Call-ins Radio Broadcast Friday 09/25/2020

Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P574 (09-25-20)

Synopsis

A question commonly brought up by many, many people is about their fear of losing salvation. People who ask that question do not know what salvation is. If you were to ask people, “What is salvation? What does it mean to you?”, then nine times out of ten you will get the answer back, “Jesus died for my sins.” That is not what salvation is.

Salvation is receiving life. That is why the apostle Paul said that without the resurrection we are still dead in our sins. The issue is not about sin, but about death and your need for life. Sin caused your death and the wages of sin is death. So what a dead man needs is life, and the only life available to man is the resurrected life of Christ Jesus.

The cross is what Jesus had to do to take away the cause of our death, which is sin. That was what Jesus had to do to prepare us to receive life. For if sin was not taken away first, eternally, then the next time we should sin, we would die again. So salvation is being saved from the consequence of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is life. Death does not bring life. Forgiveness does not bring life. Life brings life. Jesus gave His life to you so He can put His life in you so that He can live His life through you.

So listen and read the transcript, where scriptures are also provided, to learn more about this offer of new life in Christ Jesus. Only Jesus can give you life. No one else can. The forgiveness that was provided for us then is only received in the resurrection of Christ Jesus. Check out further scriptures as explained in this little booklet, Be Born Free

At times, people call to get answers to other questions that really do not have any bearing with the gospel or how to walk by faith. In those passages, where things are not as clear, do not be so concerned about it. There are certainly a lot more things you can spend your time on. Not everything in scripture will be completely understood, such as details in Revelation or some hard to understand passages in Ezekiel or in 1 Peter. When you run into those kinds of things, the best you can do is say, “I think this is what it means, but quite frankly I really do not know, but it has nothing to do with my salvation or how to live in the new life God has given me.”

For things that are essential for life and walking in the new life God has given, scriptures are very clear, and God spoke through the prophets and the apostles, and He spoke to us through his Son so we can know those things. Indeed, scripture explicitly states that these things were written down so that you may know you have eternal life. If you do not know that, then that is the highest priority for you, for you to come to know God and His Son Jesus Christ so you may have life in His name.

Transcript

Cynthia from Naples, FL

Cynthia: I have a dear friend, and she was saying she heard from her denomination that you can lose your salvation. I told her I would not be a part of anything that believes that. Then she said, “I believe that too.” That puzzled me. I see the Lord using her all the time. So I asked her, “What is keeping your salvation?” and she said it was something she was doing. I shared with her that I had broken a standard that was huge in my eyes, and then asked her, “Do you see the Lord still loving me and using me?” She said “yes”. I then said, “He never left me. My salvation is secure because of what he did on the cross, and not what I do.”

Bob: Right.

Cynthia: So, it breaks my heart that she believes that. I was wondering.

Bob: Cynthia, here is the thing. People who think you can lose salvation do not know what salvation is. Salvation is being saved from the consequence of sin, which is death. The only solution to death is life. That is why it says when you are dead in sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all your sins.

Colossians 2:13-14
¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

Bob: So in order to give you eternal life, he had to eternally take away the cause of death, which is sin. To say that you can lose your salvation is to deny the sufficiency of the cross. It is to call Jesus a liar when he said “it is finished.” I think it is a very serious thing for people to do. Jesus at the cross took away eternally the cause of spiritual death. The cause of spiritual death is sin.

Romans 6:23
²³ For the wages of sin is death

1 John 2:2 (KJV)
² And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Bob: Jesus took that away at the cross for the entire world. The only sin that is attributable to man, according to Jesus, is the sin of the rejection of Himself, the one who came to provide all those things for us. Getting forgiveness is not salvation. That is what prepared us for salvation. He had to take away the cause of death before he could offer the solution to the consequence of sin being death. That is his resurrected life. We are saved from death through his resurrection.

Romans 5:10
¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Bob: That is why Paul said without the resurrection we are to be pitied of all people and are still in our sins, knowing full well that a cross had occurred, but also knowing that that forgiveness that was provided for us then is only received in the resurrection of Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:16-19
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.

Bob: So the reason people believe that you can lose your salvation is because they do not know what it is. They do not know what salvation is.

Cynthia: Could it be they are not saved?

Bob: Possibly so. The issue is this. I ask people all the time, “What is your understanding of the gospel?” I will tell you, Cynthia, that nine times out of ten, the answer I get back is “Jesus died for my sins.” That is not the gospel. That is half the gospel, but it is not the gospel. As a matter of fact, it is not even the gospel that saves you. His taking away of your sins, as I said, he had to do that eternally for the sins of the entire world. That is why there is no excuse for anyone in the world. The cause of their death has been taken away. The only thing that they have to do is to recognize that there is a consequence to sin called death and that the only solution to it is resurrected life.

Romans 6:23
²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Bob: That is why Jesus is the only person that can bring life to us. Buddha cannot bring life to you. Mohammad cannot give you life. The pope cannot give you life. Billy Graham cannot give you life. Only Jesus can give you life. He is the only resurrected one that can give life to us. So, if you are dead and you need life then you have to turn to Him for his resurrection.

1 Corinthians 1:30
³⁰ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

Ephesians 1:7
⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

Bob: You have people who get streamed down aisles every Sunday. They are told to come down and get your sins forgiven. There is nothing further from the truth. That is not true! Your sins are already forgiven. If you are going to come forward, then go down to get Jesus, but not to get forgiveness. You get Jesus and in Jesus you have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Bob: And so, if you understand what salvation is, you understand that there is no way in the world that you can lose it because the only thing that could cause that life that has been given to you to depart from you is sin, isn’t it? In other words, what causes the Spirit of God to depart from Adam? Sin. What causes the Spirit of God to depart from Jesus? Sin. Whose sin? Ours. What is the only thing that could cause the Spirit of God to depart from you once you have received life? Sin. Why is that an impossibility? Because of the cross where Jesus took away the sins of the entire world.

Bob: Do you see the logic behind it?

Cynthia: Yes.

Bob: There is no way to lose your salvation. It is impossible. Why is it impossible? Because Jesus took away the cause of death. But people do not understand what salvation is. Salvation is the imputation of God’s life in you and me. We think of it, “Oh that is when you get your sins forgiven.” No, salvation is when you receive life. It is when you have come back alive in Christ.

John 11:25-26
²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Bob: So, it is all life, and if you understand what salvation is, you realize because of the cross, it is impossible to lose it.

Bob: You said that you had downloaded something?

Cynthia: Yes. Understanding forgiveness. That came up this weekend. I am just praying for the right time. I do not want to seem like someone who is pushing it. It breaks my heart. I love her dearly as a friend.

Bob: I think, Cynthia, I would not even deal with the loss of salvation. I would deal with the fact of what salvation is. Ask your friend, “What do you think salvation is?” I would ask her those questions. “In your opinion, what is salvation?” I guarantee you what she will say is that Jesus died for my sins. And you are able to come back and say, “Friend, that is not salvation. Paul said that without the resurrection we are to be pitied of all people and we are still in our sins.” So, salvation is being saved from the consequence of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is life.

Bob: Even if you are a liberal, you are teaching the law and the wages of sin is death. But where do you ever hear that taught anymore that the wages of sin is death? People are teaching how bad sin is and that you ought to quit sinning and it is all about sin, sin, sin. But no one teaches that the consequence to sin is death. It is not God giving you a paddle. It is not taking you to the woodshed. It is not that you are out of fellowship with God. There is nothing in the bible about being in and out of fellowship with God. It is not that it will make your business go bad. It is death. James said that if you commit the least of these commandments, you committed all of them.

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: In other words, we are all dead. There is nothing we can do about that. The consequence of sin is death and the gift of God is life. That is what salvation is, the imputed life from God.

Bob: And so now, if you understand that is what salvation is, then you say, “You must come to Jesus for his eternal life, for his life.” You have to be saved from your state of death. So, instead of dealing with sin, you are dealing with the consequence. You are dealing with death. You are dealing with the only solution to death is life. Forgiveness does not bring life to the dead. Life brings life to the dead.

Cynthia: That is a powerful statement.

Bob: So now, if that is true, that you have now received life, the reason that you have eternal life is because of the eternal consequence of the cross where he took away eternally the cause of death, which is sin.

Cynthia: He made it possible.

Bob: Absolutely. The cross is what enabled him to give us eternal life, which he could never offer prior to that time. So, once you understand and can understand the divine logic behind the salvation of God, why there is no way to sit there and think you can lose something because there is nothing to cause you to lose it. Sin is not going to cause death. That is why Paul said there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus. Why? Because the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

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.

Hebrews 9:28
²⁸ so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Cynthia: Great news.

Bob: Yes, it is. The best news in the world if we just grab a hold of it. So I think if you approach it in that way, by just asking her the question, “What is your definition of salvation? What is salvation to you?” I guarantee you she will tell you that Christ died for your sins.

Cynthia: I will do that. I have been praying for her. I am doing pro-life work. I was in a bible study where 1 John 1:9 came up and I shared that was never given to believers but to unbelievers, the Gnostics of the day. I thought I was going to be kicked out of the group, but so far I haven’t.

Bob: That is good. You keep at it. God is using you.

Cynthia: Yes. Pray for me.

Bob: Yes, I will say.

Angel from Sacramento, CA

Angel: This is the first time I called. My question is. When we die, what happens to the three substances of body, soul and spirit? We know the body goes to the ground, but the other two, what happens to them at the time of death?

Bob: Well, Angel, here is the issue. We have a physical body, called a tent or a house that we live in. Then we have the invisible you that we call the soul and then we have the human spirit that is now indwelt by the Holy Spirit. What we are told in scripture is absent from the body and present with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:8
⁸ We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Bob: Who goes there and how it gets there, it does not make an ounce of difference. The issue is the real you will go absent from the body and be present with the Lord. So, people really get into these nit-picking things. What is the soul? What is that going to be? We will find out when we get there. What it says is the real you, which is underneath the skin, that you cannot see, is going to be absent from the body and immediately present with the Lord. And that is good news, isn’t it?

Angel: Yes, it is. The reason I asked the question is because my parents, they are Pentecostals. We were talking about this the other day and my mother mentioned to me that my brother, who died about a year ago, was my oldest brother. She said, “If you can go to his grave, he will understand what we are talking about because his soul is still there.”

Bob: That is ridiculous. Why would he think that a soul is still there? How is a soul living in an old, cold grave?

Angel: Yes, I know.

Bob: That is nonsense. But there is a lot of theology in that denomination that is nonsense. So, the issue is, if that is just one of them that is taught denominationally that is really bad stuff.

Angel: It is.

Bob: So the issue is that what the bible tells us is we are absent from the body and immediately present with the Lord.

Angel: Yes. So that means. I believe it is the soul and the spirit.

Bob: And the spirit.

Angel: Then both. Like you mentioned, absent from the body and present with the Lord at the time of death.

Bob: Yes.

Angel: Okay.

Bob: We leave this body and go immediately into the presence of Jesus.

Angel: That is very good.

Bob: It is good for me

Angel: It is good for me too. It is a matter of trying to get my mother again when we sit down and discuss scriptures so I can explain it to her.

Bob: I do not know whether she would ever get anything like that out of scripture. That is the thing, Angel. A lot of times, people, they will read something and then their conclusion is something that the bible does not conclude. So it becomes tradition instead of being interpreted in light of the context of scripture. Now it becomes something else as a tradition. That conclusion is not in scripture so you can ignore that one.

Angel: That thing came from my brother because he was a pastor of Christian for about 15 years. If my brother was teaching them.

Bob: There are some people that teach soul sleep and that is probably what they are talking about. You stay in the grave until the end times when the rapture occurs. But again, that is just not biblical. So, at any rate Angel, just relax in the fact that when you leave this earth you are going to be absent from the body and immediately present with the Lord.

Angel: Alright. Thank you, sir.

Charles from Del Monte, CA

Charles: According to the Apostles Creed, Christ was crucified, died and was buried and then descended into hell, didn’t he?

Bob: Again, the Apostles Creed is man-made. A lot of people sit there in church every Sunday and recite the Apostles Creed. That is just merely something that man put together. Hopefully it is accurate but you do not know for sure. In Peter it talks about the fact that when you are talking about going into hell, the place is called Hades. It was a holding pattern for Old Testament saints.

1 Peter 3:18-19
¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. ¹⁹ After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits

Bob: When the Old Testament saint was saved, he was kind of like saved on a credit card. They got the furniture but it wasn’t paid for yet. Until Jesus went to a cross, sin was not paid for entirely. The blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin from the eyes of God. It could cover it but not take it away. So Christ’ death on a cross did something far greater than atonement. He went to take away the sins of the entire world.

Hebrews 10:3-4
³ But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. ⁴ It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Hebrews 10:11-14
¹¹ Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. ¹⁴ For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Bob: So, it said then that he went into that lower region where that was the holding pattern for the Old Testament saints to make the announcement that it is finished. It is paid for. Then he said he led the captive captive.

Ephesians 4:8-10
⁸ This is why it says:
“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”[Psalm 68:18]
⁹ (What does “ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? ¹⁰ He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)

Bob: In other words, he led the Old Testament saints into the presence of God. Today, on this side of the cross, when we die we are absent from the body and present with the Lord. But prior to the completion of the work at the cross they were in this holding pattern called Hades, or Paradise. It had different names connected with it.

Charles: Okay. Is it more a spiritual concept that Christ went to this place to set the captives free? Is that correct?

Bob: Yes, that is correct. To make the announcement that it is finished. When he cried out, “it is finished”, that was for all people. Again, Charles, let me say this. This is all done in Peter, and I can look at those passages and I can tell you what I gained out of it just looking at them. But they are difficult passages. And, so to me, I quite frankly do not care whether Jesus went there or whether he didn’t. I don’t even care for sure whether I can just stand up dogmatically and say that is absolutely truth the way I can say other things that God has revealed to me. I have to look at that and say “this is what it appears to me” but quite frankly it has absolutely nothing to do with my salvation or the maintaining of my salvation or walking in the newness of life that has been given to me in Christ Jesus. The best that I can do is to say that is what it appears to say. What happened? We will find out when we get to heaven.

Charles: Okay. I appreciate that. It is going to make things a lot easier. I have to proclaim this to a couple of youngsters I was tutoring. One of them says where is that in the bible? To be honest with you, I could not recall it. I tried to find it and I could not find it.

Bob: It is in those passages in Peter. It explains that but like I said Charles there are some things when you look at that, all you can say is, “This is what it appears to mean”. In the final analysis, what I just honestly say to people is, “Look. I really don’t care where he went. If this is true, fine. If it isn’t, well that is fine as well because it does not affect you and your life at all.”

Charles: Great.

Bob: There is teaching that goes out, and that is in a lot of teaching, where Jesus went into hell and was saved. You have got Kenneth Copeland and people like that, that is what they teach. They teach that Jesus went into hell and was saved there. That is nonsense and is heretical teaching.

Charles: Amen.

Bob: So, a lot of people made up a lot of stories about where Jesus went. What I am glad about where he went is to the cross and was raised from the dead in order to be seated at the right hand of the Father waiting on me.

Charles: Amen, Bob. Thank you so much.

Bob: You are sure welcome, Charles. God bless you, pal. Bye. Bye.

Darryl from Jamestown, NY

Darryl: I hope you can accept my views. If you can cut me off. I am a soldier and I am a patriot. I am against Islam trying to take over the world. It is a world religion. I do this all the time over the Tippen radio stations. I am also against the people who believe that there is a Messiah that is supposed to come down to earth and correct our mistakes when Jesus gave us power and Jesus gave us a life. He gave us the power to correct our own mistakes. We should not expect a Messiah. Any religion to come down and correct our own mistakes. We have the power to do that.

Bob: What do you base that on, Darryl?

Darryl: I base that on just our own religions. We have the power. We were given our lives. We have the strength.

Bob: Well, Darryl. What I am getting at is that you cannot correct any of our mistakes. That is where Jesus has to come in. You acknowledged Jesus, but again, why would you even acknowledge even the existence of Jesus if you did not learn of Jesus out of the bible? The same bible you learned that Jesus existed in is the same bible that says he is coming back to restore the earth.

Darryl: If he is coming back, wouldn’t he be more proud that we have corrected a lot of mistakes that we have created on our own?

Bob: It is a thought, Darryl. You are coming up with an opinion on something.

Darryl: Of course. And yours is an opinion too.

Bob: No, my opinion is based on what the word of God says. I am not expressing an opinion on it. I am just quoting what the word of God says. I do not understand how people can say I believe in Jesus. You certainly did not hear about him in Jerusalem Reader’s digest, so you had to get it out of the bible. Yet to deny the parts of the bible that tell that Jesus is coming back, and that there is going to be an armegeddon and there is going to be a great fight between the Muslim world and the Jews and the Christians.

Darryl: I know that. I fight that every day.

Bob: Yes. You see you are placing a lot of faith in man. And God, as far as Him being proud of us Darryl, what it says in scripture is that the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. God is interested in you and me walking in love, walking by faith in Him and walking in love. That is what impresses Him.

Darryl: I think God has a lot of faith in man.

Bob: Again, where do you get that? I am back to where do you get that? You are expressing it, but it isn’t based on anything Darryl. I want you to base your opinions on something God says that all of us have sinned and fallen short of God, our hearts are wicked and deceitful above all things and who can know it. That does not sound like God has a great faith in man. As a matter of fact man is fallen. Man is in a fallen state until he comes to Christ. He is totally fallen. If God had faith in man, does He have faith in those Muslims over there that terrorize us? I do not think so. Then why did He have faith in Hitler? Did He have faith in Mussolini? Did He have faith in Stalin? Did He have faith in us? No, I do not think so.

Darryl: I do not think so either. I think God gave us the strength and God expects us to do it back. He gave me the strength and I am going to use that strength and I am going to give it right back to them. I am going to go back to them and I am going to give them strength that He gave me.

Bob: Yes. Well, Darryl I appreciate your opinion on that. I do not think it is based on the bible. You might just want to do some more exploring on that. You see, it says in the bible that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He is the one who strengthens me. Go take another look at it, brother.

Darryl: The one who strengthens me is

Bob: There is the issue. Our dependency has to be on the one who strengthens us, not on us. It has to be on Him who does the strengthening. When we do not depend on Him for that then we are not strong at all.

Darryl: I do.

Bob: Okay. There you go, brother.