Radio Broadcast Monday 02/17/2025

Classic Christianity – Book of Romans P52 (02-17-25)

Love is the Fulfillment of The Law

~ ‘Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.’ Romans 13:8-10

Jesus fulfilled the law for us, so that we could walk in His life through us, and not on our own of trying to fulfill the law. If we are trying to fulfill the law of our own accord, then we are showing that we don’t really believe that Jesus fulfilled the law for us. And we read in Romans 13:10 that Love is the fulfillment of the law. And we know that God is Love. So we know, through faith, that God so loved each one of us, that He and He alone fulfilled the law for us, so that we could become the Righteousness of Christ in Him. We cannot do Love apart from Christ Jesus living in us and through us. For it is Faith from first to last. Beginning with faith in Jesus, and throughout our lives allowing Jesus to live His life in and through us moment by moment of each day. We can’t do anything apart from God, but God can do everything through Himself living in us.

And a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, having done what, will I inherit eternal life?”
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good, except God alone.

~ “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:12

~ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; the one believing in Me, even if he should die, he will live. And everyone living and believing in Me shall never die, to the age. Do you believe this?” John 11:25,26

~ Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which is from God. The authorities that exist have been appointed by God. Consequently, whoever resists authority is opposing what God has set in place, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Then do what is right, and you will have his approval. For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God’s servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer.

Therefore it is necessary to submit to authority, not only to avoid punishment, but also as a matter of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes. For the authorities are God’s servants, who devote themselves to their work. Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,”a and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

And do this, understanding the occasion. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day has drawn near. So let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh. Romans 13:1-14

Pray to God:

Do you really want to know the WHOLE Truth of what is going on today?

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

Lord Jesus, teach me the truth of the world today and give me the wisdom to know the truth and identify the lies of the devil. Thank you God.”

~ “Now, guys here in our conference this week, we’ve talked about law and grace and the difference between the two, and we understand something that these 10 Commandments that he is talking about, don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t covet, and whatever other commandments we’re talking about, all of those commands of God are fulfilled in love. You remember when they asked Jesus, what’s the greatest of the commandment he and what he gave them weren’t any in the 10 he gave them to love your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself. And upon the fulfillment of these is the fulfillment of all the laws and the prophets. And so the issue that we run into is we come down and say, I do not know how to love. I know how to tithe, I know how to go to church, I know how to sing songs, I know how to do all of those things, but I don’t know how to love. So let’s forget the love stuff. And that’s what we’ve done. We pay no attention at all to what Jesus says, and that is that love is the fulfillment of the law. How did Christ fulfill the law? Before he could assure in a new law of grace, he had to fulfill the old law. How did he do it? By not committing adultery, by not stealing? No, he did it by walking in perfect love, and that perfect love is the fulfillment of the law. But as we’ve talked about, we can’t do that. We look at First Corinthians 13, and the definition of love and and you just put in that where it says, God, this is what God is. God is this and this patient. You just put I am always. He commanded you to love, didn’t he? And so you say, Well, how am I supposed to love? What? What is it? Well, take a look at First Corinthians 13, and you take a look at First Corinthians 13, and you see God’s definition of love. So you say, Okay, well, this is how I’m supposed to love. So I am always patient. How’d you do? Do we? Do we need to go any further?” ~ Bob George

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Join Bob George in this chapter by chapter exposition of the letter to the Romans. Available for download the complete series on the Book of Romans. Romans has been described as the most dynamic, life changing document ever penned. It is a study in systematic theology, a defense of the Gospel, and a practical guide to Christian living all in one.

Announcer 0:12
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.

Bob George 0:28
In the 13th chapter we’ve just completed. We’re little over halfway through the book of Romans right now, and last week we we talked about the importance of what true worship is in the 12th chapter. And so many times there’s confusion in the world as to what worship is, but from what the Bible says that it’s when we are able, in view of the mercy of God, that we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable in the sight of God, which is our reasonable act of worship. That that is what worship is from God’s vantage point. It’s not a service that you go to that would be a pretty sad thought, to think that the only time you worship the Lord would be for an hour or two on Sunday or Saturday. It’s making your body available on a continual basis to Jesus, who lives in you, to live his life through you. It’s giving access to him.

I say many times that the Christian life is something like your old Driver’s Education cars where you had two sets of steering wheels. And you kind of get in the car, and here’s these two sets of steering wheels, and there’s Jesus sitting in the steering wheel, or in front of the steering wheel, and saying, now you’ve got one in front of you, Bob, but if you want to take a good trip, you need to take your hands off of that thing and let me drive. Because if you start driving, I’m not going to. We can’t both drive at the same time. So I want you to know that the minute you grab that steering wheel, I’m taking my hands off. Now I’ll bump down the road with you, and I’ll run into trees with you and all that other type of thing, until you finally learn to leave the driving to me, and that’s exactly what the Christian life is all about. He’s saying to us is, look, I gave you this life, and only I can live this life. And so if you want to live the Christian life, you’re going to have to stop trying to live it, and let me give it just like a branch and a vine that a branch can only bear fruit, and the only way that it can bear fruit is through abiding in the life of the vine, to live its life in and through you. And you get the privilege of participating in that divine nature that lives in you. But you cannot produce the life in and of yourself. You cannot produce fruit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, long suffering. The fruit of the Spirit cannot be produced by you and me. That can only be produced by Jesus, and we get to bear the fruit into one another’s lives, but we cannot produce it.

And so he’s encouraging us in this 12th Chapter, in view of the mercy of God that we’ve just learned about in the first 11 chapters of Romans. In view of that, to make your body available to him, to live his life in and through us. He told us in there not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, and to realize that anything that you have has come from God, and therefore we should be thinking in sober judgment, think of yourselves rather with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith that God has given you, and to realize that if we all in this body of Christ, we all have different gifts, but all these gifts are not the same, and they don’t need to be the same. So don’t get all hung up on the fact that you’ve got a gift that someone else doesn’t have. If you do have a gift, God gave it to you, and not all have the same gift. So you’ve got people in Christendom today out bragging about their gifts and and talking to everybody ought to have the gift that I have, and all this kind of nonsense. And the issue is, he says, If you indeed have that gift, go use it and keep quiet. In essence, lead a quiet life and tend to your own business. That’s my favorite passage.

So he’s saying to us, quit looking at other people and comparing yourself by other people. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that a man who compares himself by himself is a fool, because if I’m comparing myself to you as an example, there’s only two conclusions that I can come to. I’m better than you are, that’s total pride, or I’m worse than they are, that’s self condemnation, and both of those things are out of the pit of hell. So he said, there’s no advantage at all in comparing yourself. If you’re a branch attached to the vine, be what God wants you to be. What is God’s will for your life? What’s the true purpose driven life? To let God be in you who he wants you to be. That’s the purpose of being in Christ. Jesus is to allow Jesus to individually make you into what he wants you to be. Remember when Peter was inquiring about John, what about him? Is he going to live forever? And what did Jesus say? It didn’t end of your business what I do with John. I’m telling you to follow me. And folks, that’s the best advice that any of us could ever receive. Don’t look as to what he’s doing with somebody else. That’s his business. Do what he wants to do through you, and let him be unique in your unique life. And that’s what the teaching of chapter 12 is all about. We’re told about being sincere in our love and to hate what is evil and cling to what is good, and to be devoted to one another in brotherly love. And all of these things were such marvelous teachings in the 12th chapter of the book of Romans.

At the end of that he says, If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he’s thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you’ll be heaping burning coals on his head. And do not overcome with evil, but overcome with good. And how many times do we have the tendency to take things in our own hands and to want to overcome evil with more evil? And he says, No, overcome it with good.

Now in chapter 13. Now he’s beginning with our relationship with our governing authorities down here on this earth. And what he wants us to know is that all government was issued by God. As a matter of fact, when the Hebrews were released out of Egypt, you had millions of Hebrews in slavery. And when you’re in slavery, somewhat like the Iraqi people, someone like people in East Germany, when the wall came down, they don’t know how to handle freedom. You’ve never had freedom. We were talking to some people in the delicatessen we go to from Ukraine. And in Ukraine, in the Russian area of Ukraine, is in horrible shape, and one of the reasons is that all their life they’ve been in slavery, they’ve been told what to do, and now there’s no one there to tell you what to do, and they don’t know what to do. And so there’s time that it takes for people to get used to freedom. You take people that have been in prison for a long period of time just doing what they’re told to do, and then are released from prison, they don’t know how to respond into freedom, and so we have to understand that about ourselves, that we have to get used to what freedom is about. That’s one of the reasons that people rebel against the freedom that we have in Christ is because they don’t know how to handle it. They say, I do better under the law. Well, they don’t do better under the law. They just think they’re doing better under the law, but they don’t know how to handle just being led. They don’t know. Give me some rules. No, no. He said, God, want to lead you. I don’t know how to do that. Well, just keep abiding and you’ll learn.

So he’s saying that everyone must submit himself to governing authorities, for there’s no authority except that which God has established. So in other words, the issue of the establishment of government in countries was given by God, just like the 10 Commandments and the laws were given to the Hebrews when they left Egypt, because had he not given the laws to live by, it would have been total utter chaos, and they would have destroyed themselves. So man must be governed. We understand that we can’t function without being governed. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, who rebels against the authority will be rebelling against what God has instituted. So don’t rebel against government. God instituted it. For those who do so will be bring judgment on themselves again, from who? From the government. Rulers don’t or for rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong and and do what you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Do you want to be free from the fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right, and he’ll commend you, for He is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing, he is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it’s necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of the possible punishment, but also because of your own conscience.

And that’s why you pay taxes. So taxes aren’t anything new, are they? They weren’t developed here. They’ve been in existence in biblical times, and he said, That’s why you pay taxes. Now, how many of you just love to pay taxes? Taxes. No, we don’t like to pay taxes, but he says, Don’t gripe about it. That’s why you pay taxes for the authorities are God’s servants who give their full time to governing, give everyone what you owe him. If you owe taxes, pay taxes. If revenue, then revenue. If respect, then respect. If honor, then honor. You don’t have to like the man who is in the presidency of the United States, but you need to honor the Office of the President of the United States. I don’t care who’s in it. And we have to realize that they’re there for a purpose, and they’re there basically to help and to serve people, and so we need to have an attitude like that. That’s why, wonderfully, we have a democracy where if you don’t like who’s in, you can vote another one in. But the issue is, is to keep respect for the institution of government. Now he goes ahead in verse eight to say, Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt of love to one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. The commandments, don’t commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet, and whatever other commandment there may be are all summed up in this one rule, love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to its neighbor, therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.

Now, guys here in our conference this week, we’ve talked about law and grace and the difference between the two, and we understand something that these 10 Commandments that he is talking about, don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t covet, and whatever other commandments we’re talking about, all of those commands of God are fulfilled in love. You remember when they asked Jesus, what’s the greatest of the commandment he and what he gave them weren’t any in the 10 he gave them to love your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself. And upon the fulfillment of these is the fulfillment of all the laws and the prophets. And so the issue that we run into is we come down and say, I do not know how to love. I know how to tithe, I know how to go to church, I know how to sing songs, I know how to do all of those things, but I don’t know how to love. So let’s forget the love stuff. And that’s what we’ve done. We pay no attention at all to what Jesus says, and that is that love is the fulfillment of the law. How did Christ fulfill the law? Before he could assure in a new law of grace, he had to fulfill the old law. How did he do it? By not committing adultery, by not stealing? No, he did it by walking in perfect love, and that perfect love is the fulfillment of the law. But as we’ve talked about, we can’t do that. We look at First Corinthians 13, and the definition of love and and you just put in that where it says, God, this is what God is. God is this and this patient. You just put I am always. He commanded you to love, didn’t he? And so you say, Well, how am I supposed to love? What? What is it? Well, take a look at First Corinthians 13, and you take a look at First Corinthians 13, and you see God’s definition of love. So you say, Okay, well, this is how I’m supposed to love. So I am always patient. How’d you do? Do we? Do we need to go any further?

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Bob George 13:59
And we look at that and say, I am always patient. No, I’m not. I’m always kind. Never say an unkind word to anybody. Never even think unkind thoughts to anybody. I just just loving thoughts all the time to everyone, especially when they do what I don’t want them to do. I never envy. I never envy what somebody else has. I’m glad for them, especially if they have a Cadillac and I don’t I just I love that. I never boast, never proud, never going to hear me, ever bragging about my church or about what I’m doing. Love. Is never proud. Love is never rude. I’m never rude, I’m never self seeking. I’m always looking out after you, over and above myself. I’m never easily angered. Somebody pulls in front of me in the freeway. Praise Jesus. Love it. I. I just love it. I never keep records of Amy’s wrongs. I don’t keep records. I got a filing cabinet so we can pull them up when we need them. I don’t delight in evil. Just hate it. Always rejoice with truth, especially when Amy tells me something about me that is wrong. Say, Thank you, sweetie. I always protect you, I always trust you, I always hope the best for you. Always persevere with you, and we say, now this is how God says that we’re to love one another. Now you say, how are we doing? And we look at that and we say, there’s not a characteristic in there about me. I hope you’re the same, but I’m just sorry, but that just is not me. And I have to realize now I know what Jesus is saying when he says, apart from me, you can do how much? Nothing I can’t do any of those things can you? I may be able to pull one off temporarily for a couple of minutes, but that’s about it. And so we have to realize that this is what God is saying, that your life is the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. And this is the kind of love he’s talking about. He didn’t put that down there. Just have some buzz words. He said, This is what love is. Now. See, we look at love as feelings and all of that type of thing. And you see, feelings don’t have a thing in the world to do with this, guys, this, these are actions on behalf of you toward another person, just like they’re actions of God towards you and me. I may not like to be around somebody, but that doesn’t mean I can not be patient with them, and it doesn’t mean that I cannot be kind to them or envious of them. Those are the actions that we take. They’re not feelings at all. And we equate love with the way we feel about something or someone, rather than actions that I can take toward someone. So these are all attitudes of love that God wants us to develop, because they only can come from him. It’s only as I’m abiding in His love, which this is a definition of God’s love, that I’m ever going to be able to pour that out into the lives of people around me. Now, the purpose of the fruit of the Spirit, because all these things are fruit of the Spirit, and it’s not fruits, it’s fruit. It’s singular. And the purpose of the fruit of the Spirit is to serve the body. The purpose of a spiritual gift is not to edify yourself. It’s to serve the body. A cow doesn’t drink her own milk. An apple tree doesn’t eat its own apples. It’s for us, it’s for the body. And that’s the purpose of the gifts of the Spirit, is to serve the body of Christ, Jesus. And the greatest way that we serve the body is by allowing Jesus, love, who lives in us, to flow in and through us to those around us. And that’s where the emphasis is there to love one another, and if we don’t love one another, we are not fulfilling the law. And so we have to realize that, because we can’t do that, we have had a tendency to ignore that we pay no attention to, that it doesn’t make any difference that I’m mean as a hornet, that but I’m but I’m tithing, and I’m going to church. I’m taking my kids to church, picking them up too, and all that kind of stuff. And so with all of the and so we’ve substituted all of these activities for what God is saying. No, those activities don’t mean a flip to me. What I’m interested in is how you doing in the love department. And so he’s saying to us to let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt of loving one another. He’s saying we really have a debt to one another. You think about it, did Jesus take away? Let’s say you’ve got somebody that you really don’t care very much for let’s say you got somebody that ripped you off real good. Has anyone ever had anybody rip them off? How many of you have had anybody really ripped you off? Look at that. Now, let me ask you another question. How many of you have ever ripped off somebody? I thought so. Okay, so we’re all together on it.

So, what he’s saying here is, did Jesus die for that person that ripped you off? Did he die to take away their sins? Did he die to take your away your sins? Good. And so we realize is, is your standards higher than that of Jesus? I hear people say, I will not forgive that person. Well, then your standards are higher than Jesus. Then you’re greater than Jesus. You’re you really got offended. And I’ll never, have you ever heard that? I’ll never, ever, ever forgive that person for what they did. Have you ever heard that? What kind of a heart is that? And then, on the other hand, you see people, and you’ll see that sometime in court cases of somebody that has murdered their children, or whatever it is, and parents stand there and say, I forgive him, because Jesus forgave me. And it melts your heart. It doesn’t do anything to your heart. When someone says, I’ll never forgive that person, it makes you angry at them, because you said, Who in the world do you think you are? So we really have to understand that many times when there are those things that have happened in life that you’re going to have trouble forgiving, and you make take time to forgive. Do we understand that, that sometimes it takes time, and then we start trying to forgive, and you can’t try to forgive. You just have to say, Lord Jesus, it’s in your hands. And there’s some times where you have to just say, Lord Jesus. There’s no way in the world for me to do this, but Jesus lives in me. And if the Jesus who lives in me has already forgiven them, then I, by faith, forgive them too, and move on and forget about it. But he says, you’ve got a debt, so to speak, to love one another, and the debt is, if I did it for you, then why don’t you think that I did it for them, and if I have forgiven you and I’ve forgiven them, why don’t you learn to forgive one another? Because forgiving another person frees you to be you, and when you hold on to bitterness, it will ultimately just eat your lunch. Am I right or wrong?

And so he says, there’s a debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law, the commandments, don’t commit adultery, don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t covet, whatever other commandments there may be are all summed up and it’s one rule. He calls it a rule, love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to its neighbor. I may not approve of what they did, but I don’t have to retaliate with harm. You get the picture. I can be patient. I can be kind. I wish them no wrong. I’m not going to go out and try to cause damage to them. We remember guys acts of love. I think of the story of Noah, when he got drunk, one of the kids exposed him, the other covered him up. Which one was the act of love? And so love covers and so many times we don’t think that we want to just go out and blast people. That’s not loving. I’ve done it so have you. It’s not love. Love your neighbor as yourself. God does no harm to your neighbor, and therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this understanding the present time. So there was something he was talking about, understanding what the present time is to do this, the hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is near now than when we first believed. Now that’s kind of an interesting passage, isn’t it? That our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Well, you thought your salvation was when you first believed, and in true. That is true, but you see three things mentioned in the Bible. It says Your spirit is saved. It says Your soul is being saved, and it says your body will be saved. Now, isn’t that your body, soul and spirit, and when he’s talking about that your final salvation, what’s the what’s the final salvation that we will have? It’s when our souls and bodies are saved. And he’s saying, this is closer than what you think. Now, the reason that I know that my soul and body that is my soul that’s being saved, ultimately will be. And the reason I know that my body will be is because my spirit is and I’ve got the promise that I’ve been made complete. So as far as God is concerned, you and I are already seated in the heavenlies with Him, in Christ, Jesus. So the salvation, the totality of our salvation, is already secure, but he says it’s nearer than you think.

And so the night is nearly over. He says, The day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently as in the daytime. Not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, nor in dissension and in jealousy and folks. All of these things are sin, aren’t they? Now, what do we have a tendency to camp on? What do we have a camp say that you know anyone doing this, anyone who does this, they’re goners. Which ones of those do we use for that? Orgies, drunkenness, sexual immorality, debauchery. What about dissensions and jealousy? Hello. What about, you know, what about those two? Are they, it seems to me, and they’re in a lineup, aren’t they? See, we miss those. Those are things that’s really easy for us to do, these others you gotta kind of work at. But you see, sin is sin? Is it not? If you ever function in jealousy, God calls it a sin. Now, you may not be a big sinner, but God says that’s sin. Worry. Critical spirit, all of these attitudes of the heart God calls sin. So knowing that and that which is not a faith is sin. How many times a day do you not exercise faith, or you put faith in what you’re doing instead of what God said? How many times a day would we do that? Do you know guys this day of keeping short accounts with God? We’re too dumb to keep short accounts with God. I mean, how would you keep up with it? You need to buy 10 calculators to keep up with all of it. If you knew what sin was that which is not a faith, but we can get so self righteous in the fact that I don’t do the orgies and the drunkenness from sexual immorality debauchery, I don’t do those things, so I’m just really good, and we forget the dissensions and we forget the jealousies and the worry and the anger and all of those type of things that are all a part of our lives. Are they not?

Announcer 27:11
Thank you so much for tuning in to Classic Christianity with Bob George. We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s program. We truly hope that today’s message has inspired you to walk a life of faith in the Lord find more information online at BobGeorge.net. There you will also find available CDs, DVDs and Bible studies available for purchase. It’s through your help that we are able to spread the good word of Jesus Christ. Until next time, walk in faith be good to one another and praise the Lord. Amen.