Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P537 (05-21-20)
Synopsis
Knowing God and His word, the meaning of the word as revealed by the Spirit of God, is really useful for practical living.Sometimes you wonder what happens in religious denominations, if they even know God or His word. You have people who just do not think, believing the King James only bible, and those who are into legalism. It sure makes you wonder if they even have the Spirit, because if you have the Spirit living in you, you would think you would be led by the Spirit. You cannot be led by the spirit and be led by the law at the same time.
As a person led by the Spirit of God, you will begin to realize when something is not working, those old thinking patterns you used to have as a lost person. You might be struggling in your marriage. But little by little you hear truth, and that truth is maybe taught in a different way than how you have been taught in your local denomination you assemble with and it just helps you to walk free, in a new and different way.
Take for example, the topic of submission. When a person is struggling in marriage, and you first submit yourself to the Lord, and you see that when you know how much the Lord loves you, you can seek wisdom in God’s word rather than arguing with one another over trivial matters. You read in Proverbs about how it is to a person’s glory to overlook an offense and to let patience be produced in you and through you as you rely on the Lord. And as you let the husband lead, to make the final decision, as both of you are looking for wisdom from God, how such difficulties in marital relationships get resolved. So you thank the Lord in this because in our natural flesh, we know we would act in a manner that would tend to pull us apart.
So listen now as Bob explains truth from scripture with practical wisdom and advice. Listen as he shares again how this wisdom comes from God, and is available to anyone who asks. Listen to the Spirit of God, who lives in you, and get to know God and gain wisdom from Him through His word. When you know you have eternal life, and you know God’s unconditional love and acceptance, that He has given you everything you need for life and godliness, and when you know His mercy and grace, you can boldly go to the throne of grace to find help in time of need. He will never leave you or forsake you.
Transcript
Carol from El Paso, TX
Carol: What is your opinion about the doctrine and the exclusivity of the independent baptist churches?
Bob: Well, Carol, I do not know about all the different ramifications on all denominations. I do not recall what the independent baptist believe different from the other baptists right now. Maybe you can help me on that?
Carol: We have a background in military chapels in independent bible churches and are solidly founded in scripture. Here locally there is a very thriving independent baptist church. They have their own network of churches. They believe in the King James only bible.
Bob: Well, that would be enough for me. They are non-thinkers.
Carol: I do not have a problem with it because I prefer it.
Bob: But you have to be insane to believe that a translation, and I do not care what it is, is the only translation. You have to be out of your mind to believe that.
Carol: I do not have a problem with it because I like the King James. Those who grew up with this and those all across the country are very much alike. They never really question anything. For the most part, their teaching is sound. But from not coming from that background, there are these little things that bother me and I do not know how significant they are. For example, last night in a missions conference, a guest speaker was talking about Abraham’s sending his servant to seek a bride for Isaac, in Genesis 24. He used the analogy of the father seeking a bride for his son, which is perfectly fine. But he went on to say, the gifts, the fruit, and the fullness of the Holy Spirit was the purpose of soul winning and getting the bride and anyone who thinks differently is speaking false doctrine. That set off bells, whistles and false flags all over the place.
Galatians 5:18
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Bob: I do know there is a terrific amount of legalism taught in that denomination. You cannot be led by the Spirit and be under law. It is just a passage I read to a guy. I have to challenge those who are led by the Spirit are sons of God who are under the law. If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. If you are under the law, you cannot be led by the Spirit, and if you are not led by the Spirit, you are not a son of God. There are a lot of people who have not come to Christ by faith and are just religionists and legalists and love to teach the law and put people under guilt trips under the law. That is how they spend their lives. That is how they justify their position.
Bob: All that goes together, Carol. It all ties into the King James only. That is legalistic thought. When you realize the King James, I can take you through original manuscripts in Greek, and the King James is off on a lot of passages. They eliminate and add to what the original language says. These guys come along and say, “see there, the King James says ‘Father’ and these others do not say ‘Father’”. Well, I got news for you. The Greek does not say “Father”. You put the Greek lexicon up beside the King James, and you will find how much was added to the King James bible.
Bob: As far as I am concerned, I like the New American Standard (NAS) as far as accuracy as well as easy reading. And I like the New International Version (NIV). I do not use the King James because I do not beget and begat or I would be gone. I do not speak that language. I know a lot of people who do like it. People can memorize out if it and it is good for that. But just do not get down to believing in the King James as the only bible.
Carol: Having come from a background that believes church is comprised of all believers universally not the local church. Yet we have a wonderful pastor and staff and loving, caring people, but they have church 24/7 and want you to be there for everything.
Bob: It is very legalistic.
Carol: Thank you for your input. I value that thank you for your program.
Bob: You are sure welcome, Carol. I hope that helps.
Carol: It does. Thank you Bob. Bye. Bye.
Rana from Denver, CO
Rana: I want to say thank you for being faithful to the Lord. My husband and I started going to By Grace Fellowship, the one Aaron is the pastor of. Have you ever been in a situation where you know God totally orchestrated it and you see it everywhere. That is totally how it is. Aaron came over and talked to us Sunday. My husband and my marriage was falling apart in front of our eyes. I was reading Faith that Pleases God and you wrote how you were burned out for Jesus. I thought he was talking about me. I was just beyond thrilled. My mom found Aaron’s church. I am so thrilled. The first time in 7 years, my husband and I really have a chance of staying together. I want to thank you. If you had not had your ministry, Aaron would not have been listening.
Ephesians 5:21-24
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Colossians 3:18-19
18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
Bob: I am so glad to hear that. You keep trusting the Lord. You will look back in a few years, when trusting in the Lord in this trial and tribulation. Every marriage has problems and who ever doesn’t is lying. You have times when you can find things you do not like and argue and fight and act like idiots. All of that is a part of the human experience when not trusting Christ. You will look back some day. You hang in there. One day you will say, “I would not have missed this blessing for anything in the world in how God restored us.”
Rana: Speaking of acting like idiots, my question pertains to that. Submission is extremely hard work for me. Just mentioning the word makes my toes curl. I know I need to be submissive and I know. You cannot snitch at a person and you need to be submissive. I need to truly know what God says. I have heard what church says, but to be honest with you, it is not working for me.
Bob: In the first place, people approach that. In the first place, it says to submit to one another. And I am sure, you have no problem with that. It also says to submit yourself to God. Hopefully, you do not have any problem with that either. To be honest, we all have a problem with that. It is not that we are adamant about it or in rebellion, but it is hard because the old flesh wants to do its own thing.
Isaiah 53:6
6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Bob: In marriage, we all like sheep have gone astray and we all want to do our own thing. The difference between marriage and living together, is now you have to cooperate. You have to consider others feelings above your own sometimes. That is what submission is, being in an attitude of submission.
Bob: In my particular case, with Amy, you may be right or you may be wrong, so let’s sit down and discuss this, and maybe there is an answer in the bible we can deal with. I may be wrong. I may be right or vice versus. So let us look to God in His wisdom instead of us arguing with our wisdom, which is foolishness to God. We may not say those words, but that is attitude of the heart in a marriage situation.
1 Corinthians 1:21
21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
Proverbs 19:11
11 A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.
Bob: Both of you need to develop and have this attitude of I do not have to be right. That is one of the big problems we have is we have to be right. We get into arguments over little things because we want to be right. The issue is who cares. You may be right or you may be wrong. Let us pause. Let us get out of each others faces. Let us go into the word of God and see if we can find an answer from Christ in here.
James 1:5
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
Bob: I get tired of this, people who say, “We are just men. We are just women. We are just emotional.” Forget how men are and forget how women are. The issue is how does Jesus want you to be. We fall into those excuses, saying, “That is just me”. I know that is just you and that is why you need the Lord. That is why you submit to the Lord.
Bob: Submission must first be to Christ Jesus. The attitude development is, “Lord, you want us to get along. You want us to have a happy marriage. You want us to meld together in the midst of being totally opposite.” I do not know how any marriage gets along for we have a man and a woman involved. We could not be any more opposite. But He says, “I can bring unity in that unbelievable diversity.” You say that would be a miracle and Jesus says, “Yes, I know. That is what I am involved in doing.”
Mark 10:27
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Bob: Are you willing to do that? He wants us to. Is your husband willing to do what Christ wants you to? If that is the case, then you will have submission one to another. When dealing with submission in marriage, God has got to put two people together. He has to put somebody that He says you are responsible and you are the leader of the home. If one person is the leader of the home, or the leader of a ministry, that means the others are not. That means they are either going to live in rebellion to the leader or are going to live in submission to the leader. Does that mean the leader is there to step on people, to brow beat them? No, that is not what a leader does. A leader, if he has any sense, recognizes people with more talent than he does and supervises, and when something goes wrong then the leader is where the buck stops.
Bob: So in a family, it is not that you do not discuss issues. If you are a smart leader in the family, you will find out where your wife’s strengths are, and you are going to use those strengths mightily. In my case, I have a perfect credit record. It could not be any better. I have a 100 percent credit record. Why? Because of Amy. If it was me, I do not know if I would be so good because I have a tendency to procrastinate things. The real flesh in me is to let us do it tomorrow. If you got a bill to pay, you do not pay it tomorrow, you pay it today. I saw it in her, so guess who takes care of the finances? Amy. If Amy was of a different character, she could literally wipe me out financially, because I do not have a clue what goes on financially. She handles that because she is best at it. In regard to raising children, she was around the children all day long and I am at work all day long. Who is in the best position to know what is best for our children? A leader is going to look for what is best in somebody and still be the final word on it. If you are smart, your final word is going to be okay if the person is more talented in an area than you are. Amy is not good in organization necessarily or in vision type of things. She does not function there. She functions with details. I am the visionary and she handles the details. Do you see how that works?
Rana: I do. So it is not a matter of I am the boss and this is how it is going to be. I see. So my attitude will change as I grow closer to the Lord and I understand who I am in Christ. So it is not my way.
Bob: Just like prayer. I do not want my prayers answered. I want God’s will for my life. I want God’s will and the only way to do that is, again, when you have disagreements, you have to put aside that as a man saying, “I feel this way, or I am right and you are wrong”. You put that aside. We might both be wrong but we cannot both be right, so let us go into the bible and let us see if we can find an answer from the word of God. That puts you right back to Jesus in the middle of your marriage, making the final decisions, and the husband, who is the head of the household, is given the responsibility of making the final decision after it has been discussed and everything else, and then if you are right, then if you are wise, you will say, “okay”. Why? For then, if it goes wrong, it is his deal not yours. You are sitting in a great spot. If he is right you both agreed upon it. If he is wrong, you probably would not dare to say, “I told you so“, but you might say something like that.
Rana: I would want to, but.
They both laugh together on that comment.
Bob: That is where submission comes in. Trust, turn to Christ, try to get an answer and leave it up to him to make the final determination.
Rana: I do not think submission would be too hard if everyone got that answer. The way I have been taught about submission sounds nothing like you just said. It just makes sense. It should not be such a hard thing. I appreciate this. It has been the thorn in my side lately. I need to get over it. Thank you. I appreciate it very much.
Bob: You are sure welcome on that, Rana. If you got any more questions, do not hesitate to call.
Rana: I will. Thank you.
Bob: God bless. Bye Bye.
Randy from Lubbock, TX
Randy: God’s gifts and call are irrevocable. In Romans 3, written to the Jew and the Gentile, eternal life is a gift. Justification is a gift. Those gifts that God has given us, those gifts of justification and righteousness, cannot be taken away?
Bob: It depends on who receives them, Randy. It is just like Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, but not all people accept Him as Savior of the world. It is God’s will that none should perish and all come to repentance. But because we have free will, not all will do so. So those things are attributable to those who come to Christ Jesus by faith. That is the calling of God that those who come to Christ by faith are going to be saved by grace.
Romans 11:1-4
1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah – how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”[1 Kings 19:10,14]?
Bob: Paul addressed the Gentile world. God says, “No, I did not reject the Jews because the same call on their lives is stil there even though they have rejected for thousands of years the testimonies of their own prophets. I am still going to stand on the door of their hearts, knocking, and if they open the door and come in they will be saved.
Romans 11:4-6
4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”[1 Kings 19:18] 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
Bob: What does that mean? God has chosen that whoever comes to Him by grace will come to Him by grace.
Ephesians 3:2-6
2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
Bob: This mystery revealed to Paul is that the Gentiles come the same way as the Jews, to be sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. What is the mystery? That the Gentiles come to Christ the same way as the Jews, and that is by faith in Him and Him alone. This was the plan of God from the foundation of the earth, that in His foreknowledge, He predestined that the Jews will vome to Christ the same way as the Gentiles, or the Gentiles come the same way as the Jews, and He was going to make one new man out of the two, called the Ekklesia.
Ephesians 1:3-12
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment – to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. 11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
Bob: You have the Jew, Gentile and the church. The church is made up of saved Jews and saved Gentiles. The world is made up of lost Gentiles and lost Jews. When come to Christ Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile, then we have entered into that mystery and have become a part of the body of Christ. So, he was explaining this to the Gentiles, who were basically saying, “We are all getting saved and the Jews are still rejecting.” As far as the gospel is concerned they are enemies on your account. To the Gentiles, the Jews are enemies but as far as election is concerned they are loved. In other words, God is not going to give up on the Jews. He did not give up on the Gentiles. His call is irrevocable. His call is “to all who are weary and heavy laden, come to Me and I will give you rest”, is available to the end of time.
Romans 11:28-31
28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.
Bob: Did God’s mercy extend to each and every one of us? Absolutely. Did all of us receive it? Absolutely not.
Romans 11:32
32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Bob: Even though in our disobedient state, He is willing to have mercy on each and every one of us, the mercy extended to us is the mercy of God becoming a man, dying on a cross to take away the sins of the entire world, going into our humanity and our death with us, being raised into life, of God then offering us that resurrected life. To those of us who accept it, we are going to be saved. Those who do not will remain lost.
Randy: Okay.
Bob: Is that okay, Randy?
Randy: Yes. So that is applicable to the Gentile as well, if they are in Christ, that that gift of eternal life cannot be taken awayy, that the righteousness or that justification cannot be taken away in Christ?
Bob: Absolutely.
Bob: You are clothed in the righteousness of Christ Jesus right now. As God looks at you, regardless of where you are, He sees the righteousness of Christ Jesus. That is amazing. It is unbelievable to us because we are so unworthy of that. But that is exactly what God did. He took away our sins and the sins of the entire world away from the eyes of God.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.
Bob: No man was ever worthy of that. That is what cleared the deck for the divine action to be able to give life to the dead. The problem of humanity is that the consequence of sin is death, and the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 1:19-21
19 for God wanted all of himself to be in his Son.20 It was through what his Son did that God cleared a path for everything to come to him – all things in heaven and on earth – for Christ’s death on the cross has made peace with God for all by his blood. 21 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies and hated him and were separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends.
Bob: That is why you cannot ignore the resurrection in regard to salvation. Life is salvation. That is what salvation is, eternal life.
John 17:3
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Bob: Eternal life is what salvation is, being made alive in Jesus from our condition of spiritual death. In order to give us eternal life, He had to eternally take away the cause of spiritual death, which was sin.
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 did not go to a cross to cover or atone for sin. To call his death and shedding of blood an atonement is an insult to God for that would be putting that blood on the same par as a bull and a goat. The blood of a bull and a goat atoned, or covered sin, but could never take it away. You can read that in Hebrews.
Hebrews 10:1-18
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.5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll –
I have come to do your will, my God.’”[Psalm 40:6-8]8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” – though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
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.
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
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.
Hebrews 13:5
5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Bob: That promise of “I will never leave you or forsake you” is secure. That all who come to him by faith are justified by faith, made holy, standing in the righteousness of Christ, that is a promise to each and every one of us, Jew and Gentile.
2 Peter 1:3
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.
Randy: That question comes up from several questions you had lately about this once saved always saved. Whenever I hear people say you can lose eternal life, I used to believe that, and I do not now. It burns me up because it basically says that God’s sacrifice was not good enough to perfect us for all time.
Bob: That is really true, Randy. You cannot help it. It becomes very irritating because it is an insult to the grace of God.
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: When you are literally in your actions and in your verbiage, asking God to do what He has already completed, it means you do not believe he did it. Jesus said “I will never leave you or forsake you”. Is that true or isn’t it? If that is true, that he will never leave you or forsake you, then if you believe he is gone then you do not believe that or you do not believe he ever lived here to begin with.
Randy: With some people, he will never leave you or forsake you unless your performance is just right. I sure appreciate your time.
Bob: You are sure welcome, Randy. Give us a call any time.
