This call-in episode of Classic Christianity Radio features Bob George fielding a wide range of questions that span both cultural issues and core biblical doctrine.
The hour begins with a discussion on attention deficit disorder and modern psychological diagnoses, contrasting human reasoning with a biblical understanding of human nature. From there, Bob addresses confusion around being “born of water and the Spirit,” clarifying the difference between physical birth and spiritual rebirth.
As calls continue, the focus shifts to foundational theology—explaining the new covenant of grace, what it means to be fully forgiven in Christ, and why believers are called to live
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 02 :
We’re going to go to Atlanta, Georgia, listening on WGUN. Michael, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, Bob George. How are you doing?
SPEAKER 02 :
Doing fine, Michael. Thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, of course I have a comment that will lead to a question. I’ll make this real quick before I leave you for the next caller. I am concerned about people who talk about the attention deficit disorder and, of course, behavioral disorder and psychological disorder and all kinds of other disorders. But I don’t see that in the scripture. I know people have mentioned, even I talked to a person today and said, well, where does the attention deficit order come from? And they said, well, it’s inherited. Well, I don’t see that in Scripture, although, of course, we all inherit sin. So I just want to get your intake on this and where on earth are they getting this attention deficit disorder and all these behavioral disorders from? I know they say it’s inherited. And I know you have talked about this before, but I just want you to explain it just to refresh my memory on where the people are getting this.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, this attention deficit disorder probably comes from observing congregations on Sunday morning. I think you’re being silly, Bob. Well, again, you know, people say kids have attention deficit disorder. What kid doesn’t, for goodness sakes? I don’t believe I sat in school with my eyes glued on the teacher, looking at it, listening to every word she said. I was looking out the window and throwing spitballs at people and everything under the sun and would probably have been diagnosed as attention deficit disorder. Whenever you see these things, it all comes from the psychological world that doesn’t know God from an apple tree. doesn’t want to know God, doesn’t have any wisdom from God. And so what are you going to rely upon? Your own understanding. That’s what psychology is. Man relying upon his own understanding and trying to figure out man. When Jesus said, I don’t need anyone to tell me about man, I made man. And I don’t need the testimony of man concerning man. And so it has nothing to do with Christianity at all, Michael. It’s unfortunate that Christians get… uh duped uh in into that type of mentality and there are many many christians who do because you don’t want to accept the responsibility of your of your own sinful nature you want to you want to get a fall guy someplace and so don’t blame me i’m sick i have a disorder i have a syndrome yeah because i have read your book over experience uh you have not experienced victory over depression well i haven’t because i had the tape i gave it to someone else but i have this also how to live above your circumstances
SPEAKER 03 :
And I don’t personally believe a person has… No, I don’t either. Some children have different personalities and they’re going to… Especially your own boys, they’re not always going to sit and pay attention to class all the time. Some people are just more hyperactive than others. But to say that it’s inherited and to say that it’s a disease, this concerns me. I don’t see that anywhere in Scripture at all.
SPEAKER 02 :
No place in Scripture. A lot of times with that kid, if you take them off the sugar and take them off of drinking Cokes and all that kind of stuff, when they get up in the morning, you’d probably find a huge change in behavior of young people. It’s amazing how you find kids drinking Cokes that are full of sugar and eating donuts and everything else and then wondering why their kids are hyper. But, no, there’s no validity to that at all, Michael. Again, that’s as good as the world can come up with, but there’s no wisdom of God at all connected in any of those psychological terms.
SPEAKER 03 :
Especially when they’re using medication, thinking that’s going to numb it. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 02 :
I know people that, you know, I’ve got ADD, and it’s really doing me good as they’re sitting there slobbering all over themselves talking to you. I said, yeah, it’s really doing you a whole lot of good. But they don’t know. I mean, you know, that’s what drugs do, numb your head until you don’t know what’s going on.
SPEAKER 03 :
And they say it helps the person calm down.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, yeah. Oh, sure. Now you tell me how taking a pill is going to help you to concentrate.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, very easy. You can take a pill and they can do pretty well for the next week or so with a pill.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, well, I don’t know how a pill is going to make me concentrate or anybody else. But at any rate, no, it’s not in the Bible. Yeah, I agree with you.
SPEAKER 03 :
This is how psychologists are, and I think they use that to make money. But anyway, I’m glad you explained that because this is what is so prevalent around the world. And I think psychologists and psychiatrists who do prescribe medication just reiterate that so much.
SPEAKER 02 :
And anything else to prescribe they can’t prescribe. Can’t subscribe truth, you don’t know it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, that’s it, because like you said, it’s just going by man’s idea and not the law or the nature of God at all.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, that’s for sure.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, thank you very much, Bob.
SPEAKER 02 :
You’re welcome, my brother. God bless you, my friend.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, bye-bye.
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, Bob, we had a call that had to hang up. I think commenting on the area of born of water, and I think he said born of baptism or something like that. But, again, it’s in that passage of John 3. So, I mean, I’m just going to reiterate one more time. And, guys, the Scripture is not confusing. It explains itself. What gets confusing is someone interpreting something totally contrary to the context, and then you grab a hold of that interpretation and say, that’s it. My pastor told me so. My denomination told me so. And so you refuse truth by grabbing a hold of an interpretation that has no bearing upon the context of the scripture. Jesus is talking about being born. And what he’s saying, you have to be born physically before you can be born spiritually. In another place in the Bible, it says first comes the natural and then comes the spiritual. Not hard to figure out at all. So a man must be born of water. That’s natural birth. And the spirit, that’s spiritual birth. Two births, natural, spiritual. Flesh, that’s natural, gives birth to flesh. And the spirit, that’s spiritual, gives birth to the spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying. You must be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you can’t tell where it comes from or where it’s going. And so it is with everyone born again. of the Spirit. But before you can be born of the Spirit, you have to be born naturally. There’s no one that has the Spirit before they’re natural. Now, again, you take in Mormon teaching as an example that you’re alive spiritually in heaven, and that’s why you’ve got to have all these babies down here, is to have a place for the Spirit to dwell. That’s very opposite of what the Spirit or what the Word of God teaches. There’s no such thing as spiritual apart from natural, that you have to be born naturally before you can be born spiritual. So don’t get confused on these kind of passages. Take a look at what it says and read the context. Again, verse 6 explains in detail verse 5. It’s amazing how that happens. We’re going to go to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, listening on WWNL. Martha, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, I am. God bless you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, thank you. He has, and he does.
SPEAKER 06 :
Amen. What I wanted to ask you was about, I’m talking about the law of the new covenant.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
What is that all about? I’ve been hearing about it on the radio.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, Martha, I’m glad you have. I hope it’s being taught properly that the new covenant is in comparison to the old covenant. You have the old covenant of the law that was replaced by the new covenant of grace. And that new covenant went into effect on the day that Jesus died. And in the ninth chapter of the book of Hebrews, it talks about the fact that a will or a covenant, all those are interchangeable terms. A testament, you’ve got an old testament, you have an old will, you have an old covenant. You have a new testament, you have a new will, a new covenant. And those words are all interchangeable. And so the new covenant went into effect that the death of Christ, just like a will, if you have a will, that the people that are in your will will not be the recipients of what you are leaving them until you die, right? And that’s the same thing. That that will that you have, and hopefully you do have one, will not go into effect until you die. And as it says in Hebrews, it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. And so Jesus fulfilled the old covenant of the law. No man could ever live up to the demands of the law. And Christ Jesus had to be the one who fulfilled the law for us. God gave the law, and therefore it had to be fulfilled. But the only person that could do so was Jesus. And after he had fulfilled the law through his life here on earth by walking in perfect love, love being the fulfillment of the law, He then upheld the law because under the law, the wages of sin is death. And in order for the law to be upheld, he literally had to become sin for us. and suffered the consequence of sin for us being death. He entered into our spiritual death with us so that raised from the dead we could enter into his resurrection with him. And all of that is all a part of the new covenant. But in the book of Hebrews, the major essence of the new covenant is their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more And where these have been forgiven, not will be, have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
So what he’s saying, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. There is no more shedding of blood. That is the final human sacrifice of mankind in the form of Christ Jesus. No more sacrifice for sin. And if there’s no more sacrifice, there’s no more forgiveness, meaning that the forgiveness from God has been totally placed upon Christ Jesus. And why he cried out from the cross, it’s finished, is because there is no more forgiveness to be executed today. on behalf of God for you and me. It is done, it’s finished, and we can walk in the fact that if we are in Christ, coming to him for his life, his resurrection, we in him, we’re told, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. It isn’t something we get, it’s something we have. You are, Martha, a forgiven person, period. You’re not a person who gets forgiveness, you are a forgiven person. Now you rest in that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
Is that good news?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes. Can I ask you one more question? Sure. Everybody talks about the Sabbath is on a Saturday. What can you say about that as far as that?
SPEAKER 02 :
No, the Sabbath is every day. Every day? Yeah, the Sabbath in the Old Testament, you see, was a day of the week. But again, we’re under a new covenant. And under the new covenant, the Old Testament Sabbath being a day of the week was a foreshadowing of the sabbath rest that we now are into today because of christ jesus where we are to enter in resting from our works just as he did from his and what does that mean resting from our works there isn’t anything that we can do to add to what christ jesus accomplished for us there anything we can do to add there’s nothing we can do to subtract we’re complete so that’s part of that rest that we’re talking about is now the sabbath rest is every day of the week we’re supposed to be resting Now, to the Jews, they remained in the desert for 40 years. Only two people entered into that Sabbath rest, Martha. It’s unbelievable. But I think about 1.1 million people entered into the desert from the bondage of Egypt, and only two people entered into the Sabbath rest. And so the scriptures say, be sure that none of us have fallen short. of entering into that Sabbath rest. God’s goal for us is not to build a church in the desert. It’s to enter into the Sabbath rest, resting, quit asking God for what he’s already accomplished. If you are a forgiven person, how much sense does it make for you to be asking God to forgive you?
SPEAKER 06 :
You’re right.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s not faith, is it, if he’s already done it?
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 02 :
Any more than it would be faith asking him to give you eternal life if you’re saved. If you’re saved, you already have eternal life.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
And that’s what it means to rest. There isn’t anything I can do to get more forgiven or less forgiven, to get less of his life living in me or more of his life living in me. I am complete in Christ. I’ve been given everything that I need for life and godliness. And so I’m going to take a deep breath and rest, thanking him for his provision.
SPEAKER 06 :
Praise God.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’ll say this.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know what? I’m going to ask you another question. I’m trying to read the word. And it’s hard for me.
SPEAKER 02 :
No, go ahead. Martha, we’re losing you.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, I’m still here.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, well, we lost you on that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, you lost me?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I didn’t. You said it’s hard for you to read the word of God, and that’s the last I heard.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, I’m a new, you know, I’m trying to get into the word.
SPEAKER 02 :
You’re a new believer? Yes. Okay. Well, you just heard some things. If you’ll grab a hold of the truth of that. I would go into the New Testament. That’s the testament we live in today, Martha.
SPEAKER 06 :
The New Testament.
SPEAKER 02 :
I would go into the Gospel of John, and you read about the love of God. Okay. And I would keep reading the Gospel of John until you knew what Paul knew, and nothing can separate you from the love of God.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
And then go into some of the other writings, Pauline writings, and learn the meaning of the new covenant that we live in. But What you asked today is so vitally important for a new Christian to know, Martha. You are in the new covenant of grace, and nothing can separate you from the love of God.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you, Lord. Yeah.
SPEAKER 01 :
I’ll say. 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 02 :
We’re going to go to Ed in Hercules, California. Let’s go on KDIA. Ed, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hi, Bob. Thank you for taking my call. You’re welcome. I have a question about Luke 9.23. because when Jesus said, take up his cross daily, okay, and if you could clarify that for me, you know, because for me, I know he has already taken up the cross, you know, so what is that cross that he’s talking about?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, basically what it’s talking about there, the context there is about death, isn’t it? That he says he warned them not to tell anyone. He said the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law. And he must be killed and on the third day to be raised to life. And then he said to them, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. Whoever wants to save his life for his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for me will save it. It basically is an attitude of being willing to lay your life down for the gospel, just as Jesus Christ did. He’s just merely saying it’s an attitude of being willing to not hang on to your physical life, if necessary, in order to… in order to have eternal life so it isn’t anything that we it’s an it isn’t something he talks about take up his cross daily but that’s to daily be in a in a mindset uh that if necessary that i would be willing to uh lay down my life for the gospel okay so it’s not you know uh because you know i was i was really thinking you know why should you know for him to to tell me to take up to carry his cross that he already did for me you know yeah yeah it’s just merely he’s he’s given an analogy there that i’m going to die and be killed and raised to life and if you want to come after me you also have to be willing to die if necessary uh in order uh you know to be a true follower and i think that is an attitude i think if you had an attitude that No, I would not be willing to lay down my life for the gospel. Why? What he’s saying is you’re really not worthy to follow me because that is an attitude I think that all of us would have built into us is the willingness that if necessary that we would lay our lives down. Now, again, we could be a Peter on that, that say, boy, I’ll never do this, but turn right around denying. But the attitude of your heart would be, an attitude of if Jesus was willing to go and to have to die for the forgiveness of my sins, if necessary, I also am willing to die for the defense of the gospel.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Well, thank you very much, you know, for taking my call. And I appreciate, you know, everything you’re doing for the gospel.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, thank you, Ed. Does that help? Does he understand that?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes. Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
All right.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, at least now it’s clear to me, you know, what Jesus is trying to tell me. Okay. Thank you very much, Bob.
Let’s go to Steve in Atlanta, Georgia, listening on WGUN. Steve, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hey, Bob and Bob.
SPEAKER 02 :
How are you doing, brother?
SPEAKER 07 :
I’m good. And you?
SPEAKER 02 :
We’re doing good. Thank you.
SPEAKER 07 :
Good. I had a question when I started listening to the broadcast tonight. I heard you speaking about the righteousness of Christ, and it just brought a question to my mind that I’ve been thinking about for some time, and that is about rewards and crowns in heaven. And I really don’t know how to ask the question, but just to get you to speak about that a little bit, if you would, about what that process is in the Scripture and how that’s achieved or if it is achieved, what it really is.
SPEAKER 02 :
Steve, it talks about the fact that really at the point of the rapture or probably even death, if it’s prior to the rapture, the moment that we’re absent from the body and present with the Lord, whether it’s through physical death or the rapture, either one, is where we’re told that we’ll be rewarded for our works. And what are our works? Those things that we’ve allowed Christ Jesus to do in and through us. Just like when they asked Jesus, what is the work of the ministry? He said, to believe in me. That is the work of the ministry. The work of an evangelist is to teach people to believe in Jesus. The work of a prophet was to teach people to believe in Jesus. The work of a pastor teacher today is to teach people to believe in Jesus. And that is what the work of the ministry is. So the only thing that we’ll be rewarded for is those things that we have allowed Christ Jesus to do in and through us. We have not done it in the energy of the flesh. We’ve done it because Christ Jesus wanted to live his life in and through us, and we let him. And now what are rewards going to be? What are crowns going to look like? We don’t have a clue. So we probably look at rewards like a McDonald’s or something. But we have no idea what rewards look like in heaven. But it does say that those that have learned how to yield to the vine, in other words, Jesus used the vine and branch as an example of living a Christian life. And when we see ourselves as what we are, not the vine but the branch, and we abide in him so that his life can be produced in and through us and we can bear the fruit of Christ Jesus but we cannot produce it. And on those things, if we have yielded to him and allowed him to do in and through us, it says we’ll be rewarded for that.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. Now, I’ve heard people say before that, you know, they would receive crowns and they would just,
SPEAKER 02 :
cast them at jesus feet and when they get to heaven but i don’t remember ever reading that in the yeah in the bible that would be done that way no it’s it’s really not there it’s a supposition but uh could be it could be true but we don’t know that we don’t need to know it i have people thinking about rewards we’re thinking about the wrong thing if you’re thinking about boy i’m going to get rewarded for something down here i guarantee you’re not going to get rewarded That’s what it said. The praise of man means that you’re not going to get the praise of God. I know that there’s… I’m sorry, go ahead. I know there’s going to be, well, we’re going to be rewarded for those things that we’ve allowed Christ Jesus to do in and through us. Now think it through. Why would we be rewarded? Because we were not doing it in the energy of the flesh. We were making our bodies available to Christ to live his life in and through us. And that’s going to be rewarded. So why should we be thinking about rewards? We ought to be thinking about making our bodies available to the living Christ to live his life in and through us.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I agree with you, and I think maybe that from what I’ve heard people say, that they try to, it seems like they’re trying to get people to concentrate on rewards, do this, so you’ll be rewarded.
SPEAKER 02 :
Sure, absolutely. And you may as well forget it.
SPEAKER 07 :
It makes more sense to do it out of love, as the Scripture said, to esteem your brother above yourself, and just let Christ do what he wants to do through us versus concentrating on, I’m going to do this to get a reward. I mean, that’s my goal. That’s work.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s work. There’s no grace to working to get a reward.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. And that makes perfect sense. Yeah. Okay. Well, I appreciate your time and the discussion. Hope you all have a great night.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you, Steve, and appreciate your call, my brother.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay. God bless you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
SPEAKER 02 :
Andrew, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 04 :
My question is, you know, you hear people who refer to people and call themselves prophets and apostles, and then also like the ladies of the church, they call them first ladies. They call the members of the family like the first family. And I was just wondering, can you give me some enlightenment on that in your opinion?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, you know, that to me, that’s pretty nonsensical, really, because number one, you couldn’t be an apostle unless you were with Jesus. The Bible, as an example, had to be written by an apostle. And in order to be an apostle, you had to be with Jesus first. through his baptism, his death, burial, and resurrection. I don’t think any of your people there are that old. So calling somebody an apostle is ludicrous. And also prophets. What do you need a prophet for? We have the Bible now. Prophets were used to communicate verbally what had not been as yet put down into the canon or the scriptures that we hold in our hands today. And so the other kind of designations are just, you know, like if you and I and our congregation were to call each other brothers and sisters, we can call each other anything we want, but it has nothing to do biblically. So everything you’ve named there is non-biblical. So that’s my opinion.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, well. How should we relate to people that do that, or how should we relate?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I wouldn’t be involved with a group like that because they’re deceivers. Whether intentional or not, I don’t know. But I do know that those kind of things are deception.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, because I was thinking when you said call somebody like First Lady or the First Family, it seemed like you were putting them ahead of the rest of the members of the church. It seemed like it all would be, you know, Christians.
SPEAKER 02 :
The first family of what? You know, first family of what? Yeah, first family of the church would be whoever started this fellowship over there. They’re the first family of it was so what? You know, again, that’s putting yourself in a position. You know, I’m the founder of People to People. Do I call myself the first family of People to People? Not unless I’ve gone nuts. Okay. So, no, I would find another outfit to be involved in, quite frankly.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. I’m not involved with that. I just hear people doing it and seeing it. And that was my opinion. And that’s what I was, you know, basically saying, too. But down here, you know, people didn’t think the way that I thought. So I just wanted to hear what your opinion was. Yeah. I know I’m doing right.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I think you’re on the right score there, brother.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay. I certainly appreciate it. Y’all have a blessed night. Thank you again.
SPEAKER 01 :
For more information about how to purchase helpful books and Bible study materials to guide you as you grow in your relationship with Jesus, thank you again for listening. We look forward to our next classic Christianity radio broadcast with you. In the meantime, remember to always put Jesus first in your life.
