Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P591 (12-04-20)
Synopsis
So you want to share truth with your family and friends. You sense in your spirit, and maybe you are even convinced from your reading of God’s word, that surely we are in the last days. But I have loved ones, and I have Jewish friends, and Catholic and Protestant friends! How do I share the truth of the gospel to them?
Yes, I have friends in all kinds of situations. Some seem quite moral, and others legalistic. Some are struggling in their marriage, or addicted to drugs. They all can be nice people, too, of all kinds of religious backgrounds or lack thereof. They all seem like really nice people, at least when I interact with them. And, is there really one sin that is more serious than others? What about the nasty nine or the terrible twelve sins? I mean practically people go to jail or get death penalty, but what is God’s perspective on all this? None of us are perfect. What is God’s expectation of us? What does God want from us? Can anyone really approach God, who is absolutely sinless perfection?
In essence, these are the types of questions callers ask on the daily radio program of Bob George Ministries. What people need to hear is the word of God, and have a teachable spirit, to have the attitude of asking, “God, I want to know truth? I want to know the meaning of life?” Instead of leaning on your own understanding, will you acknowledge Him and let Him direct your paths?
Do not lean on your denominational persuasion. Why not? There are too many religions out there, anyhow. And, as a religious person, as I once was, I just knew something was not right. I could not articulate, understand or even explain what my need was or what I needed. I just knew I still sinned, and when I set out not to, I found myself still sinning. I thought to myself, “This religion I am in is not solving my problem. And I am not even sure what my problem is.” Is that where you are right now in your life?
And if you are real honest, religious teaching often conflicts with each other, and much of it does not even match up with what is told in scripture. If I know anything about logic, I know one thing. Two contradictory statements cannot both be true. I want to know truth, but I cannot rely on people to tell me. People can lie or deceive me, but my understanding of God is that He does not lie and that He wants me to know something about life, about Him, who is eternal life.
Have you ever had these kinds of thoughts, “I remember reading somewhere that He says He wants to give me life and life abundantly.“ or “I am certainly not experiencing abundant life.” “I am struggling in marriage.”, or “I am strung out on drugs.” or simply “I am tired of this religion that does not have real answers to my nagging questions of life.” Surely God has the answer to these questions. Yes, He does.
So listen to Bob George as he explains from Hebrews the wonderful truth of the New Covenant of grace, of Jesus death on a cross for our sins, and the sins of the entire world. And how the sins of the entire world is paid in full, one time at a cross, without any need of any further sacrifice, whether it is a bull or a goat, if you are a Jew, or continually having to go to a confessional booth or a priest for forgiveness, if you are Catholic, or quoting 1 John 1:9 every time you sin, asking God to forgive you of your current sins you do, if you are an evangelical or Protestant of some kind.
Then you read about the resurrection of Christ, and what that really means for you. In Him, you can live in a new way, with His Holy Spirit living in you. This is an offer of new life that God offers through Jesus Christ.
Maybe you have not heard truth before. This seems so foreign and strange to you, so in conflict with all you have been taught or have heard. The truth is, and you can check it out in the scripture, it is not faith to ask God for something He has already done. He is not going to die on a cross again. He did that once and for all. He took away the sins of the entire world from the eyes of God. He is not going to shed His blood again on a cross.
Indeed, He voluntarily laid down His life on a cross, because that is what we needed. Love, not spikes, held Jesus there. He loved you because He wanted to take the penalty of death for you because it is too great of a price for you to pay. And He did this because, once that is taken care of, paid in full, and He is raised from the dead, then He can offer His life, the very life that raised Him from the dead to you. His life is the very life that walked in perfect holiness. He can offer that same life to you as a gift.
A gift is not something you earn or work for. Someone else paid for it, and there is something in that package, who is Christ, and you simply accept Him. You are accepting Christ as your righteousness, who has promised to put His Holy Spirit in you, to never leave you or forsake you, to live in you to will and to act according to His purpose, to renew your mind so you can walk in the new way of the Spirit, to have the mind of God, to walk in a new way of living, not by way of the letter of the law, but by way of a child with a perfectly loving Father, who is God, who gently leads you internally from within as your Counselor. Would you like to receive the life of God? That is why Jesus came, to give you life, His life, eternal life.
Transcript
Paul from Bellingham, WA
Paul: I am calling on an issue I need wisdom for. I want to share the word with my friends. I have a friend going through a divorce. I want to share the Word with my neighbor and my friend. I do not want to scare him away. I do not want to throw the bible at him and say this is the way to go. Do you have any encouragement for me to share? I know my actions speak louder than my words.
Bob: The actions of man can be somewhat important until I think about the behavior of Jesus and realize that they even rejected Him. You can be around a lot of nice people. There are nice appearing Muslims out there. There are nice Mormons out there. The Word of God is what people need to hear. People are hurting inside, with hearts aching, and you can tell them that that hurt can only be solved and comforted by Christ Jesus, the one who said, “come to me all those who labor and are heavy laden, come to me and I will give you peace”.
Matthew 11:28-29
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Bob: If you are a child of God, and you know how you are saved, then you know how to communicate that. So communicate that to them the gospel as it stands. Ask the question, “Are you in Christ Jesus, or are you in the process?”. You are not judging. You realize it is a process people go through, in processing truth little by little. You do not have to worry about where they will be turned on or turned off by the message. Some people will be turned on and others will be turned off. That is a part of life. You cannot be running for sheriff and be a Christian. You cannot be interested in the opinions of men. You are loving and gentle to help people see their condition. One of the reasons you are in the condition of divorce is because you are dead inside. If he is a Christian and in divorce, then it is because he is not listening to Christ. Another possibility is if either spouse is a non-believer and is involved in behavior that warrants a divorce, including reasons of safety or protection of yourself and your children, if children are involved.
Paul: Should I ask, “Do you believe in heaven? Do you believe in hell?” Should we approach him that way?
Bob: No, ask them if you ever discovered knowing Christ in a personal way. Tell them a little of your own testimony. We are not talking about religion but a personal relationship with Christ. Have you ever come to know Him in a personal relationship? If they say “yes”, then ask them about their testimony. Then you will find out if they are lying to you or just confused about what you are saying. You are questioning people to help them see their condition. That is the first thing you do, to help people see their condition. If you never had something inside you called hunger, you would never go and get something to eat. You have to help them recognize there is something missing inside of them. Deal with those kinds of subjects. Find out where they are. Find out what their understanding of the gospel is. Then explain the fullness of the gospel to them. We are all born into this world dead and the reason is because we do not have the Spirit of life living in us. Take it from there.
Paul: I will take it from there.
Bob: Let me know how it goes.
Paul: I will let you know when the good news comes.
Cletis from Virginia
Cletis: I have a question. A follow up to first caller. I have heard in churches. They talk about five fold ministries. Actually I am in 1 Corinthians 12:27. Can you explain that to me? There are prophets and teachers in the church.
1 Corinthians 12:27-28
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.
Bob: The apostles are the group that were the people who determined the bible we hold in our hands today, written by an apostle or an emansurrisant of an apostle. They were the final word of truth as long as they lived. By the time they died, all of their information was down in written form. Second were the prophets. They were the ones who communicated verbally the truths that are even given to them as were the apostles or direct revelation from God. Basically anything they said that was of God is in scriptures we hold in our hands today. Then you had teachers. And workers of miracles. And you had those with the gifts of healing, and those with the gift of administration, and then those who spoke with different types of languages.
1 Corinthians 12:29-31
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
Bob: And the answer to all those questions is “No”. Now there is a more excellent way, and he talked about love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Bob: So he is saying all these gifts are to the body. You could be exercising those but if you do not have love then you might as well not be doing anything because the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Galatians 5:6
6 The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Bob: So that is the meaning of those things through the ages, all of these gifts have been given to the body of Christ at times. Some, as an example, apostleship, do not exist. And neither do prophets. But we do have teachers and pastor-teachers, for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of ministry. So as we read in Ephesians.
Ephesians 4:11-12 (KJV)
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Bob: You have different gifts. Sign gifts. Some are still in existence and some I do not believe are. You have all kinds of things in there mentioned in Corinthians and in Romans, written later, and are not mentioned. Yet, all those had usage at some point in time and maybe still in existence today. What we do know that we have today are pastors, teachers and pastor-teachers and evangelists. That is for the purpose to help people walk by faith in Christ.
Cletis: So Paul is not saying that all these gifts will be manifested in churches today?
Bob: No.
Cletis: He is saying these gifts have been used throughout the ages. Okay.
Bob: Absolutely. First, remember what Jesus said.
Matthew:12:38-40
38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Bob: If you need a sign, you are an adulterous generation. You are always looking for a sign. Well, I do not need signs today. Jesus said if you cannot believe in me after the miracle of the resurrection, then you cannot believe, period. So we have the fullness of the gospel that has been revealed to us in the word of God. Quite frankly, if you need a sign that is a repudiation of faith. When I accept Christ as Lord and Savior, I do not need some sign that salvation has taken place. The sign that salvation has taken place is a change in life. It had nothing to do with anything except a change of life.
Bob: Today what He wants us to do is to walk by faith. That seems like people do not want to do that. They do not want to walk by faith. They want signs and miracles. They want show business. They do not want to walk by faith.
Cletis: Thank you very much. That helped a lot.
Bob: Okay. Thanks so much, pal.
Joe
Joe hung up and is off the air. Bob thought it best to go ahead and answer his question for his listening audience because it is asked so frequently and many people are confused on these passages of scriptures in Hebrews. These passages, when understood, help one more fully understand what true belief in Jesus is all about when the totality of the cross is properly understood.
Joe wanted to know about the meaning of Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10.
Bob: Out of Hebrews 6, there is a lot of confusion. The whole book of Hebrews is to show the superiority of Christ over everything. He is superior over Abraham. He is superior over Moses. He is superior over the Old Covenant. The covenant that He represents is superior to the old one. There is more that could be said. But let us look at what is being said here.
Hebrews 6:4
4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift
Bob: When you are tasting something, you really have not consumed it. You are tasting it. Judas would fall into this category. He was a person who certainly was enlightened to the truth. He certainly tasted the person of Christ Jesus. In other words, he had been around him and knew something about him.
Hebrews 6:4-5
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.
Bob: So a lot of people will say, “See there, if you fall away from the Lord, you cannot be brought back. So you can lose your salvation. And if you lose it, there is no recovery.” But they stop there.
Hebrews 6:6
To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Bob: So what is it talking about? If you fall from something, you have to fall to something. To fall from grace, you fall back under the law again. If you fall from believing, it means that you have never believed. So the reason that you cannot be brought back to repentance is because you have never repented to begin with. Have you noticed how hard it is to come back to where you have never been? It is an impossibility. That is what he is saying. You cannot be brought back to repentance because you have got a doctrine whereby in order for you to do what you are asking God to do, Christ would have to be crucified over and over again, and be subjected to public disgrace. What is he talking about there? He is talking about the cross.
He is talking to people as they are today. But back then it was more visible, of saying out of one side of your mouth, saying “I believe Jesus died and took away the sins of the whole world” and with the other side of your mouth saying “I am going back to the day of atonement to get my sins forgiven”. That is double talk. That is double-mindedness that causes a person to be unstable in all ways.
So the real question being asked is, have you come to Christ by faith? It just got through saying, let us not go over these truths again, instruction in baptism, resurrection and all these things. What are you going over these things again for? It is impossible for you, who heard this truth, to then go back to the sacrificial system. It is a sign you have never repented. You have never believed what God said that you must believe in order to be saved. If you are in a situation.
That is why this teaching on forgiveness is unbelievably important. Most of the people in this world, and in so-called Christianity, have never repented of their unbelief. They said, “I believe Jesus died on the cross to take away my sins”, and then in the next breath, they say, “and I am asking God to forgive me. I keep short accounts with God, and I ask God to forgive me every time I sin”. That is double talk. That is a person who has never truly repented of his sin of unbelief and who has not come to Christ by faith and faith alone. A person who comes to Christ by faith alone says, “Jesus, when you cried out on the cross ‘It is finished’ that is what you meant.”
Bob: There is no more forgiveness for sin. That is why he is saying you are crucifying the Son of God all over again. If Jesus had not died for all the sins of the world and you are asking Him to forgive you, what would He have to do in order to forgive you? He would have to die again. So he is saying that you are crucifying the Son of God all over again, subjecting Him to disgrace He had to go through in order to take away your sins, and the sins of the entire world, eternally from the eyes of God.
Bob: So you are not going to be brought back to repentance because you never repented. You are saying, “I am going back to my sacrificial system.”
Bob: Hebrews 10 is the same type of thing. There you first read about the New Covenant.
Hebrews 10:16-18
16 “This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”[Jeremiah 31:33]17 Then he adds:
“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: What was the purpose of the sacrifice? To forgive sins. He says, “there is no more sacrifice for sin. There is no more forgiveness of sins.” It has been accomplished at the cross. If you are continually going back to your sacrificial system, to your confession booth, to your 1 John 1:9, thinking that brings about forgiveness, then you never repented. You have never really repented and said, ”I am a lost sinner and Jesus took away all of my sins eternally from the eyes of God.”
Hebrews 9:22
In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Hebrews 7:27
27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
Hebrews 9:25-26
25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Bob: How many times have we heard this. “I understand Jesus died for my past sins, but what about my future sins?” What is that an indicator of? You never repented. You never changed your mind in regard to forgiveness. Someone says, “I understand He took away all my sins up to the time I accepted Jesus but from that point on, it is up to me.” No it isn’t. It is not up to you. Until you repent of that mentality, you have never repented. You are literally causing Jesus to get back on the cross again and to be humiliated with your belief system. Your belief system is saying, “Jesus took away my sins prior to my coming to Jesus. But now, my confession will forgive my sins.” I got news for you. Your confession will never forgive your sins. Only the blood of Christ forgives sins.
Hebrews 9:22
without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Bob: If He did not finish it when He said, “It is finished”, it would mean you would have to put Him back on the cross and do it all over again, and subject Him to the disgrace of the cross.
John 19:30
30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Hebrews 10:28
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 to be punished
Bob: Let us turn back to Hebrews 10:26.
Hebrews 10:26
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth
Bob: Let us stop for a minute. What are we sinning against? The knowledge of truth, aren’t we? Yes. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we receive the knowledge of truth. So what are we sinning against? The knowledge of truth. How could I be sinning against the knowledge of truth? “Well, I believe Jesus took away my sins, but I am going to keep asking Him to forgive me”. What is that? That is sinning against the knowledge of truth. You know better than that. And if you do not know better than that, then you have never repented. And it says, there is no sacrifice for sins left. You are saying that you have received the knowledge of truth, but you keep going back to your sacrificial system. God is saying, “Sorry, but there is no more sacrifice for sins left”. If you are not going to believe Jesus took away the sins of the world, then this is all you have to look forward to.
Hebrews 10:26-29
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. 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 to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot,
Bob: He says “deserves”, not that He will, but who deserves to be punished, who has done what? Trampled the Son of God underfoot. Who has done that, trampled the Son of God underfoot? What does that mean? It means not paying any attention to what He did. Trampling it underfoot. “That was nice, God, but I do not believe it.”
Hebrews 10:29
who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
Bob: What does it mean to be treating as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant. We just got through reading what the new covenant is.
Hebrews 10:17-18
17 Then he adds:“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: You are treating an unholy thing that truth that there is no more sacrifice for sins. You have insulted the Spirit of grace. People get all hung up on the nasty nine and the terrible twelve. I do not think there is a sin any greater in the eyes of God than the sin of the rejection of Christ Jesus by people who have rejected the truth, who have deliberately kept on sinning after receiving the knowledge of truth. They will not admit there is any more sacrifice for sin left.
Bob: Back in the Jewish days, you had outward things you had to go through. You killed a bull or a goat or a lamb. Your sins are transferred and you are clean until the next time you sin. So then you have to go back again, every year, and you do it again. That is what it says.
Hebrews 10:1-4
1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 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.
Bob: They had a sacrificial system. Today, after 70 A.D. occurred and Jerusalem was destroyed, that sacrificial system went away. From that day forth, I have no idea how the Jews who reject Jesus get their sins forgiven. I have no idea. Neither do they. Quite frankly, they deny God even exists, in most cases.
Bob: In the Catholic world, they say “We do not have a sacrificial system. We do not have to kill a bull and a goat. We just have a confessional booth.” So we have the whole Catholic world deliberately sinning against truth, which is the truth that sins have been taken away, by teaching people you have to go to a priest every time you sin. A Catholic says, “You have to get forgiveness from a priest and have to do penance.” Are you believing truth? Not according to the word of God. I will tell you what you are doing. You are sinning against the knowledge of truth.
Bob: If you never knew the knowledge of truth, you cannot sin against the knowledge of truth, can you? No, not if you did not know what truth was. If you had never heard truth, and that is all you had heard, then you could not be sinning against the knowledge of truth. You just never had the knowledge of truth. But if someone is listening, then you have the knowledge of truth in regard to forgiveness. Jesus said, “there is no more sacrifice for sins”, and “your sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” and “it is finished”. It is over.
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.
Bob: You now have the knowledge of truth in regard to forgiveness. So if I was talking to a Jew, I would say to him, “if you keep going back to your sacrificial system, all you are doing is trampling the Son of God underfoot, treating as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified you, and insulting the Spirit of grace who enabled Christ Jesus to do what He did for you”.
Bob: Now to a Catholic I would say, “If you keep going back to your priest in order to get forgiveness, you are treating as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified you, and have insulted the Spirit of grace.”
Bob: To the Protestant evangelical I would say to him the same thing. “If you are going to continue thinking you are keeping short accounts with God, confessing your sins every time you sin, if that is your belief system, then you have rejected the truth. You are sinning against the knowledge of truth. You have treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified you, and have insulted the Spirit of grace.”
Bob: You cannot come back from where you have never been. What the bible says is that you have never repented. You have never finally said what Jesus said, “It is finished”.
John 19:30
30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Bob: What is confession? To say the same thing God says. What did God say at the cross? “It is finished” In Greek, is the word “tetelestai”, which means “Paid in full”.
(The word “tetelestai” was also written on business documents or receipts in New Testament times to show indicating that a bill had been paid in full.)
Bob: What are you going to say? If you are going to say “No, I still got a bull and a goat I have to kill.” “No, I have to go back to my priest to get forgiveness and do penance and go through my rosary.” To the evangelical, “No, I can just keep short accounts with God. I do not need all this priest stuff.” So in his cockiness, he says, “I can just go direct and get forgiveness and get forgiveness. ” In every one of those cases, you are sinning against the knowledge of truth and are making a mockery of the grace of God that took away the sins of the entire world.
