Join Bob George as he navigates the intricacies of the New Covenant, distinguishing it from Old Testament law. With over three decades on the air, Bob uses this segment to clarify misconceptions surrounding forgiveness, particularly regarding passages such as the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments. Through call-in discussions, listeners gain a deeper understanding of how Christ’s ultimate sacrifice removed the need for ongoing pleas for forgiveness.
00:00:01 Introduction to Classic Christianity Radio
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George. Today we are pleased to present a special radio show featuring call-in listeners from Bob’s original people-to-people daily radio program that was on the air for over 30 years, offering real answers for real-life problems as he addresses common questions as well as the tough issues of today, directing callers to the centrality of Christ in you, your only hope of glory. We want to remind our listeners that Bob George Ministries needs your financial support to continue to have Classic Christianity Radio on the air. Please visit BobGeorge.net to find out how you can help support us financially. Let’s now join Bob as he presents practical biblical insights as he helps people experience a life of faith, hope, and love in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER 06 :
Let’s go to McAllen, Texas. Listen on KCTA. George, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
How you doing, brothers?
SPEAKER 06 :
Doing good, George. Thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, all right. Say, I’m in a bit of a dilemma down here at the church. Pastor, all of a sudden it starts to paint us a figure eight. Using, well, Ephesians 4.32, you know, about being kind and forgiving our sins as God has forgiven us. And also James 5.16. And those verses I can believe, you know, because they speak for themselves. But then here comes the figure eight. He says to do that so that God can forgive us.
SPEAKER 06 :
Where does he come up with that?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, he says that… The Lord’s Prayer? Yeah. It was the Lord’s Prayer. Again…
SPEAKER 06 :
If he’s going to use the Lord’s Prayer, George, then you’re going to have to negate the cross where he took away the sins of the world because Jesus taught before the new covenant went into effect. The new covenant says there are sins and lawless acts. I will not. I will remember no more, and where these have been, not will be, but have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness, and there is no more shedding of blood. So forgiveness has been done once and for all. Now, prior to that, forgiveness was conditional, and that’s precisely why in the Lord’s Prayer, if people will quit putting a period where it doesn’t belong and read on, They should be able to comprehend that where it says, for if you do not forgive your brother here on earth, that you can see your father in heaven will not forgive you. That is an impossibility after the cross where your sins have been taken away. It was certainly true prior to the cross, but it was an impossibility for that passage to be true after the cross where there he who knew no sin became sin so that you and I could become the righteousness of God. So that is all his confusion is because he does not understand the new covenant or understand when the new covenant went into effect. You ask many times of people, what is the new covenant? They do not have a clue. And you ask them, when did it go into effect? The best that they’ll come up with is Jesus’ birth. But it didn’t. It came into effect at the cross, not his birth. A will does not go into effect until the one who made it dies. And the same, that’s biblical. I just quoted scripture there. That wasn’t me. Until the one who made it dies. And until Jesus died, he could not usher in the new covenant where, once again, I say there’s sins and lawless acts. I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there is no more sacrifice for sins. It’s finished. It’s over. It’s done. And God wants us to rest in that, not to try to improve upon what his son did, which we are doing today by going to our confession booth. to thinking that our confession brings about forgiveness, which is nonsense. You’re already forgiven. Or going back to kill a bull and goat, which was basically what he was talking about then. We don’t understand how that the Christian world is sinning every single moment of their day. by asking God to do what in Christ Jesus he has already done. And they do not understand that they are absolutely sinning out our teeth every day by begging God for his forgiveness instead of thanking him for what he has already accomplished. There isn’t any more forgiveness for us. It’s over. It’s finished. And that’s why you’re not going to find it in the Scripture. Not in the New Covenant. Not in the New Covenant. You’re not going to find one passage that deals with asking God to forgive your sins.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, I’ve come to have my eyes opened at what the New Covenant really is in about 20 years. I’ve been listening to you guys for about three or four years, and in that time, I’ve come to know more, and the word, you know, just opens up in this amount of time than the 20-some odd years that, you know, I’ve been a Christian. And we thought that this man down here in this area was a new covenant man, and that’s why we started going to church there and everything. But all of a sudden, you know, that figure eight, you know, it is two circles with no way out. And so, you know, we were just thinking of going in there next week and just going in there to disconnect and, you know, go somewhere else or do something else.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I can’t advise you on that, George. It may be that… It may be that if God leads you, and again, don’t do it unless he has to lead you, is to go by yourself and to talk to the pastor about the double talk. I would ask him the question, Pastor, what is your understanding of when the new covenant began? And did Jesus teach under the old or did he teach under the new? And obviously the new didn’t go into effect until he died, so he didn’t teach under the new. He taught under the old. And he taught under the law and in so doing buried us under the law. His whole mission here on earth when he was here, George, was to prepare man for salvation. He was headed to a cross and a resurrection. That was his ultimate goal while he was here on earth, was the cross and the resurrection. And so in order to prepare people for salvation, what the cross and resurrection provided for us, he had to get us lost before he could get us saved. Now, what I say, he didn’t get us lost. We were lost. He had to show us our lost condition. I feel that way. I almost have to get a guy lost before I can ever get him saved. He’s got to see his lostness, and he has to see his death. in order to be prepared for the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. So it could be that he’s never seen that. And if it was, you would be doing him a blessing by showing it to him. But don’t go in there with a know-it-all attitude. Just go in there with, I’m here to see what your thinking is on these things.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I kind of got it lined up as to what I’m going to say and everything. And I hope from there that… you know, things will properly take their course.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I do too, my brother.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, and I don’t go in there expecting results. The results will be in the hands of God. He may be open. He may be closed. He may tell you to get lost. There’s a certain amount of pride that people have in going to a seminary and thinking that they have the answers and this layman coming in and trying to tell me something. So there’s an ego that could be there. I don’t know these things, but I know I’ve seen it in the past. And so just recognize it. Go in there with God’s wisdom and with God’s power and be loving and sweet, but stand your ground.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right, right. Okay, brother.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right, George. God bless. Keep us posted how you come out, okay?
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. Sure will. Thank you. Thanks, George.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right, George. God bless.
SPEAKER 03 :
Bye-bye.
SPEAKER 06 :
Let’s go to Pittsburgh, California. Let’s go on KDIA. Ken, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, Bob. How’s it going today?
SPEAKER 06 :
Doing good, Ken. Thank you.
SPEAKER 04 :
I’m just trying to find out, you know that passage where it says that you’re not supposed to, or when they preach the New Old Testament, they always put on the eyes of people who hear it i’m trying to understand now does that mean we’re not supposed to uh preach it or bring it up the old testament or how does that relate understanding the new covenant kid no not at all what it means is that there is a veil and i believe this with all my heart that there is a veil that’s over the eyes of the people who do not want to believe
SPEAKER 06 :
There are people who they have made a choice. I do not want to believe in Jesus. Your Jewish people would certainly be in that category. Your Muslim would certainly be in that category. I do not want to believe in Jesus. And there’s a veil that’s over their eyes. I can say this, Ken, that I’ve never seen an exception to this, but whenever I’ve shared Christ with somebody, that they just couldn’t get it. I mean, something as obvious as the nose on your face, and for some of us that’s pretty obvious, but they just couldn’t get it. There’s something blocking that. There’s a veil over their eyes. And I cannot tell you the number of times that I have said to a person, look, are you willing… Maybe we’re going to take a break or whatever. Are you willing during this break to pray for God to remove the veil from your eyes so that you might be able to see the fullness of the goodness of God and come to him for salvation? And to go into the break and immediately after the break, go back to the caller and he says, I’m ready to receive Christ. I’ve seen that happen in personal witnessing time and time again of a person who prays, Lord, take the veil away from my eyes and remove it so that I might see the truth of salvation and say amen and say I’m ready to accept the Lord. So there is a veil over some people’s eyes where they cannot see and that veil has to be removed. So it is merely showing us that if you’re running into a real stubborn person and That doesn’t seem to be belligerent. They just cannot believe there’s a veil over their eyes. Ask them to ask God to remove it.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you know how just so many people teach, they mix up the law and grace message, and you just hear it daily. And I was just like, you know, is this because of the veil that’s over? Because they’re teaching the Old Testament? Or, you know, are they heart-tartened? You know, it’s
SPEAKER 06 :
Kind of hard to understand. We’ve been conned. We’ve been conned into believing to commingle law and grace. And it’s the biggest con job that is in Christendom today is the teachers that get up and teach tithing. That is not New Testament form of giving. Free will giving is in the New Testament. They teach to keep your short accounts with God. In other words, denying the finality of the cross. the reality of the resurrection, teach that God wants to program your conscience instead of reveal the spirit of God to you. There’s all kinds of deceptive teaching. I’m not saying it’s intentional, but that kind of teaching that is out there destroying the joy of the life of believers. And so, yeah, it’s all over the place. And so unless a person today, unless a person is dedicated to get into the word of God on his own, And to get into the word of God and ask God, every time you open up the book, ask God to reveal the meaning of the word of God to me. Because, Lord, if you don’t reveal it according to your own word, I’m not going to know what it means. I know what it says. But I’m not going to know what it means because no eye has seen or ear has heard or mind has conceived of those things that God has prepared for those who love him. But it must be revealed by the spirit. The spirit must reveal the meaning of the word of God to him. And that’s why I say in this day and age, it’s imperative with all of the garbage that is taught in the name of Christ. that a person gets into the Word of God on their own unless they want to be forever torn to and fro by every wave of doctrine and never solidifying what they know to be truth, just believing what someone told them. That book is there to read. The Spirit is there to reveal the meaning of it to you. And for goodness sakes, take advantage of that and don’t depend on someone else to be your teacher. Let the Holy Spirit be your teacher. Use teachers… to encourage you. But the teacher, I can teach you what the Bible has revealed, what the Spirit’s revealed to me, but until he reveals that to you, he reveals it to you, all you’re doing is echoing what has been revealed to me.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, that’s true. Well, Bob, thank you very much. Lord willing, I’ll see you guys down in Southern Cal.
SPEAKER 06 :
Sounds great, my brother. God bless you, pal. Thank you.
SPEAKER 01 :
Be sure to go to bobgeorge.net to find our in-depth and practical Bible study guides. Each Bible study will teach you more about Jesus and will help strengthen your relationship with God. Now back to our classic Christianity radio program.
SPEAKER 06 :
Let’s go to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, listening on WWNL. Jason, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hi, Bob and Bob.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hi, Jason.
SPEAKER 05 :
My question is in regards to the fact that we’re already perfected in Christ. What is Paul dealing with in Philippians chapter 3 surrounding verse 12 there? Just curious about that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, you’ve got to back up to some of the verses there. Let’s start in verse 7. Whatever was to my prophet I now consider lost for the sake of Christ. And in other words, there were things, his education, his being a Pharisee, his being unequaled as far as obedience to the law is concerned, all of those were to his profit at one time, and he considered now a loss. And what is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish or dung. All of his education, Jason… Like I say, he was a rabbi of rabbis. He says, I consider all of that stuff as the literal word is dung, that I might gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own. That’s one statement there, that I be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own. In other words, he wants to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness. but that which comes of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ Jesus, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. As Paul is saying, I don’t ever want to be found in my own righteousness again, because all of those things that he considered to profit were gaining self-righteousness. But he says, I don’t want to be ever found that way again. I don’t ever want to be looking at myself again as if I have one ounce of righteousness in and of myself. We all have to come to that conclusion, Jason. We have to hit the Roman seven experience, in my opinion, before we’re ever going to walk in the fullness of the newness of life. We have to come to the point, the things you want to do, you don’t do. The things you don’t do, you do them anyway. And to come to the point of seeing yourself as God sees you wretched man that i am who will free me from this bondage of sin and death it’s an absolute necessity that we come to our wretchedness before we will ever be able to participate fully in the in what he’s talking about i want to know christ and the power of his resurrection you’re never going to understand the power of the resurrection of christ until you understand the I don’t have any righteousness of my own. You see, he’s saying there that I want to gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own. There’s a process of God pushing out self-righteousness. And so his desire is that I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow attain the resurrection of the dead, which none of us have obtained yet until ultimately our physical resurrection. That’s why it says in the Bible, I was saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved. And so it says, not that I’ve obtained all of this, because there are things, as an example, we certainly haven’t obtained, and neither had he, his bodily resurrection as of yet, his total declaration of righteousness apart from this body of ours. And so it’s a process that we go through, Jason. And I think as long as I’ve been in Christ, as long as I’ve understood this message of God’s grace, there always comes up little areas of said, Bob, are you being self-righteous in this deal? And God has to push that out. I think he’ll be pushing the law and self-righteousness out of us until the day we die. And so I just think, he says, I don’t consider myself to have taken hold of everything yet, you know, have grabbed a hold of everything that God has prepared for me yet. But he said, one thing I do know, forgetting what’s behind and straining on to what’s ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. And all of us who are mature should take a view of this thing. So in other words, again, he’s talking about grow up and become mature in your knowledge of Christ. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. So there are some things we’ve attained. We’ve obtained certainly total forgiveness, haven’t we? And we have obtained new life in Christ Jesus, and our righteousness is in him. All those things have been given to us. And now the more we learn about those, the more he starts peeling off, just like an onion, all of this stupid self-righteousness that we get, just like the call that we had earlier, people sitting there getting hung up on gifts and proud of their gifts and that kind of nonsense. Get rid of it. Get a life. And get rid of it and get your eyes on Christ Jesus and what he has accomplished instead of me and what I’m trying to accomplish.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Okay. Yeah, I just know that I’m perfect in Christ. Right.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, absolutely. You’re complete.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right, complete in Christ.
SPEAKER 06 :
But you’ll spend the rest of your life learning what that completeness is.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right, growing in that, I guess. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 06 :
And… As you grow in your knowledge of him, it keeps pushing out even these things that you don’t even know you have.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate your ministry, and it’s been a real blessing in my life, and it’s just been a real joy to keep listening to you.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, it’s a joy having you as a listener, Jason, and God bless you. You call any time, my friend.
SPEAKER 05 :
Great.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay. Thank you. Okay. Bye-bye now. Let’s go to Laurie in Mission, British Columbia, glistening on Carrie. Laurie, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hey, Bob. How are you doing, pal? Good. How are you? Bob Christopher, how are you doing? Doing fine, thanks. That’s good. It’s good to talk to you guys again.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thanks.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m just studying in Hebrews there, and I was just wondering about Melchizedek. Where do you put him and place him in there when you’re studying that?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, Laurie, you just put him where he belongs. It’s this story of Abraham. Again, when you’re studying through the book of Hebrews, you’ll notice that the whole book is to show the superiority of Christ over all the things that the Hebrews were putting over Christ. Abraham, Moses, Joshua, the old covenant, all of those things have been replaced by someone greater, and that’s Christ Jesus, and that’s the purpose of the book. is to show the superiority of Christ Jesus. Now to the Jew, no one was greater than Abraham. And that’s why it says down in verse 13 in chapter six, when God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater than him to swear by, he swore by himself saying, I will surely bless you and give you many descendants. And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. Men swear by someone greater than themselves, And the oath confirms that what is said and it puts an end to the argument. And so we have to realize that the reason Melchizedek was mentioned in there is to show the people that someone was greater than Abraham. And the way that they did that was Melchizedek in chapter 7 was the king of Salem, the priest of God Most High. And he met Abraham returning from defeat of the kings and blessed him. So Abraham was out defeating Abraham. kings, and a nation. And he blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First his name means king of righteousness, then also the king of Salem means the king of peace. He had no genealogy without beginning of life or the end, as far as anybody knew. And just think how great he was, he says, even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder of Now, why did they say that? In order to show that there was someone greater than Abraham. And in so doing, now, it set the stage for the fact that Christ Jesus is greater than Abraham. Christ Jesus is greater than Melchizedek. Christ Jesus, there’s no one greater than the one who was announced by God with an oath. And that’s why it says this is the end of the argument. Men swear by someone greater than themselves, but the oath, which is what Christ Jesus did, What God did with Jesus, an oath, he was vilified by the oath from God. And no one is greater than God. And so the reason for this is to show that there was someone greater than Abraham. That was Melchizedek. And it goes ahead then to say that in this, that the law requires that the descendants of Levi, of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people. Now, again, who is to collect tenth from the people? Descendants of Levi. Well, you see, again, the only reason people get confused on Melchizedek is because we bring him into the tithing deal. Otherwise, you’d never think anything of it.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, why should you think anything of it unless you’re a descendant of Levi who’s become a priest to collect the tenth from the people? And that is their brothers, in other words, Jews, even though their brothers are descended from Abraham. And it goes out to say that even though the Levites, the Levitical priesthood, were the ones who were to collect the tenth from the people, that Levi also came from the loins of Abraham. And so I’m convinced, Laurie, that if it were not, that the only reason Melchizedek is even mentioned in the Old or the New Testament is to ultimately verify the fact that there’s someone greater than Abraham. And that is Christ Jesus. So again, it goes ahead to say a perfection could be obtained through the Levitical priesthood. That’s Levi and his tribe there. For on the basis of the law that was given to the people, why was there still a need for another priest to come? One in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron. For where there’s a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law. Well, I ask people, are you still under Levitical priesthood? Are you a descendant of Levi? Or is Jesus Christ your priest? Now, if Jesus is your priest, well, then it says there’s a change of the priesthood, which there has been. There must also be a change of the law. And so, again, the form of regulation is set aside. Because it’s weak and useless, for the law made nothing perfect, and a better hope is introduced by which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath. So here’s this oath again. Others became priests without an oath, but he, Jesus, became a priest with an oath when God said to him, The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever. And because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. And that oath would be the new covenant, right?
SPEAKER 06 :
The oath would be that Jesus Christ is God, and it’d be the fact that Christ Jesus is in charge of all things, and he is the new priest.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. One that lives forever. Yeah. It didn’t come from an ancestor. You became a priest in Judaism by just being out of the bloodline of the Levites.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
But he was not out of the blood of the Levites at all. So Jesus was out of sync as far as a priest is concerned, but he was made a priest by the oath of God, the announcement of God.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right on. Yeah, I had about three quarters of that right, but yeah, you set me straight there on a couple more things there. So I appreciate it, Bob. Thanks for clearing that up a bit.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, you’re sure welcome, Lauren. I appreciate your call and keep studying, pal.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, you bet. Okay. I’m hard at it.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, that’s good, pal. All right. God bless you, my friend. Bye-bye. God bless. Bye.
SPEAKER 01 :
Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
