Radio Broadcast Wednesday 11/09/2022

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Law & Grace P24 (11-09-22)

Belief in Jesus is Not the Same as Faith in Jesus

~ “But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,” John 2:24

~ “Jesus said, If you hold on to my teaching, you really are my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set me free. Now, you see, here were some people who said it says that they believed him. But the issue is, do they really believe him? And we have to be cognizant of the fact that every place that it states that someone believed did not mean they were a believer. It says that in second chapter of John, it talks about that they saw the miracles he did and believed, believed in his name. But it says Jesus didn’t entrust himself to them. You saw Simon, the sorcerer who they said, believed and then tried to buy the Holy Spirit. Well, you see, what is that was people say, Yeah, I believe he can do something for me. And we all function to that, what have you done for me lately? So when it says someone believes, don’t believe that that means that they are born again, it just means I believe, just like, I believe, 36 years I believed in Jesus. Was I born again? Of course, I wasn’t born again. I believed in Jesus as a historical character. I believe that Jesus was the Son of God. Did I believe he was crucified on a cross? Without question. Did I believe he was raised from the dead? Well, absolutely. I went to church every Easter. I believed and I believed Abraham Lincoln was shot in the Ford theater. And I believe that George Washington crossed the Delaware I believed all those things. But did that mean I knew any of them? No, it didn’t mean, I just believed in historical fact that that’s, historically that is true. But you see, there’s a world of difference between that and saving faith. Believing is one thing, faith in what you believe is something else.”

Place faith in Jesus today. Quit playing religion. Quit 1st John one nining your sins, and quit calling God a liar. Quit asking of God for what he has already done on the cross. Live by Faith instead of by the lies of men and satan. Trust in no man, but verify for yourself by the word of God, and allow the Holy Spirit to teach you ALL TRUTH.

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
Now, there was only one way that I could be redeemed brought back from that empty way of life, which was brought about through religion that points to dead people, how can dead people make themselves acceptable? No one, they’re not going to turn to Christ for life. So the only thing I could do is to try to make myself and acceptable corpse. And that’s what religion is. It is it is a religion of dead people trying to make themselves look good in each other sight, dressing up the corpse, trying to make them smell better, looking better, putting some stained glass underneath the ground, and all of those type of things. In other words, it’s a preoccupation with spiritual underground condominiums. Now, Jesus came to those people and to anyone who is suffering from that emptiness of life because of our spiritual death. And, and, and he spoke to the Pharisees, and again, these were extremely religious people, or the Jews, the Jewish leaders. And if you will look in the chapter of of John beginning in chapter eight, and I’m gonna back up to verse, verse 31. It said, the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, If you hold on to my teaching, you really are my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set me free. Now, you see, here were some people who said it says that they believed him. But the issue is, do they really believe him? And we have to be cognizant of the fact that every place that it states that someone believed did not mean they were a believer. It says that in second chapter of John, it talks about that they saw the miracles he did and believed, believed in his name. But it says Jesus didn’t intrust himself to them. You saw Simon, the sorcerer who they said, believed and then tried to buy the Holy Spirit. Well, you see, what is that was people say, Yeah, I believe he can do something for me. And we all function to that, what have you done for me lately? So when it says someone believes, don’t believe that that means that they are born again, it just means I believe, just like, I believe, 36 years I believed in Jesus. Was I born again? Of course, I wasn’t born again. I believed in Jesus as a historical character. I believe that Jesus was the Son of God. Did I believe he was crucified on a cross? Without question. Did I believe he was raised from the dead? Well, absolutely. I went to church every Easter. I believed and I believed Abraham Lincoln was shot in the Ford theater. And I believe that George Washington crossed the Delaware I believed all those things. But did that mean I knew any of them? No, it didn’t mean, I just believed in historical fact that that’s, historically that is true. But you see, there’s a world of difference between that and saving faith. Believing is one thing, faith in what you believe is something else. You see, somebody could say, Bob Davis is a multimillionaire. And I could say, Okay, let’s say that was true. And I believe that there’s some proof that that’s yeah, that I believe that’s true. And then somebody can say, and Bob, you don’t have a penny to your name, you’re bankrupt, and you’re hungry. And if that was my condition, I could say, Yeah, I believe that too. And then somebody say, if you if you will make yourself available. Bob Davis would like to give you food. And you say, Well, I’m not sure that I believe you’re a millionaire. I believe I have a need, but I’m not sure you’d provide it. And so therefore, I’m never going to come to you for that need to be met. Because I don’t have faith in the fact that even though you’re a millionaire, you’re willing to share that with me, right. So when it says that someone believes there’s a world of difference between believing that Jesus is the provider, and walking by faith in His provision, that mean, it’s the same old stuff of people saying, I believe Jesus died on the cross for all your sins, past, present, and future. And boy, you hear that, and then you go in and tell them that first John one, nine is not for you. And I tell you, they’ll kick you right out of the church, which means one thing, I don’t have faith, that what I say, I believe applies to me, I do not have faith in the fact that when he said, it’s finished, that applies to me, or for sure to you, because you got a whole bunch of that unconfessed stuff in your life. So you see, what it means is one thing, I believe something, but I don’t have any faith in it. So I will teach what I believe, but I don’t have any faith in its application. I can believe that, that God has given us everything that we need for life and godliness, through our knowledge of Him. And that’s why we have everything we need for life. And godliness is through our knowledge of Him. But I have no faith at all, in his being able to provide for my need, I believe that he’s given me but I don’t have a faith in the fact that he’s given me. Now I don’t know if that makes any sense or not. But it doesn’t make any sense for us to say, I believe and not have faith in what we believe, either. But this is the case. So it says they believed in Him. But Jesus is going to catch them in this belief system. If you hold on to my teaching, you really are my disciples. In other words, you’re really you really are someone who is a follower of mine. And they say, and if you will follow my teaching, you’re going to know truth. And that truth is going to set you free. Now the answered him, well, we’re Abraham’s descendants. We’ve never been slaves to anyone. In other words, how can you say that your truth is going to set us free? We’ve never been a slave to anyone. How can you say we shall be set free. And he goes ahead to say, I tell you the truth that anyone who sins is a slave to that sin. So he just nailed him right there. In other words, they said, We’re not a slave said, Yeah, you are, you’re a slave to your sin. Now, a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. In other words, you’re still a slave to what you need to be freed from, and that sin, and the wages of sin and the repercussions of sin, which you are trying to get covered by a sacrificial system that can never take away sin.

Now, he says, so if the Son set you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you’re Abraham’s descendants. Yet you’re ready to kill me. Because in other words, my word has no room at all in your hearts. Now, think about that for a minute. How many people, is can Jesus literally say My Word doesn’t have any room at all for you? There is no room in your heart for my word. You’ve got the psychiatrists word in your heart. You got the psychologists word in your heart, you got the philosopher’s word in your heart. And even more than that, you got your own opinions in your heart. But there’s no room left, because you’re so full of everything else. There’s no room left in your heart for my words.

We’re reading through the Gospel of John, verse eight. When we started in 34, we’re going to pick up there with probably some of the harshest words that Jesus ever spoke to anyone. You’ll never see Jesus ever speaking harsh words to the unrighteous, which all of us are, but they know they’re unrighteous. In other words, the sinner, you see him speaking harsh words to the self righteous. And the reason for that is the self righteous is so full of themselves that there’s no room for him or his Word in their heart. They are merely functioning like a blithering animal, and that’s by instinct, which is the only way that you can function if you’re not going to function in truth. They’re functioning by thoughts and attitudes handed down to them by their forefathers or learned in their own schools of education. But there’s no room for God’s Word in their hearts. And folks, the same words of admonition are here today. And the same words are as pertinent to you and me today as they were back then. Because there’s a lot of people blinded to the fact that even though they have tasted, they’ve never drunk of the Living Word that we may have shared, but we’ve never participated with the Holy Spirit of God. That there’s a world of difference between being a believer and being saved. Because all of us, most of us to grow up in the so called Christian world are believers in the historical Jesus, but we’ve never come in contact with the resurrected Jesus. And what he is doing here, folks is helping us to identify themselves. He was helping the disciples, he was helping the Pharisees. He’s helping you and me today, to identify ourselves. And one of the ways that he’s saying to identify yourself is your attitude toward him, and as well as his children, because did not Jesus say, if you have done this to me, you’ve done it to them. Or if you’ve done it to them, you’ve done it unto me. If you and I are a part of the body of the same head of Christ Jesus, then if I whack off or try to whack off one part of the body, I have harmed all of the body. And it doesn’t make an ounce of sense if you realize that you are a part of the body of Christ. If you don’t belong to that body, then you could whack off its parts and think nothing of it, it hadn’t done any harm to you at all, because you are not a part of that body. Now, he’s going to tell us some things here, folks, and this is Christ himself talking to us, that helps them to identify themselves, and will also help you to identify yourself. Now their excuse for all of this, of not wanting to be set free by Jesus, because they’re so full of their own understanding that they have no room for his word. He goes ahead to say that everyone who sins is a slave to sin. A slave has no permanent place in the family might have a temporary place, but not permanent, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son set you free, you will be free indeed. And I know that you’re Abraham’s descendants, let’s say I know that yet you’re ready to kill me. Because you have no room for my word. And I’m telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father. In other words, if you have a desire to go out, and kill the Lord, to kill somebody in his body, and when I’m talking about that, I’m not just talking about physical. If you have a word of desire in your heart to go out and just to destroy a person who is in the body of Christ, you’re destroying your own body. Now, he said, the reason that you want to do that is, quite frankly, you don’t belong to the same body. I’m telling you, he said, what I’ve seen in the Father’s presence and you do what you heard from your father, the reason that you believe that would be a noble act is to go out and try to destroy another member of the Body of Christ, is because you’re believing what you heard from your father. Now, what Jesus is saying is your father is not mine. The Jews responded, Abraham was our father. It’d be like somebody, somebody’s saying to them, you’re listening to you’re listening to who you consider to be your father. And somebody’s saying, well, Baptists or my father, or the Presbyterians or my father. Well, he said, If you were Abraham’s children, then you would do the things that Abraham did. If you were truly if he was truly your father, which in essence, he’s going to show in a moment he really isn’t. In other words, he’s just a stop gap to who your father is. If you are truly a follower or a disciple of Abraham, you do the things that Abraham did.

Click to Donate to Bob George Ministries

Classic Christianity Radio thanks you for your support of our online and radio ministry. Bob, George Ministries offers nine in-depth Bible study guides, please visit shop.BobGeorge.net to find the Bible study books, along with many helpful materials to help you grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ. Let’s continue now, with our Classic Christianity Radio program.

Bob George 14:13
If you and I are truly disciples of Jesus Christ, I want to ask you a question Bob, will we be out loving people with God’s love? Or will we be out condemning people? If you’re truly Jesus is truly your life and your father. Is our attitude going to be one of restoration or one of condemnation? If love covers and tries to help and to build, then if you’re in the author of that kind of love, you’ll be doing that kind of love. And if you’re not, it’s because you’re in another camp. Judas was a follower of Jesus. But he had a different father. He was in a different camp and why Judas did what he did was because he was the child of the one who ordered it. Now as it is it says, you’re determined to kill me. A man who has told you truth that I heard from God here I’ve come and told you truth that I heard from God and you want to kill me. He said, Abraham didn’t do such things. Abraham didn’t try to kill prophets from God. Abraham didn’t try to kill people who had a word from God, but you’re trying to kill them. You’re doing the things your own father does. Well, you see, now they came back with the only thing they could do. And that is let’s let’s try to get him with an insult. So they said we’re not illegitimate children, they protested the only father we have God Himself. Now, the indication there was we’re not illegitimate children you are. You see You were born of that virgin over there called Mary over there that wasn’t really wasn’t a virgin at all. You were born probably by some Roman soldier or something. Because that was, what was rumored was that Jesus certainly wasn’t born of a virgin. No one who is spiritually dead could ever understand that. So And Joseph said, it wasn’t him. So it was somebody else. You’re an illegitimate kid over there. So he said, That’s not us. We’re not illegitimate. The only father we have is God Himself. Jesus said, If God were your Father, so he’s doing two things. Number one is already knocked down that Abraham couldn’t be their father, because of Abraham was their father, you’d be doing what Abraham did. And Abraham was not trying to crucify his kids. So now he said, God’s her father, he said, If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God. And now I’m here. I have not come on my own, but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Well, he’s gonna tell you, because you’re unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil. And you want to carry out your father’s desire. Your father, who is the Devil wants to crucify people. He wants to kill people. He wants to destroy people in the ministry, he wants to destroy ministries, he wants to rumorise, he wants to slander, he wants to kill, he wants to destroy. That’s what the thief came to do, kill and destroy. That’s what the father, your father wants to do. And because you want to do it, it shows who your father is. It’s strong language folks. And I don’t care who we’re talking to, if you’re talking to me, or you’re talking to _ _, or you’re talking to you, it doesn’t make an ounce of difference. If my desire is to go out and to bury somebody, and to crucify someone and to annihilate somebody, my father is not of God. God didn’t want to do that. He wanted to come to save the thief comes to kill and destroy, I came at you might have life. I didn’t come to judge the world, your father’s judging the world. And so he said, He’s a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, and there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language. For he is a liar and the father of lies. So why does he lie? Well, it says it’s his nature. Yet, because I tell you the truth, you don’t believe me. How can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I’m telling you the truth why don’t you believe me? He who belongs to God, here’s what God says. The reason you don’t hear is because you don’t belong to God. It’s pretty severe, isn’t it? Now these are the most religious people in the world said you don’t belong to God. Well, the Jews answered him, aren’t we right in saying that you’re a Samaritan? So if I couldn’t get you for being illegitimate, well, I’ll just say you’re, you’re a Samaritan. You’re half Jew and half. That’s what the Satan Samaritans were. They are half breed. They’re half Jew and half Gentile. You’re not talking like a Jew. You’re talking like a half breed. And besides that, he says, your demon possessed.

I said, I’m not possessed by a demon, Jesus said, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. I’m not seeking glory for myself. But there is one who seeks it and he’s the judge. I tell you the truth of anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. Well at this the Jews exclaimed, now we know your demon possessed. Abraham died and so did the Prophet yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he’ll never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, so there back to Abraham again. He died and so the prophets who do you think you are? And Jesus said, If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God is the one who glorifies me. He’s the one who makes me known, that’s what it means to be glorified is to be made known. He’s the one who made me known. Though you do, though you do not know him, I know him. And if I said, I did not know the Father, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him and keep His Word. And your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day. And he saw it and was glad. Their reply, you’re not 50 years old the Jews said to him or, and you have seen Abraham. He said, I tell you the truth before Abraham was born, I am. Well at this, they picked up stones very lovingly to stone Him. But Jesus hid himself slipping away from the temple grounds. That is a very convicting passage of scripture there. Bob, obviously, it talks about the fact that, that that your father is that of the devil. And the reason that he is a murderer, is that’s his nature.

When you look at the retaliation of the religious leaders to what Jesus said to them, again, he told them truth. Well, I mean, Jesus was telling them truth. Instead of their response being, this is truth, and I need to change my mind. If I’m truly lost, I need to be saved. If these are indicators of the fact that I have a different father, than Jesus, and if I’m out, trying to murder somebody, just because I’m a murderer, if I’m out slandering someone is because I’m a slander, if I am out lying to someone is because I’m a liar. And if I’m all of those things, it’s because my father is all of those things. And when we were last, that was very easy to see, the hardest thing to do is to be lost, but believe you’re saved. Because you’re doing all of these other things that appear to be nice, but deep down in your heart, it’s someone else doing them. You see, it’s very easy for a lost person to play religion. It’s equally easy for a religious person to play heathen.

In other words, you and I, as a saved person can act, sometimes like a lost person. It doesn’t mean we are, but it means we can act like one. And in the same way, a lost person can act like a saved person. So don’t be shocked if a lost person is acting like a saved person any more than you should be shocked if a safe person is sometime acting like a lost person. In both instances, what you are doing is acting contrary to your nature to who you are. And so we get deceived with that, because we have built a structure whereby a lost person can look acceptable. And we got all of these I said these underground condominiums all dressed up with corpses in them, but looking good, and getting a lot of pets on the head for their religious activities, such as the Pharisees were doing. And Jesus cut right into them through the midst of that and said, I see your heart. Because when I tell you the truth, you don’t listen to that truth. You listen to lies. And the reason you’re listening to lies is because your father is the author of lies. The reason that you want to kill me is because your father is that who is a murderer. The reason that you want to destroy someone who belongs to Christ is because you belong to someone other than Christ. Because Bob, when you truly belong to Christ, you may get angry at people. You may get hurt by people, you may sometimes even hurt people, sometimes maybe intentionally for a period of time. But Bob, if you’re in Christ, you can’t keep that up. And there’s nothing in your heart that can say I want to go hurt somebody. It’s not there. If you have Christ heart. Ah you may think for a moment, I’d like to go knock that guy’s teeth right out of his head. But saying it and doing it are two different things altogether. You could say that, or you could you could be driving down the freeway when someone cut in front of you and say, I’d like to have a tank I just flatten them right out on the freeway. But thinking that and doing that are two different things. So to go out and to actively engage in attempting to destroy another human being, and say in God’s name. I got that it may be in God’s name, but it isn’t the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It’s not the God that sent Jesus to this earth. You got a different god because there’s just nothing inside of you that wants to carry that out, or can carry it out. It just does. It’s just too inconsistent with who you are. And that’s what Jesus is dealing with. Now that is Bob, that is the life, the empty way of life, that it says, that was handed down to us. That’s the empty way of life that we who are in Christ had been redeemed from, by the precious blood of the Lamb.

Now, in Galatians 3:22, it tells us the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin. They were saying, we’re not a slave to anyone who says, Oh, yes, you are. You’re a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, and that is salvation by grace alone. By faith alone, you will be justified by that promise being given through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to all who believe the whole world is a prisoner to sin, religious Jew, you’re a prisoner to sin, air, religious, unreligious Gentile, you’re a prisoner of sin, religious Gentile, you’re a slave, prisoner of sin unreligious Jew, you’re a prisoner of sin. All of us have sin, all of us have fallen short of the glory of God, there is none righteous, no, not one. So in as much as we have all been neutralized into one position, because all of us are born into this world. And I think it’s very clear that you’re born into this world, with your father, the devil. So if you want to talk about what your ancestry is, I am born into this world, from a fallen Adam, dead to Christ, and my father is that of the devil. When I come to Christ, I change ownership. I am a prisoner of Satan, and I become a volitional prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there’s no bad connotation to the latter.

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.