Radio Broadcast Wednesday 09/21/2022

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Law & Grace P03 (09-21-22)

Then He Adds: “Their Sins and Lawless Acts I Will Remember NO More.”

~ Today people are acting like they are living in both the old and the new covenant at the same time. They pretend that they are obeying the 10 commandments, and they even make up their own rules and commands that are man-made, and think they can obey those too. They even set a pecking order down, and believe they are more righteous than others because they obey their man-made laws. Yet they are hypocrites. They never come to the knowledge of truth. These people are double-minded and unstable in all ways. They will teach doctrines of men instead of God. They will have large followings and many people are being led astray because they think there must be a little bit of good teaching mixed in with the error. Yet they will not go back to the foundation of Christ Jesus and realize or understand that we live in a new covenant today, where God said, their sins and lawless acts will I remember no more. Hebrews 10:17

Listen in to today’s lesson with more in-depth teaching, from the Bible study booklet, A Closer Look at Law & Grace, available for purchase from our online Bob George Ministries ecommerce store.

Jesus asked how does God love and accept us? And how does he expect us to live the Christian life? To answer those questions, this insightful study explores a vital issue at the heart of the Christian experience, the biblical relationship between law and grace, understanding their role in our relationship to God will bring joy, freedom and spontaneity to your Christian life. Now, let’s take A Closer Look at Law & Grace.

Bob George 0:39
The the splitting of the Red Sea, when Moses led the people across to the dry land as a result of this miraculous miracle, really, that took place when the Red Sea was split. That led the Israelites then to the foot of Mount Sinai, where God then there again, all a part of the plan met with Moses and gave him the 10 commandments gave him the law for the nation of Israel. For a nation to survive, you must have laws. That is even true today. You cannot have a nation without laws. Otherwise, you’re going to have anarchy. Yes. Now if everyone were spirit controlled Christians, in other words, being controlled by the love of God, why you wouldn’t need laws, everybody would just be functioning in love, and you wouldn’t really need a law. But in as much as that is, would be a pipe dream to dream that that type of thing. Whatever occur or could ever occur until the Lord comes back and establishes his 1000 year Millennial reign up until that point, we’d better have some laws. I think so.

You know, it’s every time I hear the story of the splitting of the Red Sea, I think of a friend of mine who was in his college course. And of course, that’s where intellectualism certainly just goes rampant people many times educated far beyond their intelligence. And in this particular case, why this was the case of the professor who even though it was a religious class, or religion class, was trying to say that this miracle was splitting Red Sea was ludicrous that it was just a stupid thing to think that God just split a sea and lead the people through he said, It just so happened that if you’ll just study history, and go back to some some of those kinds of things, you’ll see that it just was at a time of the year. Whereby that sea goes down and diminishes in its depth. And was about maybe six to eight inches of water was all and the and the and the Israelites just walked across it. It wasn’t a splitting of the sea. It just one of those times when the tide went down, in essence, and he just walked across the sea. And this one student jumped up with wild enthusiasm. And he said, Prof thank you for sharing that insight. He said, that’s even a greater miracle than the first one all of Pharaoh’s army drowned in six inches of water. And, you know, you’ll see the intellectual community trying desperately to discredit the Word of God and coming up with an illustration like that just absolutely flew right back at his face.

But the fact of the matter is, when the scriptures talk about those type of things, it really is not up for grabs as to whether or not that is true or not. What we have studied before and other lessons is go back and listen to the testimony of Christ as He relates some of these stories, and does not state them as some kind of a fairy tale, but his actual fact and once again, if Jesus is God, and God said that something happened, it’s then believe me, something happened. It’s like creation. We don’t have to sit around and wonder if we came from apes or not. Sometimes we act like we did. But the fact of the matter is that Jesus testified to the fact that in the beginning, God created man, He didn’t create an ape who evolved into a man he created a man. And so all of these intellectual pursuits that people get involved in are an exercise in futility. Because the premise is that God didn’t know what he was talking about. The premise is that the word cannot be relied upon. So that premise is off. Therefore, everything is going to be off. And so what a person does is then sit down and say the scripture is God himself. His word cannot be relied upon, but some form of science that is, merely science, by its definition is merely an exploration of observable data, science has no business at all in origins, it’s a defiance of its own definition to deal in origins, it is there to observe observable data. And again and less and less Macintosh was very prevalent back in those days, it would have been a little difficult to have kept all that data, the way we have it today. So it’s, it’s one of those things, Bob, that when we can listen to what took place back in the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, and listen to what took place back there and listen to the words we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we’re not talking about translation, because you can have some variants in translation. But the the scriptures that were written the manuscripts that were placed in the Old Testament in Hebrew, and the New Testament in Greek, and the copies of those that was meticulously done by the old rabbis, that we can know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that what we are listening to, is the word of God.

And so we’re going to open up the Word of God today as it as it relates to a closer look at just what the law was, where it was given to whom was it given, and what is its purpose. As we talked about last week, Bob the law, and we will see that in today’s lesson, the Law never was given to the Gentiles. The law was given to the Israelites that was given to the Israelites for the purpose of establishing their nation, and for laws for their nation and for their people. And so when it comes to the new covenant that we’re in today, to the Hebrew, he had to say take off the old and put on the new to the Gentile, it was just put on the new. And as with the illustration we gave is the Jew was standing there and ragged clothes and the Hebrew was standing there naked. To the Hebrew take off the ragged clothes put on the new covenant, to the Gentile just put on the new and what of course has happened over years of people preferring religion to a relationship is here we are standing in our new clothing. And we go back and pick up the old clothing from the Israelites the old beat up battered clothing called the law, and just put it on over our new clothes and looks like some of these creations that some of our youth walk around in today. Brand new clothes with junk hanging on it. And and folks that illustration, it’s, it’s very true. And we’ll learn that today.

What has taken place is the law, we’re going to see at the end of this lesson that the purpose of the law was given to Israel as a way in a means of governing a nation and a people a nation is people. And then we’re going to also see that the law was given under a the covenant that was given which included the law was, here’s the covenant, here’s my law, keep it and we’re going to see how that that became an impossibility. And when you can’t keep the things that God has told you to keep why what you normally do is to make up some neat the sounding things on your own and then keep those and say that’s what God meant. And then you find that you can’t even keep those we can’t even keep the things we come up with, let alone what God comes up with. So the law therefore became an instrument that God used to show man his total sinfulness so that at just the right time, and that was the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That man was at its ultimate form of disobedience, appearing to be at the ultimate form of obedience. There was more religion taken place, more hypocrisy taking place When Jesus arrived on the scene than probably any time in the history of mankind. So at just the right time he came. And so the purpose of that law was to show man his own inadequacy, his own hypocrisy in thinking that he could keep the law when indeed he could not keep the law. Now, that should have been a terrific encouragement to anyone who knew the Scripture. And if they did know the Scripture, they would know that in Jeremiah 31, that Jeremiah had promised that a time is coming declares the Lord, when I’ll make a new covenant with the house of Israel. And in that covenant, that I’m going to put my laws in their hearts, I’ll be my god, there, they will be my people, and that their sins and lawless acts that I will remember no more. So that should have been encouraging, but it should have also been a clue that why would God need to go come up with a new covenant if we were able to fulfill the old but instead of realizing now I know why he’s going to come up with a new is because we can’t fulfill the old there deal was while you just watch us will fulfill and vibe when always that’s what religion does. But when the standard gets to the point where you cannot do it, you either redefined the words or you make up new laws and ignore what God told you to do. An example of that is, of course, in our modern day, under the new covenant that we live where in essence, all Jesus said, this is the only command I leave you love one another. And that’s the fulfillment of the law. And if we walked around in perfect love toward one another, you would never need another law, we would be treating each other with with the dignity and with the respect and with the love that God intended man to function how men to function.

And so that was what he left us with. Well, you see, we can’t do that either. That kind of love we can’t produce, we can bear the fruit of that God has to produce to produce it in us. But see, man sits down and says, Well, that means I’m going to have to rely on God. And God forbid that would ever come down to that where I need to rely on God when I have all this self sufficiency here that I can rely on. And so what do we do, we totally ignore that command by what Jesus said, The only thing that matters is faith. expressing itself through love, the only thing that counts period, you will know what counts, you know how you get score on the scoreboard, you don’t get it by throwing a good pass, you get it by putting the ball in the basket. You don’t get it by completing a forward pass, you get it by going over the goal line. So if you want to get the score on the scoreboard, here’s how you get it. And you and so we say well, I that’s too hard to get that ball in that little basket. So let’s start getting some points for just making a good past each other. And that’s what religion has done today, is we’ve ignored what it takes to get a score. And what counts. What the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. The only thing that counts is the balls going through the basket. Let’s ignore that. And let’s say know that what counts is making a good pass. In other words, what counts is church attendance. What counts is tithing. What counts is potlucks. What counts is keeping your sins confessed. What counts is all of these types of things. And we’ve made up our own rules and our own regulations. Now there’s only one problem with that is someone keeps messing up our passes. And before long, when those rules get too tough, why we’ll go make another set. Or what we’ll do is to find out what those rules that I made are pretty easy. And there’s there are a select few of us that are keeping them and then all the other sinners down there aren’t. So we need to really increase those rules. And let’s make a few more. So we will stay on top of the herd. And so the pecking order begins, and that the pecking order is always the little select few that appear to be obedient souls. Just keeping all of these commands, don’t have one earthly thing to do with love with love. Just mean as a hornet, but boy, I’m keeping the laws, I am moral, and I’ll get out and march up and down the streets for morality. My family won’t speak to me I’m mean as a hornet. But I am moral. And that’s the ludicrous that’s how ludicrous Christianity has become, how stupid it has become. Because we’ve ignored what God said counts, made up our own rules and regulations and in a process of become absolutely mean as Hornets toward each other.

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Bob George 13:57
Now, that’s nothing new. It’s been going on since day one. And what we’re going to do is to take a look at the introduction of the law as it was given to Israel. And as we talked about, that that’s who the law was given to, the Gentiles never were under that law. We just came along and picked up the clothes that God said to discard to the Hebrews so that they could put on the new covenant. And we’ve gone and sought them out, picked them up out of the garbage can and brought them over and made our own Christian religion out of them, which is commingling law and grace. Which is what Paul talked about in the third chapter of Galatians. You foolish, idiotic, moronic, Galatians, who has hypnotized you and cast an evil spell upon you. And he asked the question, Did you receive the Spirit of God by obeying the law, or by believing what you heard? And after beginning by faith, in other words, believing what you heard, Why are you now trying to protect yourself and human effort? And so that’s what Christianity became, commingling Law and Grace, commingling the old covenant with new covenant. And it’s like trying to mix oil and water, it will not mix. And when you try to commingle those two, you become double minded. And the scripture say that a double minded man is unstable, in all ways. You’re much better off being single minded, man I’m a legalist from the word go, there isn’t such thing as Grace in my life. I’m a legalist. Or I’m a total graser, and there is no law in my life. But you combine those two, and you’re going to be unstable, in all ways. Bob, the statistics that I have heard from people, whether they’re right or wrong, I don’t know. But in many instances, I have heard people who are dealing in that arena, that 60% of the people who are in mental hospitals today receiving counseling for mental disturbances, claimed to be born again Christians. And you say, why would that be? When the Bible says grace will set you free truth will set you free, how could you be free and be in a mental hospital, I’ll tell you how to be a born again, Christian that was saved by grace and trying to live under the law, you become double minded and you’re unstable in all ways. So when I see a person that is unstable, now the psychological community doesn’t call you unstable, that’s too simple. And you can charge 100 bucks or 200 bucks an hour on that one. So you call a manic depressive, a schizophrenic, multiple personalities, you can put all kinds of names on those things. But the root of each and every one of them is the fact you are unstable in all ways. And the Bible says that the reason you’re unstable is because of double mindedness. And what double mindedness is, is having one foot in the law and one foot in grace and trying to walk down the street, the only people I’ve ever seen who could successfully walk down both sides of the street at the same time is a drunk. And they do it about as successful as anyone I’ve seen outside of that, you’d better get on one side of the street or the other. But don’t try to straddle them, you’ll end up ripping yourself into now, in saying that, let’s go to what the law was, was for and take a closer look at this law.

We started in our study in Exodus 19, three through five, when Moses went up to God, and the Lord called him from the mountain, and said, This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob, and what you are to tell the people of Israel, you yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagle’s wings, and brought you to myself. And now if you obey Me fully, listen to this and keep my covenant then out of all nations, you will be my treasured possession. Now, we will see that this was the law that was to give to Israel. He gave the illustration to them as what he did to Egypt. He said, If now, if you obey Me fully keep my commandment, or my covenant. There’s a byproduct out of all the nations, you are going to be my treasured possession.

Now we go on into Exodus 24 four through eight. May, Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said, he got up early the next morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and set up 12 stone pillars representing the 12 tribes of Israel. And then he sent young Israelite men. And they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. And then he took the book of the covenant, and he read it to the people. Now when he read that book of the covenant to the people, look how they responded, We will do everything the Lord has said, we will obey.

Now, folks, the Israelites were not sitting there saying, Man, I gotta say something to con God. So let’s just go ahead and say well obey everything. They were sincere as a heart attack. They believed, Lord, we can do this, Those 10 aren’t that tough. This covenant is not that big of a deal, that we’ve he’s made a covenant with us saying that if you obey Me fully and keep my covenant out of all the nations, you’re going to be my treasured possession and, man, I can see why he would say that as neat as we are we see why we’d be a treasured possession and obeying those that covenant everything that’s no that’s no big deal. We’ll do it. And so saying we’ll do it, Moses took the blood and he sprinkled it on the people. And he said, This is the blood of the cabinet that the Lord has made with you, in accordance with all of these words.

But I’d like to share an insight with with our listeners in regard to this thing called a covenant. A covenant relationship is something that we do not get involved in very much over and in our world today. But back in the olden days, and even in some other countries, why covenants are still extremely valid. Tribes of Indians would make covenants with one another, blood covenants where there would be an offer and an acceptance, obviously, that would take place, you don’t have two countries that just kind of get together and just simultaneously just just come up with a covenant, there’s an offer, it’s made, I want peace with you, and the other, the other nation says, and I, sir, want peace with you. And so we have a covenant with each other a promise between one another there has been an offer, there has been an acceptance, it could be a mutual, in other words, Bob, I could say I offer you my love forever. And you say, I accept that. And then you say to me, and Bob, I offer you my love forever. And I say and I accept that. That’s it’s not that it’s just a one sided deal. It’s it’s mutual. But there’s an offer and acceptance, and it’s always between two people. Now, when God said, I made a covenant, and he said, This is the covenant that I’m going to make with you. And he talked about the fact that if you fully keep My covenant then out of the nations, you’re going to be my treasured possession. And the acceptance was, will do everything the Lord has said, we will obey. And it said, Moses then took the blood and sprinkled it on the people. Because the covenant has now been accepted. It’s been it’s offered and accepted and said, This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you, in accordance with all of these words. In other words, it consisted of a promise a word.

Bob, it’s the same type of a thing as the new cabinet that we have entered in to today that we’ve talked about so often in Hebrews nine. It’s a new covenant. And it did not go until in effect, until the one who made it died, and the one who ushered in the new covenant, of course, was Christ Jesus, and it did not go into effect until the day that he died. But it’s a new covenant that was prophesied in Jeremiah 31, when he said, The day is coming, declares the LORD will I’ll make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. So you had the old covenant that was made with Israel, and you had the new covenant that was made with Israel. Now, the difference between the two, again with the new covenant offered to Israel was where Israel had to take off the old to put on the new to the Gentile that was never offered the old, he just said, put on the new. But in both cases, if you were naked and got a new set of clothes, or you had to take off the old set to get the new, the ultimate result is you’re standing in new clothing in a New Covenant. Now that New Covenant, Bob, is a covenant that ties into the fact that their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins. Now, folks, what that means is very simply that prior to that time, there was a sacrifice for sins. When the law was ushered in, you had to have priests to represent people to God, you also had to develop sacrifices for the forgiveness of those people who did not do what they promised to do. And that was keep the covenant. So that’s how sacrifices had to enter in. And so he said, Now, there is no more sacrifice. There’s no more blood sacrifices, there’s no more blood of bulls and goats. There’s there it has been demolished as far as God is concerned, because it has been replaced by the one who did it once and for all, and that’s Christ Jesus, not a continual ongoing forgiveness, but a final forgiveness were their sins and lawless acts, I remember no more period. It’s done. It’s over. Forgiveness has been dealt with by God once and for all for all of humanity for all of time. And it’s finished. That’s why Jesus cried from the cross. It is finished, it’s because it is finished. Now, remember how Paul expressed it, that while we were yet enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. How much We’re having been reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. We were, once were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to God, through the death of his Son, we are saved by the life of his Son. But you know, in that reconciliation, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not counting our sins against them. And he said, We are ambassadors, this is a great message that we have to give to people, God was in Christ, reconciling you, my friend unto Himself, not counting your sins against you. That is an offer of the New Covenant. That’s not just an offer of forgiveness, that’s an offer of entering into a new covenant. This is what the New Covenant is their sins and all his acts, I’ll remember no more. God was in Christ reconciling you unto Himself, not counting your sins against him. It’s a new covenant. And then it goes ahead to say, I beseech you, I beg you, therefore, on Christ’s behalf, because he’s the one who had to die to pull this off on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God, there’s the acceptance, and then says, Why? for God was in Christ reconciling you and for God made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for you and me so that in him we could become the righteousness of God. So he tells us why. So folks, when you and I come to Christ, and not just for this temporary forgiveness, that’s a part of the Old Covenant. You see, there are many people call themselves Christians today that are still under the Old Covenant, they’re still going back for ongoing, sacrificial forgiveness. And he said, There is no more sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness, and there is no more sacrifice for sins, which means there’s no more shedding of blood. So if there is no more shedding of blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness, then either forgiveness is over, or somebody lied, or you’re going to have to get forgiven without the shedding of blood, which from God’s vantage point is an impossibility.

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.