Classic Christianity – Spirit Controlled Living – Part 3 – 10-21-26
Bob George argues that relying on law-keeping for acceptance with God leads to condemnation and death, because people cannot meet the law’s perfect standard. Continually raising the bar, he says, leaves people feeling like failures. Instead, Christ fulfilled the law and is its end for believers; righteousness comes through faith in Jesus, not personal obedience.
Bob recounts meeting with leaders of a wealthy Memphis church that offered to fund a Russian edition of his book but wanted to revise it to say Christians remain under the law. He says he declined the revisions, insisting that believers should look to Scripture rather than human authorities for their understanding of law and grace. His ministry later raised money to publish the book as he intended.
He describes redemption through Christ as an exchange of life: people receive Christ’s life in place of their own. Jesus was born under the law to redeem those subject to it, and believers can rest in his completed work. Using the marriage analogy from Romans, Bob says believers have died to the law through Christ and are joined to him, so they can serve in the new way of the Spirit rather than under the written code.
Finally, Bob warns against mixing law and grace or adding requirements to the gospel. He names baptism, church membership, tithing, and denominational practices as examples of additions that, distract from Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. He cites Paul’s warning against preaching a different gospel and concludes that salvation rests on Christ’s work, not human additions.
The following references are quoted or alluded to in the talk. Some are paraphrased, so the identification is based on the wording and context:
- Romans 6:23 — “The wages of sin is death.”
- Galatians 3:10; Deuteronomy 27:26 — The curse on those who do not continue in everything written in the law.
- 2 Corinthians 3:7–11 — The ministry of death, the law engraved on stone, and the fading glory on Moses’ face.
- John 1:17 — The law came through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
- Matthew 5:17–18 — Jesus came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it.
- Romans 10:4 — Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
- Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16 — Righteousness does not come through observing the law.
- 1 Corinthians 3:5–7 — Paul and Apollos as servants; God makes the growth.
- Galatians 3:13–14; Deuteronomy 21:23 — Christ redeemed people from the law’s curse and became a curse on the tree.
- Galatians 4:4–5 — God sent his Son, born under the law, to redeem those under it.
- Romans 8:3–4 — The law’s righteous requirements fulfilled in those who live according to the Spirit.
- Galatians 3:24–25 — The law as a guardian leading to Christ; believers are no longer under its supervision.
- Romans 6:14 — Sin will not rule over believers because they are not under law but under grace.
- Romans 7:1–6 — The marriage analogy and believers’ death to the law through Christ.
- James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5 — God gives grace to the humble and resists the proud.
- Matthew 9:17, Mark 2:22, or Luke 5:36–39 — New wine and old wineskins.
- Romans 11:6 — If salvation is by grace, it is not by works.
- Galatians 3:1–3; Galatians 1:6–9 — The Galatians’ turn from grace and Paul’s warning against a different gospel.
- 1 Corinthians 15:1–4 — The gospel of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
- 1 Corinthians 1:14–17 — Paul’s comments about baptizing and being sent to preach the gospel.
- 1 John 1:9 — Discussed in Bob’s claim that the passage is directed to the lost, rather than being a confession requirement for believers.
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.”
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 0:40
Did you have your quiet time this morning? Really? Kind of disappoints me. I was hoping you wouldn because I had mine. Incidentally, what time did you have it? Only six. I had mine at five, and we raised the bar. Did you study your scripture this morning? Really, how many chapters? Three. I did four. Hey, can you imagine a pastor going to a pastors’ conference who had a congregation of 30 people saying, “I have 30 people in my congregation. We’re hypocrites, and that’s what he says. You get, you raise the bar, and you get over it, and you raise it. Finally, what’s going to happen to you? You’re going to find to the point where it’s too high for anybody to get over, and then what do you do with yourself? Look at yourself as a total failure. That’s what the law does. You keep raising the standard until you can’t get there, and now I’ve got you because you’re a failure. The law is a ministry of condemnation and death. All who rely upon observing the law are under a curse, folks. It cannot get any clear that if you’re relying on your relationship to God as a result of observing the law, you are under the curse of the law. Now, what is the curse of the law? That the wages of sin is what death. It’s not a paddling. It’s not as some people teach it. God takes you to the wood shed. I never have seen what a wood shed is, but people are supposed to be taking you there, or your business is going to go bad, or you’re going to lose all your family and everything else. No, the wages of sin, according to God, is death. And so, if you’re relying upon observing the law for your relationship with God, you’re under the curse of the law, which is death. Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do what everything written in the book of the law, anyone want to stand before God today, saying, “Lord, I’ve done everything in the book of the law. I’ve been 100% obedient. Don’t think so. If the ministry that brought death-that’s the law-which was engraved in letters of stone-came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was. Will not the ministry of the Spirit be even even more glorious? And if the ministry that condemns men-that’s the law-is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness? Christ is the end of the law. The law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, the one who is full of what, grace and truth. Don’t think that I’ve come to abolish the law. Boy, you get the legal list always pulling this passage on you. It’s amazing. Don’t think that I’ve come to abolish the law of the prophets. I’ve not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Well, guess what? He did. And I tell you the truth: until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter or the least stroke of the pen will by any means disappear from the law until until everything is accomplished, is there anything else for him to accomplish? He didn come to abolish the law; he came to fulfill it. Could you and I fulfill it? Did it have to be fulfilled? Who had to fulfill it? The one who gave it to us, Christ Jesus. Christ is the end of the law, guys. For all who believe, Christ is the end of the law, so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes, because no one will ever be declared righteous in the sight of God through obedience to the law. Now, folks, what is amazing to me is how in so many of our churches, main line that they teach the commingling of law and grace. I got a call a number of years ago from a huge church over in Memphis, Tennessee, a very very wealthy wealthy church, and they did a lot. Of work in Russia, they would send the medical profession and dentists and doctors over to Russia to help people, which is a very noble thing for them to do and a wonderful thing for them to do.
And this guy called me and and said, Bob, he said, I’ve never heard of you before, but we were in Kyiv, in the Ukraine, in in Pastor Davin Duke’s home, and we had said to Pastor Davin Duke that Pastor, we will finance and do anything that you want us to do. You tell us what you want, we’ll take care of it for you. And he said he pulled up this book called Classic Christianity, and he said I want 100,000 copies of this in Russian. Said we had never heard of the book, but he said we had already committed that we’ll we’ll do that for him, and we’re committed to do that. Would you possibly think of coming over to Memphis and meeting with us? And I thought, well, that’s kind of strange. Why don’t you come meet with me? But, but yeah, we’ll do that. So Amy and I got on a plane, flew over to Memphis, and that night they had a big to do at somebody’s house, and these people were talking about grace and stuff. I thought, man, this is wonderful. Here’s this great big, wealthy big old church, and they’re talking about grace. I thought this is this is good. So I had an appointment with a pastor the next day. Amy and I went in at the pastor’s office. We sat down, very tall, nice-looking man, very friendly, and we talked for quite a while. And he said, “Bob, he said, not only are we prepared to finance the the printing of your book, Classic Christianity, into the Russian language, but we’re also prepared to finance for some of the rewriting of it. And I said, “Huh? Said, “Yeah, for the rewriting, you’re a little confused on law and grace. We are still under the law. I said, “Really? He said, “Yeah, we need tracks to run on. I said, “I’m not a train, and we don’t need tracks to run on. We have the Holy Spirit of God to guide us. And I took my little book and had that with me. That little book called “Discovering, whatever it’s called, “Discovering the Grace of God, and it’s we printed that in Bible size, so I normally carry it in my Bible. And I just went to this lecture, and I begin to pull out every passage of Scripture. Christ is the end of the law. What are you going to do with that? Well, Professor So and So, sir, I said I don’t give a flip what Professor So and So said, “I’m interested in what the Bible says, and I really don’t care what Doctor so and so said. It says Christ is the end of the law. It says we’re no longer under the law, but we’re under grace. What are you going to do with that? Well, John Calvin, I could care less about John Calvin if Calvin had anything to say that was worthwhile, he learned it from Paul, and if he learned it from Paul, then he ought to call himself a Paulinist, and if he called himself a Paulinist, you know what Paul would say? Who’s Paul? Who’s Apollos? We’re just servants. We plant the seeds, we water them. God makes them grow. He wouldn allow you to call himself a Paulinist, but you’re allowed to call somebody a Calvinist. So I’m not interested in what Calvin says. I’m interested in what the Bible says. So I’d go down to another passage. Well, professor, so not one time did this man ever refer to Christ or the Bible. Only what some professor said. Only what some doctor said, some PhD said. You know what PhD stands for? Piled higher and deeper. You know I would be embarrassed to think that I believe what I believe because Calvin taught me. I’d be embarrassed because that’s showing me that I don’t read the Bible. You just tell me what to believe, and I’ll believe it. Or what Luther taught you, or what anyone else, or what Bob George taught you. That’s sick. I’ll teach you what God has taught me, so that you’ll get in the Bible and let God teach you, but until God’s taught you, you’re not taught. You’re just believe what Bob George said, or what Calvin said, or what Luther said, or what the Pope said, or guys, that’s sick to say. Look, I don’t want to study this Bible.
It’s like they said, we’ll believe Moses, but we don’t listen to God. Moses tell us what to believe. The issue is that God is pointing you and me to this book, so God can teach you what it means. If God teaches you. The meaning of the Word of God, and God’s taught me the same thing. We’re going to have some great fellowship with each other because we’ve both been taught by the same source. And so, ultimately, I finally said, “Pastor, I said it really is not much need in us talking any further on this. We’re not getting any place there. I really appreciate your offer and your generosity, but we’ll raise the money and get the books printed without your revisions. And Amy and I flew back to Dallas and went on the air, and in one week we raised over $70,000 from you people for us to print those books ourselves without the revision. And so, that’s what you’re up against. This was a church that, when I was listening to the people, they were talking grace, but they’re talking grace in the Calvinistic form, and commingling it with law and grace. You can’t do it. You cannot do it. Christ is the end of the law. If Christ is the end of something, it means it’s not there anymore. Is that correct? Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. If you’re under the law, you’re under the curse of the law. We just studied that by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hung on a tree. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Redeemed us. You remember the old days of the redemption stores. Remember the old green stamp redemption stores where you used to save green stamps, and you’d go to the redemption store and turn in those worthless green stamps and get a toaster. Well, that’s what Christ did. He redeemed us. We turned our worthless self into Him, and He gave us His life. That’s what’s called the exchange of life. I gave Him all of me, and He gave me all of Himself. I gave him all that I am, nothing, and he gave me all that he is, everything, so that in Christ we have everything. So he redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. When the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman under the law, to do what? Redeem us under the law, buy us out of that, so that we might receive full righteous sons. Christ came and bought us out of the demands of the law, so that we could walk in a newness of life in Christ Jesus. In order to do that, he had to be born of a woman under the law. He ministered under the law, proclaimed the goodness of grace to come, but showed us that only he was capable of Fulfilling the law, the law has now been fulfilled in us. For what the law was powerless to do, in that it was weakened by our flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering, and so He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met now in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the spirit. The law has now been fulfilled by Jesus, and through my identification with Him, the law has been fulfilled in us. Now, is that good news? Now, if if we’ve already fulfilled the law, is there anything else to fulfill? Is there anything else to fulfill? If it’s already been fulfilled, guys, then what do you do? Rest and say thank you. The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
And now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law, it’s one of the passage I showed to the pastor. What are you going to do with that? Quotes a doctor so and so says. Now that faith has come, we’re no longer under the supervision of the law. What is so hard to interpret with that, guys? What is so hard to grab a hold of with these passages, what is so hard to come to a conclusion that the law is not our friend?
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Bob George 15:22
Why are we hanging on to something that’s killing us? It doesn’t make sense. If you’re hanging on to something that’s killing you, you must not believe it’s killing you. I don’t know why someone would be defending the law unless they thought they were being obedient to the law, and Christ has already told us you ain’t obedient. That’s why I had to usher in a New Covenant, and believe me, I didn make an exception for you. So your self righteousness is what keeps you from receiving the righteousness of Jesus. I don’t need His righteousness. I am self-righteous, and it’s sickening to God. Sin shall not be your master. Look at these passages, folks. These are vitally important passages. Sin shall not be your master. Why? Because you’re not under law, but under grace. Now let’s reverse that. If sin is not your master because you’re not under the law, but under grace, who is your master when you’re under the law? You all see that. Want to go over it again? Sin shall not be your master. Why? Well, because you’re not under the law. Means that if you are under the law, who’s your master? Sin. Sin. Don’t you know, brothers? I’m speaking to men who know the law. He’s given this illustration that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives. As an example, under the HEBREW law, a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he’s alive. But if her husband dies, she’s released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she’s called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she’s released from that law and not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. So don’t divorce your husband. Kill him. What is he saying here? If your wife dies, you don’t preserve her. You don’t keep her hanging around. And if later on you marry somebody else, you don’t take her on your honeymoon with you. You don’t drag her around on your honeymoon. He said, “If you’ve died to the law so that you can marry another, who does he want us to be married to? Jesus. You, in essence, guys, were born married to the law, attached to the law. He says you died to the law, so that you can be raised to live in the newness of life. So, my brothers, you died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the flesh, the sinful passions that were aroused by the law were at works in our bodies, so that we bore the fruit of death. And now, by dying to what once bound us, what is it that bound us? And what is he saying to do to what bound you? The law. What is he saying to do, guys? Die to it. Die to the law. We have been released from that law, so that we serve in a new way of the spirit. So, in other words, when you die, you’re released from the law. So he said, “You died with Christ, so that you could be raised to serve in a newness of life, in a new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. What keeps us from that? Pride, the big I. That’s the thing that keeps you from receiving grace. God gives grace to the humble, but He resists the proud. Why? The proud won’t receive; the proud wants to earn. You cannot mix the two, as is the condition of the Christian world today. is is totally a Galatian church where we are commingling both law and grace. Neither do men pour new wine into old wine skins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out, the wine skins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wine skins, and both are preserved. He gave us that illustration for a purpose. You put wine in a wine skin; it ferments, it expands. To its ultimate capacity, you pour the wine out, pour new wine in that already expanded skin. It cannot take the expansion; it bursts, and you lose both the skins and the wine.
It’s by grace, and if it’s by grace, it’s no longer by works. If it were, grace would no longer be grace. And Paul said, “You foolish, idiotic, moronic Galatians, or your Dallasites, or your Brits, or your Canadians, or your Californians, who has bewitched you before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. So I’d like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? And are you so foolish, foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, why are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort, you’re foolish. I’m astonished, he said, “that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by what the grace of God, and are turning to a different gospel, which is no gospel at all, and evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. Listen to this. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you, let him be eternally condemned, folks. This is strong language. Let him be eternally condemned. Now he’s saying, if we or an angel from heaven preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you, what is the gospel that he preached to us? The death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. When you add baptism to that gospel, he said you have perverted the gospel and let you be eternally condemned. You add speaking in tongues to the gospel, you’ve added something, and he says let you be eternally condemned. You add church membership. You add tithing. You add anything to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And Paul, who taught love, said, “Let you be eternally condemned. You’re not preaching the gospel. You’re adding to the gospel, and when you add to what Jesus did, you’re subtracting from what Jesus did, and you have whole denominations that teach that you got to get dunked in water to be saved. I told people the other day, or not too long ago, you’re a hypocrite because you don’t even believe what you’re teaching. I’ve been baptized every way there is to get baptized. When I was a kid, I was baptized in a Christian church that baptized you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I got dunked three times. Like to drown me. Joined a Presbyterian church, got sprinkled. Joined a Baptist church, got dunked. I’ve been baptized every way you can get baptized. If you can think of another way to get baptized, tell me. I probably will go for it. Any of those save me? So I said to those people, “I’ve probably been baptized more than you have been. Am I saved? I’ll tell you how you think you’re saved, and that’s when you come to my church and get dunked in my water by my pastor. So you’re a hypocrite because I guarantee you you’re not going to find that in the scripture. Will you accept my Baptist baptism in your church? No. Not in my water. Not by my pastor. Guys, I can’t think of anything more hypocritical or heretical than that. In the first place, baptism doesn save you. Paul said, “I’m glad I didn’t baptize anybody. Now he’s the one who proclaimed the gospel who said, “I’m glad I didn’t baptize anybody except Christmas and Gayos. Beyond that, I don’t remember baptizing anyone, for I wouldn I wouldn’t call to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Now, if baptism is in the gospel, could you make that statement? And besides that, the definition of the gospel is in Corinthians: death, burial, resurrection. So, so I’m not trying to be mean to people. I’m just saying that if you’re teaching something added to the gospel. You’re teaching a perverted gospel. I don’t care who you are, whether you’re Catholic, Protestant, or what you are. You’re teaching a perverted gospel, and Paul says, “Let him be eternally condemned. That’s harsh, but it’s true. Why? Because you’re taking away from Christ when you add to Jesus, before long, what do you talk about? If you think that it’s Jesus plus going to church on Saturday, what do you call yourself? A Seventh Day Adventist. What? What’s your emphasis? Seventh day. If you’re going to add baptism, what do you call yourself? Baptist.
Whatever you add to the gospel, you identify this is what is important for salvation, and in so doing, negate what salvation is. Jesus, any time. You can’t do it, folks. I don’t have a bias. I’m not a Baptist or a Presbyterian or anything else. I’m just teaching what the Scripture says. I don’t want to be hung up with denominations. That’s why I got out of it. Because I don’t want to be hung up on denominational persuasion. It’s not true. I want to be free to teach the Word of God as it’s revealed, not as my folks would like to hear it. I remember getting called into the office of my pastor when I started teaching. At First John one nine is a passage to the lost, not to the saved. I can prove that. You sit down, say, Bob. Without question, you’re 100 right. I know that from the Greek. I know that from experience. I know that from teaching. First John one nine is not a believer’s passage. It’s a salvation passage, and yet we’ve pulled it in to the believers and confused everybody. But he said, Bob, I tell you, you have so much good to teach that if you give off on that First John one nine, you’re going to lose all your friends.
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.