Radio Broadcast Tuesday 05/17/2022

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Your Identity in Christ P29 (05-17-22)

Understanding the Meat of the New Covenant

The lessons on the New Covenant are so vitally important for us to understand today. Do we really understand the difference between the old covenant and the New Covenant? Or do we simply give lip service to it, and get back under our religious, self imposed old covenant way of thinking? Listen in to today’s broadcast to hear a wonderful teaching on the NEW!

In today’s lesson, from the Bible study booklet, A Closer Look at Your Identity in Christ, available for purchase from our online Bob George Ministries ecommerce store

Just as a person’s physical growth is based on proper diet and exercise, so is the Christians’s spiritual growth dependent on regular feeding upon the word of God and application of its principles. With more false teaching, shifting opinions and general confusion in the world than ever before, Christians need a solid foundation upon which to base their beliefs and build their lives. The word of God declares that Jesus Christ is that foundation of truth. With that in mind, let’s now take A Closer Look at Your Identity in Christ.

Most of our listeners know who are following along with us in our study book, that on page 29 of our Closer Look series, we hit the Hebrews 10 and 17 and 18, where it talks about the fact that he adds their sins and Lawless acts I remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins. Now, that is the essence or the meat if you want to call that of the New Covenant that we stand in today. It’s the very essence of the meaning of the cross. We’ve talked about so many times that a teacher can teach you what the Bible says, but the Spirit of God has to teach you what it means. And until we know what it means, it has no meaning to us as to what it says. And if I don’t know what it means then from God, then I’m going to make up what it means for a man. So I’m going to have a worldly interpretation of what something says and make a determination in my own feeble mind as to what it means. And unfortunately that to me is the condition of the majority of the Christian world today. Is you will verbalize what the Bible says in regard to the forgiveness of sins, but do we know what it means? As a very well-known Bible teacher that has been on radio for years, dead today, but his radio program is still going on.

I heard the other day saying, when you’re dealing with the New Covenant in Hebrews, you’re dealing with meat, you’re dealing with eating steak. You’re not dealing with drinking milk. You’re eating meat. And, and I thought of that, at the time I said, yes, this is deep theology. It’s deep teaching, but it’s the foundation and maybe that’s why it’s deep. Is because at what goes underground to support that which is above ground. And it is absolutely paramount for a person to understand the New Covenant before he will really be able to understand what it means to be in Christ and to be forgiven in Christ. How can we fully understand the meaning of that unless we realize the New Covenant that we are in today? And that’s why the book of Hebrews that very seldom has ever taught, because until we’ve come to understand the meaning of Hebrews, we look at it as a confusing book and we say, well, I like this Galatians book, but I don’t like this Hebrews. Well, quite frankly, one of the reasons we like Galatians, if you don’t understand what it means, or Ephesians or the rest of them. It’s kind of milk to you. But once you come to understand the teaching inHebrews, the teaching in all of those books become meaningful to you, it becomes your very life blood so to speak, the very sustenance of life itself is contained in the foundation that is given to us in the book of Hebrews. And so what we have done when we came to this passage in Hebrews, it said, okay, let’s back up again and spend some time once again on the New Covenant.

If I had one message to give before I died to a group of people and Christians that we’re going to hopefully carry on the message of Christ, it would be this message of the New Covenant because it contains the foundation of everything that we build upon. It contains the finality of the Cross and the reality of the resurrected life that has been given to us in Christ Jesus who alone is capable and able to live His life here on this Earth. I cannot live His life for Him. He has to live his own life in and through me and so it is so foundational. But you cannot minimize in any way shape or form the importance of understanding this message.

Now, folks, we started at Hebrews 9, talking about a first covenant. Now, we call that an old covenant. We call it an Old Testament and a New Testament. Now until the New Testament came, do you think you’d ever referred to that as an old Covenant or an old Testament? Why, of course not, nobody called that the Old Testament until the new one came. So something old is in comparison to something new. It wasn’t an old Covenant to the Hebrew. It was called The Covenant that was God’s covenant to Israel. Now. It’s only as a second Covenant came that it’s referred to as a first Covenant. And had there been no Covenant, there would have been no first Covenant. To the Hebrew, you didn’t call to the first Covenant, you just said Covenant that’s just all you had. If you only have one child, you don’t say that’s my old child or my first child. It’s your only child. Now, when you have the second one, then you got a first one and a second, but if you don’t have a second, you don’t call the first one, the first, it’s just your child.

And so we talked about in Hebrews 9 about the first Covenant that was not put into effect without blood and then in Hebrews 9:22 the word explains that the law requires nearly everything be covered and cleansed with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. So even under the first Covenant that we refer to now as the old Covenant that Covenant between God and man is representing all of mankind, the Covenant given to His called out people, the one through whom the Messiah was going to come, to whom the Messiah was going to come and yet ultimately to the entire world. But first of all, to this called out distinct people, this unique peculiar people that God called out, gave them all of the sacrifices that were a forerunner of the reality that was going to be found in Christ, practicing all of those ordinances that were merely word pictures of what was going to take place in Christ Jesus when He came. That could not have been done to the whole world. The world would have had it so perverted you wouldn’t recognize that, but Israel at least was there to keep those covenants, those Commandments, they couldn’t do it well, but they tried.

And I know friend Malcolm Smith was talking about going over to Israel and seeing these people at the Wailing Wall, you know, just I mean just on the way, and if you ever been there and seen that is unbelievable, they did rock back and forth and talk, you know, and it for a specific amount of time, this one guy, which is Wailing away and bouncing back and forth, and all of a sudden looked at his watch and realized that he had five more minutes to go know when he looked at his watch he was just as calm as could be. But as soon as he realized, I had five more minutes to go down, goes the arm and back goes the way back like you can’t believe, because that was the law. You had to be there for so long of a time diligently, trying to keep something in order to stay in some sort of a fellowship with God. And religion is still to this day involved in that type of nonsense that the only thing I can call it because God has already provided a way for us to be in fellowship with God, not with the moaning and groaning we do. But with the suffering that He did.

And so the first Covenant was put into effect and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. So in Hebrews 9, we here first Covenant and then in Hebrews 8, it’s called a New Covenant, the time is coming declares the Lord will I make a New Covenant, in comparison to what? The old Covenant, the first Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, and it goes ahead in verse 13 by calling this Covenant new, He has made the first one obsolete. In other words, old, and what is obsolete is aging, that’s old and will soon disappear. Now again, He could have said the very moment that I made this a new covenant, the old Covenant is no longer in effect. That is true from His vantage point. But for those who’ve been under the old, it has to become obsolete and age, and when it does, it will disappear.

You know, at certain times of the year and especially at Christmas time when people are giving gifts, birthdays people give gifts. And I think of the many times of gifts that I have given to people that wear out. Moths come and destroy thieves can come and steal. Those are gifts that you give to people that are made up of temporal things. But I think of, when offering these notes on Hebrews to people free of charge, that is an eternal gift to somebody and there is I couldn’t give a person a gift compared in dollars than I could with giving somebody what God is teaching in regard to this New Covenant. There’s no price that you could put on an understanding of these truths. There’s not a price it could be put on it. And so, in essence, you think about it and you kind of we’re kind of blase about it because it just here will save you some notes. But folks, I couldn’t be sending you a hundred thousand dollars that would not be as beneficial as what these notes are. If you do not fully understand what the New Covenant is. And so I ask you don’t refuse those kind of gifts. If you don’t have this information, take advantage when these offers are made, take advantage of them. They’re here for that reason. To help you to understand the truth that literally set you free.

As we talked about the fact that you have an old Covenant, and Hebrews 8:10 talks about a new covenant that is going to be made with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. And we’ve talked about that on past programs. It talks about this new covenant that I’m going to make with people declares the Lord. I said, I’m going to put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. And other words, it no longer law is written on stone, but I’m going to put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. Now the interesting thing is Jesus said that what he was putting in us was the law of love. Love God, with all your heart and soul, love your neighbor as yourself and upon this He said, the entire law is fulfilled. So guess what law that he has written on her heart? The laws of loving God and of loving one another.

I was thinking the other day, I saw a television program, just yesterday as a matter of fact on a program called Turning Point, that was dealing with the Battle of the Bulge that took place during World War 2. And I could remember my mind flashing back as I was watching the catastrophe that type of thing to me as an 11 year old boy wishing I could be in the army. Or to try to help a war effort, sitting, there on many, many nights crying and praying, even though I didn’t know Christ, personally. I certainly knew about him and crying and praying for my brother-in-law. At that time, who was in the South Pacific, a guy named Johnny. He was married to my sister’s best friend who ultimately was shot down and killed in Romania saying picture with it during those days. With little flags in windows with stars in them, and I’m showing that their boys were in a service, and then you would get a different colored star that said killed in action.

And I remember those, I remember those days, that certainly a greater memory on this side of the ocean that on the other side of the ocean, where Amy was over there being shot at and fired upon and starved to death. And probably the worst thing was going on with us is that gasoline was rationed and sugar was rationed and those types of things. But it was a very sentimental time in history during that period of time. It was a time to me that I don’t think that I will ever forget the emotional aspects of that time, especially at holiday time when our boys were away at Christmas time. And and is talking about this Battle of the Bulge that took place on the 15th of December in Europe. A terrific battle. And it showed how 20,000 of our soldiers were killed in that battle and it showed pictures of Germans as well as Americans who were lying there in the snow, like stiff boards who had been killed. And I couldn’t help sitting there watching that and welling up in my own soul with tears. Looking at the fact that that’s somebody’s boy there. And it talked about one of the guys holding one of their arms. And the last thing he was crying out for was mom. And to think here were young boys that were crying out for their moms as their life was being snuffed out of them by a bullet, or some type of a rocket that had hit them.

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And I thought as tragic as that war was, my mind also flashbacked to the Civil War that was here in this country. And in my opinion, one of the worst atrocities that ever occurred in America was a Civil War. I do not know the historical aspect of how many people were killed in the Civil War. But I would imagine it would be numbers exceeding what we talked about there. And the tragedy of that type of thing was that here we were in our own country, fighting each other. Here we were Americans fighting Americans. In many instances children fighting their parents and parents fighting their children. Brothers against brother. There’s one brother living in the north and other in the south that are both dressed, in one in a Union uniform and another in a Confederate uniform shooting each other. And you look at that and you say how can anything be any more tragic than people who in essence belong to one another through citizenship through birth citizenship to be engaged in a war with each other? The Battle of the Bulge and World War 2 was talking about two different countries, two different languages two different cultures, fighting each other and you say well that’s kind of natural. You can understand that. But when you think about people of the same citizenship, people with the same family, fighting each other. It’s almost beyond comprehension.

And then you, what took place as a result of this New Covenant that took place whereby God said, I’m going to bring in a New Covenant. In this new covenant, I’m going to make a new race of people right now in the world. There’s Hebrew and then there’s Gentile and they’re different from each other and their Customs are different from each other, and they talk different than each other. And they look different than each other. But I’m going to take the Hebrew and Gentile and I’m going to make another Nation. Another group of people is going to be called the Church, going to be called the Ecclesia. It’s going to be called the called out ones. You have children of Israel and you have children of the devil, in essence, both of them, but an essence of Gentiles. And I’m going to make you children of the living God, both Hebrew and Gentile, slave and free. It’s going to be a another generation, another group. Another body of people here on the face of this Earth. And so for 2000 years, people individually have been coming to Christ accepting him as their Lord and their Savior, and being born again of the Spirit of God and becoming children of the living God, brothers and sisters in Christ. And you look at that and you say, marvelous and then you look at it. And you say civil war because within the confines of what is called Born Again, I believe there is civil war among people, brothers and sisters, fighting each other rumorrising each other. Slandering one another, trying to destroy one another. Taking the weaknesses has many times of one another and exposing it to the world who is ready at the drop of a hat, anyway, that try to destroy someone that’s an alien to them. Just like a German and American is a non-Christian. An America is a non Christian, and a Christian. They’re not family. They’re not of the same citizenship. I am an American physically, but spiritually, we are children of God. We are people who are called citizens of heaven. So, here we are with the identical citizenship called brothers and sisters in Christ and yet, pridefully and stupidly we take off against one another and it’s as tragic as a civil war ever thought of be. We may not fire bullets at one another. Although some people do very proudly say that I killed somebody because I’m standing for truth. You see that with a recent guy that killed some doctor who was in the abortion clinics and pridefully so to say, I will do standing for truth. Whose truth? God’s truth? When has God ever say for you to go out and kill somebody? If somebody’s killing somebody an abortion, they’ve got to deal with that individually. For me to go out and kill somebody who’s doing it, why all I’m doing is what the Bible talks about is judging others and yet doing the same thing. So we get our minds confused and we forget that we’ve been called as a family of God and for goodness sake, if there’s ever a group of people that ought to be sticking together and quit trying to destroy each other and standing up for each other and quit looking for our weaknesses and rejoice in our strengths, and to quit trying to expect people to be something different than what we are. We’re just frail human beings.

If anyone’s going love Bob George, you’re going to have to love him warts and all. Don’t have to love me. But if you are, you’re going to have to love me warts and all. What has happened, many times in the Christian world is we have forgotten that we have been cleansed of all unrighteousness. We have been forgiven of all of our sins. And anybody who is in Christ has been the recipient of the same cleansing and the same forgiveness and inasmuch as you had to be cleansed and I had to be cleansed, it meant that there was a need in both of us. And that means that we should never be in a position of judging one another because we all needed cleansed. And we all need to forgiven. As I said, if anyone’s going to like me, they don’t have to, they don’t have to love me. But if they do, they’re going to have to love me warts at all. They’re gonna have to love Bob George who has good points and bad points. A Bob George that sometimes says good things, sometimes says bad things. A Bob George that sometimes does things right, and sometimes does things wrong, because that’s who I am, and incidentally that’s who you are. And if I’m going to love you, I’m gonna have to love you the same. Warts and all. The choice isn’t whether you’re going to have warts or not. That’s not a choice. You got them. And so do I. The choice isn’t whether you have good points and bad points. That’s not a choice. You’ve got them. So why the choice that we have is are we going to extend the love of God as brothers and sisters in Christ to each other or engage in a civil war?

When we look at a Civil War in all of its gory detail, we look at that and say that is the most unbelievably evil thing that I’ve ever seen in my life. And yet that same kind of evil is taking place all over the world, people who are children of God here we are with real enemies out there, wanting to destroy our country real enemies. And here we are fighting with each other. Making each other enemies. God says, you’re not enemies. You’re my children. I died. I was sacrificed for you. I’ve given my life for you. Now for goodness sakes, love one another. And that’s what the New Covenant was all about. I forgave you, now forgive one another. I have taken you and released you from the law and the righteous demands of that and the punishment of it. Now quit punishing one another. If I am not punishing you any longer, and quit punishing one another. Learn to love one another, learn to accept one another, learn to walk in the newness of life. Not an oldest of life that anybody in the world can do. Any Heathen can be even, any Heathen can rumorrise another brother. Any Heathen can do that. That is not of God. We have to look at our own actions, my friends and the actions of others as we are analyzing these things and keep asking ourselves the question, is that what Jesus would do? If Jesus saw a brother stumble, is Jesus going to go out and put it in the New York Times. I don’t. I saw a brother stumble. Is he going to go out and try to destroy him or her and their family? I don’t believe so. If Jesus saw someone make a mistake. Is He going to go out and try to destroy that person over that mistake? I don’t believe so.

We saw an example, after example, of the life of a woman who was caught in adultery. Caught by self-righteous people drug into the square, they try to get Jesus to acknowledge and to give his credence to stoning a person to death. And as they were standing there with their stones, He asked the question, is anyone here without sin? There wasn’t anybody. Then drop your stones and they did. And the only one there without sin was Him. And His response was get up and sin no more. It wasn’t that I’m going to try to destroy you and hurt you. It was an attitude of restoration, never of condemnation. Now, when you and I function in a mindset of condemnation rather than restoration, we have to ask yourself the question. Am I functioning with the Life of Christ Living in me if I’m out condemning someone? The answer is absolutely not. If I am saying, well, I’m not going to be that person’s friend anymore. They really screwed up. You’re not functioning with the mind, or you’re functioning in a worldly carnal mindset, and so am I, if I’m functioning in that way. And we cannot get away from that. You see that old covenant has to age, obsolete, disappear. What’s the old covenant? Man, if you have blown it, it said there’s punishment, that’s all kind of blown it and there’s punishment, death stoning, or condemnation alienation. That’s all a part of legalism. It’s all a part of an old Covenant that it says has to disappear. If you’ve been released from it and you’re in a New Covenant, then you’re going to have to let all of the thinking of the old Covenant disappear. Get rid of it.

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.