Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P562 (08-14-20)
Synopsis
At times, people have called in, asking for help with a drug problem, whether alcohol, marijuana or something else. But in reality their problem is not really a drug problem, but a heart problem. For as Jesus said it out of the heart that comes the issues of life. The way to fix a heart problem, is to address the source of the problem. What error have you believed concerning yourself or God? Do you think you are condemned to hell because of your addiction? If you are a child of God, you are not. If you are not a child of God, then that is your source of your problem, not knowing God, and therefore, not having access to truth, the mind of Christ, to set you free.
But either way, there is error in your thinking that binds you. You are either under the control of Satan, which you are by default as a lost person, or you have put yourself under his control by yielding to the temptation of the flesh, which is where sin dwells. Satan attacks your mind, with the same lie in the garden of Eden, “Did God really say?”
As a child of God, you must learn to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. As a child of God, you are not under the law but under grace. Therefore, there is no condemnation for you. Since you are not under the law, it also makes no sense to submit to the law, and the power of sin is the law. Yes, under grace, everything is permissible, but it is no longer profitable for you, and it goes against your new nature, the Spirit of God living in you. So why give into something that made you so miserable? Realize that you are unconditionally loved and accepted in Him and He has given you everything you need for life and godliness.
One of the most common questions asked is about Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10, about the person who sins against the knowledge of the truth and the one who cannot come back to repentance. In both cases, the passage is in regard to a lost person who is speaking out of both sides of his mouth. He says he believes that Jesus died for all his sins, but then he goes back to the day of atonement, or back to the confessional booth, or back to 1 John 1:9 to get forgiveness. If Jesus died for all your sins, then why are you asking Him to do something He has already done. You have tasted and seen the goodness of God. You have heard the truth concerning Him, but you have not believed the truth. You have not swallowed the truth. You have not repented unto salvation, so you cannot go back to where you have never been. You are sinning against the knowledge of the truth. You hear the truth but you have not put your faith in God’s provision through His Son. You have not come to new life in Christ Jesus.
So much is available to you through reading God’s word, to get to know the divine author, who is Christ Jesus. Read the scriptures to be a workman approved, who rightly divides the word of truth. Let the truth sink into your heart by letting the Spirit of God guide you into all truth, instead of relying on your preconceived ideas or premises of what you think God is like, or even your own imaginations or imaginations of men. God perfectly loves you and accepts you and He is the way, the truth and the life. Let Him renew your mind so you can walk in the newness of life, in the abundant life God has given you.
Transcript
Jay
Jay: I am calling because I have a serious drug problem with marijuana. I know some people do not think it is a serious drug.
Bob: Yes, it is extremely serious.
Jay: When you get addicted, it messes with your mind quite a bit.
Bob: Have you gone to stronger drugs, Jay?
Jay: No, I have not. That is my weakness.
Bob: So, strictly with marijuana?
Jay: Yes.
Bob: Jay, are you wanting to get rid of it?
Jay: Yes. I am almost 25 and within the last six years, that has been when I have been smoking, almost every day. In those 6 years, I quit twice. Once, for a little over a year, and the last time, for about six months. So it kind of snuck up on me and I was in it for 2 years ago. I recently quit about 3 months ago, but I gave into it again. Now, it just seems as if I do not even make the decision. I just give in without even trusting in God.
Bob: Yes. Jay, do you know the Lord as your Lord and Savior? Are you a born again believer?
Jay: I absolutely do. The first time I quit I was on a Jesus high, so to speak. I knew He saved me from the pot. I was doing great. I was going good for over a year, then I gave in again, and I do not know why.
1 Corinthians 6:12-12
12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say – but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” – but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
Romans 8:1-4
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Bob: Jay, in Romans 8, you have been freed from the law. It says in 1 Corinthians 6, that all things are permissible but not all things are profitable. If it was not permissible to do what you are doing, it would be a law. You are freed from the law of sin and death. You are free from the consequences of the law, but it is not profitable. You have enough experience to realize it is not profitable. It messes up your mind and keeps you in a state of confusion. It is permissible but not profitable.
1 Corinthians 15:56
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
Romans 7:7-8
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.
Bob: If you have been told in your Christian experience that it is sin and you will go to hell, then that is called the power of sin, which is in the law. All you have to do to get a child to do something is to tell him not to do it. The power of sin is the law. So, first you have to get freed from that, and recognize you are no longer under the law, because all things are permissible, but not all things are profitable. That has to be your decision making process. Is it permissible? Yes. Is it profitable? No.
Bob: Is it permissible for me as minister of God? Yes. Is it profitable? No. It would be the dumbest thing I could do. Is it permissible for me to smoke a cigarette? Yes. Is it profitable? No. It is costly. It would ruin my lungs. It gives me cancer. There is nothing to it that is profitable. That is the decision making process.
Bob: If you are on the deal that if I do it God is going to zap me, then that is why it says godly sorrow is what produces repentance. It is not when a man puts you on a guilt trip. But godly sorrow produces repentance.
Jay: I am right there with you. I listened to your program many times, and I was raised in a non-denominational church. I am right there with you, knowing that I am not being judged by sin. I know I have Jesus living inside me and He does not hold anything against me and I know He wants what is best for me.
Bob: Right. It is not profitable for you.
Romans 6:15
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!
Bob: You have a handle on the fact that you are no longer under law, but under grace. Shall we go on sinning?
Romans 6:16-19
16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.
Bob: That is exactly where you are. You used to offer the parts of your body, and you are doing it now, to slavery of impurity. He is saying, “stop that, and offer your body as a slave to righteousness.”
Romans 6:20-23
20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Bob: So, again, Jay, whenever you realize this control issue you have heard people say, “I am out of control” or “I am in control” but the issue is, “No, you are not.” You have never been out of control or in control. You have just been under control. There are two forms of control in our lives, God and Satan. When I refuse to yield to the control of the Holy Spirit of God living in me, then I have no option but to yield to the control of Satan. There is no option. Those are the only two forms of control.
Romans 6:20
When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
Bob: It is like if I am flying in an airplane, under the law of aerodynamics, and I refuse to remain in that airplane under that law, and I choose to jump out the door. I immediately come under the law of gravity. I do not even have to choose that, do I? I am just automatically under it by refusing to remain under the law of aerodynamics. I automatically come under the law of gravity. It is the same thing in our spiritual life. When you refuse to be under the control of the Spirit of God, I automatically become under the control of Satan. When I look at it in that way, and ask, “What am I doing?” The problem is not marijuana. The problem is that you are yielding to be controlled by Satan. That is a scary thought. And that is a condition that you as a born again believer do not want. I guarantee you do not want that.
Jay: Yes. I am miserable.
Bob: So your whole issue is to get a handle on the root. You have asked God to free you from marijuana, but instead of that, ask to keep you under the control of His love. There is not anything loving about putting foreign substances into your body and destroying your mind. That is not loving. You are not loving yourself. And it does say we are to love ourselves as Christ loved us.
1 John 4:19
19 We love because he first loved us.
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Bob: If Christ came to pay the price for your sin and your body and everything concerned, then I want you to do the same thing. “I want you to take care of your body and this mind. I have enabled you to be renewed in truth and let that truth set you free.” Or, again, you are kind of dealing with the fruit instead of the root.
Bob: The problem when you give into the smoking, you have not given into the smoking of marijuana, you have given into the temptation of Satan. Therefore, you allowed yourself to get under his control and, in so doing, you are not being controlled by the Spirit.
Jay: Does that mean that I am not responsible for myself? I just blame Satan. I kind of do not understand that?
Bob: Satan is the initiator of all of that, Jay. He is there like in the garden of Eden. “Surely, God did not say this.” There is the temptation. Man has the right to believe that lie or stay true to what God told you. God told you to keep your mind clean and to renew your mind and not to alter your mind. There is no place in the bible to alter your mind. It says to renew your mind.
Romans 12:2
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Bob: But Satan is always there to alter your mind. “It feels good.” “Do you remember how good it felt back then?” And you, like a dumb sheep, say “Yes. Yes.” The temptation comes from Satan just like righteousness comes from God, Jay. It is just those two forms of control in this universe, Satan’s control and God’s control. We have an option, which one am I going to yield to? That is what Romans 6 is talking about. Do not do that. It is not that you cannot do it. It is not that some people are not going to do it. It is just saying do not do it because it is ridiculous.
Romans 6:15-16
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Bob: So, all you are doing is offering yourself to what Satan is saying to you. Because, you see, it is not just a puff of air that draws you to it. There is a whole routine, about how good it will make you feel and you deserve to get some relief. I do not know how he uses temptation on you, but he has a good sales pitch that he gives you as why you need to be on mind-altering drugs. And you start believing it. Start listening to God, Jay, to what God is saying, not to be altering your mind, but to renew your mind as to what truth is.
John 8:32
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Bob: So as a child of God, you are totally loved by God and accepted by Him. There is no condemnation awaiting you who belongs to Christ Jesus from God. The world will condemn you. And what you are taking will kill you. So, what is it that we have to look at? From God’s standpoint, the one who made you into His child. No, Jay, it is not condemnation. It is you allowing God to renew your mind with truth and setting you free with it.
Romans 8:1-2
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Matthew 15::17-19
17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
Bob: Look at it this way, Jay. It is not what a man puts in his mouth that defiles a man but what proceeds out of his heart. So you do not have a drug problem. You have a heart problem. You got all excited about Jesus. Satan is relentless. He never stops. I am 73 years old. He has never stopped one day since I became a Christian at the age of 36. He is always there nagging at you, and you have to learn to discern his voice from God’s and have to learn to say “No” to him, and in so doing you say “yes” to God. The conflict is there, and you know it is there, and you know the consequences of yielding your body to Satan. He is there to steal, kill and destroy.
John 10:10
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Jay: Yes. That is what I have experienced.
Bob: There is no sense in continuing in that, Jay. I know the temptation is there. You have quit once. You have quit twice. Make it final.
Bob: I do not know if marijuana is stronger than smoking cigarettes, but I know when I was lost and was smoking cigarettes. It was not until I made up my mind that I do not want this any more in my life. I was not even saved. But I pitched those cigarettes in a waste basket and never touched another one in my life. There were a couple of days of desiring, but I got my mind on something else. I joined a health club. I stopped doing things that would make me want a cigarette. I stopped having any kind of alcohol. I stopped drinking coffee and alcohol. I did all of that. I stopped until that temptation was over.
Bob: Stay away from wherever you get marijuana and refuse to get around it, Jay. Let God take your life and mold you. Okay, pal.
Jay: Thanks, Bob.
John from Troy, NY
John: I want to talk to you a little bit about the book that is out right now. I know there is a great reputation to it, about the DaVinci deception. To my understanding, I read that. It is sort of a derivative of a book written in the 60s about the Passover plot. I had a discussion with a Jewish man who recommended reading the Passover plot. I told him that I do not need to read it. Just by the title, I know what it is going to say anyhow. I did not take the time to read it. I wondered if you had any understanding of it. I wonder if you know the connection between the two books. Obviously, they are greatly deceptive.
Bob: It is not factual. I do not know why people get hung up on the DaVinci code. It is not a factual book. It is just out of the imagination of a writer. It has no credibility to it at all. Yet people take it as gospel. It is not gospel at all. I, quite frankly, do not read much fictional books at all. Why would I want to read fiction when I get so excited over reality? The only reality I know is the bible. That I know is true. You see people on vacation sitting around reading all the time, these fictional books. I met a lady the other day about a person reading a book on heaven. It is a fictional book. It is not a book based on biblical revelation. It is just the imagination of a person.
Bob: Man is so easily deceived, John. It is amazing to me how easy it is to deceive man today. It seems like we are just prone to believe lies instead of truth.
John: Jesus first warning in Matthew 24 is to take heed that no man deceive you.
Matthew 24:4-8
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Bob: Right. Exactly.
John: As the time comes near the end, deception gets greater and greater. Hopefully, those who are listening absorb what you said. That includes the television too. So many people get absorbed into television. I heard a message one time. It was a very good message. It was called T.V. Window to Hell.. All the murders you see on television. It seems like what hell is going to be like, what is on television. The thing with all the fictional books, but nothing beats the genuine, unadulterated, perfect immutable word of God.
John: I spoke to you last night about this and I had some time to get into the word after we talked, regarding salvation. I felt good after our conversation. I thought I had understanding. If a person who thinks they lost salvation, they actually did not lose it but were not saved to begin with. I was reading Hebrews 6. Can you help me out with that verse?
Hebrews 6:4-6
4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Bob: This whole context in Hebrews 6 as well as in Hebrews 10, which deals with the same thing, is dealing with people who are talking out of both sides of the mouth.
Bob: In this particular case, you would have Judas. He tasted and has seen the goodness of the word of God, but he never swallowed it. The reason you cannot be brought back to repentance is because you never repented. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to come back to where you have never been. That is kind of a hard thing to do, isn’t it? So you cannot be brought back to repentance because you never changed your mind to begin with. To their loss, they, and it explains exactly what it means, they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace. How come? They are going back to the sacrificial system. They are talking out of one side of the mouth, saying “Jesus took away the sins of the world” and out of the other side saying they are going back to the sacrificial system. He said they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace. You are going to have to make up your mind, whether you are going to believe Jesus took away your sins, or keep 1 John 1:9 to get forgiveness, or going to a confessional booth to get forgiveness or going back to the day of atonement to get forgiveness. You have to make up your mind what you are going to hold onto because if you keep going back to a sacrificial system, a confessional booth or think you are asking God to forgive you, then you never repented to begin with. You have just given lip service to repentance. So that is what that passage is about.
Bob: The same thing in Hebrews 10:26.
Hebrews 6:26
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth,
Bob: What are you sinning against? The knowledge of truth. If you are sinning against the knowledge of truth, then it says.
Hebrews 6:26-27
no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
Bob: So what is he talking about here? The fact is, if you are going to continue sinning against the knowledge of truth, out of one side of your mouth that Jesus was the final sacrifice, yet going back to your sacrificial system, it means you are sinning against the knowledge of truth. You already heard Jesus took away the sins of the world and now you are going back to the same old customs.
Hebrews 10:28-29
28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves
Bob: It does not say will, but deserves.
Hebrews 10:29
to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
Bob: When you keep asking God to forgive you, you are insulting the Spirit of grace. You are treating as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant. What is the blood of the covenant?
Hebrews 10:17-18
17 “Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”[Jeremiah 31:34]18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
Bob: Yet, you are going back to your sacrificial system. You are insulting the Spirit of grace. You are treating as an unholy thing the blood that sanctifies, and are trampling the Son of God underfoot.
Bob: The same thing in the sixth chapter there, crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace.
John: That is why Peter said adding godliness, and having a form of godliness and denying the power thereof.
2 Timothy 3:1-4
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
2 Peter 1:3-9
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
Bob: It goes on to say in that passage the reason for that case is they have forgotten they have been cleansed of their past sins. If you are not going to rest in the fact you are a forgiven person then you are never going to rest. How are you going to rest in His life when you have never rested in His death? These are people playing church. You can play church all day long. You can play short accounts with God and tell people how good you are doing. You are playing church. God is saying, “I do not know who you are.” That is very dangerous.
Matthew 7:22-23
22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Sally from El Paso
Sally: I want to know what you believe as far as eternal companionship. In the Catholic church, it says “until death do us part” and in the Mormon church, it says “for eternity”?
Bob: The bible tells us there is no marriage in heaven. Some people think that is why they call it heaven, but there is no marriage in heaven. As far as any one of those, it does not tie into what scripture says. There will not be any marriage in heaven.
Matthew 22:23-33
23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’[Exodus 3:6]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
Sally: So what is going to happen? Will they never see each other?
Bob: They will see each other but just not see each other as man and wife. What happens if you had three husbands? Who is going to be married in heaven? That is what Jesus said. You err because you do not know the scripture. There will not be marriage in heaven.
Sally: Do you think if people were married for eternity that they would be more loyal to each other?
Bob: No, not at all. They are not loyal to each other because of the hardening of their hearts. The scripture says, Sally, and you have to go by the scriptures. The reason for the divorce is the hardening of our hearts. Married for eternity would not have any bearing at all. If you cannot stand your wife here on earth then why would you want to be with her in heaven?
Matthew 19:6-8
6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.
Bob: So no. Out of the mouth of Jesus, there is no marriage in heaven. So take that as gospel truth, and realize we will know each other in heaven but not as man and wife.
Sally: Right, but in the bible it says that a man cannot be without a woman and a woman cannot be without a man.
Genesis 2:18
18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Bob: No, it does not. It says it is not good for man to be alone. But it does not say they have to live with one another. As a matter of fact there are people called eunuchs whom God made eunuchs, who will never be married. Paul said it is good to be as a I am, single.
Matthew 19:10-12
10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others – and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
1 Corinthians 7:8-9
8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
Bob: You have a lot of misinterpretation of scripture there, Sally. Keep reading the scriptures with an open mind, not with a premise in advance, but built with an open mind and God will open those things up to you.
2 Timothy 2:15
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
Bob: Call again, Sally. Bye. Bye.
