Call-ins Radio Broadcast Thursday 03/12/2020

Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P519 (03-12-20)

Synopsis

Listen as Bob George answers questions from various callers across the country.

A pastor said that in Deuteronomy 22:5 that it is sin for a woman to put pants on. Why would someone say that?

Deuteronomy 22:5
⁵ A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

Whoever that guy is ought to get a life. Back in those days, men wore robes, which would be called like a dress, or floppy pants. What is he doing in Deuteronomy anyways? If he knew the Lord, he would be in the New Covenant. If the guy is lost, what is anyone doing listening to him, if he is lost. The last thing I would want to listen to is a lost pastor. People pick and choose verses they want to speak on and take it out of context. That happens quite often among those who are lost, devoid of spiritual understanding. They live by the letter of the law, and that kills and does not give life.

Look at 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, a chapter that provides a definition of love. God is love. Love never fails. Then after that he speaks of prophecies ceasing. What is that all about?

1 Corinthians 13:8-13
⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

All the prophecies God wants us to know is contained in the bible. Anything else is man made. When the canon was closed, that is all the prophecies we had. A person teaching prophecy is teaching what the bible is talking about prophecy. He could be teaching his interpretation about it, and that could go all over the place, but at least the root they are teaching from is the bible. And there is no more prophecy. So prophecies will cease. Tongues will be stilled. Where there is knowledge it will pass away. You do not need additional knowledge when you have wisdom from God. We all know in part. We prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

There is no need for any more prophecy, and no more need of tongues. If there was any need of tongues today, it would be going into a country where you do not know each other’s language. So as you speak, they hear it in their native language so they can hear the message of Christ. Then that would be a valid use of tongues. I never met anyone who spoke in biblical tongues but all kinds of strange tongues, unbiblical tongues to puff themselves up with pride. So people need to grow in maturity. Maturity ties into thinking of others. That is what a gift is for, for others. If you are edifying yourself, then you are immature and need to grow up.

John 1:12
¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

What do you think about groups like Alcoholic Anonymous (AA), in matters of restitution? AA is not a church. It is not a religion. It started that way, but it has been perverted, where you turn your life to some god, whoever that may be, even an apple or a refrigerator. You cannot really go to AA for biblical doctrine for truth. You do not pull yourself by your bootstraps. You come to God in total surrender, saying “I can’t, but He can”. As long as a person sees himself as an alcoholic, and gets up every meeting, saying ’I am an alcoholic’, he is reinforcing that he is an alcoholic, and so will struggle against who he already identified himself as, a child of God, no longer a sinner, but a saint by calling. Coming to an apple tree or a refrigerator is not coming to God. You come to understand that those who received him, God gave the right to become a child of God. That is your new identity, a child of God. Out of that new identity, renewing your mind with truth, is how you overcome sinful habits. Is it beneficial to be drunk as a child of God? No. As an alcoholic, would it be a natural thing to do? Yes. But if I am a child of God, I am struggling against what is natural. I do not belong in the bars because I belong to God. Until you get your new identity changed, then there is no permanent change.

2 Corinthians 5:17
¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

There is nothing biblical about making restitution for everything. If the Lord leads you to do so, that is fine. But if He is not leading, then you need to listen to the voice of the Lord and not some law man came up with. If you stole something from somebody, go back and return it. If you insulted your brother, then go confess your sin to him. Those are proper things to do, because you are a child of God, and that stealing or insulting, or whatever sin it may be, is not a part of your life. But when you start making lists and go back to everybody whom you ever insulted in your life, you would have to be as old as your grandfather to do that. That would be living under law, and not being led by the Spirit.

Romans 8:14
¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

Galatians 5:18
¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

When was the end of the animal sacrifices? As far as God’s standpoint is concerned, the animal sacrifices ended at the death of Christ Jesus. That is why it says there is no more sacrifice for sins in the book of Hebrews. As far as when it ended in Jerusalem, it ended in 70 A.D. when the temple was totally destroyed, and there was no more sacrifices offered from that day forth in Judaism. You have two different things you are dealing with there.

This is what happened in the Old Testament, this killing of a bull and a goat, just to get sins covered, but not taken away.

Hebrews 10:1-3
¹ The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. ² Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. ³ But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.

Then Jesus came, and shed his blood on the cross, to put an end to animal sacrifices for sin.

Hebrews 10:15-18
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.”[Jeremiah 31:33]
¹⁷ Then he adds:
“sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”[Jeremiah 31:34]
¹⁸ And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

So Jesus ushered in a New Covenant with men, because the old one could never take away sins. Then he puts his very life, the Holy Spirit, to permanently dwell in men, to those who receive him by faith, believing in what Jesus alone accomplished for him, by means of his death, burial and resurrection. Look also at Hebrews 9:16.

Hebrews 9:16-18
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. ¹⁸ This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.

That New Covenant (will, covenant, or testament) went into effect at the death of Christ Jesus. When Jesus walked on the earth, he taught under the Old Covenant, and buried us under it. Jesus walked the earth to prepare us for the cross. No man is prepared for the cross until he sees his condition of death, sees himself as a sinner, and sees his need of salvation. That is the whole purpose of Jesus teaching while here on earth. You are a sinner. You cannot live up to the demands of the law. He showed us His righteousness, and by so doing, showed us our own unrighteousness. If I do not see my own unrighteousness, then what would I want with His righteousness. So Jesus went to the cross, and by his death, burial and resurrection, he offered new life to us. We are dead in sin and in need of life. Jesus came to help us see our condition and need of life that we may turn to Him and receive that new life in Him.

As a believer, are we on a new journey? Yes, if any man be in Christ, you are a new creation. When you are born of mom and dad, you are not born as people in the image of God. You are born in the image of Adam, when you are born physically. (Genesis 5:3) In order to be reborn, you have to be created.

John 3:5-7
⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.

2 Corinthians 5:17
¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

That new creation is something that comes from God. Your mom and dad did not create you. They birthed you. When you are born again spiritually, you have the Holy Spirit of God living in you permanently. You are no longer under the Old Covenant, but under the New Covenant. You are now ready to walk in the new life, a new journey God has set out for you, to walk in the newness of life.

Romans 6:4
⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Why do I still have wrong emotions and desires? You cannot depend on emotions. It is your faith that pulls you. Like an engine and a caboose of a moving train. Your faith pulls you and emotions follow.

Does God have total control of things you do? No. He only has control as you allow him. You are not a robot. You have a will. You have been given a choice to walk in accordance with the flesh or in accordance with the Spirit’s desires. If we had not been given a will, we would be robots. We have a choice. We have the privilege of participating in the divine nature that lives in you. Christ lives in you and you have the privilege of now participating in that life. But you also can participate in your flesh.

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.

Look at John 15, the parable of the vine and the branches. Jesus is the vine and you are the branches. He produces the life in you. You cannot produce that life. That life is His, not yours. You cannot live the Christian life. Only Christ can live it. He lives that life in you and through you. The fruit that God produces in and through you is the fruit as listed in Galatians 5:22-23; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

John 15:5
⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing

This life is to be walked by faith. You have that privilege to do so. Some days you do not. Some hours you do not. But we are always in a position to come back to the heart of God. For He said He will never leave us nor forsake us. That will be the way until the day you die.

Hebrews 4:16
¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

What is the distinction between the atonement He has given us and redemption? Is the atonement the act of Jesus dying on the cross? And through the atonement, we have been redeemed? No. Christ did not come to atone for your sins. The word atonement is not used in the New Covenant. Atonement is what covered sin with the blood of a bull and a goat. The Christian world does a huge disgrace when it talks about the atonement of the blood of Christ. He did not come to atone for sin. He came to take it away. The blood of a bull and a goat covered sin. As it says in Hebrews, the blood of a bull and a goat could not take away sins. Only Jesus took away sins. Jesus did not come to atone for sin. He came to take it away.

Redemption, on the other hand, is something else. Do you remember the Redemption Center? You went to a Redemption Center and turned in some lousy green stamps you were saving and got a toaster. That is what redemption is. He bought us back. We gave him all we are worth, a worthless green stamp, and He gave us something else. He bought us out of our state of lostness. In order to do that, why he had to take away the sins of the entire world from the eyes of God.

1 John 2:2
² And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

The word to be used is propitiation. God looked down on the sacrifice of Jesus and said He is totally satisfied with the just wrath of God against sin, the requirement of death for sin has been paid in full. In other words, the blood of Jesus was of such eternal value that it took away the sins of the entire world. Jesus died once, for all, and for the sins of the entire world. There is no more forgiveness to be executed on our behalf. If there was any further forgiveness to be executed on your and my behalf, He would have to die again. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

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.

What is holy communion? There is no such things as holy communion. The crucifixion is not what saved you. It his resurrected life that saved you. He is not a wafer. Those are man made things and are not in the scripture. Do this in remembrance, yes. It is a picture. A single loaf of broad represents the body of Jesus, a single body in form, not literally Jesus but a picture for us. This body will be broken for you. You pass it around. Where is it after it is passed around? Where is it? In you. It is a picture of the day you were born again of the Spirit of God and Christ came to live in you eternally. The drinking of wine is a celebration of the New Covenant. What is the New Covenant? Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more and where these have been forgiven, there is no more sacrifice for sins. So what do we do? We model introspection, asking God to forgive us of our sins, and so insult the grace of God and make a mockery of the grace of God, who said it has already been done.

1 Corinthians 10:16-17
¹⁶ Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

Hebrews 10:29
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?