Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P600 (01-21-21)
Synopsis
It is so important to speak truth in love, for that is how people are set free, with truth. So what hinders us from speaking truth? Is it not fear? And if we fear, where is our attention mostly on? Is it not on ourselves, in what we perceive we might lose or be hurt by others who may not think the same way we do, of the persecution we might receive by not telling the truth? What do you think happened in Nazi Germany, when people were afraid to speak out in truth? There is a time in which when people fail to live in accordance with what is true that freedom is taken away more and more, until before long the consequences are so severe, it is nearly impossible to ever gain your freedom back. What would happen to the black man in the days of slavery if courageous men did not speak the truth and had what were truly peaceful protests back then, unlike what people falsely claim as peaceful protests today, with buildings on fire in the background, yet calling it peaceful. Such men of hypocrisy, devoid of the truth! Who would dare say such a thing, knowing what you are saying has no evidence to support the claim?
So listen now as Bob shares truth concerning the true meaning of 1 John 1:9, which has been twisted to mean something other than what God had intended, as a sort of genie lamp to get your sins forgiven? That is not a passage for believers, but unbelievers, those who claim they are without sin, to Gnostics, who claim Jesus did not come in the flesh, men devoid of the truth. The apostle John wrote a letter to a pastor, at his request for help, to straighten the matter out, so as to protect the body of Christ from deceivers who have come into their midst. The apostle John spoke the truth in love, to those Gnostics, saying that if you ever come to your senses, you would recognize you are a sinner. Then you would see more clearly why Jesus died on a cross to take away the sins of the entire world, yours included. Jesus did this in order that life can be given. So listen to my appeal. If you recognize your wretched state, your condition of spiritual death, then you will appreciate the fact Jesus rose from the dead to give you new life.
Or, would you confront a person who brings false teaching, teaching that godliness is a means to financial gain. Such a person is a man of perverted mind, devoid of the truth. Would you reprove him, and if he does not listen to you, then have nothing to do with him. We are to boldly confront error with truth, so that the way of God is not maligned among men. We have this instruction from God’s word, to be ready to preach in season and out of season, to tell of the hope that is within us, and to instruct, correct, and rebuke with all wisdom and patience. How can anyone grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ if error is not exposed and truth is not told? How can anyone ever come to their senses if not confronted with the truth? The appeal is to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Transcript
Todd from Duncan, British Columbia
Todd: I go to a Baptist church, but what I heard from my church is in conflict with what I heard from your teaching. Once you confess your sins to Christ and accept Jesus in your heart, it is done. That is what he has held on as truth. Yet, there is much talk about the need to confess your sins to God to keep your relationship with God on a daily basis and grow in maturity. That does not ring true to him. The passage in 1 John 1:9 is what continually gets brought up. I called because I want clarification on the truth on this topic.
1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Bob: It is the only scripture they can cling to. It is amazing how people take one verse out of the bible and form a whole theology around it. There is no scripture in the bible that speaks about positional forgiveness, forensic or judicial forgiveness. Can you imagine some theologue standing at the base of the cross, with the bible tucked under his arm, tilted a little to the right side, looking up at Jesus, who is bleeding and dying to take away the sins of the world, and say to him, “Is that positional forgiveness or forensic forgiveness?” So ludicrous when you stop to think about that truth.
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 13:5
5because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Hebrews 4:16
16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Bob: When Jesus cried out “It is finished”, he meant just what he said. It is finished. When people talk about “in and out of fellowship”, there is no scripture that gives any indication of that. You are either in the fellowship, saved, or out of fellowship, lost. That is bible teaching, not Baptist teaching or Campus Crusade teaching. If you study that scripture enough, then the truth is clear. If you are a baptist, you just go along with it. And so people just hear it often enough to repeat it to someone else.
Todd: I have no joy telling a drug addict to come to Christ to get sins forgiven and then you have to keep it up. He has to know forgiveness is there and then the joy is complete.
Bob: Here is the problem. We stopped at the cross for salvation. The cross does not save anyone. The resurrection is what saves you.
Romans 5:8-10
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were (past tense) still sinners (lost), Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood (accomplished fact), how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
10 For if, while we were (past tense) God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son (accomplished fact), how much more, having been reconciled (accomplished fact), shall we be saved through his life! (his life saves you)
Bob: The cross was preparatory for salvation. It was something that had to take place in order to bring salvation to us. Salvation is being saved from the consequences of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is life, and the only life available to us is the resurrected life of Christ Jesus. That is precisely why the apostle Paul said that 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 where Jesus took away our sins, but also knowing, that that forgiveness that was provided for all mankind at the cross is only received in the resurrected life of Christ Jesus.
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: In Him, you have redemption, the forgiveness of sin! Where do you get that forgiveness? In His resurrected life. Do you walk the aisle and come forward to get sins forgiven? No. If you do come forward, you should come forward to get life. You already have forgiveness but that forgiveness is received in his resurrection.
Bob: So all the emphasis is on the cross and not on the indwelling Christ Jesus, who lives in us. So people concentrate on what people think salvation is, and how I keep salvation, the cross, the cross, the cross.
Bob: Jesus had to eternally take away the sins of the entire world in order to offer us resurrected life. Sin is what caused death. If he gave me life but did not eternally take away the cause of death, which is sin, then the next time I sinned I would die. In order to get eternal life, the cross had to be eternal in nature. When you do not teach that then you take away a person’s security in eternal life. If you say, “but I do believe I have eternal life”, but then Satan comes along and says, “you are out of relationship with God”, do you believe his lie? So whether out of fellowship or out of relationship, it seems you would have a problem with God. The issue is you do not have a problem with God. God has a problem with that teaching.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Peter 1:3 (ESV)
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence
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.
Hebrews 10:4
4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Bob: God has clothed you in His righteousness, given you everything you need for life and godliness, he has taken away the cause of death, which is sin, in order to give you life eternally. No, he has no problem with you at all. He has a problem with that teaching. Most baptist preachers pound that down the pulpit, with one side of the mouth saying, “Your sins are forgiven, past present and future” but then with the other side of the mouth say, “if you confess your sins, God will forgive you”. That is double talk and causes a man to be unstable in all his ways.
James 1:8
8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
Todd: Your view is the minority view and it is hard to find a church that teaches that complete grace teaching. I never felt the joy of salvation because I still stumble in large areas. I constantly feel defeated. There is no place in the bible except in the gospels, such as the Lord’s prayer. How can you reconcile what sounds contradictory when you read it?
Matthew 6:15
15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
2 Corinthians 5:19
19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.
Bob: The only verse they use is 1 John 1:9. Then they go to the gospels, as in the Lord’s prayer. How can you pull those verses together if you do not understand the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. I have never heard a teaching on the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. (Hebrews is a great resource in the bible that contrasts the Old Covenant with the New Covenant while explaining the New Covenant.) We are not to be double-minded, and if you do not understand the Old Covenant and the New Covenant that is what you are left with. So you have all those kinds of seeming contradictions.
Bob: In 1 John 1:9, John is addressing the Gnostic. The Gnostic problem is dealing with those who claim they do not have a sin nature.
1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Bob: So when someone is cleansed out of all unrighteousness, can he not sin in the next hour? If so, would he have all his sins cleansed? We never had any righteousness of our own. We have imputed righteousness. So if we have no righteousness of our own, then does more righteous get imputed? And how can we get cleansed of all unrighteousness, when there is none there, having already been all cleansed out? Either it is all cleansed out or it isn’t?
Bob: The literal translation of that verse is dealing with a person claiming to be without sin and who is sinning against the knowledge of the truth. If we read just one verse before and one verse after, we get to understand the context of 1 John 1:9.
1 John 1:8-10
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
Bob: If there is no truth in him, then he does not have Christ in him, and he is still dead in his sins, and is lost. If you also turn to 2 John, you will gain more understanding. 2 John was written to a special lady and to her children who knew the truth and the truth was in them.
2 John 1-3
1 To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth – and not I only, but also all who know the truth –
2 because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:
3 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.
Bob: The truth lives in us and will live in us forever. So if the truth is in you and will be with you forever, how can you say you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you, unless the truth was never in you? So 1 John 1:9 is not talking to saved people but is talking to lost people.
Bob: The “if” is an “if” with a doubt. In the Greek, it is an aorist past tense. It could be expressed this way. “If you ever come to your senses, and I doubt if you will, but if you do, he is faithful and just to have forgiven you and to have cleansed you from all unrighteousness.” It is a past act with a continual effect. It is not a movie camera but a snapshot. It never gets translated in that tense. So problems are in translation. But if you ever go to a Greek scholar, who is honest in interpretation, and who studies it, then that is the only conclusion he can come up with.
Mohammad from Dallas, TX
Mohammad: I have a question. We were doing underground church to reach out with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The whole thing was putting the media out on missionaries. They started killing us, killing a member of the church I was pastoring. They left me there without caring what was going to happen to me. This country is going away because of persecution. Should I tell the old story to the public or should I keep quiet and tell people about Jesus and forget about it? For even my family was mad in that process.
Bob: Well, Mohammad, in regard to what we communicate and what we don’t communicate, we have to lean on the instruction of the Lord in your own heart. In the bible, there were certainly testimonies of persecution by the apostle Paul. He was beaten as no man. All of those were testimonies of how the enemies of the gospel persecuted them. You certainly have people who speak out in regard to persecution of the Jews by the Nazis and other people in the world. I think that, so many times, people do not understand that the Muslim religion was founded by Mohammad, who basically was a murderer. His nick name in some language in Russian was throat slitter. That is what he was referred to. That is how their ministry grew. You either believe or die. A lot of people do not know that. They do not want to hear it because they want to be politically correct on everything. But it is important to know those things.
Bob: When I was in Greece, the organization over there was the WYAM organization. They would hold evangelistic campaigns there in Athens and in Philippi and different areas in Greece. Every time they would do that, again, the members of the Greek orthodox church, and I am not putting down any denomination, but in that particular case, the members of that denomination would unplug their microphones and tear up their equipment. One guy was almost beaten to death by them. To me, I think those things need to be communicated. Why should people not be told that that meanness and destruction takes place by those who call themselves religious people?
Mohammad: Right now they continue killing people in my community, but nobody is speaking about this. It has come to the point, if I keep quiet, then death of those people is just in vain. It is hard to keep quiet, then who knows what happened to him. I was scared. Right now, if God has me in Africa, I believe that will help me in this country. We have to tell the truth that there are some people down there are killed because of their faith and what they believe.
1 John 4:18
18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Ephesians 4:15
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
Bob: I agree with you, Mohammad. I do realize that some people are motivated by fear but I do not think fear comes from God. God did not give us a Spirit of fear. I do know there are people to fear because they are brutal and mean and certainly would think nothing of taking another person’s life. But the issue is that it is just a testimony of Christianity. Every one of the apostles died a martyr’s death. Our master Himself was crucified. We are not greater than the master so personally I would speak out on that. I would let people know what is going on and try to get some people to understand that, especially people who work in Africa and in those locations and see if you can get some news media help on it. The world needs to know what is going on by these terrorist activities.
Mohammad: We started a ministry in Dallas. We are reaching out. Remember us in prayer and God bless you. I have to stand for Christ. God bless you.
Bob: I agree Mohammad. We will certainly be doing that. You keep us in mind. Thanks for listening and keep listening and call at any time.
Troy from New Orleans, LA
Troy: On Tuesday night we get together, a couple guys from work. Each night we have our own chance to bring something to the table, a topic to discuss and then we break it down. One night I spoke upon the prosperity gospel. I was speaking out against it, the televangelists, saying that God wants you to be a millionaire, and that if you cannot speak in tongues you are not saved. My study was upon that, and how dangerous that type of gospel is. After the study, one of the guys, he teached too. He came and told me I was wrong for speaking out against that because we had a guy in the study that believes in that. He told me I was wrong for bringing that up. He said I should not speak out because it hurts people’s feelings and that if I was doing God’s job, I should be quiet about that.
Bob: A guy like that has no understanding at all, Troy. That is like telling people that if you do not accept Christ you will go to hell for that will hurt the feelings. Love would say, “I do not care if that hurts feelings or not because truth is what sets people free, not lies they are believing in. When you have prosperity gospel, you have 1 Timothy 6.
1 Timothy 6:2-5
These are the things you are to teach and insist on. 3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
Bob: That is all you have to read to people. It talks about people being of corrupt mind, robbed of the truth and who think godliness is a means to financial gain. That is what prosperity gospel teaches, that godliness is a means to financial gain. And it goes on to say the love of money is the root of all evil, and who pierced themselves with many griefs.
Bob: The prosperity gospel anyone teaches is a man of perverted mind. I, quite frankly, do not have any interest listening to anything else a person has to say who has been identified by God as a person of a perverted mind. I would not listen to any one of them. You got the bible to back you up on that brother.
Bob: According to this guy, you should not have a bible study because it would hurt people’s feelings. That is stupid religion we have going on today. Let us go negotiate. Like John Kerry, if you are so good at negotiating, why did you have a divorce? What I am saying is all of this stuff is when you have an enemy who wants to kill you and attack you, you do not sit around playing cards with them and negotiate with them. That is not going to happen. Same thing. You do not sit around saying someone’s feelings are going to get hurt. Well, tough. If a person’s feelings do not get hurt, they may never come to Christ as Lord and Savior. I would rather be accurate than to be popular.
Troy: Okay, I am glad you said that. I can breathe easier. It bothered me. I felt bad for he was saying I was wrong. I was praying that God would show me what was wrong. Every time God tells me to speak out against it. We have to speak out against false prophets.
2 Timothy 4:1-3
1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.
2 John 9-11
9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. 11 Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.
Bob: It tells you to speak out against it. I would rather do what God says than what someone in my bible study says.
Troy: Okay.
Sean from Newport Beach, CA
Sean: In the gospel of John 1:9, it says. John the Baptist was not the Light but was to bear witness to that Light. Then it says that the true Light that lights every man has come into the world. What does that mean?
John 1:6-9
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sinfulness and come to Christ for life, he is faithful and just to have forgiven us our sins and to continue to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Bob: I think what you are talking about there is that Christ Jesus is the only Light available to man, and He is available to every man born on the face of the earth. So as far as God is concerned, He says that no man comes to Jesus unless He is led by the Father. And it is God’s will none should perish and all come to repentance.
Matthew 18:14
14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
Bob: So if that is God’s will then I would assume that everyone on the face of the earth has had an opportunity in one way or another to believe in Christ Jesus, to be led to the Light. He is the Light to all men but not all men receive Him as such.
Bob: 1 John 1 says “If we claim to be in fellowship with Him yet walk in darkness”. There are only two ways to walk in this world, Sean, to walk in darkness, lost, or in the Light, saved. If we claim to have fellowship with Him but walk in darkness, lost, then we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the Light as hHe is in the Light, [Jesus] we have fellowship with one another [you and Jesus] and the blood of Jesus His Son continues cleansing you from every sin imaginable. We can either walk in darkness, lost, or in Light, saved.
Sean: Okay. Thank you so much.
Bob: Good to hear from you, my friend. Bye. Bye now.
