Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P483 (10-17-19)
Synopsis
Bob George was asked questions on forgiveness and salvation. Do you need to ask God for forgiveness when you sin? Do you need to confess your sins to God to get forgiveness? If you sin as a child of God, how do you confess your sin? What are you doing as a child of God when you confess your sin? If you do so many stupid things, should you feel guilty? Are people forgiven only when they accept Christ?
Bob was also asked what spiritual warfare means. Is it spiritual warfare when you are fighting kidney stones or some physical ailment?
Other questions asked were related to the end times. When will the last Gentile come in? What does it mean that the government will be on Jesus’ shoulders? When will that happen?
Bob answers these questions from scripture. Check and see. Let the Holy Spirit teach you from His word.
Transcript
Bill from British Columbia
Bill: I have been teaching the bible for many years. Most of those years I was not very knowledgeable, but since you came along and I read your books, I have gained some insight into scripture. I have been promoting your books in my bible class.
Bob: Thank you so much.
Bill: I have some questions. There are some things I am not so sure about. My daughter told me the other day that she does so many stupid things and feels so guilty. I was reminded of Hebrews 10 where it says that if Old Covenant had done its job, the people would not be guilty. You are not supposed to be guilty. Am I wrong on that?
Hebrews 10:1-2
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.
Bob: No, he came to take away your sin and guilty. In order to be guilty someone has to accuse you. Now you can be guilty of something down here because we will accuse people of activities. If you go out and rob a bank, then someone will accuse of that and you will be sentenced down on this earth. But from God’s standpoint, he has taken away your sin, and therefore, taken away your guilt. If he has taken away your sins, then you cannot have guilt from God.
Bob: So what you are dealing with, Bill, if people will understand that God was in Christ, reconciling the entire world unto Himself, not counting their sins against them. That God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not counting their sins against them. When we understand that, while we were yet enemies, and that means lost, that when I was born into this world, I was lost, and an enemy of God, not a friend of God, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. I was born reconciled from God’s standpoint, reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Therefore, having been reconciled, this being an accomplished fact, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.
2 Corinthians 5:19
19 That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them
Romans 5:10
10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Bob: So forgiveness was preparatory. It was preparatory for salvation. In a matter of fact, Jesus died in the Old Testament on the day of preparation. He died on a special Sabbath, which was a Thursday, not a Friday, called the day of preparation. What is his cross? It is preparation. It is what prepared us for salvation. Just as in that holiday, you were to go scrub out your house of all leaven, including any smells that might be there, so you can celebrate the day of the finality of all of that. That is exactly what Jesus did. He took away the sins of the world so he is now able to offer us life eternal. It is in that life we receive what was provided, and that is in Him, you have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness was provided for the entire world but it is only received in Him. The only sin attributable to man is the sin of the rejection of the Son of God.
Ephesians 1:7
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
1 John 2:2 (KJV)
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Bill: Okay, this brings me to another thing. You mentioned before, to someone on the air, about having been forgiven. Everybody has been forgiven when Christ died on the cross. I have been teaching in my class that people are forgiven only when they accept Christ. I guess I am wrong there?
Bob: Bill, you still there?
Bill: Did you hear my last comments?
Bob: No, I didn’t hear the last thing you were saying. You are talking about when you are forgiven. We had difficulty on our end.
Bill: You mentioned that everybody was forgiven when Jesus died on the cross. I have been teaching in my class that people are forgiven only when they accept Christ. I guess I am wrong there?
Bob: Yes, Bill. What did Jesus do? He died for the sins of the entire world, not only ours but the sins of the whole world. Bill, I think if you look at it in this fashion. Jesus went to the cross to take away the sins of the entire world from the sight of God. They have been dealt with and they have been judged. It is like your sin down here, if you have gone to a court and you have been judged, and you are declared innocent of charges, and it does not make any difference whether you are innocent or guilty, then you are a free man because the court decided that.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Now when Jesus went to the cross, he became sin for you so that in him you might become the righteousness of God in him. The only sin attributable to man is the sin of rejection of the Son of God. The very moment you and I turn by faith and accept the work of Christ Jesus, accept the fact he took away your sins and accept the fact the consequence of sin is death, and the only solution to that is resurrected life, we come to Him for life. Then that sin of the rejection of the Son of God has been corrected. It has now been repented of. So now there is nothing left. There is no sin attributable to you. The only sin that was attributable was the sin of the rejection of the Son of God and that has now been corrected by repentance. You have changed your mind and you have become a believer. In Him you have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. In essence, the forgiveness of the entire world was provided at the cross for all people. In him you have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. So all of that forgiveness that he provided is all wrapped up and now becomes what he wants it to become, which is real. When you come to Christ, you need to understand that my sins have been taken away. Until then, it is not real to me. It is not real to you prior to coming to Christ. You tell a non-believer that He took away your sins, he will say you are nuts. And many times people sitting in the pews today are continually asking God to forgive them. Why? They do not know they are. They never accepted or internalized what he did for them at the cross. As Hebrews says, they are making a mockery of the cross and treating as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctifies. The final sin of the rejection of the Son of God has been corrected when a man repents of his unbelief and becomes a believer in Christ.
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?
Bill: So the other thing then is when a man or a woman receives Christ, he is freed from the law and condemnation, but the unbeliever then is still under the law, right? And will be judged by the law?
Bob: He is still under the law and the law is going to be in effect until the end of time for the unbeliever. It says the law is not for the righteous but for the unrighteous. The law has not done its work until a man looks in the mirror of the law and says “my face is dirty” and “I am dead” and then repents of that. The lost is still under the demands of the law, held a prisoner by the law, until faith in Christ has been revealed.
1 Timothy 1:9
9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers
Galatians 3:23
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.
Galatians 2:21
21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
Bill: Okay. Well that clarifies it a lot. Thank you so much. I appreciate your teaching. I am going to keep listening.
Bob: Thank you, Bill, for your call, brother. God bless you and I hope that helps.
Nece from CA
Nece: Thank you for taking my call.
Bob: Your welcome.
Nece: I saw you earlier this year. It was awesome. My sister and I really enjoyed it.
Bob: Thank you.
Nece: I had a question on my left eye. My body manufactures kidney stones. My sister refers to it when I get stones, “oh that is your spiritual warfare”. What does she mean by that? What is meant when people refer to spiritual warfare?
Bob: What your sister is talking about spiritual warfare, you are going to ask her what she means. What you are talking about in spiritual warfare is your mind. What is written about spiritual warfare is in Ephesians 6.
Ephesians 6:10-11
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Bob: So you are dealing with the schemes of the devil. So all those schemes are out there to be put lies in your head.
Ephesians 6:12
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Bob: Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, which would be about those physical things, but against powers and authorities in heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:13
13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Bob: After you have done everything to stand, then stand firm then. Then he gives illustrations of this taking a stand or standing firm.
Ephesians 6:14
14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place
Bob: Stand firm then with the belt of truth around the waist. The belt is what held your weapons. So it was very important to have your belt buckled around the waist to carry your weapon. He is saying to do that with the belt of truth. In other words, stand in truth.
Ephesians 6:14
14 with the breastplate of righteousness in place
Bob: The breastplate of righteousness in place is pointing to the fact it is not our righteousness but His we possess. So stand in the fact that you do not have any righteousness in and and of yourself. It is all of Him and all of grace. Truth is all from Him. You do not get a little truth from Jesus and a lot from the world.
Ephesians 6:15
15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
Bob: You are fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace. In other words, you are ready to communicate the gospel of peace to people.
Ephesians 6:16
16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Bob: In addition to this, take up the shield of faith. There is our faith in Christ, in which you can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. What are the arrows you are talking about? Sticking the sin back? No, it is all in the head.
Ephesians 6:16
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Bob: Put on the helmet, therefore, of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. That is the only offensive weapon in that line up of what he is talking about in putting on the full of armor of God. The only offensive weapon is the sword, which is the word of God. That is what we use against the error that is constantly bombarding our minds.
Ephesians 6:16
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
Bob: What does it mean to pray in the spirit? It means the opposite of praying in the flesh. When I am praying in the flesh, I am praying for what I want. When I am praying in the Spirit, I am praying in accordance with what He wants.
Ephesians 6:16
With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Nece: That sure makes a lot of sense the way you have explained it. I will definitely have to send her the link. Thank you so much. Your ministry is such a blessing. I am very exited to be a partner in it.
Bob: Thank you so much for your call.
Cynthia from Tulsa, OK
Cynthia: I have been reading in Isaiah. I wonder if you can shed some light on Isaiah 9:6. In the heading it possibly identifies his birth. It says the government will be on his shoulders. The reference scripture to that is Matthew 28:18, which says all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. I know you always stress reading the whole and never take anything out of context. I wonder what that meant exactly?
Isaiah 9:6
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Matthew 28:18
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
Bob: It says that to us a child is born and unto us a son is given. That obviously is talking about Jesus, isn’t it. And the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. The ultimate of the government being on his shoulders will be at the end times during the thousand year, or millennial, reign.
Bob: In the meantime, Satan is the prince of this earth. Quite frankly, I think it is God’s way of saying to a country, and to people down through the ages, exactly what it would be if you had a son, as an example, that you were trying to give advice to and they never followed it, and they rebelled against it, and got mad at you for giving it to you, you would ultimately say, “son, you are on your own. If you know more than we do, then you go out and you put that into practice but do not come to us to bail you out. For I am not going to bail out someone who is not willing to listen to truth”.
Bob: That is exactly what God did. When the fall of man took place, when they decided right from wrong, good and evil, on their own, and did not need God for that, then God said “have at it and see how you will do”. At the end times, you see mankind that have got so smart that they can blow each up to smithereens. If not for the intervention of God, we would totally destroy ourselves. That is how smart we are. God is saying, “do you see you are not as smart as you thought you were and you need God”. At that time, you will see every knee bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and that is when man will finally surrender his own intelligence, which is foolishness to God, and surrender that and be led by God alone.
Cynthia: I see a lot of that in our government.
Bob: Everything is determined not by what God says but what man comes up with. Man says, “I will determine what is right from wrong and good from evil.”
Cynthia: That makes sense. He has got a plan though man is going his own way. God has a plan.
Bob: We sometimes do not understand the way he does it, as to why he does not get more busy in this. His plan is in accordance with his timing. He will let mankind, and all the angelic beings, see the futility of man leaning on his own understanding instead of acknowledging God and letting God direct his path.
Cynthia: That is great news. Well, okay Bob. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. I recently got to go to a pro life conference and I have been sharing this good news of no confession of sins when you are in Christ. I must say I got a lot of interesting reactions.
Bob: If you are saying no confession of sin that is not what we are saying. It is the fact you are not confessing for the purpose of getting forgiveness as a child of God. That is how we get in trouble by people misquoting, saying “Bob George says you do not have to confess your sins”. That is nonsense. That is not what we are teaching. We are teaching you do not have to confess your sins to get forgiveness. You confess your sin because you are a child of God and you are thanking him for that forgiveness and asking him to guide your steps. There is a world of difference to that.
Cynthia: I went into a little more detail than what I had said to you.
Bob: I am sure you did. I just want to make sure our listeners did.
Cynthia: There is not too many people who believe this. You get the most weird stares.
Bob: Well, there is not too many people who believe in the finality of the cross. People just give lip service to it. When Jesus said it is finished, did he mean it is finished or did he mean it is not finished? When Jesus took away the sins of the entire world, did he take away the sins of the entire world or, as reformed theology, did he just take away the elect’s sins? You get into all that kind of thing where people and Satan, in essence, in the background, laughing his fool head off, when people are denying the words of Christ Himself when He said, “it is finished”. It is done. It is over. Your sins have been judged. The verdict was guilty. The punishment was death. Jesus took it all. Yet people say, “No, he hasn’t.
Bob: Cynthia, did we answer your question okay?
Cynthia: Yes, you did. I went to conference and made a life long friend. We connect by phone and internet. Those conferences are awesome. I have a son in Iraq coming home. He will either be coming in the first week or the second week. They do not give specific dates. That conference was so awesome. God bless you. Keep going.
Bob: Well, thank you, Cynthia. We hope you can make it. We certainly continue to pray for the safety of your son. Thank you for him being a part of protecting our country.
Kenneth from New Orleans, LA
Kenneth: How are you doing?
Bob: Good. Thank you.
Kenneth: First, I want to say thank you to you guys. You have opened up. My life is just new. When I opened the scriptures, it is clear to me. By the time I get to work and the time I get off, I try to explain things revealed to me by the Spirit and they just cannot see it. But my question is this. When do you think the full number of Gentiles will finally come to Christ and brings the Jews back? Is it going to be forever?
Bob: We have no way of knowing that at all, Kenneth, when that is going to take place. When it does, there will be a lot of things happening at that time. We do not have a clue. We just have to wait and see on that.
Kenneth: We just try to help the Gentiles see.
Bob: Yes, there is an awful lot that do not see. I do not think Gentiles have much excuses today any more than the Jews. The gospel is available in so many areas today. It is also in the bible. But the lost might as well not have it because they will not understand it until indwelt by the Spirit of God. That is why so many bibles sit around with dust on them because the one time they did open it they did not understand it. Then you say, “I guess I do not have the ability to understand the word of God so I will just ask the pastor and whatever he says I will believe”. Unfortunately that is the condition of most people today.
Kenneth: It is filled with entertainment. We have mega churches down here in New Orleans. It is like a franchise. A pastor helps another pastor get one started and they continue on and on and on. It is just dead. I do not know. I just feel for a lot of people.
Bob: Our obligation as an individual is to go into the world and to help people know the fullness of the gospel. We cannot really be responsible for others. We just do what God has called you to do.
Kenneth: That is my position.
Bob: Keep it up.
Kenneth: I feel so alone, Bob. I feel so alone. I am on an island. I am reaching out and everybody is looking at me saying, “What is wrong with you”. I say I am forgiven and because of Christ. Yea, but I hear back, ’I am forgiven but I still have to ask and I have to humble myself and ask Him”. You do not have to help Him.
Bob: The greatest humility in the world is to say there is nothing I can do to keep myself forgiven. There is nothing I can do to keep myself righteous. It is all Jesus and none of me. That is humility. This other stuff is false humility.
Kenneth: I want to thank you guys.
Bob: You are welcome, my brother. I appreciate your call. I wish we had more time. We are just about to run out of time right now but I really appreciate your call.
Kenneth: God bless.
Bob: You too, my friend. Bye. Bye.
