Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P491 (11-14-19)
Synopsis
Several people called to ask common questions. Many things are not properly understood because people are not reading the word for themselves, not letting the Holy Spirit teach them, or would rather believe what some denominational persuasion has them convinced is true. Such is the case of many of the callers who call.
These callers called because they wanted to know truth and Bob graciously answered their questions from what the Holy Spirit has revealed to him. Is tithing for today? What about Malachi? Am I robbing God? What is the way of giving under the New Covenant? Is God punishing me because I married out of wedlock, and now I am pregnant and had a miscarriage? Should I always turn the other cheek? Should I keep giving to someone who continuously steals from me? What is the line drawn on forgiving somebody? What really is forgiving someone? Am I enabling someone when I keep giving and giving to a person who never changes his stupid or sinful behavior? What happened in the garden of Eden? What happened to all mankind? Can man get that life back again?
These and other questions are the types of questions asked by many people still today. How would you answer these questions from what the Holy Spirit has revealed to you? Where wold you look to find the answers to these questions?
Transcript
Cathy from New Orleans, LA
Cathy: Hi, Bob. How are you?
Bob: Doing good, Cathy. Thanks.
Cathy: My question pertains to some of the scriptures that teach about forgiveness or either unforgiveness and turning the other cheek, so to speak, as related to. We have family members including children who we continuously help. They fall and we pick them up again. This is a pattern that has been going on some time, especially with the children. My husband and I seem to have differences of opinion about that. He seems to want to endlessly help and care take irregardless of what they continuously choose to do. I am of the opinion that, yes, we do have to forgive but there is such a thing as enabling people. Do we have to continuously turn the other cheek with people to take them into your home, who may steal from you? Then they come back, you forgive them and they do it again. Just a repeated cycle. We have a prison ministry and we have some people who have made some good choices. But we do get burned a lot. We struggle with where that cut off point should be.
Bob: Well, Cathy. I think you are dealing in a couple of different things. You are dealing with the forgiveness of someone. Forgive one another as Christ Jesus has forgave you. Confess your sins to one another and that is brother to brother, agreeing with God concerning when we sin against each other.
Bob: But you are talking about of helping people and to the point of being taken advantage of or either being kind of silly. Forgiveness of a person is forgiving the sins that have been committed against you. To say to be wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove also enters into this picture. If I am wise as a serpent I do not want to be taken advantage of again. Whenever Jesus helped somebody he was not getting taken advantage of. He helped somebody because they needed help. The man on the road to Samaria needed help and somebody helped him. He was not expecting anything in return. He was a stranger and he needed help.
Bob: You do not want to be encouraging someone to keep sinning. If a person has made bad judgments, and as a result of those bad judgments, he has gotten into financial difficulty, then they come to you for help and you graciously can give him some financial help that he needs. Then he goes out and makes another dumb decision and comes back for help. All you are doing is financing his stupid decisions. He is never going to learn as long as somebody is financing his dumb decisions. There comes a point where he says as far as forgiveness is concerned your decision you have made is I do not need to forgive you for what I was not involved in. That was something you got involved in and you got in trouble. The issue is I am not going to support your lifestyle. I am not being loving by supporting your lifestyle that is destroying you and everyone around you. No, I am not going to support it. I will be helpful where I can but I am not going to support your lifestyle.
Cathy: We have actually taken into our home. They would go to church with us and get it together, so to speak, and then maybe a month or two months later, we find the television missing or something like that. Then they come back and cry and say sorry.
Bob: Well, if you are sorry, you go and buy a new television. You see, coming back and saying you are sorry for something you have done and not make restitution for that is easy to do. You know I took your television and I am just dead sorry. Well, if you are that sorry then go and get me a new television. That is the only way you are going to help that person know that their is repercussions to their dumb decision and to their sinful decisions. There is a repercussion to that.
Bob: There is a repercussion to sin and it is called death. Our sins do not separate us from God. Death separates us from God. There is a repercussion. Even in our theology, we are always dealing with the fruit and never the root. People say sins separate you from God. No this does not. It is the wages of sin that separates you from God. Death separates you from the living God.
Colossians 2:13-14
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
Romans 8:1-2
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Bob: Death is what separates you from God. Your sins is what brought about death. But death is what separates you. Realize there is a repercussion to sin. When we allow people to say. Let us say they are born again. I am a born again Christian and I steal your television. The heart of a born again Christian is I am going out and buying you a new one.
Cathy: I also tried to talk to my husband about this. A lot of times he feels they cannot help their repeated behavior, in some cases. Someone gave me a scripture. There is no temptation known to man that God has not provided a way out. To me, that concern is there is no excuse. There is a way out for repeated drug use and things of that nature that causes this behavior.
1 Corinthians 10:13
13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Bob: It is a choice, Cathy. Your husband is not going to the truth from the bible. He is going from truth from his own thinking or truth from what he has been told from the psychological world but he is not going to the truth in the bible. Bible says there is no temptation such as not common to man. But with that temptation there is a way out. Temptation started in the mind. Whether drug addiction, or whatever it is, it started in the mind. You can renew your mind or alter your mind. God said to renew it.
Romans 12:2
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Bob: With those kinds of issues, a person has to realize I am not going to be there to help your decision making in regard to drugs, alcohol, continual stealing, or whatever else it might be. Those are choices that you make and when you continue to feed that and support it, then what you are allowing is this. He is saying: “This is not a bad deal. I can do what I want and these friends are going to give me money to do it again.” It is not helping him.
Cathy: I just took that position but I wanted to call and confirm that. Sometimes he makes me feel guilty. I do not help them. Some of them have children.
Bob: Cathy, they should be thinking about that. That is not your responsibility. It is not your children. Why did they not think of that?
Cathy: I know. I know.
Bob: These people are sitting there and conning people saying “I cannot help myself”. Nonsense! You can help yourself. They should be thinking of what they should be doing with their children. They are not your children. They are theirs. Do not shift blame off of them when they have kids. They know they have kids. They produced them. They are the ones sitting around thinking about what I am doing for my kids. As long as you are paying the bills, they do not have to be thinking about that.
Cathy: I told my husband there needs to be accountability. For any action there needs to be a consequence. When the bible talks about forgiving that does not mean I have to open my door and allow same consequence.
Bob: Absolutely. It is not that I am not going to forgive you, but I am not going to ruin you by helping you. You have to come to the end of yourself. I cannot help you there. I cannot help picking you back up. I want you to fall flat on your face so nowhere to look but up to God. That is tough love but it is true love.
Cathy: The one thing we have never really looked at is the position that. Okay, if you are really sorry, let us resolve the situation with more than just “I am sorry and forgive me”. Let us hold them accountable for whatever it is they have done.
Bob: Absolutely. They ought to be praising God that you did not turn them into the authorities and arrest them if they came in and stole something.
Cathy: We have done that to a couple of the people because it got totally out of hand.
Bob: In the Old Testament, it says restitution is many times over and above what the item that was stolen was. You see the wisdom of that all the way through the scripture.
Exodus 22:1
“Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.”
Cathy: I did not realize that. So do not, again, do not be a door mat.
Bob: Absolutely. You say, “Sorry I love you too much to help you.”
Cathy: Thank you so much Bob. I knew you would have the words of wisdom. You always do. I enjoy your program so much. I hope you have a happy long life.
Bob: Thank you, Cathy and the same to you.
Carrie from Bakersfield, CA
Carrie: I have a question. My English is not too good. What is it about tithing you were talking about? It says in the New Testament that Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law. Would that mean we should be doing the tithing as they were doing it?
Bob: Do you think we ought to have sacrifices?
Carrie: No.
Bob: That was in the law, wasn’t it?
Bob: Do you eat shrimp?
Cathy: No, I do not like shrimp.
Bob: Do you ever eat a pork chop?
Cathy: Yes, I do.
Bob: Then you should not being doing that. That was in the law.
Bob: This is amazing to me. It says Jesus fulfilled the law. When it is fulfilled, then it is fulfilled. He fulfilled the law in its entirety by doing that. He fulfilled the law by walking in love. Love is the fulfillment of the law.
Romans 13:10
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Bob: Jesus walked in perfect love and totally fulfilled the law. There is nothing else to fulfill. Then it says that the law has been fulfilled in us who do not walk after the flesh but walk after the Spirit, for those of us in Christ Jesus. The law has been fulfilled in us. Why? He fulfilled the law and He lives in us. So the fulfillment of the law has been taken care of so that he could usher in a New Covenant of grace which he did at his death.
Romans 8:4
And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Cathy: But isn’t there also another scripture right there in the New Testament where it say you hypocrites, if you tithe this?
Bob: Again, here is where, hopefully, you are going to get a good understanding of the word of God. That was under the Old Covenant. The New Covenant did not go into effect until Jesus died. I do not know whether you have a will or not, but if you have a will when does that will go into effect?
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.
Cathy: when you die.
Law & Grace
Bob: The will is a covenant. The will is a testament. You have the old will, the old testament, the old covenant. That has been replaced by the new will, the new covenant, the new testament. Jesus, while here on earth, was still under the law, still under the Levitical priesthood, so he is saying you should tithe but if you are going to tithe do not tithe and then not take care of your parents. Why did he say that? They are still under the law. He taught under the law. He came into this world, born of a virgin, under law and then fulfilled the law. When it is fulfilled, it is over, isn’t it? When Jesus cried out on the cross, “it is finished” he did so because it is finished. When something is fulfilled there is nothing more to do because it is fulfilled. We could not fulfill the law.
Romans 3:20
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Bob: No one ever declared righteous or get life through the law. No one will be justified by the law. The only thing the law can do is kill you. Jesus had to fulfill what you and I could not fulfill. If we could not fulfill the law, we are trying to superseded what Jesus did.
Cathy: I have been listening to you so much that I believe all the things as I do a little bit and know the bible. What you say is there in the bible. I have been tithing for over 30 years. I do not do it because I have to. I do it because in Malachi, you know what it says. I just feel like I do want to give to God, what supposedly belongs to God. That is the way I have been taught. Tithing. Now I undertood the way you said. Not because of being saved or not. Would it be hypocritical of myself if I want to keep doing it?
Bob: If tithing was into the thought of giving in accordance with what you feel God wants you to give. In other words, it would tie into what we talked about, excelling in the grace of giving, to give joyfully and willingly and to give enthusiastically and to give a generous gift not grudgingly.
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: If you decide in your heart you want to give 10 percent or if you really want to tithe according to the Old Testament, you would probably give 30 percent, for that was what the tithe and taxation was. Are you able to give, not reluctantly and not under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Bob: If you are giving because of Malachi, you might as well keep your money for that is not of God. You are not robbing God. First of all, you are not giving to God. You are giving to your pastor. God knows what he did with your money. You do not give by throwing money up in the air. You give money for the perpetuation of the gospel. The Old Testament tithing was not giving for the perpetuation of the gospel. It was tithing food stuff so the priests could eat. So the issue is, if you want to give and continue to give 10 percent, and you can do that joyfully, not reluctantly and not under compulsion but it is not so God is going to get blessed, but because the gospel is going out. Then keep doing that. There is nothing wrong with that.
Cathy: Thank you. It is wonderful talking to you. That is the way I have been taught.
Bob: I know.
Cathy: But the way you are explaining to me, honestly I like to feel like it is better blessed to give than to receive. I would rather give. If I give because I need it. That is one of the things. I keep on doing it but I will have the idea of what you are saying. I give like just as a gift to a ministry. I appreciate it very much. So happy you took my call.
Todd from El Paso, TX
Todd: I have a question to ask you. Do you know when someone gets pregnant and miscarry, is that God punishing them?
Bob: Todd, what kind of God would you have who thought that God was punishing somebody by giving them a miscarriage when God said go into the world and multiply? What kind of God do you have that you would think He is punishing people when God sent His Son on a cross for punishing him for all your sins so there is no punishment for us who are in Christ Jesus? God is not punishing a person!
Romans 8:1-2
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Bob: That is something that is a natural act that when Adam fell, all of nature fell. Even nature itself groans and moans for its redemption.
Romans 8:22-23
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
So you are going to have earthquakes, tornadoes, miscarriage. You will have all those things taking place because we are in a fallen world. This is a by product of the fall of man and ultimately ends up in the fall of all nature. It is not punishment. It is just something that happens as a result of being human. It can happen to one person and not another. It has nothing to do with punishment. I just cannot envision somebody who can think God, who went to the trouble to send His own Son into this world and punish him for our sins because he so loved us that he gave us his only begotten son. For what? So he would take our punishment upon himself. For a God like that who would be punishing somebody with a miscarriage does not make any sense, Todd.
Todd: I thought He was kind of punishing her. The reason I ask is because my cousin just got pregnant not too long ago. She said she lost the baby. I thought God was punishing her for some reason.
Bob: My answer to that is the answer I just gave. I do not know what God you have, but it is not the God I have. I do not know how you can be thinking that way, that God is punishing her by giving her a miscarriage! If God is punishing everyone who got pregnant out of wedlock, you would not have any children born.
Todd: What can I tell her?
Bob: You may not be telling her anything. A miscarriage, those kind of things happen because of the fallen nature of man. Now, how she responds to that miscarriage is whether she is going to walk by faith or whether she is going to walk in presumption. If she is a Christian, then she will be thinking that God will cause all things to happen for good.
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Bob: If she is not born again, then maybe this heartache of having a miscarriage will lead her to want Christ. I do not know whether she is a Christian or not, but either one of these things can take place, Todd.
Todd: I do not know if she is a Christian or not. I hope and pray she is.
Bob: If she isn’t and you are talking to her, ask her the question. But for goodness sake get off of this punishing. I hope she is not thinking God is punishing her. Would you come to God who is going to punish you for having a miscarriage. You did not have anything to do with a miscarriage. It is something that just happened. We have to realize the truth of that.
Bob: If she is not a Christian, talk to her about a relationship to the Lord. Try to get her to the Lord. If you need her to call us, tell her to give us a call. We would be more than happy to talk to her.
Todd: Thank you, Bob.
Joe from Hellendale, CA
Joe: I want to thank you for teaching truth and liberty. I have been blessed by your ministry. What is the difference between when God told Adam that the day you sin you will die. What is difference between that life and new birth life?
Bob: The day that Adam sinned in the garden of Eden, he died spiritually. He did not die soulishly. What is death? It is the absence of life. It is like saying that the condition of this world is dark. Th sun comes up and dispels the dark but the condition of the world is dark. So what is dark? The absence of light. So what is death? The absence of life.
Bob: Whose life are you talking about there? It is the life of Christ indwelling our humanity. On the day Adam died spiritually, the life of God departed from him. In essence God said, “Adam and Eve, from this day forth you have decided on behalf of all mankind that you did not need God to determine right from wrong and good from evil, but that you can determine this on your own. So you are on your own. There will come a time you will find that will not be going to work. And when that happens, I will be back.” That is spiritual death and that is why we need spiritual life imparted to us by Christ Jesus and his resurrection.
Joe: Okay.
Bob: Alright, we do not have more time to talk. But Joe, you call again. God bless you, pal.
