Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P486 (10-25-19)
Synopsis
Bob George answers common questions asked by callers on forgiveness, woman pastors, and tithing. These questions come up very often today by many people. Many people do not understand the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, the difference between law and grace or even how to walk freely in grace. Bob answers these kinds of questions by several different callers.
A common question asked is, “Did God forgive me of all my sins? Why then did the Lord in Matthew 6 say that if you do not forgive your brother who sins against you, neither will He forgive you?” When people ask such questions, it is often because they do not understand the difference between the Old Covenant that Jesus taught under, to people living under an Old Covenant, with the New Covenant, to born again people today, who live by grace. Jesus taught his disciples how to pray under an Old Covenant. When Jesus spoke, he spoke to those who trusted in the law to be right with God. So Jesus spoke to bury us under the law that we might seek a Savior and be saved by faith. The just shall live by faith, from first to last.
When Jesus died on a cross, shedding his blood, he took away the sins of the entire world from the eyes of God, ushering in a New Covenant of grace. Under this New Covenant of grace, God has said, “I will remember their sins and lawless acts no more.” So what remains for man to do is simply believe, put their trust, in what Jesus alone did for you. You recognize that you are a sinner, deserving of wrath, but God took away the punishment of death for sin for you when he shed his blood on a cross. Knowing that he rose from the dead, you come to him to receive His resurrected life so that that life that raised him from the dead, raises you from the dead so you may walk in a new life, in all godliness, as you trust him. You are saved by his life.
Another common question people ask is what about tithing. What if I cannot afford to tithe? Will I be robbing God? No, if you read Malachi 3 carefully, you realize God is not talking to you, who is living under a New Covenant. Why? Are you a descendant of Jacob? No. Then he is not talking to you. Tithing is giving food stuff to support a house of God, the Levitical priesthood that God had established as a temporary system that was only to last until the time of Christ.
So what then is the pattern of giving today? Each individual who is born again has the Spirit of God living in him. God directs each person to give according to what he has and not in accordance what he does not have, and when he does give, as He directs you individually, you give generously and not under compulsion. You give out of an attitude of love for God. You love because He first loved you.
Another common question is about depression and struggles in this life. How do you overcome difficulties in this life, such as a physical ailment or of all the evil that has been done to you? The only way to truly live is one day at a time. You live by faith, the same way Jesus lived and modeled for us. You forget what lies behind and press on to the high calling that Jesus called you to live. You live by faith. You trust in God’s provision for today. If you are focused on the past or worried about the future, you cannot experience joy today. You cannot change the past and you cannot fantasize about the future. The future is God“s country. You live in the reality that God who is in your today is also in your tomorrow and He will provide all your needs according to His riches in heaven. So you are thankful in all things. He has given you everything you need for life and godliness. You trust Him in that.
Another caller asked if it okay for woman to be put in positions of authority in the church and to teach. He wanted clarity because he did not know and did not want to be legalistic on the matter. Bob addressed from the scriptures that it is very clear women are not to be in authority over a man, particularly in the church. Now, a woman can teach but just not in authority over a man.
Transcript
Anne from Lubbock, TX
Anne: I called in several weeks ago about not being able to tithe and you had given me something to give me some peace about that. I was recently in a position to get a second job but I was thinking it as enabling me to give and tithe to ministry. Is that something wrong to pray for because I want to give?
Bob: Anne, you can pray anything you want to because what God is looking on is your heart. He knows what your heart is, and he knows whether that is sincere or whether it is not sincere. But I would say you would want to go to work in order to supply for your family and to take care of material needs you have, not your greed but your needs. Whatever you are making, we do take a certain percentage of that and give to a ministry that is teaching the grace of God. As I mentioned before, if you are looking at tithing as an Old Testament way of giving. I do not want anybody tithing to us or any other ministry because tithing is not a New Testament form of giving. But free will giving, and giving generously without compulsion, that is the kind of giving that God honors. I think that is the kind of giving that anybody who is the recipient of gifts would want people to give in that fashion. I do not want people giving to us unbiblically. I want them to give to us, as scripture says, which is joyfully and without compulsion.
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: Now, we are on the subject of tithing. I read in Malachi, and that is what these people always use to justify tithing. They are always pulling up poor old Malachi, pulling him out of the dead. In chapter 3, you read this. When tithe is talked about, always Malachi is used.
Malachi 3:6
6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob,
Bob: So we do not have to wonder who God is talking to here. He is talking to the descendants of Jacob.
Malachi 3:6-7
are not destroyed. 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: To who? The descendants of Jacob.
Malachi 3:8-12
“But you ask, ̰How are we to return?’8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse – your whole nation
Bob: But you ask how are we to return? Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. How do we rob you? In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse, the whole nation of you. The nation of who? The descendants of Jacob.
Malachi 3:10-12
– because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse,
Bob: Bring in the tithe into the storehouse. What is the storehouse? A place to store your tithe. What is your tithe? Food. Keep reading.
Malachi 3:10
that there may be food in my house.
Bob: You do not have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what the tithe was. You bring food in the storehouse and store it there. I will read verse 10 again.
Malachi 3:10
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
Bob: Bring the tithe into the storehouse so there will be food in my house. Does God have a house? He had His priests, didn’t He. The Levitical priesthood is called the house of God. They were the representatives, the priests to the people, and that is who He is talking about. That this nation, this descendant of Jacob, are robbing God for not bringing their food stuff into the storehouse of the Levites, who were the named priests.
Malachi 3:10-11
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. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops,
Bob: So there is a farmer who has got pests that devour crops.
Malachi 3:11-12
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,
Bob: How are the nations calling us Christians blessed? Seems to me they are pretty angry at us, doesn’t it to you? So He is talking about Israel, the descendants of Jacob. This is not us. This is Israel under the Levitical priesthood.
Malachi 3:12
for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
Hebrews 7:12
12 For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also.
Bob: Where there is a change in priesthood, there is also a change in the law. Today Jesus is now the high priest. Levi is not our high priest. We are not a descendant of Jacob. We are born again people, not born again by Jacob, not by the nation of Israel, but born again of the Spirit of God. As a born again person of the Spirit of God, we have been freed from the law that bound us into the grace of God that saves us. Under the grace of God we are taught in Corinthians how to live. There are two chapters devoted to it.
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: Give joyfully, without compulsion, give in accordance with what you do have, not in accordance with what you do not have. God loves a hilarious giver. All of those things. Yet here we keep talking about tithing. So, are you a child of Jacob? Or, are you a child of God? So we need to put those things behind us, and quit dragging in those things that do not pertain to us in the Old Testament and live joyfully under the New Covenant we live under today that was ushered in by the death of Jesus as a result of his fulfilling the entirety of the law and able to usher in the covenant of grace we live under today.
Bob: Does that help, Anne?
Anne: I do no know. I have heard lots of radio conversation throughout the day and the early morning, that we steal from God, just like you said. It is not our money. It is His money. Why are we worried about this?
Bob: Why don’t they cut their salary?
Anne: Yes.
Bob: It is being preached by people who are making $250,000 to $300,000 per year, driving around in a Rolls Royce and that type of thing.
Anne: The thing is, “Do you pay your electric bill or do you tithe?” It can come down to that with some people. That is why I called a couple of weeks ago and you sent me a tape, and it really has helped me have some peace.
Bob: You are sure welcome, Anne. When you go back and read Malachi, you have to ask yourself, “Is He talking to me?” You would conclude that He is not talking to you or me.
Anne: Thank you so much.
Bob: You are welcome, Anne. Bye. Bye.
Matthew from Tempe, AZ
Matthew: How are you doing, brother?
Bob: Good
Matthew: I was doing some good things. My question was. I know that it says my God shall supply all my needs even though circumstances and bad things happen. God is in control and will meet my needs. My mom has Alzheimer’s struggling. God put spirit in my dad. My life got turned upside down. I got a car, in a situation on credit. My step brothers, who do not know the Lord, they never wanted me to be at that house anyways and thought I stole money from dad to get car, which was not true. The point is I had to flee for my life and flee from the house. I was thrown against the wall twice. I am back in Tempe where I used to live years ago. I am suffering. When I came back. Three weeks ago this happened. My old job was bad. I am thankful for His situations. I cling to Him because He is all I got. I was trusting in me. But Bob, and I have read your book and I have been clinging to God. I am trying to walk by faith. But Bob, my job, being on the telephone trying to say hello on the phone. God has allowed ungodly people to control that situation where it is very abusive. He shut the door so I cannot be there anymore. Some nasty stuff. Back to me and my job. I have got a heart condition with a pacemaker. I know God can heal. I understand that. But it is affecting me. I have had panic attacks. When you come out of a situation like that. I was planning to move out at a certain time.
Bob: Well, Matthew, let us stop here. In interest of time, we can go on with problem after problem. What you are dealing with in your life is not over with. Many times there are all different things God is still going to be doing in your life. What you are going to have to do is live one day at a time. Forget the past. That is gone. Get out of the future. That is God’s country. Do what Jesus did, one day at a time. That is all you have, is right now. Right now your needs are provided for. It may not be provided for in the way you would like them to be provided for, but they are being provided for. Thank God for that. Continue to trust in God one day at a time. The anxiety you go through is about thinking about the future and about bad things that will happen tomorrow. That is fantasizing. You cannot call upon God for fantasy. As far as the past, it is over. You cannot change one iota about it. Forget the past and press on to the high calling of Christ Jesus. Matthew, in life, regardless of what you have gone through or are going to go through, that is the only way to get through those things is to do exactly what we said. Forget the past, get out of the future, and live one day at a time, trusting Christ Jesus with your very breath and very life. Matthew, we have to take a break here, but we appreciate your call. Again, every day trust in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-15
13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
Matthew: Thank you very much.
Victor from Marina, CA
Victor: God bless you, brothers. How are you?
Bob: Doing fine. Thank you, Victor.
Bob: I do not know, Victor. I think what happened, as time went on, you got religion into the finality of the cross. Instead of people walking by faith and thinking Jesus for the fact that He took away the sins from the eyes of God, we got religions. Then we had confession, going to a priest to get forgiveness, for that ties you into that body. Then the Protestants come along, saying, “no, you do not have to go to priests. You can go to God direct to get forgiven”. God is sitting up in heaven saying, “What in the world do you think I did for you, dying on a cross 2000 years ago?” I think it came a bite at a time. It is a shame because it has destroyed people from understanding what it is to walk by faith.
Matthew: Where is the scripture they used to support their belief?
Bob: I do not know. I do not think they used any. I think it was all tradition. Well, except for 1 John 1:9, they started to use that for confession, not realizing that was for an unbeliever not a believer. That is the only one they could use.
Matthew: I also heard people that you only have to ask God once. Or, do we ask him continually?
Bob: Ask Him for what?
Matthew: Anything really.
Bob: As far as what you have to do or not do is ridiculous. God is not sitting up there judging people. If you want to ask Him two times, three times or even five times, or once or just once, is not the issue. The issue is, did you put your faith in Him when you asked Him? Now, if I asked God for something once, and if I really had faith, then I will not ask Him twice because I already asked Him one. Unless He said, “no” so I will ask Him again because I did not like His answer. Outside that, we have the privilege that is our heavenly Father and we can talk to Him the same way we would to our heavenly Father.
Matthew: Thank you, brother. Thank you.
Bob: You are welcome. God bless.
Charles from Indianapolis, IN
Charles: I want to let you know I greatly appreciate the service you do to the Christian community. I listen every day when I get home from work. It is a great blessing to me. What I wanted to ask you guys is when it talks about women in authority, holding positions of authority in the church and preaching, what does the bible have to say about that? I am in a situation where I do no want to be speaking without knowledge. I do not want to be legalistic. I just do not know.
Bob: Thank you, Charles. I appreciate your comments. The scripture is very clear. A woman is not to be having a position of leadership over a man. When God created a man, He created us the way He wanted us to be. I came out of my mother’s womb a man. I could have come out something else. That is somebody else’s choice, not ours. The issue is a woman bears children. A woman is to be cared for. A woman is to be loved and cherished. A woman is to be provided for. I do not believe a woman belongs in a position of leadership over a man any more than a woman should be out on the battlefield. Some people, woman libbers, get up there and judge. If you are a woman libber out on the battlefield, best of luck, and I hope you do not get shot. I believe women do not belong there. I respect women that they do not need to be out there getting shot at. When a woman is a leader in a church, then what do you think she will be when she gets home with her husband? I do not think she will be in a role of submission when she has been in a role of leadership all day long. I think God is equally interested in the family, more so than He is the church. If you have strong families, you have a strong church. I think those laws that are laid down for people to follow is for many, many good reasons. So I would not allow a woman to serve in a position of leadership. I certainly would have a woman as teachers. They can teach. If a man wants to come and listen to their teaching that is their prerogative but to have them in a position of leadership over them, then no. That is not what the bible says and there are plenty of good reasons for it. I hope that helps, my friend. Thanks Charles for your call.
1 Corinthians 14:34-35
34 Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.
35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church
Ephesians 5:22-32
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church – 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Janine from Waco, TX
Janine: I agree with what you said about daily repentance. I am not in disagreement with you. You were talking about the different scripture. I love the way you always reference the bible to give your answer. What about the Lord’s prayer, where Jesus says “give us today our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses”.
Bob: Hold on a minute, Janine. Read on.
Matthew 6:5-14
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11
Give us today our daily bread.
12
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Janine: “Lead us not from temptation but deliver us from evil.”
Bob: Keep going. What does it say after that? The verse after that says, “If you do not forgive your brother on earth, who you can see, your Father in heaven will not forgive you”. How do you match that up with after the cross where Jesus said, “your sins are put on the back of God never to see them again”. You see, Janine, that is double talk if you do not understand the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Jesus was not teaching under the New Covenant. He did not have it. The New Covenant did not go into effect until the day Jesus died. It is a will. Just like a will does not go into effect until someone dies. In the same way, the New Covenant did not go into effect until the death of Christ Jesus. Jesus taught under the Old Covenant and buried us under the Old Covenant.
Hebrews 9:15-17
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance – now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.16 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.
Bob: The reason for Jesus teaching was to show us we can’t but he can. Under the law, which is what he taught under, that was the rule for forgiveness. If you do not forgive your brother, neither will the Father forgive you. But when he went to the cross, how many sins did he take away? All of them.
Hebrews 10:10-14
10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
Janine: Right.
Bob: That is not for you today.
Janine: The instructions seemed to be the way he was telling his followers to pray.
Bob: If he was, then Paul missed it. You never see Paul asking him to forgive him. The Lord said it wasn’t necessary. He was teaching people how to pray under the law. You can see people saying “I like the getting bread part”. Check on that one. But when he gets to the one about forgiving your brother, that is a different matter. He was talking to the Jews who hated the Samaritans and hated the Gentiles and called them dogs. That prayer buried them. It exposed the attitude of their hearts. If you are going to obey that prayer, that buried him.
Bob: The bible says do not commit adultery. The bible says if you look lustfully at a woman, you have already committed adultery with her in your heart. And if you do, then pluck your eye out. What are you going to do with that one? Walk around with a sock around your head? Jesus teaching was preparing us for what he came to do, die for the forgiveness of the sins of the entire world. If I do not see myself as a sinner, then it has no meaning to me. Give life to the dead. If I do not know I am dead spiritually is so important for me to know. If not, then why would I have any appreciation for his life. Paul never prayed it. Peter never prayed it. In fact, did he not say to not pray like the heathen do, which was to pray it over and over again. What do we do? Take this example of prayer and pray it over and over again like the heathen do?
Janine: I am a little uncomfortable saying we never say the Lord’s prayer ever.
Bob: Of course not. It was not meant for that. It was to teach you how to pray. It is not a prayer to learn. It is teaching you how to pray. If what you are saying. I understand what you are saying for that is what is taught. If that is the case, you would have seen Paul pray it and Peter pray it. You never heard it again. We get up every Sunday, repeating the Lord’s prayer. In so doing, absolutely causing people to never come to grips with the finality of the cross. As long as praying that prayer, you will never come to grips with the finality of the cross.
Janine: I am a little uncomfortable saying, and I do not know why.
Bob: Maybe some of the New Testament passages like Ephesians 4:32 will help in that because Paul writes, “be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another just as in Christ God forgave you”. Your sins are forgiven and now that becomes the basis of you extending forgiveness to somebody else. That is truth. We need to rest in that. It has been done with once and for all. You are a forgiven person so now extend that forgiveness to one another.
Ephesians 4:32
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Bob: Now tradition. You have been to church every Sunday, probably repeating the Lord’s prayer.
Janine: Actually it is not my church. I actually teach at a private Christian school where that is being done on a regular basis.
Bob: So they repeat this prayer, almost rote with no feeling or meaning? The average person does not even know what he is praying. It has no meaning to it at all. A prayer which has meaning in it comes out of a heart of love and acceptance and of graciousness to what God has accomplished for us. If I have to forgive others before You forgive me then I do not understand the New Covenant.
Janine: I completely agree with that. I guess if you do it, do it in a teaching concept of the Old Covenant.
Bob: Right, because it buried you. You cannot live up to it. Then take them to the New Covenant to show them how it was fulfilled for us.
Bob: Thank you, Janine. Good to talk to you. God bless. Bye. Bye.
