Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P477 (9-27-19)
Transcript
Nick from Loredo, TX
Nick: I was listening to someone preach the other day. He said you cannot be a cafeteria Christian. What he meant was that you cannot be a Christian that just picks and chooses scriptures and live accordingly. It is either all of the scripture or none of them.
Bob: Well, that is not true. You certainly do not want to be living under the Old Covenant when it has been replaced by the New Covenant. I do not know what his theology is. Let us take two scenarios. If he is saying that we are just as much under the Old Covenant as the New Covenant, then that person is out to lunch. If the Jews could not live under the Old Covenant, we cannot live under it either. That is why God came to replace the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant is obsolete, old and aging and will soon disappear. We do not live under the Old Covenant. We live under the New Covenant.
Hebrews 8:13
13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
Nick: Why is it that a lot of the ministers under television do not realize what you are saying?
Bob: There are a lot of those people that do not realize. For one, many do not know the Lord from an apple tree, but are just charlatans.
Nick: Why are churches so full of such?
Bob: Think about this for a minute. When God led the Israelites out of Egypt, then they went into the desert for 40 years. Do you know how many people entered the Sabbath rest? Only two out of over a million and a hundred thousand people entered the Sabbath rest. Just two! If you do not think there is a remnant of people who will ultimately get out of the desert and into the Sabbath rest, that is always going to be a remnant of people. Whenever you see masses like that you will find people still living in the desert. I call it a Las Vegas religion, big buildings, big cafeterias, big programs, big all kinds of things, drawing thousands of people who have settled for the desert instead of entering into a rest, entering a rest from their works just as God did from His.
Hebrews 4:8-11
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 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. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
Bob: So do not look at Christianity as a popularity contest or an election. It is a remnant of people that are not only going to enter a Sabbath rest but also into heaven. Many are called and few are chosen. We have to understand the truth of that. You have people who are so prone to believing anything except the truth. You can tell a person about the grace of God and they say, “it is too good to be true”. You can have someone say, “I have a handkerchief hand-dipped in the Jordan river and you can send me a hundred dollars and I will send you a handkerchief and all your prayers are answered” And a person believes him and says, “lead me to the handkerchief”. Why people are so dumb I do not know. The fact of the matter is very few respond to the totality of the truth of the word of God.
Nick: When Pilate asked Jesus, what is truth?
Bob: And he answered, “I am truth”. He did not say Moses is truth. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” and “no one comes to the Father except through me.”
Ron from Milwaukee, WI
Ron: When people get older, 80s or 90s, some people’s minds do not work as well as they should.
Bob: You do not have to wait until your 80 for that to happen. I can testify of that. (laughter)
Ron: I know a lady. She would not do that when she was younger. A lady in her 80s now takes things off the shelf and puts it in her person. I think she does not know what she is doing. Would God hold her accountable for the sin of stealing?
Bob: No, that sin was placed on the back of God never to be seen again. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. There is no sin that will ever cause a person to go to hell. All your sins have been placed on the back of God. The only question God will ever ask is what did you do with my Son Jesus? Jesus said, “The world’s sin is unbelief in me” (John 16:9). A refusal to come to him for life is the only sin attributable to man. The sins of the world have all been placed on the cross of Jesus Christ.
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Ron: I have been working on this lady to be born again. She has been a Catholic all her life. She has never been born again with God in her heart. I am still trying, but not successful yet. Because she has not been born again, then maybe she would be accountable for stealing.
Bob: Her sin is not stealing. Her sin is a refusal of Christ for life. She is depending on her church membership rather than her being joined to the living Jesus.
Ron: So if she did not get to heaven it would because she is not born again and not because she is stealing.
Bob: Yes, not because she is stealing. Right. Absolutely. Bob: I would appeal to her on that basis. What is her name?
Ron: Her name is Ruth.
Bob: It is not a Catholic or Gentile thing. All of us have been born into this world dead spiritually. The only person born alive spiritually is Jesus. That is why Jesus is the only one who has ever been able to lay a life down for you and me. He is the only one who had a life to lay down. Adam was created alive. Jesus, called the last Adam, was born alive. All the rest of us were born dead in Adam. The problem of man is not our sins. The problem of man is the wages of sin, which is death (Romans 6:23). We have concentrated on sins instead of the consequence to sin. So it does not matter how much we clean up our sins, if we are not in Christ, all we are is a cleaned up corpse. We have to get people to understand that your problem is spiritual death. Being Catholic cannot make you alive. Being a Baptist cannot make you alive. Being good cannot make you alive. You cannot revive a corpse to become alive by what it does. It has to have life imputed to it from the outside. Concentrate on that with this lady.
Bob: Say to Ruth, “you must understand your spiritual death and the only solution to that is spiritual life and the only person who can give that to you is Jesus Christ. It cannot be through religion, only through relationship.”
Ron: I will call you back later at 6:00.
Tim
Tim: I have a question about Matthew 16:19. One of my Catholic friends brought this up about Peter having the keys to heaven and the ability to bind and loose things on heaven and on earth and using that as a doctrine for the succession of popes. What is your take on that about Peter having the keys to heaven. What exactly does that mean?
Matthew 16:19
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Bob: Peter is the one God used to unlock the gospel to the Gentile world and the Jewish world. That was an assignment God gave to him. The literal Greek translation of that means that he bounds to earth what is already bound in heaven. Man cannot bind anything down here. When the Father says you are forgiven, He can bind that here on earth. The reason that I can say to a person that your sins are totally forgiven is because they are totally forgiven. It has already been established.
Bob: Now I do not believe they are hanging onto that truth because they are still keeping ways of keeping themselves forgiven. That is not biblical nor is it faith. You may think it is, but it isn’t. If something has been done and something has been finished to the point that when Christ comes back, he is not coming back to bear sin, then you either spend your life thanking him or building tradition to continue to ask Him for in Christ what you already have.
Bob: This idea that Peter is the first pope is nonsense. There is no justification for that or biblical understanding of that. There is no intending for him to be a pope. As a matter of fact, after this assignment you are talking about, Jesus said, “get behind me Satan”. Those are traditions that should not be taught. I do not have anything against Catholics but I do have much to say against Catholic teaching because it is not biblical. There is a lot of teaching that is just plain not biblical. And that is one of them. The teaching is huge. The denomination is huge. The issue is, it is not biblical teaching. As a minister of God, I have to identify that. We are told to be ministers of a New Covenant. What is the New Covenant?
2 Corinthians 3:6
6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Hebrews 10:17-18
17 Then he adds:“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
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: If there is no more forgiveness to be executed, where is your sacrifice? There is no more sacrifice, yet many speak of more sacrifices. The Gentiles teach the same thing. This is not just a Catholic error. This is a Gentile error. Christ Jesus said, “it is finished.”
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: “When I come back, I come not to bear sin.” Why does He say that? It is finished.
Bob: What do many people do. They say, “Oh it is not finished. There is more forgiveness to be executed and to keep ourselves forgiven”. We are to be ministers of a New Covenant. What is the New Covenant?
Hebrews 10:17-18
17 Then he adds:“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
Bob: So spend the rest of your life for what you have instead of begging for what in Christ you already have.
Tim: Why was he singled out?
Bob: He had to single out somebody.
Tim: Was that assignment not given to all the apostles?
Bob: Sure, ultimately. But Peter was the one who unlocked it and Peter was the one to substantiate that these people had truly come to Christ. Somebody had to be called to that assignment. Recall in Acts whenever a Gentile came to Christ, Peter or Paul had to go down there to confirm that.
Bob: We need to understand what happened back then. Judaism was rampant. This was all new. God had to set up a group of men. These men are the final authority for what truth is. God chose Peter to be the leader of these men. God said, “You are going to have some specific responsibilities of unlocking the gospel to the Gentile world as well as the Jewish world. From that point on, all the apostles were basically the same. What is the book of Acts? It is the acts of Peter and Paul.
Rene
Rene: I need an explanation on a verse, in Malachi 3:16.
Bob: What is it you do not understand on this verse?
Rene: Well, I guess.
Bob: First of all, it is not speaking to you anyway. Let us go back to what this is about.
Malachi 3:6
6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
Bob: So you are not a descendant of Jacob, are you?
Rene: No
Bob: So this was not written to you. It was written to the descendants of Jacob.
Malachi 3:7
7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
Bob: Who is God, speaking through Malachi, addressing? He is addressing the descendants of Jacob. You are not a descendant of Jacob so this is not written to you. The Jews were under an Old Covenant system, where there was a promise of curses and blessings based on their obedience. God is appealing to his people to return to him so he may bless them. God longs to be gracious to us. Return to me and I will return to you.
Malachi 3:7-8
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
Bob: Those are the descendants of Jacob. Then they ask a question, which people today, drag over into the New Covenant, teaching tithing out of it, where the thing was not written to them to begin with.
Malachi 3:8-9
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse – your whole nation – because you are robbing me.
Bob: Who is under a curse? The whole nation of you. What nation is He talking about here, Rene?
Rene: He is still talking about Jacob.
Bob: Yes, He is talking about the descendants of Jacob, not you’s and me’s.
Malachi 3:10
10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”
Bob: That is what tithing was. It was not giving money and checks. It was giving to the Levites to the Levitical priesthood. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. A storehouse is for storing food, such as grain. The tithe was not for giving money and a check into an offering plate. It was giving food to the Levites, to support the Levitical priesthood, a temporary system in place for the Jews in order to carry out animal sacrifices as a temporary (atonement) covering for sin. It was so they could eat. The Levites were prohibited from going out and making a living. So their needs had to be furnished by the food and clothing brought by the other eleven tribes of Israel. That is how God set up the Levitical priesthood. It is not talking about us.
Malachi 3:10
11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
Bob: What is this about preventing pests from destroying crops? That is not for us today. What about verse 12, “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land.” That is certainly not for us today.
Rene: The way I heard it explained was about a “scroll of remembrance”, a scroll of remembrance concerning those who feared the Lord.
Bob: If there is anything such as a scroll of remembrance, it would be to those who feared the Lord and honored His name, but he is not talking to us.
Bob: Rene, in this day and age, people are so desperate to say anything to convince people to tithe they will nit pick any scripture to justify tithing. I was even in a church once where the church handed out a free book, “Blessed Life” by Richard Morris, to all members, and even guests, to persuade people of the benefits of tithing. There are all kinds of people who stand up every year when the topic of tithing comes up to convince you how blessed they were when they started tithing and obeying God. So they claim. I even heard a pastor challenge: “if you tithe for one month and God fails to return a blessing then we will refund you your money back.” Such is the teaching and persuasion you hear today, but it is not based on truth from the word of God! I even heard a leader visit a single mother who has not tithed in 10 years and was told she must back-tithe!“
Hebrews 7:12
12 For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also.
Bob: So unless a person is still a Levite and not Jesus, then and only then could tithe even be considered for any hope of making sense, and do all of it. Why pick up tithe and yet ignore eating shrimp and pork chops? So then people ignore what they do not want and pull those things over that is for their benefit.
Rene: Since we are no longer under law, and us Gentiles never were, but are now under grace, what instruction is there on giving and in what manner or attitude should we give?
Bob: First of all we live by a higher law, the law of love, with God Himself living in us and through us. We love because he first loved us.
Bob: Romans 12 provides the background for understanding the new way of Christ living in you and through you. Let us look at just one passage in 2 Corinthians that summarizes this new attitude of giving by a child of God.
2 Corinthians 9:7
7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Bob: The attitude of the heart of the giver today is the emphasis under a New Covenant of grace. Tithing has nothing to do with you and me. This is what God said to the descendants of Jacob. That does not have anything to do with me. If there is a scroll of remembrance it would be to those who honored him and feared his name.
Rene: Okay, you answered my question. Thank you very much.
Randy from Agora, CO
Randy: I have a generic question. How do I know that I am saved beyond a shadow of a doubt?
Bob: Have you come to put your faith in the finished work of Christ Jesus at the cross? There are two things paramount to salvation.
Bob: First, I have to believe what God says about me. I have to believe what God calls about my sin. I am not going to call homosexuality an alternate lifestyle. I am not going to call drunkenness alcoholism. I am going to call what God calls it, drunkenness. I am going to agree with God as to what He says about me and my problem and I am going to agree with Him in regards to His solution and I am going to put faith in that.
Jeremiah 17:9
9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Romans 3:10
10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;”
Bob: Now God said that about you and your lost state. He said that my heart is deceitful above all else and who can know it. He said no one is righteous, no not one. That is a problem. For how can an unrighteous person come into the presence of a righteous God? Now, God says, “I will tell you. I came to give you my righteousness. I took your sins, all of them, and placed them on me at the cross”. There, Jesus, who knew no sin so that you could become the righteousness of God in Him. He took away your sins, all of them, never to see them again.
Romans 5:8
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
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.
Randy: I appreciate that. You are the only person on the radio who teaches this kind of salvation. That once you are saved, you are saved forever. You do not have to keep confessing your sins. I quit listening to guys like Hank Hanegraaff and others. I just wanted a simple answer like that. I struggle with doubt in my faith and wonder if I am trusting. It is a day to day problem. It is and up and down thing. I never heard anyone ask that question. Thank you, Bob.
