Radio Broadcast Wednesday 05/31/2023

Classic Christianity – The Book of John P51 (05-31-23)

When You Are Born Again, The Holy Spirit Comes to Live in You Immediately!

~ We are told once again that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus. And for us (those who place faith in Jesus), resurrection happens immediately upon being born again of the Spirit of God. God’s Spirit brings life to our spiritual death. We have eternal life at that very moment in time.

~ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25

~ “But Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. And he who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever lives and believes in me, will never die. Now there again, he’s talking about two completely different kinds of death. I’m the resurrection and the life and whosoever believes in me, though he were dead, well you can’t believe in someone when you’re dead physically, can you? So even though they were dead spiritually, yet, shall they live, spiritually. And whosoever lives spiritually and believes in me, will never die spiritually, do we understand that? We all are going to die physically, our bodies are going to go to the grave, or to wherever they go, in the ocean, burt, whatever it might be, we came from the dust, these bodies are going to return to the dust. But the real you, which is not this, that you see this is a house that I live in. And some of us have nicer looking houses than others. But this is the house that I have to live in. But it’s a house, and it’s going to burn down someday, or it’s going to go to the grave someday. But the real you is the invisible you that is expressed through the body. But the real you is what’s under the skin. It’s what is not there when you look at a corpse. They’re not there, the body is there, but they are not there. And so he’s talking about the fact that I am the resurrection and the life. And whosoever believes in me though he were dead spiritually. You actually live spiritually. And whosoever lives physically and believes in Me, will never die spiritually. Do we understand that? And he said, Do you believe this?” ~ 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 0:27
Well, let’s pick up where we left off last week. As you know, we were talking about the fact that the announcement had been made to Jesus, that his good friend Lazarus had been, had died. And, and Jesus had made the announcement to the people that came to see him that he’s not dead. And they did not understand that. He said, he had fallen asleep, and they thought that was natural sleep. But Jesus was talking about the fact that there’s two ways of putting going to sleep in the Scripture. One is the natural sleep that we have, and the other is spiritual. And so we pick up now in verse 17, that on his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus, had already been in the tomb for four days. And Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Judeans had come to Martha and to Mary to comfort them, in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him. But Mary stayed at home. Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. And Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. And Martha answered, I know he’ll rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Now, guys, here, again, are people who understood the teaching of resurrection. And they understood that when the Messiah came that there was going to be a resurrection in the last day. But Jesus almost clarified that by saying, you’re looking forward to a resurrection, but I am the resurrection and where I am, there will be resurrection, not in the future. But right now. And he talks about the fact that you and I are going to be resurrected from our state of spiritual death, at the very moment of spiritual birth. We’re not waiting for an event in the future. It happens to us at the very moment that we are born again of the Spirit of God. That was not understood at the time, but it was certainly proclaimed by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so she answered, very biblically, really, I know that he’ll rise again in the resurrection at the last day. But Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. And he who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever lives and believes in me, will never die. Now there again, he’s talking about two completely different kinds of death. I’m the resurrection and the life and whosoever believes in me, though he were dead, well you can’t believe in someone when you’re dead physically, can you? So even though they were dead spiritually, yet, shall they live, spiritually. And whosoever lives spiritually and believes in me, will never die spiritually, do we understand that? We all are going to die physically, our bodies are going to go to the grave, or to wherever they go, in the ocean, burt, whatever it might be, we came from the dust, these bodies are going to return to the dust. But the real you, which is not this, that you see this is a house that I live in. And some of us have nicer looking houses than others. But this is the house that I have to live in. But it’s a house, and it’s going to burn down someday, or it’s going to go to the grave someday. But the real you is the invisible you that is expressed through the body. But the real you is what’s under the skin. It’s what is not there when you look at a corpse. They’re not there, the body is there, but they are not there. And so he’s talking about the fact that I am the resurrection and the life. And whosoever believes in me though he were dead spiritually. You actually live spiritually. And whosoever lives physically and believes in Me, will never die spiritually. Do we understand that? And he said, Do you believe this?

Now, she answered in a strange way. He just asked her a question. He just said, I’m the resurrection and the life. And if you believe in me, though you were dead spiritually, you will live. And whosoever lives physically and believes in me will never die spiritually. Do you believe this? And she said, Yes, Lord, I believe that you’re the Christ, the Son of God who was coming into the world. I don’t know why he didn’t say I didn’t ask you that. I asked you Did you believe in what I just told you. And she is saying, in essence, I don’t know for sure what you’re talking about. But I do believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into this world, I do believe that you’re the one that was prophesied is coming into this world, and I believe you are that person. Is that faith? Yeah, that’s faith. And what the scripture said, Did she understand all that Jesus was saying to her and all of the ramifications, that he was saying to her? No, but she was acknowledging what she does believe and what she did believe. And that is that you are this Christ, the Son of God. Now, after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. The teacher is here, she said, and as asking for you, when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. And one of the Judeans who had been with Martha in the house, comforting her, and notice how quickly she got up and went out. They said, they followed her supposing that she was going to the tomb to mourn their.

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. She understood that wherever Jesus was, he is the resurrection and the life that she and he could have saved Lazarus from death. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Judeans who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Jesus had compassion. Jesus wasn’t just a piece of work there that performed miracles and did all these things. He was God with a heart. And we have to understand that God so loved had such compassion on you and me is the only reason that He sent His Son to this earth was because of compassion. We came into this world, folks, broken vessels. God doesn’t collect anything except broken shells. We came into this world broken, scarred. We came into this world, in our depravity, we came into this world without hope. We came into this world with no way in the world of ever entering into the presence of a perfectly holy God, in our condition. And God looked down on his fallen humanity, humanity that he made to live forever. And through the work of Satan, that we became death instruments, and we are instruments of death. And he looked down on us with mercy and compassion. I imagine if we knew what spirit looked like if it was possible that there would have been a tear in his eyes as well, as he looks down on his humanity that he created for His own glory. And seeing us in the fallen state that we have gotten into, we get a glimpse of that, don’t we, when we look at people who are not in Christ Jesus, when we look at nations who do not follow what the Bible says, is truth about salvation in Christ Jesus and him alone. We look at people who follow other gods and foreign gods, people who pay no attention to Jesus as who he is God, maybe possibly recognize him as a good teacher, or a prophet, but never come to Him as Savior and Lord. And we see many times the repercussion in the hearts of people that refuse God when he has testified to us and to the entire world, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself not counting their sins against us. And yet we refuse the very Son that provided that for us. So Jesus too was moved again, when you see the heart of Jesus, you see the heart of God. And you see that God too weeps at our dilemma that we have found ourselves in.

So they say, so he said, Where have you laid him? Come and see Lord thy replied, and the shortest verse, In all Scripture, Jesus wept. He cried, he wept, at the sight of those who are weeping for their beloved, Lazarus, and he himself whose heart was broken, over humanity, died. And when the Judeans, then the Judeans said, we’ll see how he loved him. That was an evidence to them that Jesus loved Lazarus. But then some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? How many times have you heard, why did God allow this to happen? How many of you times you’ve ever said that in your own life? Or heard people say that? How could a loving God allow this to happen? How could God let this good man die? How does he let a bad man die? How does he let anyone die because the wages of sin is death. That’s why there is a law of God, that sin, caused death. And the consequence of sin is death. But in the midst of that, he came with another plan. And that is giving life to the dead spiritual life that only can come through Christ Jesus. Many times, we have a tendency to ask that question, How can God allow this to happen? Instead of what does God want me to learn through this experience? And there’s a difference in those two. Do you want to ask God? Why did you allow this? How could you let my mother die? How could you let my father die? How could you allow this to happen? Well, God did not cause it to happen. But he allows it to happen because he gave man a will. And the will was to follow God, but man used his will to follow satan. And when he did, sin entered into this world, death entered into this world until it says, Even nature groans for its redemption. The whole world fell, when Satan caused sin enter into the world. And so God is not going to intervene and impinge upon your in my will, he’s going to allow the will to be expressed. And he’s going to allow it to be expressed until finally, it says, Every knee is gonna bow, and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus is, Lord, you’re gonna come to the end of ourselves and recognize who we have been neglecting in our lives, Christ Jesus. And so many times people ask that question, he could have opened the eyes, he could have saved her, he didn’t have to let her die. And again, guys, we have to think about our own minds. So many times we make those statements because of our own selfishness. We’re not so concerned when somebody else dies. We’re just concerned when someone that we love dies. Aren’t we?

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Bob George 13:56
We’re not so concerned. If somebody else’s husband runs out on his wife, we’re just concerned if it’s mine. And that’s the way we are we focus on my baby, I’m gonna rock my baby. But God looks beyond the immediate, he looks beyond just your needs. He looks at the needs of the entire world. And he looks at those needs. And he says, I can cause all things to work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. I’m not going to make bad good, but I will cause it to work together for your good and that’s why we can give thanks and all things isn’t it? Because we do have that promise from Christ Jesus. Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?

Jesus once more was deeply moved as he came to the tomb. It was a cave. It was very similar to the tomb that Jesus was buried in. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. And Jesus said, Take away the stone. But Lord said Martha, the sister of the dead man, by this time, there’s a bad odor, for he’s been there four days. In other words, the corpse thinketh. And Jesus said, Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?

Now, guys, let’s look at this for a minute. Did I not tell you that if you believe you would see the glory of God. Now Is the glory of God dependent upon their believing? Or is it dependent upon Jesus? He’s saying, Did I not tell you that if you will, trust me, and put your faith in me that you’re going to see the glory of God, your faith in me, isn’t going to cause me to raise Lazarus from the dead. Your faith in me is going to say I’m trusting you to do whatever you’ve said you’re going to do. And if you’ve said that you’re going to raise Lazarus, then you’re going to raise Lazarus. So they took away the stone. Why? Because they believed what Jesus said. And then Jesus looked up, and he prayed. He said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. Now he’s going to explain here that the reason he’s praying is not that he has any doubt that for the Father is going to hear him but so that we who are listening would understand something. And so he said, Father, I thank You that You’ve heard me, I know that you always hear me. But I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.

When he had said this, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. Now, why did he say Lazarus? Because had he not said Lazarus had just said come out, you had a had a mass exodus out of the graves. So he isolated it to Nazareth to Lazarus, come out. And the dead man came out, his hands and feet were wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. And Jesus said to them, Take off the grave clothes, and let him go. Now, folks, this is a picture of resurrection. You may have been raised from the dead. But you’re still in the grave clothes, of legalism. The grave clothes of legalism. Those are clothes for the dead. The law is closed for the dead. And what he’s saying is you may be alive, but there’s something else to do if you’re going to be alive. You need to take off the thing that killed you. As Paul said, it’s through the law, that I died to the law. You got to take it off. You’re alive. But you still got these old grave clothes hanging on you. This law hanging on you, condemning you to death. The law is the grave clothes of the dead. And the law can be the grave clothes of those who are also alive. And there are many people walking around who are alive in Christ still clothed, not in the righteousness of Christ Jesus, but still close in the grave clothes of the law. And what he is saying to us until you die to the law, you’re never going to come alive to Christ Jesus. When the Bible is talking about die to yourself daily, what’s it talking about? How you gonna die to yourself when yourself alive? What do you die to? The law. That’s what you die to you die to the law, because the law is what demands the self to behave. So if you’re going to die to self and keep the law alive, you’re never going to die to self. Because the law is always demanding the flesh to do something or telling what not to do something. And so we have to learn that this law is not our friend as a saved person.

The purpose of the law was a mirror to show me my face is dirty. But you cannot wash your face in a mirror. You use the mirror to identify your condition. And then you turn to Christ Jesus for the cleansing, do you not? You don’t go to a wash rag to see if your face is dirty. You go to a mirror, you go to the wash rag to cleanse your face. And so the law was given as a reflection, the law was given to show you that you’re a sinner. That’s the purpose of the law. And in the Scripture, it says, this is the purpose of the law. It showed me my face was dirty, so that I would turn to Christ Jesus for my cleansing, and turn to him for my resurrected life. When you’ve turned to Christ Jesus, you leave the law behind the law has now done its work, it showed me my condition. Now I’m going to turn to His provision. And I’m not going to be camping on what showed me my face was dirty for the rest of my life. I’m going to be camping on the one who cleansed me once I saw that my face was dirty. The law keeps you preoccupied over here, where Grace keeps you preoccupied with him and what he’s doing. The law keeps you preoccupied with you and what you’re not doing. And Grace keeps you preoccupied with him, and what he is doing. Do we understand that? Take these grave clothes off of you. Some of you came out of a terrifically legalistic background, God’s still peeling off the grave clothes. But there comes a time when you got to get rid of them. You cut them off, and get rid of them so that you can walk free, not free with no leading. That would be horrible, wouldn’t it? But free now to be led by who? The Holy Spirit of God living in you. And as we get into the next chapters in the book of John, you’re going to see why he could tell him to take off his grave clothes, and tell you and me to take them off. Because he explains in detail what it means to be led and guided by the Holy Spirit of God. The law condemns, but the Spirit gives what? Life. And so as living people, people who have now been made alive spiritually, we need to be led by the living holy Spirit of God living in us. He’s the one that’s going to lead you into all truth, to guide you into all truth to take the things of the Lord Jesus Christ and make it known to you. And we’ll study that in detail over the next few weeks, Take off the grave clothes, and let him go.

Now, therefore, many of the Judeans who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did put their faith in Him. They finally saw if a man can do this, that would get your attention wouldn’t? Would have a tendency to get your attention. Had you seen a person dead for four days, walk out of a grave and then say take the grave clothes off and all of a sudden you see, that would get your attention, they put their faith in Him. On the other hand, there were those who went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Now can you hear that? Do you know what this guy did? Do you know what this guy did? What kind of a magic trick or some kind he pulled, he said he raised Lazarus from the dead. Now would that get the Pharisees attention? And it did, it really got their attention so one people say I’m going to put my faith in Jesus and other groups I’m gonna go tell the leaders see what they think about this.

Have you ever heard that? How many times if you’ve ever come to understand some truth that God really reveals to you so I’m gonna run them a pastor see what he thinks about this? Gonna run the Calvin see what he thinks about this? Wonder what oh Luther thought about this? Wonder what Billy Graham thinks about this? We’re gonna go to anybody to find out what they think about it. Because if they think something about it, maybe that’s what our to think. Why? Because we don’t trust the Spirit of God living in us. We don’t trust the fact that if the Spirit of Truth lives in you, he’s gonna reveal truth to you. And you don’t need it confirmed. It’s nice to get it confirmed. When I was first understanding the truth of finality of the cross, I’d have gone to anybody to get it confirmed. Couldn’t find anybody. But the issue is you don’t need it confirmed by man if it’s confirmed by the Spirit of God.

Well, immediately course the the leaders that did what you always do when you don’t know what to do you call a meeting and So they call the deacons meeting, the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. Get the whole group together here. And here’s what they here’s what they said, This man, we just heard a report from these people. And we have no reason to doubt them. That this Jesus of Nazareth that we’ve seen turned water into wine, seen him heal a blind man on the Sabbath. And we know he’s a Sabbath breaker. What are we accomplishing? It doesn’t say this, but this is what they’re saying. What are we accomplishing? By allowing this man to live? What are we accomplishing? We’re trying to negotiate. You can’t negotiate with this man. He does not negotiate. He just tells what he says is true. And what he says is true, is the opposite of what I think is true. What are we accomplishing? We’re the leaders. We’re the big dogs. We’re the ones on television. What are we accomplishing? Here’s this man performing many miraculous signs. Now, you would think that what your attitude would be, this man might be who he’s claiming to be. It’s not what are we accomplishing? What does he seem to be accomplishing? Could this be the Messiah that we’re teaching everybody about? Could this be? Never thought, never thought. This man is performing these miraculous signs. They’re not denying he raised Lazarus from the dead. They’re not denying any of these miracles. They’re just saying he’s performing these miracles. And look at this. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. And then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. What killed Jesus? Job security, period.

Announcer 27:16
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’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 in praise the Lord. Amen.