Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P645 (06-24-21)
Synopsis
It seems the message of the gospel, of proclaiming truth in Christ Jesus, has to be continually told because there are always new people born into this world, dead spiritually, and who are being raised by the same training centers that never get set aside or never stop speaking error, for they hold onto error, for they have never heard the truth themselves, or stopped to test all things with the word of God. Seminaries continue to put out the same teaching year after year.
And if that is not bad enough, more error gets added, more infiltrators get into those teaching centers called the modern church, and instead of teaching truth, they teach error, law mixed with grace at best. But whether it is speaking in tongues or tithes for today, error continues on. Then new errors get added it seems, if not spiritual formation, then critical race theory, or something else. It seems the battle for the souls of men gets harder day by day, as truth is being suppressed, not just by the church-house, which is heart-breaking itself, but by those in power and authority over us, by the government and social culture also.
So listen as Bob George speaks again and again on the fundamentals of the faith, of the totality of the cross, of being made complete in Christ, the grace of God, and explaining again what salvation is, because so many people, still today, think that salvation is getting your sins forgiven. That is not salvation. Jesus died for my sins so that He can give to you what He came to give, His very life to be placed in you, by the promised Holy Spirit, to be received at the moment you believe. That new life God gives you is to be lived out by faith.
Jesus’ death on a cross, where His blood was shed, was a necessary preparation for life to be given. For if Jesus did not do that, and just ascended back to heaven, without dying, then offered life to us, it would not be eternal life for us, because the next time we sinned we would die again, for the wages of sin is death. His death had to take away the cause of our death, which is sin. He had to take the punishment of death for sin for us in order for eternal life to be offered to mankind, including you and me today. That is why we have eternal life, you who are in Christ Jesus, because of the eternal consequence of the cross.
So it is critically important to know what salvation is. A good question to ask people is, What is your understanding of salvation? From the answer to that question, you now have the means to help them understand what the gospel is, based on their answer, which nine times out of ten, is just Jesus died for my sins and I got my sins forgiven. Forgiveness does not bring life. Life brings life. Death is your real problem, but sin is what caused your death. The death of Jesus took care of the sin issue that causes the death of all mankind. The resurrection of Jesus solved your death issue. When you receive His life as a gift by faith then you have the forgiveness of sin, that was provided then at the cross, and you have every spiritual blessing in Christ, eternal life, His love deposited in you, and indeed everything you need for life and godliness.
Salvation is being saved from the consequence of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is eternal life. You are not saved by the death of Christ, although that was necessary for salvation to be given, but you are saved by the life of Christ. You receive what Jesus came to give you, and that is His life, the Holy Spirit placed in you. His life lived in you and through you is the newness of life God has for you, which is lived by the same faith needed to be born again. At new birth, the Holy Spirit was placed in you, never to leave you, and to guide you into all truth, so you may experience the life God intended for you, a dynamic relationship with the living God.
Sadly, so many preachers teach that you can lose salvation or that you need to be baptized with evidence of speaking in tongues, otherwise you are not saved. This has caused confusion to the body of Christ, to those who have not built a strong foundation in Christ Jesus, not having sufficient time in the word of God, to allow the renewing of their minds to take place. So many callers call repeating what they have heard from their pastor or church, and want clarification and understanding. For they are truly people who are seeking truth, so they can be set free. If truth is what sets you free, then error is what binds you.
At times callers will also call in, who are just escaping an old sinful lifestyle, but are having doubts concerning what is right and wrong or are bound up in a bad habit and caught up in temptations of the flesh and maybe even justifying their behavior. They certainly know that something is not right, but do not quite have clarity of understanding and certainly do not know how to walk in the new life God has given.
So listen as Bob explains truth with sensitivity and grace to a caller who wants to know if smoking marijuana is something a believer should be doing. Listen also as Bob explains what salvation is to another caller, and with other callers, how he addresses the questions raised in regard to those who teach various errors and points people to truth that sets them free, the same truth that had set him free.
Transcript
Marie from Fremont, CA
Marie: I do not have a problem with alcohol but I think a drink of wine occasionally is okay. Is it biblical for a born again Christian? Should I do that or not at all?
1 Corinthians 6:12
12 “I have the right to do anything,” [permissible] you say – but not everything is beneficial [profitable]. “I have the right to do anything” – but I will not be mastered by anything.
Bob: What the bible says is do not get drunk on wine, where it is in excess, but be controlled by the Spirit, which means to be controlled by the love of God. So the decision-making on those types of things is not if it is permissible but is it profitable? If I sat in front of someone who thinks that if you drink you go to hell, it would not be profitable for me to do so. But if I took a drink on my own, by myself, whenever I would not be a stumbling block to somebody, then there is nothing wrong with that. It would be fine if it is a desire for you to do so. I just have no desire to drink anything. I had enough of that when I was lost. I heard from good sources that alcohol destroys your brain cells, and I do not have any to spare, so it is not profitable for me to do any of that. But, is it wrong for you to have a drink of wine? No. Is it wrong for you to get drunk on wine? Yes. How come? Instead of renewing our mind, you are altering it.
Romans 12:2
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Bob: For some people, one glass of wine could alter your mind. So it depends on where you are on that type of thing. Some people can take a sip of wine, and their mind is altered. The main thing is if it is a problem, leave it alone. Is it sin? No, it is not sin. In fact, Paul told Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach.
1 Timothy 5:23
23 Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
Bob: So, that is where your relationship of trust with God, follow those directions, and if it is profitable for you, then there is nothing wrong with what you are saying, but getting drunk, yes that is wrong.
Marie: Okay. That really helped. You answered my question. Thank you.
Bob: You are welcome, Marie. God bless you.
Cesar from Harvey, LA
Cesar: I have a friend of mine that keeps telling me I did not get baptized right. He said I got baptized in titles and not in Jesus name, and that is why I do not have the experience in speaking in tongues.
Bob: God bless his picking heart. Cesar, tell him to talk to himself in his closet. I get sick of those people who do not know what they are dealing with. What does baptism have to do with anything? It has nothing to do with salvation or anything.
1 Corinthians 1:14-17
14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Bob: If baptism was in the gospel, he never could have made that statement. Baptism is not in the gospel. Baptism was ceremonial washing. John the Baptist said this.
Luke 3:16
16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Bob: Everything after that is a baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is when the Spirit of God comes to live in us and places you into the body of Christ. If I think that something has to be added to that is not saved. If anyone adds to the gospel let him be forever accursed.
Revelation 22:18
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll.
Galatians 1:8-9
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
Bob: When you add baptism, tongues, church membership, tithing, you add anything to the gospel, it says you are under a curse. I have to say to those people, “You are under a curse.” If you are so enthralled in speaking in tongues, that means that is what you are enthralled with. You are not enthralled with Jesus. You are enthralled with tongues. If you are enthralled with being baptised that is what you are enthralled with. You are not enthralled with Jesus, but with what you do, baptizing somebody. The issue is that to be baptized, you theologians, what are you going to do with what Jesus said, to baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit? What are you going to do with that? Are you going to Jesus? You are wrong. “You were drunk that day.” What are you going to do? They become smarter than Jesus.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Bob: Jesus says to baptize, to identify people with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. That is identifying people with the totality of God. These people do not believe in a godhead, in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. They say it is Jesus only. What have they done? They cut God into parts. They said, “No, God is not made up of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Just one, Jesus.” That is nonsense. God is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. No one would have ever known that prior to Jesus coming to this earth. But Jesus came and the very Jesus that people say they worship is the one who told us who God is, and we sit here in our stupid arrogance and call Jesus a liar. In the early days, did people baptize people in the name of Jesus? Of course. Why? All that God wants you to know about Himself was contained in Jesus, but it says Jesus was the exact representation of God. In other words, everything about God was revealed in Jesus, but that does not mean that Jesus is all God, meaning He is God the Father, and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, but no, He is God the Son.
Hebrews 1:3
3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Bob: Forget about baptism. Baptism has no bearing on you, period. Forget about it. Are you saved? Have you been baptized by the Holy Spirit? Is that not what God said?
Acts 1:5
5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Cesar: Okay. That is what he keeps telling me, about being baptized by the Holy Spirit.
Bob: Why are you talking about baptism? Why don’t you talk about Jesus. Their idea of baptism in the Spirit is speaking in tongues. That does not mean anything. That has nothing to do with anything. To be baptized means to be placed into the body of Christ.
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.
1 Corinthians 12:29-30
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.
1 Corinthians 13:1
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.
Bob: Why did Paul say that not all people have the gift of speaking in another language. These people, I hate to say this, but I just get so irritated with such stupidity. These people, if they have a brain in their head, and if they know how to read, know that tongues is a language. It is not babbling. It is a known language to somebody somewhere in some tribe, in some state, in some country, in some place. It is a known spoken, understood language.
Acts 2:1-12
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs – we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Bob: On the day of Pentecost, when the people came, they came from all different parts of that part of the world. They all spoke different languages. The apostles only, and I emphasize that, spoke on tongues in other languages on that date, not babbling, not sitting around babbling. They spoke in the language of the people and they communicated with them the gospel in a language they had never learned but was understood by the hearer. The people who responded to that thought they were drunk. But they also said, “How can that be? These people are uneducated people. How do they know how to speak in all of these different languages?” They were not babbling. They spoke in a language. Paul affirms that in Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 14:9-11
9 So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air. 10 Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. 11 If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker is a foreigner to me.
Bob: I suppose there are hundreds of languages in this world, but if you do not know what they are talking about, what good are they, instead of talking about nothing? I never heard someone speak in biblical tongues. I certainly heard a bunch of people babbling, but I have never heard someone speaking in biblical tongues, a language understood by some group of people someplace somewhere. I never heard that. And no one has ever spoken to it in our generation. The only way the gift of tongues would be manifested would be, as an example, if I went over to a country, like Arabia, and I did not understand that language, and I did not speak their language and they do not speak English, and God gave me the ability to speak the gospel in their language, then I would say here is the gift of tongues.
Bob: People say it is a prayer language. What is wrong with the language you speak? Do you think God does not understand English? Do you think He has a United Nations person up there interpreting our language? What are people thinking? We have made a mountain out of a molehill with this. That is all those people talk about, tongues, tongues, tongues. If you use the one tongue you have to tell somebody about Jesus in a language they understand, you might be better off than trying to get the people to babble in a language they do not understand. What did Jesus say? Ask. How are you going to ask if you do not know what you are saying?
Bob: If I had my wife come over here and speak in Russian to you, you would not have a clue what she was saying? But what would she be doing that for? She understands English. You understand English. Why would she get on the air talking in Russian for? There is no need for it. You both understand English.
Cesar: I really appreciate it, Bob. You cleared it up for me.
Bob: Do you see how ridiculous this stuff is?
Cesar: Yes, I do.
Bob: People come around trying to confuse you telling you what you ought to do. You are in Christ Jesus. You tell them they need to get in Christ Jesus. “You are not in Christ Jesus. You are looking for a sign.” Do you know what Jesus said to people like that?
Cesar: What is that?
Matthew 16:4
4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.
Bob: “You are an adulterous generation, always looking for a sign. I want you to walk by faith. You do not need signs to confirm my conversion.”
Bob: Okay, brother?
Cesar: Thank you very much.
Bob: You are welcome.
Niles from Detroit, MI
Niles: It is not really a question but how I am feeling. Is it wrong for a Christian to do marijuana? Second, I am in a situation where I believe what you are teaching, and I trust it, but I feel like I am resting too much in that. I feel like understanding that you are saying, and I am resting in Christ, but it seems like I am not doing anything.
Bob: When Jesus tells us to enter the Sabbath rest, but not to be too rested. That does not make sense. Is it a sin to smoke pot? Yes, of course it is. It is against the law. Is it sin to drink? No. It is legalized. Just because we legalize one and not the other. For that is the world. The issue is what is it according to God’s standpoint? You look at it from God’s vantage point. Does God want you to renew your mind or to alter your mind?
Niles: To renew.
Bob: To renew. Yes. Does He want it altered or renewed?
Niles: Renewed.
Bob: So what do marijuana and alcohol do? Does it renew your mind or alter your mind?
Niles: Alter it.
Bob: That is the answer to your question. God does not want you to alter your mind. He wants your mind to be renewed. And it cannot be renewed when it is being altered. When you are taking drugs of any kind, mind-altering drugs, and that is what they call them, and that is exactly what it does, it alters your mind. You cannot have it renewed when it is being altered. So as a child of God, if you are going to walk in the newness of life, which is yours in Christ Jesus, then quit altering your mind and make the determination that from now on I am going to renew my mind, and I will renew it through the word of God.
1 Corinthians 10:23 (AMP)
23 All things are lawful [that is, morally legitimate, permissible], but not all things are beneficial or advantageous. All things are lawful, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life].
Bob: The decision-making process is all things are permissible but not all things are profitable. Is it permissible to go drinking? Yes. Is it permissible to smoke pot? Not from the world’s standpoint. It is against the law. From God’s standpoint, it is permissible. But is it profitable? No. One reason it is not profitable is because it is not legal, because if you get caught you go to jail. And another reason it is not profitable is because it alters your mind. If you alter it enough, you will go to something stronger. You know as well as I know that marijuana ultimately leads to higher drugs. It cannot help it because after a while it loses its effect. So then you have to go to stronger drugs to get the same kick. When you cannot get it out of marijuana, then you will get it from higher mind-altering drugs. You could go to crack or something else, and then you are hooked for life, and have really destroyed your mind, and not just altered it.
Bob: There is one way in which, in this world we live in, so that you never fall off a ladder? That is to never crawl up one. So you never have to worry about falling off one. There is one way to know you will not destroy yourself by drugs and alcohol, and that is to quit using it. There is no advantage to it. You destroy your family, yourself, your mind. You become stupid when you are under the influence of it. There is no benefit to it at all to those things that alter your mind, except destruction. God did not create you to be destroyed. He loves you. He says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit of God and I want you to represent your body now as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable in the sight of God, which is your reasonable act of worship.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Romans 2:1
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.
Bob: What that means, Nile, is we realize that we have become children of the living God. That is what the grace of God did for us. But we are also told that we are to be sanctified, set apart, by the truth.
John 17:17
17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
Bob: What sets us apart from the world is not necessarily our actions, but the fact that we are people of truth. We have been set apart by God to be people of truth.
Bob: All you have to do, if you do not believe that, is to go out into the world and present to them the truth of the gospel and you will see how popular you are. You are set apart not only as being a child of God, but are set apart by the fact you know what truth is. That truth is what sets you free. Error is what binds you.
John 8:32
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Bob: Niles, stay away from that stuff. Someone says it sounds easy. Well, it is easy. The way you stay away from it is to quit doing it. Yes, there is temptation that is going to be there. But after a while those temptations subside when you starve it. But God did not call you to be a person who has got their mind altered. He wants to renew your mind on truth and that truth is what will set you free.
Bob: Okay, my brother? Does that help you, Niles?
Niles: Yes.
Bob: Alright, my friend. You keep strong in the Lord and realize that God is there to sanctify and set you apart. When you have temptations going the other way, go right back to the truth and let that truth set you free.
Niles: Okay.
Bob: Alright, my friend. God bless you. You call again. Our prayers are with you, Niles.
Charles from Mobile, AL
Charles: I have a question about once saved always saved. I have always been taught that you can lose your salvation. The way it was explained to me, Lucifer was in heaven, and because of sin he was cast out. In other words, he was already saved in heaven until sin cast him out.
Bob: No one was saved anywhere until the day of Pentecost. There is no salvation in heaven. Charles, let me explain. There is no sense of talking about the doctrine of cannot be saved because it is not a true doctrine. I will tell you why it isn’t. I believe it because I know it. Here is the reason I know it. If I were to ask you right now, what do you think salvation is, I will guarantee what you will say is you got your sins forgiven.
Charles: Yes.
Bob: That is not salvation. You are not saved by getting your sins forgiven. You are saved through the resurrection. That is why 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 occurred, where God took away the sins of the world, but also realizing that the forgiveness of sins, that was provided then, is only received in the resurrected life of Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:16-19
16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Bob: You had to be saved from the consequence of sin, not from sin, but the consequence of sin. What is the consequence of sin? Death.
Romans 6:23a
23 For the wages of sin is death
Charles: Yes.
Bob: Does forgiveness bring life from the dead?
Charles: No.
Bob: You do not have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. Forgiveness does not bring life from the dead. Life brings life from the dead. That is what resurrection is, the life of Christ raising you and me from our condition of spiritual death into spiritual life. How do I know that I have eternal life?
Romans 5:10
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Bob: Now that I am saved, not by the death of Christ, but by the life of Christ, how do I know that the life I have is indestructible? Because of the consequence of the cross.
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.
1 John 2:2
2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Bob: Jesus took away the sins of the entire world, not only ours but the sins of the entire world. In doing so, He took away the cause of death. Sin is the cause of spiritual death. By taking away eternally the cause of death, He was now able to give you eternal life. If He had not taken away the sins of the world and given you life, the next time you would sin you would die. The reason you cannot die is because of the eternal consequence of the cross.
Hebrews 10:29
29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
Bob: So a person claiming you can lose salvation, according to the bible, is treating as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified and, in essence, is spitting in the face of Jesus, calling Him a liar for saying it is finished. I do not want to stand calling Jesus Christ a liar? Do you?
Charles: No sir, not at all.
Bob: The consequence of the cross is what enabled you and me to have eternal life.
Charles: Okay. I have a brother who made a confession of faith, accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. Two months later he just went back to doing the same old things he was doing before, back to drinking. He even made the statement that he did not believe the bible was inspired of God, saying it was just man-made.
1 John 2:19
19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
Bob: The bible speaks about those kinds of people, Charles. They went out among us because they never were a part of us. I will guarantee you, and I do not even have to think about this one. I will guarantee you that your brother, that his understanding of salvation is “I got my sins forgiven.” I guarantee you he did not have a clue of the resurrection of Jesus Christ living in Him. I am not even sure he wanted Him to live in him. If you go out among us it is because you never were a part of us. Today, Charles, so many people are being lured into a condition of lostness and telling people they are saved by coming forward and getting their sins forgiven. Your sins were forgiven when you were born.
Bob: So you see what happens to people is people saying, “You are saved. You got your sins forgiven.” Then they get involved in religion, and see all the hypocrisy going on in there. Then they walk away from it. They are rebelling against religion, which they should be rebelling against. I wonder if they are rebelling against Jesus because you wonder if they ever knew Him. The first thing I do with a person like that, and what you ought to do with your brother, is ask this question. What was your understanding of salvation when you made your profession of faith? I guarantee you he will say, “Jesus died for my sins.” You can explain to him that this is not salvation. That is part of salvation but it is preparatory for salvation. You had to be saved from the consequence of sin, which is death, by the resurrection of Christ. Did you come to Christ for his death or his resurrection? I guarantee he will say for his death. Then explain how he can know Jesus in His resurrected life. See if that helps.
Charles: Yes it is. That makes sense.
Bob: Okay, pal.
Charles: Thank you, Bob.
Bob: You are surely welcome, Charles. Thank you for your call. Let me know how it comes about, that God will be using you there. Bye bye.
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