In this episode of Classic Christianity Radio, host Bob George engages listeners from all walks of life with profound insights into the essence of Christian faith. The conversation takes us through common theological questions, like the interpretation of 1 John 1:9, offering clarity and guidance for those struggling with doubts about faith and redemption. Bob emphasizes the completeness of Christ’s work on the cross and the ongoing cleansing it provides, inviting believers into a deeper understanding of their relationship with God.
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 03 :
We’re going to go to KCTA in Houston, and Tony, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, sir. I’m calling. I called you last night right at the very end of the storm from Edna, Texas, and you couldn’t hear me. And so we had to end it there. But I want to revisit this 1 John 1.9. I have stood on this verse for the past 10 years as being my road, I guess, as a Christian from carnality back to being filled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, did you get – were you involved in Crusades ministry?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, actually, I got this from Bob Thiem.
SPEAKER 03 :
Bob Thiem, yeah. Well, he’s the one who gave it to Crusade.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. Yeah. I’m still confused, and I don’t know that you’re going to convince me of anything, but I definitely want to hear what your take is on this, because I am – you know, I want to walk with the Lord just as much as any believer, but I – But I am really struggling to see how this is something speaking to, just as I read it in the New American Standard, I don’t see it as speaking to the lost. I see it as speaking to the saved.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Tony, again, there should be a red light for anyone when you realize that there’s no passage from the day of the cross on asking God to forgive your sins. There’s in none of Paul’s writings, that should give a clue to somebody, when Paul wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, there’s not a passage. Well, either these people forgot something quite important, or else they knew something that we evidently have forgotten. And that is that God was in Christ reconciling the whole world unto himself, not counting their sins against them. And so when you’re dealing, that ought to be a red flag to us to realize that, hold on a minute, why would you have to wait until 95 A.D. for people to all of a sudden stay in fellowship with God when they’re doing anything in the Bible about being in and out of fellowship with God? In the Scripture, you’re either in the fellowship saved or out of the fellowship lost, and there’s no such thing as what I was also taught from the same, from a different source than what you were, but really the same. is that you’re bouncing in and out of fellowship. So every time you sin, you’re sitting there wondering if you were out of fellowship with God, and then you had to confess and appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit to get back in fellowship. Well, the fact of the matter is, if you’re in the light, it says, as Christ Jesus is in the light, the result of that is you have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, continually keeps on cleansing you of every sin imaginable. So there isn’t any way to get in darkness, and there really isn’t any way to get in and out of fellowship. The issue is that you’re The issue is that if you are in Christ Jesus, why then you are in fellowship with Christ Jesus, and that means you’re saved. Now, hold on a minute, Tony. Let me finish here because I know where you’re coming from because I used to teach where you’re coming from, and I had some great illustrations that I had to give.
SPEAKER 05 :
My problem is I’m a teacher in a prison just outside of Houston, and if I’m teaching something,
SPEAKER 03 :
is wrong you want to know i want to square it up me too brother and that’s why i came to this conclusion on these things so here’s the deal when you’re looking at and here’s here’s one of the proofs of this type of thing as to who it’s talking to if you’ll turn over to second john you’re going to see he writes to the chosen lady and her children whom i love in the truth and not only i but also all who know the truth because of the truth which lives in us and will be with us forever So we’re told something about the truth. It is in us and will be with us forever. Now, who is the truth? Well, Christ. And so Christ lives in us, and Christ will be with us forever. That’s eternal. We know that to be true. Now, if that is true, which it is, then when you’re claiming to be without sin, you’re deceived and the truth is not in us. If the truth isn’t in us, it’s because it never has been in us, because if it was, it would be with us forever. Right. So you’re claiming something. And these Gnostics that were claiming to be without sin were the same Gnostics that were claiming that Jesus did not come into flesh. And that is the reason in the first chapter of John, he says, we proclaim to you what we’ve seen and heard. And again, that we have seen him, we have heard him, we’ve talked to him. And in order to correct these Gnostics who were claiming that he was some kind of a mystical form. and later on referred to as Antichrist. So the same Gnostics claiming that Jesus didn’t come in the flesh are the same ones who are claiming that they didn’t have sin and identified as an Antichrist. Then you certainly couldn’t identify a Christian as an Antichrist. So that passage right there is enough to realize that if the truth is not in you, it’s because it never has been in you. And then the construct, Tony, on this passage is an unusual construct that And let me just say this. First of all, I came to understand these truths long before I ever looked into the Greek. But again, I realized that the Greek isn’t going to contradict what I know to be true. And so I checked. I’m not a Greek student. I checked with people, the leading Greek professor at Dallas Theological Seminary with many, many Greek professors over at Criswell Bible Institute. And then when I went to Greece, I finally got it good.
SPEAKER 1 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
And when I was teaching that over in Greece, this guy was sitting there looking at me like, what planet did this guy come off of?
SPEAKER 05 :
You’re teaching what I’m thinking?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so he, Nona is teaching that this is a passage to a believer, not to a believer, but to a lost person. And so I went up to him, and he said, well, he said, you know, I’m in a little trouble with that. And I said, well, look, it’s your language. Look in your Bible and see what it says. You know, you didn’t even have to go to seminary to learn Greek, so read it. And so he looked at that and looked at it and looked at it and looked at it, and he said, my goodness, why didn’t we teach this? And I said, I don’t know. That’s why I’m here is to teach it. So the construct on that is this, that the if is I don’t know if you guys are ever going to come to your senses or not. That’s exactly what it’s meaning. I don’t know.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, you may or you may not.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and I don’t know if you’re going to. It’s almost like you’re so far out to lunch that I don’t know if you’re ever going to come to your senses. But in the event that you do, whether it’s today or tomorrow, and that’s the continuing action of this, or the next day or the next year, agree with God concerning your sins. He is faithful and just, and that is to have forgiven our sins and to have cleansed us of all unrighteousness. Now, we know that is true, not only because of the heiress tense of it, but because we knew when that event took place. This was written in 95 A.D., and the event took place in 33 A.D. So we don’t have to wonder when the event took place, when we were cleansed of all our unrighteousness and forgiven of all our sins. And so it is a past act. It’s a snapshot, as you know.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, gosh, I can’t believe it. I’ve just seen it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
I’ve just seen it. It’s saying that he’s going to forgive us our sins, but that’s already happened.
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s already done.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s not an issue of whether or not he’s… Oh, gosh, I can’t believe it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, it’s done. It’s a done deal.
SPEAKER 05 :
No, it’s not.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, now I feel like an idiot. No, I don’t think so at all, because really, Tony, this is where we have been taught. I was taught the same thing you were taught, and I was taught spiritual breathing and you’ve got to confess and get forgiven and then appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit, and I was spiritual breathing and panting and hyperventilating after a while. And I realized, hold on a minute, this is a past act. Jesus has finished his work. When he said it’s finished, he meant it’s finished. So the confession that we make is the fact that it’s done. Lord, thank you. And faith says thank you.
SPEAKER 05 :
So when a Christian is out here walking around, brother, and he messes up, and believe it or not, I actually do a couple of times a day.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, well, you’re doing better than I am.
SPEAKER 05 :
I mean, where are you then? Because I’ve been taught that I’ve been out of bounds whenever I sin.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right.
SPEAKER 05 :
Where are you then? What is the reality of your, what’s the mechanics of what you’re telling me?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, number one, God is not dealing with us on the basis of sin today. He’s dealing with us on the basis of new life. And again, it gets back down, Tony, to this. issue that the only sin that jesus left us with is the sin of unbelief he said the world’s sin is unbelief in me the sins of the entire world were placed upon christ at the cross god teach that and god was in christ reconciling the world unto himself not counting their sins against us and then in romans a phenomenal passage and this is i believe where most people are totally confused in this issue While we were yet enemies, that means lost. We were reconciled to God through the death of his son. We were reconciled before we ever got here.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
How much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? We’re not saved by the death of Christ. You’re saved by the life of Christ. And what you’re saved from is the consequence of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is life. Now, you don’t bring a corpse to life by forgiving them. You bring a corpse to life by imputing life to them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
But in order to give us eternal life, which is what we have, the act on the cross had to be eternal. Because if he gave us life and that cross was not complete, the next time we sinned, we’d die, wouldn’t we?
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
And so we would have a Dracula theology. We’re alive today and dead tomorrow and alive today and dead tomorrow. He took away the sins of the world so that there’s nothing left to do except to go to any man and woman, boy and girl on the face of this earth and say, My son, your sins have been put behind my back never to see them again. But the consequence of sin is death, and you’re dead, and you need life. And I came that you might have life. I’m the way, I’m the truth, I’m the life. I’m the resurrection and the life. And whosoever believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in me will never die. And it’s an issue of life and death. Well, we’ve stopped at the cross in our salvation message instead of going to the cross and then through the cross to the empty tomb And to understand what Paul did when he said without the resurrection, we’re to be pitied of all people and are still in our sins. Well, certainly he knew the cross occurred. But what was provided for the world at the cross is received only in his resurrected life. And that’s why we come to him not for forgiveness. We come for life. And in that life, we have forgiveness. And so it’s a done deal. And so faith is going to have to say thank you. I mean, if something is done, faith says thank you. I don’t ask God. to give me eternal life as a born-again believer because I already have it. I say thank you for it. In him you have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. I don’t ask God to redeem me. Why? I’m already redeemed. Well, what else am I? Forgiven. So in both of those cases, if I’m going to function by faith, I’m going to say thank you.
SPEAKER 05 :
So you just put it behind you like Paul said.
SPEAKER 03 :
Absolutely. And then we move on to what caused the sin that we did when we mess up. It’s because we stopped believing God. Because the root of all sin is unbelief. And that’s where he says, come, let’s reason together. Right, right, right. And that’s where we learn. We say, Lord Jesus, I wasn’t trusting you in that. I was trusting my old flesh. I was saying to do this and this and this, but I wasn’t trusting you. And he says, I know. That’s why I’ve pointed it out to you.
SPEAKER 05 :
So I’m not confessing. In my endeavor with 1 John 1, 9, I’m not confessing the very thing that needs to be confessed if there’s anything that needs to be confessed, and that’s my unbelief.
SPEAKER 03 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 05 :
I’m confessing. whatever, but I’m not confessing the unbelief.
SPEAKER 03 :
Absolutely. Absolutely. And you live in that delusion thinking you’re doing good and keeping yourself clean before God, and the fact is you’re walking in unbelief but not trusting Christ that he meant what he said when he said it’s finished.
SPEAKER 05 :
I’m a big proponent of eternal security, and I’ve missed this single point. Where in classic Christianity is this covered?
SPEAKER 03 :
I’ll tell you where it is covered in great detail is in our book that is called Faith That Pleases God. And I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Tony. I’ll mail that to you as our compliments and let you read through because we go through a great detail on that whole passage.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I think that will be helpful to you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, man, that would be great. I’m a big book lover, so that’s. That would be great.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I’ll be more than happy to do that for you, and we’ll get that on our way to you. And then you read through and you’ve got any further questions, don’t hesitate to call us, brother.
SPEAKER 05 :
Man, I really appreciate it. You’ve made my day.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, good, Tony.
SPEAKER 05 :
Praise God for you guys.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, thank you, brother, and we appreciate your call. And you’re teaching a lot of prisoners over there. And I’ll tell you one of the greatest news. You know, when I first came to this, Tony, I was teaching a group of men in the about a 6.30 in the morning Bible study, a whole group of laymen in the church that I was in. I walked in one day and I said, guys, I’ve got some good news and bad news for you. What do you want first? They said the bad news. I said, I’ve been teaching you wrong. What’s the good news? I think I know what’s right. And we started, and this just keeps deepening and deepening and deepening as we really come to understand that if we’re going to walk by faith, we’re going to have to walk by faith and truth. And the truth is our sins have been taken away. And I say thank you for that. and then ask God to renew my mind on what caused me to doubt him and to believe Satan.
SPEAKER 05 :
The strangest thing is that the colonel teaches that sin is not the issue.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
But then he teaches, and I know everybody’s got their little thing that they mess up on, but for him to teach that sin is not the issue and then to teach the first child.
SPEAKER 03 :
I know, it’s contradiction.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s very much so. Okay, well, who do I need to give my address to?
SPEAKER 03 :
I will put you on hold, and we’ll get that information down and get it out to you. And also, our Internet website is realanswers.net if you want to pick up any audio files on that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay? You hang on, brother.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thanks for keeping me company here in the hotel room in Victoria. You’re welcome, brother.
SPEAKER 03 :
And stay out of that storm.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, pal. You hang on now. Thanks.
SPEAKER 06 :
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 03 :
We’re going to go to Denver, Colorado, listening on KLTT. Antoinette, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hello.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hi, how are you?
SPEAKER 02 :
i’m fine i just got it i just got listening to the show yesterday and i want to say that i praise the lord for what y’all do for people and i bless y’all because y’all are very good people i sound young and i am young i’m only 11 well great and i hope you’ll keep listening i will well that’s great well we uh
SPEAKER 03 :
After that, whether you’re 11 years old or 111, the truth of the word of God is available to you, and the spirit of God lives in you as a little Christian, and he will continue to reveal the meaning of the word of God to you as you allow him to do that. And so you’ve got a great life ahead of you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and I appreciate your calling.
SPEAKER 02 :
Boys, do you want to say hi?
SPEAKER 03 :
Beg pardon?
SPEAKER 02 :
My brothers want to say hi.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, okay. That’s great. Hi. Hi, guys. Hi. How are you doing, my little brother?
SPEAKER 02 :
My brother is funny. Well, I just wanted to say that y’all keep doing what y’all are doing. Praise the Lord for y’all.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, thank you so much, and God bless you. Thanks, Antoinette. Great to hear from you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye now. We’re going to go to Mission Viejo, California, listening on Kaybright. And, Cesar, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 01 :
Hi, Bob. How are you doing?
SPEAKER 03 :
Doing fine, brother. Good to hear from you.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you, Bob. My question is in 1 Corinthians 6.12, where Paul is saying everything is permissible, but not all things are profitable. My question is, is he actually talking about all sin is permissible?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, the issue there, Caesar, is if something is not permissible, why, then it’s a law, isn’t it? And you’re no longer under the law. The law tells you what is permissible and what is not permissible. Basically, the law tells you what is permissible or what is not permissible. and we’re no longer under the law, we’re now being led internally by the Holy Spirit of God so that our decision-making in regard to, as it’s talking here, sexual immorality or worry or being anxious, all of those are sins, so that what we have is not that there’s a law saying that you shall not do that, and if you do, you will surely die, which you cannot separate the law from the punishment of the law. And so we had to be freed from the law in order to be freed from the punishment of the law, but today we’re being led internally by the Spirit of God. And so our decision-making processes are not, is it against the law? Is it beneficial? Is it permissible? Is it permissible for me to go out and get all drunk tonight? Yeah, it’s permissible, but it would be the dumbest thing that I’d ever do in my life. And that’s the decision-making. It’s not that I can’t do it. As a matter of fact, the power of sin is in the law, which means you tell a person not to do something, you put them under the power of sin to want to do something. And so we’ve been freed from that power of sin by being freed from the law so that today we’re able to make decisions based upon really what is beneficial. And so there’s the decision-making process because if you do something, that you say is not permissible, is there punishment for that from God? No. The punishment for that was placed upon Jesus. Is there judgment for it? No. There is no more judgment for our sins. Our sins have already been judged. And the verdict was guilty, and the punishment was death, and Christ Jesus took it all. That’s why there’s none left for you and me. So that’s why he’s able to say that everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Now I’ve got an intelligent way to gauge my life and my activity. Is it beneficial? Is this something that’s beneficial for me? Is going out and committing adultery beneficial for my family and for my wife and for my children? Is going out and stealing something, is that beneficial for me and for my family and for my relationship with God? And the answer to that is no. It’s not that I can’t do it because if I do, I’ll be punished because it’s not true. By the law, I’ll be punished, by human law. But it’s just plain stupid. It’s just not beneficial.
SPEAKER 01 :
Okay, now, Bob, if we back up to verse 9, Paul is labeling some of these people, and actually Jesus is labeling them as dogs at the last chapter of Revelation. These are adulterers, homosexuals.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, let’s not stop there. Slanderers, swindlers, greedy. You see, those are words that we don’t want to deal with. We’d rather deal with drunkards and prostitutes and homosexuals. But what about greedy? You know, what about slandering people? What about swindling people? You see, those are all connected there. And what that is, Cesar, is an indicator of a person who’s lost because he says, but, and there’s the but, the contrast. You were washed and you were sanctified and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our Lord. He didn’t say that. What he’s saying is you’re no longer a lost person. that is engaged in all of these things that are indicators that you are lost. It doesn’t mean that a saved person cannot do one of those things any more than a lost person can do good things. But the issue is you’ve been made into a new creation. And as a new creation, these things should not be a part of your life. It is not beneficial for them to be a part of your life any longer.
SPEAKER 01 :
My final question is going to draw the line basically because Let’s say a practicing homosexual or a gay priest claims that they know Jesus Christ based on John 3.16, and they claim they’re struggling with this thing. Now, are these people saved?
SPEAKER 03 :
Cesar. Cesar. It would be like me saying to you that you claim that you’re saved, but you worry. Are you saved? Well, of course you’re saved, but you’re saved and you’re worried. You’re saved and you’re anxious. You’re saved and sometimes you exaggerate stories. Of course it can happen. But the issue, what he’s saying is it’s not beneficial for you to do those things. And that’s ultimately what’s going to cause the repentance is the fact this is stupid. You know, I’d rather be sinful than stupid. We don’t like to be stupid, but what this is saying here, this is stupid behavior for you to think about going back to the kind of behavior. that you got so miserable in that it caused you to come to Jesus to begin with. That doesn’t make any sense. So the decision-making process is, this is not my lifestyle. That’s not who I am anymore. So to answer your question on that, can a person be struggling with something? Of course. If a person was practicing homosexuality, as an example, that’s not the worst sin on the face of the earth. It’s one of them. Practicing homosexuality and came to Christ with all of those desires, go away? Well, of course not. If a person was practicing sex outside of marriage and became a Christian, do they all of a sudden, those desires go away? Of course not. That’s why you have a struggle between the flesh and the spirit. But if you’re in Christ Jesus, you have a new way of looking at this situation. It’s not that I can’t do it. It’s the fact it’s not beneficial for me to do it.
SPEAKER 01 :
Exactly. I do believe that. But it’s just that I’m wondering, do we have to draw the line, basically, I mean, there are these gay priests that are popping up all over the country claiming they know Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Cesar, here’s what I say about that. From what the people that you’re talking about, the gay priests that you’re talking about, I have great doubt in my heart that any of these people have ever been born again. Now, that’s going to sound strange to somebody, but it isn’t strange at all. When you know the doctrine that is being taught in the seminaries, that produce some of these people don’t tell me that they’ve ever caught the clear truth of the gospel. And so what I look at is these things that are taking place is merely a reflection of people practicing religion that do not have a clue as to a relationship in Christ Jesus. Because if they did, they would realize this is not behavior that’s beneficial.
SPEAKER 01 :
I think you answered my question right there, Bob. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER 03 :
You’re sure welcome, my brother. Bye-bye. God bless you, sir. You know, Bob, we were talking about it so many times. I think of the passage of Scripture where it said that they saw the miracles that Jesus did and believed in his name. And we say, oh, save people. But we don’t keep reading. It says, but Jesus did not entrust himself to them because he knows man and did not need the testimony of man concerning man. We have such a tendency to say, well, this person is in the pulpit or whatever, so he’s saved. We don’t know if he’s saved or not. And especially when they’ve come out of a denomination that has turned totally liberal, I will guarantee you, Bob, that the vast majority, and we know this from statistics, that I think something like 70% of the professors in seminaries of all denominations, Catholic as well as Protestant, You do not even believe in a virgin birth. Now, how are they going to be saved? Because if I can’t believe in a virgin birth, then I can’t believe in Jesus. And yet we’ll be claiming that they’re a Christian. What meaning? That I follow Christian ethics and principles. That’s not a Christian. And so I think what Cesar was talking about there is the fact we’re assuming something that we cannot assume. And and I believe that what the scripture is saying there is if these kind of things are continually taking place in your life, you better check your faith. You know, someone said the other day, I thought it was a good statement that faith that has not been tested cannot be trusted. And I think that’s very true. And part of the testing of a person’s faith is how you doing of walking in love. And so so these are these are questions that we have to get down and ask each other.
SPEAKER 06 :
Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
