Radio Broadcast Wednesday 01/22/2025

Classic Christianity – Book of Romans P42 (01-22-25)

Jesus is the Righteousness of God To Everyone Who Believes

~ Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge. Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law, to bring righteousness to everyone who believes. Romans 10:1-4

Jesus is my Righteousness directly from God. My self righteousness is but filthy rags to God. No one has righteousness apart from Jesus. Yet people are out there trying to establish their own righteousness. No matter what people hear, no matter what people read, most are believing Satan’s lies. They think they are righteous in the sight of God based on what they do or don’t do. News alert. NO one will be declared righteous before God by observing law.

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.

~ “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:12

~ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; the one believing in Me, even if he should die, he will live. And everyone living and believing in Me shall never die, to the age. Do you believe this?” John 11:25,26
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For concerning the righteousness that is by the law, Moses writes: “The man who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down) or, ‘Who will descend into the Abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”

But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.

It is just as the Scripture says: “Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Hebrew and Greek: The same Lord is Lord of all, and gives richly to all who call on Him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

But I ask, did they not hear? Indeed they did:

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.”

I ask instead, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says:

“I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation;

I will make you angry by a nation without understanding.”

And Isaiah boldly says:

“I was found by those who did not seek Me;

I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me.”

But as for Israel he says:

“All day long I have held out My hands

to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

Romans 10:1-21

Pray to God:

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

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

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.”

~ “So he says, you’ve stumbled over this stumbling stone. You’ve tried to get religion. You’ve tried. How many times are people and we hear this all the time, well, I’m a Lutheran, or I’m a bad Well, I’m a Catholic and I’m a, I’m a, I’m a, I’m a, and I say, Why do you identify yourself for where you go spend an hour on Sunday? Is that who you are? I’m not a Baptist or a Presbyterian or a People to Peopler. That’s where I go. Tell people I go to the bathroom too, but don’t want to be called a toilet. You have to understand that this is that you’re not your identity is not based on where you go. Your identity is based on who you are. I’m a child of the living God. That’s the identity that God gave me. Presbyterians didn’t give that to me. Baptists didn’t give it to me. Jesus gave it to me, to as many as received me, I give you the right to become what? A child of the living God. That’s who I am. I’m a child of the living God who happens to be in the ministry. I’d be a child of the living God if I was a garbage collector, I’d be a child of the living God if I was an attorney, well, I’m not sure about that, but I’d be a child of living God if I was a medical physician. Because what those are just things I’m doing. And I tell people sometimes, who are you? I’m a surgeon. Who would you be if your hands were cut off? Who would you be? And you can’t answer that. You see, those are temporary things, but I’m going to be a child of the living God throughout eternity. And so are you, each one of you who are in Christ, Jesus, you have a destiny, and that you’re going to enter, one of these days, into the presence of God as a child of the living God. Come my son, come unto me. And that’s the good news of the gospel.” ~ Bob George

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Join Bob George in this chapter by chapter exposition of the letter to the Romans. Available for download the complete series on the Book of Romans. Romans has been described as the most dynamic, life changing document ever penned. It is a study in systematic theology, a defense of the Gospel, and a practical guide to Christian living all in one.

Announcer 0:12
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Bob George 0:29
What is Paul doing? He’s putting his dependency for meaning and purpose, to life, for acceptance and for love where? On God alone. Now, once that is done, then in marriage, you’re able to take a deep breath and say that needs met. Now I could start thinking about how to serve one another in love, which is what we ought to be doing in marriage. Don’t get married to get get married to serve. Here’s a woman that I want to serve for the rest of my life, and here’s a man I want to serve for the rest of my life. Why? Well, because my need for unconditional love and acceptance, meaning and purpose life has already been met in Jesus, so I don’t need to look to her to meet it. What I can do now is take a deep breath and think about how to serve somebody else in love. You see what we’re getting at.

Now, as an example, you come to me and say, Bob, I really need some counseling. I haven’t eaten in three weeks. Do you how interesting Do you think I’m going to be in your marriage problem? Give me a McDonald’s and a milkshake, and then we’ll talk about your marriage problem, because I’ve got a physical need that’s got to get met. I’m starved. Do you get what talking about, until that need is met spiritually, you are not in a position to serve one another in love. You’re just not. You’re not ready. And that’s why it’s so important for us to come to Jesus and to not just to come to him with verbiage and words, but to come to Jesus with our whole hearts and come to him to receive what He came to give you. I have given you everything that you need for what? Life and for godliness. I’ve given it all to you. Now rest in that. Love me back. I love you perfectly. Love me back. It’s the most natural thing for us to do, let that need be met in me and you will be free to love one another and to let the love that I’ve given to you spiritually flow through to the body of Christ, on the level of the soul and the body and marriage.

So he says, you’ve stumbled over this stumbling stone. You’ve tried to get religion. You’ve tried. How many times are people and we hear this all the time, well, I’m a Lutheran, or I’m a bad Well, I’m a Catholic and I’m a, I’m a, I’m a, I’m a, and I say, Why do you identify yourself for where you go spend an hour on Sunday? Is that who you are? I’m not a Baptist or a Presbyterian or a People to Peopler. That’s where I go. Tell people I go to the bathroom too, but don’t want to be called a toilet. You have to understand that this is that you’re not your identity is not based on where you go. Your identity is based on who you are. I’m a child of the living God. That’s the identity that God gave me. Presbyterians didn’t give that to me. Baptists didn’t give it to me. Jesus gave it to me, to as many as received me, I give you the right to become what? A child of the living God. That’s who I am. I’m a child of the living God who happens to be in the ministry. I’d be a child of the living God if I was a garbage collector, I’d be a child of the living God if I was an attorney, well, I’m not sure about that, but I’d be a child of living God if I was a medical physician. Because what those are just things I’m doing. And I tell people sometimes, who are you? I’m a surgeon. Who would you be if your hands were cut off? Who would you be? And you can’t answer that. You see, those are temporary things, but I’m going to be a child of the living God throughout eternity. And so are you, each one of you who are in Christ, Jesus, you have a destiny, and that you’re going to enter, one of these days, into the presence of God as a child of the living God. Come my son, come unto me. And that’s the good news of the gospel.

Now he said to the Hebrews, they were stumbling over this. They were trying to gain their acceptance through their religion and through their their acts of righteousness, and through their good deeds and through their tithing records, and just like us today. And he says, You stumbled, you’ve missed the point. It says, See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame, never. Now Paul is saying something that is almost that is amazing. He says, Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. Now Paul is saying that even though it is God’s will that none should perish and all should come to repentance, is that God’s will? We’re told that, aren’t we? It is God’s will none should perish, all should come to repentance, and yet are all going to? So even though that is God’s will, you see, some people put this sovereignty stuff and say, Well, wait a minute, if it’s God’s will, that’s it. That’s it. Well, that would be it. If we were all made robots. Were you made a robot? Were you given a free choice and a free will to choose right from wrong good from evil? Didn’t Adam choose? Didn’t he have the right to choose right from wrong, good from evil in the Garden of Eden, what did he choose? Chose the wrong way. And so you see, we were given a choice, and because God’s sovereignty gave his creation a choice that’s a part of his sovereignty is I gave you the ability to choose, just like I God can choose now that means that even though it is my will, if I was God, that you wouldn’t perish and all of you would come to repentance. That does not mean all of you are going to choose to come to repentance. That doesn’t mean that. That means some are going to say, I’m not going to do that. I don’t want to do that. I don’t need Jesus, even though it’s God’s will, and God is sovereign, but part of his sovereignty was giving man a choice. All of you have choices, all of us have choices. And so because we have the ability to choose, even though it’s God’s will that none should perish and all should come to repentance, he knows full well that our all aren’t going to and so does Paul. Unfortunately, there are people today that don’t know that, then they go out and teach and everybody’s going to be saved because it’s God’s will. That’s about some nonsensical teaching you can come up with.

Brothers my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. I would pray that they would be saved. You remember where Paul later, another point, said I’d give up on salvation for the people, my own people of Israel, for I can testify about them. They’re zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Folks, you got two camps of people, one who have a zeal for God but not in accordance with knowledge, and another that are always studying and never coming to truth. You got those two extremes, the peril of the pendulum. Some that are constantly studying never able to come to truth, and the others have a zeal for God, but it’s not according to knowledge. You can see that in denominations, I can I can name them, not going to take a name denominations, they have a zeal for God. They don’t have an ounce of knowledge. All is experience. Everything’s experience. And don’t have to make a difference whether it cares, whether it’s true or not. It’s all experience. Then you got people, it’s all tradition. I don’t know where it’s true or not, don’t care, but it’s tradition that’s our tradition. And Jesus spoke to that issue is you follow your traditions, but you don’t come to truth. And so you those, these kind of things that Paul’s talking about here, as it related to the Hebrew and Gentile is very much evident in our society today, since they did not know that righteousness that comes from God, and there’s the key from they sought to establish their own and they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

You got two kinds of righteousness, self righteousness and God’s righteousness. Self righteousness makes God sick of his stomach. People who walk around thinking they are so righteous. And again, guys, I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I have difficulty getting my arms around somebody, anybody thinking that we’re so good that God would accept us because of our goodness. I have trouble with that. Now, if you knew me, you’d know why I had trouble with that. But the issue is, I have trouble with that. I have trouble with how could anyone be so deceived as to thinking the of the purity of God and that I could walk into his presence with his purity, walk into there with no thoughts at all that I’ve ever done anything wrong. I’ve just been as good as gold all my life. Nothing wrong with being good, but if you think you’re good, something’s wrong with that. If you have led a life that have been sheltered from a lot of the things of the world, praise God for that. Praise God for that. Don’t sit around thinking, ooh, look at me, how wonderful I am. Just praise God for it. That’s the attitude of, I thank God I’m like a sinner like him. I’m pointing to Paul over here, thank God, and I’m not that attitude. And then the other guy that says, oh, Lord, have mercy upon me a sinner. Now, which one’s going to get into heaven? Lord, have mercy upon me a sinner, not that I’m so glad that I’m not a sinner like him.

And so we get these attitudes, that we kind of get our little standards, well, I’ve never done this and this and this, so therefore I’m better than you, because you’ve done this and this and this. And again, if you haven’t done this and this and this, praise God, you’ve been saved from some garbage in your life, if anything, that you’ve been saved from. Praise God for I’ve never used drugs. I don’t think you could tempt me with drugs. I think you could put me in a room, this room full of drugs, it wouldn’t tempt me at all. Never used them, never had a desire to. Now that’s the only thing I can think of that I’d never be tempted about. That’s the only I’ve thought about that too, given some thought about that, it’s the only thing I can think of, but it’s not a temptation. Well, what I sitting around saying somebody’s taking drugs, ooh I’m much better than you are. I don’t, I don’t take drugs, but you do. Now, what kind of an attitude would that be? And yet, there are people who carry those kind of attitudes. Yes, and folks we’ve those are the kind of attitudes that God wants to get underneath the skin and to show us they are not attitudes of God. If you have not done something, if you’ve not been tempted to do something, if you’ve not fallen into temptation to do something, Praise Jesus for it. Thank God for it. But don’t look down on others who have because they’re going to look down on your weaknesses as well. And we all have them, don’t we?

So he says, instead of establishing this righteousness that comes from God, they sought to establish their own. Now look at this next verse, folks. Verse four. Christ is the end of the law. The end of the law. Now, guys, how much clear does this statement need to be? I mean, do we need the Greek on this? Christ is the end of the law. How come Christ is the end of the law? What’s it say? Guys, so that there may be righteousness for everyone who does what? Believes. Will anyone ever be declared righteous in the sight of God through the law? Are we all together? Then that’s why Christ is the end of the law. Then what was the purpose of the law? To show us we don’t have any righteousness. The purpose of the law is to show a man his sin, so that he will turn to Christ for salvation. The law is like a mirror. You look into the mirror and it says, Your face is dirty. Have you ever tried to wash your face in the mirror? You can’t wash your face in the mirror. You hear a tapping on your shoulder, and you turn around and there’s Jesus, who says, Bob, what did the mirror show you? Said, my face is filthy. He said, Do you want it cleansed? So I sure do. He said, turn to me and I’ll cleanse you of all your unrighteousness and give you life. The mirror has done its work, and now he’s going to do his.

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Bob George 13:58
Christ, the law showed me I’m a sinner. The law said that as a sinner, The wages of sin is death. Now we say, Oh no, it’s out of fellowship. There’s no in and out of fellowship in the Bible, you’re either in the fellowship, saved or out of the fellowship, lost. Fellowship in the Bible is two fellows in the same ship you’re either lost or saved. The law did its work. It showed me I am a sinner, and the law says that, under the law, the wages of sin is what? Death, and that means that I am dead. Now, if that’s all there was, that would be pretty grim news. But again, you hear the tapping, and it’s Jesus saying, Come unto me. Come unto me, Bob and I’ll give you life. I am the resurrection. I’m the life. And whosoever believes in me though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? And you say, Yes, I do. He said, come and be my son. The law did its work. Jesus did His. Christ is the end of the law. There will be no one will ever be declared righteous in the sight of God through obedience to the law. If the law could give life, it says, Then Christ died for nothing. The law cannot justify you. There’s only one thing the law can do, and that is, kill you. It it came to be your instrument of death, so that you would turn to him for life. The law didn’t cause you to die. It showed you you were dead. And once I see that I’m dead, I either can remain there, or I can turn to him for life, and that’s your choice, remain dead or turn to him for life.

People say, what do you have to give up? Nothing. You give up being dead. You give up thinking stupid. Give up a lot of wonderful things. It’s not what you give up, it’s what you get. God is not interested in what you have in your hands. He’s interested in your hands. Do I have to give up smoking? No. God ain’t interested in your cigarettes. He’s interested in you. Now, when you come to him, he’d probably like you to smell a little better than you do when you’re smoking. But the issue is, God wants what? He wants your hands. He doesn’t wants what’s in your hands. Says, Come to me. I’ll teach you. Come to me. I’ll take care of these things you don’t have. You don’t have to leave them behind. That was why I didn’t come to Christ. Probably 10 years earlier, I went to Billy Graham crusade. What I heard Billy Graham say was, you got to repent of all your sins and come to me. Well, I had about that time, about 30 years of broken New Year’s resolutions to prove I couldn’t give up my sins and I wasn’t going to be a phony. I knew full well, I can go down there on that baseball field, but I’ll be right back in the bar with my buddies tomorrow, and I’m not going to be a hypocrite and so, but that’s what I heard. Had to repent of my sins. There’s only one sin attributable to man. What did you do with my son? There’s only one question God will ever ask you. What did you do with my son, Jim? What’d you do with him? I sent him to you to die for you. I sent him to you to be raised from the dead, to give you life. What’d you do with him? Jim says I accepted him as my Lord and Savior. You’re in. One question. Why won’t he question you about your sins? Where are your sins? Behind the back of God, never to see them again. How many of them? All of them. How many people did that cover? Everyone from Adam forward to eternity. The sins of the entire world were placed upon Jesus. Does that mean universal salvation? No, because salvation is not getting your sins forgiven. Salvation is receiving life. And it says in him, you have what? Redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Where is the forgiveness that was provided received? In him. Where is the money that was put in your bank account, received? In the bank. See how simple it is in the bank. And that’s why you come to Christ for life. And when you come to him for life, you receive everything that he provided for you all in him.

And so Christ is the end of the law, folks, we’re not under the law. You’re led today by the grace of God and by the Spirit of God, who lives in you. Why do we think God gave you His Spirit? He gave his life for you, to give his life to you, to live his life through you. Why did he give his life for you? So that he could give his life to you. Why did he give his life to you? So that he could live his life through you. He said, You’re a branch. I’m the vine. Can a branch produce fruit? The only thing that a branch, the work of a branch is to abide in the vine. Period. That’s why Jesus said the work of the ministry is to what? Abide in me. Period. The work of the branch, and you’re a branch and I’m a branch, is to abide in Him and let Him produce his life in and through you. Now, if you’re truly in Christ, and you’re truly abiding in the vine, is that vine going to produce his life in and through you? And if you don’t see fruit, something’s wrong. You’re either not connected or you’re not abiding. Only two things. You’re either not connected, you think you are, but you’re not, or you’re not abiding. You’re not trusting Him to do in you what he said he alone could do, produce fruit. What’s fruit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, long, suffering. Against these things. It says there is no law. You can’t make a law on those things, that has to be produced by God in and through you and me. And I said, all of those things is fruit. It’s not fruits. It’s fruit. When you’re abiding in him, all of those things are going to become more and more evident in our lives, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. All of those things are going to become more evident. Again, guys, when those things are not evident in your and my lives, there’s only one sign, either you’re not connected or you’re not abiding. Now, all of you know who’s connected. You know whether you’re connected or not, don’t you? And I do too. I know when I’m connected, and I know I am connected forever. Am I always abiding? Some of you were real anxious to say, un ah, in your life, are you always abiding, always trusting, and when you don’t trust, does any of that fruit come out? What comes out? Anger, bitterness, resentment, jealousy. I could go on, couldn’t it? Where did it come from? My flesh. My flesh. Not complicated at all. I’m not abiding in the love of God. I’m abiding in my desires of my own flesh. There’s your conflict between flesh and spirit. And so again, it’s not something that we have to sit around and analyze. It’s just very simple, I am refusing to abide in the love of God and to allow God to live his life in and through me. There’s the Christian life.

And so Christ is the end of the law, so that there may be righteousness for how many people that believe? Everyone. How many of you know right now that in the sight of God you’re as righteous as say —? How many of you know right now in the sight of God you’re as righteous as the Apostle Paul? How many of you know right now that in the sight of God you’re as righteous as Jesus Christ? Now here’s what you see. You see Amen. You see look around, yeah. Then you see people saying, what is that idiot saying? He is saying that we’re as righteous as Jesus. Now again, who is your righteousness? It is because of him that you are in Christ, Jesus, who has become for you Your righteousness. So who is your righteousness? Christ, Jesus. How righteous is he? He’s pretty righteous. So again, how many of you know that if you’re in Christ Jesus, that in the sight of God, you’re as righteous as Jesus? That’s good. Now we’ve eliminated this.

Now, do you have to take that by faith, and without faith what is it? Impossible to what? Please, God. Does God want you to walk by faith in that truth? And you’ll have some people say, Oh, that you’re just being hypocritical the way you just acted. God says no, I’m walking by faith in that regardless how I act, because my righteousness, in the sight of God, is not dependent on how I act. My righteousness is dependent on who I am. I’ve been given that righteousness. I may not act it, but I’ve been given it, and so I’m going to walk in it, aren’t you? And that’s the joy of the Christian life, is to be able to walk in that assurance, to be able to walk to realize that I’m here on this earth, there’s I got a big sign in front of me that says, under construction. We’re still in the process, are we not of being developed and refined and molded into the image of God? Are we not? When will that end? The day that we die and are absent from the body and present with the Lord, the day that that occurs in any one of our lives we go into the presence of Jesus, seeing him as he is, and becoming exactly like him. Is that something to look forward to, or something to remorse over? It’s something to look forward to. And that’s why in Christ, we can say, for me to live is Christ, for me to die is gain. Paul says, As far as I’m concerned, I’d rather be with God, but if you want me here for a while, I’ll be here for a while, and that’s the attitude that we should have and accept on this earth. To those that are left behind it’s sad when you lose a loved one, until you continue to realize where they are. I would not bring my mom and dad back for all the T angina. They’re in the presence of Jesus. They’re without illness, sickness, pain, seeing all this garbage that’s going on in the world, including the Super Bowl the half time. Not having to see that garbage, not having to be around it, it’s gone. It’s over. They’re living in the presence of Christ. Would you want to bring them back? Not for a minute. And that’s why we as children of God are able to walk on this earth not fearing life, because we do not fear death. That’s a wonderful thing to know. Now folks, this is what the Christian life’s about. We’re here for a short while, and then we go and the issue is where we’re going to go.

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.