Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P587 (11-12-20)
Synopsis
Tony asked a question about false prophets, those men who say they heard from God. Nobody today is getting direct words from God today. Those who prophecy today are proclaiming truth from the scriptures that have now been closed. The canon has been closed. Anyone proclaiming words of the Mormons or Jehovah Witnesses or the other cults is not a prophet. Not only is he not a prophet, he is a deceiver.
Stacey asked about why Jesus was tempted when he is God and is never tempted. Bob cleared up her misunderstanding. Someone can be presented the temptation to sin, but if you are perfect like God then that really is not a temptation to you. Sin was offered to Jesus by Satan is what is being said here but Jesus is not ever tempted by sin that he should sin nor does he tempt anyone to sin. We sin by our own evil desires.
There are many things we are tempted by but there may be a few things we are not tempted by. But if I was not tempted by something, then it would not tempt me if the temptation was presented before me. If I were offered a cigarette or drugs, I would walk away or turn it down because I never desired or was given in to that kind of temptation.
Yvonne was disturbed in her spirit concerning her brother’s eternal state since he died three years from a drug addiction problem. Bob reassured her that if he is indeed in Christ, he is in heaven. God, in his perfect love and grace, decided to take him home so he can be free from the problem that took his life. Salvation is not based on sins we do or fail to overcome but solely on the basis of belief in Jesus Christ finished work alone through the means of his death, burial and resurrection. He has sealed the Holy Spirit in the believer and he does not deal with a person in regard to sin anymore but in regards as a child of God, whom he has promised he will never leave or forsake and that nothing can snatch him from His Father’s hand. Oh, the magnificent grace of God! None of us deserved his mercy, not being judged for sin, nor his grace, His righteousness imputed to us! Not only did we not get what we deserved, death from a just God, but received what we did not deserve, life eternal with a perfectly loving God. Once we become His child we never cease to be His child.
Greg first shared about how God put it on his heart to give to Bob George Ministries, which at that time was struggling financially. Bob was grateful and responded that what Greg has said was quite profound, that we all in our weak flesh tend to forget God’s blessings. Our flesh is still with us to remind us always of our need to depend on Christ, and trust Him, for He is our life. Bob ended by saying, “You will always have desires of the flesh. You are not going to clean them up. There is only one solution. Walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5 explains this conflict of the flesh and about walking in the Spirit.
We are not God, who cannot be tempted by sin, but we can and we will still sin as long as we live in this flesh. We know we have all sinned and fallen short. There is a sin that leads to death, the sin of unbelief in Jesus, in which we need prayer in order to be born again, to have new life in Christ Jesus, and there are sins that do not lead to death, and we sure could use prayer in order to live in the new life God has given us as a child of God.
Greg asked questions on a passage in 1 John 5:17-19 concerning sin that leads to death and sin that does not lead to death and what that could be and when to know what to pray. The wording of the scripture passage was confusing to him. From the passages preceding this scripture, Bob explained what the word of God meant. Bob further explained what sin is and then what salvation really is. Sin to us is the filthy 5, the nasty 9, and the dirty dozen. But God looks deep in the heart. Sin that leads to death is unbelief in Jesus and anything that does not come from faith is sin.
Salvation is life. We are not saved by his death but by his life. So much of evangelism today stops at the preaching of the death of Christ as if his death is what saves us. So many think that salvation is getting a fire insurance policy to just escape hell. But salvation is receiving new life and the only life available to us is the resurrected life of Christ Jesus.
Bob shared what the apostle Paul had said. Without the resurrection we are still dead in our sins. Before any person living today was born, his sins were already forgiven 2000 years ago when Christ Jesus died on a cross. That does not mean since sins are forgiven that a person is saved. It just means he is a forgiven lost person. Romans 5:10 and Ephesians 1:7 were verses Bob shared from to explain this. A person must receive the life of Christ, and in receiving that life, that in Him, is where the forgiveness of sins is received. A person is still spiritually dead until he has the life of Christ living in him.
It is the grace of God that teaches us to say “no” to sin, and the Spirit is there to renew our minds, for how we think is ultimately what will lead to actions, whether good or bad. But as we depend on Christ, then our actions will follow the truth revealed to us, as we learn more of all that He has freely given us.
Transcript
Tony from Sacramento, CA
Tony: Thank you for taking my call.
Bob: You are welcome, Tony.
Tony: What is your opinion on people who claim to be prophets of God, and God speaks to them in dreams. “Tell my people it is okay to help the hurricane victims. Tell them to use money they set aside.”
Deuteronomy 13:1-3
1 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Bob: Well, Tony, it is nonsense. There are no prophets today. There is nobody sitting around getting direct words from God. We have the scripture. When the canon has been closed, that is all the need for a prophet. Anyone who is prophesying today is proclaiming the word of God out of the word of God. He is not a prophet if He is proclaiming the words of Mormons or words of Jehovah Witnesses or other cults. That is not a guy who is engaged in prophecy. Prophecy is teaching the word of God as it is revealed in the word of God that we hold in our hands that we call the bible.
Colossians 2:18-19
18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Bob: So these men are false prophets. These people are puffed up with pride. They lost connection with the head. That is really some big deal that it is okay to help some people with psunami. I do not think you need a prophet to tell someone you need help with those things. All those kinds of things are just to puff up man. There is something inside some people where they would absolutely die if they could, if they couldn’t be thought of as someone really holy, and having a real special relationship with God. It is kind of like children who are not satisfied to just be the child but the special child. It is that kind of a thing, Tony. It is nonsense. There are no prophets today.
Tony: Okay. That is my sentiment exactly. This particular person said the only reason God does not speak to the rest of us is because we are still in sin. He was just making himself sinless.
1 John 1:8
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Bob: That will tell you right there he is a false prophet.
Tony: Exactly.
Bob: He is not a false prophet. He is a deceiver. He is not a prophet in any way, shape or form. He is just a deceiver.
Tony: People like that will answer for an account.
Bob: They will not have to answer. They are already under the condemnation of death.
John 3:18
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Tony: There you go. That is right.
Bob: They have obviously not received life. So when they die, they will go where they want to go.
Tony: Thank you so much, Bob. Sometimes I hear things like this, I like to get your opinion on. I listen to your program, and you are right on everything. Thank you very much. Have a great day.
Thank you, Tony and thanks for your call.
Stacey from Bakersfield, CA
Stacey: I wanted to know that if God never tempts us because He is never tempted and Jesus is God, then how was Jesus tempted in the desert?
Luke 4:1-2
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
Bob: You are looking at things from two vantage points. From our behavior. As an example, and this is about the only one I can give you from my standpoint. I have never in my life been tempted to take drugs. I have never taken drugs, never desired to take drugs and never will take drugs.
Bob: Some people would say that is a temptation. To me, it is not a temptation at all. You can fill this room with drugs, and that is not a temptation. Now I have to say that is about the only thing I can say for me that would be true. That is the difference between temptation being presented and being tempted. Jesus was not being tempted but just the temptations were being presented or expressed to him by Satan or were given to him by Satan. But he was never tempted in any form.
James 1:3
3 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone
Stacey: Is it because He never had the desire to do that?
Bob: If you put a cigarette in front of me, and you were a smoker, you would say that is a temptation, wouldn’t you? To me it is not a temptation.
Stacey: Right. Okay.
Bob: Yes. Does that help?
Stacey: That answers my question. Thanks very much.
Bob: Okay, Stacey. Thanks for your call.
Dan from Orange Grove, TX
Dan: Is there somewhere in the bible, where the Holy Spirit, as Christ lives in us, and we are children of God, anticipates our actions to make changes or help us in life? Do you know anywhere in the bible?
Bob: The issue is this, Dan. The Holy Spirit of God is living in us. We are told explicitly from the scriptures what the Spirit came to do. He came to lead us into all truth. He came to take the things of the Lord Jesus Christ and make them known to us. He came to convince the world wrong about sin, and about righteousness and judgment. How come? We were wrong in what we thought it was. We look at sin as the filthy five and the dirty dozen and Jesus said the world’s sin is unbelief in me.
John 16:13-15
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
John 16:7-9
7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me;
John 16:9 (TLB)
9 The world’s sin is unbelief in me
Bob: We look at righteousness as to what we are doing. He says, “I am righteous.” The only person you will ever see perfectly righteous is Jesus. He said, “I am going to the Father and I will send my righteousness back to you.” And about judgment because He has already judged Satan. The Holy Spirit of God is there to renew our minds. So He obviously knows when our thinking is off, and is there to try to renew it.
2 Peter 1:4
4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Bob: So we have the ability to plug into the divine nature that lives within us and to receive wisdom from God, but we also have the ability to ignore the wisdom of God and lean on our own understanding, don’t we? That is the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit. So obviously the Holy Spirit knows when we have stinking thinking or He would not be trying to renew our minds. So the issue is not our actions because our actions follow our thoughts. So you cannot control your actions. You have to control your thoughts and your thoughts control your actions.
Dan: We know when it is wrong.
Bob: Absolutely. You do not even have to be saved to know when it is wrong.
Dan: Okay.
Bob: There is something inside of us that knows the difference between right and wrong. To be real honest with you, outside of the awareness of what God has said, sin is unbelief in Jesus, which I did not know as a lost person. I would not have known that would be the only sin. I do not think there is any sin that I know about today as a believer that I did not know was sin as an unbeliever. There is something there telling you that this is not right. That is why in the decision making when you have to decide should I or shouldn’t I, then you probably shouldn’t.
Dan: So the Holy Spirit is, of course, anticipating. As far as the exact scripture where that might be, I will do some searching on it. But I already know the answer. Thank God for the Holy Spirit and what Jesus did for us. I sure appreciate it, Bob.
Bob: You are sure welcome, Dan. In the final analysis, the Holy Spirit is there to lead you into all truth. That is all you need.
Dan: You bet.
John 8:32
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
John 8:36
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Bob: Truth sets you free. When the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. So basically the Holy Spirit#8217;s work in the renewal of our mind is the key to the Christian life.
Dan: I was in the hospital for about five days. It pretty much comes down to this. It is not Christianity. It is not religion. It is the name of Jesus and a personal relationship with Him. The personal time sitting with Him is everything. Your personal study time is the key to it all. Anyway, great. I sure appreciate it, Bob.
Bob: You are welcome, Dan. Thanks for your call, brother. God bless you, pal.
Yvonne from Corpus Christi, TX
Yvonne: Hi, Bob. I appreciate your program and your wisdom.
Bob: Thank you.
Yvonne: My brother died three years ago in August. He was a terrible alcoholic and a drug user. He had some real tough times in Vietnam. He was a believer and read his bible. But he did not go to church any place. I was wondering if you were in the condition he was in, what are God’s plans for alcoholic and drug addicts that die? Do they go to heaven?
John 10:27-29
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
Philippians 1:6
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Bob: If they are in Christ Jesus, Yvonne, they will go to heaven. If you have come to Christ Jesus and turned dependency on alcohol and drugs, God’s work is to complete the work he began in him. Many times, in God’s absolute and perfect love, when a person has got himself in a condition like that, then the most loving thing for Him to do is to take him home to be with Him. I certainly think that is what happened. If indeed, if what you are saying is true, that if your brother is in Christ, then he is in heaven and he is free from that bondage that was killing him down here on earth.
Yvonne: Okay. I am so glad to hear that. Thank you, Bob. God bless you and your family and your staff.
Bob: Thank you. Same to you, Yvonne.
Greg from Eugene, OR
Greg: I called first for a specific question but after I heard you did not do so good in January. It seems like every time I called you in the last nine years, it is always about my needs. So God put it on my heart. Like I heard the saying, “If you have a need, sow a seed.” So I thought it was about time I started giving because I have never given anything.
Bob: Thank you, brother. I appreciate it. I think that is how it works. God puts it on your heart to do that. You follow up with that and you are blessed by it.
Greg: It is so easy to forget. Satan does it maybe. It seems like you learn a principle from God, and He fulfills your need when you are in desperation. Then after awhile things get good and you forget about it, until it happens again.
Bob: Greg, what you are saying there is very profound. I thought many times, “Lord, why did you not just destroy our flesh? Why do you just come in and be just a total Jesus.” God says, “You know, Bob, if you did not have that flesh hanging on you, you would probably forget Me in a New York minute. You would start thinking everything is okay.” Just like you said, we forget so easily. We are so prone to forget the blessings. He says that in the scriptures.
Psalm 103:1-2
1 Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits
Bob: So, I appreciate the fact of your heart, Greg, and I appreciate you helping us. We definitely need it.
Greg: If I did not have the Holy Spirit convincing where I am wrong and why I am sinning I would definitely be still out there just as miserable as I was before.
Bob: Absolutely.
Greg: Thank God He came and rescued us.
Bob: I’ll say.
Greg: I was reading in 1 John 5:17-19. I was confused about it and maybe you could help me.
1 John 5:17-19
17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.18 We know that no one who has been born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
Greg: There is a sin not leading to death. I do not understand that. I thought all sin leads to death. Then it says that no one born of God sins. I know I am born again, and I still, at times, sin. God says, “You just lied, Greg. I cannot believe I did that, but I did. But he who is born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him. I do not understand that, the evil one does not touch him. It seems like he still tempts us to do things totally of the flesh. Then it says the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. I hope the whole world does not lie in the power of the evil one. The Holy Spirit is somewhat helping us out. It seems like it says all of us are under the power of the evil one. Can you help me out on that? I am a little confused.
Bob: I think we can. God just gave us His testimony.
1 John 5:11-13
11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 The one who has the Son has the life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Bob: This is not a hope so, but to know we have eternal life. That we will put that in the bank, that I am in Christ and I have eternal life.
1 John 5:14-15
14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
Bob: Why? First of all, we listened, and we know what God’s will is. So, therefore, we are praying in accordance with God’s will. I have told people, “I do not want my prayers answered. I want God’;s will for my life.”
1 John 5:16-17
16 If anyone sees his brother or sister committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will, for him, give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death; I am not saying that he should ask about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.
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: What is the only sin that leads to death? Again, what I am talking about is permanent death. It is the sin of the rejection of Christ Jesus. Recognize what sin is, that anything that is not of faith is sin.
Romans 14:23
23 everything that does not come from faith is sin
Bob: The wages of sin is death, and you and I who are born again are freed from the consequence of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is life.
Colossians 1:13-14
13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Bob: There is no way for us to commit a sin leading to death.
Greg: That is where we are not under the law again, right?
Bob: Exactly. There is no way. So this is talking about seeing a brother who commits a sin that does not lead to death. Why does it not lead to death? Because we have been freed from that, the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1-2
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
Bob: So that is you and me who are in Christ Jesus, who commits a sin, but it is not a sin that leads to death because we have been freed from that.
1 John 5:16-17
16 If anyone sees his brother or sister committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will, for him, give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death; I am not saying that he should ask about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.
Bob: The sin leading to death is the sin of the rejection of Christ Jesus. The sin not leading to death really would be anything that we would do apart from the rejection of Christ Jesus. So He is trying to get across here is that the rejection of Christ Jesus is the only sin that can lead to death. That is the only one. Every other sin has been taken away. Whether lost or saved, that is the case, isn’t it?
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: When you were enemies, you were lost. You were born reconciled to God through the death of His Son. But you are still not saved until you come to Christ for His life.
Greg: Even though my sins are forgiven?
Bob: Even though your sins are all forgiven, you are still under the consequence of sin, which is death. The only solution to spiritual death is spiritual life and the only life available to us is the resurrected life of Christ Jesus.
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: So all the sins of the whole world, even the unsaved, have been paid for but they are not going to heaven because they have not accepted Jesus because they have not come to Christ for life. They just came to Him for forgiveness. They ignored that there is a consequence to sin called death and that can only be corrected by life.
Greg: So they are still lost.
Bob: You are a forgiven lost man. That is why Paul said that without the resurrection, we are to be pitied of all people and are still in our sin, knowing full well that a cross had occurred, where He took away the sins of the world from the eyes of God, but also knowing what we evidently do not know, that that forgiveness that was provided then is only received in the resurrected life of Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:17-19
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.
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 [being an accomplished fact], we shall be saved by His life.
Bob: You are not saved by the death of Christ. You are saved by the life of Christ. You could not be saved with eternal life apart from the eternal consequences of the cross. That is why you cannot have one without the other but you cannot mistake one for the other. So what happens is we stop at the cross and do not go on to teach the resurrection and the meaning of the resurrection. So you have people streaming down aisles to get a fire insurance policy but not to get Jesus. So we wonder why our life is not complete.
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: Where is the forgiveness that was provided for us 2000 years ago received? In His resurrected life. When does that occur? The minute you have the Son. When you have the Son, you have life. It does not say when you have the Son you have forgiveness. It says you have life. But in that life, you have forgiveness.
Greg: I see.
Bob: When you are seeing any time, any of us, a lost man or a saved man. If you see someone that is involved in a sin that does not lead to death. The one that leads to death is rejection. Pray for him and God will give him life. That would be salvation, for that example. It will not lead to death because his sins have been put on the back of God never to see them again. Now rejection of Jesus will put him to death. That is unforgivable. God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death.
John 16:9 (TLB)
9 The world’s sin is unbelief in me
Bob: You can pray about it, but it is going to be this man’s choice whether this man comes to life or not. Then we are taught that anyone born of God does not continue to sin.
Bob: Again, what is sin? What is the definition of sin? That which is not of faith is sin.
Romans 14:23
23 everything that does not come from faith is sin
Bob: How is a believer going to continue in unbelief? In other words, I cannot continue in unbelief. I will never be anything except a believer, if I truly have Christ living in me.
Greg: If born again, there is no doubt about it. I would not believe it unless it happened to me. It happened to me. There were a few times I tried to shake Jesus off. He is not going anywhere. He loves me so much. I cannot get rid of Him.
Bob: And what do you want to do that for? The only thing you do when you sin, and we will sin until we fall into the grave. When you look at the definition of sin, anything not of faith, how many times a day do we not exercise faith in Christ Jesus? How many times do we lean on our own understanding instead of leaning on Him to direct our paths? How many times? I could not count them.
Bob: Sin to us is the filthy five, the nasty nine and the dirty dozen, but God looks underneath the skin where we live. He sees our hearts. When He sees where our heart is, He knows how many times a day where we can be led into thinking that is not correct, good or honorable. And He has to lead us back. The Spirit points out that we are not thinking like a true born again believer should be thinking. And our actions come from our thoughts. That is where we say, “Lord, thank you. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for the fact that you are the one who took that away. It is hard to imagine what you did. God, you took that away. Lord, I know the root of my sin, that I was committing was because I stopped believing and trusting that you could fulfill those needs and I am trying to get somebody else to fulfill.
Greg: Every single time.
Bob: Yes, and so that is how God continues working with you. He teaches you more about Himself, His love, mercy, grace and kindness. That is what draws you to God.
Titus 2:11-12
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ
Bob: It is not the law of God that teaches us to stay away from unrighteousness. It is the grace of God that teaches you.
Greg: It is still like that is our nature to be in self control, that you have to do it. It seems like it is always there.
Bob: Again, there is only one solution to that. Walk in the Spirit and there is a by-product.
Galatians 5:16
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
He did not say desires will go away. He did not say clean up your flesh and be spiritual. He says if you walk in dependency upon Christ then there is a by-product that you will not be fulfilling the desires of the flesh. You will always have the desires of the flesh.
Galatians 5:17
17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
You will not clean them up. There is only one solution. Walk in the Spirit.
