Radio Broadcast Wednesday 04/24/2024

Classic Christianity – Book of Hebrews P97 (04-24-24)

Details Matter in Everything, Faith is in Jesus Not Ourselves

~ Faith is key from beginning to end. Faith in Jesus that is the key. Satan comes along and tells us lies left and right. We hear the lies on tel a vision, on the radio, in school, and mostly even in churches today. The lies of Satan are everywhere. And it takes courage and the Holy Spirit living in a person to say, Enough of the lies. I want to learn the TRUTH of the word of God and the world we live in. The Holy Spirit is talking to the child of God right now, if you are in Christ Jesus. He is teaching you, guiding you, disciplining you in ALL Truth. Simply listen to Him, for he cannot lie. Don’t trust in what man says about anything today. Rest in Jesus. Rest. God wants you to rest in Him. Faith says, okay God, I believe you did it all. There is Nothing more I can do today. I will listen to you from now on.

Pray to God:
“Lord Jesus, teach me the truth of the world today. Thank you God.”

~ "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith." ^{Hebrews 11:1-7}

~ “Well, let’s turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 11. What I’m going to do is to go through some of the, we’re gonna read through basically through the book of 11 Chapter, the book of Hebrews today. Those of you who know that we’ve come to the point in the book of Hebrews, where, in the first 11 chapters, he’s been talking about this New Covenant that we’re under, and how the Christian life can only be experienced by faith. And it isn’t the case that faith is the object, the object is Christ Jesus. Faith is merely saying, I believe God, and it isn’t one of those big deals that you try to get a bunch of faith, trying to conjure up a lot of faith. It’s just coming to a point is God bigger than you are? Is God faithful, and is God trustworthy? And if he is, then when I believe him. And it is a response to God, rather than something you initiate to try to get God to do because of my faith. That is a ludicrous theology that people have out that if your faith big enough, God will do something. Think about it for a minute as to what that is saying about God, he is some kind of a reluctant, vengeful god that really does not give a flip about you and me. But if you can conjure up enough of something, put enough dimes in the slot machine, why he may dispense some coins to you. And that is a pretty perverted idea of God to think that he is totally indifferent to you and me. But if you will punch, again, the right buttons, put A.C.T.S., or if you can conjure up enough faith or you can speak in enough languages, or whatever else, it might be that maybe this God might then look down on you with some kind of Beloved, a benevolent favor and do some kind of a favor for you. That’s a perverted concept of God. To think that God is less interested in you than you are, is ludicrous. To think that God is less interested in your friend or your child than you are, is absolutely ludicrous. It is a perversion of faith. So Faith is not something that causes God to do something. God has already done something, faith is just getting in on the action. And so in the 11th chapter, we come to the 11th chapter of Hebrews, whereby we have examples given in the Scriptures now of what it is for people, and through the Old Testament, to show how they walk by faith, not faith, like we walk in today, with a revelation, a full revelation as to this Messiah that was coming someday, we can walk by faith in the Messiah that already is here. But they had to walk by faith in something that was that they hadn’t seen yet. But they still walk by faith. And so we’re going to pick up with what faith is, it’s being sure what we hope for and certain of what we don’t see. Now, this is what the ancients were commended for.” ~ Bob George

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Join Bob George in this chapter by chapter exposition of the book of Hebrews. Available for download the complete series on the Book of Hebrews. The Book of Hebrews is key to understanding the New Covenant.

Announcer 0:12
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.

Bob George 0:28
Well, let’s turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 11. What I’m going to do is to go through some of the, we’re gonna read through basically through the book of 11 Chapter, the book of Hebrews today. Those of you who know that we’ve come to the point in the book of Hebrews, where, in the first 11 chapters, he’s been talking about this New Covenant that we’re under, and how the Christian life can only be experienced by faith. And it isn’t the case that faith is the object, the object is Christ Jesus. Faith is merely saying, I believe God, and it isn’t one of those big deals that you try to get a bunch of faith, trying to conjure up a lot of faith. It’s just coming to a point is God bigger than you are? Is God faithful, and is God trustworthy? And if he is, then when I believe him. And it is a response to God, rather than something you initiate to try to get God to do because of my faith. That is a ludicrous theology that people have out that if your faith big enough, God will do something. Think about it for a minute as to what that is saying about God, he is some kind of a reluctant, vengeful god that really does not give a flip about you and me. But if you can conjure up enough of something, put enough dimes in the slot machine, why he may dispense some coins to you. And that is a pretty perverted idea of God to think that he is totally indifferent to you and me. But if you will punch, again, the right buttons, put A.C.T.S., or if you can conjure up enough faith or you can speak in enough languages, or whatever else, it might be that maybe this God might then look down on you with some kind of Beloved, a benevolent favor and do some kind of a favor for you. That’s a perverted concept of God. To think that God is less interested in you than you are, is ludicrous. To think that God is less interested in your friend or your child than you are, is absolutely ludicrous. It is a perversion of faith. So Faith is not something that causes God to do something. God has already done something, faith is just getting in on the action. And so in the 11th chapter, we come to the 11th chapter of Hebrews, whereby we have examples given in the Scriptures now of what it is for people, and through the Old Testament, to show how they walk by faith, not faith, like we walk in today, with a revelation, a full revelation as to this Messiah that was coming someday, we can walk by faith in the Messiah that already is here. But they had to walk by faith in something that was that they hadn’t seen yet. But they still walk by faith. And so we’re going to pick up with what faith is, it’s being sure what we hope for and certain of what we don’t see. Now, this is what the ancients were commended for.

We’re beginning now in verse three, by faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command. So that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. Now, there again, guys that eliminates this idea of evolution. It eliminates the idea of the earth of the Big Bang Theory. And so if you want to talk about what faith is all about, you’re going to have to exercise faith, even if you believed in the Big Bang Theory. Because even if you be believed in the Big Bang Theory, where did the two things come together that bang? Where did they come from? And so someplace down the line, you’re gonna have to get back, however you want to handle it, to where did that one come from? And there you’re going to have to take a step of faith to the fact that it’s just happenstance or we indeed have a creator. Now God claimed Jesus claimed Jesus came to solidify that that that we were created that you and I were created in the beginning God created not only the heaven and the earth, but he created us. So that alleviates if Jesus is God, that alleviates any of this gobbly gook about evolution. So we can walk by faith in that fact. Now faith in that fact is what enables you to discount that type of thing. I don’t even need to flood my mind with it. I don’t need to think about whether or not there was a big bang theory, I can dismiss it just like I would if someone handed me a piece of counterfeit. And I was a bank teller. Because I know what the real dollar bill looks like, I don’t have to analyze the piece of counterfeit. I don’t need to sit around and study it. I don’t need to give credence to it. I just give it back to who gave it to me. And that is exactly the way we can walk on the face of this earth. Now the intellectual mind says, Oh, that’s not intellectual. We need to explore all things. Oh, no, we don’t need to explore all things. When God says that this is the way it is. You don’t need to explore that. You walk by faith in that. In fact, to explore it is a repudiation of faith. And so we’re talking about the fact that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible, it came, God spoke it and it came into existence. Verse four, by faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith, he was commanded as a righteous man when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith, he still speaks, even though he is dead.

Now let’s turn back for a moment to the book of Genesis. I want to pick up on that for just a moment, chapter four. We’ll see what kind of a offering that Abel offered, that Cain did not. Beginning in verse two, chapter four, she later gave birth to his brother Abel, now Abel, kept flocks. And Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits, some of the fruits of the soil as an offering. In other words, he brought his vegetables and lettuce and that type of thing, if you want to use those illustrations as an offering to the Lord, but Abel, brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. And the Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering, he did not look with with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Now, you can look at this and we won’t have time to get into the details of this, but an observation came that I think is a very good observation. It’s interesting that Abel’s offering came from and offered fat portions and fat is produced by rest. And it says that that sacrifice that this still by faith, he still speaks even though he is dead, that the sacrifice that we offer to Christ is a sacrifice that is produced by rest not by works. Abel’s sacrifice, when you fatten up a hog or an animal you’re gonna fatten that thing up by letting them rest not exercising the daylights out of them. We know that today don’t wait that if we rest too much you’re gonna have our mighty sacrificed offer God someday.

Now folks, to me, I when I look at that I see by faith that still speaks because isn’t that what God called us into a what? A Sabbath rest, where we go in and rest from our works just as God rested from His. And to me it was a once again a picture of what faith was all about. And God wanted a sacrifice that was produced by rest. Otherwise it’s manmade. It’s something I did you can just see someone saying, and see what I did for you. God see what I did. I did this and I did this and said No, what I’m looking for is the fat that is produced by rest So as I say, some of us are going to be very pleasing to God, one of these days I think.

Okay, by faith, he meerly believed God, By faith Enoch, was taken from his life so that he did not experience death. He could not be found because God had taken him away. For before he was taken he was commanded as one who, please God. And again, you’ll see that story over in chapter five and verse 21. When Enoch had lived 65 years he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father, Methuselah, Enoch walked, and the translation is habitually with God. And 300 years, with 300 years and had other sons and daughters. So he walked habitually with God 300 years, can you imagine that? And all together, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch habitually walked with God. And he was no more because God took him away. So, Enoch, again, had a disposition to walk by faith with God just believing God 360 years that isn’t bad is it? Not only you be fat, but you can be old when you walk with God. Okay. He said, Without faith, it’s impossible to please God. Because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Verse seven by faith, Noah, when war warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear, built an ark to save his family. He’s talking about holy fear. Well, quite frankly, he didn’t want to be drowned. And when God said that I’m going to destroy the Earth, because the Earth has become nothing but perversion, and I’m going to destroy it. And he said to a Noah, Noah, I want you to build an ark. And I’m going to have you to put your family in that because I’m going to preserve you. Why? Well, because Noah walked believing in God. God’s will know as God was bigger than Noah.

Now guys, we have to continually ask ourselves that question, don’t we? How big is our God? How big is our God? Is our God bigger than us? Or are we bigger than him? We have to continually ask ourselves that question, you know, when Paul talks about check your faith, that’s what it’s talking about, not how big your faith is. But where is your concept of God come in? You know, let me give you an example of that. We have talked so many times, and it keeps coming up. People come up with this, this thing of this in and out of fellowship deal. And you’ll get into people who will, will come and you’ll hear and you’ll hear and see the double talk that people have. And you’ll say I believe Jesus died for all of your sins all past, present, and future if you heard that? I believe in that with all my heart and just beat the Bible right down through the top of the pulpit with just oh, I believe Oh, do I believe that. No, you don’t know you don’t if it listen to your prayer life, and you’ll know whether you believe that or not. Because the same people that get up and preach that God forgave all your sins, past, present, and future. Well, then their prayer, oh, God, please, please forgive us where in we fail you. And I say on one side of my mouth, I believe he forgave you. And on the other side of the mouth, continually ask him to do what you say you believe he did. Which one of those is true?

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Bob George 14:30
Did He do it? Or didn’t H do it? And if he did, why do you spend your life asking him to do what he said I’ve already done? What is walking by faith? Believing God and what happens? It is a credit to you as what? Righteousness, right standing with God. Why are you right standing? The same reason Enoch was right standing he walked habitually with God. What’s that mean? I believe it. When Jesus said it’s finished, I believe Him. I’m not gonna get off of that I believe Him. Well, then some people come up and they say, Well, yes, okay, I believe that but that but this but this fellowship Now, Bob, you don’t understand. Because now, let me give you an illustration and boy incomes it now if you’ve I’m a parent, you see, and my child does something to offend me. They need to come and tell me they’re sorry. Now what is a person done with that mentality? Well, you brought God down to whose level? Yours. And therefore God is no bigger than you are. After all, if that’s the way I forgive, how could God be anything different than me? In other words, instead of my trying to prove knowledge of Him, elevate my forgiveness, up to him, we bring him down to us. Now, if a person is talking about being out of fellowship, and in and out of fellowship with God, that then is a doctrine that is based on a variable, not a constant, because who is responsible then for staying in fellowship with God? And you will hear people say, Oh, I know God is now as Bob, I know God has forgiven, I know that, but see the billy goat. But you and you do something, why you’re out of fellowship. I said, who said, you’re out of fellowship? Who said you were? Did God say you were? Does God say any place in the Bible, You’re out of fellowship when you sin? Does it or doesn’t it folks? No, you’re not going to find that in the Bible. When you hear fellowship in the Bible, you’re either in the fellowship saved or out of the fellowship lost. As I’ve said, it’s two fellows in the same ship. You’re not talking about cookies and Cokes. You’re not talking about someone being hacked at you. You’re talking about it’s not in the Bible. Now, if I’m going to walk by faith, then what am I going to have to walk by faith in? In the fact that in the midst of my screwing up, I’m not out of fellowship, that’s what faith says, Is that God has never stopped loving me. God has never stopped loving me one bit. That’s what faith says. The offering out of the land says, No, I’m gonna do it myself. The Cain offering says no, I’m going to get back in fellowship with God. Abel says, fat. Rest. Now, if fellowship, again, is a theology, and that’s what we’ve made it, you cannot have a theology based on a variable. Theology has to be based on a constant. And theology in order to be theology, it has to be constant, and only God is constant. So a fellowship, theology is based upon me who is a variable.

So again, if I’m out of fellowship, how do you act when you’re out of fellowship? Have you ever seen a dog when he thinks Have you ever seen a dog when he he hadn’t done anything but he thinks you think he has? Have you ever seen them? How do they come up to you, man that their tail between their legs and now they’re creeping up to you, you know, and just kind of crawling all around make you say, you look down, say, What did you do? Because they look guilty. A dog that has been beaten, and abused and misused. That’s how a dog approaches an owner one who’s been beaten, approaches you with his tail between his legs. He wants your love. He wants your pet to pet he wants you to pat him on the head. He wants you to fluff him up, but he’s afraid to come to you because he’s been beaten to death. That’s what religion does to us. It beats us to death. I still want God. I still love God. I still want him to pat me on the head. But I just kind of got a cringe up to him. In case he wants to hit me, so that I can turn around and go get away before he does. And that’s what religion does. That’s what this in and out of fellowship stuff does. If out of fellowship is a theology that’s based on a variable, as I say, then how do you approach God when you’re out of fellowship? One person, when he siins, says, I don’t think about fellowship, he just walks by faith. Another person says, Oh, I’m out of fellowship. Well, how do you act? Well, he acts one way, another person says, Well, yeah, I’m out of fellowship, how’s he I? Well, he acts another way. And so you get one person who thinks he’s out of fellowship, and just goes and begs God to please forgive him and never do it. Again, the other person thinks he’s out of fellowship says, God, you know, here I am, again, another person, in other words, all over the place in your response to a god in regard to being out of fellowship. And that right, depending upon whether you’re a dog that likes to put his tail between his legs or walk with an app. So if that is true, then I’m going to have to come up with not only a theology of it and out of fellowship, but I’m gonna have to come up with a performance orientation is how you act when you are out of fellowship. And what you need to do to get back into fellowship, I’m going to have to come up with a system of how you should look how you should act, and what you should do. Now we develop all kinds of systems on that one is come forward, rededicate your life. And there’s some denominations, that’s their system, that that’s what you do when you’re out of fellowship, obviously, you are. And if you’ve sinned, for sure, you have you’re out of fellowship. And so how do you get back into fellowship, why you come forward, and you come to this altar, as if there was one. The only altar, again, from a biblical standpoint, is the cross of Jesus Christ, not a kneeler in front of a pulpit, there is no Altar in New Testament Christianity, there was only one altar. And that’s a cross on whom the Lamb of God was slain. And so we come up with that you come forward down here to the altar and rededicate your life and tell God, you’ll never do it again. Have any of you ever done that? How many of you have ever done that? How many of you when you went down tooling, you’ll never do it again? Never did it again? No hands. No hands, well isn’t that amazing. What does that tell you about your offering to God? Well it’s a Cain offering. Didn’t come to God to rest you came to and to produce. And so if you come forward to tell God, you’ll never do it again. And you did it again. What do you do? Again? How many of you have ever gone twice for the same thing? See your hands on a whole bunch of you? Okay? How many times does that ever work? You see what I’m getting at. So we’ve got to come forward in order to get back in fellowship with God.

And so, with that, I’ve got to develop all kinds of systems to get back into fellowship. Now the system that I grew up with was a system that every time you sin, you are out of fellowship with God. So you first John one nine that you confess that sin. How many have you ever been into that one? And then then what would he do? Why he he had forgive it, but you see, you say, in a way, man, you know, not not not a flippant little deal. Because you gotta mean it. Right? And then yeah, then you gotta be sorry, I’m really sorry. And the best way to show your sorry if you can shed some tears, because God ain’t gonna look on you. Unless you’re really sorry. I mean, you gotta be real sorry. Well, I’m sorry. All right. That’s why I do things because I’m sorry. What does that do? So you go back to God and you say, oh, Lord, please forgive me. Now, where’s your slate? Well now it’s clean. Now, guys, if there was a mark up there on your slate, what does that tell you about God? They what? He doesn’t do not well, there’s a mark on he doesn’t forgive. But what’s even worse than that? He didn’t forgive. What does that do to the cross when He said I, what he said if your sins? Took them away, right? Well, then if there’s a mark up there, how could it be taken away? Now what was Satan’s tactic in the Garden of Eden did he deny God said anything to Adam? No, he didn’t deny God said anything. I would have been stupid to have said, Adam. God didn’t say anything. Well, of course, he said, there’s no I heard him. So what do you do? He said, Surely you don’t think that’s what God meant? You know what it was? Surely you don’t think that’s what he meant. And of course, when you take a look at that story, what happened on that is that Adam, when God told Adam not to eat at the tree of the knowledge of good, and good and evil, Adam was very anxious for Eve, after she came along. And he looked at her and said, Wow, and certainly didn’t want to lose her. He wanted to make real sure she didn’t eat of that tree. So he did something that we do in Christianity, and we call it faith. He added to what God said. Because when Adam told Eve, He didn’t say, God said to me, don’t eat of that tree. He said, and not only that, he said, Don’t even touch that sucker. Isn’t that what he said? Don’t even not not sucker he didn’t say, don’t touch that thing. He added what God said, don’t not only do you not eat this, you don’t even touch it. Now, that’s when he passed on to me. That God said to me, Eve, don’t eat of that tree and don’t touch it. So can you imagine Satan tempting Eve guess what he probably was leaning on when he was talking to her? Surely did Eve, surely Eve did he say Don’t touch the thing? Is that what he said? And what would happen if you touched it? You’d what? You’d die. Is that right? You mean the tree that I’m touching? That’s how you get deceived is by adding to what God said.

Announcer 27:11
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 BobGeorge.net. There you will 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.