Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P544 (06-12-20)
Synopsis
You are talking with non-believers, who say the bible is just a book written by men and a bunch of fairy tales. What would you share with them? Listen as Bob gives his advice on what he would do. Another caller asks about a passage in Revelation, about those who are neither hot nor cold and that God will spit them out of his mouth. What exactly does he mean by that? I have heard different things concerning that passage. And then a third caller, was really concerned about his brother whom he suspects has homosexual tendencies, and calls to ask for wisdom to help his brother. In each of these situations, what things would you say, that you believe the Holy Spirit will want you to share?
There is one thing we do know. Jesus said, “you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free”. One thing that I remember that Bob shared was to keep the message on Christ and not on side issues. Although it can be interesting to discuss things such as how the bible came to be, keep the focus on the author of the bible, about who Christ is. Address his root problem. If the person knows the author of the bible, then he will believe everything that proceeds from his mouth. Yes, God gave us a book that originated from Him, and was written through men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit. The bible is inspired from God. But once we know something about Jesus, which from historical evidence, we know he claimed to be God, that he died, was buried and rose again, you would not have problems believing the bible is true. So the first question to ask is, “Who do you believe Jesus is?” Based on his answer, you can know very well whether he is lost or saved. As Bob said, “If you could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the bible is real and not fairy tales and 100% true, and he still did not come to Jesus, what would you have done? Nothing. I do not mess with those subjects. I deal with Jesus.” Realize this, anyone who does not believe Jesus is God is a fool. That is not my opinion. That is what the word of God says. We also know that from Romans 1.
In regard to a brother or friend you suspect has homosexual tendencies is to reach out in love to him. “Hey, we love you to death, but let me ask you a question. There are signs here. Are you struggling with homosexuality? I am your brother. You do not have to be ashamed to talk about it. I love you. You are my brother [or friend]”. The root of his problem, and indeed anyone who does not know Christ, is he exchanged the truth of God for a lie, as Romans 1 goes into detail on. It is built into fallen man since the garden of Eden. So without Christ, you are leaning on your own understanding, not acknowledging Him, and are not letting Him direct your paths, but directing your own path. We all have done that and in various ways tend to think like that. Whenever we worry, we are renaming it as a healthy concern. Also, when someone is having sex with someone who is not his own wife, he calls it sleeping with someone. By redefining things, we are rationalizing our sinful behavior. We are calling something other than what God calls it, which is sin. To help someone, the truth must be told. Without knowing God and His word, you are without a plumbline, without a foundation of truth in which to make decisions. You essentially have your own opinion. A person who is trapped in homosexuality has exchanged the truth of God for a lie. And just like all of us, God is appealing to him to come to Him for life. But in that lifestyle, he cannot be happy, no matter what he appears to be on the outside. There is no real peace for those who are not in Christ Jesus, no matter what they appear on the outside.
As far as being neither hot nor cold in Revelation 3:15-16 the key point to remember is that he is writing to the church leadership, the leaders of the churches. So if you are thinking that you are not reading your bible or not praying like you should, that kid of thinking, then He is not talking to you. These are the leaders who, in today’s world, would be like those boasting of their big church size and their wealth, but not relying on Christ and seeing no need of Christ, thinking they are rich. But they are not rich spiritually. Their hearts are far from God. So the letter is written to these leaders to change their mind about what they are doing, to realize they are spiritually poor, spiritually blind and are in great need for coming to Christ, to put salve on their eyes, to humble themselves so that God may give abundant grace to them. For God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. God disciplines those He loves. God is committed to completing the work He began in those who put their faith in Him, and if they need correction, then He corrects. If they need rebuke, He rebukes. Those in leadership are judged more strictly for there are people under their care who are harmed in the process, because of the pride and sinful behavior or attitudes of the leadership they are under. God loves both the leaders and those under their care.
Bob George Ministries offers several resources to help people grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Classic Christianity, Growing in Grace and Faith that Pleases God are several books a caller called to thank Bob for. She shared how those books helped her and to express her gratitude.
Transcript
Todd from New Orleans, LA
Todd: I have two coworkers who continually ask me, “Do you still believe in that stuff, that bible, that book that is nothing but fairy tales?” I tried to tell them, “You are not believers, so how is your life?” “Oh, it is fine”. I can see the trouble they are really having, but they will not admit it. So, I really want to know how to answer them. All the answers I gave, they do not seem to respond.
Bob: What I would start on that, Todd, is this. In other words, get back to the basics. “What do you believe about Jesus?” That is the first question. When people start putting a doubt on the bible, ask, “What do you think about Jesus?” They will typically respond by saying, “Well, what does he have to do with anything?” He has everything to do with it. Well, if Jesus claims to be God, which obviously you do not believe either, but if you ever came to understand truth, where Jesus obviously proclaimed himself to be God, and a man doing so would either be a liar, an imposter, or a nutcase, or he was indeed who he claimed to be, who is God. And I know because he is God because he lives in me. He said the word of God is truth.
John 17:17
17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
Bob: So if God testified to the word of God, that is all the proof that I need. Where did we come from? Did we come from monkeys, or were we created by God? Jesus said we were created by God.
Colossians 1:15-17
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Revelation 10:6
6 And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay!”
Bob: So whether dealing with evolution or creation, by asking those questions, what you are doing, Todd, you are pointing people back to the author of the bible, who is the Holy Spirit of God. Instead of dealing with the books themselves, you are dealing with the author. If you could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the bible is real and not fairy tales and 100% true, and he still did not come to Jesus, what would you have done? Nothing. I do not mess with those subjects. I deal with Jesus.
Todd: They say, “I am a factual person. Show me the facts.”
Acts 3:15
You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
Bob: I will take you out to the Grand Canyon. That is a fact and you will not even be able to see it, and all you have to do is turn your back on it. Do not put that nonsense on me. It does not make any sense. If you only believe what you see, I will take you out to the railroad track, with your head looking down, and all you will only see are tracks coming together. So if you only believed what you see to be true, you would never get on a train. Let us get off of that and get back to the reality that Christ Jesus was alive and his tomb was empty. We know he died on a cross. That is historical evidence. I also know he came to live in my heart back in 1969 and has been living there ever since. If you cannot believe in the resurrection, then you will never believe.
Luke 16:31
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Bob: You are dealing with nitwits and whom the bible says are fools.
Psalm 14:1
1 The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
Bob: “So if you want to remain a fool, let it be so”,. is my answer from the bible of what Jesus said.
Todd: Right.
Bob: You can be strong on that, Todd. You do not have to mealy mouth around it. There are people and people will talk about the bible and how we got it, and that is interesting. But the issue is, the bible is about Jesus.
Todd: That is what I told him.
Bob: If you have not come to know Jesus, then you have not come to know anything. So I will not argue with you on that kind of stuff.
Todd: That is what I tried to tell them. Jesus died on a cross. “Well, man wrote that. How do I know? I have no facts.”
Bob: Abe Lincoln was killed in Ford’s theater. How do you know that? Some man wrote about it. So, are you going to deny it? Come on. That is intellectual suicide with people like that.
Bob: Again, how do you do it? That is how I handle it when people are dealing with that type of thing. “Only a man wrote it.” “Of course a man wrote it. A man did it”. A man recording something, was either recording a lie or recording the truth. If Christ was not raised from dead, our faith is futile and we are still dead in our sins.
1 Corinthians 15:12-22
12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 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: The issue is, these are recordings of eyewitnesses of Jesus who walked with him for a number of years, heard his teaching, came to understand through the death, burial and resurrection that he is exactly who he claimed to be, and that he is God. That is what is written down.
1 Corinthians 15:1-8
1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas,[Peter] and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
2 Peter 1:21
21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
It is inspired of God. Certainly a dog or an angel did not come down to write it. Man wrote it. If you have any book in your hand, you will have to say a man wrote it, aren’t you? Those kinds of arguments are nonsensical, Todd. They are just people who are putting up smokescreens because of their pride. Their pride is such that they do not want to accept the grace of God that has been given to us in Christ Jesus. So that is why I just concentrate on Christ Jesus. People want to argue about the end times or this or that, but I just ask what Jesus asked the apostles, “Who do you say that I am?” That is the most important question you can ask someone, “Who do you say Jesus is?” The answer to that tells you whether they are saved or lost.
Matthew 16:13-17
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”
Todd: I have given my life to Jesus Christ. I changed my life around. I used to do this and that, smoke pot, and now I do not. Well, God showed me better. They say, “No, you are just trying to feel good and feel like having a hope.” “No”, I look at them with an honest face, and say, “This is the way, the truth and the life”. They say, “Oh, you just want to have a hope.”
Bob: I do not want to have a hope. I have a hope and they don“t.
Todd: They say, “Well, explain to me about that good Christian lady last week, who got brutally murdered and died a terrible life.
Bob: I would say, “Probably happened by someone lost, like you are. I am certain she was not raped by a bunch of Christians.”
Todd: Then they say, “Why would God allow that to happen to her?” “I am sure she is in a better place right now.
Bob: That is not the issue. The issue is God gave man a free will. To the people you are talking to, they are choosing to reject God. The bible calls them foolish. I chose to accept Christ and my life changed. Why does he allow things? because He does not want man to be a robot. As a result, man has the ability to choose. That does not protect a Christian from choices of non-Christians at all. That is not a protection of that.
Todd: Oh. I see.
Bob: Well, Todd, just keep at it. People need to be driven to their senses. We pray you will get through to them one of these days.
Bob: God bless you, my friend.
Todd: God bless you, too. Thanks.
Darryl from Sacramento, CA
Darryl: We have been listening a long time, and it has been a blessing. I called to encourage you. You said in 1 Corinthians 4:6, to not go beyond what is written. God cannot be tempted, so I think that fellow should just accept that.
1 Corinthians 4:6
Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other.
Bob: Yes, you walk in faith in that truth. Quit trying to figure out the ramifications of that.
Darryl: I am not sure he believes Jesus is God.
Bob: I have no idea.
Darryl: You get some tough calls that are hard to handle.
Bob: Sometimes you can discern where a person is. Sometimes you miss it, too.
Darryl: Thanks, and I really liked that. I am glad you keep bringing those scriptures up, to not go beyond what is written. So many people are going beyond what is written, wherever you go.
Bob: It is amazing of people 2000 years later thinking they know something about Jesus not recorded in the bible. Where did they read that? In the Jerusalem digest?
Darryl: Or the Watchtower.
Bob: Exactly.
Bob: For a person to be speculating on Jesus is absolute suicide, 2000 years later when the only writings that are available to us that talk about Jesus is the bible. Then of course you have writings of Josephus, that do not deal in theology, but confirming the fact that Jesus is real and alive, but outside that you do not know anything about him. All of that is speculation.
Darryl: Was he there at the crucifiction to, Josephus?
Bob: Josephus was a Jewish person and betrayed his Jewish heritage, and went with the Romans. In doing so, he became the historian that wrote so much of history, like the history of Mosaven.
Darryl: That was quite a bit later.
Bob: He was quite a brilliant historian. He was able to approach history from both the Jewish and Roman perspective, not to deal in theology but just the historical things that took place in those days.
Darryl: Thank you, again. We are overjoyed with the broadcasts.
Bob: Thank you.
Darryl: Thank you so much for your encouragement.
Jason from Surrey, British Columbia
Jason: My older brother does not have a girlfriend and is in his 30s and has gay tendencies. As a brother, how should I approach someone like that?
Bob: Jason, that all depends. If you think it is a person who is practicing homosexuality, the first question to ask, “Do you know the Lord?” If they do not know the Lord, that is the biggest problem they have. Quite frankly, if they do not know the Lord, that is why they are in the situation they are in. They are refusing to retain the knowledge of God. So God turns them over to where they are being, to have sex with one another. It tells us in that in Romans.
Romans 1:24-25
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen.
Jason: I do not know if he is practicing. But a lot of people suspect that he feels that way.
Bob: If there is a suspect that he is just struggling, then sit down and talk to him and get him to know the Lord. The key issue is to get him coming to the Lord. If you do not know Christ, then what is your standard of truth? What is your compass? What is your plumb line? If you do not know Christ, why are you going to say that there is anything wrong with this or that? To them, it is just a matter of opinion. Deep down in your heart, anyone with a brain in his head, knows that some guy liking somebody with hairy legs is absolutely perverted. You know that and do not have to be a Christian. But once practicing those things, you can learn to rationalize anything.
Genesis 2:16-18
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Genesis 3:21-23
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Bob: All of this started in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve said, “I do not need you, Lord, to know right from wrong and good from evil. I can determine that on my own.” From that point on, we started leaning on our own understanding, not acknowledging Him, not letting Him direct our paths, but directing our own path. From that point on, man is rationalizing sin. We call worry a healthy concern. We call homosexuality gay. We call sleeping with somebody instead of fornication. We call having sex with somebody sleeping with somebody. If you can rename something, you can redefine something. We are great in rationalizing sin. But if you are in Christ Jesus, you have got a plumb line. You have the word of God as a determining factor as to what is right and wrong and what is good and what is evil.
Isaiah 5:20
20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Romans 1:22-27
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Bob: They exchanged the truth about God for a lie is their problem. There is a penalty for such perversion. You get eaten alive inside with that kind of behavior. They may look around and act happy, but they are not happy. No one can be happy in that lifestyle. If you suspect that, Jason, in love I would approach him. “Hey, we love you to death, but let me ask you a question. There are signs here. Are you struggling with homosexuality? I am your brother. You do not have to be ashamed to talk about it. I love you. You are my brother”.
Jason: Is it an evil spirit that can be cast out?
Bob: You do not have to cast them out. They just need to come to Christ. It is not an evil spirit. We just got through reading the scriptures. The root of homosexuality is exhanging the truth of God for a lie. If I am a man and I start looking in the mirror and start saying in the mirror, “I am a woman” or I look in the mirror and say “I want another man”. That is exchanging the truth of God for a lie. That is the problem.
Bob: We all do that in one form or another, Jason. Any time we do something contrary to God, we exchange the truth of God for a lie. God says, “do not worry”. And we start worrying. What are we doing? Exchanging the truth of God for a lie. We get all anxious when God says, “Do not be anxious for anything”. What do we do? We get anxious. What are we doing? Exchanging the truth of God for a lie. We start believing Satan, that we ought to be worried about tomorrow when Jesus says “tomorrow will take care of itself”.
Matthew 6:28-34
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its
Philippians 4:6
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Bob: So, we do that all the time. That is what sin is. Thank God for the mercy of God who took that away at the cross. The issue is, that is where the problem is. He learns to learn what truth is from God’s word and to learn his identity. If he is practicing that, then he already thinks he is a homosexual. That is why you hear me say, “Are you practicing homosexuality?” I do not want him to think he is a homosexual. I want him to think, when he comes to Christ, he can get a new identity, a child of God.
Bob: Did that help?
Jason: Yes, it helps. God bless.
Bob: You are sure welcome, brother. We are praying for your success on that, Jason.
Susan from Denver, CO
Susan: Thank you so much. We met you in a conference when you were here in Denver.
Bob: Yes.
Susan: You signed one of the books I bought about the covenant. I thank you so much for your books. I have been set free from Classic Christianity and Growing in Grace. Now I am reading Faith that Pleases God. I am passing them on to my friends and children.
Bob: Thank you so much.
Susan: Thank you so much. You have inspired us tremendously.
Susan: I have heard different things concerning Revelation 3:15-16.
Bob: Yes.
Revelation 3:15-16
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
Susan: I would like to hear your opinion. To me, I do not know. I heard a couple of ways on that, but it does not fit in my spirit right. You know when come to the Lord and all serious. I am serving the Lord for over 27 years. Maybe I should have learned this, but I do not get into book of Revelation much.
Bob: Join the crowd. I do not either. There are people who think they know Revelation but I do not think many people understand it. But in those passages God is saying, “You are depending on everything else except me. You go through the words in your mouth with no sincerity to it. I wish you are cold or hot, but I am about to spit you out of my mouth”.
Revelation 3:17
17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’
Bob: Now, he is going to explain what he is talking about. “If I am rich, what do I need you for?” But on the other side of your mouth, you say “praise Jesus”.
Revelation 3:17-18
But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich;
Bob: And that is spiritually rich.
Revelation 3:18
and white clothes to wear,
Bob: That is clothes in the righteousness of Christ, not your own.
Revelation 3:18
so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Bob: So it is not a very encouraging remark to those who are hearing.
Revelation 3:19-22
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Bob: You have to realize these letters, basically, were written to church leadership. I can ask you if you have been around Christianity long enough. Has there been any particular denomination that reminds you of how rich they are, and acquired the wealth. They talk about Jesus, but act as if they do not need Him at all. “And we have big programs and big churches. Everything is big”. I think I can name a number of denominations that fit this. Jesus says to them, “you are poor, wretched blind and naked”. Today, these letters to churches are written to church denominational leaders. It is not necessarily written to those sitting in pews, but leaders who do not believe in Jesus anymore. “I am going to write Ichabod over you. I do not even see you”. That is what you are dealing with here. “You better get your act together or I am going to write Ichabod all over it”.
Susan: I thought that it meant when you come to the Lord, on fire, then all of a sudden you kind of mellow down. So now you have gotten cold. You are not hot anymore. You are lukewarm. And I heard another one like this. Because you are no longer reading the word and no longer going to church.
Bob: No. It says you are rich, and it is not talking about individuals. The church is rich. “ You are trusting in your money and riches rather than me ” . It is talking to church leaderships.
Susan: I see. I kind of looked at that, verse 17. I could not quite catch it, so I will call Bob.
Bob: Sorry, we have to get off the air. You call again.
Susan: God bless you all. We love you.
Bob: Love you too, Susan.
