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.
SPEAKER 01 :
As I said, what was God doing with me? He’s not interested in pots and pans. But he said, Bob, there’s a character in you that I want to get rid of. And I want to get rid of that pride. I want to get rid of that idea that you’re too big or you’re too successful to admit to somebody that you took pots and pans. I want that out of your character. And he kept hammering me. Until I did what he asked me to do. What is that guys? That’s discipline isn’t it? That is God. It didn’t as it says in verse 11. No discipline seems pleasant at the time. I’ll guarantee you that didn’t seem pleasant at the time. But it seemed painful to me to do. But later, however, it produced a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. I obtained in my own heart a peace of God that passes all understanding by getting that off of my conscience and to admitting to somebody that I had done what I did. Does God do that with all people? I don’t know that’s between you and God you ever taken something from somebody that you should notify them about I don’t know that’s between you and God maybe so maybe not I don’t I can’t answer that question that is totally between you and God have you ever offended somebody and talk or deed or whatever it might be that God wants you to pick up the phone or call him back to say I’m sorry acted like a person didn’t know the Lord Maybe. I can’t answer that. That’s God’s discipline in perfecting you, not me. So we can’t answer those questions. But the issue is that if there is something and God has been prodding you, listen to his voice. Why? It’s going to bring what he says. It’s going to produce a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who’ve been trained by that discipline. It’s going to bring peace to it. And so therefore, he says, strengthen your feeble arms and your weak knees and make level paths for your feet so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. It says, make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy, to be set apart, because without holiness, no one will see the Lord. In other words, without your being set apart by God, you’ll never see God. Now, again, to make every effort to live in peace, if you decide to live in peace with somebody, does that mean that they’re going to want to live at peace with you? Did Jesus desire to live at peace with all of us? Yeah. Did all of us desire to live at peace with him? No, they nailed him to a cross. One day yelling, Hosanna, Hosanna. Look at the king that comes in the name of the Lord. The next day yelling, crucify him. And so we have to understand again true that this idea of this preconceived notion that we are the center of the universe means that if I am nice to Richard, he’s going to be automatically nice to me. And that may be true or may not be true. I’m just talking about a human being now. It may not be true. But the issue is, it says for you, go live at peace. Be at peace with all men. Don’t let unresolved conflicts get a hold of you. Why? Because it never lets go of you. Have you ever noticed how when you have an unresolved conflict with somebody, it never lets go of you? It’s there all the time. How many of you have noticed that to be true? It never leaves you. If you’re holding on to bitterness or resentment towards somebody, you are the benefactor of that. It never leaves you. You’re going to be miserable. That person that you’re mad at may not even know you’re mad at them. They’re living fine, but you’re miserable. And so if you have unresolved conflicts with people, it says in the scriptures to straighten that out because it’ll bring peace to you. If you don’t, you’re never going to have peace. So sometimes that doesn’t mean people are going to want to, again, have peace with you. There have been times in my life where I’ve called somebody in order to straighten out an unresolved conflict. Didn’t do any good. They didn’t want to straighten it out. What do you do with that? Say, praise God, I did what Lord told me to do. Now I’m going to shake the dust off my shoes and move on. But I’ve done what God said to do. I tried to make an attempt to resolve this conflict. It didn’t work with them, but it worked with me. And so he’s saying to us to don’t let these kind of things build up. Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be set apart from Because without being set apart, no one will see the Lord. How are people going to see the Lord unless they see the Lord living in us? And so if God said, I have set you apart to be my instrument here on this earth. In whom I can live my life in and through. And we say, fine, Lord, I’d see that you have set me apart. And so I’m going to be set apart for you to live your life in and through me. then I’m going to have to give up on me trying to live the Christian life, aren’t I? See, guys, think about it for a minute. If I could live the Christian life, in other words, when you say the Christian life, what is the Christian life? It’s a life of love. It’s a life of peace. In other words, the fruit of the Spirit is the life of Jesus. It’s a life of love, a life of joy, a life of peace, a life of patience. a life of kindness, all of those things, there’s no law. If I could produce those things in and of myself, what would I need Jesus for if I could produce them on my own? And if I did think that I was producing them on my own, what kind of a person would I be? Humble or egotistical? Which would it be? And so I have to come to a point of recognizing there is no way on God’s earth that I can produce agape love toward others. There is no way on God’s earth that I can produce the joy of the Lord because the joy of the Lord is the joy of the Lord. I can produce happiness, but not joy. Happiness is a word that is used, it’s an Anglo-Saxon word that was used, and the word is hap. And it’s based upon happiness is as a result of what’s happening. Good things are happening, therefore I am happy. But if bad things are happening, then I’m unhappy, right? Well, isn’t it interesting that there is a word unhappy, but there’s no word enjoy. Joy comes from the Lord. Happiness comes from circumstances. Joy comes from the Lord. There is no way for me to produce joy. It comes from the Lord. Patience. There is no way for me to produce God’s patience. If you see me patient, God is doing that. It isn’t me producing it. I can’t produce it. I don’t want to be patient. I’d rather be impatient because when I’m impatient, I can show you that I’m smarter than you are with my impatience. All of these things cannot be produced, guys, by anyone except God himself. And so Jesus gave us this illustration. It’s all a part of this thing of discipline. Discipline says you can’t. This is the way God has disciplined you and me every day of our life. Bob, you can’t. I can. Rod, you can’t, but I can. It’s all the way through. You can’t, but I can. And isn’t that a constant struggle? It’s what was talking about up here earlier. When it talks about the fact of this sin that so easily entangles us. What is this sin that so easily entangles us? The sin of self-reliance. In all things rely upon the Lord. Not on your own understanding. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways. And he will do what? Direct your paths. And so we have options. We can yield to the flesh and to go out and do it my way. Just do the old Sinatra song. I’ll do it my way. Or we can recognize the futility of that and decide to do it his way. Those are my options. I’m going to do it my way. I’m going to do it his way. If I’m going to do it his way, I need to keep my eyes off myself. If I’m going to do it his way, I’m going to keep my eyes off of me. I’m going to keep my eyes off of the fact woe is me. And I’m so unhappy. Well, that’s because things are not happening the way you want them to happen. What about joy? I know you’re not happy because things aren’t happening the way you want them to happen. So I know that. What about joy? Are you experiencing any joy? Joy has to come from the Lord. Love has to come from the Lord. Patience has to come from the Lord. Are you experiencing any of that? No, but I’ll try. Okay. No. No, you never experience it when you try. You’re only going to experience the Lord when you yield. Didn’t it say in the scriptures that we have the privilege of participating in what, guys? The divine nature that what? Lives where? In us. We have the divine nature of God living in us. Do you believe that? I mean, these aren’t words, guys. Some people are scared to death of this word Holy Spirit. And you find that in many evangelical circles. People that have a good grasp on the word of God, but don’t talk too much about the Holy Spirit. It sounds too charismatic. Well, I don’t care whether it sounds charismatic or not. It’s a reality that Jesus, through his Holy Spirit, lives in you. And that he is your guide. He is your discipler. He’s your teacher. He’s your life. He is your everything. This isn’t just words up there. This is a reality. There are many people who have theological knowledge of something and no experiential knowledge of it at all. Have not a clue experientially of what they say they understand intellectually.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
Keep your eyes upon Jesus. Fix them. Put your eyes there and keep them there. Not on ourselves. Make every effort to live at peace with all people. See to it that no one misses the grace of God. What’s he saying there to us? As far as you and I are concerned with our friends, our relatives, see to it that no one misses the grace of God. How many of you know people that are still bound up in legalism? We all do. You know what it says to us? See to it that no one misses the grace of God. In other words, what is our responsibility? If the grace of God is Jesus living in you and it’s our hope of glory is real to us, what’s the most natural thing we’re going to be talking about to people? The grace of God. Right? I don’t care whether they’re legalists or not. It doesn’t matter. That’s just where they are. That doesn’t mean they have to stay there. Many of you were legalists. I had a pastor one time went back to his congregation and said, you guys are going to need to get yourself a new Pharisee. He was a legalist, but he isn’t now. What happened to him? He got a hold of the grace of God. And he started learning about the grace of God. You’ve started learning about the fact that there is no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus. Started learning that your sins have already been taken away. You don’t keep begging for what you already have. Started learning that his righteousness that he stands in was imputed to him. It certainly wasn’t earned by him. Start learning those things and you start learning about grace. And it says then, see to it that no one misses the grace of God. And don’t you miss it. Boy, hang on to it. In your times of trials and tribulation and needs, hang on to it. That’s all you got to hang on to, guys, the grace of God. See to it that no one is sexually immoral or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. And afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit his blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no charge of mind, even though he sought the blessing with tears. All through the scriptures, it talks about that. Don’t sell your birthright for a pot of soup. Don’t be willing to sell what God has given you. In other words, to treat it lightly, what God has given you. For a promotion or whatever else it might be. You hold your ground. And if you believe something, don’t compromise it. A lot of times people get into job positions where they feel they have to compromise. I think it’s saying don’t do that. If this is true and you believe that with all your heart, that’s a part of you. And you can’t compromise it. People don’t like it. There may be some repercussions for that. But don’t compromise it. Talks about this, so no one be sure that no one is sexually immoral. Why does the Bible deal with that as many times as it does? It’s because of the ramifications of it. I sometimes wish that God had maybe dealt with us like the animal kingdom instead of the way He did. Because sex has become such a prevalent and prominent issue. And when it is misused, it can mess you up mentally and spiritually probably more than any sin that I know of. And that’s why I think that probably in this day and age with the computer age the way it is, that with all of the pornography that is on the internet, and I heard the other day where The income off of pornography exceeds the total income of ABC, NBC, and CBS combined. That’s pretty strong, guys. And I’ll tell you, there’s only one way to eliminate that, and that’s to get rid of it. If it’s in your home and you’re addicted to it, pitch your computer. Because otherwise it’ll control you. It really will. And so that’s why it talks about that as much as it is, and God’s trying to hamper your fun. It’s the fact of what that can do to you. And so he’s saying to be cautious about that. And then finally, he talks about the fact in verse 18, you’ve not come to a mountain that can be touched, that is burning with fire. It’s talking about Moses saying, encounter with god when he gave him the ten commandments he said you haven’t come to that mountain you haven’t come to a mountain that can be touched and is burning with fire to darkness gloom and storm you haven’t come to a trumpet blast or such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them because they could not bear what was commanded If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned. The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, I am trembling with fear. Guys, you haven’t come to that mountain. People say, are we free from the Mosaic law or are we free from the dietary laws? You’re free from all of it. You don’t go to Mount Sinai, period. Period. You go to the empty tomb. He said you haven’t come to that mountain. Moses did. That’s the law. But you haven’t come to it. You have come to Mount Zion. Not to the mountain where the Ten Commandments. But to Mount Zion. To the heavenly Jerusalem. Not the earthly. The heavenly. The city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly. You have come to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men. You have come to the spirits of righteous men made perfect. You have come to Jesus, the mediator of a what? New covenant. Not the old. You haven’t come to that mountain. That’s the law. You’ve come to the mediator of a new covenant. And to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. My folks, my friends, you and I are in the new covenant. A covenant of grace. A covenant that said there’s sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there’s no longer any sacrifice for sins. Do you believe that? Then why do we keep grabbing a hold of the law that kills instead of rejoicing in the blood of Jesus that gave us life? Why do we want to return to the do’s and the don’ts instead of go to the one who said, I will guide you into all truth. I will discipline you through your whole life. My words will be disciplining you. Don’t take light of them. They’re there for your good. And accept the beautiful discipline. That comes from grace. Instead of the condemnation. That comes from the law. We deserve the condemnation. But Jesus said no. I’ll take the condemnation. So that I can train you. In my way of righteousness. What’s our role in this? Believe it. Our role is to say thank you Lord. I know that I will be growing in grace for the rest of my life. I know that you’re not finished with me yet. I know that I got a great big sign on the front of me that says under construction. And I’ll be under construction until the day I fall into the grave and go to see you face to face and become like you. In the meantime, I’m not going to reject your discipline. I’m not going to walk in rebellion to your instruction. I’m not going to be arguing with what you say is right and what is wrong. But I want to, with your living in and through me, be your guy and your gal. And if you tell me to go tell Bernie about pots and pans, go tell Bernie about pots and pans. Let’s pray together. Father, we want to thank you again for your love for us. Sometimes it’s so much easier to just wallop somebody and punish them than it is to disciple them. It’s just easier. Just give them a good wallop and that’s it. But you said, no, I want to train you. I want you to know the meaning behind things. I don’t want you to just tell you don’t do something. I want you to know why it shouldn’t be done. It’s because it’s not for your benefit. It’s permissible, but it’s not profitable. Help us to see the wisdom of your discipline, Lord. And quit rebelling against it. And to learn to walk in the newness of life that’s been given to us in Christ Jesus. If we have habits that are contrary to your will, let us put those habits in your hands. Say, God, I can’t stop it, but you can. And I really want it to stop. It’s all you and none of us. We thank you for what you’re continuing to accomplish in our lives as we grow in the knowledge of your grace and love that draws us to the very heart of your being. And we thank you for these things in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord, and in his name. Amen.
SPEAKER 02 :
Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
