Classic Christianity – Call-In Bob George p395 (11-29-18)
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio as Bob George answers questions from callers to real life problems, offering hope and truth in Jesus Christ. Julie, the first caller, is a believer, but is walking according to the flesh, in obvious and blatant sin, because she has a faulty belief system and had made the same wrong choices. Therefore, she was not experiencing God’s love, joy, peace, patience, the fruit of the Spirit, that God wants for her. The second caller, Chip, called simply to thank Bob, recounting the early years, when he approached memorizing scriptures but without understanding its meaning, and so was bound up living in error. He was very grateful to Bob for his teaching of the New Covenant that helped transform his thinking and manner of living. The third caller, Katie, was experiencing anxiety and understandably so since her husband walked away from her marriage after 2 years. Bob gives her practical advise, basic insight into the root cause of marital problems, the encouragement to think truthfully, and take one day at a time. Bob also reached out to both her and her husband, if he is willing, to listen to a tape series on marriage as a possible means to restore their marriage. The last caller, Larry, asked a question in regards to Romans 2:12-13, as to its apparent contradiction. Bob responded by saying there is no contradiction and further explained the context, in terms of Jews under law, Gentiles not under law, but nobody escapes the wages of sin, which is death. He rephrased the scriptures so as to help one understand the intent of what Romans 2:12-13 was really saying. Other passages in Romans makes that meaning clear.
The first caller, Julie, initially called to ask Bob what his views were on someone living with a man that is not her husband and later admitted she was doing that. Bob responded by saying that there is no view on what God clearly calls sin. Sin is what God calls sin, and what Julie was admitting she was doing is called fornication, and is listed as a sin in scripture.
1 Corinthians 16:18-20
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
In the Levitical law, God goes to great lengths to explain all sorts of sin in detail, so there is more than enough information to know that fornication is sin.
The truth of the matter is that sin was placed on Jesus 2000 years ago so that in his resurrected life, you can become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Bob told her that you never want to get to the point of denying what God calls sin, redefining it as shacking up or saving expenses, which is really calling what is evil good or what is good evil. You may not be able to live up to what is right and do not want to sin, but be careful to agree with God what sin is. Bob shared the simple gospel message that God died on the cross and rose again so that you would not continue in sin but live a new life in Him. Bob asked Julie if she ever came to accept Christ as her Lord and Savior. She admitted she did and that she deeply loves God and knows that God loves her. But then she admitted making bad choices but offered up excuses for her wrong choices. Julie made excuses for her sin, as if trying to gain sympathy by sharing about her condition of hopelessness, as if she had nowhere to go but on the streets, and saying there is no other option. Bob firmly told her that there is always another option and was not buying her excuse and even told her she that what she said is a cop out. Julie did not disagree with Bob so by her reaction she was in agreement with what Bob was telling her. Bob would ask her other questions such as “How is your choice working for you? Are you happy with your choices? Knowing that she already knew and would agree, Bob told her that of course she is not happy. Anyone who is living in sin cannot be happy. The fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:20, the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and all those things listed, get hampered when one is living in sin, willfully and volitional out of the will of God. So Bob instructed her to recognize that and get out of being in such sin because you can stop sinning by God’s Spirit who lives in you and wants so much more for you. Bob told her it was her belief system and decisions that got her in the situation she is in in the first place. Why go back to living in sin when such such made you so miserable that you wanted to come to Christ in the first place. God wants the best for you and sin is not God’s best. Also is not even good for the guy either, for he is guilty. He is not a believer since he gets angry when talking about God. Bob shares such truth with her while explaining the hope in Jesus Christ, in regards to sin and righteousness, and with the purpose of walking in newness of life. Bob did not accept any of her excuses but continued to share truth she needed to hear, encouraging her to do the right thing, to simply say to the man, “It is not good for you and it is not good for me and then to walk out”, to commit to that choice she was already considering to do and encouraged to do by other believers, and to not go back, which she had repeatedly done. Bob encouraged her to make right choices in terms of getting a job, going to a mission for the homeless as temporary support until you can be working as unto the Lord and no longer need their assistance. Bob graciously offered her to call any time and to rely on the church to help people like her because that is what the church is for. The real choice she has to make is this “Am I going to keep living as if a victim of circumstances or change the way I am thinking, to go to work as unto the Lord?” You have liberty in Christ but do not use your liberty in Christ to indulge the flesh. Julie really needs to learn how to walk by the Spirit and not give into to sinful habits of the flesh. You are dead to sin so how can you live in it any longer. Julie needs truth to transform her old patterns of thinking so she can walk according to what the Spirit desires. I believe the Spirit is in her but her mind needs much renewing and a body of believers that can encourage her in truth would be of great benefit to her. Of course, it is her responsibility to start making the right choices. It is by grace you are saved, not by works, so that no one can boast.
The second caller, Chip, lived as if under the law, trying to obey from the strength of the flesh, so was lacking joy in the Lord. He testified of how he memorized the sermon on the mount and tried to do all that it said but instead it led to him finding himself failing all the time and he was frustrated and greatly discouraged, weighed down. But he testifies that upon listening to Bob George teach about the New Covenant, all those scriptures he had not understood, he now understood in context and was then able to transform his thinking so he could live under God’s grace and true freedom. He thanked Bob for such teaching that helped transform his life. Bob reiterated what Chip already knew, that a common mistake of many is to teach memorization of scripture without context. Doing so often leads to error because when one reads scripture one is to read scripture in context as to discern God’s intended meaning. If you believe in error, then your manner of living will be in error and unfruitful, such as lacking joy.
The third caller, Katie, very evident in her voice she is very much in great emotional pain. After 2 years of marriage, her husband left her and she still has had no contact with him. She has a longing in her heart for her marriage to be restored. Bob reminded her that the future is God’s territory. She indicated she was trying to think positively. But Bob instructed her that truthful thinking is really what you need to think because in positive thinking you incorrectly think you have control over the future and you do not. The truth is we can only thank God for what we have today for we have no knowledge of the future unless scripture informs us about such things. The source of anxiety that one feels is when one dwells on the future, and usually when we do it bad things we are pondering over. Katie then asked how does one go about thinking truthfully. Bob shared that we live by day and the key is recognizing the source of such thoughts, that the enemy, Satan, can put such thought before our minds. So it is not a matter of what you are listening to as much as who we are listening to.
2 Corinthians 10:5
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
When we have truth from God’s word, clear instruction on what the Lord guides us to do, then we focus on those things that are true.
Does it not seem the Lord is far away ye we know he is with the brokenhearted. So then, knowing he is near, living in you, with an attitude of thanksgiving, for what we do have today, we make our requests known to God. And what does God promise to do for us? That is how our hearts and minds are guarded!
Philippians 4:5-9
The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Julie was doing a lot of thinking about her role in her marriage, how she fell short, and not at home, and what role of a woman is in marriage, and role of a man. She asked Bob what scriptures there are about marriage that could help her. Bob indicated that there are a lot of marriage studies but such studies are really man’s opinion on the matter. Bob stated that there really is not much in scripture in regards to marriage, and he made reference to three scriptures on marriage (2 Corinthians 6:14 to not be unequally yoked, Genesis 2:24 on God’s institution of marriage, and Ephesians 5:22-24 where husband is to love his wife and the wife is to submit to her husband), and that is all there really is in scripture on marriage. He summarized by saying what he concludes about the root cause of marriage. A spouse is trying to get a need met that only Jesus can meet, such as unconditional love and acceptance, through their spouse, draining their spouse and putting burden on spouse in meeting a need they could never meet. As people, living by the Spirit, we simply make our bodies available to the Lord, to love and serve one another, as the Spirit leads. A spouse cannot give you meaning and purpose, only the Lord can do that. After sharing all this, Bob extended an offer to help restore her marriage, if her husband was willing. He offered both her and her husband to listen to a tape series on marriage.
The last caller, Larry, simply wanted clarification on the understanding of Romans 2:13.
Romans 2:12-13
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.
In Romans, Paul is addressing the Jew first, under law, as being declared guilty by the law that they did not obey. Then, he addresses the Gentiles, who were never under the law in the first place, yet are declared guilty apart from the law, their conscience condemning them when they know what is right according to conscience but choose to disobey. So, if one were to be declared righteous before God, then one have to completely obey both conscience and the law, in agreement with the nature and character of God. That is, one must be perfect as God is perfect. The fact is the wages of sin is death, all have sinned, and there is no one righteous.
Therefore, the law was added so man might see there condition in sin, already spiritually dead, being born in the nature and image of Adam, independent and rebellious by nature, an agent of God’s wrath. The idea is that if man recognizes his sinful condition then he would seek a savior and would come to know the gospel in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who can take away sin and offer new spiritual life that man needs.
Romans and other scriptures explain all this very clearly. The problem with most Christians in the world today is they only read one scripture or go to some AWANA type of programs to memorize a scripture here and a scripture there, and getting a prize if they do. Many do not read entire chapters or books of the bible to get the full picture. And how much time is allowed in churches for someone to explain the meaning of scriptures without a siren blowing or a fun activity started that prevents such needed instruction? And how much time does each individual believer take responsibility himself to read God’s word and ask the Spirit to lead him into all truth? Such is how so much false teaching and doctrine starts in many churches, think about one scripture and make-up a doctrine in clear violation of God’s intended meaning.
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