Radio Broadcast Wednesday 05/03/2023

Classic Christianity – The Book of John P39 (05-03-23)

When You Become a Child of God, You are In The Light as a New Creation!

~ “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” ^{1 John 1:7}

~ “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” ^{2 Corinthians 5:17}

~ “When you become a child of God, a new creature in Christ, you’re in the light doing dark things, there’s a conflict. So he says that Jesus said that I am the light of the world. And Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness. If you’re in Christ Jesus, you will never ever be in darkness, you might act like you are. But you will never be in darkness. And you will have the light of life living in you. Well, the Pharisees challenged him on this. They said, here you are appearing as your own witness, you know, like, Okay big guy, who you, who do you think you are, you’re in there saying these things on your own, and your testimony is not valid. And Jesus answered, look, even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid for I know where I came from and where I’m going. But you have no idea where I came from, or where I’m going, no idea at all. You judge by human standards, and I pass judgment on no one. But if I do, Judge, my decisions are right, because I’m not alone. I stand with the Father who sent Me. In your own law, it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am the one who testifies about myself. And my other witness is the Father who sent Me.” ~ Bob George

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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 0:29
Well, we want to turn to John 8:12, where we left off last week. Again, we’re talking about the Lord Jesus Christ really making his entry into this world, announcing himself in so many ways as to who he is in miracles, and verbiage. And still, you had some who believed and others who did not just exactly like today, I have to think so many times of people are always talking about and I’ll be standing in front of somebody or listening on the radio talking to somebody who’s real concerned about somebody way off in a foreign land. Well, what about them? And I feel like saying to them the same thing Jesus said to Peter, what is it any of your business what I do with them? I’m telling you to follow me. And that’s the whole issue. And when you have people building up smokescreens is what about the heathen in Africa? And what about this? And what about that? You say you leave those decisions up to God, because right now I’m talking to you about Jesus. Jesus spoke again to the people. And he claimed, he said, I am the light of the world. And Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. And friends, we are born into darkness. We’re born lost, no man is born alive spiritually. The only man who was ever born alive spiritually is the Lord Jesus Christ, the only only man who could ever have laid down his life for you and me, the only one that ever had a life to lay down for you and me. The rest of us are born in Adam, dead. Adam and Adam and Eve were created by God alive spiritually, soulishly and bodily. But on the day that Adam sinned, the Spirit of God departed from his human spirit, leaving him dead to God very much alive to the world. And we are born in Adam, you have people who say, Well, we’re all God’s children, you know, we hear that and we’re all born in the image of God, we hear that, especially during political campaigns. And the issue is, is not true. That we were not born in the image of God, we were born in the image of Adam. And in the fifth chapter of Genesis, it tells us that when Adam and Eve were created by God, they were created in the image of God. But when Adam and Eve had Seth, he was born in the image of Adam. And so you and I are not born in the image of God, we’re born in the image of Adam dead as a hammer, spiritually. There is no baby that comes out of his mother’s wombs and praise Jesus. We’re not born, saved, we’re born lost and dead, and in darkness. Adam was born again backwards. He was created alive and chose death. We’re born dead with the ability to choose life. And until we do choose life, we remain dead. Until we choose to go into the light, we remain in darkness and every place in the scripture that light and darkness is used, it is always in relation to lost and saved no exception to that. And it tells us in the scripture that we have been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the light of Christ Jesus. And if you are in the light, saved, as Christ Jesus is in the light, there is a byproduct of that, that the two of you have fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus, his Son keeps on cleansing, you have every sin imaginable. You will never be in darkness as a born again believer you cannot be in darkness. Because the blood of Jesus keeps cleansing you of all, everything imaginable. There’s no way to get in darkness. And as we said, during a seminar, that’s why you have to sin in the light. As a Christian, you don’t sin in the darkness, you sin in the light. That’s why it’s not as much fun. And we have to understand the truth of that when you’re lost you’re in the darkness you sin and it didn’t make any difference to to you. But when you become a child of God, a new creature in Christ, you’re in the light doing dark things, there’s a conflict. So he says that Jesus said that I am the light of the world. And Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness. If you’re in Christ Jesus, you will never ever be in darkness, you might act like you are. But you will never be in darkness. And you will have the light of life living in you. Well, the Pharisees challenged him on this. They said, here you are appearing as your own witness, you know, like, Okay big guy, who you, who do you think you are, you’re in there saying these things on your own, and your testimony is not valid. And Jesus answered, look, even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid for I know where I came from and where I’m going. But you have no idea where I came from, or where I’m going, no idea at all. You judge by human standards, and I pass judgment on no one. But if I do, Judge, my decisions are right, because I’m not alone. I stand with the Father who sent Me. In your own law, it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am the one who testifies about myself. And my other witness is the Father who sent Me. And they asked him, Where is your father? Folks, the animosity between the Pharisees, the religious leaders, and Jesus was immense. And I want to tell you, and today in the religious world, people who are religious but not saved, are absolutely adamant toward a born again believer. Anybody who declares himself to be born again, becomes an enemy of about half of the population to this country. Because what you have is a fight between good and evil. And if you are born again, you are not going to be winning a popularity contest with people. And when you declare that you’re born again, and that you trust God with your life, and the Christ is your life, you’re not going to be popular with the religious world because they don’t like that talk. I remember very clearly, in my early years of being a Christian when I was living out in San Bernardino with Campus Crusade for Christ, and I was dealing very heavily with kids on drugs, and working with that and developing an awful lot of information in regard to drug usage and what ultimately it was going to do to the economy of this country. I used to give some messages on that. And there was a gathering one day of all of the pastors in the San Bernardino area of every denomination got together to talk about this drug problem. And I brought in a young man by the name of Rick Corino. Now, Rick Corino, his dad used to play Zorro in the movies. He was the Zorro the original Zorro in the movies to those of you are old enough to know who Zorro is. Not a Christian, obviously. Rick Corino got involved in the Hells Angels. He was the number two man in the Hells Angels. He had his hair cut with a with one of those cuts were just have his little thing down the front, braid down the back. tattoos all over him. Dirty as a pig. And that was his lifestyle. His mother was a Christian. And Rick tells the story as to what happened to him that one day he was sleeping for three days and three nights in a dumpster. And he said he went home smelling like a goat. And he said to his Mom, where are you going? She said, I’m going to a Billy Graham crusade. Well, where is it? Well, it’s down in Orange County, and he lived up in the Van Nyes area. And that’s a pretty good drive. And Rick said, Mom, you can’t go down. It’s too dangerous because his background of the Hells Angels is everything’s dangerous. wherever you’re going, there’s a danger. You can’t go down there by yourself. And he said, Well, why don’t you go with me? No, I don’t want to go with you. Well, then I’m gonna leave. We said, Mom, you can’t do it. It’s too dangerous said we’ll go with me. So I said, Okay, I’ll go with you. So he reluctantly got in the car and drove down to Orange County at the Billy Graham crusade. And he said to her when he got into you can go in there, but I’m not going in that place. And so I’ll wait for you outside. But he said the first day he decided I may as well go in. And as you know, it’s a Billy Graham crusades, they have reserved seats for people. And oh, Rick, he said he walked in walk right down to the reserved seats at that campaign right on the front row and plopped himself down and a man came up and very politely said, Sir, the seats are reserved and he said, I looked up and said, Do you like to move me? And the guy said, I hope you enjoy the campaign. So he said he sat there and listened to that message. The next night he went back with his mom, and he sat in the same spot listening to that message. And he said, When the invitation was given to Kurt to accept Christ, he said that herd of elephants could not have kept me from crawling over the wall, and going forward and accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior. And he told this story in this big meeting. And then how God had began to work in his life and how he had been freed from drug addiction. Later on, with that kind of drug addiction was told he couldn’t have children, he’s married with children. If you would have seen that young man, as I saw him that day, you saw a man rosy cheek looking like a million dollars, you would not have thought in a million years of that man ever being on drugs and being a member of the Hells Angel, the most a person you would have never dreamed in a million years. And he told this marvelous story as to the redemption of God. Now here was a group of pastors meeting to solve the drug problem in San Bernardino County. Here was a Hells Angel talking about the usage of drugs, how Jesus had gotten him off of drugs. After he finished his message, there was a polite applause. And the moderator of the deal got up and said, Well, that’s very nice. But let’s get rid of the pie and sky talk and get down to the basics of reality. And that was the meeting. That’s also the same meeting that they were getting ready to start the meeting, or we had a breakfast that morning. And everybody’s getting ready to eat. And finally somebody said, Well, does anyone want to pray? Oh, and the guy got up the moderator. Yeah, yeah, that’s Yeah, that’s true. That would be nice to do up. Does anyone know a prayer? I felt like saying, Now I lay me down to sleep. Pray, my Lord my soul to keep. Does anyone know a prayer? Couldn’t even pray. Does anyone know a prayer or written prayer? And that’s our clergy. No reality at all, to Jesus. Just let’s get down to the real issues. No different today than it was back then the religious world that doesn’t know Jesus are asking questions like, Where’s your father? Jesus would have said to them as he did, the modern day people in rebellion against Christ who are religious. You don’t know me, or my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also. He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put yet no one seized him because his time and not yet come. It wasn’t his time yet. And once more, Jesus said to them, I’m going away, and you will look for me, and you’ll die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come. This made the Judeans ask. Because I think what they were thinking there where I go, you can’t come, and he’s probably going to hell, because we’re sure not we’re, we’re religious. And then ask, Where’s he going, is he gonna kill himself? Because that’s instant going to hell, under the Judeans law. So he must be going there. Is that what he says where I go, you cannot come. But he continued, You are from below. I’m from above. You’re of this world. I am not of this world. I told you so that I told you that you would die in your sins. If you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.

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Bob George 14:02
Now my friends, who did Jesus claim to be? He claimed to be God. And if you are not going to accept Jesus as who He claimed to be, God, you’re going to die in your sins. It isn’t the fact that death is gonna come upon you. Because it doesn’t God doesn’t send anybody to hell, you’re already dead. And that’s already where we’re destined to go if we don’t receive life. And there’s no life available to us except the life of Jesus. There are not many ways to God. And it’s not even a religious issue, guys, it’s a very practical issue that God had to look down in practicality and say, These people are dead. And they need life. How are we going to give them a life that cannot be destroyed? Because I don’t want to give them a temporal life. I don’t want to give them a life that when they come alive in Christ, that the next time they sin they’re gonna die. I want to give them a life that’s permanent. I want to give them eternal life. He could have chosen to give his temporary life or no life, couldn’t he? He chose eternal. And he said, there’s only one way for this to happen. And that is that a sacrifice of such value is going to have to be put in effect for these people. That is of such a value that it will take away the sins of the world rather than covering sins such as the blood of bulls and goats did. And the only blood of that capability or of that value was the blood of God Himself. And so God came to this earth, and found himself in an appearance as a man, born of a woman under the law, and found himself in an appearance as a man, and walked on this earth for some 33 years in perfect love, thus fulfilling the law in its entirety. And then went to across to take away your sins and mine, not cover them, take them away. And when I come back, he said, I’m not coming back to bear sin, but to bring salvation for those who are waiting for me. He’s not coming back to die again, he’s already done it. And he did it for the sins of the whole world.

My friends, following that he was raised from the dead so that that life that raised Him from the dead, can raise you and me from the dead. That’s the purpose of His resurrection was to give life to you and me, who were born dead. And if any man be in Christ, he is now what a new what? Creation, now we’re created an image of God. We were created totally in the image of God, now a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. And he did this for you and me. And my friends, there’s no one on the face of this earth that could accomplish that except God. Man cannot accomplish that. Buddha cannot save you. Mohammed cannot save you. The Pope cannot save you. You only person that can save us is Christ Jesus, it’s not a religious issue. It is as practical as eating food to live. That if My people are going to live and come alive, I God have got to come to this earth and become a sacrifice for their sins, and take it away. So there’s nothing to cause spiritual death again. And he came and gave his life. Only God can do that as precisely why Jesus says that statement to them, then, and to us now. If you don’t believe that I’m the one who came as the savior of this world, and who came to give life to the dead, you indeed, will die in your sins. And, folks, that’s why this message is such a vital and important message to the world. And we look around us in our sphere of influence. And we see people who are dead as a hammer and a need of life. And who’s going to tell them unless somebody tells them. And that’s why we’ve been called an ambassador, to go out into the world, and to proclaim the good news to people telling them that Jesus is alive. Best news on the face of this earth, Jesus is alive, and he can make you alive. You’re not going into the marketplace, telling people how sinful they are. But how dead they are. Because no man will ever go to hell because of his sins. Only because of the sin of the rejection of life. If you reject life, you remain dead. If you reject the offer of forgiveness, you remain unforgiven. And that’s the good news of the gospel. It’s very practical guys. It’s a very practical message of the meaning of the grace of God. It’s good news isn’t it?

Let’s turn to the Gospel of John. As we ended up the last time, I was here in chapter eight. We came down to a passage of scripture that is very, very important to us. And it’s in verse 23, chapter eight. where Jesus said, You are from below, and I am from above, he identified immediately, His origin he did not come from here. He came from up there He came from heaven to earth, and we are born here on this earth with a capacity of going to heaven. I told you that you would die in your sins. If you do not believe that I am the one that I claim to be, and anyone who denies that Jesus is who he claims to be, according to Jesus is going to die in our sins. It is not one of these nicey things or girly guy things to talk about. It is a truth that either you’re going to live on this earth with an option to believe a lie, or with the option of believing truth. And Jesus says that I tell you that you’re going to die in your sins if you do not believe that I am the one that I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins. Now, folks, you can’t get any clearer than that. There is no option. Like I said, in the Christian life, there’s no alleyway between the fences in your backyard, there’s just a fence. And on one side of it is salvation. And the other side of it is damnation. And we have to understand the truth of that.

Also, we have to understand that we have all kinds of opinions in this world in regard to salvation, like we even do in regard to creation, we have opinions in regard to whether we were created or whether we evolved. And we have opinions as whether you’re saved by your works, or whether you’re saved by the grace of God. And I’m convinced, however we perceive justice, is going to determine how you’re going to live your life. As an example, what is fair and just in regard to this thing called salvation? Well, we come down and you have people that think, well, what would be fair is that the good people, if you’re good enough, you’ll be saved. And if you’re bad enough, or you’ll be lost, and that’s what would be fair. And then you start thinking about that, and saying, Well, if that would be what fair and just would be that if you’re good enough to be saved, bad enough to be lost, then how good would you have to be to be saved? And how bad would you have to be to be lost, and who’s going to draw that line of demarcation between who’s good enough and who’s bad enough? And let’s say someone was bad enough, but not really bad, but he just missed it by a hair would that be fair and just? But that’s what you have to deal with, if you’re going to deal with the fact that salvation is by your good works. And you lose salvation by your bad works. But however, you perceive what is just from God’s standpoint is the way you’re, you’re gonna live your life. And we have to understand the truth of that. We cannot go leaning on our own understanding in these things. Because God has revealed what truth is, we just read it. If you deny who I am, you’re gonna die in your sins. Very simple, very cut and dried. We have to understand that how many times people will say, Well, if you go to church, or you belong to this particular denomination, then you’ll be saved. That’s leaning on your own understanding, because joining a club, whether it’s a Christian club, or the Kiwanis Club, is not going to save anybody. You’re not going to be saved through joining yourself to some manmade organization. You’re only going to be saved by joining yourself to a God made organization. And that one happens to be called the ecclesia. Or the Church of Christ Jesus made up not a membership, but made up of a relationship with God Himself. And you have people on the other hand, who think that’s how you’re going to be saved. You have another group of people that think that you’re saved because God just decided he’s going to do that. I’m gonna save Richard, but I’m not gonna save Lous. I don’t care if they’re married or not. He’s going to heaven she had. And it just that simple. Richard just agreed and said, that’s the way it is. And you have people who believe that, that it’s just a choice of God, you have nothing to do with it. You’re doomed. If you’re born, I haven’t chosen you, you’re doomed, you’re gonna go to hell. Now, Jesus said, that you’re going to die in your sins if you don’t believe in me, but they say you’re gonna die in your sins because he chose you too. And so you have all kinds of so called intellectual belief systems in regard to what is just and what is right. And folks, If we don’t go to God to determine right from wrong and good from evil, then we are doing exactly what took place in the Garden of Eden and that is standing at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and saying, God, I do not need you to determine right from wrong and good from evil. I will determine that on my own.

When you have a thing called marriage, you have a marriage that I said God did not make Adam and Steve, he made Adam and Eve. Marriage was never to be considered and how we in this country have digressed to the point of even considering a marriage of being meaning of anything between except a man and woman. I do not know I don’t know how we have digressed to that point of even considering something like that next it’ll be marry your dog. But it just gets down to the point of how has this country digressed. And the world digress to the point of even considering something like that. And yet we have it at the forefront of even political thought today. How that happens. It just like you eat an elephant, a bite at a time that evil begins to start and just keeps getting worse and worse and worse and worse. This country today politically is divided 50 50. It’s not divided 50 50 between Democrats, Democrats and Republicans, it’s divided between evil and good. It’s divided between people who want to believe in the sanctity of marriage, people who want to believe in the sanctity of God, and people that want to lean on their own understanding. Instead of acknowledging him and allowing him to direct our paths. It’s not a complicated issue at all. If it continues at the rate it’s going it’ll no longer be in a very short period of time, a 50 50 split will be a 60 40 and then a 70 30, then an 80 20. And that’s how a country gets destroyed.

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.