Radio Broadcast Monday 05/26/2025

Classic Christianity – 08-23-98 – Encouraged by Grace – Part 1 – 5-26-25

Attitudes of Faith

~ “Therefore if you have any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:1-4

Can you imagine if Jesus, God in the flesh, snuffed out everyone before the cross, because that is what would have happened because none of us were righteous in the sight of God on our own. And God does NOT grade on the curve. He treats everyone the same. Either a person accepts the Grace of God or they try in the energy of their flesh to please God. And only in the Grace of God is a person declared righteous before God Himself.

Romans 2:11 KJV “For there is no respect of persons with God.”
Romans 2:11 BSB “For God does not show favoritism.”
Romans 2:11 BLB “For there is no partiality with God.”

So when we are in Christ, we are saved in the same ship with Him. No one goes in and out of fellowship (another lie that is taught by satan). So we are to find comfort and JOY in the fellowship, always saved, never to be thrown away. He saves completely those that come to Faith in Him.

…..

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
—

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.”

~ “We’ve been talking about faith, and what I’d like to talk about today is some attitudes of faith. What we will do is to turn to the book of Philippians, just for a moment chapter two, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort in his love, if any fellowship with The Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in Spirit and in purpose. Now let’s stop here for a moment. When you’re talking about being in fellowship with the Spirit of God, we have to realize that that is what takes place at spiritual birth, that fellowship is not something that you bounce in and out of which is so often taught in Christian circles today, where every time you sin, you’re out of fellowship with God. There’s no teaching to even hint of that in the Scripture. It talks in the scripture that the very moment that you were born again, you were called into fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Fellowship is two fellows in the same ship. It has to do with you’re either in the fellowship saved, or you’re out of the fellowship lost. But there’s no as a saved person being in and out of fellowship, unless you believe you can be saved and lost and saved and lost. So fellowship in the scripture has nothing to do with anything except, are you in the fellowship saved, or are you out of the fellowship lost?” ~ Bob George

Bible Study Booklets

Announcer 0:13
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 0:30
We’ve been talking about faith, and what I’d like to talk about today is some attitudes of faith. What we will do is to turn to the book of Philippians, just for a moment chapter two, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort in his love, if any fellowship with The Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in Spirit and in purpose. Now let’s stop here for a moment. When you’re talking about being in fellowship with the Spirit of God, we have to realize that that is what takes place at spiritual birth, that fellowship is not something that you bounce in and out of which is so often taught in Christian circles today, where every time you sin, you’re out of fellowship with God. There’s no teaching to even hint of that in the Scripture. It talks in the scripture that the very moment that you were born again, you were called into fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Fellowship is two fellows in the same ship. It has to do with you’re either in the fellowship saved, or you’re out of the fellowship lost. But there’s no as a saved person being in and out of fellowship, unless you believe you can be saved and lost and saved and lost. So fellowship in the scripture has nothing to do with anything except, are you in the fellowship saved, or are you out of the fellowship lost?

Now, when you’re talking about the contrast between Old Covenant and New Covenant, we realize that in this world in which we live, we have to have standards to live by. If you took the most brutal criminals and gathered them together in one spot and isolated them in prison in about five minutes, they would have some principles or laws to live by. You have the law of the jungle. You have the law of the gangs, so it doesn’t make any difference what you’re dealing with people are going to establish some criteria in which to live, aren’t we? Children do that. They’ll still establish their own criteria. Now we have to realize that if you are as an example on this side of the cross. In other words, the law was given for the lost, not for the saved. And so if you are over here under the law, you only have the standard of the law to live by, do you not? In other words, how are you going to determine what is right or wrong? You have the law of God that will tell you what is right and wrong. But if we ignore that, what do we have to lean on? Nothing but our own understanding. And that’s why we have situational ethics. That’s why we can can be just absolutely dogmatic about one thing until it happens to you, and then you kind of ease off on it a little bit. So we have to realize that that’s just the way man is, but under the law, because you know that the law does something to you, it convicts you of your sin. Wasn’t that the purpose of the law? We’re taught that. What was the purpose of the law? The scripture says it was to show yourself to be a sinner. It’s to show you your condition. Now you cannot separate the law from the punishment of the law. A law without punishment has no meaning to it at all, does it? So if you’re talking even with a traffic law, if there was not a punishment for for exceeding the speed limit, the law would have no meaning to it at all. It has it has very little meaning knowing that there is punishment connected with it for most of us, but for the fact of the matter is that the law must have a punishment or else it is a meaningless law. So people who want to say that we as Christians are still under the law must also therefore say that we are still under the punishment of the law, because it is ludicrous to say you’re under the law, but you’ve not under the punishment of it. You may as well not have the law. Do you catch what? What I’m saying here?

So the fact of the matter is that is why the Apostle Paul was able to say, now there is no condemnation awaiting those of you who belong to Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of what? Life sets you free from the law of what? Sin and death. Paul does not separate the law from the law of sin and death. There is no such thing, from God’s vantage point, as the law. It’s the law of sin and death. Here’s the law and the wages of sin under that law is what? Death. Now, if that is true, and you know that you cannot obey the law, then you have no option except to try to lean on your own understanding in regard to either its meaning. That’s why you have Shabbat elevators in Israel. That’s why you can’t spit on the ground, because that would be work on the Sabbath. And we could go on and on and on. That’s why you have to begin to lean on your own understanding. Under the law you are forced to do that because there your standard is out here, and that standard stares me in the face, showing me I’m guilty, and therefore I must begin leaning on my own understanding in regard to how to live my life. No option to that under the law you always are leaning on your own understanding, because under the law, the wages of sin is death. Now the very moment that you step out of this covenant into this covenant, in other words, you step out of death into life, and you are freed from not only death, but you’re freed from what caused death. The law. If death is caused, something has to cause. It Right? If there is an effect, there must be a cause. Is that true or not? Death is an effect, there must be a cause. And it’s the law that shows you your sinfulness, and the effect of that is death. Now, when you step out of darkness into light, when you step out of death into life, when you step out of being lost into being saved, when you step out of the Old Covenant into the New Covenant, all of those are the identical. They’re all the same. You are a what? New creation. Now, folks, God created Adam. You were born. You and I were born. We were not created by God. Adam was created by God. You and I were born from mom and dad, weren’t we? And that’s why it says in the fifth chapter of Genesis that Adam and Eve that that God created Adam in the image of God, but when Adam had Seth or Eve had Seth, Seth was born in the image of Adam. You were not born in the image of God. You and I are not born in the image of God. We are born in the image of Adam, dead as a hammer, spiritually.

Now Adam was created, we are born now, if I am born again, I am called a if any man be in Christ, he’s what? A new what? Creation. New Birth is a creation. So God recreated you who were born into a new creation, and that is a child of God. And what that means is, now you are alive spiritually, just like Adam was created alive spiritually, you’re a new creature in Christ. Now that could not occur unless you are under the grace of God. Under the law, there’s death, leaning on your own understanding. Under grace, there is life and you lean on God’s wisdom. So here are options, as a child of God, am I going to lean on the wisdom of God, or am I going to lean on my own understanding? What does God say? Do not lean on your own understanding, but in all things, acknowledge him, and he will do what? Direct your path. He will direct your path. Now that’s what this is talking about here.

So let’s go back to this. Is there any encouragement to being under this New Covenant? Is anyone in here encouraged by being under the New Covenant? Or do you think, Oh, it wouldn’t be so bad being under the law? Well, if that’s the case, you are really leaning on your own understanding. And in essence, what you’re doing is saying, God, I don’t believe you. You couldn’t mean that.

I was listening the other day to a well known writer who is a Jewish rabbi and and there isn’t any difference between a Jewish rabbi and the way he thinks, and a liberal Christian and the way they think, or at least a professed Christian, a legalist. And he was stating that, how, obviously, presenting himself as a student of the scriptures, which indeed, that was probably true. But you do, you remember something, what God said? That your eye has not seen and your ear has not heard and your mind has not conceived of those things that God has prepared for those who love him, but it must be what? Revealed by WHO? THE SPIRIT OF GOD. Can an unregenerate man have the Scripture revealed to him? He has no capability at all of knowing what the scripture means, and if I don’t know what it means, guess what? I got to lean on, my own understanding. So here is this gentleman, phenomenal speaker, in many instances, the proclamation of wisdom. But in this particular case, when I read the account of the Garden of Eden and of Adam and Eve, there’s something that disturbs me there. So you automatically think he’s a thinker. He’s thinking. He’s a thinking. Sounds good up to now, but you see, if God, he had to have known all along that Adam and Eve were going to eat of that tree, otherwise the account wouldn’t be there. And had he not wanted them to eat, he wouldn’t have put the tree there. I mean, had he not wanted man to eat of that tree. Why all he had had done is not put the tree so he put the tree there with full knowledge, and Ella very sitting there, saying, Amen. And then the punishment kicked him out of the garden for just eating of that fruit that is severe, severe punishment, and that’s not God. And you think to yourself, Man, if God was so severe to kick you out of the garden for just eating a piece of fruit, well, what’s he going to do with me when I mess up. And the whole essence of this is how God is forgiving and loving, which is true, but with no foundation. And you sit there and you listen to that stuff. Well, where did he miss? You see, he never went to what the tree and the fruit is and what it represents. It’s the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Forgot all about that one that’s never mentioned. It’s just that fruit that’s the problem. Like someone said, it wasn’t the fruit in the tree, it’s the problem. It’s that pair on the ground. That’s the problem.

Click to Donate to Bob George Ministries

Check out our website, Shop.BobGeorge.net. Let’s join Bob. Now as he continues the radio program.

Announcer
Classic Christianity Radio thanks you for your support of our online and radio ministry. Make sure to visit BobGeorge.net to order a copy of the closer look Bible study series. A Closer Look Bible studies features eight in depth study guides that detail hundreds of Bible verses to help you deepen your understanding of the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ a closer look. Bible Study Guides are an excellent tool for both individuals and larger Bible study groups. Please visit bobgeorge.net to order your copy of a Closer Look Bible studies, as well as many other wonderful books, CDs and study guides. With your support, we can continue to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Let’s continue now with our Classic Christianity Radio program.

Bob George 14:24
So you see, what you have there is you have someone who is leaning on their own understanding and missing the whole point. The eating of the tree was that was the tree from the knowledge of good and evil. It was the tree that I’m going to eat of that says, God, I do not need you anymore to determine what is right and what is wrong. I’m going to lean on my own understanding. I am going to be God in regard to these things, and therefore, I really do not need you. See, I will determine right from wrong and good from evil. Only God can determine right from wrong and good from evil. But man says, No, you don’t understand, Lord. You just, you know you’re kind of old and old fashioned. You just, you just haven’t been enlightened yet into our generation. And so we lean on our own understanding determining right from wrong, good from evil, and that’s the whole essence. Now with that, sin entered into the world, and when sin entered into the world, man was left to his own it’s as God is saying, if you want to play this game of determining right from wrong, good from evil, I’ll let you do it and I’ll show you the results. You’ll produce your own results. I don’t need to produce them. You’ll produce your own. That’s like saying someone to us, I don’t need to mess your life up. You’ll do it yourself. Is that true or not, guys? I don’t need someone to mess my life up. I’m very capable of doing it myself, aren’t you? And so God says, I’ll let you do that. I’m going to show you the futility of that sin. Because you see to this gentleman, it’s that’s such a minor such a minor thing, a minor thing of a created being saying to his creator, you don’t know what you’re talking about. A minor thing of a created being saying to his creator who needs you. A minor thing for the created being to say to his creator, I’ll boss you around. I’ll tell you what to do and expect you to obey me. A minor. That’s not minor. It’s pretty major. And folks who’s at the very root of all sin, every sin you and I commit is a sin that the root attitude behind that is, I’ll do it my way, one of the most popular songs ever recorded, I’ll do it my way, Lean on our own understanding. Now it says instead acknowledging him and letting him direct our paths.

So he’s saying to us here, is there any encouragement from being freed from death to life? Does that mean anything to anybody, or is it just words? You see folks, many times we have words in our heads, but have we ever thought through these things? I think one of the reasons that there is an advantage to seeing a corpse, seeing a loved one dead is to see how dead dead is, because until we’ve seen death, we don’t know how dead dead is and Dead is dead. You can talk to that body. You could get up and tantalize that body, and it isn’t going to respond. It’s dead. And that physical death is a picture of spiritual death. We’re dead, spiritually dead, and in need of life. And what it’s saying is, Do you realize what you’ve been freed from, and the thing that killed you is the law, and we still hang on to that and say we’re still under that, when, if you are, you’re under the death penalty of that, they say, Well, no, I tell you what, Bob, I’ll tell you what, God, I’m going to keep what appears to be good and kind of alleviate this over here. In other words, I want to forget about death, but this, this thing over here that caused it, why I’m going to drag that over and I’m going to be led by that, because under here I can lean on my own understanding. And when I have God communicating to me direct. I can’t lean on my own understanding. I might try, but there’s always that little voice there that says, you’re really out to lunch trying to do this. Guys, we’ve been freed from death. Do we realize that? We have been freed from condemnation, from God? Wherefore, there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ, Jesus. And you say, Why? Because I’ve been so good. No, because the law of the Spirit of Life set you free from the law of sin and death. Now, what’s he saying here? If there’s any encouragement from being united with Christ, in other words, you’re now in relationship with the Living God. Is there any comfort from his love? Is there any comfort at all from knowing that God loves you perfectly? You see, I don’t have to sit and lean on my own understanding and try to mess around with the story of the Garden of Eden and try to rationalize all this stuff in order to know the love of God. God sent His Son to teach us the love of God. You. But you see, to the Jewish rabbi, he’s denied the source of love, and just says, I want to wallow in the result of it, but I don’t want to acknowledge the source. Isn’t that something?

Now so he says, Is there any comfort in his love? Is there any fellowship, if there’s any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and in purpose. So there’s two things there that he wants us to deal with. I want to build oneness in spirit and I want a oneness in spirit and loved it in purpose. What is the purpose? What did Jesus say? The purpose of the Holy Spirit coming to live in you and me would be? He said, first of all, when the Holy Spirit comes, He will what? Guide you into all truth. Are you indwelt with the Spirit? Then what should be our heart’s desire? Number one is to be guided into all truth, not leaning on my own understanding, but allowing God to guide me into truth, and then to guide others into truth, taking the things of the Lord Jesus Christ, making them known to me. What do I desire my life to have the Holy Spirit of God make known the things of Jesus. That should be our desire. Should be our attitude. So he’s saying to us to be like minded, having the same love and being one in spirit and in purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition. Well, what is selfish ambition? I’m going to do something in order to get something. Is that not selfish ambition? I’m going to do something and be nice to you, because I want you to do something for me. Do we see that in the world today? Well, of course you do, of course you do all the time. I’ll be nice to you, get what I want, then I’m dump you. Does that ever happen in human experience? Absolutely. So it’s called selfish ambition. It’s called I’ve got an ambition to make me better. He says, don’t do anything with that. Is that leaning on your own understanding? What’s what’s human understanding say? Man, if you don’t look after me, me ain’t gonna get looked after. Isn’t that the world’s philosophy, do unto others before they do unto you. The Golden Rule, He who has the gold rules, that’s the world’s mindset without question, competition. Ah, that’s good. Go get it before they do. Isn’t that the way the world runs? He’s saying, don’t do that with selfish ambition. So again, what should our work habit be? Work as unto the Lord, whether your boss is watching or whether he isn’t, work as unto the Lord. And Paul deals with that, doesn’t he? To work as unto the Lord? Means you work honestly. It will. You work diligently. You don’t just give what you must, but you go beyond the call of duty. It’s an attitude. It’s an attitude of servitude, and you don’t do that so that you’ll get you do that, because that’s what serving is all about. A Christian should be the best worker on the face of the earth. And unfortunately, many times, from what I’ve seen, I don’t mean the ministry, but I mean what I’ve seen in the marketplace is sometimes they’re the worst. And so there’s an attitude that if I’m going to be a Christian in the marketplace, I’m going to be the best worker there is, and I’m going to do my job diligently, and I’m going to fulfill my responsibilities diligently. Why? Well, that’s what the Lord says. I’m not doing that out of selfish ambition. I’m doing it in order to serve.

Now it says, don’t do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. So what does he call conceit? Thinking of yourself more highly than you ought, calls it vanity, doesn’t he? And that’s what it is. It’s vain conceit, and there’s nothing real to it. But he said, in humility, consider others better than yourself. Now this is the whole deal. Now, guys, how are you going to do that when your attitude is that all bosses are bad, all owners are rotten, and. So the attitude that you have going on in the world today that that they don’t deserve to have a thing. So let’s us get it. That’s a mindset, isn’t it? That’s a mindset that that we have. And what he’s saying here is that’s not a mindset of a child of God, the in humility, when you’re considering others better than yourself that didn’t have a poor self image, it’s to say to have an attitude of servitude. Well, you mentioned that today as an example in marriage, wives serve your husband. I tell all you get is, you know, look like you just ate a skunk. God forbid, I’d have to serve somebody in love. Why that’s that’s for the unenlightened. It’s leaning on your own understanding. Be like a man. You should support your wife. Let her go, make her own way. Those are not attitudes of servitude. They’re attitudes of vain conceit. That with me, if you think I’m going to serve him or her, why you just watch. I’m not a servant. I’m God. Just haven’t recognized it yet. Folks, these attitudes he’s talking about. He’s saying, Is there any comfort at all in being over here? You certainly didn’t get over here because he had that attitude. If Jesus would have had our attitude. We’d all be still lost. Can you imagine being God and seeing someone, some little pee ant down here spitting in your face? Would have been me. I’d have tramped on him, wouldn’t you? I’ve said many times, it’s a good thing I’m not God. There wouldn’t be anybody saved.

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.