Radio Broadcast Tuesday 05/26/2026

Classic Christianity – That Ugly Flesh – Part 2 – 5-26-26

~ There are so many people today that are pretend lawkeepers, and they are proud of it too. They even think that because the Holy Spirit lives in them, that their own flesh upholds the law. It’s very very strange how people could think that way, when God knows exactly what you are thinking at every moment in time. For our own thoughts betray us. And folks, we are so easily deceived in this period of great deception that is upon the whole world that even Christians strut their flesh as though they are obeying every law that was written in the book of Moses. They think they are living as the Israelites lived. And people will pat each other on the back, and give accolades to each other, saying good job for preaching law obedience. Yet when we look at the love department, it shows that a person is NOT always loving toward others. And if they say they are, they are lying to themselves and others too. Because only Christ Jesus is the perfect Love of God. And even the apostle Paul considered all of his law keeping in his former life as dung, compared to knowing Christ Jesus. The bottom line is our righteousness is by Faith in Him, and His righteousness, not our own.

It’s time to grow up, and become mature in Christ Jesus. Call out these dogs as they really are. False ministers of self righteousness.

“If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.

But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things as dung compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.

All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well. Nevertheless, we must live up to what we have already attained.

Join one another in following my example, brothers, and carefully observe those who walk according to the pattern we set for you. For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself, will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.” Philippians 3:4b-21

—

And a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, having done what, will I inherit eternal life?”
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good, except God alone. Luke 18:18,19

Jesus is God in flesh: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

—

Pray to God:

Do you really want to know the WHOLE Truth of what is going on today?

Lord Jesus, teach me the truth of the world today and give me the wisdom to know the truth and identify the lies of the devil. Thank you God.”

~ Bob George emphasizes the transformative power of knowing Christ, describing it as surpassing greatness. He discusses the born-again experience, the futility of seeking righteousness through the law, and the law’s role in revealing unrighteousness. Bob highlights the importance of faith over works, the concept of being clothed in Christ’s righteousness, and the necessity of focusing on Christ rather than one’s own righteousness. He also touches on the temporal nature of the physical body, the promise of a glorified body, and the importance of forgetting the past and straining towards the goal of Christ.

~ “Consider everything as a loss compared to this surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. He sees this born again experience where he got to know Jesus personally, he sees that as probably the most important thing that ever took place in his life, and as a matter of fact, he calls this surpassing greatness. How great it is to know that you’re His. Now, guys, we forget about that, don’t we? You kind of take it for granted, at least that is my experience sometimes, it’s kind of ho hum. Well, that’s pretty nice stuff. I forget about many times, especially the longer you’re in Christ is how lost you were when you weren’t in Christ, and that’s some benefit to of coming to Christ later on in life is because, like, I had 36 years of experience as to what it is to not have the Lord living in you, that’s pretty good amount of time, but a lot of people never got that time. Said, I came to Christ when I was nine. I said, did you ever stop to think that you had to do all your sinning as a Christian? But guys, don’t take it for granted. Paul said, “I see this, that I would consider everything that’s ever happened to me as loss compared to that surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake He said, ‘I’ve lost all things.'” I consider them dung, I consider him nothing but a waste, that I might gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, and there again mentioning that He does not have a righteousness that comes from the law. See, we try to gain our righteousness through the law. The law was given to us by God to show us our unrighteousness, and we have misused the law to our benefit. We think it’s to our benefit by taking the law and using it as a means of gaining righteousness, and the law was not given for the righteous, it was given for the unrighteous, to show you your condition, so that you would turn to Christ Jesus for your salvation.

The law is a mirror. You look into the mirror to see what your condition is, and the mirror shows you that your face is dirty. And when religion tries to wash your face in the mirror and to get the mirror to get you looking good. Where you look into the law and see I am dirty, and then you hear the tapping on the shoulder, and you turn, and there’s Jesus, and He said, “Bob, what did the mirror show you? It showed me my face is dirty. Did you ever try to wash your face in the mirror? Yeah, I did. Does that work? No, it doesn’t work. Are you ready for me to cleanse you? Yes, I am. And Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Now the law did its work, and Christ did His work.” ~ Bob George

Bible Study Booklets

Announcer 0:13
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

Consider everything as a loss compared to this surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. He sees this born-again experience where he got to know Jesus personally. He sees that as probably the most important thing that ever took place in his life, and as a matter of fact, he calls this surpassing greatness. How great it is to know that you’re his now, guys. We forget about that, don’t we? We kind of take it for granted, at least that is my experience. Sometimes it’s kind of ho hum. Well, that’s pretty nice stuff. I forget about many times, especially the longer you’re in Christ is how lost you were when you weren’t in Christ, and that’s some benefit to coming to Christ later on in life, is because, like, I had 36 years of experience as to what it is to not have the Lord living in you, that’s pretty good amount of time, but a lot of people never got that time, said I came to Christ when I was nine, I said, did you ever stop to think that you had to do all your sinning as a Christian? That’s a real encouraging thought, isn’t it? But guys, don’t take it for granted. Paul says he said, I see this, that I would consider everything that’s ever happened to me as loss compared to that surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake He said, “I’ve lost all things. I consider them dung, I consider them nothing but a waste that I might gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness on my own that comes from the law, and there again mentioning that he does not have a righteousness that comes from the law. See, we try to gain our righteousness through the law. The law was given to us by God to show us our unrighteousness, and we have misused the law to our benefit. We think it’s to our benefit by taking the law and using it as a means of gaining righteousness, when the only reason that God gave you the law was to show you your unrighteousness, and the law was not given for the righteous, it was given for the unrighteous to show you your condition, so that you would turn to Christ Jesus for your salvation.

And so this righteousness, He said, I want to emphasize the fact that I have gained Christ, and I was found in Him not having a righteousness of my own. I found this truth out in Him. Now, guys, what is he talking about there? I found this out in him, that I don’t have any righteousness. What does that show you again? That Christ came to amplify the law. The law showed you that you are unrighteous, and Christ came to prove that, to show you firsthand that you have no righteousness, except through Him that comes through the law. But that I stand, and I have been found in Christ to have a righteousness that is through faith, the righteousness that comes from God, not from me, and is by faith in the one who gave me his righteousness.

Now it comes out there. Then, how much sense does it make for you and me to go out and to try to prove to the world or to yourself how righteous you are? I mean, if any of us have any righteousness, and do we have righteousness? I mean, do we possess righteousness? Who gave it to us? We’re clothed in the righteousness of Christ Jesus. Now, if that’s true, I don’t have to go out and prove that somebody do I. In other words, there isn’t anything for me to brag about, so I may as well just quit talking about it. That’s something that God has done for me. That is something that God had to do for me in order to make me qualified to go into the presence of a holy, righteous God. There isn’t anything for me to brag about, there anything for me to talk about, except to say, Thank you, Lord, for what you accomplished, and thank you that I have been found, just like the Apostle Paul, with no righteousness of my own, but only as a possessor of a righteousness that came from God, and a righteousness that came as a result of putting my faith in God, no confidence in the flesh.

Paul said, I want you to know Christ, not just to know about Him, but I want you to know Him. And guys, you can’t get to know Christ when you’re preoccupied with you, you see, I cannot press on when I’m holding on. When I’m holding on to my own righteousness, I cannot press on to the high calling of Christ Jesus. It’s an impossibility when I’m hanging on to the law to be sure that my obedience to the law is what is pleasing to God, and that’s why I’m hanging on to it, so that I’ll be pleasing to God, and we hear that all the time, I’m obedient, and I like the way we emphasize the e, the obedient. I like to know just how obedient you are? Like to follow you around all day long. You follow me around, just see how obedient we are. And yet we brag on that. We’re people of obedience. Oh, really? How you doing in the love department? Are you always patient? You always kind? Do you ever keep records of your wife’s or your husband’s wrongs? You ever bring up something that he did 15 years ago? No, just 25. Guys, we are so deceived into thinking how wonderful we are. That is all flesh from the beginning to the end. That is all flesh. That is not saying that I have found myself, found myself, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I have found myself not having a righteousness of my own that comes through the law, but I found myself with a righteousness that came from God, not me.

And so, get our eyes off of how good we are, and how well we’re doing, and recognizing what God says is the only thing that counts. He didn’t say one of the main things that counts. He said the only thing that counts is what? Faith that expresses itself through what? Love. Period. You say, how do we live this life that God gave us to gave to us? You live it the same way you got it, by faith, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord. So, walk ye in him. How did you receive him? By faith. How do you walk in him? By faith. Faith in who, me and how I’m doing, or faith in him, and how he’s doing? You see, that is hard for us, because they say, “Bob, are you saying that you’re a branch and you’re not supposed to do anything except hang on to that vine? Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Well, that just doesn’t make sense. How am I going to give praise to. Praise to the branch? Well, you’re not. Well what motivation then do I have? You don’t have any, except the fact that you’re in Christ. See, it’s so hard for us because we want to be what petted on the back. We want to draw attention to who? To us instead of to him.

And so he is saying to us, don’t put your confidence in that flesh. I want you to know Christ, and I want you to know the power of His resurrection. Now, guys, why does He say the power of His resurrection? Because that that’s where power comes from, is recognizing that I was dead and now I’m alive, and it says in the scriptures that I pray that you may have power, together with all the saints, to do something. Do what? Grasp something. What’s he wants you to grasp? How long and high and wide and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. How come so that you might be filled to the measure with all of the fullness of God? I want you to know the power of this resurrection. I want you to see that there is more to salvation than just the cross. Thank God for the cross, but that is what prepared us for this salvation. This is what prepared us for power to live the Christian life, because the power comes from the powerful One. I am raised from the dead because the life of Christ raised me from the dead, and how did he do that? Was becoming and living in me. That’s powerful, isn’t it?

And so he says, and I want you to know the power of his resurrection. I want you to know the power of the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and somehow to attain the resurrection from the dead. He’s saying that you and I have been raised spiritually from the dead, and there’s going to come a point in time when you and I will be raised from the dead physically. You say, well, when is this somehow to attain the resurrection from the dead? Well, it could be a point in time in the future when they say the Bible declares at least we interpret it that way, that there’s going to be a massive physical resurrection from the dead. Some people think that’s what happens at the rapture, is that the bodies of all believers are raised from the dead. I look at some of those things and say I’m not saying one way or the other, but I’m saying there’s certainly is a very logical explanation that that may not be true. That as far as you and I are concerned, one thing we know, and we really kind of know a span of years that it’s going to occur, and that’s our death. I don’t think there’s too many people out here that think I’m going to live to be 150 and I’d say to you, what in the world would you want to, for all your friends are going to be dead? Not even 120 maybe 100 but very few people, so you and I have a pretty good idea that at the best, the best of longevity, we only have so many years that we’ve got left, and at that 100 year list, I got about 25 years left, but I don’t think I’m going to last that long. I hope not, like I say, all my friends will be gone.

Click to Donate to Bob George Ministries

Check out our website, Shop.BobGeorge.net. Let’s join Bob. Now as he continues the radio program.

Announcer
Classic Christianity Radio thanks you for your support of our online and radio ministry. Make sure to visit BobGeorge.net to order a copy of the closer look Bible study series. A Closer Look Bible studies features eight in depth study guides that detail hundreds of Bible verses to help you deepen your understanding of the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ a closer look. Bible Study Guides are an excellent tool for both individuals and larger Bible study groups. Please visit bobgeorge.net to order your copy of a Closer Look Bible studies, as well as many other wonderful books, CDs and study guides. With your support, we can continue to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Let’s continue now with our Classic Christianity Radio program.

Bob George 14:45
But we do have a timeline, don’t we? A pretty good indicator of how long it’s going to be. Well, what’s going to happen when I die? My body, this physical body of mine, is going to go into the grave, is it not? And when it goes into the grave, it either is going to go into the grave, or if I die in a shipwreck, it’s going to go into the ocean, going to be eaten by whales or sharks or fish. If it goes to the ground, it’s going to be worm food. If I’m in a plane crash and it burns up, it’s gone, and this body came from the dust, and it says it’s going to return to the dust, and we’re told in the scripture that flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God. Now that tells me something about this body of mine that is made up of flesh and blood, it ain’t going to heaven, not the body. The body is a temporal house, it’s temporary, and so it’s going into the grave. The real you is the invisible you, the real you is who isn’t there. When you look at a corpse, I’ll never forget of going the first time of seeing my dad in a coffin. Hadn’t been many days before then, I was talking to him. In the coffin. It wouldn’t make any difference how much I was talking to him, he wasn’t going to talk back. If I tickled him, he wasn’t going to laugh. He was gone. And the first thing that came into my mind when I saw my dad in the capture casket was, Dad isn’t there, body’s there, but Dad isn’t there. He’s gone now. The issue is, where did he go? And the scripture tells us that if we’re born again, that we go immediately into the presence of God, absent from the body, present immediately with the Lord. That’s what the scripture tells us, absent from the body, present with the Lord.

Now Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you. And we all envision these mansions, great big mansion to live in, you know, gold appliances, all kinds of stuff. I don’t think that that is the case at all. I think where he’s gone to prepare a place for us is our body. I think it’s a glorified body we’re going to live in, and I personally believe that we get that at the very moment that we’re absent from the body and present with the Lord. I really do. I don’t believe that we have a body, a house to live in here, and the minute we die, we’re homeless. So, I think we get a glorified body at that time. Now, that can be debated, and if you have a different thought than that, that’s okay. I’ve thought that way for a lot of years, as well, I’m not dogmatic on it. I’m just saying I lean more toward that than I do the other. Lot of times people will talk about, well, what about the rapture? And, of course, the big question at the rapture was that when the Lord comes and we believers are going to go into the presence of the Lord, what about those people who died before the rapture? Where are they going to go? How are they going to get there? And we’re told that they are preceding the people who are left at the rapture. Well, is the rapture that these bodies that we just got through talking about are never going to inherit the kingdom of God, that these bodies all float up into heaven if we’re never going to inherit the kingdom of God, or does God do some kind of a magical deal in killing this thing off on the way up and getting you a new one on the way up, because there you know, you said otherwise it’d be here, or could it be that at the rapture that the Christians go into the presence of God, their bodies are left here, and the lost people have to bury us, by the millions, and it could not make sense that that the Antichrist could say, ‘See, there, I told you God’s judgment was going to come upon these troublemakers. Look at them, there’s all their bodies strewn all over the place. God’s judgment came upon them. Now you follow me. So, it makes sense. It could happen. Yeah, could happen. Do I know that that’s going to happen that way? No, but it could. So I’m not going to get dogmatic either way on it, but I am saying there’s two things that are there. One thing I do know, my flesh and blood ain’t going to inherit the kingdom of God. That means to me that it ought to stay here, and if that’s the case, that eliminates his body floating into the air at the rapture. Now it may be bad interpretation, and that could be, but I’m just saying, don’t close your mind to something, because it could be that way, but in either case, do any, does anybody really care? No, I don’t care. It doesn’t bring an ounce of difference to me. I’m not going to bury anyone. I’m not going to be here to bury anybody when that occurs, whether I go one way or the other. I’m going to be in the presence of the Lord, but at my age, my chance of being in the presence of the Lord by natural death is a lot more easy to understand than waiting on rapture to occur. I’m not saying it couldn’t occur, but I’m saying that the older you get, the realize that probably the next event, major event, my life is going to be being absent from the body and present with the Lord, not at the rapture, but at death. And there’s where I want to go meet the Lord.

So he says to there that I want you to attain this resurrection of the dead. Paul said, not that I’ve already obtained it or have already been made perfect. Now, again, the scripture says that we have been made complete in Christ, but I think what Paul is saying here is the fact that yes, you are complete in Christ. As a matter of fact, if you go over to verse 20 in the same chapter three says our citizenship is it doesn’t say will be but it says our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a savior from there the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies, so that they’ll be like his glorious body. So we know that’s going to occur, and we’re going to get a new body. Our lowly bodies are going to be transformed in some way that we’re like his glorious body, so we know that’s going to occur. So Paul’s talking about his completeness, but he says, in essence, that I haven’t been made perfect, all of these things have not happened yet. So, the completeness he’s talking about is not my completeness in Christ, but in my experience, this has not occurred yet. But I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. And brothers, I don’t consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do very important for us to remember: forget what’s behind and strain forward to what’s ahead, press on to the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus, guys, forget the past. I’m amazed at how prone we are to dig up the past, especially if there’s something wrong. If somebody did something wrong in the past, how easy it is to keep little things just bringing it up as if it happened to you, you wanted to remember it. When Paul tells me to forget my past, I’d like to forget it. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I don’t know too many people that have a past that was so wonderful that they would just like for everybody to see it. Everything that I ever thought or said, I just love to see on that screen out of here about.

Guys, it is not pleasant if you have had an unpleasant experience in the past, or you’ve done things in the past that just dumb, stupid things that you’ve done. It isn’t pleasant to bring them up. It isn’t pleasant to think about them. We kind of think, well, the more you think about them, the more you won’t know do them again. Very opposite, that isn’t the grace of God teaching you to say no to unrighteousness. It’s using the law of God, and so he’s saying we need to learn to put our past behind us. We can’t change it, can we? There in a thing in the world that I can do to change my past. I wish I could sometimes. There are some things that I would definitely have changed, but I can’t. It’s gone. It’s over. It’s like trying to take back words that you’ve said to somebody, go give it a try. It just a thing going to work, I. So he says the only thing I want you to do is to forget the past, forgetting what’s behind you, it’s over, it’s done, but you see, because as we talked a little bit last week, because we’re made in such a way that our emotions are going to predictably respond to whatever we’re thinking, the only time I can feel something is right now, but I can motivate this now feeling by thinking about what I did in the past. So, when I’m thinking about the mistakes that I made in the past, my emotions don’t know whether that’s past or present or future, they’re just responding predictably to whatever I’m thinking, so I can make myself totally miserable today by being preoccupied with my past. Can’t you? So he says, forget it, and it says love doesn’t keep bringing it up. So, if God is saying for you to forget your past, He’s telling your mate to forget your past, and vice versa, and quit bringing it up, and let people live in peace. So Paul is saying, forget what is behind straining toward what’s ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. and all of us who are mature should take a view of these things, and if on some point some of you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Let’s not live up to imagination, but live up to what we have now attained in Christ Jesus.

Announcer 27:11
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 will 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.