Classic Christianity – Permissible or Beneficial Part 2 – 8-25-26
~ Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for to this you were called as members of one body. And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:12-17
Think about what the Apostle Paul is telling us in scripture about how we are to live. It is a blueprint. When the body of Christ is working together in Faith, we are promoting the whole body of Christ, with Jesus being the head and us being the body. There is no other head. He is the source. Because He is the head, we are to work together in love.
Now folks, you must understand, that doesn’t mean that we stop teaching one another. It doesn’t mean we tolerate everything just to keep the peace. That is a worldly definition of love. On the contrary, when we are operating in True Biblical Love, we must teach and admonish one another in His Wisdom. We have a duty to correct and not simply gloss over wrongful behavior or poor thinking choices, or even wrong doctrinal beliefs. But when we do, we recognize where True wisdom comes from—it’s not from our own heads, but from His.
How thankful we are to be for one another that the body helps each other out. We aren’t a collection of solitary individuals; we are a unit. And the power that connects us is through Jesus, who indwells each true born of the Spirit of God person.
We need to keep this real. When we blow it—and we will blow it, we have to deal with it scripturally. That means we forgive each other as God forgave each of us. Don’t miss the depth of that truth: He did it before we even asked for it! He initiated it. So, following His example, we do not hold grudges against one another. That is not good to the body of Christ for us to not forgive one another. Instead, we forget the things that were done of the flesh against one another. We bury them. In humility, we recognize our own deep weaknesses and allow His perfect, holy love to flow in and through us.
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Pray to God:
Do you really want to know the WHOLE Truth of what is going on today?
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.”
~ Bob George discusses the difference between living in fear as a born-again believer and living in peace with God. He emphasizes that while everything is permissible, not everything is beneficial. Bob references Colossians 3, urging believers to set their minds on things above and to put to death earthly desires like sexual immorality, greed, and anger. He stresses the importance of logical thinking and absolute truth in Christ. Bob also highlights the need for believers to be renewed in knowledge, to forgive as they have been forgiven, and to use their bodies for God’s glory, not for sinful purposes.
“Let’s pray together. The apostle Paul said, “Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ Himself? That this body is not meant for sexual immortality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. Everything is permissible, but not all things are profitable. And I don’t think that you have to be a mental giant to really determine what’s profitable and what isn’t. There isn’t anything profitable about walking away from the Lord. As a matter of fact, it’s the very opposite. It’s not beneficial to just ho hum the things of the Lord. You were made by God to be His vehicle. God in the man, indispensable to the humanity of the man. And when you’re not abiding in Him, you’re just not functioning the way you’re supposed to function. It’s not beneficial to you. When you’re walking in the Spirit, you won’t be fulfilling the desires of the flesh, which means that when you’re not walking in the Spirit, that’s all you’re doing is fulfilling the desires of the flesh. We all have a sinful nature. We all have that in us. We all have desires that are contrary to the things of God. He didn’t say they would go away. He just said, when you learn to walk in a spirit, when you learn to walk in truth, quit denying truth. Walk with a constant in your life that you won’t be fulfilling those desires. Father, we thank you for this teaching. It is not condemning. It is not for us to fear God. It’s for us to come to our senses. That’s what I see in the Scripture: is everything is out of a heart of love, teaching us this is what’s best for you, Bob. It’s not that you have to; it’s what’s beneficial for you. So, Father, we pray that our hearts will be opened to come to truth and to turn our lives over to the living Christ. To quit living on our own and to come to Jesus in total surrender. You see His open arms waiting for you, and you hear the call to come unto me, and today we can do that. Merely talking to Jesus and saying, “Lord, today I want to give my total self to you. Nothing holding back, but to give my total life to you, teach me what is profitable and what is not. In Jesus’ holy name, we pray. Amen.” ~ Bob George
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Bob George 0:29
Why do you think? And look at these attitudes, folks. Look at the difference in engineer your perspective of sitting back, living in fear as a born again believer now, living in fear of unconfessed sin in your life, of sins that you may have committed, that you’re going to get zapped, in comparison to everything’s permissible for me, but not everything’s beneficial. Do you see the difference, guys, between the condemnation? Man, I remember a teacher that I had down at First Baptist. She could put her finger around poles, looking at you, pointing those fingers at you. People were sitting there dodging because everything was guilt and guilt and guilt, and you better not do that. God’s gonna get you. Gonna get you. Gonna lose your business, your hair. Do you see the difference, guys, in the way you live? Living either in fear of God or living in peace with God. Everything He says is permissible for me. Now you see, with all of this, guys, we’ve been all of this comes into this is what you were now, this is what you are.
Turn with me for a minute back to Colossians three, and look at what He’s saying here. Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. We have an earthly nature, and we have a heavenly nature. We have a new nature, and we have an earthly nature. He says, therefore, put to death what belongs-the things that belong to this earthly nature. He doesn’t say you don’t have an earthly nature anymore. He just says put behind, put to death the things that belong to that earthly nature, the things that are associated with this earthly nature, such as we just mentioned. Sexual immorality is going to repeat this, impurity, lust. All of these are a part of your earthly nature. Nothing unusual about it at all. Now to sit there and saying, “Ooh, I didn’t know he had that. You got it too. Evil desires, greed, which is idolatry, he says. Greed, a greedy person, is an idolater. That’s what it says. What do you mean, idolater? You’re worshiping money, or you’re worshiping things. You’re worshiping your big house, your swimming pool, your cars, your money, your bank account, and that means you’re an idolater. Now, if you’re born again, don’t sit there with “Oh, woe is me, because that’s been forgiven. It’s not profitable to do. You can do it, but when you’re doing it, you realize this is ridiculous. I’m going to leave all this stuff behind, and that’s what God wants us to do: is start thinking logically. The reason you have some of the thinking going on that is going on today, folks, is because people refuse to think logically, and you know what a refusal of logical thinking is? There are no absolutes, and if you don’t have an absolute in your life, you’re not going to think with logic, because logic tells you there is an absolute in this world, and his name is Jesus Christ. But if I have no reverence for this Jesus Christ, who is the absolute in my life, then there are no absolutes. If I can’t believe Him who is the absolute, then I don’t have any absolutes, and everything’s relative. And that’s that liberal type mindset. Oh well, yes, yeah, yes, yeah. The sky you say is blue, but it could be green. It may be a little shade or that kind of thing. There are no absolutes. There’s no absolute sin. Oh no! It’s just a alternative lifestyle, or you’re just getting your needs met. No absolutes, folks. These things are absolute truth, not an ounce of error in what we’re reading here. Not an ounce. It’s absolutely truth, and so he says, “Put to death these things, because of these things the wrath of God is coming. You used to know again what’s he talking about there? God’s going to come and zap everybody?
Jesus has already paid the price for sins, but he says there’s going to be a judgment day as to who is in Christ and who is out of Christ, and who is out of Christ is the wrath of God. What is the wrath of God? The wages of sin is what? Death. Spiritual death is the wrath of God, and that death is going to remain upon anyone who has never chosen life. We’ve chosen other things. We’ve put priorities on other things. It’s so easy today, especially with you. They got priorities. I’d rather go out and party than fellowship with believers, I’d rather stay up till 5o’clock in the morning so I don’t have to go to church. I’d rather go out and drink with the boys than to live a decent life. I’d rather go out and chase girls than to live a life of purity. There is no appreciation for what God says is truth. That’s the root of it. I don’t have any appreciation for it.
And so He’s saying you used to walk in these ways, in a life that you once lived. So He’s saying this is the life that you were living that caused you to be so miserable that you came to Jesus, and now that you’re in Jesus, you’re going right back to living the life that made you so miserable that you got saved to begin with. You once lived this way, but you must now rid yourself. In other words, you’re not talking about people who have come to Jesus and all of a sudden everything’s doing perfect. You’re talking about people who’ve come to Jesus, who’ve gone back into some of the habits that I said caused you to be so darn miserable that you became a Christian to begin with. He said, “What good did it do for you then? None. Then how much good do you think it’s going to do you now? Rid yourself of all of these things, such as anger, rage. You ever get angry, rage at people, just get some mad you can’t even see straight? He said, “That isn’t the life of a Christian. That’s the way you used to be.
I see people sometimes. When I think about how dumb you are as a non-Christian, I say, “Not you, me. And I remember coming home. Oh, man! I had this customer, and he started giving me a hard time, and I just chewed him out, and I just got after him, and I just made Minspeed out of here. Just look how good I am. I thought, you dumb idiot. I mean, that’s the way I thought as a lost person. Just proud of the fact that I got mad and enraged at somebody and chewed somebody out on the freeway, tried chase them down in the car. Dumb. He said, “You’re a child of God. Don’t think that way anymore. Malice, get back at people. Slander, like to slander people, like to find out some good news on them. Amy had a friend that her famous saying when got on the phone. You got that juicy gossip? What an idiot! Juicy gossip, just love it. Got anything on somebody? Filthy language. Well, we can get engaged in that from your lips.
Do not lie to each other. It deals with lying. It’s not of God. A liar is not of God. There’s no pride or proud in being a liar. Some people are proudful of that. That I conned this person over here. That’s why you have people in jail today of conning people out of millions of dollars. What did they do? Well, they lied to people, and with an honest look on their face, it looked like the angelic angels have just fallen upon them. They’re good, good liars. That’s why they become a lawyer. Excuse me, I didn’t mean that. I’m just kidding. Just kidding. They’re good liars. Look good. Look like nice, honest people, but they’re liars. And God says to cut it out. Don’t lie to each other. Why? Because you’ve taken off your old self with its practices, you’re not the same old guy. You’re not this wicked individual. You’re a child of God. So quit lying, since you’ve taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self.
Take off the old, put on the new, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. So there is no Greek or HEBREW, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, scathing, slave or free, but Christ is all and is unall. This idea that part of this Bible is written to the HEBREWS and part is written to the Gentiles. Now I know some of you like me don’t even know that exists, but it does. There’s more theology out there than you can shake a stick at, and I say if there’s something written. To the Gentiles, the HEBREWS. How come it says in Christ there is no HEBREW or Gentile, slave or free? Then that means there isn’t any gospel. Nonsensical theological issues. People who have grown so intelligent that they’ve lost their faith, forgotten what Jesus said. That just as Eve was deceived by the cunning of satan, that I fear that you have fallen away from the simplicity that is found in Christ. He’s not complicated. I came to die for you because you’re wicked and you’re a sinner. It’s not complicated. There was no way for you and me to obtain salvation on your own. God knows you’ve tried, and you can’t do it. So I came in your place, and I stood in your stead, and I stood in between you and the wrath of God, and said, “Father, I will take it for them, and I stood at a cross, and was beaten as no man, and punished as no man, and ultimately nailed to a wooden cross, and died, so that you could go free. Nothing complicated about that. On the third day, I was raised from the dead, so that that life that raised me from the dead can raise you from your state of spiritual death. You realize the consequence of sin, death. Erwin isn’t coming back. I’m never going to see his smile again, or hear his voice, or to hug him and to tell him I love him as a brother in Christ, isn’t here, not here. Death gone. When you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive With Christ, and forgave all of your sins. That’s the only thing you can say, isn’t it, Helen? Thank you. If you know what that means, there’s only one thing to say: Thank you, Lord Jesus.
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Bob George 14:00
Don’t lie to each other. Your new life, your new self, is being renewed in knowledge. That’s why you need to be under teaching, because you’re not going to be renewed in knowledge if you don’t come to get knowledge. You’re not going to obtain the knowledge of Christ Jesus in your bed on Sunday morning. You’re not going to obtain the knowledge of Jesus Christ if you never pick up your Bible and read it. The knowledge of Jesus Christ is not contained in the newspapers. It’s not contained on ___ News. It’s contained in the Word of God. It’s contained in the Bible, and it says that to put on your new self. That new self, if you are a new creature in Christ, then you need to be renewed in knowledge about who? Who do you want to get your knowledge renewed about? Jesus, in the image of its Creator. Who was our Creator? All things were created by Him and for Him. There is no Greek. There is no HEBREW. There is not a HEBREW spirit and a Gentile spirit. God is one.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, He has made you holy. He has set you apart, and you are dearly loved. Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other, and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive how? Has the Lord forgave you. How the Lord forgive you? Do you see anybody at the cross saying, “Lord, please forgive me” Do you see anybody? Any recording of that? What’d He say? Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing. We sing amazing grace, and we don’t know what grace is. Grace is the unconditional, the unconditional offer from God of salvation. There’s no conditions to it. There’s nothing for you to do. But we say, “Oh no, no, no! I got to do something. You don’t understand, Lord. I feel so much better when I when I’m when I’m making you think that I’m really sorry for what I did. If you were so sorry, why’d you do it again? It’s all him, guys. It didn’t know any of us. There’s no one of us are going to be able to stand in our own purity before God, because the only purity we have is what’s been given to us by God. The only righteousness that we will ever present to God is the righteousness that we have received from God. The only salvation that you and I will ever have is the salvation that has been given to us by God. And so He’s saying, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
And over all of these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity, the love of God. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, we’re not supposed to be the Dead Sea, just sitting there taking it in and not giving it out. If you got something in you, get out, get rid of it. I don’t mean to lose here, but share it. It says to admonish one another with all wisdom as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God, and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
My friends, you think back as a child, what is the purpose of a parent? You take a child today, and you ask the question: Who furnished you the food that you have been eating up until the time that you were left home? Who furnished that? My dad and mom. Who provided a roof over your head? Well, dad and mom. Who nursed you as a child? Mom. Who cared for you when you fell down and got hurt? Mom, Dad. Who over saw, guided you, trying to teach you truth? Mom and Dad. You in college? Yeah. Who’s paying for your tuition? Mom and Dad. Who’s paying for your overhead? Mom and Dad. Who’s paying for the food that you eat? Mom and Dad. Who’s paying for the clothes that you have on your back? Mom and Dad. Then don’t you think just possibly that if they are caring for you like that, you ought to listen to what they have to say. At least give credence to what they have to say. Or if you think that you are so wise, do you want to go out on your own and earn all of this? You see, mom and dads are a picture of what God wants to do with us. He gives you moms and dads, and then there comes a time when you escape that. And some people look like an escape, but you get out of that. You’re on your own.
Well, now who are you to be led by? Well, the same person that you should have been led by before, but now you got a choice. Am I going to listen to this God that I know, or am I going to go out on my own? Do I go to college so that I can drink it up and have sex and ruin my life, or do I go to college to learn and to grow? Not only in knowledge of the things of the world, but in my knowledge of Christ. You got an option. You can go to college as I did, but I didn’t know the Lord. No one ever told me about the Lord. So we went to college and partied. What I learn? Probably very little, but I partied, I was a social butterfly and an idiot. I could have gone to school and studied and gone to church and grew in my knowledge, as it says, of Christ Jesus. I had the options, didn’t want to. The same thing is true today, my friends.
To you, young people, I’m speaking to you directly. You’ve got an option as to whether you’re going to, as it talks to here, use your bodies for the glory of God or use it as a sex object. You’ve got an object as to whether you’re going to respect the fact that this body was given to you for God’s usage, not for sex, not for food, but to be used as an instrument through whom Christ Jesus can express His life. What was Adam and Eve there for? To be a reflection of God, until he fell, until he got so smart that he didn’t need God anymore, and then he fell. And God said, “Okay, you want to do it on your own? I’ll let you do it, but you’re going to do it alone.
So, folks, we have options. And in this marvelous book that we have, He’s saying to you and me, “Here’s how I want you to think. I don’t want you to think with fear, because perfect love is what casts away all fear. So I’m not trying to scare you to death, but I want you to think logically now as to what I have done for you. Just like I’m saying with a child toward his parent, to think what have they done for me? Everything, everything. You don’t have a thing that they didn’t provide, and yet we sit back and say, “Dumb old Mom and Dad, they don’t know what they’re talking about. If they don’t know what they’re talking about, how come they’ve had the money to feed you and to clothe you? If they don’t know what they’re talking about, they’re smarter than you are when you’re young. That’s why you’re young. But they want you to start depending, you depend upon your parents, and it’s a picture of depending upon the Lord, because in the reality, where did all of their food come from? The Lord. Where’d their provision come from? The Lord. It’s just down a line, God to the parent to the child.
And so He’s saying to this: Everything is permissible for me. If it wasn’t permissible, it would be a law, and if it was the law, the power of sin is in the law. So God doesn’t want to keep you under the power of sin. So He said it’s permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Not everything is profitable. Now you and I can think that way. Is it permissible to go out and to get your mind all screwed up with drugs and alcohol, yeah, is it profitable? It’s stupid to think that I’m going to go mess up my mind. The idea for me to go out and to drink alcohol or take a drug is unthinkable to me, because of what it does to my mind. I told people some time, and I heard, and I believe it, that alcohol destroys brain cells. I can’t afford to lose any. And why are we doing it? Why are we using our bodies for something else besides being available to Jesus?
So he says, everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I’ll not be mastered by anything. There’s the key to this, guys. What do you want to be mastered by? Sin, or do you want to be mastered by God? You got a choice. Got a choice. What do you want to be mastered by?
Let’s pray together. The apostle Paul said, “Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ Himself? That this body is not meant for sexual immortality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. Everything is permissible, but not all things are profitable. And I don’t think that you have to be a mental giant to really determine what’s profitable and what isn’t. There isn’t anything profitable about walking away from the Lord. As a matter of fact, it’s the very opposite. It’s not beneficial to just ho hum the things of the Lord. You were made by God to be His vehicle. God in the man, indispensable to the humanity of the man. And when you’re not abiding in Him, you’re just not functioning the way you’re supposed to function. It’s not beneficial to you. When you’re walking in the Spirit, you won’t be fulfilling the desires of the flesh, which means that when you’re not walking in the Spirit, that’s all you’re doing is fulfilling the desires of the flesh. We all have a sinful nature. We all have that in us. We all have desires that are contrary to the things of God. He didn’t say they would go away. He just said, when you learn to walk in a spirit, when you learn to walk in truth, quit denying truth. Walk with a constant in your life that you won’t be fulfilling those desires. Father, we thank you for this teaching. It is not condemning. It is not for us to fear God. It’s for us to come to our senses. That’s what I see in the Scripture: is everything is out of a heart of love, teaching us this is what’s best for you, Bob. It’s not that you have to; it’s what’s beneficial for you. So, Father, we pray that our hearts will be opened to come to truth and to turn our lives over to the living Christ. To quit living on our own and to come to Jesus in total surrender. You see His open arms waiting for you, and you hear the call to come unto me, and today we can do that. Merely talking to Jesus and saying, “Lord, today I want to give my total self to you. Nothing holding back, but to give my total life to you, teach me what is profitable and what is not. In Jesus’ holy name, we pray. Amen.
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