In this episode of Classic Christianity Radio, host Bob George addresses questions from call-in listeners about spirituality and Christian doctrines. A caller from Fredericksburg seeks to understand the concept of being made alive in Christ, leading Bob to delve into the necessity of spiritual rebirth and the significance of the resurrection. The discussion highlights the distinction between being spiritually dead and alive, emphasizing the transformative power of accepting Christ.
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 Fredericksburg, Virginia, listening on the internet. Bill, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hello, Bob. Good to talk with you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thanks, Bill.
SPEAKER 06 :
I’m a relatively new Christian, so I’ve got a lot of questions. But if I can just squeeze in a couple of them, maybe I can call you later. Broadcast for the rest of the stuff I’ve got in my head. Okay.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it’s a daily broadcast, so you can call every day.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay. Well, I guess my first one would be Colossians 2. Colossians 2.13. Okay. Okay. And this ought not to be a problem, but it says, I’m sure you’re familiar with the verse. More specifically, it says, God made you alive with Christ while we were dead in our sins. Yes. In the uncircumcision of our hearts. Does that mean that before, even before I accepted Christ into my heart, he was already there?
SPEAKER 03 :
No. No, what it means, Bill, is what you need to look at is the condition that you were in before you were born again. You were dead spiritually. The wages of sin is death. And the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So you were born into this world not alive spiritually but dead spiritually. Nobody came out of the mother’s womb saying praise Jesus. We weren’t born believers. We weren’t born born again of the spirit. Born again naturally, yes, but not spiritually. And that’s why Jesus told Nicodemus that unless a man is born of the water, which is natural birth, and the spirit, which is spiritual birth, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. There’s two births that are necessary. And the reason that you have to be born spiritually is because you’re dead spiritually. And that sometimes is a very missing teaching, Bill. We talk about the cross and to go get forgiveness, where the fact is that you’re already forgiven when you’re born. God was in Christ reconciling the whole world unto himself, not counting our sins against us. And when we were yet enemies… We were reconciled to God through the death of his son. That was the work of the cross, was to reconcile the entire world unto himself as far as the sin issue. But there still is a consequence to sin called death that can only be corrected by the resurrected life of Christ Jesus. And so for salvation to really occur, the fullness of salvation, a man must realize his condition as it’s revealed by God. You’re a sinner and you’re dead. There’s a consequence, death. So sin had to be corrected, which was corrected at the cross, taken away from the eyes of God. And the resurrection is what enables you to be raised from your condition of spiritual death into spiritual life in Christ Jesus. And so that’s the meaning of the resurrection, is that life that raised Jesus from the dead is available to raise you from the dead. So when you’re born again, the Spirit of God comes and takes up residence in your heart, restoring in you what you had lost in Adam, that being the Spirit of God living in you. And he makes you complete. That’s the way Adam was completed, alive spiritually, soulishly, and bodily. And when he died, he died spiritually. Death is the absence of life. The life of God departed from him, leaving his human spirit dead to God, but very much alive to the world. And when you’re born again, you’re born of the Spirit as a new creation.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay, very good.
SPEAKER 03 :
Does that help, brother?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, it does. I guess it’s just that part where it says, made you alive. It says, while we were dead, God made us alive. It’s like, wait a minute. I got God made us alive when I received Christ in my heart. Then God made me alive.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, Bill, so when you were born into this world, so you were born dead spiritually, right? Death is the absence of life. The life of God was not living in you. So what you’re saying was right. The moment that you accepted. The living Christ into your life, you were made alive in Christ Jesus. Prior to that time, you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your sinful nature. And then when you were born again, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all your sins.
SPEAKER 06 :
So that’s the order. Okay, got it. He didn’t make me alive while I was dead. No. That’s what Roosevelt did.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, he made you alive at spiritual birth.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay, gotcha.
SPEAKER 03 :
Because you were spiritually dead, meaning you weren’t alive spiritually until you were born again of the Spirit. And when the Spirit came to live within you, you were made alive spiritually.
SPEAKER 06 :
Gotcha. And the purpose of the cross, of course, is what made me dead will not happen again.
SPEAKER 03 :
Absolutely. It is impossible for you to ever experience spiritual death again. Okay, got it. And that’s because of the cross where he took away the cause of death.
SPEAKER 06 :
Gotcha. Okay, very good. This has always been a stumbling block for many years. This is another type of question. You’re familiar with the verse of Romans 8? Well, when Paul says, nothing can separate us from the love of God. The love of God, okay. With that premise in mind, this question. For those who’ve decided not to accept Christ and they’re in the depths of hell, okay, Is there any biblical justification where this person could say, I goofed, God? Does your love, can it reach down to me now? Or is it like, I’m sorry, pal, you had your chance? I mean, I know I’m going to sound glib, but is that?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I think that God allows you to live eternally where you choose. And so is that a one time? So if you’re in hell, you can’t like, gosh, there’s no no, not according to the scripture. There’s no redemption from there at all. You have chosen to do that. You’ve chose to reject the son of God and reject him. No. Oh, wow. Wow. Yeah. That’s why. Otherwise, you’d really not even need evangelism. You could just tell a person, well, if you go to hell, you can always get out of there by accepting Jesus. But you have chosen where you want to spend eternity. And God allows you to go where you choose.
SPEAKER 06 :
Is there a particular verse that stands to you in mind that I can show to a family member that this is not… Maybe this is the Catholic origins in our family. I don’t know what this purgatory deal is. But is there anything in this that stands to mind where it’s like, you kind of have to make it this side of death. I mean, this side of…
SPEAKER 03 :
of the great well that’s the whole teaching of the scripture on their bill and there’s no teaching on purgatory so and i know there’s a nonsense yeah there’s where the difference comes in there’s there’s no there’s no way to do that but what i would say to people like that is why would you want to gamble on that type of thing why would you want to be in hell and hope to hell that somebody pays praise you out of there why would you want to go through that type of thing why not recognize what the bible is saying that i don’t care whether you’re a catholic or a protestant uh you’re dead spiritually and and in need of life and why not turn to him for life instead of hopefully waiting that you choose to not turn to him for life but in hell maybe somehow pray me out of there that didn’t make any sense okay yeah or a legacy see what that person just changed their mind
SPEAKER 06 :
and say, oh, God, I, you know, whatever.
SPEAKER 03 :
There’s going to be a lot of people, in my opinion, some of them trying to bite their elbows in hell, wondering what in the world was wrong with me, that all I had to do, because the sin issues had already been settled, and all I had to do was to recognize my condition of spiritual death and to come to him for life. But instead of that, I was playing Catholic and playing Protestant and playing all these religious games instead of seeing that this is a very severe issue, that if I am dead, and that was not my fault, I was born that way, and God has come to offer me life, and I’d rather play religion than get life, that to me is pretty dumb. But that’s the way people are.
SPEAKER 06 :
Would it be safe to say that God… no longer loves that person who has rejected him in this lifetime? Would that be safe to say?
SPEAKER 03 :
I don’t think that we, you know, one way or the other, I don’t think I need to even know that one way or the other. I think when we were God’s enemies, God loved us so much that he gave his only begotten son. So I don’t think that it’s a case that God’s love would not be there. But the issue is that God’s love was manifested by sending his son. And that’s a pretty good sacrifice. And if you are refusing, the only way that there is to get into eternal life is There’s nothing God can do with that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay. Very good. Very good. All right. Thank you. I’ll just stop it for another time. I appreciate your trouble.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. Good to talk to you, Bill. You call anytime.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you, sir.
SPEAKER 03 :
Bye-bye. Let’s go to Monticello, Mississippi. Let’s go on WLNO. Danny, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hey, Bob. Hey, Bob. How y’all doing this evening?
SPEAKER 03 :
Doing good, brother. Danny?
SPEAKER 02 :
Good. Look, I listen to y’all every night between New Orleans and Monticello. I enjoy your show. I got a question for you, and I heard you reference to it a few minutes ago, about following your denomination. It appears that, I guess what I’m asking is, do you not like any organized denomination? I mean, do you think having an organized denomination is wrong?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Danny, it’s not the case whether it’s right or wrong. I mean, you can take a look at why did it come into existence to begin with. It certainly is a variance from the apostles’ teaching, or you wouldn’t need a denomination, would you? If you are relying upon the teaching of the original language of Christ Jesus and through the apostles and asking God to reveal the truth of what the meaning of the Word of God is… There shouldn’t be a big division among denominations. But when you stop to think that the splits, the early church met in homes. They weren’t a denomination. They were in home Bible studies, and as it says in the Bible, daily studying the apostles’ teaching and fellowship and prayer. They met daily for those activities. Right. One of the biggest atrocities came when Constantine called Christianity a national religion, and you had to start building buildings in order to house people who weren’t saved, but they had to say they were in order to find favor with the government.
SPEAKER 02 :
With the denomination that I’m associated with, our doctrine of salvation is the same as yours. You’re only saved through Jesus and the finished work of God. Christ at the cross. And our doctrine of salvation and keeping your salvation is the same doctrine that you’re teaching, that God keeps your salvation until the day of redemption. So it’s not that we’re teaching false doctrine, but the one thing that I like about our particular denomination is that you have a number of like churches who’s paying it to a headquarters who’s dumping millions of dollars to send missionaries overseas and funding them to finish reaching out to the lost in other countries and also in our local United States, our home mission board. And what I was trying to get at is whether or not you believe that if we’re teaching true doctrines, that it’s wrong that we have organized ourselves And we’re pulling our funds and pulling our money.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Danny, the thing of it is, you’re talking about the Southern Baptists. You’re talking about the Baptist denomination.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s correct.
SPEAKER 03 :
And the thing of it is, you’ve got pastors in the Baptist denomination that don’t even believe in the virgin birth. So that’s why you cannot put everybody in the same hoop. So if you’re in a congregation, because the denomination can be all over the place. They’re all over the place with end times. and all over the place period so what you have to do is to take a look at here’s what i believe the bible has to say and in this group that i am in in this local assembly they believe the same way and i think that’s truth praise god for that don’t try to institutionalize it if the denomination is doing great things that’s good that they’re doing great things but again in the final analysis It’s the truth of the word of God that’s going to set you free. And I will say that overall, in my opinion, the Baptist denomination is the closest to the truth of anybody that I know of.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s it.
SPEAKER 03 :
We’ve got to go, guys. You’ve just got to call that as what’s personal.
SPEAKER 01 :
Classic Christianity Radio is a listener-funded program, and because of your generous donations, we are able to be on the air. Go to bobgeorge.net to order the life-changing audio CD series, The New Covenant, Law and Grace, and How to Have a Proper Self-Image. These series are essential to understanding our inheritance in Christ, what it means to experience freedom and the abundant life in Christ, living under grace, not under the law, and to see ourselves as God sees us, as a completely forgiven person, loved perfectly and righteous in His sight. Please visit bobgeorge.net for additional information on how you can join us financially and help support the radio ministry. With your prayers and support, we can continue to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Let’s continue now with our classic Christianity radio program.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, listening on WGUN. Carl, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes. How you doing, Bob and Bob?
SPEAKER 03 :
Real good, Carl.
SPEAKER 05 :
Great. I know I’ve been hearing this a long time. I’ve been listening to your show for a while now. Every day I come home from work, I’ll be listening to it. But that first John 1 now, it still gets me. I’m trying to make sense of it, trying to understand it. I was trying to explain it to a couple of guys at the job, and I made a mess of it. I just want you to explain it to me again. Do you have any books on that or something like that I can study and read on it?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Carl, when people are having difficulty with one verse of Scripture, 1 John 1, 9, they’re not having problems with 1 John 1, 9. They’re having problems with the completeness of the cross. What they’re having problems with is that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not counting their sins against them. And he died not only for our sins, but the sins of the whole world. That’s what they’re having problems with and not believing in. Because if they believed in that, they wouldn’t be having any trouble with 1 John 1.9. So the only reason a person is having trouble with 1 John 1.9 is because they don’t believe that Jesus met when he said, when he cried out from the cross, it’s finished. 1 John 1.9 is number one. If a preacher would just understand, it’s not a passage to the saved, but a passage to the lost. If the truth isn’t living in you, you can’t be saved. Jesus is the truth. And there’s no way to be saved if Jesus isn’t living in you or the truth isn’t living in you. So people claiming to be without sin… That’s an indicator that the truth doesn’t live in them. They’re lost.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
And on the other hand, it says if they ever come to their senses and agree to agree with God, say the same thing about their sins and their lost condition, that God says he’s faithful and just to have faith. forgiven their sins, and to have cleansed us of all unrighteousness. The reason we have so much difficulty is because of poor translations. I do not know for the life of me why translators who know full well that that is an aorist tense, a past action, with continual results to it and do not translate that he’s faithful and just to have forgiven and to have plans because it’s the only way that you can translate an heiress tense uh… and so uh… that passage is not saying for a person to ask god to forgive them it’s saying if you agree with god that you are a sinner, he’s faithful and just to have forgiven you. And so even that passage isn’t dealing with forgiveness. And also, if you interpret that passage right, the beauty of it is that believers are supposed to be agreeing with God concerning their sins. So you’re not saying that a believer doesn’t agree with God concerning their sins. You’re saying that a believer does agree with God concerning their sins and also agrees with God when he said it’s finished, that it’s forgiven. And so we just don’t want to let go of our having something to do with our forgiveness instead of walking by faith in it. But the reality of that passage is an agreement with God that, yes, I am a sinner. And, yes, I do have a sin nature. And, yes, you did go to a cross 2,000 years ago and take that sin away from the eyes of God never to see it again. And that’s what that verse is explaining.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Great. Do you have any books, George, that I can read?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, well, our last book that we wrote is Faith That Pleases God. There’s a very detailed explanation of the Greek structure of that verse as well in that book. And there’s also a little book that we offer free of charge called Forgiven Forever. But that doesn’t go into the detail in 1 John 1, 9 that we do in the book Faith That Pleases God.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Are y’all ever coming to Atlanta, Georgia?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I think we’re going to be there sometime this year with a radio rally. I don’t know for sure what the date is on that, but I know we’re going to be there.
SPEAKER 05 :
I sure will be there if y’all come here.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, that’s great. Listen, brother, we’ll be glad to put you on hold and get that information to you as to how you can pick up that book, Forgiven Forever. Okay. Carl, we have today the same problem that you had back in Jesus’ day. He says that you hang on to your traditions and deny the Word of God.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
And people are hanging on to their traditions. I had a lady that wrote today just chastising me for making the statement about the confession booth. Well, where’s a confession booth? Where are you going to find a confession booth in the Bible? It’s not there. When Jesus said it’s finished, that ends the sacrificial system of the Jews that were far in excess and longer and older than confession booths. So if anyone should be mad, it ought to be them. But Jesus said there’s no more sacrifice for sins. You can put those away. Jesus is the final sacrifice. That’s right. I believe that. Therefore, there’s no need for a sacrifice of a bull and goat when you’ve sacrificed the blood of the lamb. There’s no need for a confession booth to get your sins forgiven because Jesus has already done that. And there’s no need to be sitting around in introspection trying to keep short accounts with God because you’re keeping accounts with what God has already forgotten. It’s behind his back never to see him again.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
And so all of those are man-made traditional things. You’re not going to find any of that in the Scripture. And now if your standard of truth is what your denomination tells you, why then pitch your Bible away and just ask your denomination what you’re supposed to believe, and you’ll believe it. That’s what a lot of people do. But that is not the source. The source of truth is the Bible itself. not your denomination. That’s right. I believe that. That’s right. Yeah. So that’s where we are called saints with the ability to understand the meaning of the word of God. If we’ll rely upon the spirit of God who lives in us to reveal that to us.
SPEAKER 05 :
Great. Oh, my God, that helped me out. Hold up, Bob.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, brother. We’ll put you on hold and get that information. All right. Thank you very much. Let’s go to Indianapolis, Indiana. Bob, I listen on WBRI. Kevin, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hi, Bob.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hi, Kevin.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, Bob, the reason I’m calling, I called you a little while ago and told you about losing my father. And I just found out that my mother has terminal cancer and is probably going to be dying in a few days.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 04 :
And my question has to do with grieving, because I was reading in Thessalonians where Paul says we’re not to grieve as other people do, but… I’m just wondering, are we still allowed to, because it’s hard for me not to grieve over losing my mother. I mean, it’s hard for me to let go.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, absolutely, Kevin. And when Paul is saying that you don’t grieve like the heathen do, it’s just how did the heathen grieve and what you saw in that part of the world. Our people, you literally had wailers that you hired for funerals that came in and wailed and cried and moaned and everything else. And that was all of the tradition of the lost. And he’s saying, don’t get involved in those type of things. There’s natural grieving that you’re going to have. But at the same time, if you’re in Christ and the people who are like your mother and father are both in Christ, there’s two things. I’m going to grieve because I’m going to miss the daylights out of them. And to this day, my dad’s been dead since 1969. To this day, I wish sometimes I could pick up the phone and call dad and say hi. but he’s there in heaven, and I wouldn’t bring him back for all the world, for all the Tian China. I would not do that, because I know where he is in the presence of the Lord, and I know I’m going to be there with him someday. I’m looking forward to that day. But in the meantime, to say, do I miss him? Sure, I miss him. I miss mom and dad. And there was a certain grieving period, but it was not like it would have been had I not known the Lord. And there’s the issue. You can grieve, but you’re not going to grieve like a lost person who has no hope because you do have hope. So your grieving is combined with the blessed hope that you have in Christ Jesus and with the total awareness of the fact that your parents will both One has been, the other will be absent from the body and immediately present in the Lord. Never to see things like cancer again, sickness, all of this stuff that we have to go through here on this earth that we live in, Kevin. The trials, the tribulation, the wars, the rumors of wars, people ripping people off, arguing, feuding, fighting, fussing. All of that’s over. And to realize that that’s what’s up ahead of us, there’s no prolonged grieving. The grieving is, I’m going to miss them, but I wish I could trade places with them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, when I prayed last night, I just said, Lord, I said, I know that my mom belongs to you, and I was just turning her over to him.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, in my mom’s latter days, I used to leave the nursing home where mom was, and my mom was a beautiful woman. And I’m not saying that because I was her child. She was a beautiful woman. And to see what age and sickness devastates the human person, and to see the person with teeth falling out of their heads and shriveled down to just a mere speck of themselves, And I remember going out and sitting in the car and crying my eyes out every time I went to visit my mom and saying, Lord Jesus, take her home. Take her home to be with you. And that was my sincere prayer that I don’t want my mom to suffer here anymore when glory is up ahead of her. And that is basically, I think. what takes the grieving process and shortens it down and lessens the extent of the grief. Because I know where they are, and I know that they’re in a better place than I am, and I know I wouldn’t call them back for anything in the world. And you know the same thing, and you’re still going to miss them, you’re still going to have a period of grief, but it isn’t going to be like the heathen grief.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, Bob, I appreciate your help.
SPEAKER 03 :
You’re sure welcome, my brother. God bless you, pal.
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 02 :
Put Jesus first in your life and turn your life around.
