Join Bob George in this episode of Classic Christianity Radio as he delves into the heart of scriptural truths that are often misunderstood. From callers tackling the challenge of understanding the fulfillment of the law in Matthew 5 to confronting the stark reality of self-righteousness under the law today, Bob sheds light on these critical theological points with clarity and compassion. This episode encourages every listener to reflect on how the teachings of Christ free us from the bondage of performance and into a life of faith. The episode also tackles the pervasive issues facing modern believers, from understanding
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 Andrews, Texas. Let’s go on the internet. Branch, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, God bless you guys. How are you doing today?
SPEAKER 06 :
Doing good. Thank you, Benny. Or Brent. Excuse me.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s okay. I know we’ve been studying the Bible. We’ve been doing a lot of your classic Christianity studies, and we’re all big gracers here is what we call ourselves. And we were just going through this, having a discussion with one of the guys that’s still under the law. And I was reading through Matthew 5, 17 through 20. And, you know, I got a little confused there, and I was just calling to see if you could explain it to us. You know, the way you explain things so well that will give me understanding so I can go teach this fellow.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, if you’re talking about Matthew 5, 17 through 20, don’t think that I’ve come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Now, when something is fulfilled, they’re anything else to do, is there? You can’t fulfill the law for sure. The Jews couldn’t fulfill the law. And that’s why he says down at the bottom of that, for I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. And so this whole deal is to show that no one’s going to enter the kingdom of heaven through their righteousness. If you think your righteousness, unless it surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, well, you’re not going to enter the kingdom of heaven. So it’s telling you that, that we’re not going to get there through fulfilling the law. Nobody else is going to get there by fulfilling the law except Christ Jesus. And Christ Jesus fulfilled the law. That’s meaning there’s nothing left for you and me to do. So I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter nor the least stroke of the pen will by any means disappear until, from the law, until everything is accomplished. Well, guess what?
SPEAKER 05 :
Everything was accomplished.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, what do you think Christ meant when he said it’s finished? It means everything is accomplished. Yeah, so that’s right. It didn’t disappear until everything is accomplished. And anyone who breaks at least, if that doesn’t get you, keep reading. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these, my commandments, and teaches others to do the same, it says, will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And so that is all pre-cross. It’s all Jesus using Scripture to bury us under the law to show a man that you cannot do this, that you cannot carry it out. That’s why it goes ahead to say, the law says don’t murder. I say that if you’re angry, you’ve already murdered. It says if you don’t commit adultery, I say if you’ve looked at a woman with lust in your heart, Excuse me, if you’ve looked at one of those lusts, you’ve already committed adultery. Now, how is anyone going to live up to that? But what’s it for? It’s to show you you can’t do it. That’s what this passage is trying to show you. You are not going to go into heaven through fulfilling the law.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, yeah, I agree. That makes a lot more sense. Yes, sir. You know, that’s the message we were trying to relay to the guy. He said, well, we’ve still got to live by the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, if you do, you’re dead. You’re under a curse.
SPEAKER 05 :
You can go out and sin every day. And I said, since when do I need the law to go out and sin? I sin every day anyway. You know, since when? You know, it’s just like, you know, I always go back to that free range. You know, you’ve got to license the sin is what people tell us all the time. Since when did I need a license? You know, that’s kind of how they bring it back to us. But that made things a lot more clear for me.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I’ll tell you, when you’re dealing with people, in my opinion… You know what you’re dealing with? You’re dealing with people who are lost. Now, I don’t care what other people say. If you’re under the law, you’re under a curse. And if you’re under the curse, you’re under the curse of the law, which means you’re dead. And I’m going to give you two passages of Scripture to confirm that. Romans 8.14 and Galatians 5.18. Because those who are led by the Spirit, that means walking by faith, by the Spirit of God, are sons of God. If you’re led by the Spirit of God, you’re a son of God. But if you’re led by the Spirit, which is being a son of God, you’re not under the law. Meaning, if you’re under the law, you’re not led by the Spirit. And if you’re not led by the Spirit, you’re not a son of God. Now, you can sit and play with that all you want to, but there’s no other interpretation that you can make of that. If you’re under the law, there’s no way that those Pharisees were saved. You don’t get saved under the law. You have to die to the law that kills you in order to come to Christ for life. The law kills you. And if the law hadn’t shown you your spiritual death yet, then you’re still dead. You think you’re alive, but you’re dead. And so to me, I think you’re talking to a bunch of legalistic, lost people, self-righteous, lost people who are dead, and they need life. Like a friend of mine said, you’ve got to get a person lost before you can get them saved. They don’t know they’re lost.
SPEAKER 05 :
What about the Baptists?
SPEAKER 06 :
I don’t care whether you’re a Baptist or a Catholic or a Presbyterian or a Methodist. You’re lost.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s scary. I mean, not for me because I know where I am. But for some of the people that think they’re saved, I mean, that’s really scary because that’s a large number of people. Huge.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, if you want to get a whole large bunch of people, do what we were studying today in our Bible study, and that’s Hebrews. And when you get into the book of Hebrews and you study what it says in the 10th chapter, it says… Talking about the new covenant that I’ll make with them. Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these have been, not will be, have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Now there’s what he just wrote. Their sins and lawless acts I’ll remember no more. Where these have been, have been forgiven, there’s no longer any sacrifice for sins. Eight verses later, he says, if we deliberately keep on sinning after we receive the knowledge of truth. Now, to the legalists, they never get beyond that I’m sinning. That means I’m violating the law. No, you’re sinning against the knowledge of truth. It tells you that. If you deliberately keep on sinning after you receive the knowledge of truth. Now, what is the knowledge of truth that they’ve just received? Their sins and lawless acts, I’ll remember no more. Where these have been forgiven, there’s no longer any sacrifice for sins. What is sinning against the knowledge of truth? Not believing that, going back to your sacrificial system, trying to live in obedience to the law, in other words, in order to gain way to heaven. Those are sinning against the knowledge of truth. You’ve now heard that you’re not going to get there that way. you have now heard that your sins have been forgiven. So if you are intentionally and deliberately going to keep on sinning against that truth and keep going to your confession booth for forgiveness, keep 1 John 1, 9 for forgiveness, keep going back to your day of atonement for forgiveness, it’s a sign that the only thing that you have to look forward to is going to hell. Now, I didn’t say that. The Bible said that. There’s no sacrifice for sins left if you’re going to deny the last and final sacrifice of Christ Jesus our Lord, the one who did not cover sin, the one who took away sin. And if you’re not going to believe that, then you’re going to go back to your own sacrifices. It’s telling you and me that I’m sorry there’s no sacrifice for sins left. If you’re not going to buy the totality of Jesus’ death on the cross, he didn’t die for some sins. He died to take away the sins of the whole world and to remember them no more. That’s what he said. I don’t remember them anymore. They have been forgiven at the cross. There’s no longer sacrifice for sins anymore. Now, you keep sinning against the knowledge of that. It tells you the only thing you have to look forward to is a fearful expectation of judgment and the raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. That’s going to hell. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves, doesn’t say he will, but deserves to be punished? Who’s done what? Trampled the Son of God underfoot. Brent, I’m taking time on this because the more that I study this, the more I realize there are thousands of evangelicals who, in my opinion, are as lost as can be. They have never put their faith in a Jesus that took away sins. There are thousands of pastors from the pulpit that either are confused in their preaching or are lost. because they are teaching something and deliberately sinning against the knowledge of truth. You have people who stand up and beat the Bible down through the top of the pulpit saying, Jesus died for your sins, past, present, and future, and then turn right around and say, if you confess your sins, he’ll forgive you. That’s double talk. That is deliberately sinning against the knowledge of truth. What is the knowledge of truth? Where sins have been forgiven, there’s no more sacrifice for sins. There is no more sacrifice. That means there’s no more forgiveness. because without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Now, let me continue here. Brent, I’ve got something important to say here. In this passage in Hebrews, it’s a very, very passage that Christians had better get a hold of, because in your heart, I don’t know what’s in your mouth, but in your heart, if you believe, if you believe that you’re asking, or you’re going to the priest, or you’re going to the Day of Atonement, is bringing about God’s forgiveness, you have never repented of your sins of unbelief, period, if that’s in your heart. If, on the other hand, you have come to understand the truth that Jesus has taken it away. then in your heart you’re going to say, thank you. You’re not going to be begging and asking for what you already have. Any more than a Christian who says, I’m a Christian, and asking God to give him eternal life, I’d say, then you do not possess eternal life. So you cannot say you’re saved if you do not possess eternal life. If you do possess eternal life, there’s no need to be asking him for it. You’ll be thanking him for it, but not asking him. So it’s all in your heart. And you know what’s in your heart and what’s not in your heart. You know whether a person, whether you or anyone else or me, is trying to work his way to heaven through his obedience to the law or whether he has come to understand, I can’t do it, but Jesus, you did. You fulfilled it for me. And it says that, that the law has been fulfilled in us through Christ Jesus. Now, with this passage of Scripture, he says, if you’re going to keep on sinning against the knowledge of truth, It says, you deserve because you are trampling the Son of God underfoot. You are insulting the Spirit of grace and treating as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him. Now, this is serious talk, Brad. This is unbelievably serious talk because what the Bible is saying, not me, not you, is to a person that if you are talking out of both sides of your mouth, it’s because you’ve never repented. You have never changed your mind, and you’re still playing around and pussyfooting what I came to do on that cross. I did not say almost paid in full. I said paid in full. I did not die for some sins. I did not cover sins. I took them away from the eyes of God, and I will remember them no more. And where these have been forgiven, there’s no longer any sacrifice. And it says, if you do not come to me with that understanding, now that you’ve heard, you can be naive you can not hear but you’ve now heard anyone in my voice has now heard what the knowledge of truth is in regard to forgiveness no one is without excuse now they’ve heard and if you continue keep on seeking what you what you claim you already have there’s no more sacrifice for left except hell That’s not my words. I don’t like to read them, but it’s what God says. Why? Why is that so? Because you’re trampling the Son of God underfoot, acting as if what he did was no consequence at all. You’re treating as an unholy thing the blood of this covenant, this covenant where God fulfilled the old and ushered in a new covenant of total grace, and you’re insulting the spirit of the grace of God that enabled that to happen. Now, that to me is serious, Brent. That is serious. And I think these people that you’re talking to, you need to get in their face and you need to point in their finger to let them know, my brother, I hate to say this, but according to what you’re saying to me, you are going to hell.
SPEAKER 05 :
And that’s the way I feel. But I can’t judge their heart either. I don’t want to.
SPEAKER 06 :
You don’t have to judge your heart. You’re saying if what you’re saying is really what’s in your heart, you’re going to hell. I don’t know what’s in your heart. I’m just saying, if in your heart you are saying that I’m finding my acceptance in the sight of God, because they’re telling you that you’re a nitwit for believing this, so that means that they believe that they’re right in the sight of God through obedience to the law. And I’m saying to a person like that, you are going to hell. It’s not because I want you to. That’s what the Scripture tells you. No man will ever be declared righteous in the sight of God through obedience to the law.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, can you explain chapter 19, Matthew? So just give me a way because it talks there about whoever practices and teaches these commands will be great in the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, that’s under the law. No one is teaching those commands, and if they are, they’re a hypocrite. Isn’t that what Jesus said? You’re a hypocrite. You’re teaching what you yourself cannot take care of. Look what Paul wrote when he said, after the death, burial, and resurrection, why should we put these Gentiles back under the same bondage of the Jews that they couldn’t fulfill? Everything that Jesus taught was impossible for us to fulfill. His teaching was for the purpose of burying us. How are you going to live from the time you were born to the time you die without lusting? And if you did it one time, he said, you’ve broken all the law. No man will be declared righteous through obedience to the law. The law kills you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, sir.
SPEAKER 06 :
But if you don’t understand that, you go out with this stupid teaching, sending people to hell, quite frankly. To me, it’s a very serious issue, and I’m very compassionate about it, because the more that I study… The older I get in the Lord, the more I mature in the Lord, the more I see the severity of what is going on in Christendom today.
SPEAKER 05 :
Now you know how Paul felt.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, probably not a clue, but I’m getting a glimpse of it for sure.
SPEAKER 05 :
Getting frustrated for sure because we do this all the time. We’re growing in grace, classic Christianity, and church and out of church. But we appreciate your time. That sure helped me a bunch.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay, Brent. God bless. Keep at it, my friend. Okay, bye-bye.
SPEAKER 01 :
Are you looking for encouragement and deeper understanding of God’s Word? Head over to BobGeorge.net where you’ll find books, CDs, and study guides created to help you grow in your faith. And when you order or donate, you’re also helping Bob George Ministries continue sharing the good news with listeners across the country. Your donation, large or small, makes a lasting impact. Visit BobGeorge.net today to explore helpful resources and partner with us in spreading God’s truth. That’s BobGeorge.net. Together, let’s keep this ministry moving forward.
SPEAKER 06 :
We’ll go directly to the phone line and let’s go to Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, listening on WWNL. And Vinny, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hello, Brother Bob. Hi, Vinnie. Brother Bob Krister and Brother Bob Davis.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hey, Vinnie.
SPEAKER 04 :
I just want to wish you ahead of time a very, very happy Resurrection Day. It’s coming up.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, thank you. It’s the best day of the year for sure.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, if it wasn’t for the Resurrection, nothing else would matter.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right, that’s for sure, brother.
SPEAKER 04 :
So, you know, I notice at this time of the year quite frequently, at this time of the year and at Christmas, these television programs like the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, National Geographic, they come up with all these things about archaeological discoveries and everything. I have the feeling, brother… that there’s a little bit, they’re trying, I just have a feeling that there’s somebody behind these. They’re trying to push in a very subtle way, maybe doubt into the Christian. Specifically, last night I was watching, I don’t know, maybe it was National Geographic, I don’t know, but the very beginning of the program, They talked about John the Baptist, and they said, well, Jesus became God after when he was baptized. Now, 66 years of my life, I believed he was God from when he was born. Am I missing something here?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, you missed a good television program. You ought to turn those things off because… Yeah, I think you could have probably watched something more beneficial than those kind of programs because they’re all absolutely nonsense. It’s a bunch of people out there trying to figure out things on their own instead of just taking the scriptures as they are. I saw the same type of programs talking about Jesus really might not have been born in Bethlehem and all this kind of nonsense. And I think, why would people… except there’s only one motivation for that, and that’s to get people away from the inerrancy of the Word of God, Vinnie. And so all of those kind of programs are developed with the thought in mind of casting doubt on the validity of the Word of God. So quite frankly, about two minutes of watching them for me is about all I can handle. If I know that a program is being produced by evangelicals why i’ll sit and watch it but if it’s produced by the networks i’m not going to waste my time getting my head full of nonsense so that’s me and i think you’re i think you hit it right on the head and the best thing to do with that type of thing is to get out your bible and read it if you want to find about jesus don’t go to a tv program go to your bible well you know another thing they brought up was that well
SPEAKER 04 :
In the ancient scriptures in the Greek, this doesn’t matter to me. I don’t care, you know. But they say, well, he really wasn’t a carpenter. He’s probably more tectonic. He was probably more a stonemason or a worker with his hands. Well, what do I care?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. Well, I agree with you, Vinnie. I appreciate your comments on it. The issue is we shouldn’t care, and quite frankly, it’s a waste of time listening to those kind of broadcasts. Right. But, you know, they’re out there, and I think your call probably can be a warning to some people to be careful. Just because something appears to be about Jesus doesn’t mean that it’s being produced by people who know Jesus.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
Vinny, we’ve got to move on, my brother, but I appreciate your call. Okay. Okay, Vinny. Okay. God bless. Bye-bye. Let’s go to Margaret in Denver, Colorado. Margaret, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hi.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hi, Margaret.
SPEAKER 03 :
I just want to ask you, I’ve been having a problem battling the depression.
SPEAKER 02 :
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I’m not getting over it. And I have a psychiatrist and a therapist. And the psychiatrist just gives me medicine.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, that’s what they do.
SPEAKER 03 :
And tells me, I’m not going to change your meds. I’ll see you next time. And that’s all she does. Mm-hmm. And then the therapist just kind of talks to me about what’s going on. But they’re not getting to the root of the problem, and I don’t know what to do about it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Margaret, all depression, when you are feeling depression or feeling depressed, that’s a feeling, isn’t it?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, it’s a terrible feeling.
SPEAKER 06 :
And all feelings come from what you’re thinking. You’re designed that way by God. Nothing unusual about it at all. If you’ve ever felt jealousy, it’s because you were thinking jealous thoughts. If you’ve ever felt angry, it’s because you’re thinking angry thoughts. If you’re ever thinking fearful, it’s because you’re thinking fearful thoughts. If you’re feeling anxious, it’s because you’re feeling thoughts of anxiety. We’re designed that way by God, whereby our feelings are going to predictably respond to whatever we’re thinking. That’s why it says in the Bible, as a man thinks, so is he. Not as he feels, but as he thinks. So what we have to do is to realize that depressing thoughts produce depressing feelings. And the longer we continue in thinking depressing thoughts, it becomes like a swing. That when you first get a kid in a swing, you got to push it. You got to put a little effort behind it. After the momentum keeps going, you just tap it. And what happens to us is we get in habitual thinking of depressing thoughts. And all Satan has to do is just come along from there and tap it. And it almost becomes like it’s a part of you. But where you have to stop that, Margaret, that depression, is at the root. And the root of the depression is involved in two attitudes of the heart. One, unrealistic expectation, and the other is a misplaced dependency. You and I were made by God to live in dependency, but to be in dependency upon Him. When we refuse to do that, either through ignorance, or through rebellion, either one, and we refuse to live in dependency upon him, we’re forced to live in dependency upon something else or someone else. Sometimes it’s people. Sometimes it’s booze. Sometimes it’s drugs. Sometimes it’s all kinds of things that we shift our dependency off of him and put it on someplace else. And when that occurs, we have to recognize that and get it back to where it belongs, and that’s on him. So to me, the root of all depression is spiritual. Now, what I’m going to do, I’m going to put you on hold, and I’m going to have you to talk to Ed Hecht, who is our counselor here at People to People. And Ed’s going to be of some help to you. And then I’m going to have him send you the tape series that we have on how to experience victory over depression. And if we do that, will you listen to it?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay. I’m going to put you on hold, Margaret, and we’ll get right to you, okay? You hang on.
SPEAKER 01 :
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.
SPEAKER 04 :
Put Jesus first in your life and turn your life around.
