Radio Broadcast Wednesday 03/29/2023

Classic Christianity – The Book of John P24 (03-29-23)

Jesus Asks Each of Us, “Who Do You Say I Am?

~ “He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ^{Matthew 16:15}

“And so he was saying here that you diligently searched the scriptures. You know what the Scriptures say. And you think that by them, you possess eternal life, but he said, these are the Scriptures that testify about Me. And yet you refuse to come to me and receive or to have what? Life, you refuse to have life. So in other words, Jesus again is saying that life is found in me. You may come as we’re going to see a little later you may come to follow me to get fed, you may come to follow me to get a miracle. You may follow me to get healed. You may follow me to get blessings. But you have not come to me to get what you don’t have, life. And again, it’s the whole emphasis of salvation is life. Come unto me and receive life. Why? We don’t have life. You’re not born with spiritual life. You’re born dead to the life of God living in you. And so Jesus is trying to point these things out to the listeners in order to prepare them for what he came to do. Take away their sins at the cross and give them life through His resurrection.”

Join Bob George in this chapter by chapter exposition of the gospel of John. Available for download the complete series on the Book of John. Realize why Christ, Himself, is REAL LIFE and how He personally offers hope in daily living that you may:

Discover an abundant and meaningful life as a Christian.
Overcome fear with His assurance that you have His eternal life.
Experience joy during adversity.
Apply God’s wisdom in decision making, no matter how big or small.
Experience freedom as you walk by faith in His love and acceptance.

Purchase Online at Shop.BobGeorge.net

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 0:27
Well, let’s turn to the fifth chapter of the Gospel of John. We’ve seen over these last weeks, as Jesus entered into, not into just the world, but came into his public ministry of having a couple of different miracles, people began to understand who he was, they certainly had heard the testimony of John the Baptist of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus identify himself as that Messiah, the Promised Messiah that all Israel was looking for. And now we come to the point where Jesus is going to actually say, I want you to understand who I am. And I want you to understand the testimonies that have been given in regard to who I am. You remember, Jesus asked, Who do you say that I am? It’s a very important question that each and every one of us have had to answer in the depths of our own soul. Who do you say that I am? Is Jesus just a prophet? Was Jesus just a good teacher? Or was Jesus who He claimed to be God, who came to this earth and took his flesh to the cross and died for the forgiveness of the sins of the world? So that raised from the dead, he could give life to us? And so until we have come to grips with answering that question, Who do you say that I am? We’re not ready to start in the Christian life, because that’s where it all starts is who do you say that Jesus is? And so he begins in verse 31. If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. In other words, he’s saying, just a testimony saying that I’m this way, that’s not valid. If I’m what I say that I am, then you’re going to have other testimonies that become more valid than what we say about ourselves.

Now, again, guys, isn’t that kind of true that we sit around brag about ourselves. And you know, it’s like a funeral. I’ve gone to funerals and listen to them talk about this guy that has passed away, and I’m saying, Who are they talking about? I knew him. And, you know, and, you know, you hear all these glorious things. And I know I went to one funeral where this guy said, I never, I never heard this man ever say a curse word in his life and his family. Who’s in that casket? That’s not the guy there. But so I think what Jesus was saying, knowing humanity the way he does that, what we say about ourselves is not as important as what other people who know us real well are going to end up saying.

But at any rate, Jesus said, If I testify only about myself, my testimony is not valid. But there’s another who testifies in my favor. And I know that his testimony about me is valid. You’ve you have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. You’ve heard about John the Baptist testimony. And not that I accept human testimony. He says, because, again, guys, Jesus is talking about himself who came from God. And so the human testimony is not the issue. The issue is, what did the person who where he came from say about him? In other words, what does God have to say? And so he said, I don’t accept human testimony, but I mentioned it to you, that you might be saved. I mentioned it to you. John was a lamp that burned and gave light and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. But I have a testimony weightier than that of John. So again, he was saying and interesting to me that Jesus testimony about John, not John’s testimony about himself but Jesus testimony about John is there’s been no man like John the Baptist that he was. There’s no man has ever been born, like John the Baptist. And that was Jesus testimony about John the Baptist. And so he’s saying you had this testimony of from John the Baptist, who was one of the greatest man that ever lived on this earth. But I have a testimony that’s weightier than that. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing testifies that the Father has sent Me. So he’s saying, what I want you to understand is that I didn’t come from down here I came from God. And God the Father is the one who sent me to this earth to complete a work that we had planned prior to the foundation of the world. And the Father who sent me his himself testified concerning me. And you will you have never heard his voice or seen his form. We’ve talked about that, that God is Spirit, and you must worship Him in spirit and truth. We don’t know what spirit looks like no one has ever seen him. No one has ever heard his voice or seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you to not believe the one that he sent. Now guys there again, what is the evidence of being born again? God’s word lives in you. Not only does the word live in you, but God’s word lives in you. In other words, truth lives in you. And we have talked about that guys, so many times that Jesus over and over and over testifies to the truth, that I am the Way and the Truth and the Life and no man comes to the Father except through me, that if you know the truth, the truth will set you free. And in second, John, that it truth is in you than the truth will be in you forever and with you forever, because you cannot separate the truth of God from the person of God. And so Jesus is saying that, that you do not believe in him, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe in the one that he sent. So he’s saying to us, that in verse 39, you diligently searched the scriptures. Now, these are people who knew what the Old Testament was saying, they searched those scriptures, they knew all the stories of the scriptures. But he said, and but you think that by them these scriptures that were given to you that you’re going to have eternal life.

Now, once again, God appeared and came to the Hebrew people, he gave all of the laws to the Hebrew people, the prophets, and he gave the Word of God, the Old Testament, to the Hebrew people. The Old Testament was not a known instrument to the Gentile world, it was known to the Hebrew world. And in that Old Testament are the are the prophecies of the coming Messiah, the fact that God was going to come to this earth. But he said, You search those scriptures, and because you know that God gave you the scriptures, you believe the scriptures give you eternal life, because I got them and you don’t. And that was the mindset of the Hebrew people back in those days is we who are Hebrews, who have been the recipients of the Word of God, and the recipients of the law. And the recipients of these things, because God gave those to us. We are saved, and you who are not Hebrews, are lost. Are we together on that? There are people today with the denominations, if they if you don’t belong to my denomination, you’re lost where the saved ones, and you’re the lost ones. And so he was saying here that you diligently searched the scriptures. You know what the Scriptures say. And you think that by them, you possess eternal life, but he said, these are the Scriptures that testify about Me. And yet you refuse to come to me and receive or to have what? Life, you refuse to have life. So in other words, Jesus again is saying that life is found in me. You may come as we’re going to see a little later you may come to follow me to get fed, you may come to follow me to get a miracle. You may follow me to get healed. You may follow me to get blessings. But you have not come to me to get what you don’t have, life. And again, it’s the whole emphasis of salvation is life. Come unto me and receive life. Why? We don’t have life. You’re not born with spiritual life. You’re born dead to the life of God living in you. And so Jesus is trying to point these things out to the listeners in order to prepare them for what he came to do. Take away their sins at the cross and give them life through His resurrection.

So he says, I don’t accept the praise for men and And again, that’s wise. I don’t accept the praise from men, but I know you. And I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. You may have information, but do you have the love of God in your hearts? Now, folks, that is where in the scriptures, we get back to this simplicity of what it is to walk in Christ Jesus. Did not Christ Jesus had did not the Apostle Paul follow up by saying that the only thing that counts, is faith expressing itself through love? Is that true or not guys? The only thing that counts. In other words, he’s saying, you can go out and brag about all the things that we’re doing. And you can say, I have built a 20 million membership church. And I have done this, and I have done all of this. But what I’m looking at is how are you doing in the love department, that the only thing that counts is faith, expressing itself through love. Now, you’re also going to see that wherever the word love in the gospels are used, and also in the writings of Paul, that they are normally accompanied by faith, hope and love, faith, hope and love, you will see that continually. Paul is commending you for your faith, hope and love, faith open love.

And I can remember when I was getting ready to write the last Bible study book, The the Bible studies that we have written that the last one was on love. And I thought well, that’ll be a really easy one to write on that I know about that subject and, and so I you know, it’ll take about half day to get that thing done. And I got into that thing, and I couldn’t get it down. And it really frustrated me, it frustrated me so much, I got mad. And so it but it was frustrating. And I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t get my thoughts together to pull this Bible study together, teaching on love. And then all of a sudden it hit me that wherever love was talked about, it was always accompanied by faith and hope. And I realize Hold on a minute, Bob, here’s a triplicate that God is trying to teach us. That the Agape love that he is interested in can only be produced by faith in the One who can produce that love. And so you cannot separate love from faith. And you cannot separate love from hope. That it’s a triplicate faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is what? Is love. And so he’s saying here that, that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. And so as I look at this, I have to say, well, how are we all doing in regard to this subject because this, if he says that this is the only thing that counts, and the only thing that’s really important, is faith that produces this kind of love. In other words, you can’t have this kind of love apart from faith in the One who produces it. Are we together? It’s like saying to a branch that I want you to bear fruit, but you can’t bear fruit apart from the vine and then try to teach branches that teach a subject on how branches produce fruit. They say you can’t produce fruit, the way a branch bears fruit is through abiding in the vine.

Click to Donate to Bob George Ministries

If you’re enjoying the Book of John, check out our website, Shop.BobGeorge.net. There, you’ll find a whole collection of messages from the book of John, as well as other DVDs, CDs and Bible studies available for purchase. That’s Shop.BobGeorge.net. Let’s join Bob. Now as he continues the radio program.

Bob George 13:48
Turn with me back to First Corinthians 13 and and as we look through these things, we see how that the opposite of this love that Jesus said you do not have the love of God in your hearts. And what we have to take a look at is in our own lives here in 2004, how much of the love of God do we have in our hearts? And how are we doing in his love department? Because how we’re doing in the love department is a direct correlation is to how we’re doing in the abiding department. In other words, love is a reflection of abiding in the source. And so it’s it’s not it’s not taking a look like at the fruit of the Spirit of love joy peace, patience, kindness and then kind of like it’s a vending machine. Well I’m okay in the love and joy but I need a little patience. So I put the quarter and get a little patience. No, it’s all together the fruit of the spirit of love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, long suffering. It’s not a vending machine. It means all of those characteristics will be yours when you’re abiding in the source of those things. And so we have to understand that all of this is not well, I don’t have much joy. So go out and try to get some joy. All right, you know, command somebody to love somebody, lot’s of luck. If you say, have some peace, Penny, you know, get peace in your heart. Well, you can do that if you want to, but you’re not gonna get it. You can’t, it says there is no law, you cannot command those kinds of things to somebody, that’s a fruit of the Spirit, that’s a byproduct of abiding in the source. It’s like going up to a water faucet and saying, Give me some water, you got to turn it on. The faucet is merely plugs into the source of the supply. And so we have to understand the truth of this, that it’s not that maybe I’m not loving, or this, it’s not, I’m not abiding. And see, we’re always dealing with the fruit and always are missing the root of the problem. When I’m not experiencing love and joy and peace, it’s because I’m not abiding in the source of love and joy and peace. And there’s your problem. So we don’t have to worry about what I’m not doing, we need to see why it’s not coming out of me, is because I’m not abiding in the source of love. So he says in here that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. And so we’re gonna deal a little bit with what he’s talking about here.

In chapter 13, he says, I’m going to show you a more excellent way. Because guys, the opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is pride. That’s the opposite. Love is patient. Pride is never patient. Love is kind. Pride is never kind. Is it? Love never keeps records of wrongs. Pride can’t afford not to keep records of wrongs. In case you get a little one upmanship on me, I got my record of you to get back at you. There are some people that you can never criticize that they’re not going to put it right back on you. Have you ever known people like that? That you say, Well, you know, you did. this. Oh, that’s what you do too. Got even with them that time. What’s pride, that’s a prideful thing that I’ve got to shoot back. And we live our lives kind of like a Christian skunk, you know, somebody gets too close to us, we just spray them. And we just don’t want people to get too close to us, you know.

So the opposite of agape love; and there’s three kinds of love mentioned in the Bible. There’s phileo, that’s where we get our name, Philadelphia, City of Brotherly Love, philanthropic. All of those are root words of phileo, meaning a brotherly kind of love. You have the eros kind of love that’s never mentioned in the Scripture, but it is a Greek word. And we know what that means. That’s a sexual love. And then you have the word agape, which is a word that means a kind of love that comes only from God, it is not a feeling, it’s an action taken by God on behalf of man. And so what he’s saying here is agape kind of love can only be produced again by the source. And the opposite of agape love, is this pride. And guys, there is our problem, pride. Our problem is, I am going to protect myself. Why? Because wonderful me, I’m not going to get hurt. And that’s why we don’t want to give ourselves to people because we’re fearful we’re going to get hurt by people. Are we together on that? We know what we’re talking about.

We say that person says, Well, I got a poor self image. I don’t like myself, well, that’s not true. person come up and say, I’m ugly, and I don’t like myself. So that’s not true. If you didn’t like yourself, you’d be glad you’re ugly. Um, if you had some low and living across the street, you couldn’t stand it was ugly, you wouldn’t be mad. You’d be glad. Wouldn’t you? So it isn’t you hate yourself, cause you’re ugly. It’s the fact that you love yourself, you wish you were prettier. And so the Bible tells us that we got too much self love. And then the world comes out and says we need to learn to love ourselves better. What do you see again, who we going to believe the world are we going to believe what God said? Because self love can turn into pride. And so the opposite of this agape love that Paul’s talking about that he’s saying to these people that you don’t have this kind of love in your heart is agape that has to be produced by God, it cannot be produced by us, we have to understand that we cannot do it. And if we think we can, we’ll just keep reading.

So what are some of the areas of pride? Let’s say spiritual pride, what are some of these areas where man is so susceptible to being prideful? And he’s going to list some of those here, because Paul knows our hearts. If I spoke in the tongues of men and angels, well, why does he bring that up? If I can speak in the languages of all men or of all angels? Why does he bring that up? Because people who are out with let’s say, either that gift or falsifying it are prideful over it, that’s the most prideful gift that we have to make a difference whether you’re good teacher or not, whether you give things to people, that’s irrelevant. Just listen to me speak. And so it’s a pride element. And what are you saying to them is, look, if you can speak in the tongues of men and angels. And that’s an exaggeration. It doesn’t mean there’s an angel language. Everybody’s so hung up on language, and God doesn’t listen to what we’re saying, anyway. Think about this for a minute, guys. If God is listening to what you are saying, then who’s the only one talking to God, when I pray up here on Sunday morning? Me. Because you’re not praying, you ain’t talking. Does that make any sense? And a person gets up in a crowd of 20,000 people and say, let’s pray and I pray and you sit there and bow your head. I’m the only one evidently talking to God, because he’s got he’s hearing my words. Does that make sense? That makes sense. How much sense would it be to say, let’s have some silent prayer? If God if the only thing God hears you should talking? Or what if you didn’t have a tongue? Or what have you had a disease that you could not communicate? Does all of a sudden, are you a second rate citizen? Does God not hear you anymore? You see, guys, God is too smart to listen to what we’re saying. Because what we’re saying nine times out of 10, we don’t mean. That’s where you come in and say how you doing? Fine, good, just great, but guts are hanging out. God looks on the heart. Man looks on the outside, and God looks on your heart. He doesn’t need a United Nations interpreter to know what I’m thinking. And God isn’t listening to what I’m saying. He’s listening to what I’m thinking. That’s why you can be thinking one thing and saying another, Can’t you? Sit there saying, I just don’t like you at all. But you look good. Can’t we do that? So we’re pretty phony. And that’s why Jesus says I don’t accept the testimony of man.

So we have to realize those are truths, aren’t they? Those are those are truths that God isn’t interested in what we’re saying out loud, so he doesn’t care whether you’re speaking in Chinese or Japanese, or what you’re speaking in here and listening to you anyway. He’s listening to your heart. Are we together on that, guys? He’s listening to your heart. But when we don’t understand that we get all hung up in how we’re talking. And you’ll hear somebody I remember in one of the places we were in this lady from Scotland and whoa, she she had this Scottish brogue and this Scottish accent and Oh, could she pray and hereby just, did you hear her prayer? You know, it’s just a fantastic prayer. Well, I don’t think God was really impressed with her accent. I mean, I don’t think God is Scottish. But I don’t know it may be but I don’t think so. But were impressed with that stuff. They were impressed with how glib people can be. Where sometimes guys, a prayer that comes out of your heart that says Jesus I don’t even know how to pray but I love you. I think of Bill Bright talking about when he’s first kid was born. And he said, We used to just sit around the anxiously waiting to hear something out of that mouth, you know, and finally started getting ba ba ba and then everybody thinks he just gave the Gettysburg address what a smart kid. And and then one day he learns to say Da, da, we just say that boy knows who his daddy is. We’re so proud of that da da and we say, say Da, da again, we go up, say da da again. He said when a kid gets to be about 12 We’re saying Will you please shut up.

So we have to understand that these are areas many times of pride. And so he’s saying if I can speak in all the languages of the world and all the languages of heaven and earth, but I don’t have love. He said, I’m only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. Now there are people and bless their hearts, I know you’re taught that way. But there are people who believe that this gift of tongues as an example, is a sign of being filled with the Spirit. And I say it would be very difficult would it not to be calling someone a spirit filled noisy gong and a clanging cymbal. And yet, he said you could be speaking in tongues and I’d call you a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. So you see, that is not a sign of anything. That is not a sign of being controlled with a spirit. What is a sign of being controlled by the Spirit? What’s the only sign guys are being controlled with the Spirit, the only thing that counts as what? Love. It’s not your neckless around your neck, or your bumper stickers. It’s love. And so he’s saying he’s knocking down all these pride things. If I have the gift of prophecy, oh man that would make TBN. And I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge. I mean, I’ve got it all. And if I have faith that could move mountains. Can you imagine how many television interviews you’d have? If you had faith to move a mountain? Go out there and see a mountain move, you’d be interviewed all over the Christian world, probably be named the mountainer of the year. He said, If I could do that now guys, that’s pretty big isn’t it. I mean, if you had faith enough to move a mountain, I mean, if you ever tried to do that, try an anthill. See if how you do with that. He said if any of us had the faith, the size of a mustard seed that’s a smallest seed you can get a hold of. But he said you don’t even have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could move a mountain. And of you moved one lately?

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.