Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P640 (06-04-21)
Synopsis
People have grown up under, or have heard, all kinds of teachings of men, whether Baptist, Catholic, Presbyterian or Pentecostal or any number of denominations out there. Now on a matter of such eternal importance as salvation, sadly the message is not proclaimed clearly or even accurately. You may have heard all kinds of phrases like, “Once saved, always saved”, “Sacraments are necessary for salvation”, that salvation is a process that you have to go through, “You have to be baptized in order to be saved.” or that “Salvation is getting your sins forgiven.” It is so sad that the gospel of salvation is not proclaimed clearly and accurately as it ought to be! Not only that, even when it is proclaimed on one Sunday it is undermined by double-talk when a preacher teaches 1 John 1:9 out of context and uses it to tell people to ask God to forgive them when they sin so as to keep short accounts with God and to keep in fellowship with God. So in reality, the message proclaimed often by a Protestant denomination is not any different than a Catholic saying you must go to a confessional booth to get your sins forgiven. The Protestant just boasts that he can go direct to God to get his sins forgiven.
So listen as Bob George explains to people from the scriptures what salvation is, so as to clear up the confusion so many people are in due to false teaching in regard to forgiveness. What do you do when you sin? Is the Law for us today? What part of the Law applies to us today? And what about 1 John 1:9? Those are the types of questions that are so commonly asked by people, who either do not know what salvation is or have been under false teaching for so long that they have difficulty sorting out truth from error. The real issue is that people do not study the word of God for themselves to test and see if what any man says is so. For if you have the Spirit of God in you, then you can discern the things of God as you allow the Spirit of God living in you to teach you, for He is there to guide you into all truth. If you are lost, and have a humble heart, seeking answers as to why you are wretched, coming to the end of the law for righteousness, you are doing well to look into God’s word for the Spirit to reveal to you the meaning of His Word for the receiving of His resurrected life He wants to give you.
So in summary, salvation is being set free from the consequence of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is life. But people think salvation is getting your sins forgiven. Death is a worse problem than sin. Sin caused your death, and that problem had to be solved. But so does the greater problem of death. Jesus shed His blood on a cross and that solved the sin issue but that did not save anyone in and of itself. That was a necessary preparation for life to be given. But His shed blood was of such eternal value that it took away the sins of the entire world, back to Adam and forward to the person yet to be born. There is no more forgiveness to be executed on behalf of God for sin. It is paid in full, the price of death for sin, and Jesus will not come back to shed His blood again, without which there is no forgiveness of sins.
The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is what allows Jesus to offer new spiritual life to all mankind. That life must be received by faith. That is what solved the bigger problem, the death issue. Death can only be solved by life and the resurrected life in Jesus is the only life available to mankind. If you read through the gospels, take a note of how many times Jesus says “life”, such as “Come to me for life’ and ’I am the resurrection and the life.”. You are not saved by the death of Christ but by the life of Christ. Ponder over the meaning of Romans 5:10 and allow the Spirit to reveal to you the truth of these things. In the transcript are several scriptures that explain all this more thoroughly.
Concerning the Law that so many callers ask about, Bob explained some key concepts to grasp. You cannot separate the Law from the penalty of the law. Otherwise the law would be meaningless. God does not grade on a curve. He grades on perfection, and if you sin but once, you are guilty of breaking all of the law. Why is that? Because the definition of sin from God’s vantage point is anything that does not come from faith. No one will ever be declared righteous by observing the law because through the law we become conscious of sin. That is good for the lost, as a tutor, so he may recognize himself as a sinner, and a wretched man in need of life. That is what the law is for. But to try to obtain righteousness by the law is a futile effort. The law kills because we are born dead, without the Spirit of God in us, and God is love and love is the fulfillment of the law. Without His love in our heart, where love does its neighbor no wrong, we are incapable of fulfilling the law. That is why Jesus came to fulfill the law for us and to become sin for us. Only then could we be out from under that law of sin and death. But then we also need His life to be lived in us so we can allow Him to love in and through us. That is why we need the resurrected life of Christ. That is what salvation is, receiving His resurrected life, Him. For as Paul said if Christ is not raised then we are not raised either and are still dead in our sins.
So what does the law do for the sinner or the believer who puts himself back under the law. Sin indwells our flesh, and the flesh is contrary to the Spirit, but with the Spirit living in you, you have the divine privilege to participate in the divine nature and overcome sin-indwelling flesh. The law stirs up sin in us. That is why Paul said that once he thought he could be made righteous by the law, but when the law said “Do not covet”, he found himself coveting all the more. The law stirred up sin in him and put him to death. He came to the end of the law for righteousness, which is what the law was designed for, so man might know his wretched state and seek a Savior in Christ Jesus. So unless man is out from under the law of sin and death, then he will never come alive in Christ Jesus.
So how does a born again person live the Christian life? He cannot do it. He does exactly what Jesus illustrated in the parable of the vine and the branch in John 15. We must abide in Him, the vine, just as a branch abides in the vine to bear fruit. We, likened to a branch, cannot produce fruit in the energy of our flesh, but we can bear fruit as we walk in trust in the living God, who alone produces the fruit, and who says He has given us everything we need for life and godliness. He produces the fruit as defined in Galatians 5:22-23, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Our role is to depend on Christ to live His life in and through us.
Transcript
Clint from Belview, AK
Clint: I wanted to make a couple of comments and know what your thoughts are on these. I have talked to a couple of people. I am basically a Baptist hanging around the Pentecostals. I know things are different when it comes to gifts and salvation. I believe once saved, always saved. Pentecostals bring up that 1 John 1:9. I think people are hung up on the word “forgiven”. To me, salvation is one time, if you are genuinely saved and genuinely repent, but all those hoops people make people jump through to make sure they are saved. You are not sinless just sin less. Someone is driving in traffic and flips somebody off in traffic at 8:00 o’clock and then they say they are going to hell. They repent at 9:00 o’clock and now are going to heaven. Then at 11:00, somebody cuts him off, so they cuss them out, then they are going to hell again if they do not repent before they go to bed. They think they are going to hell. I think they are hung up on the word “forgiveness.” Can you comment on those things?
Bob: Yes, Cliff. I do not think they are hung up on forgiveness. I think they are hung up on what salvation is and do not understand it. Here is the problem. First, you are not saved by getting your sins forgiven. Forgiveness is not salvation. Forgiveness was preparation for salvation. There is a consequence to sin called death. The solution to death is life. That is salvation. You are saved by the life of Christ. We are told this in Romans.
Romans 5:10
10 For if, while we were God’s enemies [lost], 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: We were born into this world as an enemy of God, lost. We were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. The reconciliation God did at the cross was for all men. Every man’s sin has been put on the cross of Christ Jesus. There is not a sin in the world that any man has committed, whether Hitler’s, yours or mine, or Al Qaeda members, for all of their sins were placed on Christ. Does that mean everyone is saved? No.
Bob: This being an accomplished fact, this reconciliation, how much more shall we be saved by His life. You are not saved by the death of Christ but by the life of Christ. You are saved from the consequence of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is life. That is why he apostle Paul says without the resurrection we are pitied of all men and are still dead in our sins, knowing full well that the cross had occurred, where Jesus took away the sins of the world, but he also knew that the forgiveness that was provided for us then is only received in the resurrection of Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:16-22
16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive
Bob: That is why the emphasis of the New Testament evangelism was the resurrection. So what people have done is say, “No, forget the resurrection. Just talk about the old rugged cross and cling to it.” That is the problem. People are clinging to the cross instead of the empty tomb. People have to realize that Jesus not only died on a Jewish holiday of Preparation Day, which is absolutely what the cross is, preparation for salvation. It is what God had to do to clear the deck for the divine action of now to bring life to the dead through His resurrection.
Mark 15:42-43
42 It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.
Colossians 1:20 (TLB)
20 It was through what his Son did that God cleared a path for everything to come to him – all things in heaven and on earth – for Christ’s death on the cross has made peace with God for all by his blood.
Bob: What happens is people like that who are talking do not know what salvation is, and many times are not saved, because they never came to Him for life. They only came to Him for forgiveness. Then they deny what they came to Him for. The Baptists, and probably the same as the Pentecostals, say “Christ died for all of our sins – past, present and future” but then they turn around and say, “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive your sins.” That is double talk, a double-minded man unstable in all ways. Both of those cannot be true.
James 1:6-8
6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
Bob: If Jesus took away the sins of the world, and He did, there is no more forgiveness to be executed on your and my behalf. That is why Jesus said that the world’s sin (singular) is unbelief in Me. There is only one question God will ever ask a person. No one will ever go to hell because of his sins. Only the one sin of the rejection of the Son of God, who provided this for us. The only sin we repent of is the sin of the rejection of the Son of God.
John 16:9 (TLB)
9 The world’s sin is unbelief in me
1 John 2:2 (NASB)
2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Clint: Do you have to confess your sins every day?
Bob: Clint, let me tell you something. If you have to do something, which is what the law is, you have to do something. Think about it for a minute. And if you do it, you are proud as punch. And if you do not do it, you condemn yourself. Both of those are out of the pit of hell. Pride and self-condemnation do not come from God. I say to you, Clint, you got to do this. And old Clint does it, he is proud as punch. And if he doesn’t, he is sitting there under condemnation.
1 Corinthians 10:23
23 “I have the right to do anything,” you say – but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” – but not everything is constructive.
1 Corinthians 6:12 (AMP)
12 Everything is permissible for me, but not all things are beneficial [profitable].
Bob: If Jesus has taken away all your sins, never to see them again from the eyes of God, which He has, and you sin, he has taken that away from the eyes of God. That is what His cross did. What is the only response you can say to Jesus if you are going to walk by faith? Thank you. Can you think of anything else except “thank you” if it has been done? You, as a born again believer, certainly do not ask God for eternal life. Why? You already have it.
Clint: I cannot remember my sins I did today when I sin anyway.
Bob: Amen.
Clint: Do you know what I am saying?
Bob: Absolutely. We are too dumb to remember all our sins.
Clint: “Oh shoot, I forgot my sins. Will I be going to hell today?” I do not remember my sins last Wednesday.
Bob: You are luckier than me because I cannot remember my sins from one minute to the next. Do we understand from God’s vantage point what sin is, as anything that does not come from faith. How many times a day do we not exercise faith in Christ? A lot of that type of thing, of keeping short accounts with God, is nonsense. 1 John 1:9 is not a passage to believers. It is a passage to unbelievers.
Romans 14:23
23 everything that does not come from faith is sin.
Bob: The first chapter of 1 John was written for the purpose of correcting Gnosticism. Thankfully, Gnostics have been becoming a relative unknown today. The Gnostics claimed, and by the time that was written in 90 A.D, the Gnostics not only crept into Christian assemblies and migrated into them and drove pastors crazy because they came up with hair-brained ideas. The Gnostics say that Jesus did not come in the flesh, that he is an illusion and we do not have a sin nature. “The only thing that counts is spiritual”, they say. “Anything we do in the physical does not count for anything.” To correct those heretical doctrines of Gnosticism, he starts out saying this in the first few verses.
1 John 1:1-4
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.
Bob: So the apostle John writes to the pastor saying that we have heard him, seen him, touched him, and proclaimed Him as the Word of life. And we write this to make our joy complete. Why did he write that? He did not write to you and me for we never denied that he came in the flesh. But they did. So that had to be corrected.
1 John 1:8-9
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive [to have forgiven] us our sins and purify us [to have purified] from all unrighteousness.
Bob: By writing, “If we claim to be without sin”, I do not think anyone in their right mind who claims they are without sin except the Gnostics. They deceive themselves and the truth is not in them.
Bob: In 2 John, the same author, writing at the same time, wrote this. I am going to compare those two so you will know what I am saying to you is true.
2 John 1-2
1 The elder, To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth – and not I only, but also all who know the truth – 2 because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:
Bob: What does he tell us about truth? If truth is in you, He will live in you forever. And Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
John 14:6
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Bob: So if He lives in you, He lives in you forever. So how can the same author say “we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us”, and be talking to a believer? For if the truth is not in you, it has never been in you. That is who he is talking to, people claiming to be without sins. These people were later also identified as antichrist. He is talking to lost people who believe that Jesus did not come in the flesh and believe they do not have a sin nature. So we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Bob: The construct in Greek, in the verse, 1 John 1:9, is interesting and is the only place used in the New Testament. It is an “if” with a question associated with it. It should be translated and amplified for meaning from the Greek as, “I do not know if you people will ever come to your senses or not, but if you do, this year or next year, but if you do, whenever it might be, confess your sins, agree with God concerning your sin. He is faithful and just, not to forgive, but to have forgiven our sins, and to have cleansed us of all unrighteousness.” Why we do not translate it that way, God only knows. But the literal translation is aorist tense, a past act done with a continual effect.
Bob: So if we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar. Those claiming to be without sin are making God out to be a liar, are deceived and the truth is not in them. How can you equate that to a believer? It has nothing to do with a believer. It has to do with an unbeliever. God is saying if you are claiming these two things, you are lost and the truth is not in you.
Bob: The second chapter, 1 John 2, is writing to the children of God.
1 John 2:1
1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
Bob: So here he is writing to the children of God in contrast to the lost, the Gnostics. It is clear as ever. We have made a Christian bar of soap out of 1 John 1:9, telling people that every time you sin, you have to confess your sin, and ask God to forgive you, and keep short accounts with God. In so doing, church leaders have paralyzed the Christian world from ever coming to rest in that Sabbath rest He has called us to.
Hebrews 4:9-10
9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.
Clint: There is so much grace. I am hearing so much grace. The people I talk to, they basically say, ”You have a license to sin when you talk that way.” I would say, “How can you say that nonsense? ‘By grace through faith you are saved’, and then say ‘we are all sinners’, and then go back the other way and say, ‘You have to confess your sins.’ It does not make any sense. I have no problem with you saying grace.” They must be condemned.
Bob: They cannot stand freedom. Again, you look at Berlin when they finally got the wall down. The people in West Berlin did not know how to live under freedom. They were a mess. People bound up in jail for 20 years, they go out and are free and do not know how to live in a free society, so they rebel against it. People in bondage do not like people who are free so they rebel against it. The issue is the greatest thing in the world to me is if you are thinking about a license to sin, think about what they are teaching, “Do not sin, but if you do, all you have to do is quote 1 John 1:9, and he will forgive your sins.” That to me says, “I can go out and do anything I want to do.” Whether it is a Catholic going to a confessional booth or a Protestant going direct to God, it is the same deal. “I will get drunk on Friday night, but on Saturday I will go to mass” or “I will confess my sins and then wait for next week to get drunk again.” That to me is a license to sin. But if you realize I am in Christ, and He lives in me, and if He lives in me, it is an insult to believing in me, that knowledge of that to cause me to go live a lascivious life that is an insult to Jesus. Most people who deal with that have no clue what it means to be indwelt by Christ. But if you realize you are indwelt by Christ and you are a forgiven person, there is no way to get any more forgiveness. If I am a forgiven person, then you understand that passage.
1 Corinthians 6:12 (AMP)
12 Everything is permissible for me, but not all things are beneficial [profitable].
Bob: Now I can make decisions not on what I ought to do but what is profitable to do. It is not profitable to get drunk as a child of God. it is not profitable to have sexual intercourse with my neighbor’s wife. It is not profitable for me to steal from people. It is permissible but it is not profitable.
Clint: Praise God.
Bob: Praise God.
Clint: When I repent, I am not repenting for relationship. I am repenting for my fellowship with Him. He is still my Father no matter what.
Bob: Clint, there is no place in the bible of being in and out of fellowship. That is a teaching but it is not a true teaching. Fellowship is in the fellowship, saved, or out of fellowship, lost. That is the only time fellowship is used. You are either in the fellowship, saved, or out of fellowship, lost. The issue is you are already in fellowship with God if you are in Christ Jesus. If you are not trusting Him with forgiveness. If you are going to be out of fellowship, that would be out of fellowship saying, “I need to confess to get forgiveness, which means I do not believe I am a forgiven person. That is calling God a liar.
Bob: The whole issue is, rest in the Sabbath rest, resting from your works just as He did from His. Enter into that Sabbath rest where you say, “Lord Jesus, thank you I am a forgiven person who is covered by the blood of Christ Jesus, and I am a person that my eternal security is secured and now, because you live in me, I am going to trust you to walk in and through me. I cannot live the Christian life any more than a branch can live a branch life. I am going to abide in you, vine, so you can produce the life in me.”
John 15:1-5
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.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.
Clint: When the bible uses “repent” it is never for salvation. It maybe means you made a mistake.
Bob: I have already repented for salvation. I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior and when I sin I thank Him for what He accomplished for me. I say, “Lord, there is only one reason I ever sin. The reason I sin is because I stopped trusting you. That is stupid, isn’t it?” He says, “Yes I agree. So let us reason together.” He teaches me why I was not trusting Him and once that gets into our nimble brains, why then we will not probably go through that one again. But He is patient with us beyond measure.
Clint: I didn’t mean to take up all of your time. I appreciate it. I thank you very much. I will give somebody else a chance to talk.
Bob: Okay, brother. Good to talk to you again. Bye Bye.
Thomas
Thomas: My question for you, Bob, is when we accept Christ as our Savior. You answered this several times. I am still having trouble with it. Once we accept Christ in our lives, is our faith sealed?
Bob: It is not the case of your faith being sealed. Your faith is what enables you to enter into that relationship with Christ, Thomas. The issue is that you will grow in grace and in your faith in Christ Jesus. The issue is your person is sealed. In other words, your spirit, soul, the inner man, is sealed by the Holy Spirit of God. There is not for you not to be in a relationship with Christ, either in life or in death.
Ephesians 1:13-14
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.
Thomas: I see.
Bob: Again, that does not mean your faith will not waver a bit. But God will never keep you there. He will draw you back. But if you decide, “I do not believe in Jesus anymore.” The bible says, “You went out from among us because you were never a part of us.” It means you never truly repented of your unbelief and placed it in Christ Jesus. But once you have recognized the fact you are a sinner and you recognize the fact there is only one solution to my sin and that is Christ. Once you realize there is a consequence to sin called death and the only solution to that death is the resurrected life of Christ. Therefore, if I am dead, then I am going to ask the Lord Jesus to come and give me life, because I do not want to be dead spiritually. I want to be alive to Christ spiritually. Once that is done, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit.
Thomas: Okay. The church I attend says that if you are not in this particular church. If you are Baptist, Methodist, Catholic or one of the others, then you are lost.
Bob: I would get out of that place as fast as I can for that is what a cult is all about.
Thomas: Oh. Okay. I am beginning to see that. My eyes are being opened as I listen to your program. Each day I get the opportunity. You just hit the nail on the head. The more I listen to the broadcast, the teaching you have, the more I am seeing that I am in the wrong place.
Bob: Yes. If that is what they are teaching, you are definitely in the wrong place for sure.
Thomas: Okay.
Bob: Okay, my brother. Keep searching for somebody that is going to be teaching you truth.
Thomas: Thank you, sir.
Bob: Okay, my friend.
Mark from Houston, TX
Mark: I know we are not under the law anymore. We are under grace and faith. But I want to know that when the bible says, “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” I want to know what it is referring on that statement.
Bob: It goes down a few verses down and tells us what they are.
Matthew 22:34-40
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[Deuteronomy 6:5] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[Leviticus 19:18] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Bob: So, the law of love is different from the ten commandments. The ten commandments tell you what not to do. And Christ’s law of love tells you what He is longing for. He wants us to love others as we have been loved by Him. Mark, we do not have the capability in the energy of our own flesh to do that, but I can do all things with Christ, as I yield to the one who lives in me, who can love people unconditionally. It is like a vine and a branch. The branch cannot produce fruit but if the branch will abide in the vine, the life of the vine will produce the fruit in the branch and the branch gets the opportunity of bearing the fruit. That is exactly how we live the Christian life. We cannot live it but we can abide in the one who can. He then produces in us the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and goodness.
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Bob: He produces those things in us. We get a chance to bear the fruit of it, but we cannot produce the fruit.
Mark: Okay. I have a friend that is a Baptist who told me that as far as grace and faith that is wrong and that we are supposed to live by law.
Bob: A lot of people believe that you are supposed to live under the law. They have never died to the law and have never come alive to grace. Those are people who are still under the condemnation of God and are still lost. That is like saying that I am still married to my wife but I am going to have another bride. That does not work. You have to die to one to come alive to the other. Until you die to the law, you have not come alive to the grace of God. We are told in Galatians.
Galatians 3:24 (NASB)
24 Therefore the Law has become our guardian to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
Bob: Why do I need to be justified by faith in Christ?
Romans 3:20
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Bob: No man will ever be justified by obedience to the law.
Galatians 3:23-25
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. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
Bob: Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
Bob: I do not know why that is complicated to some people. What law are you talking about? I am talking about all of it. You do not go to Mt. Sinai, period. You go to the empty tomb. We are not under the law. The law kills but the grace of God gives life.
2 Corinthians 3:6
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: So if you want to live the life of Christ Jesus, you have to die to what killed you, the law, so that you can come alive in Christ.
Galatians 3:10
10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
Bob: If you are still trying to obey the law, you are under the curse. There is no way of separating the law from the punishment of disobedience to the law. It is death. It is not paddling. It is not out of fellowship. It is death. You are under the curse of death.
James 2:10
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
Bob: How in the world does anyone stand before God with that?
Mark: Nobody.
Bob: Nobody. Absolutely. So we thank God the law did its work. It shows me I am a sinner. The law also had to show me there is a consequence to sin called death. I would not have known that otherwise if the scripture had not told me. I would have thought the consequence of sin would be grading on the curve. I always thought God was a curve giver. But I do not think I will live long enough to do enough good deeds to outweigh the bad ones. So I did not know that he is not going to grade on a curve. But He is not going to grade on anything but the wages of sin is death. So knowing that I am ready to receive the grace in Christ Jesus.
Romans 10:4
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Bob: That means there is righteousness for no one who is under the law.
Mark: Okay.
Bob: Alright, brother?
Mark: Thank you.
Bob: You are definitely welcome, my friend. God bless you, pal.
Kevin from New Orleans, LA
Kevin: Did I just understand you to say it is permissible to commit adultery but not profitable?
1 Corinthians 6:12 (AMP)
12 Everything is permissible for me, but not all things are beneficial [profitable].
Bob: That is what the bible says
Kevin: I take offense to that. I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus’ blood on the cross covered my sin. I believe I am saved by His grace and His grace alone.
Bob: Kevin, I am not going to argue with what scripture has to say.
Kevin: Do not interrupt me.
Bob: Hold on a minute, Kevin. Kevin, I cannot stand your self-righteousness. There is nothing that makes me any more sick, and that makes God any more sick, than self-righteousness. I can tell right now you are filled with it. You are not under the ten commandments. You have been freed from the ten commandments. You cannot live under them. If you think you do, you are deceived and the truth is not in you. You have to understand the truth of that, that no man will ever be declared righteous in the sight of God through obedience to the law. That is precisely what the bible says.
Romans 3:20
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Bob: You are arguing with the bible. When you start arguing with the bible, then I do not want to listen to you. If you want to argue with the bible, then you want to argue with me. I do not want to argue with you.
1 Corinthians 6:12 (AMP)
12 Everything is permissible for me, but not all things are beneficial [profitable].
Bob: What does that mean? If it was not permissible, then it would be law. If you are under the law, then you are under a curse. So is it permissible? Yes. Is it profitable? No. That is your decision-making process. Your decision-making process is “I cannot do it.” You know what that does? It makes you want to. That is why the power of sin is in the law. That is why Paul said this.
1 Corinthians 15:56
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
Romans 7:7-9
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21] 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
Bob: Is that what you want for your life? Live in death? Friend, you are under a curse. You need to get out from under it and get into the life of Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:12-14
12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”[Leviticus 18:5] 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”[Deuteronomy 21:23] 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
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