Classic Christianity – Call-In Bob George p390 (11-02-18)
Call-In-Bob-George-p390 (11-02-18)
Bob George, with over 30 years with Classic Christianity Radio, answers calls by listeners, sharing truth to encourage and help those walk in new freedom. In this episode, Andy asked a question about the role of the 10 Commandments in the life of a believer, Cletis asked clarification on 1 Corinthians 12:27, if all gifts listed are still operational today, and the last caller, Dean, shared amazing news of the change in his nephew and sister. Lives are being changed as people replace truth with error.
Bob George answers Andy’s question in regards to the proper application of the 10 commandments by sharing truth revealed in scripture. In Galatians 3:19-24 is where we learn about the purpose of the law.
Galatians 3:19-24
19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.
From this passage, Bob emphasized the word “was”. The phrase “law was given” indicates that it was for a certain people for a certain time. And, the time period was only to last until Jesus Christ sets aside the law because he replaced the law with something better with better promises. The law, referring to all aspect of the Levitical system under Moses, including the 10 commandments, but also many ceremonial laws, judicial laws, and moral laws, was given to the Jews but has a spiritual application for us today. Note that the law “was added because of transgressions”. The law is applicable to any lost person today as a tool to lead one to faith in Jesus Christ. So the law was not added to “impart life” because that was not its purpose. The passage also reveals that everything locked up in control of sin. The only way to be released from prison is for someone to set you free, and this is only through faith in Jesus Christ, to those who believe. The law is set aside when one is justified faith.
Bob also shared from 2 Corinthians 3:7-9. So what about the application of the law, at least the 10 commandments, to a believer? Is the law to be used as a guide to live by?
2 Corinthians 3:7-9
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
First, what is the law? Bob shared that the law (singular) is always used in scripture to refer to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the bible, where one can read all the details of God’s requirements for the Jews under law under an Old Covenant system that existed prior to the coming of Jesus Christ. Laws (plural) as used in Hebrews, refers to the laws of Jesus Christ written in the hearts and on the minds of men.
Hebrews 10:15-16
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.
Since love is the fulfillment of the law, and the love of God is poured in the believer’s heart, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, what then does the believer do to please God?
Romans 13:10
Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Galatians 5:13-18
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
So then a believer is no longer under law. The law and the 10 commandments are not a guide to living in freedom. For if one dwells on the flesh or their shortcomings, they are not focusing on anything that has any power to help one live in freedom. There is no imparting of life through the law. The law serves one purpose, and that is to condemn so every mouth is silenced and held accountable to God in order that one may be justified by faith when one believes. So, these are the two choices: give the law a try or walk by faith. So when one is under law (a lost person), he is enslaved to the law and held captive as a prisoner. But a believer is not under the law but under grace.
What can one observe from Paul’s testimony, once a former Pharisee, trying to be made righteous by the law? In Romans 7, Paul writes he was once alive apart from the law but the law told him not to covet yet he coveted all the more. So the law put him to death. Who could save him from this body of death? Praise be to God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 7:24
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
As one reads 2 Corinthians 3:7-9, what is the ministry of the law?
2 Corinthians 3:7-9
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
The law, specifically, the 10 commandments engraved on stone, brings death and the Spirit brings righteousness. No one will be declared righteous by observing the law, but rather through the law one is made conscious of sin (Romans 3:20). So, as a believer, do you try please the Lord by focusing on a commandment, such as do this and do that, or not do this and not do that? If so, can you identify with Paul as a wretched man that you are? That is the sin indwelling in your flesh that sets itself contrary to the Spirit. Are you so focused on the flesh that you always feel guilty with unrealistic expectations? We are not guilty before the sight of God because of Christ’s imputed righteousness. Yes, we may feel guilty for sinning in the flesh, and is a natural emotion of sinful behavior. But a believer has Christ’s imputed righteousness. What should the believer’s proper focus be in order to walk free from sin? The right way to live is to walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh, which focuses on the law. A believer is guided internally by the indwelling Holy Spirit, who leads and guides you into all truth. We cannot clean up our flesh! We are powerless to do so and the law has no power to help us. The law can only beat us down and condemn us, for that is its purpose. Simply walk by the Spirit letting Him renew your mind. Do not worry about the flesh but be preoccupied with what Jesus is doing.
John 16:13
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
Romans 8:37
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.
In essence, a believer is in the process of continually having his mind renewed until the day he dies. So, he will continue to have a battle between the flesh and the Spirit, but he can choose the Spirit, since he has the Spirit indwelling in him, something a lost person does not have. So do not think it strange as a believer that you face struggles with various temptations of the flesh, but you do not have to give in to such thoughts that are contrary to the Spirit.
The second caller, Cletis, asked a question about the five-fold ministry as the term used in relation to 1 Corinthians 12:27-31. Are all these gifts mentioned still in operation today?
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
Bob first answered by saying that each person born of God with the Spirit of God is a member of the body of Christ. Each member has a unique gift and functions according to the direction the Spirit leads him. The Apostles existed only until the time scriptures were written down and completed as the final revelation of Jesus Christ. So there are no need of Apostles today. So also there is no need of Prophets who served a similar role, but more prevalent in the Old Covenant. John the Baptist being an example of a prophet leading into the coming of the New Covenant. Prophets had direct revelation from God and what they heard from God became written down through the scribes. Gifts that are in use today are teaching and evangelism. Signs and wonders were performed through the prophets and Apostles to give credibility to the word of God until such a time they became written down. The fullness of God has now been written down for us in His word and is complete.
Romans 15:19
by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
But signs and wonders is not something anyone should look for to come to faith in Christ. No one should demand a sign in order to believe. Jesus made a strong rebuke to those even in his time on earth who always looked for signs and wonders when He Himself, the Truth, proclaimed truth.
Matthew 12:38-39
38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
Bob closed by briefly sharing further scriptures that followed that mentioned the greater gifts being faith, hope and love, but the greatest gift is love. If someone has all kinds of gifts, but has not love, then those gifts are meaningless and just as effective as a noisy clanging gong. Gifts are useless without love.
Galatians 5:6
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
The last caller, Dean, called to share his excitement in how truth has set his sister and nephew on a path to walking in new freedom. He was so excited to share with Bob the truth he had grabbed ahold of through a book titled “Victory over Depression” by Bob George. Such truth, as Bob explains truth as revealed from the word of God, had a amazing difference in his life and in his sister and nephew. His nephew, who struggled so much with drugs and other sinful lifestyle, was reading the first two chapters of the book while at his sister’s house, and exclaimed this is written directly to me. He left his sister’s house a changed man. Bob shared how simple living in new freedom really is, and is really not complicated. In essence, truth is what sets people free. Error is what binds people. How do people make things complicated? People re-label things as a psychological problem when in reality it is simply a truth problem.
John 8:32
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
So, a believer will be continually renewing the mind while he remains in this sin-dwelling flesh on earth. But with the power of the Holy Spirit, he has a helper, one who walks with him and guides him into all truth. When one walks in the Spirit, he makes his body available to the Lord to live in him and through him. Believers are not a people who live by principles or by direction of a church leader so that all its members do the same things, at the same time, with the same enthusiasm. No, the Spirit directs each believer as He is in intimate communication with him. The Holy Spirit will guide you, as a believer, and will you where to go and what to do. Where the Spirit is, there is freedom.
Purchase/Download the 11/02/2018 Classic Christianity Radio program today:
[add_to_cart item=”11022018″ quantity=”user:1″ ]
After purchasing, there will be a download link emailed to you. Follow the instructions.