Radio Broadcast Tuesday 05/31/2022

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Your Identity in Christ P35 (05-31-22)

A Child of God is Perfect in the Sight of God

We have been made perfect in the sight of God for all those in Christ Jesus. Why? Because Jesus took away all our sins on the cross, and nothing can separate us from the love of God. Place faith in Him, not in yourself.

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.

You know, we’re studying out of the chapter in our workbook, A Closer Look at the Believers Identity and chapter 4, which is the chapter dealing with, you are totally forgiven. And there’s, we studied through many of the questions that were dealing with the finality of our forgiveness. Why we stopped on page 29 with the Hebrews passage out of 10:17, then He adds their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more and where these have been forgiven there is no longer any sacrifice for sins. And then what we did from that point on was to vary from the lesson plan in our book and to go into a very exhaustive teaching on the New Covenant in which we offered notes out of the New Covenant. And I was assumed still would be offering those notes to anyone who would like to pick them up. I’ve said so many times. And if I only had one set of notes in my possession, these would be the notes that I want in my possession because it is the foundation on which everything in the Christian life is built on. And so it is so vitally important that we as Christians have an understanding of this New Covenant, and to go over it and over it and over it and over it until it sinks to the depth of our soul, the truths of these things so that our foundation is deep deep into the word of God, not just a surface foundation but something that is as deep as could be humanly possible and spiritually possible to occur. And we talked about this passage and in Hebrews 10 and that their sins and Lawless acts I’ll remember no more and where these have been forgiven there’s no longer any sacrifice for sins.

That, that is a springboard in order to explain the totality of the New Covenant in which we live today. That is the conclusion to what the New Covenant is all about. That God came to give us a new covenant. Under the old Covenant you’re under the law, and the wages of sin under the law is death. And unless there had been a provision made by God for man to free him from that law, there would have been nobody on the face of this earth that would have ever gone into the presence of a living righteous God without being declared righteous by God Himself in some miraculous way. And so sins for all humanity, had to be paid for once and for all, not by the blood of bulls and goats that the priests who were there, to administer the law that had been given to us, that the priests had to go over and over and over and over again in order to provide ongoing continual forgiveness for man.

God says that he found fault with the people under that old Covenant and that Jesus is the mediator of a New Covenant. And this New Covenant is based upon what God did for us. Not what God demanded man to do for Him. That’s new and it goes ahead to say in Hebrews 8:6 through 13 at the conclusion of that, that calling this Covenant new He made the first one obsolete. And what is obsolete is aging and soon will disappear. Now, folks, under the old Covenant it was the law. It dealt with violation of the law that we call sin, and it dealt with the absolute necessity for those sins to be paid for and never to be blinked at but to be paid for and the wages of sin is death and God rather than killing man, shed the blood of innocent animals and that was a foreshadowing of the reality that was going to come in Christ Jesus.

So the law was a shadow, it is not it says the reality itself. And so the Holy Spirit, it says Hebrews 10 then testified about this The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds. Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. The former regulation therefore has been set aside because it says it was weak and useless for the law made nothing perfect and a better hope was introduced by which we draw near to God and it was not without an oath. Others became priests without any oath, but he became a priest with an oath. When God said to him, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You, Jesus are a priest forever and because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better Covenant.

And so, Bob with the realization therefore, that the law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the reality themselves. And for this reason because the law was a shadow, it can never by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect, those who draw near to worship. Now we’ve seen two passages of scripture and we’re going to go to another where the problem is that you had to be made perfect, a perfect God, a man to go into the presence of a perfect God is going to have to be made perfect. The law couldn’t make nothing perfect. We just talked about that and the, and the sacrifices that said, can never make perfect those who draw near to worship. A sacrifice that has to be done over and over and over again, because I’m not made perfect. Just give it until the next time I sin and I’m forgiven again, but I could not make me perfect. It couldn’t impute something to me. It cleanse me, but it couldn’t give me something called perfection, completeness in other words.

Now, Hebrews 7 goes ahead. If that kind of perfection that is necessary for going into the presence of God, could have been attained through the levitical priesthood, then why was there a need for another priesthood for where there’s a change of priesthood there was also be a change of the law. So it told us that e set aside the first Covenant in order to establish the New Covenant and by this Covenant, folks, listen to this, you have been made holy, set apart by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus. How many times? Once and for all. Are you in Christ? Then you have been made holy through the sacrifice of His body. How many times? Once and for all and then it goes ahead to say that one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are the holy ones. So, the law could never make anyone perfect. And Christ came and by his death for you, made you perfect, complete in the sight of God. And there amid, many of those priests since death prevented them from continuing office, because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Now, that’s as we closed our teaching last week. That is what enables us therefore to walk into the presence of God, into the Holy of Holies. Calling him Daddy Father and receiving mercy in our time of need. And if that isn’t good news, I just plain haven’t heard good news. And that is the good news. Christ Jesus when He was here on Earth, never went into the holy of holies. Only the levitical priests went in there. Jesus never went in even though he was God, but when He at the cross, the curtain was rent from the top to the bottom and now He and us alone now have confidence to enter into that. Holy of Holies calling him Daddy Father.

As we have discussed. The reason for this final sacrifice was so that God could make us something that we weren’t. First of all, sins had to be taken away. That is the thing that caused death and would continue to cause death. If he gave us a life, that was not eternal life. Now the only reason my friends that you and I have a life that could be called eternal life, it’s not a doctrine. It’s a reality because of the Cross where He took away that which caused death to begin with and that was sin, the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So we had to be freed from that law of sin and death. Now that’s what Paul says you are therefore, there is now no condemnation awaiting you who belong to Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

So you and I were freed from the law of sin and death at the cross. So that by that sacrifice. And through His resurrected life coming to live in you a life that is eternal. A life that is holy. A life that is perfect because of your identification with the perfect one. He made you perfect because of your identification with the Holy One. You became holy because of your identification with the The one who forgave all of your sins, you became a totally forgiven saint, because of your identification with the one who was raised from the dead, you have been raised from the dead and because of all of those things being done for you, you now have a brand new identity, a brand new destiny, a brand new life, a brand new everything.

Now, that is why there is no fear now in the love of God. Because it’s the love of God that brought all of this about. And 1st John 4 that we studied last week tells us, there is now no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. Do you realize that my friends there is no more punishment connected with your sins? God disciplines us every moment of the day. It isn’t something that comes upon us when we mess up as some people want to teach. God’s discipline is continually upon us. His discipline is the changing of our mind. It’s a disciplined mind. What is a disciplined mind? One that is coming under the control of the truth of the Holy Spirit of God who lives in us.

There is no more punishment for your sins, all of the punishment that was due to you and me, for all of our sins forever, as well as all mankind from Adam to, whenever the end of eternity is, all of it was placed upon Christ at the cross. And there, He took that punishment on our behalf for us once and for all and there’s no more punishment left for you.

Now, it says it until we understand that the one who fears is not made perfect in love. Now we just got through talking didn’t we with that. The law could make no one perfect. And that the Son has been made perfect forever. And we, therefore, our identity with Him have been made perfect forever. Folks, don’t minimize the importance of these verses dealing with being made perfect. That means being made complete. And the one who fears is not complete in love, in other words, even though you are the recipient of God’s love, you cannot experience God’s love and be made perfect in that love when you are fearing the punishment of God. There is no more punishment. Do you understand that? There is now no condemnation, no punishment for you who are in Christ Jesus. You don’t need to feel guilty because in order to be guilty someone has to say you are. And God is not saying you are anymore, even though you may be on a human level. God says, that’s already been dealt with. It’s already been paid for.

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 like a crime here on this earth, but friend you can commit a crime or not commit a crime and be drug into court, drug into jail, drug into court, drug before a jury, and a jury listens to the evidence of the case and says not guilty. You could be guilty as sin, but the jury says not guilty and you walk out of that courtroom free as a bird and you can never be tried for that sin again. Never tried for it again. Once the jury said, not guilty, that is it and you could go out there thumb your nose back at the court, and it would make an ounce of difference. You’re not guilty. Well, folks, something greater than a jury, is there. And that is Christ.Jesus, our sins were placed upon Him. He went before the judge. He took it for us and it’s over and we love Him now, it says, because He loved us first. Now folks, that’s what enables us now to go into the presence of God, Hebrews 10:19 to have confidence to enter the most Holy place now by the blood of Jesus, that’s a new and living way that has been opened up for us by the Body of Christ. And since we have this great Priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God now with a sincere heart and in full assurance of faith.

Folks, do you have full assurance of faith? Or are you still doubt your salvation? Do you realize that doubting your salvation? I could doubt my salvation. I can’t doubt His salvation. He’s the one who is saving me. So I’m not going to doubt His salvation. He’s the one who promised I’ll never leave you nor forsake you. And he is the one that we are told in Hebrews that is He is able to save completely, me and you who came to him through faith. Why? He always lives to intercede for us as Hebrews 7:24 and 25. It’s His salvation. He is the mediator Hebrews 9:15 of the New Covenant that those who are called may receive what the promised Eternal inheritance. Now that He, Jesus has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first Covenant. My friends, He is your guarantee. He’s the guarantee and the guarantor of the greatest guarantee that’s ever been given to man. And that is, you are saved completely.

Now, for you not to walk in full assurance of faith is to spit in the face of Jesus who said I’ll never leave you nor forsake you. To doubt your salvation is to say, I think I can lose my salvation and to teach people that you can lose your salvation is an abomination to the Lord. He came to save you completely, and if He said, I’ve saved you completely, your saved completely. Why do you want to doubt that? It’s not up to you anyway? Wasn’t up to you to get saved to begin with. It’s all Him. And none of you.

Now, that’s why once you are truly in Christ and you have come to Him for what He came to give you life, eternal life, then, don’t spit in His face. And insulted by saying, I don’t think you gave me eternal life. I think you gave me temporal life. He said, I don’t know what the word temporal means. I didn’t make anything temporary. I made everything eternally and so my friends, if you are in Christ, that you’re saved because of what He has done, what He is continuing to do. And what He will continue, to continue to do.

It’s called full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience, and having our bodies washed with pure water. Not this kind down here, but the water from Heaven, let us therefore hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess. Why? Well, because He who promised is faithful. He didn’t say hold unswervingly to the hope we profess because we are so faithful to God, but because of He who promised is the Faithful One.

Now, if Ephasians 3:12, then tells us in Him and through faith in Him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence. You notice it didn’t say in what you do and through faith, in what you do or what you don’t do that you may approach God with freedom and confidence. Everything is by faith in Him, and what He did and enables you and me to approach God with freedom and in confidence.

Now, folks, we come to a therefore if that is true. And is that good news? Well, I don’t know any better news on the face of this Earth. I certainly couldn’t make myself complete. I certainly couldn’t forgive myself. Neither can I live a Christian life. You know, folks, we’ve placed such emphasis on go out and be such a good example. You’re not a good example. Half the time were bad examples. That’s why I say there’s no such thing as a worthless life. You can always serve as a bad example, so you don’t have to worry about having a worthless life. People are all hung up in my testimony. How I do things, that everyone’s going to walk around looking and say, why are you so wonderful? Maybe people might say that to you. I’ve been a Christian 27 years I never had anybody ask me why it’s the wonderful make it why I’m not wonderful. I’m a Child of God. I’ve wonderful in His sight. I’ve been made pure and holy in His sight, but I still have indwelling sin living in me. I can still blow it, can’t you? But I’ll tell you one thing any body and I don’t say that you know, in a bragging way, but I’ll tell you one thing that anybody that is around me, very long, will know. And that is that I have a faith in a living Christ to do what He said He’s going to do. And I have no faith in Bob George to do anything in the same going to do. But I have total faith in Him to do precisely everything that He says He’s going to do. Now that’s what faith is about.

Now in Ephesians 4:32. It’s therefore, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ God forgave you. Now folks, if Christ Jesus forgave you totally, once and for all, then what should our mindset of forgiveness be toward others? Forgiveness, once and for all. Now if I believe that the only reason that God forgave me is because I came and asked him and I begged him to, then what am I going to require out of you in the event that you mess me up? Forgive that guy. Well, I will, if he comes in and beggs and, you know, kind of grumbles a little bit while I might forgive him. But it’s why do you, why do you feel that way? Because you feel, that’s what you have to do to get forgiveness from God. And as long as we have this mentality, that I’ve got to go to get forgiveness from God, then I’m going to demand of everyone that they come to me and ask me for forgiveness before I forgive them. That’s the very opposite of Godly forgiveness.

The only motivation, true motivation that we can have for forgiving one another is the fact that Christ Jesus has forgiven us. Until we come to grips with that. In this world, we’re going to have trials and tribulation and much of that trial and tribulation is brought about by other people. We bring a lot of it on ourselves and we force it on a lot of other people and vice versa. In this world if you’re living as a family, you’re going to have your mate, sometimes doing things that you don’t appreciate and vice versa. You’ve got kids that drive you nuts. If you’re my age you’ve got grandkids coming up that you know, you’re going to have to be exercising, some forgiveness someplace down the line, but you see if you don’t realize that you are totally forgiven, then forgiveness becomes an option to you. In other words, should I, or shouldn’t I.

As a lost person you’re not tied into forgiveness, and that’s why it talks about in the old Covenant and what we call the Lord’s Prayer, which was it really wasn’t the Lord’s Prayer at all. It was just the Lord, telling the disciples how to pray, not him. But in that prayer where it says, for if you do not, forgive your brother here on earth, your Father in heaven will not forgive you. So, in other words, forgiving, someone was what activated God’s forgiveness towards you under the old Covenant. That was the law, but there’s only one problem with that idea. I did not have it. I would not have had it in me to forgive. I don’t have forgiveness in me. I can exercise some of it if it’s beneficial to me, or if it’s, or if it can bring some attention to me, but I do not have forgiveness living in me as a lost person any more than I have God’s love living in me or God’s joy living in me. It just isn’t there. It’s not in the house. And so we have to for it to do that, we’ve got to have a motivation for forgiveness and the motivation to those that were trying to live under God’s law was if I don’t forgive, my Father in heaven God won’t forgive me, so I’d better get with it some way down the line. And under the old Covenant, why God even instituted things that whether it was in your heart or not, where there was forgiveness in outward action. I believe every seven years that you had to clear the debts.

And so there was an outward action that had to take place to end. In your hearts you may have been mad as a hornet at somebody, but you acted it out because if you didn’t, God wouldn’t forgive you. So that was your motivation. Well you had to have that kind of motivation folks because you had nothing internal going on inside of you. As I said, you didn’t have forgiveness living in you. But today under the New Covenant if you’re a born again Christian, regenerated, which there was no one spiritually regenerated prior to the cross. And prior to the resurrection prior to Pentecost actually, when the Holy Spirit of God came to indwell people, for the first time. Prior to Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon people for divine service, but then would leave. But after Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to live within us and indwell us forever with a promise, never to leave us nor forsake us. So, now as a born-again Christian, I have something called forgiveness living in me. So there’s, there’s an inward nudge. It’s not so that I need to forgive, so that God will forgive me. But it’s the fact of that unbelievable knowledge that God has already forgiven me. That there’s nothing that I can do that could stop that forgiveness that is God himself from being exercised toward me. And so once I realized that that’s what enables us as Christians to say, who am I not to forgive somebody when Christ Jesus has forgiven me. Now. I want to also explain an equally important thing to get ahold of, then that is the forgiveness of yourself.

Because many times, we will walk around and say, well, I forgive others, but I can’t forgive me. In other words, I did something so bad that I cannot forgive myself for that. Now what you’re doing with that mindset, whether you realize it or not, but what that mindset is saying, is that my standards are higher than God’s. Now if we know God forgave me of all that but I can’t forgive me. Well, then your standards are higher than God’s.

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.