Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P528 (04-10-20)
Synopsis
Have you ever wondered why someone you love is not acting like he is a Christian? He is born again, or so you thought, but his actions testify against him. Why is he going back to perverse behavior, behavior that only occurs among the heathen? There are two possible explanations. One he is not born again as you think he is, or he is born again, but is not paying any attention to God, and is acting in rebellion against truth. We cannot judge motives, but we can judge actions. So, if not certain of the evidence, then approach him in love, ask the questions that will draw him out, is your best option. You love him enough to tell him the truth. As a believer, we have the privilege to participate in the divine nature. That also means, we can choose to participate in the flesh. The flesh is contrary to the Spirit. We overcome the flesh by walking in the Spirit, putting to death the misdeeds of the body.
It is also quite possible that someone might have walked an aisle, thinking they are born again, but they did not hear the complete gospel. They heard a false gospel or incomplete gospel of just getting your sins forgiven, but did not know about coming to receive Christ for Him, for life. So many people, whether Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish, think you have to confess your sins to God, as if Jesus death on the cross did not take away the sins of the world. When Jesus shed his blood that was propitiation, completely satisfying the wrath of God against all sin, thereby taking away the sins of the entire world. So then, Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10 are about those who tasted the goodness of God, but never received life. They kept going back to the day of atonement. They never repented of what they were trusting in to be made right with God, and are making a mockery of the cross, insulting the Spirit of grace. Catholics confess to a priest or go to a confessional both to get their sins forgiven. The Protestants quote 1 John 1:9 t keep short accounts with God, as if that keeps them right with God, as if that continual confession takes care of future sins they do. You cannot go back to what you never had or never received, the Spirit of God living in you, the new life in Christ Jesus, for you never repented unto the receiving of that new life in the first place, for you never turned to trust that Jesus completed the work, that the work of the cross is finished, and have been offered eternal life, which you never received by faith in the first place.
Of course we confess sins as a believer, but not to God, by asking Him to do something He has already done, taken away all your sins. You confess your sins to one another, with the person you offended or hurt. You are instructed to confess your sins one to another so you may be healed.
Now, when walking in this new life in Christ, many questions come up, such as observing Christmas, or Halloween, or Easter. Most people do not know the history of such things, originating from paganism and even Satanism. They are essentially engaging in activities that they are not even aware of such associations. It is best to approach people in regard to those things, to those in ignorance, in the same manner in which the apostle Paul approached the Greeks, who had all kinds of idols, but were ignorant of an unknown God. Use such opportunities to present the truth concerning Christ, making the most of the opportunity.
But again, if observing any such holiday is sin to you, then do not do it, for anything that does not come from faith is sin. And those who do, do not look down on those who choose not to observe such holidays, particularly holidays such as Christmas or Easter, boasting that you do. To the surprise of most, there are believers who will not observe such holidays due to their past experience or knowledge they had in their former life.
As far as Halloween, most children do not even know anything about its association to Satan, although it should be evident as to its deception into the demonic realm, and parents should be on guard. Nevertheless, many just see it as a fun activity to do. Yet, a Christian adult should know better, and we are to be separate from the world, sanctified by God, not to be mixing the profane with the holy. It would make no sense for a believer to be celebrating Halloween. Why celebrate death with skull and bones on your front yard? But certainly you can hand out gospel tracts, as a means to reach people with truth. Let us not make such a big deal over it that we miss an opportunity to bring people to Christ, with wisdom like the apostle Paul did in approaching the Greeks, telling them about this God to believe, when observing “an inscription to an unknown god” on carved stone.
Even in holidays such as Christmas, people often associate that to celebrating the birthday of Christ. They know nothing of its pagan origins, of Semiramis and Nimrod and false worship associated to it, or the sacraments tied to it. People can be raised to know about Christ through Christmas and Easter holidays, but not know what the meaning of the cross is all about. Use these even greater opportunities to explain who Christ is and what he came to do, and did. For in these holidays, the name of Jesus is spoken of, so you have an easier means to introduce the subject of Christ Jesus.
Transcript
Star from Alexandria, Virginia
Star: I met him one year ago and married him and then take him to church and born again. After that, he does not want to go to church. Then, when I look at him, the way he corrupted his soul, with gay lifestyle. I have teenager at home. I do not know what to do. I thought he changed. I believe God that He changed him. But when I see lot of things he does, he acts like he is gay. God gave me a child from him.
Bob: I am not a 100% sure what you are asking, but see if I am right on this. Do you believe your husband is practicing homosexuality?
Star: Maybe.
Bob: So you are not sure. Have you asked him?
Star: No.
Bob: So he admits he is homosexual?
Star: Never
Bob: I do not know. If you are talking just because a guy walks funny, that is not always a sign of that, but it can be. You are just down to the point of honesty, whether or not you can trust your husband to be telling you the truth. When a person keeps saying they are not, and then, if you have those strong convictions, in some way, try to catch him in the activity. Outside of that, how are you going to know for sure? You say to a person, if he is doing something, and he says, “no I am not”, then you can say to him, “You are putting off some vibes to people to think that you are? So, I would learn to walk like a man. Is this a new deal, a new way of walking?”
Star: Looking at a man a certain way.
Bob: Normally a woman’s intuition is very valuable. I think if you are suspecting that, it could be the discernment God has given you in regard to your mate. I think I would challenge him a little harder on that. “I am not asking if you are a homosexual or not, but as far as I am concerned you are. You talk like it, you act like, your actions have changed that you have become effeminate. I want to know the truth. Whatever truth is, I want to know the truth. I do not want any more of this lying because it is too obvious to me what you are doing.”
Star: He says no. He goes to church with me, born again, then he does not go to church. I say to him, “How come you are not going to church anymore?” He says he has another religion, not Pentecostal, but orthodox or something.>/p>
Bob: I cannot help you on that.
Star: God, he can change, even if he was.
Bob: If you are truly born again, you are born again, but you still have the choice as to how you will live your life.
2 Peter 1:4
4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Bob: We have the ability to partake in the divine nature, which lives in us, and we also have the ability to partake in the yucky flesh that indwells us. It is a choice. If a person, all of a sudden, does not want to follow the things of Christ, but wants to go back and feed his flesh, to be perverted. Practicing homosexuality is total perversion.
Romans 1:21-28
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
Bob: It says, in the scripture, rather than retaining the knowledge of God, they sought to believe what they wanted to believe and started worshiping idols, starting lusting for other men. The root cause of that is they stopped continuing to believe the things of God. That has taken place, that he does not want to believe the truth of God. He wants to believe a lie, so now he is living, probably, what he was doing prior to marriage. He is with her, like a dog returning to his vomit, or he is born again, and again, has gotten back to practicing those acts. Yes, God can change things, but he will not impinge upon a person’s will.
Bob: You will have to get a reason. Try in some shape or form, short of hounding, but keep very, very close contact with what he is doing and who he is talking to, if you can confirm that.
Star: Is he okay to live with?
Bob: Again, I see a lot of attention on going to church. That is not a sign of being a Christian. A sign of a Christian is how you act at home. His problem is not that he does not go to church. His problem is he does not know the Lord, and if he does, he is not paying any attention to God. So you have to observe that and see what is happening. Sooner or later the gig is going to be up.
Star: God is going to show me too. He gave me my husband. He is born again. He can change. That is what I believe.
Bob: If he is born again, he has already been changed into a new creature. Now, whether or not he is following that or not we do not know. Sorry, I could not be of any further help to you. But, continue to observe and call back at any time.
Star: What about me? When see situation, I am not going to do this green card. Is that sin?
No. That is not sin. Those are legal things I cannot handle. You have to determine those things on your own.
Sheila from Plainsfield, Indiana
My husband and my niece and I got so much out of the radio rally on Friday and Saturday. To meet you two is just fabulous. It is like hearing you on the air. You are the same. You are real. You have been our teacher for a long time over the radio. It was just fabulous to meet you in person. The message is the same there as it is on radio. Everyone will know it is real.
2 Corinthians 3
2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Bob: It is our privilege. The main advantage in these rally’s too, is to put a face to the voice, and try not to suffer too much disappointment over that (laughter). For us to be able to meet you guys. We had such a wonderful group there. We got the opportunity of hearing so many stories of people who testified of their lives being transformed by the truths. Meeting people, like yourself, makes the conferences for us so worthwhile. We thoroughly enjoy ourselves.
Sheila: To me, you feel like no one is a stranger. You automatically feel like a family. You are not scared.
Bob: We have that in all of our conferences. There is nobody trying to impress anyone else. It is just a bunch of people saved by the grace of God and learned to love one another. It is a totally different group of people. When people understand the fullness of the grace of God, you become a different person than a person who is just religious.
1 John 4:10-12
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
Sheila: You feel truth. You hear truth and you live it. God has blessed you for being such a good teacher to people. No problem in understanding.
Bob: That is good to hear, for that is what the purpose of a teacher is, to teach for understanding, not to teach to confuse people.
Sheila: You give wonderful understanding. Nobody has a to wonder what you are meaning. You have no problem with that.
1 Thessalonians 2:8
8 Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.
Sheila: We miss you already. We had a great time.
Bob: Thank you so much. Say hello to your husband and to your niece. Give them a bug hug for us. We look forward to seeing you in the near future.
Jennifer from Decatur, Georgia
I have a two year old and I am battling with Halloween. As a child, I celebrated it. My husband did not. What is your thoughts on churches celebrating Halloween?
Bob: I do not think any of you celebrated Halloween. You went out door to door singing songs. I do not know what there would be to celebrate about Halloween. I did that every year as a child and certainly was not celebrating Halloween. I did not even know what it was. I think people make a mountain out of a mole hill on that kind of thing. I think children can have a lot of fun. I do not think that it enters the mind of most children’s mind that it is worshiping Satan or Halloween being a Satanic celebration of some kind. It is a day that has been put on the calendar for children to go out trick or treating. I think we do disservice to children when we do not pass out witnessing tracts that we offer. We offer a tool called, “Good Stuff”. We have been encouraging our people to put those tracts into the plate with candy. The first things the children reach for is the comic book that tells them about Jesus. We should be looking at those kind of opportunities.
Bob: How many people celebrate Jesus and do not even know that Jesus is God? How many people celebrate the resurrection and never come to the reality that Jesus was raised for you and me? Again, if you were sitting down and celebrating a Satanic day, then I would say, if you are a Christian, that would be unthinkable. You were not celebrating that, neither was your husband, nor was I growing up. You just got dressed up goofy and went trick or treating. I do not see anything wrong with that.
Darwin from Columbus, Indiana
Darwin: I want to thank you. Your ministry has helped me. I was raised in legalistic churches. I talked to you in the past on the air.
Bob: Thank you. I am much appreciative of that.
Darwin: Can you talk a little more about the finality of the cross again? That was one part of your teaching that helped me to understand, at least a whole lot better, of what I have in Christ.
Bob: Thank you, Darwin. I will not spend a whole lot of time on that. We do that every day. I think most people know where we stand on the finality of the cross. I will say this. You are testifying in your own life. Until a person comes to the realization of the reality of the cross, not head knowledge, but experience knowledge, they will never enter the newness of life to experience the fullness of God.
2 Peter 1:3-9
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
Bob: In other words, like Peter said, you may be saved but you are supposed to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;, and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if these are not yours in increasing measure, you are blind indeed, and have forgotten you have been cleansed of your past sins. That passage alone, unless or until, we can quit asking God to do what He has already accomplished and begin to realize that, if I am in Christ, because in Him we have redemption the forgiveness of sins, so to continue asking Him to do for you what you already have is not faith.
Ephesians 1:7
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
Bob: It is very much presumption if you think you are pleasing God. For then, something is wrong with your understanding. For without faith, it is impossible to please God.
Hebrews 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Bob: That is not faith. It is not faith to ask God to do what He has already done. Until we can finalize that truth and say, “I am a forgiven person, and rest in that truth, resting from your works just as He did from His.
Hebrews 4:9-10
9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.
Bob: That is all a part of entering the Sabbath rest. Peter says you cannot grow until you have finalized the cross in your own experience.
Bob: Again, a lot of the time, people mistake that with the confession of sin. You do not mistake those two. We are talking about asking God to forgive you when the truth is He already has. If I am going to walk by faith, then I am going to have to walk by faith in what is true from God’s standpoint and not what is true from a denominational persuasion.
James 5:16
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
Bob: Are we to confess our sins? The bible tells us to confess our sins one to another so you can be healed of the rift we have with each other. We spend all of our time confessing our sins to God instead of confessing them to people we have offended. The issue is, if God is telling me something, He is telling me something I have done to offend my brother. If I offended somebody, God puts on my heart to go and take care of that issue. If you have stolen something, He puts it on your heart to return what you have stolen. If you committed adultery with someone, then He tells you that you have done wrong, and to cut it out and go live a decent life. So God is continually instructing us as to what to do. If I did not agree with God in what He told me to do, then I am really in tough shape, for now I am in rebellion toward God. So we are continually agreeing, which is what confess means, and we have to go to the original, not our English translation, to interpret what confess means. In the Greek, confess means to say the same thing as, to agree with God. If we are sitting in rebellion toward God, we will not be in agreement with Him. But If I do agree with Him, and I insulted somebody, and God’s Holy Spirit is saying to me to go straighten it out, then if I have got any sense, I am going to straighten it out. Otherwise, I am in rebellion to God.
Charles from Fullerton, California
Charles: I have a problem with friends who turn to Hebrews 6. I heard this from you probably a thousand times, about this falling away.
Hebrews 6:4-6
4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Charles: First it was written to the Hebrews steeped in Judaism and not to fall back into it. That is what it is saying here. It is not talking about salvation.
Bob: It is talking to someone who has never had it, never born again. You cannot go back to what you never had. It is written to the Hebrew, and very applicable to people today. To them, he would be saying in that passage, if you heard. You cannot take one passage. You have to read the entire book of Hebrews in context. You have to go to chapter 6 and to chapter 10. In chapter 10 ,it tells us where the problem is.
Hebrews 10:26-27
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
Bob: In chapter 6, the same thing, you are sinning against the knowledge of truth. These are people who have once been enlightened. What were they enlightened to? Truth. How can you sin against the knowledge of the truth? By paying no attention to it. You would rather rely on your tradition. Today you have the same thing, in Catholicism and in Protestantism. If you are continually going to a priest to get forgiveness, you are rebelling against the knowledge of the truth. You are sinning against truth. There is no sacrifice for sins left (Hebrews 10:26). There are no beads to go through. No animals to go through. You are sinning against the knowledge of truth. The only thing you have to look forward to is raging fire (Hebrews 10:27). I am reading this right out of scripture.
When you have been enlightened, tasted the goodness of God (Hebrews 6:4-5), yet continue to go back to your traditions, it says that you cannot be brought back to repentance (Hebrews 6:6). The reason you cannot is because you never repented to begin with. As a lost person, you are crucifying the Son of God all over again (Hebrews 6:6). What is he talking about here? What do you mean by crucifying the Son of God all over again?
Hebrews 9:22
22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Bob: Since without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness, then what that means is you are crucifying the Son of God all over again to get forgiveness, for that is the only way possible, and it was already done. If God did not take away all the sins of the world, then forgiveness was not completely provided, and then you are calling upon God to go back on the cross and shed his blood all over again. You are holding onto stupid traditions, your sacrificial system, your confession booth, your 1 John 1:9, you are hanging onto everything except who came to take away the sins of the world. To me, when I read these passages, I think it is unbelievably sincere, and I think it is unbelievably convicting, telling people you are treating as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified us and you are insulting the Spirit of grace.
Hebrews 10:28-30
28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[Deuteronomy 32:35] and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”[Deuteronomy 32:36; Psalm 135:14]
Bob: We have people who call themselves evangelical and want to kick us off the radio because we teach the finality of the cross!
Charles: I told someone the other day that the only sin left in the world is unbelief in Christ.
John 16:9 (TLB)
9 The world’s sin is unbelief in me
Bob: That is it.
Charles: They do not believe that.
Bob: Then, they do not believe Jesus took away the sins of the world. They do not believe Jesus, in John, when he said, “the world’s sin is unbelief in me.”
Hebrews 9:28
28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Bob: Jesus, when he comes back, he is not coming to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. The reason he is not coming to bear sin is because he has already done it.
Bob: So look at what you are sinning against. You are sinning against the knowledge of truth when Jesus cried out on the cross, “it is finished”.
John 19:30
30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Bob: You are sinning against Hebrews, crucifying the Son of God all over again, and sinning against the blood of the covenant that sanctified. You are sinning against the revealed will of God in the bible because there is not one passage in the New Covenant that tells a believer to ask God to forgive him. Those people either forgot something that they should have known or we, basically, have forgotten everything we should have known. I do not think they forgot anything. I do not think they were brain dead. I think they knew something that we do not know, and we think we know something that they obviously did not know. They are there against the word of God. I am not going to stand against the word of God, and neither are you. It is finished. Thank God, that, in Him, I have redemption, the forgiveness of sins and so do you.
Charles: You are the only one I have heard to tell the truth of the bible from reading it. It just jumps off the page to you. You are the only one I heard that just goes strictly by what scripture says and tells the truth. I do not understand why other people do not get this, or if they are just staying in their traditions or what?
Bob: The one thing I do know is that I may be one of the only ones you are listening to that is not trying to control you. So you might try to tie those two together.
