Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P455 (7-12-19)
So many people are in bondage due to error, whether from legalism or from false teaching or harsh, condemning words they believed to be true. Todd expressed the error he has heard from Baptist churches, that is really double talk, that only leads to being unstable in all your ways and living a defeated life. How can someone say you have to confess your sins to keep in fellowship with God and also say all your past, present and future sins have been forgiven? There is so much incorrect teaching from a poor translation of 1 John 1:9 and from passages in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, where people do not understand the difference between the Old Covenant that the Jews and Jesus lived under and the New Covenant that Jesus spoke about. Because of such error, people are living defeated lives and certainly not the abundant life Jesus promised. Salvation is also not properly taught or understood.
Here is the problem. We stopped at the cross for salvation. The cross does not save anyone. The resurrection is what saves you. The cross was preparatory for salvation. It was something that had to take place in order to bring salvation to us. Salvation is being saved from the consequences of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is life, and the only life available to us is the resurrected life of Christ Jesus. That is precisely why the apostle Paul said that without the resurrection, we are to be pitied of all people, and are still in our sins, knowing full well that a cross had occurred where Jesus took away our sins, but also knowing, that that forgiveness that was provided for all mankind at the cross is only received in the resurrected life of Christ Jesus.
Jesus had to eternally take away the sins of the entire world in order to offer us resurrected life. Sin is what caused death. If he gave me life but did not eternally take away the cause of death, which is sin, then the next time I sinned I would die. In order to get eternal life, the cross had to be eternal in nature. When you do not teach that then you take away a person’s security in eternal life. If you say, “but I do believe I have eternal life”, but then Satan comes along and says, “you are out of relationship with God”, do you believe his lie? So whether out of fellowship or out of relationship, it seems you would have a problem with God. The issue is you do not have a problem with God. God has a problem with that teaching.
A letter Dennis had written was shared on the air. He expressed gratitude for the truth he heard and came to believe about the pure grace of God and how he was trapped in legalism with the mixing law and grace. The law only serves to kill, to point out sin, and grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, where mercy and grace came to man to the giving of new life.
Janine called to get answers with her problem with guilt over the sin of adultery. She is truly broken and was being told she is forever condemned for that sin by her daughter, since, as she was told, she has children by two different husbands. Bob shared truth with her pertaining to the gospel in Jesus Christ. She was bound in error from Catholic teaching in regards to infant baptism and such teaching as mortal sin that has her bound in condemnation. As she hears the truth of the grace of God in Jesus Christ, she receives new life and is born again, has become a child of God, a new creation. There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
The only way you can be condemned by God is if you reject Jesus Christ. Sin is the unbelief in Jesus. These other things, fornication, adultery, filthy language, are also sins, but Jesus, over 2000 years ago, stood in our place. The punishment we justly deserve, Jesus took the punishment of that for us, standing in our place. He stood in your place. The wrath of God was heading your way but Jesus took away your sins once and for all. But then he was buried and was raised again from the dead so you can have eternal life. You do not have to clean up your act. You do not have to do anything other than receiving the free gift of eternal life. To those who have accepted this free gift, then there is therefore no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
I am not talking about water baptized or joining a church but I am talking about developing a relationship with Jesus Christ. There is only one way to do that is to be born again with the Spirit, to receive Christ Jesus. As you lived your life and carried out on a day to day basis, you experienced emptiness in life. You probably looked at yourself in a mirror and said “something is wrong with me” or “something is missing and I do not know what it is”. The answer to that, what is missing, is the life of Jesus Christ.
He wants to come inside you, live inside you and give you a solid foundation in order to live your life on. He said he came to give you life and have it abundantly. There is only one way to receive that life, and this is faith in Jesus. It is not coming to be water baptized or not doing this or that. It is simply receiving the gift of life. It is a very simple thing to do. You express by prayer, the attitude in your heart, of faith in Christ, and that faith saves you, so you receive the Spirit to dwell in you.
Todd from Duncan, British Columbia
He goes to a Baptist church, but what he heard from his church is in conflict with what he heard Bob teaching. Once you confess your sins to Christ and accept Jesus in your heart, it is done. That is what he has held on as truth. Yet, there is much talk about the need to confess your sins to God to keep your relationship with God on a daily basis and grow in maturity. That does not ring true to him. The passage in 1 John 1:9 is what continually gets brought up. He called because he wants clarification on the truth on this topic.
It is the only scripture they can cling to. It is amazing how people take one verse out of the bible and form a whole theology around it. There is no scripture in the bible that speaks about positional forgiveness, forensic or judicial forgiveness. Can you imagine some theologue standing at the base of the cross, with the bible tucked under his arm, tilted a little to the right side, looking up at Jesus, who is bleeding and dying to take away the sins of the world, and say to him, “Is that positional forgiveness or forensic forgiveness?” So ludicrous when you stop to think about that truth.
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.
Hebrews 13:5
because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Hebrews 4:16
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
When Jesus cried out “It is finished”, he meant just what he said. It is finished. When people talk about “in and out of fellowship”, there is no scripture that gives any indication of that. You are either in the fellowship, saved, or out of fellowship, lost. That is bible teaching, not Baptist teaching or Campus Crusade teaching. If you study that scripture enough, then the truth is clear. If you are a baptist, you just go along with it. And so people just hear it often enough to repeat it to someone else.
Todd says he has no joy telling a drug addict to come to Christ to get sins forgiven and you have to keep it up. He has to know forgiveness is there and joy is complete.
Here is the problem. We stopped at the cross for salvation. The cross does not save anyone. The resurrection is what saves you.
Romans 5:8-10
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were (past tense) still sinners (lost), Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood (accomplished fact), how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
10 For if, while we were (past tense) God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son (accomplished fact), how much more, having been reconciled (accomplished fact), shall we be saved through his life! (his life saves you)
The cross was preparatory for salvation. It was something that had to take place in order to bring salvation to us. Salvation is being saved from the consequences of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is life, and the only life available to us is the resurrected life of Christ Jesus. That is precisely why the apostle Paul said that without the resurrection, we are to be pitied of all people, and are still in our sins, knowing full well that a cross had occurred where Jesus took away our sins, but also knowing, that that forgiveness that was provided for all mankind at the cross is only received in the resurrected life of Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 1:7
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
In Him, you have redemption, the forgiveness of sin! Where do you get that forgiveness? In His resurrected life.
Do you walk the aisle and come forward to get sins forgiven? No, if you do come forward, you should come forward to get life.
You already have forgiveness but that forgiveness is received in his resurrection.
So all the emphasis is on the cross and not on the indwelling Christ Jesus, who lives in us. So people concentrate on what people think salvation is, and how I keep salvation, the cross, the cross, the cross.
Jesus had to eternally take away the sins of the entire world in order to offer us resurrected life. Sin is what caused death. If he gave me life but did not eternally take away the cause of death, which is sin, then the next time I sinned I would die. In order to get eternal life, the cross had to be eternal in nature. When you do not teach that then you take away a person’s security in eternal life. If you say, “but I do believe I have eternal life”, but then Satan comes along and says, “you are out of relationship with God”, do you believe his lie? So whether out of fellowship or out of relationship, it seems you would have a problem with God. The issue is you do not have a problem with God. God has a problem with that teaching.
2 Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Peter 1:3 (ESV)
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
Hebrews 9:28
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
Hebrews 10:4
It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
God has clothed you in His righteousness, given you everything you need for life and godliness, he had taken way eternally the cause of death, which is sin, in order to give you life eternally. No, he has no problem with you at all. He has a problem with that teaching. Most baptist preachers pound that down the pulpit, with one side of the mouth saying, “Your sins are forgiven, past present and future” but then with the other side of the mouth say, “if you confess your sins, God will forgive you”. That is double talk and causes a man to be unstable in all his ways.
James 1:8
Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
Your view is the minority view and hard to find a church that teaches that pure grace teaching. Todd says he still stumbles on stuff and constantly feels defeated.
There is no place in the bible except in the gospels, such as the Lord’s prayer. How can you reconcile what sounds contradictory when you read it?
Matthew 6:15
But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
2 Corinthians 5:19
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.
How can you pull those verses together if you do not understand the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Bob said he never heard a teaching on the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. (Hebrews is a great resource in the bible that contrasts the Old Covenant with the New Covenant while explaining the New Covenant.) So you have all those kinds of seeming contradictions.
In 1 John 1:9, John is addressing the Gnostic. The Gnostic problem is dealing with those who claim they do not have a sin nature.
1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
So when someone is cleansed out of all unrighteousness, can he not sin in the next hour? If so, would he have all his sins cleansed?
We never had any righteousness of our own. We have imputed righteousness. So if we have no righteousness of our own, then does more righteous get imputed? And how can we get cleansed of all unrighteousness, when there is none there, having already been all cleansed out? Either it is all cleansed out or it isn’t?
The literal translation of that verse is dealing with a person claiming to be without sin and who is sinning against the knowledge of the truth.
1 John 1:8-10
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
If there is no truth in him, then he does not have Christ in him, and he is still dead in his sins, and is lost.
2 John was written to a special lady.
2 John
1 To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth — and not I only, but also all who know the truth—
2 because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:
3 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.
The truth lives in us and will live in us forever. So if truth is in you and will be with you forever, how can you say you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you?
So 1 John 1:9 is not talking to saved people but is talking to lost people.
The “if” is an “if” with a doubt. In the Greek, it is an aorist past tense. It could be expressed this way.
“If you ever come to your senses, and I doubt if you will, but if you do, he is faithful and just to have forgiven you and having cleansed you from all unrighteousness”
It is a past act with a continual effect. It is not a movie camera but a snapshot. It never gets translated in that tense. So problems are in translation. But if you ever go to a Greek scholar, who is honest, and who studies it, then that is the only conclusion he can come up with.
Tracey from Albany, New York
She called while driving in her car. She knows it is wrong to take her own life. She wonders why a merciful God would not take her in her sleep.
Bob replied, “Because it is not your time to go. Why do you want to die?”
Tracey said, “There is no love and happiness in my life.”
Bob asks her, “What is your relationship with the Lord?”
Tracey replied, “I think he does not care about me anymore?”
Bob then shares truth to help her see her erroneous thinking so she can get a hold of truth that will set her free.
That is built upon your own understanding. Jesus said he will never leave you or forsake you. He says that nothing can separate you from the love of God.
Hebrews 13:5
because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Yet you are saying he is separating you from the love of God. You have to ask yourself if you have ever experienced a relationship with Jesus Christ. Your depression comes from unrealistic expectations toward people and misplaced dependencies. Any dependency you have except Christ is a misplaced dependency for meaning and purpose for life. Expecting other people to love you is an unrealistic expectation of people to love you.
1 John 4:7
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.
Tracey replied, “I do not expect everyone to love me. I just wish someone did.”
There is one who does and he is Jesus. That is where you have to place your dependency, on Jesus Christ.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
You have been injured and insulted and rejected by people. I got news for you. You also have injured and rejected other people. In this world you will have tribulation and you will be the cause of others tribulation. That is because we are fallen people. So we have to get back to the point of are you complete.
A light bulb is spectacularly made. When you look at a light bulb, it will not function without being plugged into electricity. If a light bulb is not plugged into electricity it will not light up the room. It will not function according to the purpose it was manufactured if it is not plugged in.
Tracey asked, “How do I plug into the love of God?”
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
That is a question I will answer for you. God living in us is indispensable to our true humanity. God made man to be indwelt by God because God in the man is indispensable to the humanity of the man. When man is born without God living in him, there is a longing for something, for something missing, meaning and purpose,, the missing ingredient to life. Bob did not come to Christ until the age of 36. He realized what was missing was the Spirit of God living in him. He was running around like a car not having a spark plug in him.
1 John 5:11-12
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
If you were the only person here on earth, he would have died for you. He did this because of love. Jesus entered spiritual death with us so that through the resurrection, you can come alive in Him. Until you come alive in God, you are always searching for love, in frustration until you come to faith in Christ. You come to faith in Christ by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9). You recognize that what God said about you is true.
Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 8:11
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
All have sinned but he came to give you life. Jesus is saying, “I went to the cross to take away sins from the eyes of God and was raised from the dead so that the life that raised me from the dead will raise you from the dead and to indwell you eternally with the promise to never leave you or forsake you. He came to give you the Spirit of love, joy patience, kindness and all those things. All that is needed for you to receive the Holy Spirit of God is for you Tracey to say this is true.
Galatians 5:22
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Until you come into this relationship in Jesus Christ, you will never find the love, joy and peace you are looking for. You will not experience this until you come into contact with the author of that love, joy and peace. You simply believe in your heart, “I want you Jesus to come into my heart to be my Lord and savior. Thank you that you took away my sins never to see them again and that you entered into my spiritual death with me so I can enter your life with you.
Tracey replied, “That is all you have to do.”
Yes. You will be a new creature.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
If you believe that to be true and you are willing to accept that by faith, then I suggest you express that to God by prayer. You are not saved by prayer but prayer is a way to express that to God verbally. Everything you desired can be filled by having Christ Jesus in you. If you want to do that and ar willing then I am ready to pray with you right now.
Tracey said she is more than ready. So Tracey repeated after Bob these words in prayer to God, expressing her faith to Him.
“Lord Jesus, I need you. I thank you for dying to forgive me of my sins, to take them away from the eyes of God, never to see them again. I thank you for giving me your life, your resurrected life. I ask you to come into my heart to be my Lord and Savior and my best friend. In Jesus name, amen.”
Tracey, based on the word of God, it says that to many as received him he gave the right to become a child of God.
John 1:12
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
You just received Him didn’t you? What have you now become? Tracey replied, “a child of God”. I too am a child of God. So what does that make us? Tracey replied, “Brother and sister”. Yes that is correct and you have entered into a larger family of believers that are here for you. You have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.
Colossians 1:13
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves
You are a child of God. That is your identity, a child of God, from this day forward. You are not a baptist or a Catholic or anything else. You are a child of God.
1 John 5:12
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
What do you have? Tracey said, “Life”. Until you accepted the Son, you did not have life. Now that you accepted Him, you have life.
Tracey asked, “Is there anything I need to do now?”
Just grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. You are a child of God and just let Him help you grow. Do you have a bible? She said no but she knows where to find one. You are like a child coming out of a womb saying, “What do I need to do now?” Just feed on the milk of God’s word. Hold on the line and I will get you some materials that contains instruction from the word of God that will help you get started in your new life in Christ Jesus.
2 Peter 3:18
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
1 Peter 1:23
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
