Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P603 (01-29-21)
Synopsis
People of all walks of life have much in common. We are human, born dead spiritually and in need of new life. And when we come to new life in Christ Jesus, we need to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We at first feed on just the milk of the word until such a time we are ready for solid food. We learn about the unconditional love of God, that we are not under law, but under grace, that we live under a New Covenant now. We learn the foundational truth of the totality of the cross, our new identity as a child of God, of being made complete in Christ, that we are not under law but under grace, that we live under a New Covenant not an Old Covenant. We learn what walking under grace means. We learn what it means to have our minds renewed.
So listen as Bob George explains these foundational truths, about what baptism is, spiritual baptism that saves, not that of a physical baptism, that only removes dirt from the body. He helps believers stay away from false teachers, those that teach a false prosperity gospel, explaining truth out of 1 Timothy 6 that those false teachers have a perverse mind, teaching that godliness is a means to financial gain. He teaches how to give as the Lord leads you to give, cheerfully, not under compulsion, willingly and in accordance with what you do have, not what you do not have. He explains the proper role of women, that they can certainly teach, but just not have authority over a man, as the apostle Paul so clearly explains in 1 Timothy 2.
Bob again explains what the gospel is, for life in Christ Jesus is really the foundation. Our thinking is the source of our problems. If our thinking is off, believing a lie, then we tend toward sinful behavior, that which is contrary to who we are in Christ. Christ indeed is our life, for those who are in Christ Jesus. We cannot live the Christian life. We live in continual trust in the living Christ, who lives in us, renewing our mind, so we may walk in the new way of the Spirit.
He will never leave us or forsake us no matter what. When we sin, the root of sin is not trusting Him, for anything that does not come from faith is sin. So when you sin, you thank God that He took away all your sins 2000 years ago on a cross, not counting your sins against you, and that He is there to renew your mind. The reason you sin is because you stopped trusting. So go boldly to the throne of grace for help in time of need. What do we most need? Our minds renewed with truth so we trust God, believing what He says, that He indeed has given us everything we need for life and godliness. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. That is what God is looking for.
Transcript
Elsie from Versalia, CA
Elsie: I have been having those discussions with a few friends of mine. We were talking about Acts 2:38. I was studying from a bible dictionary that baptism is a symbol of us dying and being raised with Christ to new life. I had these individuals who say, “No, that is not true. You receive the Holy Spirit in baptism or you are saved through baptism”. I say, “No. Look at all the scriptures that talk about Believe and you shall be saved”. Romans 10:9. That is what I believed when you are saved. Baptism is just a public witness that you are dying with Christ and being raised with Christ. That is my understanding of it.
Acts 2:38
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Elsie: What I am wondering here. Since there is the gift of the Spirit, the Spirit itself and the fruit of the Spirit, so the gift of the Spirit, are they referring to the gift of the Spirit rather than the gift itself? I believe from the reading I have done, prior to this, Peter preached to them, and they did believe, they did have remorse in their hearts, and so I believe, at that time, they did call out to God.
Bob: Let me try to answer the question there. First of all, it is because of a translation work that we get confused there. Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ” not before the forgiveness but because of forgiveness of your sins. You do not get baptized or repent for forgiveness of sins. You repent of being an unbeliever to becoming a believer. That is what repentance means, to change your mind in regard to who you are and who you want to be. Baptism in the early days was very much and much utilized by the Jews for Gentiles who came to Judaism. Paul later said, “I am glad I did not baptize anybody”.
1 Corinthians 1:14-15
14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized in my name.
Bob: If baptism was in the gospel, he could not make that statement and there is nowhere in the scripture where baptism is in the gospel.
Bob: So repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ rather than coming to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to be identified who that God is because of forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Is that not what happens when you come to Christ by faith and accept the totality of His forgiveness and His resurrected life? You receive the Holy Spirit of God. If the Holy Spirit does not belong to you, you do not belong to Him. That is how you are born again.
Romans 8:9
9 And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
Bob: People who want to get hung up on baptism for salvation. A person who believes you receive the Holy Spirit by being dunked in water is unsaved. You are talking to an unregenerate person if there is any other way of being saved by the completed work of Christ. It is nothing that you do. It is everything He has done. No one is saved by being dunked in water or sprinkled in water or anything else. You are saved when you turn to God to do for you what is impossible for you to do for yourself and that is to receive forgiveness of sins, and to receive the Holy Spirit of God, which is His resurrected life, to come to live in you to give you life. Man is not capable of giving himself life and certainly not capable of forgiving his own sins.
Bob: So we turned to Him what he had done. I can get baptized. I can get dunked in water. I was getting it from the person I was speaking to. What happens if man is out in the middle of somewhere and happens to accept Christ and he does not get baptized. Do you think he was saved? I said, “Yes, I do think he is saved”.
Bob: Let me tell you something, brother. Who you are talking to, first of all is a phony. I will tell you why. People who teach that do not teach baptism saves you. They teach you that baptism in my waters, in my church, by my pastor is what saves you. If you were a baptist, that baptism will not work for you, not in a church of Christ. You have to be baptized by the church of Christ, in my water, by my pastor, in order to be saved. That is what they believe. Otherwise, you would accept anybody’s baptism.
Bob: I was baptized any way you can be baptized. I was dunked three times, almost drowning me. I was sprinkled in a Presbyterian church. I was baptized with my wife in a Baptist church. I have been dunked every way there is to get dunked. None of those saved me. It was only the latter one, that was merely, as you said was a picture of what happened when I came to Christ. And I was baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. John the Baptist said, “I baptized with water but someone after me, whose sandals I am unworthy to untie, He will baptize me with Spirit and with fire.“
Luke 3:16
16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Bob: Water baptism never saved anyone. Spiritual baptism saves you.
1 Peter 3:21
21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also – not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Bob: Okay, brother. I do not want to take all day on baptism.
Elsie: On this other question. Now, baptism in that verse, is that the gift of the Holy Spirit?
Yes, that is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Elsie: It is not Spirit itself?
Bob: It is the Spirit itself. The gift is the Holy Spirit and that is what happens when you are born again. You would not be born again if the Holy Spirit did not come to live in you. In order to be born again, you have to acknowledge the cross and then go to the resurrection. And that is where the Holy Spirit comes in, through the resurrection.
Elsie: You are exactly right.
Bob: Okay, my brother?
Elsie: Thank you very much.
Bob: Good to talk to you, my friend.
Laurie from British Columbia, Canada
Laurie: Thanks to you. It is coming thirty years of your ministry. Thanks for your ministry and being faithful to your calling and helping us to understand so many wonderful things in God’s word, especially the New Covenant, the finality of the cross, abiding in Christ, and not being under law, but grace. And, all those things unfortunately, are not taught in church. Your ministry has been there and has been so helpful to me. I have learned so much in the past five to six years listening to you guys. Going to church, unfortunately, I have not learned these things. I was brought up in church as a little boy. When I came to you guys, ministry spoke things inside my spirit was what the Lord said and is what I wanted to hear for so many years. I am really thankful to you guys. I am a lifelong supporter and I will be until the Lord takes me home.
Bob: That is great, Laurie. We have a lot of people who echo the same thing. That is unfortunate that this message is not proclaimed from every pulpit in America, or the world really, because that is really what He told us to do. You have been set apart to become ministers of reconciliation, ministers of a new covenant, not of an old that kills, but of a new that brings life.
2 Corinthians 3:5-6
5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Bob: But many times people never differentiate old from new and certainly do not proclaim as exclusively that we live under. They try to co-mingle old with new, one foot in the law and one in grace and wonder why they are walking on both sides of the street at the same time. The fact is that thank God we are able to have a format to get this message out to reach people like yourself, Laurie, and we are really appreciative of people like you. Not only are you benefiting from it, but you are passing it along.
Laurie: Thank you guys for the integrity of your ministry. How you teach the solid truth of the word. It is so important nowadays. It is amazing how knowing through your ministry and teaching a finality of the cross and how we are not under law but under grace. I found it for me. I am not perfect but I struggle with sin far less than how I used to by believing you are not forgiven until you ask for it. I used to think you are saved but you must continue to live under the law. Teaching the New Covenant way, which you do, that tells you that the death of Christ is final, sins are forgiven, so walk by faith and rest in that, and be led by life under Christ, and under grace. That frees you to move forward in Jesus Christ and get your mind renewed by the Holy Spirit and live out that newness of life. You struggle with sin far less when living like that than living the old way, which seems to be the way church teaches, and people wonder why they are always struggling. It is because they have not come to grips with totally depending on Christ and resting in what He has done, and allowing Him to live through you. It is a total trust relationship. I remember about last year, was talking about a new year’s resolution. I think the biggest thing God wants us to do is to trust Him for everything. That really hit home with me.
Bob: That is what the Christian life is. The only thing that counts is faith in Jesus, which results in love for one another. That is the only thing He is looking for.
Galatians 5:6
6 The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Bob: God bless you, my friend. You have a good week and we will be thinking of you on our anniversary.
Laurie: Keep up the good work. I wish I could come down. Rod McCloud is going down.
Bob: Yes, he is. I look forward to seeing all of you. God bless you, my friend.
Willie from Syracuse, NY
Willie: I am a truck driver. I have been having some difficulties trying to do what is right as a Christian. It is hard to do. Without God, with Him in me, I would not be able to do what I do. I am in a situation where I know what I am doing. It is just really hard to maintain the Christian life. I end up beating myself up after the circumstance that comes my way.
Bob: What do you think it would be if you maintained the Christian life, Willie? What would that be like?
Willie: I would think it would be much more prosperity.
Bob: Where do you find that in the bible?
1 Timothy 6:2-5
These are the things you are to teach and insist on. 3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
Bob: What it says in the bible is that anyone who says godliness is a means to financial gain is a man of perverted mind. So you have been listening to some perverted teaching. You have been listening to perverted teaching taught by perverted men, who teach people a prosperity gospel, that godliness is a means to financial gain. When Jesus walked on this earth as God, He did not even have a place to be born. Paul in his latter days asked for his cloak, and his parchments, or books.
Luke 9:58
58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
2 Timothy 4:13
13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.
Bob: Yet they go around teaching a prosperity gospel. So you need to quit listening to those kinds of teachers. Realize the Christian life is trusting Christ Jesus with what He came to do, which is to take away your sins, which He did, and to give you eternal life, which He has also done. Then for you to get out of the way and let Him live His life in you and through you.
Galatians 2:20
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Willie: That is where a lot of my problems come from. I need to try to let Him be my life for me. When I get upset, I try to handle things for myself. I have left alone by Him and when I try to reach out and get back to Him, He is not listening.
Bob: No. He has never left you when you do that. He just goes there with you. Willie, your Christian life is like those trucks you drive. It is like a driver’s education car with two steering wheels. You get in a car and Jesus is sitting at the steering wheel and you get in and there is one in front of you. Jesus says, “We are going to take a trip and one of us is going to drive because both of us cannot drive. If you want to enjoy the trip that I am going to take you on, then sit back and enjoy the trip and let me do the driving. When you put your hands on the steering wheel, I am going to take my hands off because both of us cannot drive at the same time. I am willing to bump down the road with you and ram into a few flag poles and everything else with you. But whenever you get to the point where you get tired of driving, you take your hands off the wheel and I will do what I came to do and that is to drive this car.” So He never leaves you. What you said is not true. He never leaves you and He has never forsaken you.
Hebrews 13:5
5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Bob: So Willie, what you have to understand, if you are in Christ Jesus, you have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. If you have come to Christ, not just for what He did for you, but for who He is, God. As God, he came to this earth to do for you and me what we had no ability to do for ourselves. He took away our sins at the cross, which is preparatory to give you eternal life through His resurrection.
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: Reconciliation is a done deal. That is something He did for the entire world at the cross, but what was provided is received only in His resurrected life. That is why you come to Christ for His life. You come to Christ for Him, and in Him you have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:13-14
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Bob: So when you blow it, God has not left you nor have you left Him. You cannot. What you have done is acting contrary to who you are as a child of God. When you do that, that does not surprise God. It did not surprise Him. “Oh, did you just see what Willie just did?” He knows where you are. You are in a situation where you say, “Lord Jesus, thank you for your mercy to me. Thank you that 2000 years ago, you took that sin away at the cross. Now, Lord, I want you to teach my mind and teach me why I am listening to my flesh instead of the Spirit living in me.”
Romans 14:23
23 everything that does not come from faith is sin.
Bob: Every sin you commit, Willie, the root of that sin is unbelief. The fruit of it can be all over the place. But the root, the foundation of it, is you stopped trusting Christ and started trusting your flesh. So He wants you to deal with the root of the problem, not the fruit of the problem.
Willie: I listen to your program once or twice a week when I come to New York. I always find it enlightening. Thank you for your message.
Bob: You are welcome, brother. I hope that helps.
Willie: Thank you.
Bob: God bless you, Willie.
Willie: God bless you.
Bob: Bye. Bye.
Stan from Denver, CO
Stan: I have a question regarding 1 Timothy 12 where Paul talks about women in church.
1 Timothy 2:11-12
11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.
Stan: I am a little confused on what Paul is talking about there. I have heard several different explanations of it. Women were in the back of the church shouting to husbands up front of the church. What is your understanding?
Bob: I think it is very clear. A woman should learn in quietness and submission, which is submission to God. “Do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man.” When talking about having authority over a man, she should be silent. That is what the bible says and means. A woman should not be in a position of leadership or authority over a man. That is why a woman should not be a pastor. A pastor is a position of leadership. Can a woman teach a man in a mass setting? Yes, of course she can. It is a man’s choice of whether he will come and listen to her or not.
Bob: There are many wonderful woman teachers but they are not exercising leadership or authority over a man. I think the context here, it is not appropriate for women to teach or have authority over a man, saying, “Sit down here, man. I am going to be giving you information you need.” But a woman teaching in a public setting would certainly be there teaching, and women would be the main group who would come to listen to her, but if a man wanted to, it is his prerogative. She is not sitting down one on one saying, “Let me teach you some things”. Along with that, for what you are saying here in 1 Corinthians, who were getting up and prophesying in tongues and that is where he said to be quiet and not do that either.
Bob: All of those are instructions that are there. This is not a time machine, that was applicable then and not now. It is just as true today as is all of the bible.
Stan: I just kind of got the impression. I hear a lot of women pastors. What happens in the world is kind of creeping into the church. I am getting a little uncomfortable with church with a woman pastor. I do not know if I want to sit under that.
Bob: I would not sit in that church at all, because as a pastor, she is in authority over those in the congregation and that is contrary to scripture.
Stan: You take the plain interpretation first. Paul is plain there.
Bob: Yes, Paul is plain. And it is not that God did not like women. There are reasons for that. If a woman is, for example, in a position of leadership in the church, what is she going to do when she gets home with her husband. I have seen a violation of that, and it is devastating. I have seen a lot of women who are in positions of leadership in church and they run their husband into the ground. I know a great woman teacher but her husband is just milk toast. She absolutely runs him into the ground as she writes books on marriages. That is why God said to do this because it keeps a woman. How is a woman going to be learning in quietness and submission with a submissive spirit when she is exercising authority over a man.
Stan: Thank you. I appreciate you helping clarify that issue. It has been bugging me for a while. Every one I talked to says it is okay for this, that and the other, but this is not in accordance with what I am reading. Maybe I thought there is some nuance I was missing. Okay. Thank you very much.
Stan: I am having a little trouble, moving from law to grace, but I am getting there.
Bob: Pick up our book on law and grace and see if that helps.
Michael from New Orleans, LA
Michael: I am a long time listener and a second time caller. I got Classic Christianity, Faith that Pleases God, and Victory Over Depression about a week ago. I also have Complete in Christ. I am in the second chapter of that. Through your teaching I led a drug dealer to Christ.
Bob: Fantastic!
Michael: My question is simple. The church that I attend. I was raised and grew up in church. I had a good pastor. I agree with you on tithing. But what I do, I worked for a temporary service. I send half to you and half to the church. Am I wrong for that?
Bob: No. You should give where you feel God wants you to give. I hear people say that you are supposed to give to the local church, the local church. God says to give enthusiastically to who is feeding you.
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.
1 Timothy 5:17-18
17 The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 18 For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,”[Deuteronomy 25:4] and “The worker deserves his wages.”[Luke 10:7]
Michael: Okay. Great.
Bob: There is not something that is a big deal about the local church. That is a local group of people who meet. I have a local church. I would not tell my people to do that at all. You give where God is leading you to give. Give generously and give abundantly.
Michael: I say humorously that I want part of your blessings in chapter 2.
Bob: Okay. Brother.
Michael: I love you, guys. I listen to you every day.
Bob: God bless you. Bye. Bye.
