Radio Broadcast Wednesday 07/19/2023

Classic Christianity – The Book of John P72 (07-19-23)

Jesus at the Cross, Died for Us Then, So He Could Live in Us Now!

~ Behold the Lamb of God who took (past tense) away the sins of the world. Yes, Jesus took them away. That happened at the cross one time for ALL. We are on this side of the cross (after the cross) not the other side of the cross (before the cross) where John the Baptist declared, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Now, living after the cross we should be shouting from the rooftops, “Look, the Lamb of God, who TOOK AWAY the sin of the world!” Do you believe this? Or do you think more forgiveness is required by God? Is Jesus ever going to die again for the sins of the whole world? Of course He isn’t. So if He isn’t going to die again on the cross, then why are people asking Him to do what He has already done? It’s because people don’t really have faith. For if they really had faith they would be thanking God for what He has already done. They are living a life of sin (unbelief). And they are still dead in their sin. They need LIFE.

~ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ^{2 Corinthians 5:21}

~ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ^{John 1:29}

~ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ^{John 1:29}

~ And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. ^{1 John 2:2}

Jesus Is NEVER Going to Die On The Cross Again

~ “Folks, the crucifixion, the death, burial and resurrection was not an accident. It was in the foreknowledge of God from the beginning of the world, that God had to look down upon his creation that had been destroyed by the act of Satan, and brought us into a position of spiritual death. And God looks down and says, I want to save my people from their condition of death. It is not how bad you are, it is how dead you are. No man will ever go to hell because of his sins. The sins of the world had been placed upon Christ Jesus at this cross, where there He who knew no sin, took away the sin of the entire world back to Adam and forward to eternity. We have had enough of this teaching of people pointing their bony fingers saying, if you don’t quit this sin, you’re gonna go to hail. That’s what we say in Texas hail. That is a lie. No man will go to hell because of his sins. There is only ONE SIN attributable to man. And Jesus said, what that was the world’s sin, singular, not plural, is unbelief in me. It is the denial of what God did, to come to this earth to take away the sins of the entire world, so that you and I could be saved through His resurrected life. It was not an accident. It was a plan of God.” ~ 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
You know, without the resurrection, Paul said, were to be pitied of all people, and are still in our sins. If it were not for the resurrection, we would have nothing to celebrate either at Christmas, or Good Friday, Easter, any other holiday of the year, we really wouldn’t have anything to celebrate. The resurrection is the focal point of the Christian life. Everyone saw Jesus die on a cross. But the denial of His resurrection is what has divided human history. And today, we’re going to study a little bit about the weekend, starting with his crucifixion, which quite frankly, in my opinion was not on Friday, but on Thursday. You can’t be in the, as he said, in the belly of the whales for three days and three nights and compare that to his resurrection and only be there for two nights. So I do believe that Thursday was his day of day of his crucifixion. We’re going to pick up there because guys without death, resurrection has no meaning. And we’re going to see, as we study that this was done on what the Hebrews called Preparation Day. And as I’ve studied through this, I began to think how appropriate that is because the cross is the preparation day. It is what God had to do to prepare us for salvation. Because the cross is not salvation. The resurrection is salvation. You’re not saved by the death of Christ, you’re saved by the life of Christ, but you could not have been saved by the life of Christ, apart from the cross. So the cross was the preparation day where God prepared you and me for the salvation of life to the dead.

We’re going to pick up in the story where Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified, so as the soldiers took charge of Jesus. You’re going to see this image here that is a place that is called the skull, which is Aramaic is called Golgotha. This is an actual place in Israel. This stone is carved out in the face of a skull. And those of us that have been to Israel have seen this, and there’s no doubt about where the crucifixion took place. But at the place called the Skull, which is Golgotha. It says that He carried his own cross, after being beaten half to death. As the Scripture said, he was beaten as no man. He was crucified, he was tortured. He was dragged back and forth from one end of the city to the other with false trials. And the day that he went to the cross was exhausted. And there it said, They crucified Him. And with him, were two people one on each side, and Jesus was in the middle. And they’re the Son of God hung, suspended into air. And as the Bible says, There, he who knew no sin became sin for you and me, so that we could become the righteousness of God in him.

Pilate had a notice prepared, and he fascend on the cross it read Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Judaeans. [ΙΟΥΔΑΙΩΝ (IOUDAIŌN)] And many of the Judaeans read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. And the sign was written in Aramaic and in Latin and Greek. And the chief priest of the Judaeans who protested to Pilate said, do not write King of the Judaeans, but that this man claimed to be King of the Judaeans. And Pilate answered what I’ve written, I have written.

Now, when the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and they divided them into four shares, one for each of them with the undergarment remaining. And this garment, it says was seamless. It was woven in one piece from top to bottom. And they said, Let us not tear it. They said to one another, let’s decide by lot who will get it. And this happened. So that scripture might be fulfilled with said They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. So this is what the soldiers did. Folks, the crucifixion, the death, burial and resurrection was not an accident. It was in the foreknowledge of God from the beginning of the world, that God had to look down upon his creation that had been destroyed by the act of Satan, and brought us into a position of spiritual death. And God looks down and says, I want to save my people from their condition of death. It is not how bad you are, it is how dead you are. No man will ever go to hell because of his sins. The sins of the world had been placed upon Christ Jesus at this cross, where there He who knew no sin, took away the sin of the entire world back to Adam and forward to eternity. We have had enough of this teaching of people pointing their bony fingers saying, if you don’t quit this sin, you’re gonna go to hail. That’s what we say in Texas hail. That is a lie. No man will go to hell because of his sins. There is only ONE SIN attributable to man. And Jesus said, what that was the world’s sin, singular, not plural, is unbelief in me. It is the denial of what God did, to come to this earth to take away the sins of the entire world, so that you and I could be saved through His resurrected life. It was not an accident. It was a plan of God.

Now we’re told that near the Cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. And when Jesus saw his mother there and the disciple whom he loves, speaking of the apostle John, he said to his mother, Dear woman, here is your son. And to the disciple, he said, and this is to the apostle John, John, here is your mother. And from this time on, this disciple took her into his home. And history reveals the fact that the apostle John took Mary into his home, and lived as a mother and a son. Even when Jesus was dying on the cross suffered beyond all means, he was still looking out after his mother.

Later on, knowing all was completed, and so that the scripture would be fulfilled. Jesus said, I’m thirsty, and a jar of vinegar was there. So they soaked it in sponge, a sponge and put the sponge on a stock of the hyssop plant and lifted it to Jesus lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus cried out, it is finished. And with that, he bowed his head and he gave up his spirit, Father, into Thy hands, I commend my Spirit.

Jesus cried out a term that means paid in full. If you go over to Israel today and buy something and pay for it, they will stamp on your receipt, tetelestaiI, paid in full, it is finished over no more to pay. What did God mean when he said it’s finished? He meant it’s finished. There is no more sacrifice for sins. He did not forget a one. He took upon himself the sins of the entire world upon himself. And as I said, There He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we might be able to become the righteousness of God in Him. He said, it’s finished, and yielded up His spirit father into thy hands. I commend my Spirit.

Now it was the day of preparation. And the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Now, what is the special Sabbath? Just a Sabbath different than the real Sabbath. The real Sabbath began on Friday evening, and goes till Saturday evening, that’s the way their calendar went. This was a day of preparation on a special Sabbath. And that’s why I say that his crucifixion was on Thursday, rather than on Friday. Because the Judaeans did not want the bodies to be left on the crosses during the Sabbath. They asked Pilate to have the legs broken, and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and they broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus and those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. My friends at crucifixion, your legs were crossed and nailed to the bottom of the cross. Your arms were nailed to the cross, and you hung there in suspension, gasping for air, and the only way that you could get air was to lift your legs up and take a gasp of air. And then when your legs went down again and lift yourself up, that was the condition of a man hanging on a cross dying. And in order to ensure death, they broke the legs so that there was no way to lift yourself up, and you literally suffocated to death on the cross. Jesus did not need his legs broken, he died. Why did he die? To fulfill what was said in the Prophet, that when they came, and they did not have to break Jesus legs, he was already dead fulfilling the prophecy that said, Not a bone in his body would be broken.

Now one of the soldiers there pierced the side of Jesus with a spear. And there was a sudden rush of both blood and water. And the man who saw it is given testimony, John is testifying about this, and his testimony is true. And he knows that he tells the truth and he testifies why. So that you and I may believe these things happen. So the scripture would be fulfilled, knocked one of his bones would be broken. And as another scripture says, they looked upon the one whom they have pierced.

My friends, it was love, not spikes that held Jesus to the cross. We know what Jesus did. Now the issue is, do you know what that means to you? We look at a historical event. Abraham Lincoln was killed in the Ford theater. I know that’s true, according to history. What does that mean to me? Nothing. Jesus died on a cross to take away the sins of the world. That’s a historical fact. What does that mean to me? It means everything. It means everything to me. But until I internalize it, as Richard was talking about, all it is, is an acknowledgment of a historical fact that took place 2000 years ago. He died for us then so that he can live in us now. He died on a cross to take away your sins from the sight of God. Now, people get confused on that when he say Jesus came to take away sins and says, seem like it didn’t do a very good job of it, I still got plenty of room left. He took away the sins from the sight of God, so that when God looks upon you, he sees the righteousness of Christ Jesus, to those who are in Christ Jesus. He is not dealing with you on the basis of sin today. We have absolutely never finalized the cross in our Christian faith. Jesus said, it’s finished and we say, No, it isn’t finished. I’m still dealing with it. When Jesus comes back, he’s not coming back to bear sin, why? He’s already done it, and cried out, it is what? Finished, finished. He’s dealing with us on the basis of a new life. He came to give us life and it didn’t make a difference how good you been, or how bad you’ve been. It’s how dead you are. That’s the issue. And so the whole issue of salvation today is not out telling people how bad they are. It’s telling people that there’s a repercussion to sin. There’s something called death, that the wages of sin is what? Death and we’re dead in our sins, and the uncircumcision of our sinful nature. And a dead man only needs life. And my friends, dying on a cross does not produce life to the dead. Only life produces life to the dead. And that’s why Jesus said without the resurrection, or Paul said, without the resurrection, we’re to be pitied of all people and are still in our sins, knowing full well that a cross it occurred where he took away the sins of the world. But he also knew that that provision for us then is only received in the resurrected life of Christ Jesus.

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Bob George 14:16
You don’t come to Christ to get your sins forgiven, you come to Christ because your sins have already been forgiven. You come to Christ, for the solution to the wages of sin which is death, by the gift of God which is life. Reconciliation required total forgiveness, not partial. Jesus cried out from the cross Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing. Do you think your father answered that prayer? For Christ died for sins. How many times guys? Once. Without the shedding of blood, there’s no forgiveness of sins. Is there any more shedding of blood? Is he is he going to come back and die again? No, he’s not. He died once and for all. The righteous that’s Jesus for the unrighteous that was us. In order to bring us to God. He was put to death in a body, but he was made alive in the Spirit. When you and I were dead in our sins in the uncircumcision, of our sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ, He forgave all of our sins. He canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us. That’s the law. That’s the 10 commandments were cancelled and replaced by Jesus. We don’t realize the law was there until the seed came. But the law has been replaced by Christ Jesus. All the law can do for you is kill you. Kill you. Jesus came to give you life. He hung the law and nailed it to the cross and replaced it with his resurrected life. It says that he canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us remember Paul saying, I would not have known what sin was, had the law not said Do not covet. But when I read, don’t covet, it says that the law stirring up every kind of sinful desire inside of me, it killed me. And so we’re told that Jesus took away the law in order to replace it with himself. We’re told and I’m sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Jesus didn’t come to cover sin, He came to take it away. How was he identified by John the Baptist? Behold, look, the Lamb of God, who does what? Takes away the sins of the world, it has been taken away guys, from the eyes of God. He’s dealing with you now on the basis of what did you do with my Son? The only question that God will ever ask you when you go into His presence at your death is what did you do with my Son? Did you ignore him? Did you receive him? Or did you play religion? What did you do with my Son? That’s the only question that will be asked is did you walk by faith in what I came to do? To save you? Christ was so I sacrificed one time to take away the sins of many people. And when he appears a second time, he won’t come to bear sin, but to bring salvation for those who are waiting for him. But you know that he appeared so that he may take away our sins and in him is no sin.

First, John, my children, I write this to us, though, that you won’t sin. God is not seeing your sin. So now we’re dealing down here, I write to this so that you won’t sin. But if anyone does, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And he is the one who turns aside God’s wrath, taking away our sins, and not only ours, but also the sins of the whole world. You believe that? Remember, atonement, that was the shedding of the blood of a bull and goat covered sin. Only Christ took it away. He did not come to atone for sin, a blood of a bull and goat did that. He came to take it away from the eyes of God. Is that good news, guys, or isn’t it?

Now what does that mean? Again, we know what it says. What does it mean? It means very simply, that if you are in Christ, if you have come to Him by faith, and not only what he did for you at the cross, but what he did for you in His resurrection, and we’re going to deal with that in a minute the meaning of the resurrection, and you have come to him for life. That you are a forgiven person in him you have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Are you in him? If you are you are forgiven person. You’re not a person who gets forgiven. You are a person who is forgiven. Do you believe that? I have some people who function in guilt over what they’ve done in their past all their life. I remember a guy up in Canada one time he came up to me after a lecture that I gave never seen such a dejected looking human being in my life. Beat down wrinkled. He said to me, Bob, do you think that God could forgive me? For what I’ve done? I said, Well, quite frankly, already has but what are you talking about? Well, when I was a young boy, this guy was in the 70s. When I was a young boy, I did something very bad. And I’ve asked God to forgive me over and over and over again, but I just I just can’t I just can’t feel like I’m forgiven. I asked him a question. I said, Sir, do you have any children? He said, Yes, I do. Did any of them ever do anything wrong? Yeah, they did. Did they ever come and ask you to forgive them? Well, yeah. Now I said, what if that kid would come back every year and say, Dad? Are you sure you forgave me? Come back next year. Dad, are you sure that you forgave me? Dad? Are you really sure that you forgave me? How would you feel? He said it would break my heart. And I said, then why don’t you quit breaking the heart of God? Because that’s exactly what you’re doing is breaking the heart of God by saying, I don’t think you did it Jesus. When he said, I’ve taken it away, he meant I’ve taken it away. Are you willing today to finalize this in your life? And we got on our knees together, and that man finalized that forgiveness and got up. I’ve never in my life, seen it before. Since his whole countenance had changed. Everything had changed about him, as the weight of guilt fell off of him.

Many times we accept the forgiveness of God, but we will not accept ourselves and I say, if that’s true, then your standard of righteousness is higher than that of Christ Jesus. Because if Christ has forgiven you, then why don’t you forgive you? Your standards are not higher than his. And if he God was willing to forgive you, then why don’t you forgive you? You’re a forgiven person.

Now we go back to the story. Later on Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus but secretly because he feared the Jews as was many people including Nicodemus. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. And this is a picture of the tomb where I believe with all my heart was the tomb where Jesus Christ was buried. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, a man who earlier had visited Jesus by night you remember that story. And Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes about 75 pounds. And taking Jesus body, the two of them wrapped it with the spices, in strips of linen that was customary for the way in which Judaeans, the Judaeans, buried people. That’s the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden. And if you go there today, you’ll see the Garden Tomb that is directly behind where the Golgotha is. And it’s a beautiful tomb with water, providing water underground wells of water, that obviously would be necessary for a garden, I don’t think there’s any mistake at all as to where his resurrection took place. There was a garden and in the garden was a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Judaean day of preparation. And since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one who loved Jesus, John, and said, they’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him. And so Peter, and the other disciples started for the tomb, both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. In as much as this account is being written by John, He probably wanted to let everybody know that he did beat Peter to the tomb there. So we don’t know Peter’s account, but that’s John’s account. He said that he bent over and looked at the strips of linen line there, but he did not go in. And then Simon Peter, who is behind him arrived, and he went into the tomb. And he saw the stripes of linen line there, as well as a burial cloth that had been around Jesus head. The cloth was folded up by itself separate from the linen 75 pounds around you. How would you get out of that? Resurrection. Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went inside and he saw and it said he believed.

Now listen to this guys. They still did not understand from scripture, that Jesus had to rise from the dead. They saw the tomb was empty. They saw Jesus die on a cross and taken away the sins of the world, but even so did not comprehend yet. What the Scripture had to say that Jesus had to rise from the dead or why he had to rise from the dead. We’ve been on the radio for well over 20 years now. I’ve asked this question hundreds of times to people, what was the meaning of the cross? Everybody will tell you, that’s where Jesus died for your sins. What was the meaning of the resurrection? And you hear silence on the other end, the best a person can come up with is, well, maybe that’s just to prove that Jesus was God. People do not many times have a clue that the meaning of the resurrection, the meaning of it, is that Jesus who was raised from the dead, so that that life that raised Him from the dead, can raise you and me from the dead. We are born into this world spiritually dead. What is death? The absence of life. And if you do not have life, that is your problem. But in order to give you life, he had to take away the cause of death. That was the preparation day of the cross. God’s provision, saved by His life. You’re not merely saved by the death of Christ, but by the life of Christ, Romans 5:10 When we were God’s enemies. What does that mean? Lost when you were lost. You were reconciled to him through the death of his Son. Do you realize that you were born into this world, reconciled to God, through the death of his Son? You were born into this world, a forgiven person? As far as God was concerned, does that mean you’re saved? You see, that does not if you think that you’re saved by getting your sins forgiven, that truth would be universal salvation, would it not? But that is not salvation. Read on. How much more having been reconciled this being an accomplished fact. shall we be saved by what? His life not by his death, but by his life.

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.