize this in the stories ahead. That there is a focus that each and every one of us have in life, and whatever we focus upon is going to determine how we live our life. To focus on something means to magnify it, or amplify it, if you look into a magnifying glass, it becomes larger. And that’s what happens when you focus upon something, it becomes larger in your being. And like I say, whatever we focus upon, that is ultimately what we’re going to become. And what Christ said, is to focus on Him, to turn your eyes upon Jesus and to look full in his wonderful face. And the things of the world will grow strangely dim in the light of his wonder and grace to keep your eyes upon Jesus. And what that is meaning is to focus on Christ, he should be the focus of everything that we do, and everything that we say, in this life. And he came into the world to tell people this truth. And there was rebellion against that, because their focus was on something else, their focus, in this particular case, was on their religion, on their traditions, and on the teaching of Moses, and on the person of Moses. And so they would have been saying, Look, we’re followers of Moses, not you. And so he was saying to them, that I’m not going to accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, the very person that you say that you’re focused upon, and that you have your faith in is the very person that’s going to accuse you. Because he is saying to us here, that your accuser is Moses on whom your hope is set, their hope their focus was set on the teachings of Moses, not the teachings of Christ Jesus. If you believe Moses, he said, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. So he’s, he’s nailing him. He’s saying, Look, you say you’re a follower of Moses, but you’re not a follower of Moses. Because if you believed in Moses, you would believe in me, because Moses wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, again, just nailing him. You don’t believe what he wrote. You say you do. But obviously you don’t. But if you believed what he wrote, then how are you going to if you don’t believe what he wrote? How are you going to believe it, I say?

And so folks, we’re into a belief system, whatever you believe is going to affect the totality of your life. Genesis one in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, if you believe that everything in your life is going to be different than if you believe we came through evolution. Isn’t that right or wrong? And your entire philosophy of life is going to be predicated on that one premise. And that is, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And God created man, we didn’t come from some type of another being, or an embryo, or a frog, or wherever else people come up with. God created man in the image of himself. And we when He created Adam, He created him alive bodily, soulishly and spiritually in the very image of God. When we believe that, everything in our life and philosophy is around that foundation. Remember what I’ve mentioned before, if your premise is off, your findings are going to be off the findings of experimentation are no more accurate than the original premise. If you start with a false premise, all of your findings are going to be off. If you go to a doctor, and he says that you have tuberculosis, when in fact you don’t, he’ll probably kill you with the medication. Because his premise is off. And these prescriptions are going to be off. And many people are dead today in hospitals because of that very thing. And so we have to understand that there is a focal point that God has called us to, there is a point where he is said to us, I want you to focus on someone and it’s me. It’s Jesus, not on Moses, not on Abraham. But on Jesus, that is the center of our focal point. And as I said, when we focus upon something, it becomes larger, the closer we draw to something, the larger it becomes. And so Christ is the object of our focus.

Now, beginning in chapter six, it said, sometime after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee, that is the Sea of Tiberius, and a great crowd of people followed him. Why? Well, because they saw the miracle, miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. They saw Him healing the sick. And so they were following him, because he was a miracle worker. Do we do that today? People follow people, because they think they’re miracle workers. I don’t care anything about him. Just follow them to see a miracle. So I kind of go into a magic show, just gotta go and get deceived. But we like that for some reason. And so they followed him. Because of, they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. And then Jesus went up on a mountainside, and he sat down with his disciples, the Hebrew Passover, feast was near.

And I want us to turn back for just a moment, to the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 14. Chapter 14, verse 13. Again, another account of the same event, written down by a different person. If you see an accident, and you’re standing on one side of the street, and you see the accident, and someone standing on the other side of the street, and they see the same accident, someone’s looking at it out of the window of a building and they see an accident, you’re gonna have three different accounts, it’s all going to say the same thing. But it’s going to be said in different ways, isn’t it? And such as the truth of the gospel, Matthew, Mark, and Luke and John, you can see the same event, but it’s looked at from a different vantage point. So Matthew says, When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat, privately to a solitary place. We know, when studying John, it was in a mountainous area. And hearing of this, the crowds followed Him on foot from the towns. We also know in the other account, they followed him because of the miracles they saw him do. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them. And He healed the sick. As evening approach, the disciples came to him and said, This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late, send the crowds away so that they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food. So the disciples were saying to Jesus, look, it’s getting late, these people are hanging around, send them away to go get some food. And Jesus said, they don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.

Now let’s turn back over to John chapter six, verse five, back to John. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? Now remember, they had said to him, send them away. So they go into the town and by something to eat. He said, No, you don’t need to do that. So but he also said, well, where shall we buy bread for these people to eat to asks this only to test him because he already had in mind what he was going to do. And Philip answered, eight months of wages, would not buy enough bread for each one to even have a bite. Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon, Peter’s brother spoke up. And he said, Well, here’s a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will that go among so many? Jesus said, Have the people sit down, there was plenty of grass in that place. And the men sat down about 5000 of them. And Jesus took the loaves. Now the folks is a pretty good crowd of people, 5000 people, 5000 men, we don’t know how many women, a lot of people, I think that we have been to that site in Israel. And it’s an unbelievable sight to see.

So it says that they sat down, and Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks, and distributed to those who received it as much as they wanted, distributed as much as they wanted. And he did the same with the fish. When they all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, Gather the pieces that are leftover, Let nothing be wasted. So they gathered them and filled 12 baskets with pieces of the five barley loaves leftover by those who had eaten. And after the people saw the miraculous sign of Jesus said, did they begin to say, surely this is the prophet who is to come into the world, and Jesus knowing that they intended to come and to make him king by force withdraw again, to the mountain by himself. Now guys, here’s a picture of a situation that from us would be impossible, wouldn’t it? You got, you got five loaves of bread and two small pieces of fish. And he fed at least 5000 men, we don’t know how many women are there.

Now, guys, here’s the issue. If you were confronted with a situation like that, getting back to what we were talking about on focusing, what would you focus on? The fact that you only have five small loaves of bread and two small fish? Or do you focus on the fact that Jesus is in our presence? And if Jesus says, Have them sit down, have them sit down. And I believe that what you see here are disciples who are starting to get the message, just like you and I began to get the message, the more we study about the life of Christ, the more we see, this man was who He claimed to be God. And when God says, Have them sit down, I’m going to feed them, you just have them sit down. Why? Because your focus isn’t on the fact that we only have this small amount of food, but that God is going to do something miraculous in our lives. And that’s when we begin to focus our attention upon him, instead of our circumstances, which are never real, when it comes to things of God. And so we saw a terrific miracle took place in the feeding of the 5000. And again, I think we have to look at that where it states 5000 men, and I would have to assume you would have a few 1000 women and children involved in that deal. So there were probably a good 10,000 people that were fed by the Lord Jesus Christ that day, buy five small barley loaves and two small fish. And then at the end of that, filling up 12 baskets with pieces of five barley loaves leftover by those who had eaten. Now, that’s a miracle, isn’t it?

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Bob George 14:02
And there’s no other way to look at that. Except this is a miracle. But that’s what God is in is the miracle business. And so we face problems in life, don’t we? And we face we face circumstances in life. And we face trials and tribulation in life, don’t we? And there are some of you sitting here in this room today who are facing trials and tribulation in your life, uncertainties. Mysteries, not in understanding what to do in a circumstance or what not to do in a circumstance, finding yourself some time ainnd a circumstance that you really didn’t want to find yourself in, but you’re in it. And the key to this whole thing is to turn your eyes upon Jesus. Where is your focus on your circumstances? Or is your focus on Jesus? Is your focus on people or is your focus on Jesus?

Now another story that amplifies that is given, beginning in verse 16. When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Copernican. And it was dark. And Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing, sounds like Florida right now. And the waters grew rough. And when they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water. And they were terrified. Now, folks, if you’ve ever been out on the Sea of Galilee, as a few of us have that have been there, and you get out on that lake, and you can be out on that lake when it is as calm as can be. And within a New York minute, you have a storm, that your boat is being blown all over the place. It’s kind of amazing how quickly that can come up. But on top of that, it was dark. And on top of that, they see Jesus walking on water. Now do you have any problem understanding why they were a little terrified? He said to them, it’s I don’t be afraid. And they were willing to take him into a boat and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

Now let’s go back again to the book of Matthew, and pick up, the story in Matthew, verse 22, in Matthew 14. Now in Matthew, He says Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. Remember, he had just finished feeding the 5000. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountain side by himself to pray. And when evening came, he was there alone. But the boat was already a considerable distance from land, we now know to to two and a half miles, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. And during the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out to them walking on the lake. And when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. It’s a ghost, they said, and they cried out with fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, Take courage it is I, don’t be afraid. Now, here’s Oh, rambunctious Peter. And immediately Peter says, Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water. In other words, if you’re walking on water, maybe I can walk on water. And so Jesus said, Come on out. Come on out. And Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. But now, here’s the but, when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him and said, you of little faith, he said, Why did you doubt?

Now, let’s look at this. Hit back to our focus. Peter and the apostles were rowing in their boat. They were in a storm. They all of a sudden looked up and here was Jesus walking on the water. They had already seen him feed the 5000 with hardly nothing. They had already seen the wedding in Cana, they had already seen him miraculously healing the sick. They certainly were getting a clue that this indeed, as was testified must be the prophet that is talked about in the Old Testament. This must be the one. There could be a deal. I’m not 100% Sure, but about 99.9% sure that this is the one. And then all of a sudden they see him walking on water. Now if that wouldn’t convince you, I don’t know what would. They were terrified. Peter says to him, tell me to come out and meet you. He says, come on down. Now when Peter got out of the boat, who was he looking at? Jesus, he was focused upon Jesus. And while he was focused upon Jesus, he was able to walk on water. Immediately, he got his eyes on what? The waves the circumstances, he began to realize Hold on, I’m, I’m in a storm, I’m going to storm with waves, I’m in a storm that could drown me. And he got his eyes or his focus off of Jesus. And he got them on to the circumstances. And he sunk. Didn’t he? How many of you? Or how many times have I gotten my focus off of Jesus, and on to my circumstances, and sink? It’s ever happened to you? I think we probably all could testify to that. But what he is saying is, when that occurs, what is Jesus do? Does he know us? Remember what he said in John, I know, man, I don’t need the testimony about man concerning man, I know you, I made you. I don’t need Freud’s testimony to come along and say, Well, the reason you did that, because you were potty trained too early, or because you had a mother. This is natural. And because it is natural for us to get our eyes off of him and onto our circumstances. He is always there when that occurs to what, reach down and pick us up, which he did with Jesus, and then say to us, he didn’t say, How come you did that? How come you’re so stupid, he just said, ye of little faith. He said, Don’t you understand that as long as you have your focus on me, you can do anything that I’m telling you to do. Now, again, when Jesus walked on the water, when Jesus fed the 5000, who told him to do that? The Father. Did not Jesus say that I do not do anything unless the Father tells me to do it? And I don’t say anything. So who told him to tell Peter to walk out there? The Father. I don’t say anything less, the Father tells me to say it and how to say it. So Jesus was walking in total dependency upon his Father so that everything you saw him do and say, was a direct reflection of what the Father was telling him to do, and to say, and what he is saying to us is, when I tell you to do something, I will give you what is necessary to do so. I can’t walk on water. But he gave Peter the ability to do so as long as he had his focus on the one who told him to do so. And so Peter got his eyes off of the source Jesus, and got them on to the waves. And he sunk. But as I say, when he did, Jesus immediately reached down and caught him and said, Why did you doubt? Why did you doubt?

Now when they climbed into the boat, they say, the wind died down. And then those were in who were in the boat worshipped him, saying, truly, you are the Son of God. Belief finally was taking place guys was getting out of the realm of theory, and into personal experience. You truly are the Son of God. Now it said, when they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognize Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. In other words out there telling them Jesus has arrived. So immediately, people brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloth. And all who touched him, were healed. So Jesus was drawing a terrific crowd of people, drawing a terrific amount of attention to himself, because of the miraculous miracles that he was doing. Guys, let’s put this in its proper perspective. Why was Jesus doing the miracles that he was doing? First of all, because the Father was telling him to. Are we together on there? Number two, why was the Father telling him to do these miracles? Because the Father knew us and knows us. And knows that in many cases, as he was saying to the Pharisees, if you don’t believe what Moses wrote, how are you going to believe me? He knows how easy it is for us to doubt and how hard it is, for us to have faith in truth. We have no problem at all guys believing lies. Fo we? Isn’t that amazing, we can believe lies so easily, but truth, it’s harder. And God knows that. And so the reason that Jesus was doing these things, was for a purpose. And it was to show people who he was that he is God. Why did he want them to know that He was God? Because God was going to do something for them and for us, in the future, that only God could do. Moses couldn’t do it. Abraham couldn’t do it. None of the prophets could do it. Only God could do where Jesus was headed. Now, guys, that’s what it means. When it’s talking about following Jesus. When you follow Jesus, you have to follow him to where he was going, and follow him to where he went on this side of the cross. That’s why we read the gospels. We’re reading about this man, Jesus. And at the end of all of these books, he’s at the cross. He came to do something for you and B, that we could not do for ourselves. Take away our sins. He was headed toward a cross, where at the cross there He who knew no sin, would literally become sin for us, so that in him we could become the righteousness of God.

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.