On this special call-in edition of Classic Christianity Radio, Bob George takes listener questions covering some of the most difficult and practical issues in the Christian life. Topics include predestination and election, spiritual gifts, unconditional forgiveness, the fruit of the Spirit, freedom from legalism, and what it truly means to walk by faith. With compassion and clarity, Bob points callers back to the finished work of Christ and the grace-centered life believers have in Him.
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 07 :
Well, let’s go to Windsor, Ontario, listening on WMUZ. Fran, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, I would like to know what Paul is saying in Romans 1.11 when he says that he longs to visit them and to impart a spiritual gift. There’s lots of saying going on, so I’d like to be more clear on what the spiritual gift is it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I don’t think that it’s spelled out outside of the gift of salvation that we obviously know is a gift. But it says, I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong. That is, so he’s going to explain that, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. So I would have to assume… that the imparting of the gift that he’s talking about is the gift of faith in Christ Jesus, because he just explains that I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. So that that is, at the beginning of verse 12, is pretty much explaining what he’s dealing with. So I want to impart some spiritual gift, that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. And I think that, again, Fran, many times people look at that and say, well, he’s trying to make your faith stronger. No, he’s trying to make your faith in Jesus stronger. Our faith, none of our faith gets stronger. It gets stronger in him. So what he would be imparting to us is, again, down in verse 16, is the gospel. I’m not ashamed of the gospel. It’s the power of God for salvation. For everyone who believes, first for the Jew and then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last. So again, you’re talking about to impart the gift of faith in the righteousness that is given to us by Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER 04 :
So it has nothing to do to impart power or impart the spirit.
SPEAKER 07 :
There is no power imparted. The only power that’s dealt with in the scripture as it relates to that is the power to comprehend. the height and depth and width and breadth of the love of God. In the book of Ephesians, you’re going to see that spelled out so beautifully, Fran. In the third chapter, beginning in verse 14, Paul prays, For this reason I kneel before the Father, for whom his whole family in heaven and earth derives its name. And I pray that out of his glorious riches that he may strengthen you with power. Now, here’s the power. And everybody wants power. And I always laughingly say, you know, our idea of power and the Bible’s idea of power are two different things. We name our powerful football teams out of powerful bears and Indians and cowboys. But the most powerful man that ever walked on the face of this earth was identified as the Lamb of God.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 07 :
Can you imagine someone naming their football team the Los Angeles Lambs? The Seattle sheep. So power, now you say, what does he want this power to do? Well, it says, I want you to have this power that you may have power, verse 18, power together with all the saints to grasp something. What does he want us to have the power to grasp? How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure with all the fullness of God. which is what it means to be filled with the Spirit. To be filled to the measure with the fullness of God, to be filled with the Spirit, the same thing. And what does that mean? It means to be filled with the love of God, to be controlled by the love of God. So it takes the power of God to keep the love of God paramount in our hearts because the world, as well as Satan, is constantly trying to steal that truth from us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, I understand. Okay. I’m very glad to be able to understand a little bit more with what’s going on.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, thank you, Fran, and I hope that helps you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you. Bye-bye. Okay, bye-bye.
SPEAKER 07 :
Good to hear from you, Fran. Let’s go to Denham Springs, Louisiana. Let’s go on WLNO. Jason, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, how are you doing, Bob? I enjoy listening to you down here. I have a couple of questions for you there. God touched my heart some time back and made me understand that my salvation is by grace and his doings and nothing I’ll ever do. And that was, I guess, one of the best things that ever happened to me, attending some of those churches that drove me crazy with work. And coming out of that was wonderful. But with that, and I look at, you know, I’m not Catholic, so there’s 66 books that are in the Bible that I look at, and every writer of those books, I don’t see any writers that really did anything to come to God. It’s more as God chose each and every one of those, and using Paul as an example. And this leads me to try to understand how are we not to believe that we’re really predestined or predetermined to be called by God, Because I’m not looking for God. No one’s going to choose God. You know, the flesh is going to win out on that. But God has to choose us out of this situation to bring us unto him. Am I not correct?
SPEAKER 07 :
No, you’re not. Jason, it is God’s will that none should perish and all should come to repentance. You don’t have to worry about that. State it as clear as a bell. It is God’s will that none should perish. All should come to repentance. But are all people going to come to repentance? No. Are all people going to be saved? No. Well, it’s God’s will. I know, but you can resist God’s will. Now, that’s totally contrary to Calvinistic thinking. He says that you can’t resist God’s will. Of course you can. And now when you’re dealing with predestination, it has nothing to do with you and me. It has to do with the Jews and Gentiles. And that’s who was predestined, that the Gentiles were predestined, along with the Jews, to become available for salvation. And if you read the book of Ephesians, with that in mind, it all just clears up for you terrifically. He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us. Now he’s talking here to the Ephesians. So we’re reading here, he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. That’s what he chose us for, was to be holy and blameless in his sight. Now, are you right now holy and blameless in the sight of God because of Christ? Absolutely. He made you that way. For that one offering he made forever perfect in the sight of God, all of you whom he made holy. So you have already been. That was his will, and he made you that way. He predestined us to be adopted as his sons. through Jesus Christ in accordance with the pleasure of his will. And here he’s talking about the Jews. In him, we, the Jews, have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us this mystery. And here’s the big deal. The mystery was, They of his will and according to his purpose, which are pleasure, which he purpose in Christ to be put into effect when the times had reached their fulfillment. What is this mystery? We’ll get into it a minute out of the scripture, but it’s the Gentiles will come to Christ the same way the Jews did. That’s the mystery. That was a mystery to the Jew. It was a mystery to the Gentiles, but that is the mystery is Christ in you as a Gentile, your hope of glory. And, um, And we’ll learn over that in a moment over in chapter 3. But let’s continue on so we understand predestination. In him, we were also chosen. Well, who’s the we? The Gentiles, having been predestined according to the plan of him. He works out everything in conformity. with the purpose of his will, in order that we, the Jews, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also, the Gentiles, were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. So it’s dealing with Jew and Gentile. Over in chapter 2, beginning in 11, remember that formerly you who were Gentiles by birth and called the uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision. Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope, without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away, that’s the Gentiles, probably you and me, have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace who has made the two one. Who’s the two? The Jew and the Gentile into one. Who’s the one? The ecclesia called the church and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile by abolishing in his place, the law with its commandments and regulations that Paul said is against us. And his purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, one new man, out of the two, the church, the ecclesia, the born-again man, out of both Jews and Gentiles, thus making peace, and in this one body now, to reconcile both of them, that’s Jew and Gentile, to God, through the cross by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached to you who are far away, that’s the Gentiles, and peace to those who are near, that’s the Jews, for through him we both have access to the Father by one spirit. Paul in chapter 3 talks about, surely you’ve heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you. That is the mystery, now we’re back to this mystery, made known to me by revelation. which I’ve already written about. In reading this, then, you’ll be able to understand my insight into this mystery of Christ, which he has not made known to men in other generations, as is now revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel, the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise of of Jesus Christ. That is what election is. That is what predestination is. It is not yous and me’s. It’s Jews and Gentiles. So in chapter 4, make every effort to keep unity through the spirit of the bond of peace. There’s one body, not a Jew body and a Gentile body. One spirit, not a spirit for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. Just as you are called to one hope when you were called, one Lord… one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. Terrific message of unity that has been used to divide the body of Christ by these people teaching that predestination and election is yous and mes.
SPEAKER 03 :
I see. I see. And in the book of Revelation, and I can’t quote where the other scripture was, also using, if your name not found written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, which again… Jason, when you’re dealing with things like the sovereignty of God, stay out of it.
SPEAKER 07 :
We have no point of reference at that. The fact that God saw the beginning from the end, I have no point of reference to even deal with that. So we leave it where it belongs with him, and we live down here, and that’s how you’ve got to determine your theology is what’s true to me right now.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right now. And the last thing being said is it’s a gift from God. You’re sealed in the spirit. It’s a done deal. You can’t give it back.
SPEAKER 07 :
Amen. That’s for sure.
SPEAKER 03 :
Praise God I can’t give it back because I’d be the first one to mess the deal up.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s for sure. Well, okay, Dan. Thanks so much for your call, Jason. I hope that helped.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 06 :
Question from Dee, who writes to us from Branson, Missouri. Nice place, I understand. Says, hello, a good friend of mine loaned me your CD series on God’s forgiveness, which I’ve been very impressed by. I have a question for you. What do you understand to be a biblical approach to forgiving those who do wrong to us? One which implies that the offender repent or not.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, Bob, the only admonition from Christ is to forgive one another as Christ Jesus forgave us. And again, when we have somebody that really has hurt us, Bob, and many times that happens, insults and injuries and rejections are things that we just experience in life and also pass on to others. Sure. And so many times it’s a tough thing for us to forgive somebody. But then we say, well, look, did Jesus forgive them? Did Christ forgive the sin that they committed against you? And as tough as it is and as hard as it is and disgusting as it is, you have to say, yes, he did. I wish he hadn’t have, but he did. And you say, well, are your standards higher than that of Christ Jesus? Because if God was able to say to the people that he came into his own, these are people he created, Bob, and he came into his own and his own received him not, was able to say, Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing. They do not know what they’re doing. When you’re killing God himself, they don’t know what they’re doing. And you say that type of humility from God himself, shows us that I don’t have that kind of humility, but he becomes the example for it. And so if this person was such that God said, I’m going to forgive them, then why shouldn’t we? And that’s precisely what it means to forgive one another. As Christ Jesus forgave us, how did he forgive us? Totally unconditionally. There was no repentance. There didn’t come back. I’ll forgive you if you say come and say, I’m sorry. All of that nonsensical teaching goes place. If you don’t come in to ask for forgiveness, I’m not going to forgive you. Well, that’s not forgiveness. Correct. And so the issue is it was it was forgiveness. That was that had no bearings on us at all. It’s just I chose to forgive you. And he says, do the same. Yeah. Now, there are times, Bob, I think when things are so tough for us, we were mentioning that in our Bible study the other day, are so tough for us that we can say, Lord, I can’t do this. But let’s think this through a minute. Jesus lives in me, and the Bible says that he’s my life. So if the Jesus who lives in me, who is my life, has forgiven that person, then that’s a spiritual deal. Then you say, well, then if Christ is my life and he’s forgiven them, then so have I. In other words, what my flesh wants to do is irrelevant. He says that we’re to live in the spirit. And so you’re saying, well, Christ Jesus, if you have forgiven them, so have I. It doesn’t matter how I feel. My flesh never is going to want to forgive them. But it’s no longer I who live, it’s Christ who lives in me. And that, Bob, will turn bitterness into forgiveness. Yes, indeed.
SPEAKER 06 :
We appreciate the question from Dee from Branson, Missouri.
SPEAKER 07 :
Newton, Kansas, listening on KJRG. Glenn, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 05 :
Good evening, Bob.
SPEAKER 07 :
How are you doing, brother?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I’m holding this chair down. And I must have faith in it. It’s holding me up.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, there you go.
SPEAKER 05 :
Is this a spirit night or something? I guess so. My question is, I was sitting in a restaurant the other morning drinking coffee, and this guy sitting next to me is kind of a friend, but he’s definitely not an enemy. But he was saying, I don’t remember where it’s found, but By their speaking of Christians, I believe by their fruits, you will know them. And OK, now what what was he describing as fruits?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, it’s not fruits, plural. A lot of times people, it is fruit. It’s a singular. It’s singular. It’s the fruit of the spirit. And that’s in Galatians 5, 22 and 24. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And against these things, there is no law.
SPEAKER 05 :
That was my thinking on it, is what I was getting at. I think… from just what little I’ve talked to the individual, is when he was saying the fruits of the Spirit, and he said fruits, and we’re all in the habit of doing that, I think. Right. The only thing to say that he was telling me, well, this is what I used to do before I got saved, and now this is what I do after I got saved, and I think he’s thinking this is what that means.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, again, Glenn, if anyone is in Christ, he’s a new creation. And old things have passed away, and behold, all things become new. Now, that does not mean, as a lot of times we’ve interpreted that, is all the old things you used to do has passed away and all the new things. Well, that’s nonsense. You still worry. And I’ll guarantee you, if I knew that guy very well, I would probably embarrass him. So the issue is that the old things have passed away. Is the old covenant, the law, what you were under? Because it says before that you came to Christ, you were under the law, held prisoner by the law until faith should be revealed. Now that if any man be in Christ, he’s a new creation. Old things, that law is gone and all things have become new. You’re now living under the new covenant and everything is brand new. Now, when you’re abiding and you’re growing in grace, you’re a child, and you’re starting to grow in grace. And as a child, well, you’re going to fall on your face just like you do as a physical child and all of those things. But God is always there picking us up and directing us into his paths of righteousness. And so if a person is really sincere in their salvation and truly has been saved, They’re going to have an interest in the word of God. They’re going to have an interest in growing in God. They’re going to have all of those kind of interests are different than you had before. Before I was saved, I went to the bar with my buddies. After I was saved, I’ve never been in one since. I have no need to be in one. No one ever told me not to go. Thank God. I probably would have gone had they told me. But the issue is that I didn’t belong there anymore as a new creature. So, Glenn, just to make it short here, in verse 25 tells us the issue. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. You’ve been made into a child of God. Now go live as one. And, again, how do you live as a child of God? Number one, I live with the total knowledge that I am a forgiven person. Therefore, I’m not going to be thinking that God is condemning me. I’m going to live as a person that is free to walk into the presence of God and call him Daddy Father, Abba Father. Why? Because I’m a child of the living God. I’m going to recognize that as long as I have flesh hanging on me that has indwelling sin living in it, that I’m going to blow it. But when I do, I’m going to thank him for his forgiveness and his love and his mercy. And then, as it says, to walk boldly into the throne of grace, calling him daddy, father and receiving mercy in my time of need. And that’s how I’m going to live my life. I’m living in the spirit and I’m going to keep in step with the spirit. And I can’t keep in step with the spirit when I’m believing lies. And so truth is what sets us free and lies are what put us in bondage. And so we need to look to find out what truth is out of the word of God and to walk in that truth and to be set free by that truth. And we’re told, my brothers, you were called to be free. Don’t use your freedom to indulge the flesh. That doesn’t say that if you do, God’s going to zap you. But it says if you’re a child of God, you’ve been called to be free and So don’t use your freedom to indulge the flesh. That annihilates that idea that teaching of grace is going to cause people to go out and sin, as if what they’re teaching them does not cause people to go sin. But don’t use your freedom to indulge the flesh, but rather to serve one another in love. In other words, an attitude of love is an attitude of servitude. The entire law is summed up in a single command. Love your neighbors as yourself. If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out, or you’ll be destroyed by each other. There’s the Christian life.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, well, I didn’t say anything to him because what little I’ve conversed with him, I could see it headed for a big argument, and I don’t go there.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, well, I don’t blame you.
SPEAKER 05 :
When he told me, speaking of law and grace, I’ll say this and then I’ll let somebody else have the line. When he told me that you were both under law and under grace, I said, okay, I quit.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, you knew right then that you were talking to a double-minded man that’s unstable in all ways.
SPEAKER 05 :
So, okay, but that’s what I was thinking that passage meant by the fruit of the Spirit was the fruit of the Spirit.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER 05 :
Not what I did or where I didn’t go or what I did, you know. And I think that’s what he was getting at. Well, thank you very much, and it’s gorgeous here, and I hope it’s gorgeous there.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, not quite as like it probably is in your place. Well, Glenn, it’s good to talk to you, brother, and God bless you, pal.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. Goodbye.
SPEAKER 07 :
Let’s go to Lubbock, Texas. Let’s go on KJAC. Randy, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hey, Bob and Bob. How are you all today?
SPEAKER 07 :
Doing good, Randy. Thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s good to talk to you all. I just had a quick question on the will of God. And I heard a prominent pastor out of Atlanta, Georgia this past Sunday talking about there’s a perfect will of God for all of our lives. However, whenever I look at the Scripture, I don’t see that. I just see that it’s God’s will that we give thanks in all circumstances and that God’s not willing that any should perish. And you don’t see that terminology in the Scripture. And I was wanting to know, Is there a perfect will of God? Because whenever I read the Bible, I don’t personally see that. I see that there’s freedom in Christ. if God puts something on our heart, you know.
SPEAKER 07 :
I think you saw that in the Garden of Eden, didn’t you, Randy? You said of all these trees, there must have been thousands of trees in the Garden of Eden. You’re free to choose which one of those you want to eat from except the one in the middle of the garden, which is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the day that you decide to determine what’s right and wrong and good and evil on your own, you’ll die. But the rest of it, you’re free to choose. And it’s the same thing. God, is there a perfect will? Yeah, God’s perfect will for you and me is to walk by faith. It says this is the will of God concerning you and Christ Jesus. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. So what would God’s perfect will for me be? To walk by faith and love people as Christ Jesus loved us.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 07 :
Not any more complicated than that.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. Well, a lot of the pastors are saying that you’re missing out on God’s best if you’re not in his perfect will.
SPEAKER 07 :
If you’re walking by faith and loving people, you are in his perfect will. So find out how many of us are doing that in the energy of our own flesh.
SPEAKER 02 :
Probably not many.
SPEAKER 07 :
You’re exactly right. You see, these are people a lot of times that sit down, oh, I’m obedient. I’m always looking at obedient to the law. No, they’re not obedient to the law. Paul says, wretched man that I am, when he tried to be a living obedience to the law. If we had the ability to do that, Jesus could have stayed home. But he said, wretched man that I am, who will free me from this bondage of sin and death. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And we have to realize that what God wants us to do now as a person indwelt by him is to walk by faith in him and to love one another as he loved us.
SPEAKER 01 :
Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
SPEAKER 08 :
Put Jesus first in your life and turn your life around.
