In this thought-provoking episode, Bob George dives deep into the hearts of believers, emphasizing the transformative power of living a life dependent on Jesus and His grace. Exploring themes of critical attitudes, self-righteousness, and the struggles many face within faith, Bob provides listeners with insights into the challenges of practicing true forgiveness and letting go of resentment. He argues that real freedom comes only by holding steadfastly to God’s truth. Furthermore, he reflects on how God’s grace is not about human achievement but about the humility to accept that everything is through Jesus.
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.
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If we live a life as a born-again believer, If we live a life of dependency in Christ Jesus, and you feel that you are living a life in dependence upon Christ Jesus, thank God for that. But don’t look at others as if they’re not, or try to gauge who is and who isn’t. We have to understand, folks, that you cannot live your life in that way and call yourself a born-again believer. If you don’t have mercy in your heart, Don’t call yourself a born-again believer because you’re saved by the God of mercy. If we cannot forgive others as Christ Jesus forgave us, do not call yourself a born-again believer because you’re indwelt by the one who hung on a cross and said, Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing. And so we must understand these things, folks, that these are all attitudes of the heart that God wants to change in us. Because there’s not a one of us. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care how good of a life you’ve lived. If you have, praise Jesus for that, guys. I know many, many people who have grown up, and they grew up in a Christian home, and they grew up with Christian foundation, grew up with Christian principles, and Christ is their life, who were saved of all kinds of things in their life because of that truth. And you thank God for that. People who grew up even legalistically and were saved, you praise God for the legalism because it scared the daylights out of you from doing anything wrong. But if it did, it accomplished a purpose until such time that you could understand that, wait a minute, this is all God’s grace. And if God has saved you from all of these things that you can have into the world, promiscuity, drunkenness, drug usage, pornography, all of the different things that we can think of, or just being mean, spirited, or being critical, or being non-forgiving, all of these things, you can’t say one is worse than another. If those things have not been a part of your life, praise God for that truth. Thank Him for it, and thank Him for His mercy that has kept you some way, because that’s not the case with most people. On the other hand, if you’ve lived a life that wasn’t that way, and you’ve lived a life that you’re not really, you wouldn’t sit down and want to write a newspaper article about it, Praise God he saved you. Praise God he isn’t through with you yet. In other words, guys, start praising God. Start praising him for whatever condition you’re in. If you’ve been saved from things, praise him for that. It’s his grace that brought that about. If you haven’t paid any attention to him in periods of your life, and yet to recognize that God has forgiven you and he loves you, praise him for it. Everything we do is worthy of praise, is it not, in this world? Now we pick up in verse 27. They did not understand what he was telling them about the Father. And Jesus said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you’ll know that I am the one I claim to be, And that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. Guys, how many of you have difficulty with a critical spirit? Can I see your hands? Now let me see. Now how many, okay. Now how many of you are liars? Now let’s put that down. Yeah, there we go. Do we not have a tendency to be extremely critical of others? And you know when you get right back to it, the root of that is self-righteousness. I’m better than they are. But we still do it. Well, what are you going to do with that type of thing? Well, he says that he’s talking about the fact that what we’re doing is not speaking what God has said through us, but we’re speaking, again, leaning on our own understanding. Do we have a tendency to lean on our own understanding? Absolutely. Absolutely. But Jesus, who was God, said, I don’t say anything unless the Father tells me to say it. I don’t do anything unless the Father tells me to do it. I live in total dependency upon my Father to do and to say exactly and precisely what He wants me to say. Now, how many times do we do that? I had to laugh this morning. Amy told me that about 6.30 in the morning, that next door to us, why the neighbors have a couple of hound dogs that evidently were chasing some foxes or something next door, just howling to the top of their voice. 6.30 in the morning, just howling from one end to the other. Now, how many of you think Amy woke up and said, praise Jesus? Don’t you thank God for your animal life? Thank you for those sweet voices going woof, woof, woof at 630 in the morning. I don’t think she said that. Now, she didn’t tell me what she said, thank goodness. But I don’t think she said that. It just shows us, folks, that when we’re counting on our own righteousness, you may as well forget it. We don’t have any. We only are clothed in his. Isn’t that good to know? that we are indwelt by his righteousness. It is because of him, God, that we are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us our righteousness, our holiness. He is our everything. And so Jesus is saying, I don’t speak anything unless the Father tells me to do it. Don’t you wish we could do that? Only speak what the Father tells us to speak. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him. Wouldn’t that be a nice thing to be able to say? That all my life I’ve done nothing except what pleased God. But even as he spoke, many put their faith in him. Now to the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said to them. These were the Jews now that he came into his own life. And he proclaimed his message of grace. And I want to tell you folks, for a Jew to believe what Jesus was teaching, you talk about a miracle, that is a miracle. Those people were steeped in self-reliance and in religion, were they not? They were steeped in it. They had all of these rules and laws and regulations that they tried never to violate one of them. They did, but they tried not to. And here’s this message of pure grace entering into the population of that self-righteousness. A message of grace. And some of them, their hearts were open to Jesus. And they immediately responded to this good news. And they believed in his name. And so he said to them, if you hold on to my teaching, you are really my disciples. In other words… I don’t want you to grab a hold of this, and we’ll study this in one of our other lectures about the different soils. I don’t want you just to grab a hold of this thing and then let go of it. You remember we talked about in the book of Hebrews where it talks about the fact that you have this idea of forgiveness where Jesus came and took away the sins of the world, and yet the Jews were going back to the Day of Atonement. They grabbed a hold of this teaching that Jesus died for the sins of the world. But then they grabbed a hold and went back to their tradition and going back to the Day of Atonement. And that’s what he is saying is if you have heard the truth because you’re sinning against the knowledge of the truth, that there’s no repentance because you’ve never really changed your mind. You’ve only given lip service to it. So Jesus is saying, hold on to this teaching. Don’t be swayed to get back under the law once you have come to a knowledge of the grace of God. Don’t be swayed that you’ve got to get back under the law. And he said, if you hold on to my teaching, you really are my disciples. You have people who are called my disciples, but you really are my disciples. Why? You’re holding on tenaciously. You’re holding on to the grace of God that’s been given to us in Christ Jesus. Because, my friends, there’s all kinds of opposition to this teaching, is there not? There’s all kinds of opposition to it. People don’t want to hear about grace. Why? Well, because I can’t make myself look good. How many of you think you can make yourself look good under grace? Think about it for a minute. You see, because grace doesn’t have anything to do with you. It’s got everything to do with him. How many of you think you can look good under the law? Oh, I can look good under the law. You just tell me what to do, I’ll go do it. And I’ll get the praise. And I will look good under the law. You can’t look good under grace. That’s why people don’t like it. Grace is a period of humility. It’s an attitude of humility of saying, it’s all Jesus. It’s none of me. If it wasn’t for Jesus, I wouldn’t be saved. If it wasn’t for Jesus, I wouldn’t be here. If it wasn’t for Jesus, I would have no life. If it wasn’t for Jesus, I would have no forgiveness. It’s all him and none of us. But under the law, you can make yourself look good to others. To others, but not to God. So he says, hold on to this teaching. And when you hold on to this teaching and don’t get swayed, you’re going to know the truth. And the truth will do what? Set you free. Set you free. What do you need to be set free from? A lot of times, resentments. I may have ever been resentful toward anybody. Do you want to get set free from it? Or do we want to hang on to it? Because if you hang on to it, what’s it going to do? Destroy you. Am I right or wrong? It isn’t going to destroy the person you’re resentful toward. Nine times out of the ten, they don’t even know you are. But it’s going to destroy you. Will it not? If you hang on to resentment toward people. You have people that hang on to… And you run into a lot of this. Resentment toward their church. And you hear people say, well, I was in church all the time. Why didn’t they teach me this? And I say, did you have a Bible? If you had a Bible, you could have learned it. If you had sense enough to study it. I said that. Lord, how come you had to wait 36 years to save me? You know, how come that dumb church I was in didn’t teach me right? It was like he said, Bob, did you have a Bible? Well, yeah, I did, but I never opened it. So we get resentful over these type of things. We build resentment into our hearts. And that resentment is going to destroy you and me if we allow it to continue to fester. You can’t live with resentment toward people unless you want to destroy yourself. That’s suicide, guys. That is literally committing suicide. I’m going to destroy myself so that I can hang on to this resentment. How many of you have ever been injured or insulted or rejected by another person? See your hands? Let me ask you another question. How many of you have ever insulted or injured or rejected someone else? It would appear to me about the same number of hands, doesn’t it? What does that tell us? In this world, you’re going to have what? Tribulation. What is that tribulation? Getting injured, insulted, rejected by other people. Now, folks, again, when that happens to you, you have options available to us. We have options that say, I’m going to hang on to that rejection. I’m going to hang on to that resentment. I’m going to continue hanging on to that just like a dog hanging on to a towel. Or I’m going to let go of it. I’m going to put it into the hands of God and let go of it. And we have an option to that, don’t we? We can choose either direction that we want to go. I can live with resentment or I can let go of it. If I were to ask you the question, how many of you have ever experienced any kind of abuse from somebody? Maybe in your childhood, from your parents, even sexual molestation or whatever it might be. If I asked that question today, I’ll guarantee you I would see hands go up in this room and within the sound of my voice. The issue is, what are you going to do with that? Are we going to hang on to it all of our lives? Or are we finally going to release it into the hands of God and say, God, you cried out from the cross. Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.
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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.
SPEAKER 02 :
And whoever this person was that did something to you, you can cry out the same thing. Father, forgive them. They didn’t know what they were doing. Was it evil? Absolutely, it was evil. Was it bad? Absolutely it was bad. Can God take it and use it for good? Yes, He can. How? By teaching you about His comfort. By showing you what it means to be comforted by the hand of God. And so that we can reach out to others with that verse of Scripture, what a great God and Savior we have, who comforts us in all of our problems. so that we too can comfort others with the same comfort that we have received from God. Why does he allow us? And when I say that allow us, the reason he allows us to go through trials and tribulation is because he gave free will to man. And then as much as man has a free will, then man is going to choose to do evil if he so chooses to do so. And God allows that because he isn’t going to take the free will away from man. But why do we go through these things? Why do we go through these trials and tribulations that we go through? To give us comfort? You know, if we never had a trial or a tribulation, how do we ever understand grace? To give us comfort. How come? So that we can turn around and comfort others with the same comfort that we have received from God. Forgiveness. How many of you have somebody in your heart that you’ve never truly forgiven? Do you know when you don’t forgive a person, you not only punish yourself, but you absolutely punish the other as well? Forgiveness, to be able to say, I forgive you. You screwed up, and I forgive you. Greatest words you’ll ever hear. It’s almost like that commercial, thank you. Great words, I forgive you. And to allow that to be true in your life. That I know that there have been trials and tribulations. I know that there have been things that you have done and I have done that are so far out of God’s will that we don’t even need to talk about it. But I forgive you. The greatest words you’ll ever hear. Jesus Christ came to forgive. He died on a cross and suffered to forgive. And he says, forgive one another in the same way as I’ve forgiven you, forgive one another. And yet our old prideful hearts will sit there and hold on. I’d like to do that, but if I do, I might get hurt again. How many of you ever thought that? If I forgive this person, they’re going to do it again to me. What’s that called? Speculation. Fantasy. You don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know what’s going to happen. What I have learned in life, that 90% of the things that I worry about never do come about. How many of you have ever seen that take place? So Jesus was saying to us, if you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free, free from all of these demons, so to speak, that grab a hold of our minds, that grab a hold of our souls and keep us in bondage, because if you need to be set free, it’s because you’re not free. And no one is free apart from being set free in Christ Jesus. There’s no way to be free apart from being set free from the air that binds us. And the air that binds us is all through this world that we live in today. And the only truth that we’re ever going to go to to find out what is real is to go to the Word of God. It’s the only book on the face of this earth that you can go to and know that that when you pick it up, you’re going to read 100% truth. And that truth will set you free from the air that occupies our minds. The people answered him, we’re Abraham’s descendants and have never been a slave to anyone. He didn’t understand who he was talking about. We’ve never been a slave. Here these people were absolutely in bondage to the legalistic system that they were a part of, in bondage to the rules and regulations. But they were saying, no, no, we’re not slaves. How can you say that we need to be set free? There are people today who are sitting there, what do you mean I need to be set free? I’m already free. Jesus replied, I tell you the truth that everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now folks, look at this. Everyone who sins is a slave to sin. How many of you out here in this room and in the sound of my voice could say that you’re a slave to sin? If it says anyone who sins is a slave to sin. How many of you have sinned? How many of you have sinned today? What does he say you are? You’re a slave to sin. Now he says a slave has no permanent place in the family. But a son belongs to the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you’ll be free indeed. If you’re a slave to sin, you have to be set free from that. Now, what does that mean? Set free that you’ll never sin again? There are people who believe that, that you come to Christ and lead a sinless life. Have you ever heard that one? You’ll never sin again? I had a guy tell me that one time. I said, let me interview your wife. And he had the audacity to do so. He put her on the phone. But she didn’t stay on very long. Folks, when you’re talking about being freed, you’re talking about that if you’re a slave to sin, there’s a consequence, is there not, to sin? And again, what is the consequence? Death. And you’ve got to be freed from that. It’s not that you and I, as a born-again believer, if we ever sit down and think that when I became a born-again believer, I’ll never sin again. Is that practical? I mean, is there anyone who will go along with that? This room is just full of lost people. And you shouldn’t be listening to me because I’m lost too. Are we together on that? But the issue is that we’ve been set free from being a slave to sin. We have been set free from the consequence of sin, which is death by the gift of God itself. which is life. And when the Son has set you free, you shall be free indeed and free for how long? How long have you been set free from the consequence of sin, which is death? Forever. He said, I know you’re Abraham’s descendants and yet you’re ready to kill me. Why? Because you have no room for my word. Now, folks, these are religious people. These are people who know the word of God from beginning to end, and many times had the majority of the Old Testament memorized. And yet he’s saying that you have no room for my word in your heart. Now, is there any difference between what Jesus was speaking and what the Old Testament was saying? I mean, isn’t all that the Word of God? What was the difference in what Jesus was saying? He was teaching us the meaning of the Word of God. The Bible taught what it said. Jesus came and said, I’m going to teach you what it means. I want to ask you a question, guys. Do you put your faith in what the Bible says or in what the Bible means? Which is it? All together, what is it? What it means is, If you don’t know what it means, you don’t know what it says. And so a computer knows what the Bible says, but a computer does not know what the Bible means. Neither do you and I, unless Jesus reveals it to us. And that’s why you can be teaching in a Bible study. And if a person is not born again, you may as well be talking to a rock. And you can teach a person what the Bible says, and you can then teach them what it means because you are born again, and the Spirit of God has revealed to you what it means. And you can teach what it means to somebody who’s lost, as clear as a bell, as logical as you can get, and they sit there and say… I don’t understand that. How many have ever run into that? I don’t understand that. Let me see the hands. How many have ever taught a Bible study or been in one where somebody’s sitting there that is just dumb as dirt? I mean, they just don’t understand anything. Why? Because the Spirit of God doesn’t live in you. The Bible tells us that. If you don’t have the Spirit of God living in you, you do not understand what the Bible means. Now, you may be able to quote it all day long just like an actor as to what it says. But if you don’t know what it means, you don’t have anything to put your faith in. And so he says, even though you know what the Bible says, you have no room for the word that I’m giving you, which is what it means. You don’t have any room in your heart for that because you’ve already determined what it means by leaning on your own understanding. And so you don’t have any room for true understanding. All you’ve got room for is your man-made understanding. You have people today who have grown up with false teaching, unbelievable type of false teaching. And when you tell a person truth about that, there’s no room in their heart for it. This is what I believe. This is my tradition. I’ve been taught this. So don’t tell me these other things because I don’t believe them. There’s no room in my heart for truth. So he said, I’m telling you what I have seen in my father’s presence. And you do what you have heard from your father. I’m telling you what I have seen in the father’s presence. And you do what you have heard from your father. And they said, Abraham is our father. They answered. And Jesus said, if you were Abraham’s children, then you would do the things Abraham did. Catch this one. As it is, you are determined to kill me. A man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does. We’re not illegitimate children, they protested. The only father we have is God himself. And Jesus said to them, if God were your father… You would love me for I came from God and now I’m here. I’ve not come on my own, but he sent me. This is why my language is not clear to you because you’re unable to hear what I say. The language of truth of Jesus is not clear to a person who’s unable to hear what you’re saying. You can talk to a lost person. And the language that you speak, the language of God, isn’t clear to a person. A person whose heart is hardened by legalism, you don’t hear truth because you’re unable to hear what Jesus is saying. Here’s why. He said, you belong to your father, the devil. And you want to carry out your father’s desires. Folks, there’s two fathers. You got father the devil. And you got God the father. And you’re going to worship at the feet of one of those two.
SPEAKER 03 :
Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
Put Jesus first in your life and turn your life around.
