Classic Christianity – Forgiven Forever – Part 1 – 10-12-26
~ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Romans 3:19
In this episode of Classic Christianity, Bob George teaches that the law reveals humanity’s sin but cannot make anyone righteous or save them.
He explains that the law was given to make people conscious of sin and lead them to Christ—not to serve as a path to righteousness. Using a mirror analogy, he says the law can show that someone is “unclean,” but only Jesus can cleanse them.
Bob emphasizes that righteousness comes through faith in Jesus, not by keeping rules or relying on personal achievements. He argues that Jesus’ teachings about anger and lust reveal the limits of outward obedience and show why people cannot meet God’s standard through self-effort.
The program concludes that legalistic rules can stir up sinful desires rather than restrain them, and reiterates that people are made righteous by faith, not by works.
- Romans 3:19–20 — The law silences boasting, holds the world accountable to God, and makes people conscious of sin.
- 1 Timothy 1:8–10 — The law is good when used properly; it is directed toward lawbreakers and those acting contrary to sound teaching.
- Galatians 3:19–25 — The law was added because of transgressions, held people under its charge, and served as a guide leading to Christ and justification by faith.
- Galatians 2:21 — If righteousness came through the law, Christ’s death would have been unnecessary.
- Philippians 3:7–9 — Paul counts his former achievements as loss and seeks righteousness through faith in Christ rather than his own law-based righteousness.
- Galatians 2:16 — A person is not justified by observing the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.
- Galatians 3:11 — The righteous live by faith; no one is justified before God by the law.
- Romans 7:10 — The commandment intended to bring life resulted in death.
- Galatians 3:21 — The law cannot impart life or make people righteous.
- James 2:10 — Stumbling at one point makes a person accountable for the whole law.
- Matthew 5:48 — Jesus’ command to be perfect, as the heavenly Father is perfect.
- Matthew 5:27–30 — Jesus teaches that lust is adultery of the heart and speaks of removing what causes sin.
- Matthew 5:21–22 — Jesus addresses anger and insults alongside the command against murder.
- 1 Corinthians 15:56 — “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.”
- Romans 7:5 — Sinful passions are aroused by the law and bear fruit for death.
- Romans 7:7–8 — Paul’s example of coveting: the commandment against it gave sin an opportunity, and apart from the law sin is dead.
- Colossians 2:20–23 — Rules such as “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch” are human regulations that lack power to restrain sinful indulgence.
- Exodus 24:7 — The people say they will do everything the Lord has commanded.
- Exodus 32:6, 19–20 — The golden calf episode following Moses’ time on the mountain.
- Romans 9:30–32 — Gentiles receive righteousness by faith, while Israel’s pursuit of righteousness through works leads to stumbling.
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Pray to God:
Do you really want to know the WHOLE Truth of what is going on today?
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:5
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.”
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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 0:40
If we have said you’re no longer under the law, then you have to ask yourself the question: Well, what then is the purpose of the law? And that question is answered in the Scripture. In Romans three through 19 through 20, we’re told that we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, how come so that every mouth may be silenced? In other words, to shut our mouths. The law says to those who are under law, in order to keep you quiet, so that there’s no bragging, because nobody is ever going to be declared righteous and assigned to God through obedience to the law. He said, “It’s to keep our mouth shut and to silence us, and to recognize that the whole world is held accountable to God under the law. And therefore, no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law. Rather, it’s through the law that we become conscious of sin. So, what was the purpose of the law? To make us what? Conscious of sin.
We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. It’s like a hammer. Person who manufactured a hammer had in mind of putting that hammer into the hands of a builder and let him build something for you. You can also put that hammer into the hands of a murderer, and he’ll hit you in the head and kill you with it. It’s not the fault of the hammer; it depends on whose hands it’s in. It’s the same thing with the law. God gave us the law for a purpose, and we’ve taken it and used it for a purpose other than what He gave it to us. Nothing wrong with the law, it’s whose hands it’s in, and so we know that the law is good if it’s used properly, but we also know that the law is not made for the righteous. He’s done now. Who are the righteous ones? Yeah, let’s let’s all of us get together on that. Who are the righteous ones? Are you in Christ, and who has made you righteous? Jesus, were you righteous before you were saved? No, you’re righteous as what? A saved person. So the law is not made for you. The law is not made for the righteous, but for the law breakers, the rebels, the ungodly, the sinful, the unholy, the irreligious, those who kill their fathers and mothers, murderers, adulterers, perverts, slave traders, liars and perjurers-just a good old day in Dallas-and whatever else we’re told is contrary to sound doctrine. The law shows man his need for salvation. What then was the purpose of the law? And Paul does this in his writings. He asks the question before we do: What then, if we’re no longer under the law, was the purpose of the law? And he explains that it was added because of sins or because of transgressions until. Now, folks, when you see an until, you see a before and an after. So the law was added because of our sins until the seed. Now, who is the seed? Who is the seed? Jesus. Until Jesus, to whom the promise referred, had come. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe, but before this faith came, we were held prisoner by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. Now, folks, that would have been true in regard to the coming of Jesus, when He came to this earth, before faith in Jesus came, the people were locked up, held prisoners by the law. The same is true in our lives. Until we came to Jesus, we were locked up and held prisoner by the law. All of us were born into this world under the law, were we not? All of us were born under the death penalty of the law, dead spiritually. All of us were held prisoners by the law and locked up until faith in Jesus. Should be revealed the day that you put your faith in Christ Jesus, you were freed from who held you prisoner, the law, and what held you prisoner the law.
So the law we’re told was put in charge to lead you to Christ, so that you might be justified by what? Faith, because no man will be justified in the sight of God through obedience to the law, and so if God was going to justify mankind, He was going to have to do so by His work, not by ours. Now, what is the law therefore powerless to do? Well, the law can’t make you righteous. We just talked about that. I don’t set aside the grace of God. Paul said, “For if righteousness could be gained through the law, then Christ died for nothing. If there would have been a way whereby we could have made ourselves righteous in the sight of God through obedience to the law, Christ could have stayed home, and and just saved only the righteous people, the ones who made themselves righteous in the sight of God. So he said, Christ died for nothing. If that’s the case, but now a righteousness and folks keep this from God. You’ll see this all the way through from God, from God, a righteousness from God apart from the law, has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify. Now this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to how many who believe, all who believe. That’s why we’ve been declared righteous in the sight of God the very moment we come in contact with the righteous one. Now Paul goes ahead to say, “Whatever was to my profit, I now consider lost for the sake of Christ. Paul was the coming, up and coming HEBREW man. He was the teacher of the teachers. He was the upcoming star. He lost all of that, and he said, “Whatever was to my profit, I now consider it lost for Christ’s sake. What is more, he said, I consider everything lost compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Savior, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish or dung, that I might gain Christ and be found in Him. Found in Him what? Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. Paul said, as far as legalistic obedience is concerned, he was without equal. I don’t think any of us could match up to that. He was without equal. He said, “I consider that all done compared to being found not having a righteousness of my own, but that which is through faith in Christ Jesus. The law cannot justify you. Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So he said, “We too have put our faith in Christ, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law. Why? Because by observing the law, no one will be justified. So the law cannot make you holy. The law cannot make you righteous. The law cannot justify you. Clearly, no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by what faith. It’s like a mirror. The purpose of a mirror is to show you that your face is dirty. You look into the mirror and you see I have a dirty face. That’s the purpose of the mirror to reflect back to you your condition. But you can’t wash your face in the mirror. If you do, you’re going to smudge the mirror and your face. Now, some people use the law to show you your face is dirty, and then go over there and try to get it cleansed by the law. But you look at the mirror and it’s done its work. It showed me my face was dirty, and you hear a tapping on your shoulder, and you turn around and there’s Jesus. He said, “Bob, what did the law or the mirror show you? It showed me that I’m unclean. He said, “Fine, the mirror’s done its work. Do you want me now to cleanse you? And you turn to him, and he cleanses you of all of your unrighteousness. Everything has a purpose that God gave us. The purpose of the law was to show us our face is dirty, but it’s also to show us you cannot be made righteous through the law.
You’re going to have to be made righteous by the one who cleanses you. The law cannot give you life. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought me death. He found that out. I thought it brought me life, but I found out I died. Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God? It said absolutely not, for if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would have certainly come by the law. But it can’t. It can’t give you life. It can’t make you righteous. It cannot justify you. All it can do is condemn you. So, what is the hopelessness of life under the law? Well, take a look at what some of these teachings are in regard to the law. James said that whoever keeps the whole law and just stumbles in one point is guilty of breaking how much of it, all of it. And folks, that’s from the time you were born till the time you died. If you kept the law perfectly and just stumbled in one point, he said, you’re guilty of breaking all of it. Now, how many want to stand before God as a law keeper? Do you want to stand before God, saying, “God, did you see how well I kept the law? He said, “I sure did. That’s why you’re not coming up here. Those are requirements, friends. Those are those are the requirements. If you want to be under the law, here’s God’s requirements under the law: 100% perfection, 100% Only a 100% holy person will go into the presence of a 100% holy God. That meant that God had to make me holy because I certainly can’t make myself that way. He said, “Be perfect. Say, “Huh? Yeah, be perfect. How perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. That’s all that we’ll do. And what do you say? Okay, Lord, or do you say I can’t do that? Which is it? When you say I can’t do that, you’re ready for the cross. When you say I’ll give it a try, you’re not ready for the cross. Self-effort. It’s like trying to jump over this crevice. It doesn matter whether you stumble as you jump, or whether you miss the other side by two inches. You’ve missed it, and you’re going to hear next. You can’t get there. Very simple. You can’t get there. The law was amplified by Christ. Christ came to be an extension of the law, my friends. You see, the law deals with outward acts. Jesus came and said, “I’m going to get under your skin because you’re not getting it. You see, you would have thought that is that God giving the law to the HEBREWSs that they would have gotten it, but they didn’t. They started using it as a means of righteousness instead of a means of showing us your unrighteousness, and so Jesus had to come and amplify and get underneath the skin as to where we live, and so we keep thinking that Jesus’ teaching was encouraging. Jesus’ teaching buried you. Everything that He said to do is an impossibility for you to do if you don’t believe that, try it. If you think the 10 Commandments is tough, try the Sermon on the Mount for size. And here’s a part of it. Here’s great encouraging news for all of us. You’ve heard it said, “Don’t commit adultery, but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in there in his heart. Now, isn’t that good news, guys? And then it goes ahead to say, if your right eye causes you to sin to lust, gouge it out and throw it away, because it’s better for you to lose one part of your body than your whole body to be thrown into hell. Now, isn’t that encouraging? And folks, if you really wanted to to say, “Oh, listen, I live in total obedience to Jesus, you’d be sitting here with sockets in your head, and I wouldn’t be able to see you.
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Bob George 14:43
But of course, knowing us, we would look at that very carefully and explore what the Greek says and says. You will notice that it says your right eye, so I’ll just lust as my left one. Here’s another bit of encouragement for us. You’ve heard it said, people long ago don’t murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. I tell you that anyone who’s angry at his brother will be subject to judgment. Ain’t that encouraging? That if you’re angry, it’s the same as murder. I murder about three people a day on just getting to work on the freeway, how about you? That means any time you’re angry at somebody, as far as he said, same same root problem as murder. Are you going to live just going in the presence of God, saying, “God, did you see how good I was? With these things, just those two. Again, anyone who says to your brother Raq is answerable to the Sanhedrin, but anyone who says you fool, you’ll be in danger of hell. How many of you ever called somebody a fool? Is this encouraging? I mean, don’t you want to go in the presence of God? Say, and let me show you how I did all these things. This is Jesus getting under the skin where we live, not the outward act. We can all isolate ourselves and not do outward acts. He says, “I’m going to get under the skin where you live and show you that there’s no way in the world that you’re going to go into the presence of God on your own. The law stirs up sin. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is in the law. What do we do in our churches today? Put people under the law and then beat them to death for sinning. But you do get altar calls that way, because you see, if I can keep you under the law and keep you sinning, I can always say who sinned this week, and if you did, come forward and recommit your life. I had to kind of keep my job secured because my job is predicated on altar call. That the sting of death is sin, the power of sin is in the law. For when we were controlled, we’re told in Romans seven by the flesh, the sinful passions are roused by what, folks? The law, the sinful passions. How many of you ever experienced sinful passions? How many without your hands up lie a lot? Now let me ask again: How many of you ever experienced sinful passions? Okay, that’s good. You’re better off going like this. Maybe that’s what that means. Yeah. When we were controlled by our sinful passions, that were aroused by what? The law. Aroused by the law. By the law, we’re at work in our bodies, so that we bore the fruit of what? Of death. Why? What’s the wages of sin? Death. But sin, Paul said, seizing the opportunity. Remember when he said, “I wouldn what coveting was had the law not said don’t covet. But he said, when I read, “Don’t covet, sin seizing the opportunity that was afforded by that commandment, it produced every kind of covenant’s desire inside of me. And he said, “For apart from the law, sin is what dead. All you have to do to draw a crowd is just to put a hole in the fence and put a sign up that says “Don’t look in the hole, and you’ll draw a crowd. There was a hotel that fronted out on the ocean, and all of a sudden they started finding out that their windows were getting broken, and so they started to explore why their windows were being broken. Is because people were fishing off of the balcony, and they would throw the line out, and the and the weight would come back and hit the windows and break the windows. They said, “When did all that start? You know, when it all started, when they put a sign on a balcony saying, “Don’t fish off the balcony. So somebody was a Christian who knew that the power of sin was in the law. He said, “How are we going to keep these people from doing that? He said, “Very simple. Take the sign down, and they took the signs down. Haven’t had a broken window since.
The power of sin is in the law. Now Paul said, “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world. You’re supposed to be dead to them. Why, as though, do you still belong to it, or submit to these rules? We get into all these rules, and He said, “You’ve died to these things. Why do you still belong to it and submit to its rules? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. If you’re a Baptist, do not dance. These are all destined to perish with use because they’re based on human commands and teachings. Such. Regulations. These kind of regulations don’t do this. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. There’s a very famous school that they were a Christian school that’s so legalistic. They have what they call the six-inch rule, that you’re not allowed to sit within six inches of a opposite sex. So they go around with their little ruler, measuring people to see if they’re sitting too close. Now, aren’t you sure that keeps those guys from lusting? I mean, you know, really, if you’re if you’re closer than six months, six weeks, or six inches, you are in trouble. I remember Amy and I went out to a Baptist encampment with a group of people out there, and we were having fun, and we all decided to go swimming. So we all jumped in a pool, and all of a sudden, this guy came out there screaming like a Comanche Indian, and we thought, “What’s going on? You know, is there poison in this water? What’s going on? Got to get out of there. I said. So we all got. I said, what’s wrong? What’s wrong? He said, you’re not allowed to swim together. And I said, what do you mean? He said, men and women can’t swim together. And I said, well, we slept together. Seems to me that’s a little more dangerous than swimming together. You know, I can’t do that. I can’t do that. I said that’s got to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of in alive. That’s the rules. It’s the rules. So we said, okay, girls, you go in. And so all of us got around the bushes, all the guys peeking in. You know, just just out of spite. Just it just stirs up something bad in you. The law, ain’t that the dumbest thing you ever heard of? That’s a law. Can’t swim together. Sleep together, okay. Just don’t swim together. All those indeed have an appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body. But they lack any value at all, guys, in restraining sensual indulgence. You’re just plain not going to restrain it. The law is based on man’s self-effort. Remember. Moses took the book of the covenant and read it to the people, and they responded immediately. We’ll do everything the Lord has said. We will obey. And by the time he got off the mountain, they were having orgies and making gold calves to worship. That’s how dependable we are. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, you had the HEBREWs, the only people really with the voice of representing the one true God, and then you had the heathenistic Gentile world. Most of us sitting in this room who are Gentiles, our our heritage is total heathenistic, idol worshiping heathens, and the HEBREWs were representing the one true God. You go into Corinth today, which was probably the most sinful city on the face of the earth, and you’ll see a star of David right next to the Be Me seat in that area, showing the HEBREWs were there representing the one true God. So they were trying; they were trying to get to be righteous in the sight of God. But again, they were trying through the usage of the law, misusing what God gave them, but using it as a means of righteousness. And so the question is asked: Are we saying that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it-a righteousness that is by faith, but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Said you got it. Well, why? Well, because they pursued it not by faith, but as it were by works. This doesn’t make sense.
I’m working so hard to be good, I’m working so hard to keep the laws. I’m working so hard to do what the church tells me to do, and you’re telling me that doesn amount to a flip. So I’m telling you, and you’re telling me that those old heathenistic Gentiles over there that don’t care at all about any of this stuff, have obtained righteousness because all they’ve done is put faith in Jesus. Yeah, that’s what we’re telling you. It just doesn’t seem fair. I’m just working so hard. It just plain doesn seem fair. And he said, whether it seems fair or not, it’s true. And reason you shouldn be concerned about whether it’s fair or not is because what you’re doing doesn mean a thing to anybody, including yourself. Because I look on your heart, you’re sitting there saying, “I don’t commit adultery. Do you lust? And that’s what buries us, guys. That’s why Jesus came to bury us. His whole teaching was there to show us we are not, and he is. We try to use his teaching. Oh, I’ll do it. You know, we we have these things. Say, what would Jesus do? Well, he walked on water. Go try that one on for size. It’s what would Jesus do? I’ll tell you what Jesus would do. What his father told him to do, and we’re trying to imitate Jesus, and we become monkeys and parrots, parroting verbiage and acting, and we become what the Bible calls hypocrites. What are they? Actors trying to emulate Jesus, lots of luck. You can’t even emulate a good man, let alone Jesus. Jesus said, “To do as I do means to trust God. Isn’t that what He said? Everything that I do, the Father told me to do it. That’s what He did. Emulate Him, do what the Father tells you to do. Don’t try to emulate Jesus. The Father ain’t telling you to walk on water. Telling you maybe to go give a cup of water to somebody, but He’s not telling you to walk on water. So they pursued it not by faith, but as it were by works, and they stumbled over the stumbling stone by this idea that it’s not fair, isn’t strange when you start looking at what’s fair and what’s not fair. You’re going to get messed up. If God did, if God treated us on the basis of fairness, we’d all be in hell. Do we understand the truth of that? If I got what I deserved, I would be in hell. So please don’t ask God to give you what you deserve. You may not like the consequence. Living under the law is like the high jumper. You got a standard, you get over it, so you raise the standard, and then you get over that, and what do you do? Raise the bar, and then you get over that. And what do you do? You raise the bar.
Announcer
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’ll 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.