In this thought-provoking episode of Classic Christianity, Bob George explores the difference between living under the law and living under grace. Dive deep into the teachings of Romans as Bob discusses how many believers mistakenly rely on the law for righteousness when true freedom and redemption are found through the grace of Jesus Christ. With vivid examples and relatable analogies, Bob highlights the futility of legalistic practices and the liberation found in understanding God’s ultimate plan for redemption and life eternal.
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.
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I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone. What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets? What if flipped through it several times a day? What if we turned around to go get it when we forgot it? What if we used it to receive messages from the text? What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it? What if we gave it to our kids as gifts? What if we used it when we traveled? What if we used it in case of emergency? Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don’t have to worry about the Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill. This is something to make you go, hmm, where’s my Bible? It’s pretty good, isn’t it? Well, guys, let’s turn together back again to the book of Romans. And guys, I think that where the difficulty comes in many times in biblical understanding is we forget that as an example, this whole book of Romans is dealing with the contrast between the law and grace. and showing us the purpose of the law and how we have misused its purpose and made it a means of righteousness instead of a means of showing you your sinfulness. All through the Scripture, second chapter of Romans, I just outlined some things there. If you do like I do, I just cross, I circle things. And in this passage in chapter 2, you might want to turn to that beginning in verse 12. I’m just going to go through some of these passages. All who sin apart from the law, and I just circle the law, will also perish apart from the law. And all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Indeed, when Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature the things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. Since they show the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts now accusing them and even defending them. So he’s talking about the law. Now, but he said, and you, you call yourself a Jew, verse 17, if you rely upon the law. Now, look, here is the definition of people who have never escaped from the law. Now, whether you are in Graceland over here or Lawland over here, if you are truly born again, as we described last week, You have been taken out of this realm over here altogether. And you have been transferred over here into the kingdom of his son that we love, in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sin. You have been removed from the demands of the law. Folks, if you’re in law land, you are miserable. As Paul said, the things you want to do, you don’t do. The things you don’t want to do, you do them anyway. It’s a miserable existence. You’re in slavery. It says you are absolutely enslaved by the demands of the law. Because if you are under the law, then you are under the penalty of the law, which is spiritual death. It is not a desirable condition to be in. And yet people will hang on to what kills them tenaciously. Just like our cell phones. Hang on tenaciously to what kills you. And come over here in Graceland and say, you people are nuts. You can’t do good to be true. But the issue is that you’re in bondage. You’re miserable. You make people around you miserable. Because you’re in bondage. And that’s what it says about the law. Now, he says these kind of people, what’s interesting about these kind of people is they like to make people think they’re under the law and doing good under it. Otherwise, why would you call on the air, as I’ve had for over 20 years, people say, you mean tell me you’re not under the law. Well, I have to say, you must believe that you are obedient to it. Why would you be calling? Why would you be calling to defend the law unless you thought that you were doing good under it? You’re dead. You’re lost. Because if you were saved, you wouldn’t be under that law. But here’s how people act. You will call yourself a Jew if you rely upon the law to brag about your relationship with God. And that’s what people do. I’m under the law, boy, I am one holy dude. You tell me that God loves you and I just say, no wonder. I love me too. I’m so good. I say, let me interview your wife. And if you know of his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law, if you’re convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those who are in the dark, we’re going to tell everybody what to do. We’re going to tell everybody how to obey the law Because we are law abiding. Anybody in here law abiding? Anybody in here want to stand before God with absolutely no sin in your life? Because that’s what it takes. If you’re under the law, Paul said, you’re under all of it. And James said, if you’ve kept the whole law in your life and violated just one point, you violated all of it. You want to stand before God like that? That’s his requirements, not yours. Because you’ve got self-righteous requirements. But his. Bragging about how good you are. If you’re convinced that you’re a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have the law, the embodiment of knowledge and truth, then you who teach others, do you not teach yourself? Look what he’s doing here, guys. He is just burying us. If you’re able to be buried. You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You steal people’s time? If you show up late all the time, you’re a time stealer. Anybody in here a time stealer? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? Do you ever lust in your whole life? Do you ever lust? Do you ever lust? No need to raise up hands. Well, then, if you’ve lost, you’ve committed adultery in the God sight. We’re talking about this from God. This is how God looks at you. Not how we’ve washed it and watered it down, but how God looks at it. Are you free from guilt? I don’t think so. You abhorred idols. Do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking his law? I mean, if you’re going to uphold something and brag on it, then brother, you better keep it. Otherwise, what are we called? Hypocrites. And that’s what most Christians are called, hypocrites. You know why they’re hypocrites? Because they’re saying I’m under the law and I’m obeying it when they’re not. And people see that. You’re a hypocrite. If you’re truly teaching the grace of God, nobody’s going to ever call you a hypocrite. Because you’re not teaching that you’re good anyway. You’re teaching he’s good. Talks about something like circumcision. It could be baptism, it could be church attendance, it could be tithing record, all those kind of things. Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you become as though you have not been circumcised, or you have not been baptized, you have not been a churchgoer, whatever it might be. It talks about the fact a man is not a Jew if he’s one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward or physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly, and circumcision is the circumcision of the heart by the spirit, not by the written code. That’s just one passage, one group of passages in there about the law. We go over into the chapter 5 verse. And we talk about the peace of God that passes understanding. And it talks about how that we have been justified when we were God’s enemies, lost. And talks about being saved by his life. Now in verse 12 in chapter 5, it says, Therefore, just as sin entered through the world by one man and death through sin, in this way death came to all men because all sin. Because before the law was given. So again, guys, what I’m getting at here is all through this book of Romans, it’s the law, the law, the law. And we ignore that. Sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, a death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking the command, as did Adam, who was the pattern of the one to come. In other words, the wages of sin is death, whether you’re under the law or not under the law. Before the law came, even though there was no law, still the wages of sin was death. And so what he’s saying here is we’ve all died. All of us are born into this world dead spiritually. What keeps us dead? The law. And again, we have to see, if you’ll go back over to verse 14 in chapter 6, it says the law of their sin shall not be your master because you’re not under the law but under grace. So as long as you are under the law, sin is your master. Now again, guys, we’re over here in law land. And sin is your master. Why? Because you’re under the law. And if you’re under the law, what is the wages of sin under the law? Death. Now that’s a problem, isn’t it? And God had to free… These people, I’m just using these as examples, you understand, to free them from the consequence of sin, which is death, spiritual death, spiritual death. You have natural man and you have spiritual man. You have natural birth and you have spiritual birth. We’re talking about spiritual things. They had to be saved from the consequence of sin, which is death by the gift of God, which is life eternal. They are under the reign of sin and death. They have no choice. The things they want to do, they don’t do the things they don’t want to do. They do them anyway. You look into the mirror, as I did for 36 years, saying, Bob George, what in the world is this thing looking back at you? Who are you? What’s wrong with you? Why can’t you do and be the kind of person that God wants you to be? Because I was under the law.
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Now, did I know I was under the law? I didn’t know it. I didn’t pay attention to it. But it still was true. I was under a death penalty. I was still empty inside. I didn’t know it was because I was dead spiritually. But I sure knew I was empty spiritually. Even though I went to church on Sunday and gave my dollar a week. If I felt generous that week. So you can play church over here. And you can be aware of your emptiness over here. Why? Because the scripture tells us that the purpose of the law is to manifest your sinfulness and to show you that you are sinful and to show you that there is a consequence for sin called death and you are dead spiritually and in need of spiritual life. That’s the purpose of the law. Not to use it as a standard of holiness because you cannot keep it. but to show you your death. Death is final. It’s bad. There’s no spiritual life over here. I mean, you can play church. Don’t get me wrong. You can play church. You can dress up and go to church every Sunday. You can give tithes, offerings. You can play religion. In fact, that’s what Satan gets you to do. Satan says, I sure the heck I’m not going to teach you that you’re dead and there’s a life available to you. So I’ll teach you how to be religious. Teach you how to go to church. Teach you how to dress up and look good. Teach you how to lie spiritually. Couldn’t teach you how to evangelize. I can teach you anything. You can be taught anything, but you’re dead. It’s not the case of how bad you are or how good you are. It’s how dead you are. The wages of sin is what? Death. Sin shall not be your master, which means when you’re under the law, sin is your master. He’s your owner. You’re just like a slave with an owner, a mean one. That takes you and manipulates us, coerces in every way, shape, or form, came to what? To steal, destroy, and kill. That’s Satan. That’s your land over there. Now, what is salvation, guys? Oh, you’ve sinned. You need your sins forgiven. You know we’ve never gone beyond that? You’ve sinned and you need your sins forgiven. That’s salvation. To this day, that is the major teaching in Christendom. That all you need is to get your sins forgiven. Why? Because basically you’re a good person. No, you’re dead. Dead. You’re a stinking corpse. Dead. Don’t care how nice you look. Don’t care what kind of spiritual perfume and deodorant you put on. You’re dead. And we said, no, no, no, no, no. You got to be politically correct. That’s not very nice to say about those sweet people. I mean, there’s some nice people over there. Yeah, but they’re dead. Yeah, probably some nice corpses around, but they’re dead. And we have to understand this is what God had to come to do. Not just to take away your sins. Your sins are what caused your death. So if I didn’t take away what caused it, why would I give you life? Because if I didn’t take away what caused it and I gave you life, the next time you sin, you’d be dead again. I had to free you guys from that whole realm over here. The whole realm that you live in. The whole realm of it. Under the control. Prisoner. Locked up. Until what? Faith in Christ should be revealed. Now, guys, who in the world is going to be capable of taking you out of that state of death into life? Is Buddha going to do it? Is Mohammed going to do it? Is any man that you know going to do it? These people would get up and say, oh, well, this religion is, they’re bull. Religion. All of it is junk. All of it. Including the Christian religion, if that’s all you have is religion. It’s all, what he says, dung. Compared to that of what? Knowing the only one whose life was capable. of being laid down totally taking away the sins of the whole world not covering them taking them away and was raised from the dead so that you and i could be raised from the dead new citizenship as an example you have uh… let’s say we have a map And of the United States. And at the lower end of that map… Do we have that map on the computer? On the… Yeah, there it is. On the southern end is Mexico. Northern end, Canada. Now, let’s say that you were born in Mexico. And in Mexico… And again, these are just examples. In Mexico, it’s a tough life. You got a tyrant that’s your master… And he reigns, does he not? As long as you’re there, he reigns. But one day somebody comes and comes and gets you, as we showed last week with James and his wife, and picks you up and moves you over to Graceland. You’re no longer over here. And that’s why it says, you used to live there. Shall sin, if we died to sin, shall we live in it anymore? You don’t live there anymore. You don’t live under the sin principle. God, folks, is not dealing with you as a born-again believer. And James, I wish you guys would just get up and move again. Will you do that for me? In fact… Let’s all of you move out of there. All of you who are born again, move out of there. And what I’m saying is you’re all under the law. So when you move, you’re moving out of the law. So get out of there. Empty that place out. You’re over here now in Graceland. And I can see you better too. Now you got one couple back there that wants to stay dead. And if they want to stay dead, that’s their choice. But you’re dead under the law. And if you stay there, you’re going to go where you want to go. Because you don’t want to go to Graceland. You want to stay under the law. Dead. And you got a privilege. You got the right to do that. And you’ve got a choice to do that. But to those who said, no, no. I want to live. I don’t want to live under that law. It kills me. I want to live under grace. I want to be led internally by the Spirit of God. And now they’re over here. Brand new place. They’ve moved out of Mexico. And now they live in the United States. And in the United States, you can choose many, many places to live. That’s why they call it the United States is because it’s states that are united one to another. And even though different states can have different laws, they’re all under the one law called America. The United States of what? America. You are now children of the living God. You are now children. Not a Baptist or a Presbyterian or a Methodist. Your identity isn’t where you park your body on Sundays or Saturdays. Your identity is who you are. You’ve been made into a new creation. You’re over here now. You’re no longer over there. Now, you say, well, can I go back? No, you can’t go back. You absolutely cannot go back any more than a caterpillar can go back or a butterfly can go back to being a caterpillar. He’s a new creation. But you can visit close by. And that’s what a lot of Christians do. They say, well, I know I can’t go back, but I’m going to sit on this aisle right over here where Gene is. Close as I can get to the law, but realizing that, no, I’m not under it, but I’m close to it. Because it was my friend. Heaven forbid. Heaven forbid. Now let’s read this. Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? In other words, it says where the law is, grace increases. Where sin increases, grace increases all the more. So he said, well, then should we go on sinning so that grace can increase? He said, by no means. You died to sin. You’re over here. You died where you lived. That’s sin and death over here. Guys, do you realize… That God is no longer dealing with you on the basis of sin and death. Do you realize that? He’s not dealing with you on the basis of sin. Not if you’re over here. You say, God, I did it again. He said, did what again? Well, the sin that I committed yesterday, it’s been taken away. Well, the sin I’m going to commit tomorrow, it’s been taken away. What are you coming to me for? For the sin issue. I’ve dealt with it. I dealt with it 2,000 years ago. I dealt with it at the cross. Your sins were judged. The verdict was guilty. The punishment was death. And I took it all. That’s why there’s none left for you. That’s why it says in the Bible, there is now no condemnation awaiting you who belong to Christ Jesus. Well, why isn’t there any condemnation awaiting you? I deserve some condemnation. He said, that’s not the issue. The issue is I’ve dealt with it. And I dealt with it in the most harsh way that I knew. I crucified my son. So that that blood that was shed for you. Could be put on you. And you could be identified with him. And through that identification. Be free from sin. I’m not dealing with you on the basis of sin today. Now that’s a far cry from. That continual teaching is. Joe you keep on sinning brother. And God’s going to get you. And you keep on sinning Jim. And God could take your business away from you. Or you keep on sinning. And I’m going to take my cowboy tickets away from you. It’s a far cry because that’s not true. It’s not true. Do we deserve punishment? Yeah. Do we get it? No. No condemnation. Why? Because that was God’s plan. I’m going to deal with sin one time. I’m going to deal with it. I’m going to judge it. I’m going to eliminate it. To all of those who come to Christ by faith, you’re in a different realm. You live in a different community. You live in a different country. You no longer live in Mexico. You live in the United States. No longer live in Canada. You live in the United States. You’re under the rule and the reign of the United States. You’re a different ruler. Our ruler is Jesus. Their ruler was Satan. Which would you want to live in? Satan’s world or God’s world? You got a choice. Over here, what does this world bring you? Misery? Misery, doesn’t it? It sounds so good. It sounds so tempting. But the end of it is death.
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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.
