Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P703 (01-27-22)
Eternal Life in Christ Jesus or Eternal Death in Hell – Your Choice
Monica called from Victoria, British Columbia. She had a problem with people going to hell and experiencing eternal fire or whatever the bible calls it. She had a problem believing that was the case for lost people.
Bob explains to her that either there is eternally alive with Christ or eternally in hell (apart from Christ). He further explains that people get into a sense of sloppy sentimentality into thinking of how could God punish us eternally in hell. The miracle is how could a just God save us into heaven. You see, none of us are worthy to be saved. The miracle isn’t hell, the miracle is heaven.
A just and loving God gave man a choice to either choose to accept the death, burial and resurrection of His son, or the opposite to deny and reject that and live apart from Him, in hell. It’s man’s choice. And the reason for this separation is because man’s heart is wicked.
Jeremiah 17:9
9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
And so, there is a place for those that have received Jesus by faith, and there is also another place for those who have rejected Jesus. It doesn’t make an ounce of difference whether a person that has rejected that is in an eternal fire or an eternal iceberg; for they are eternally separated from God. The key point in all of this is eternal separation from God for those that reject Jesus.
Monica, while agreeing to the eternal separation from God part of the scriptures, was still having a difficult time accepting eternal fire. Bob points out that she was rebelling against the clear teaching of scripture, where those that are not in Christ, are thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 21:8
8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
As a believer in Christ Jesus, how are you going to argue against the clear teaching of scripture?
A person can live in denial of that or ignore it, but we shouldn’t deny it. It’s very dangerous to start denying what is clearly taught in scripture. Because once you start down that path of denial, you will then start denying other things that are clear teachings in scripture.
William the second caller called from Livermore, California. He had a question in regards to temptations not given to man that we can not resist. And he was trying to understand this in the context of grace.
Bob explains that the temptations that are being given to us are common to man. In essence, there is nothing new under the sun.
1 Corinthians 10:13
13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Yet with those temptations, He has provided a way out. And what is the way out? Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the temptations of the flesh.
Galatians 5:16
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
He didn’t say the desires of the flesh will go away. He didn’t say clean up your flesh and you’ll be spiritual. He said, if you walk by the Spirit, there is a byproduct of that, and that is you will not be fulfilling the desires of the flesh. And that’s grace. There is no condemnation awaiting you for those that belong to Christ Jesus. For it is written:
Romans 8:2
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
This is the new way we live under grace. Thanking Him for His provision and walking by faith in His provision.
God is not the one that tempts man. The verse is simply saying that the temptations that come upon man are common to man. Satan is the one that tempts man.
You see, Satan has already lost to us in salvation. So all he can do is tempt us to sin. And we can indeed do that. But the verse of scripture is saying that He has provided a way out of that temptation. By walking in a newness of life. We have to learn how to do that. And if you are working on dealing with sin, then that is saying that Christ didn’t deal with sin.
The bottom line is we will always be dealing with temptations in the flesh. And, that isn’t going to change until we are absent from the body and present with the Lord. Don’t be preoccupied with what Jesus has already taken care of. Instead focus on Jesus and what He did in regards to what He accomplished on the cross.
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Isaac called from Anaheim, California. He had a followup question into what it means walking in the Spirit.
Bob goes over some of the concepts of walking by faith in what Jesus has already done for us. In that a born again believer walks in the truth of the Spirit. For example, as a born again believer, we wouldn’t ask Him to give us eternal life. For He has already given us eternal life. And you wouldn’t be asking God to redeem you, for He has already redeemed you. You wouldn’t be asking God to forgive you, because God has already forgiven you. But, you would be thanking Him for those things, and walking in truth. That is what it means to be walking in the Spirit.
Isaac went on to say that he is living in sin, and he thinks he is saved but he is questioning the fact that he living in sin.
Bob explains that we need to put behind us that which Jesus said is finished. When we are preoccupied with sin, we have forgotten what He did on the cross for us. Also, Isaac is equating sins with salvation. If God has put the sin issue behind His back never to see them again, then why are we so preoccupied with the sin issue ourselves? Why do we keep bringing up that which God said was finished?
2 Corinthians 5:19
19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
If you are going to walk by faith, it is not based on what I am doing for myself. You are going to have to walk by faith by what God has done for you. Faith says thank you! It is not faith to ask God what He has already done for you.
The fourth caller Joe called from New Orleans, Louisiana. He had a question in regards to those that have been chosen before the foundations of the world, if that meant they are incapable of losing salvation.
Bob explains that verse of scripture has nothing to do with individuals being selected for salvation but with two different groups of people becoming one in Christ Jesus. It’s not like one person is predestined to be saved and another is not. All who choose to believe on the name of Jesus are saved and those that make the choice not believe in Jesus they are lost. Study the book of Ephesians with the two groups of people in mind, and that will come alive to you. It will all make sense in that context.
Ray called from Detroit, Michigan. He had a question (though he thought it might be a nitpicking question) in regards to pastors say to “accept Christ,” and wouldn’t it be better to say “receive Christ?” For he said he could accept a lot of things, but that wasn’t receiving it.
Bob mentions that God is looking at the heart, not what we say. First off, we have to agree with God. And I have to agree with God on what he says about me. And if I don’t agree with God on what He says about me, then I for sure have no reason to believe on what He says about Jesus, our Salvation. So first of all, I have to believe I’m a sinner. And no, it is not just a little sinner. For there are no little or big sinners, your just a sinner and you’re dead! And those are the two situations we have to realize about ourselves. We have to realize that we are a sinner, and that we are dead from the consequences of sin. For the wages of sin is death. And all throughout scripture it tells us that while we were dead.
Ephesians 2:1,5
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Most of the time, all that is preached is about being a sinner. But, there is a consequence to sin and that is death, spiritual death. And spiritual death is not corrected by forgiveness, but by resurrected life. So Jesus died on the cross, taking away all your sins, so that with His resurrected life, He could deal with the consequence of sin (spiritual death), and give us Life! And that happens by the receiving the gift of God which is Life! And when we come to being able to receive it, believe it, accept it, then your heart is willing on that, and God knows what your heart is, and you will be saved.
Sometimes the mistake is made by saying, “believe in Jesus.” Sometimes that is what ministers will say, “just believe in Jesus.” Well, what are you going to believe in Jesus about? You going to believe in Jesus that he rode in an airplane? Believe in Jesus that He had a beard? Why no. You are going to have to believe in the Jesus of the bible. The one that was born of a virgin. The one who walked on this earth in perfect sinlessness. The one who was the substitute on the cross for us. The one who was raised from the dead to give us life. And that is the Jesus that saves us. But many times we stop at the cross.
We hear it so often, with an alter call, come down and get your sins forgiven. Sorry no go, because your sins are already forgiven before you even go to the alter. You were reconciled to God while you were an enemy of God. But how much more having been reconciled shall we be saved by His life!
The appeal should be to come to Jesus and in Him you have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So where is that redemption and forgiveness received? It’s in Christ Jesus that it is received.
The idea of receiving is probably a more descriptive word.
Ray was glad that Bob George Ministries had come back to the Detroit radio station.
Bob explained that we have to pay the radio stations to be on the air for Christian radio. That is how it works today too. And what many folks don’t realize of how expensive it is to be on the air. As funds come in to the ministry we can expand to other radio stations throughout the country.
The next caller was Ricky, calling from Las Angeles, California. He had been teaching a bible study with about eight members. One member (of the family), kept on coming to it drunk and being disruptive. The drunk guy finally said to Ricky, “can you help me, I’m demon possessed.” Finally he said he needed help to get out of drinking and drugs. But Ricky didn’t want to pray with the guy right there because he was drunk. And the guy had agreed to come to see Ricky a day or two later and wanted some pointers in what to say to him.
Bob mentions to Ricky that he made a mistake in thinking you can’t pray with someone because they are drunk. Bob gave an example of someone that did in fact come to Christ when he was drunk and the next day he woke up as a new creature in Christ.
So now that Ricky did put him off to the next day, Bob said that he need to share the whole gospel with him. Let him know that he has a heart problem. Pray with him. If a person is sober enough to realize he is a sinner, and sober enough to understand that Jesus took all of his sins on the cross, then he is sober enough to be saved.
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