In this engaging episode, we delve into the book of Hebrews to explore the superiority of Christ over the prophets, Moses, and even the covenant itself. Bob George breaks down misconceptions about religious traditions, idolizing historical religious figures, and why truly understanding Jesus’ role is critical for personal spiritual growth. Dive deep into what it means to have Jesus as the constant in the variable experiment called life, shedding light on why the new covenant is pivotal for believers today.
00:00:04 Introduction to Classic Christianity Radio
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 02 :
You’re talking in the book of Hebrews of a message of superiority. You’re dealing with religious people who have had all kinds of concepts. Think about that, that before Christ Jesus came to this earth, that all you had was religion. God necessarily didn’t intend that, but man made it into a religion. And so we had all of these misplaced dependencies. We had all of these ideas, all of these theories that man can dream up, but it’s not backed up by anything. You know, in our own lives, you say, well, do you have an opinion on it? Most of us have an opinion on everything. It’s not backed up by anything, but it’s an opinion. And so… God had to intervene into our world in order to give us a constant that we can live by. A compass that we can know which direction to go to. A plumb line that we know what a line is. It was a necessity for us to come to grips with finality. We live in a world of existentialistic teaching. Everything is relative. There are no absolutes, and I am absolutely sure of that. But there are absolutes. And it’s not an are, it’s a he. And he has given us an absolute. We all know from our chemistry classes that you cannot do an experiment apart from a constant and a variable. Well, guys, I got news for us. We’re not the constant. We’re a walking variable, are we not? There is nothing consistent about you and me. We’re one way one moment, another way another. We think one way one moment, and we think another way the next. And if we don’t have a constant in our lives, how are we going to make this experiment called life work? Just think about it. We have no constant. We’re variables trying to make an experiment work. It won’t do it. And so therefore, until we get a constant in our life, this experiment called life is not going to function. And you and I know that from the years that we spent apart from the constant in our life, who is Christ Jesus. What life was like. You couldn’t come to grips with anything. You didn’t know for sure where you were going. You didn’t know why you were here. You didn’t know why you were made. We didn’t know anything. It’s like Von Braun said, I figured out how. To get a rocket from this earth to the moon and back. But I couldn’t figure out how to get along with my wife. And I realized there’s something wrong with me. And he came to Jesus. Brilliant man, but lost until he was saved through his relationship with Christ. And so in the Old Testament, you had the prophets. And in the first and second chapter of Hebrews, you’re going to be dealing with the fact that you don’t need to turn there because we’re just going to review here. But it is showing that Jesus is greater than the prophets. You had your prophets, but Jesus is greater than them. In times past. God revealed himself in many and various ways through the prophets. But, it says, in these last days, he has revealed himself to us through who? His Son, whom he made heir of all things. The Son of God. So, in the first couple of chapters of the book of Hebrews, you have the superiority of Jesus over prophets. Why? Because prophets were the only thing that people believed in. And he said, no, there’s someone greater than those prophets. Why? In chapter 3, he said he’s greater than Moses. Well, to the Jew, this was unthinkable that someone is greater than Moses. How could anyone get greater than Moses? And the Bible testifies to the fact that one came called Christ Jesus, who is greater than Moses. In the fourth chapter, it talks about Joshua, the one who led the two into the promised land. You remember we were talking about, folks, and this is something for us to keep very distinctly in our minds. that there were about 1,100,000 people that went free when the Jews were freed from Egypt and went into the promise, not into the promised land, into the desert. They roamed there for 40 years. Do you know how many people, and the goal of God for them was to enter into the promised land where they could eat from trees that they didn’t plant and drink from wells that they didn’t dig. And guess how many people Joshua led into the Sabbath rest? Two out of a million one. And folks, that is a condition of the Christian world today. We live in a desert. And we build what I call spiritual Las Vegas. We build our big buildings, our edifices. And we decorate them. And we have all kinds of programs. And we do things to go out and attract. We even bring hawks. into our place for a little bit. Anybody read about that? We’ve got a church that’s bringing the Hulk Hogan in. What’s he going to do, rassle us? And we have all of these kind of things that people think, just draw crowds and draw crowds. And what do you do? Draw lost people. So you’ve got bigger buildings to do what? House the lost. Folks, the goal of Christianity is not numbers and nickels. The goal of Christianity is spiritual growth, to come to know Christ and then to grow in him and to grow in grace. That’s the goal of Christianity, not to get numbers, but to get mature Christians. And so you had Joshua. In the fifth chapter, you talked about the high priest. Well, who could be higher than the high priest? He’s the only one who could actually enter into the Holy of Holies. But he said, no, there’s one greater than the high priest. It’s the high priest, and his name is Jesus. In chapter 6, you had an unthinkable thought that Jesus is greater than Abraham. That’s unthinkable. How could anyone be greater than Abraham? Father Abraham was How can anyone be greater than that? And the Bible gives this wonderful illustration. Well, hold on just a minute. Abraham, did he not, when he went in and overtook the city and plundered the place, did he not tithe to this man called Melchizedek? And he said, you do not tithe to someone lesser than you, only someone greater than you. So even the Old Testament testifies to the fact that there was someone greater than Abraham. And now there’s someone greater than Melchizedek. We then heard about the covenant. You have this old covenant. It’s a covenant of law. When God gave the law to the Israelites, he gave it to keep them from destroying themselves. You have to understand that the Israelites were under bondage. For all of these years, they were slaves. They did not know how to think. They did not know how to plan. A slave doesn’t think. He just works without wages, just works and works and works. And so here were these million-some people that all of a sudden were going to be freed, and they needed laws to live by in order to keep them from destroying themselves. And so he gave them the law. We took the law that God gave them to keep them from destroying themselves and made a point of righteousness out of it. And so we became law by obedience to the law. The law kills you. We’re told that now under the new covenant because someone greater than the old covenant came, a new covenant came that replaced the old. And we hear about that in the 8th and 9th chapter of the book of Hebrews. It’s a covenant of grace. Now a new will or a new covenant or a new testament does not go into effect until the one who made it, what? Dies. How many of you have wills? How many of you have made more than one will in your life? Which one is going to go into effect? The last one you made before you, what? A will, a covenant, a testament, interchangeable words. We have in our hands an old covenant, an old will. And we have in our hands a new covenant, a new will. And the new has replaced the old. Are we together? It is not that the old covenant is not true. It’s been replaced by There was nothing wrong with the old Victrolas with big old sound deals sticking out of them back 80 years ago. If you’re going to listen to music, that’s what you’re going to listen to it on. But it’s been replaced with higher technology. And so you don’t play your records on that. In fact, most people today wouldn’t even know what a record was. It’s been replaced. Nothing wrong with that. Doesn’t mean it’s not true. It’s just not applicable anymore. Old Covenant. Old will, Old Testament. It was, but it’s been replaced by some one greater. Are we together? How vitally important we keep that in mind. Because today, the Christian world is trying to live under both covenants. Paul addressed that in Galatians. You know what he called you? You foolish, idiotic, moronic Galatians. I’d say Dallasites. Who has hypnotized you and cast an evil spell upon you? He said, you used to see the meaning of Christ’s death as clearly as though I’d waved a place guard in front of you. He said, have you gone mad? Have you gone mad? I want to ask you one question. Did you receive the Holy Spirit of God through obedience to the law or by believing what you heard? Which is it? Well, by believing what I heard. Right. Then why are you so foolishly trying to improve yourself through human efforts when you came to him by faith? Commingling law and grace. Saved by grace, but trying to live under the demands of the law. You know what the Bible says about the law? Anyone who’s under the law is under a curse. You know why? If you’re under the law, you’re under all of it. You cannot separate the law from the punishment of the law. If you do, the law has no meaning to it. A traffic sign saying drive 35, if there’s not a penalty for going 55, you may as well have a potato on that sign for all the good it’s going to do you. Am I right or wrong? If you take away the punishment of the law, you take away the law. And so if you’re under the law, it says you’re under a curse. You know what the curse of the law is from God’s standpoint? What is it? Death. It isn’t a paddling. It isn’t out of fellowship. There is no place in the Bible of being in and out of fellowship. We teach that. Every time you sin, you’re out of fellowship. Every time you sin, God doesn’t look on you. So he’s up there in his chair spinning around. And he sinned. But he confesses, so I’m back. And he’s up here spinning around. Can you imagine how many times he’d spin just with this group alone? We’re taught that. It’s nonsense. There’s no place in the Bible about bouncing in and out of fellowship. You’re either in the fellowship saved or out of the fellowship lost. What is fellowship? Two fellows in the same ship. That’s fellowship. That’s fellowship. You’re either in Christ or you’re out of Christ. If you’re out of Christ, you’re lost. Your destiny is hell. If you’re in Christ, you’re saved. And your security is in heaven. Period. You’re no longer under the law. Why? Because you can’t live under it. And when you do, we get self-righteous, don’t we? Oh, I’m one law-abiding dude. You see, they thought they were doing great. Remember, we don’t commit adultery. You had some who were the shufflers that wore these things like horses on the side. They walked like this. Still see them today in Israel, walking like this. Why? So they won’t lust. Unless someone walks by with pretty feet. You know what God says? The law says don’t commit adultery. I say if you’ve looked at a woman with lust in your heart, you’ve already committed adultery. There is not a man or a woman on the face of this earth, according to God, who has not committed adultery.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
Is that right or wrong? Anybody in there say, not me? Well, you know what he said? If your eye causes you to lust, pluck it out. You a follower of Jesus? You ever lusted? What do you do with eyeballs? Do you realize that if we really were followers of what Jesus said, in other words, if we didn’t know the meaning of what he said, just of what he said, we’d all be sitting in here with sockets in our head. And I wouldn’t be able to see you. That’s the demands of the law. The law is that if you’ve gotten sin, I’ll paddle you. We have that. People say, oh, I’m going to send you to the woodshed. How many has been to the woodshed? No, it isn’t the woodshed. It’s death. Do we understand that, guys? The wages of sin is death. And when Adam sinned, what happened? Got out of fellowship? He died. He died. And all of us are born into Adam, dead spiritually. And what is death? The absence of life. What does that mean? We’re not born with the life of God living in us. We were created, Adam was created with the life of God living in him. When he sinned, the life left him. We’re born in Adam, dead spiritually. But with ability to choose. That was the whole plan of God from the formation of life on. I’m going to make a plan in my time. And guys, God let man go out in the energy of his self-righteous flesh and try for 4,000 years to prove he could live under the law. That’s a long time, isn’t it? To prove to yourself you can’t do it. And when the time was exactly right, he sent his own begotten son. And he sent his son to die. He had to be born before he died, but his goal was death. And the reason for that death was very simple. A sacrifice for sin must be made because without the shedding of blood, there’s how much forgiveness, guys? No forgiveness. Mark it. Without the shedding of blood, there’s no forgiveness of sin. Are we together? Now, has Jesus died for your sin? Did he shed his blood? Did he shed his life? How many times do you do that? Once. And for how many people? And for all. And for how long? Forever. When Christ went to a cross… There he who knew no sin became sin, so that I and you in him can receive life. What’s the problem of man, folks, if you’re dead? What’s your problem? You’re dead. We’ve concentrated on you’re a sinner. Hold on a minute. There’s a consequence to sin. It’s called what? Sin. I don’t think you’ve got to be a mental giant to figure out death is worse than sin. Sin caused death, did it not? Now, if sin is what caused death, and God’s goal was to give you life, what kind of life did He want to give you? Temporal life or eternal life? Eternal life. In order to give you eternal life, If sin is what caused death, what’s he going to have to do with sin? Take it away. For how long? And for how much of it? How much are you going to have to take away? If he’s going to give you eternal life, he has to take away eternal sin. Are we together? Do you see the practicality of this, guys? If I’m going to give these people eternal life, then I have to take away eternally what caused death. And what caused death? Sin. Whose sin? Ours. And that’s precisely what Jesus did when he went to the cross. There he who knew no sin became sin. So that we could become the righteousness of God where? In him. Now we’ve taken and Satan has been very clever in hiding that meaning. Because what we have done is concentrate on the cross and Instead of where you get life. You see, getting forgiveness does not bring life to the dead. How many people do you know that said, you know, I got all my sins forgiven. I’m saved. It’s taught universally. When Amy and I were in Russia, riding back to the airport with the pastor and his wife. Yeah, they’ve accepted the cross and they’re saved. And no, they’re not. The Bible tells you you’re not. It says in Romans 5, 8, that while we were yet sinners, that means lost. We were reconciled to God through the death of his son. You were born reconciled to God. How much more? Having been reconciled, this being an accomplished fact, shall you be saved by his what? His life. You’re not saved by the death of Christ. You’re saved by the life of Christ. What are you saved from? The wages of sin, which is what? Death. Death. Death. Forgiveness clears the deck for the divine action of bringing life to the dead. But salvation is in resurrection. That’s why Paul said without the resurrection we’re to be pitied of all people and are still where? In our sins. Knowing full well that Christ had taken away the sins of the world. But also knowing something that we evidently forgotten or never knew. And that is forgiveness. that salvation is in his resurrection. And so we put the emphasis on the cross instead of the empty tomb. Oh, the empty tomb, yeah, we talk about it at Easter, along with their Easter bunnies. But it’s just kind of a historical event that took place. And folks, for over 20 years on the radio, I’ve been asking people, What’s your definition of salvation? Folks, if you could hear, 90% Christ died for my sins. Christ died for my sins. Is that it? Yeah, that’s it. That’s not salvation. It’s part of salvation. Thank God for it. But in and of itself, it’s not salvation. You’ve got a death problem that has to be solved. And forgiveness does not bring life to the dead. Life brings life to the dead. And it’s not the life of a bowling goat, which was under the law. It’s a human life who was sent from God. And his name is Jesus. It’s the good news of the gospel. Now, folks, as we pick up this passage in Hebrews, an unbelievably important passage because… It’s saying to you, are you really saved? Because you’re saved when you’ve come to truth, not when you’ve come to error. Could you, as an example, be taught that the way you’re saved is to come forward and to take a wafer? And that wafer miraculously becomes Christ’s body. Could you be saved with that? I mean, guys, come on, are we awake? Could you be saved with that? Why? Well, it’s not truth. Now, you could sit and say, yeah, but that’s what my church teaches. I know. But they don’t teach truth. So you can’t be saved with that. We get down and say, well, now, what about babies? You know, that I’ve never had an opportunity to hear. What about dogs? Well, you see, so we got to do some of these babies. So we come down and we sprinkle them. And we bring little babies down to our arms. Everybody sits out in tears, falls down their eyes. And we put the, you know, we put the sprinkled little water on their head and say, they’re okay. Okay. Are they? Where do you read that in the Bible? Where are you going to go for truth? Are you going to go to tradition? Or are you going to go to the Bible? That’s going to be 90% of what I talk about on radio in Los Angeles. Where is your standard of truth? Is it the Bible or is it your tradition? Is there anything in the Bible about christening kids? Sprinkling water on anybody doesn’t save anybody. Gets them wet, but doesn’t save anybody. But your denomination teaches it. You see, you can come up with all kinds of ideas as to how you’re saved. People come up and say, well, when you speak in tongues, you’re saved. Really? Where do you find that in the scripture? I don’t know anybody that’s ever spoken in biblical tongues. I’ve heard a lot of gibberish. But I’ve never heard anyone speaking in biblical tongues because biblical tongues was a language. That’s understandable by a tribe of people or a group of people someplace. It isn’t gibberish that nobody knows what it is. It’s a language that could be interpreted. Have you ever heard anyone speak that? Never learned it? Amy speaks in tongues. She speaks Russian. She speaks German. Speaks a little Polish. She can speak a lot of languages. But she learned them. Now, if she had never learned them, never heard them before, and all of a sudden she was back in the back of the room, she stood up and started talking in, let’s say, what would be a language? Japanese. Started speaking Japanese. She had never learned Japanese and started speaking. I’d say, that’s tongues. But then I’d say, what are you doing that for? We understand English and so do you. But what are you doing that for? Doesn’t make any sense. Got that gift of tongues? Go to Japan. Don’t need to be here. You speak English, so do we. It’s truth. Now, folks, the truth that this passage is getting to is around the superiority of Christ. It isn’t Jesus plus Muhammad. Jesus wasn’t a prophet. He was God who came to this earth. God, who knew no sin, became sin. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word God became flesh, and dwelt among us as the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. He wasn’t a prophet. He was God. Now, it’s not Jesus plus a prophet, or Jesus plus Moses, or Jesus plus Abraham. It’s Jesus. It’s Jesus. Period. He is God’s representative here on this earth. He came to reveal truth to us.
SPEAKER 01 :
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’ll also find available CDs, DVDs and Bible studies available for purchase. It’s through your help that we are able to spread the good word of Jesus Christ. Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another and praise the Lord. Amen.
