Classic Christianity – New Years P3 (01-03-24)
Jesus is Our Everything 100% ~ Jesus Changes Everything!
~ When you accept Jesus, and the Holy Spirit comes to live in you, Jesus sets you apart. The more you understand Truth, the more you will realize how separated you are from the rest of the world. You begin to see the world as it really is, controlled by Satan. And it even tells that in Scripture, that Satan is god of this world, but until your mind is renewed, you will not fully understand that truth. The Holy Spirit renews our minds with truth and shows us error and the lies of Satan and the world. And we all have error in our thinking that needs corrected. For we have all been brainwashed from the time of our natural birth, and the renewing of our minds takes place through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit living in us. And the Holy Spirit never stops with the renewing of our minds. Sometimes, that doesn’t feel good in our flesh, because many times we have brought along idols and lies of Satan with us that we didn’t realize at the time were idols and were lies of Satan. And we bring much in the way of false teaching of the world too, because we were taught by our parents because they too were brainwashed by Satan and the teaching of the world. So to break that brainwashing, we must place our dependence on Christ Jesus, and His Holy Spirit living in us to be the teller of All Truth. We need to abide in Him. And not lean on our own understanding of anything.
~ Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
~ “I had a lady the other day I was talking to and she said, Oh, I could never murder anyone. And I said, well, let’s just you know, there’s about 1000 things I could mentioned, but let’s just put that in the category the 10. So if if thou shalt not commit murder, and you say I would could never murder someone, then all you need is a 90%. Jesus. You don’t need 100% Jesus only 90% You’re your 10% Okay. And if on top of that you could not murder and you couldn’t commit adultery. Well, then all you need is an 80%. Jesus. And you could probably just keep going about all you need is about 10%. Just a little dab il do you just a Brill Cream Jesus, just a little dab will do you.
And folks, until we see there’s not one thing on the face of this earth that we’re incapable of doing. We have a propensity and an ability to do anything, do we not? And for people to sit around and feel guilty because they blown it is ridiculous because we’ve all blown it. And we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God. And that’s why he said, there’s none righteous, no, not one. And until we see our unrighteousness, why would we ever turn to Him for His righteousness? So we don’t have any of our own doing. And so the Hebrew had to understand that, and so did the Gentile. And so how do we turn to Christ, we don’t need a 90% Jesus. Matter of fact, there isn’t a 90%, Jesus, he doesn’t exist. We don’t need an 80%. Jesus, we need 100%. Jesus, I have to see there is nothing in me worthy of going into the presence of God, nothing. Not a little bit. Nothing. And until we see that, now, I’m ready to receive everything, I don’t need a little bit, I need everything. That’s why we’re told in the Scripture, when we have Christ, we have been given what? everything we need for life and godliness, which means you have nothing for life and godliness. You have nothing within yourself to produce life or godliness. And that’s why in him, I have everything that I need for life and guidance.”
~ Thank you so much for tuning into Classic Christianity with Bob George through our Classic Christianity Radio program and the books Bible study CDs and DVDs we have available for purchase online at BobGeorge.net. It is our desire in prayer at Bob George Ministries that you continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory, both now and forever. Amen. Let’s join Bob. Now as he gets started with today’s lesson.
Bob George 0:41
In chapter two of Luke, we talked about last week how the different appearances of an angelic being Gabriel came and announced, first of all, to Zachariah in regard to the birth of John the Baptist, an angel appeared to Joseph, comforting him with the fact that the pregnancy of Mary was by the Holy Spirit of God, an angel also appeared to Mary announced that announcing the fact that she was going to be with child and that child was to be called Jesus Emmanuel, God with us. We also had then the appearance of angelic beings, one of Gabriel then a multitude of them who appeared to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem, looking down on that little city, and again, by the by warning them and telling them of the birth of the Christ child. After the birth of Christ, and we’re gonna go down to verse 21, in chapter two. Prior to that, in verse 20, it said, how the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told. Now on the eighth day, and again, we’re talking about the Hebrew laws as to what was to occur in accordance with their laws. At the birth of a child on the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him. He was named Jesus the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. And when the time of purification, according to the law of Moses had been completed, now that time of purification was 40 days from the birth, and that was a requirement where a woman was in seclusion for 40 days after the birth of a child. And during that period of time was a period of what they call purification. It said at that time, then Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law, the Lord, every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord, and an offer and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of doves and two young pigeons. Now, it goes ahead to say that there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon who was a righteous and devout and he was waiting for the constellation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him, it had been revealed to him. Now again, look at the different areas of Revelation, you had angelic announcements you had, which we will see in a moment you had dreams. And now you have the Holy Spirit who had revealed to Simeon, all of this announcement of Christ Jesus. And it said that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. Now when the parents brought in the child, to do for him what the customer the law required, Simeon took him in his arms, and he praised God, saying, Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant and peace. In other words, they saying, I can now die in peace. This was a promise that was given to me that I would not die until I have seen the Lord’s Christ, and I have now seen him and now I can die in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory to your people, Israel.
Now folks, again, we have discussed every night on numerous occasions, and we have tapes and everything else on it, as to the fact as to how impossible it was for a Hebrew to believe that the Gentile would come to salvation the same way they would, this was an impossibility. the Gentile world was totally hedonistic in practice. It was totally hedonistic into religious practice. They had temple prostitution, they had idol worship all over the place. And they had no clue at all as to the one true God, and the only testimony on the face of the earth as we know it, and as they knew it, then, in regard to the one true God was through Israel, and through Hebrewism. And so we have to understand again, this pronouncement that was coming from Simeon. Again, quoting a scripture that probably was just read quickly, in in, in Old Testament teaching, that this is a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for the glory of your people, Israel. So in other words, and this revelation to this man, and in the quotation of the scripture that he saw being fulfilled, you saw this Jesus as a savior, not just to the Hebrew, but to the entirety of all mankind, Hebrew and Gentile alike. Now, I asked you a question, was that understood? That was not understood at all. It’s like a lot of things that happen to us we read words, but they just go over our heads and we don’t stop, as Mary did when we talked last week and ponder these things in your heart. What does this mean? How could this be? But the revelation, the Old Testament prophecy, which was quoted here, and revealed to Simeon was the fact that this Jesus was not only a savior to Israel, but he was a savior to the Gentile as well. And all of that folks was pre destined. And that’s what predestination is. That’s what a election is. It is not you’s and me’s, it is the Gentiles were predestined to become conformed to the image of Christ, the same way that the Hebrew was, and just as the Hebrew was, it has been justified. So also the Gentile is justified by faith. And this whole subject of predestination and election and foreknowledge is not around. I like Ray, but I don’t like Bill. It’s around Hebrew and Gentile, that the Hebrew was preordained, and so was the Gentile preordained for salvation. And that’s what this passage is dealing with letting people know that even though the gospel is going first to the Hebrew, it is also going to the Gentile and the Gentile will be saved exactly the way the Hebrew was saved. To the Hebrew, they thought their salvation was through their inheritance of being a Hebrew. And through their obedience to the law. What did Jesus do with the cross? took away the law so that no man could ever say, I’m going to I’m going to go to heaven because of my obedience to the law. Jesus said, I nailed the law to the cross. And so it neutralized everyone, it said to the Hebrew, you’re never going to go to heaven through obedience to the law and to the Gentile, you never had the law to begin with. And so you’re as lost as a goose. And so uh, both of you are in the same category, and both of you are going to go to heaven, identically the same way, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. And so to the Hebrew, the self righteous Hebrew, the self righteous Christian, self righteous religionist it doesn’t make a difference, what how you paint self righteousness, or what your package it in or wrap it in. It’s still self righteousness. You can wrap it in Hebrew paper, you can wrap it in Gentile paper you can read from you can wrap it up in anything you want to. But the fact of the matter is, it’s self righteousness and self righteousness will never go into the kingdom of God, until a man comes to see his total depravity. Why in the world, would he ever turn to Christ for His total sufficiency?
I had a lady the other day I was talking to and she said, Oh, I could never murder anyone. And I said, well, let’s just you know, there’s about 1000 things I could mentioned, but let’s just put that in the category the 10. So if if thou shalt not commit murder, and you say I would could never murder someone, then all you need is a 90%. Jesus. You don’t need 100% Jesus only 90% You’re your 10% Okay. And if on top of that you could not murder and you couldn’t commit adultery. Well, then all you need is an 80%. Jesus. And you could probably just keep going about all you need is about 10%. Just a little dab il do you just a Bril Cream Jesus, just a little dab will do you.
And folks, until we see there’s not one thing on the face of this earth that we’re incapable of doing. We have a propensity and an ability to do anything, do we not? And for people to sit around and feel guilty because they blown it is ridiculous because we’ve all blown it. And we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God. And that’s why he said, there’s none righteous, no, not one. And until we see our unrighteousness, why would we ever turn to Him for His righteousness? So we don’t have any of our own doing. And so the Hebrew had to understand that, and so did the Gentile. And so how do we turn to Christ, we don’t need a 90% Jesus. Matter of fact, there isn’t a 90%, Jesus, he doesn’t exist. We don’t need an 80%. Jesus, we need 100%. Jesus, I have to see there is nothing in me worthy of going into the presence of God, nothing. Not a little bit. Nothing. And until we see that, now, I’m ready to receive everything, I don’t need a little bit, I need everything. That’s why we’re told in the Scripture, when we have Christ, we have been given what? everything we need for life and godliness, which means you have nothing for life and godliness. You have nothing within yourself to produce life or godliness. And that’s why in him, I have everything that I need for life and guidance.
Let’s go on he said, The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. And then Simeon bless them and said, to Mary his mother, this child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel. Oh, what’s he talking about there? This child is going to bring a sword, he’s going to draw a line down the floor and say, over here, is saved, and over here is lost. And in so doing, he’s going to cause a falling of many people, and arising of many people. He’s going to have people who are lost, and people who are saved. In Christ Jesus, when you come to Christ, you have been separated from the thinking of the world. You’re not like the world in your thinking, if you are, you haven’t learned much about his thinking. Because when you grab a hold of his wisdom, you find out that your wisdom and the wisdom of the world, you’re just on two opposite ends of the spectrum, aren’t you. And so he said, this son of yours is going to cause the rising of some and the falling of others. He’s destined for that, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. A sword will pierce your own soul to and what was he talking about? They’re talking about the fact that her own son is going to be crucified. This is something guys that we have to understand that Jesus said, I didn’t come to bring peace, I came to bring a sword. And of course, he’s not talking about that there’s no peace to those of us who possess the Prince of Peace. But there is a sword that divides lost from saved the sheep from the goats. And we just have to understand that’s a truth. You see, what religion tries to do is let’s just get everybody together. And then you’ve got your organizations that say, Let’s just all get together. And now if we’re going to get everybody together, so all have unity and peace with each other, you’re going to have to water down. What truth is, there is no other way to get that kind of unity. If you’re out to get unity, you’re going to have to water down everything to get unity. Because when you believe something to be true, you’re going to separate yourself from the rest of the world. And that’s just the way it is. And you’re going to therefore have some people who hate you, because of your relationship with Christ Jesus. And when you young people go to school and you represent Christ, you’re going to have some kids that hate you for that. And one of the things that you run into is we have a tendency to want to be accepted, don’t we. But the issue is there’s only one person that will accept you that will meet that need for acceptance and that’s Christ Jesus, not the peers, they’ll just drag you into trouble. But the acceptance of Christ will keep you on the right pathway.
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Bob George 14:42
And so we have to understand what he’s dealing with here. And that is that your hearts are going to be revealed. You know, you can go to people and talk about God all day long. But you mentioned Jesus, and you’ve got a division on your hands here. Ever notice that I know of how easy it is for people talking about God, or the big boy upstairs, or the good Lord, we got all kinds of expressions, but talk about Jesus say, Jesus, and see how easy that is, if you don’t know Jesus, and see how accepted that is, to people that you’re mentioning Jesus to. So folks, we have to understand that Jesus becomes a divider of mankind, and you cannot compromise that there is no compromise in the Gospel. Jesus is God or isn’t God, if he if you don’t think he is joining the rest of the world, but if you believe he is who he is, and that is God, and you believe he’s the savior of the world, and you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that he has come to save you, you are by that very nature going to be controversial. And you are by that very nature, you’re going to be separate from the rest of the world. So he says that this child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be assigned that will be spoken against. So at the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. Guys, what does the thoughts of God do to your by heart? It reveals what we’re thinking. Isn’t that fun? But you know, that’s what the Spirit of God living in us for. He shows us when we got stinking thinking, doesn’t he? He points that out to us. And there’s where the Holy Spirit of God lives, He lives to renew your mind on truth, and set you free from the error on truth, the only thing that will separate me from the error of the world that’s constantly bombarding my mind, I don’t know about yours, is the truth of the Word of God. Now, that gives us a plumb line. And it gives us something that we can gauge whether this is proper thinking or improper thinking, is the word of God. And you can’t compromise that. So when the Word of God is in you, and you’ve internalized this word, you have something and someone inside of you, that is constantly in the process of renewing my mind, teaching me truth, and setting me free from the error that keeps me in bondage. Now, that’s important, isn’t it? And that’s what Jesus said, When I go away. I’m going to send my counselor to you. Well, what’s a counselor? Someone they’re supposed to give advice. Do we need advice? I would think so. We all need advice. And folks, incidentally, that’s what discipline is. Discipline isn’t going out and beating the daylights out of somebody. When it says that we are disciplined by the Lord everybody shutters. No discipline is wonderful discipline is discipleship. That’s where the word discipline comes from. discipling someone. So what is this word of God continually doing to you and me? discipling us, disciplining our minds, by teaching us truth up against what we’re trying to hang on to as truth, which is nothing but error. Do we understand that? It’s not a bad word. Nor is discipline, something that comes upon you. Discipline that says something that remains upon you. You and I are continually if the Spirit of God is alive, living in us are under the discipline of the Lord. He is He doesn’t sleep, he’s always there. And he is always teaching your in my mind, truth that is setting us free against the error that is also bombarding our mind, because I don’t think Satan is sleep and eating.
It says there was also a prophetess Anna, and the daughter of Penue of the tribe of Ashure. And she was very old. And she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was 84. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day fasting and praying. Now coming up to them at that moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who are looking forward to the redemption in Jerusalem. Now, guys, let’s go from there over to Matthew, in the second chapter of Matthew, because we have to pick up at that moment. Now at this particular juncture before you go over there did hang on to where we were for a moment in in verse 39, of Luke. It said when Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee. to their own town of Nazareth, and the child grew and became strong was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him. Now, in these gospels in the synoptic, gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, you’re going to see that only in Matthew and Mark is it now picked up these particular events, or excuse me, in the book of Matthew, are these next events picked up. And that is what took place in between the time that Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the law, Jesus had been born, went back to Nazareth, we know. And we’ll cover this in a moment, we know that there is now a two year period that we’re going to deal with here approximately a two year period. It was customary for the Hebrews to return back to Jerusalem on a yearly basis. And I’m assuming this is an assumption that this would have been about a year later, when Joseph and Mary would have gone back to Jerusalem, and probably stayed in Bethlehem, which is just outside of Jerusalem. Bethlehem and Jerusalem are just neighbors. And so this, this is a possibility that this was a year later. But whenever it was, it was at a later period after the birth of Christ. And so let’s pick up in chapter two, in Matthew, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and ask, where is the one who has been born king of the Hebrews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. So they were inquiring of people in regard to where is this one who has been born king of the Hebrews? Now, guys, another thing that we have to see is there’s no place in the Scripture talking about there being three wise men. Now we sing We Three Kings of Orient are. But that’s tradition. Because there’s nothing in the Scripture talking about how many Magi were there. It could have been three, it could have been 13. We have not a clue how many were there. We’ve just kind of made it up. But the fact is, we don’t know how many were there. But we do know that the wise men or the Magi were there. How many we don’t know really not very important. And I want to talk guys, they call him Herod the Great, he was the most vicious man, probably one of them that has ever lived. If you ever wanted to try to pick an antichrist, this would have been the one. He was a horrible, mean, detestable, vicious, human being.
And so he heard this and he was disturbed, he was also a maniac, and all of Jerusalem with him. Now, when he had called together all of the people’s chief priests, so he said, I’m gonna get together these Hebrews and find out about this thing. So he pulled together their chief priests and their teachers of the law. And he asked them where the Christ was to be born. Well, their answer was in Bethlehem in Judea, they replied, before, this is what the prophet has written. Now there again, guys, do you think the people who lived in Israel at that time were familiar with the scriptures? They knew what it said, didn’t they? And did they believe the scriptures were reliable? Absolutely. They quoted they said, Where’s this Messiah gonna be? They didn’t go to the Reader’s Digest, to find that out or Life magazine articles, they went to where it told where the Messiah was going to be. And that was in the Old Testament. And so they quoted to Herod out of the scriptures, But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, or out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd over my people, Israel. Now was that good news to Herod? This egomaniacs sitting there saying, some kind of a king’s going to come and replace me. Guys, do you remember what we talked about? What is it that killed Jesus? Job security, job security. They said, If we allow this man to continue before long, everyone’s going to follow Him and we are going to lose our place and our position. So in other words, if this man Jesus, if we let him go on, we’re going to lose our position number one, deposition was teachers of the law. He’s teaching grace, if he’s teaching grace, who needs a law teacher. So if we let this grace, teach and go on, we’re gonna lose our jobs, because I’m not going to teach grace, don’t know anything about it. Besides that, in order to enter into grace, you got to humble yourself. You’ve got to be willing to put aside your education. And as Paul said, to consider all things dung in comparison to that of knowing Christ. And I’m not about to do that. I got my PhD from Jerusalem U. And I know the Scriptures, and I’m going to, I’m going to act on those. Don’t tell me that’s done. I’m proud of those degrees. Now, what you’re dealing with there is the fact that job security is much stronger than what you and I think. And in these particular cases, these were religious rulers that were saying, if we allow Jesus to continue, we’re going to lose our place. And Now Herod is saying, if there’s supposed to be a king, and it’s prophesied in the Scripture, then that means I’m not going to be king. And if anyone thinks they’re, they’re going to take their kingship away from me, even God, and that’s an essence what he’s saying, if this God of these Hebrews think that that God is going to remove me from office, he’s got another thing coming in. So he developed a plan. And here was his plan. He said, Herod called the Magi secretly. That’s the way people like that always deal secretly, and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem. He said, Go and make a careful search for this child. And as soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him. What a hypocrite. Go find him so I too, could worship him. He just seemed saying that.
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Listen to the Salvation message today!
Stand on the firmness of truth. Don’t keep going back and forth. Thank Him that the forgiveness issue is settled.
Let’s pray together:
- Lord Jesus,
- I thank you for taking away my sins on the cross,
- never ever to see them again.
- Having done that, I now thank you for giving me eternal life,
- through your resurrection.
- I now receive that life.
- And I am going stand in the fact that I am a child of the living God.
- In Jesus Holy name I pray.
- Amen
All believers are now brothers and sisters in Christ.
John 3:3
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”