Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P683 (10-28-21)
Getting Common Questions Answered; Receiving Forgiveness of Sins that Has Already Been Done by Jesus; What About the Rapture and Cremation; Why Is the World Getting Worse; How Do You Introduce the Gospel to People
Many times people call the radio program to get clarification on this topic of forgiveness because wherever they go they hear so much on this interpretation on 1 John 1:9, that says that when you sin you must confess your sin to stay in fellowship with God. They may have also heard it said that you need to keep short accounts with God, so as soon as you sin you need to confess that sin to get forgiveness from God. Some pastors will call that parental or experiential sin in contrast to those positional sins that Jesus forgave at the cross so we can have this so-called positional standing with God.
All of this is double-talk, not in accordance with the meaning of the word of God, in conflict with so many other passages of scripture that clearly explain what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Jesus forgave the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:2 NASB), where He says their sins and lawless acts He will remember no more and where these have been forgiven there is no longer any sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 10:16-18). In Hebrews, it clearly states that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22). So if we were able to have life, and then we sinned again, and there was no sacrifice of the shedding of blood for that sin, then we would die again, and Jesus would have to shed His blood again for that sin. But Jesus is not going to do that because God had said His one time sacrifice was completely sufficient, or propitiated, for the sins of the entire world, back to Adam and forward to eternity (John 19:30, 1 John 2:2 NASB).
So then people look at a translation of a bible that is not even properly translated into English, and decide to disregard all clear scriptures that fully explain the totality of the cross. The translation into English should have used an aorist tense, a past tense form where a past event has a continual effect. That aorist usage was lost in translation into English. For if this 1 John 1:9 passage was translated from the Greek properly it would be translated as “If you ever come to to your senses, then you would realize that you sin and you are a sinner and that Jesus already took away the sins of the world, and then you would realize that He is faithful and just to have already taken away your sins and to have cleansed you of all unrighteousness. But the bigger issue is you are dead spiritually and in need of the life of God. In Him is where you have forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7). In Him is where you are made holy, or sanctified, and set apart by God (Hebrews 10:10). People also fail to realize that 1 John 1:9 is specifically being addressed to the lost among them, and is not written to believers. The context of the passage bears that out.
So much error and confusion can be cleared up in the Christian world today if people understand that they are under a New Covenant today. One of the best books of the bible to get understanding of this New Covenant we are under today is in the book of Hebrews. Chapters 7 and 10 in Hebrews provide much information. If we understand that the bible is not about books but about blood then we would know that the Old Covenant starts in Exodus 24 with the shedding of the blood of animals and the New Covenant starts at the cross when Jesus shed His blood. And, if one understands that we are no longer under the Old Covenant, then so many things written to the Israelites do not apply to us today. Psalm 51, for example, where David prays for the Holy Spirit to not depart from him, having come to his senses after the prophet Nathan exposed to him his sin against God, the adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah, that kind of prayer we would not pray today. Why not? The reason is that Jesus’ blood shed once and for all that took away the sins of the entire world had not occurred yet during the time David was alive on this earth. What Jesus did was a necessary preparation for eternal life to be given, where the Holy Spirit permanently indwells a person, and can never depart because of sin. Before being born again, man never had the Holy Spirit living in him. In the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit came upon men for divine service but could never indwell men permanently until the problem of sin, which caused our death was solved, was taken away.
Other common questions people ask is about what happens at the rapture, and about bodies they have been told that will be flying up to meet the Lord in the air. And should our bodies be cremated or not? The scriptures that provide insight into answering these questions are the passages in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15:50 and Genesis 3:19. Although many people prefer bodies to be embalmed and be buried whole, and that custom was practiced by the Israelites, and we even read about the Israelites carrying Joseph’s bones to be buried in the promised land and burying people in tombs. Nevertheless, if someone is cremated, it really makes no difference in regard to what God is going to do with those dead bodies. What happens to those astronauts burned alive in a flaming rocket, or those burned alive in an airplane crash? All bodies ultimately end up the same way, they decay and return to the dust (Genesis 3:19). We will be given new immortal bodies that have nothing to do with the earthly bodies we have down here. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Our spirit having been reborn with the Holy Spirit will join with a new body and when we are absent from this fleshly, mortal body we will be present with the Lord in an new immortal, glorified body (2 Corinthians 5:8).
As the scriptures testify of the end of the age, of ever-increasing wickedness (2 Timothy 3), where the love of most will grow cold (Matthew 24:12), and Jesus prophesies that His second coming will be preceded by a great falling away (1 Timothy 4:1-3) and it will be like the days of Noah (Matthew 24), where wickedness was so great that He grieved that He ever created man (Genesis 6), it should not surprise us then when we see homosexual behavior and such perverseness so pervasive in society. That is a symptom of a dead heart, a person who thought it not wise tot hold onto truth, and so the depravity of man is revealed as to its full extent, as we read about in Romans 1. You witness to all the vilest of men the same way you witness to all men, the truth of the gospel, that you are a sinner, spiritually dead, and in need of life. Those who will believe the message will be saved, and those that persist in rebellion and in stubbornness, preferring to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin that come to Christ for life, shall perish in what Jesus calls a fire that never never goes out and where there is intense agony that never ends (Matthew 18:9, Luke 16:19-31).
When sharing the gospel, the good news of Christ Jesus to a lost person, ask him a question if he ever made that discovery of knowing Christ in a personal way. Then tell him a little of your own testimony. This is not talking about religion. We are talking about a personal relationship with Christ. Have you ever come to know Him as your personal savior? If they say “yes” then ask him to share their personal testimony. And then you will find out if they are lying to you or not or are confused in their testimony. It is just questioning people to get them to see their condition. The first thing you have to do with anybody is to get them to see their condition. If you had nothing inside you called hunger then you would probably never go to eat. You have to identify something inside you to let you know something is missing. Deal with those kind of subjects. Then find out where they are. What is your understanding of the gospel? Then explain the gospel to them. All of us are born into this world dead and the reason we do the things we do is because we do not have spiritual life living in us.
