Join Bob George on this captivating episode of Classic Christianity Radio as he dives into the deeper meanings behind the Ten Commandments and their role in the lives of believers today. With calls from listeners seeking clarity on living under grace versus the law and heartfelt conversations about personal struggles with faith, this episode offers profound biblical insights. Learn how the Apostle Paul’s writings in Galatians and Ephesians help us understand the transition from old covenants to the new life in Christ. Discover how righteousness and freedom come from a living relationship with Jesus Christ.
00:00:04 Introduction to Classic Christianity Radio
00:01:01 Discussion with Andy about the Ten Commandments
00:13:47 Call with Todd from El Paso Regarding Faith and Salvation
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 :
Let’s go to Andy in Surrey, British Columbia. Let’s go and carry. Andy, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hi, Bob.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hi, Andy.
SPEAKER 04 :
I’d like to say, send out my love to all the brothers and sisters out there. I’m curious about, I’ve listened to some people that’s talking about the Ten Commandments, and that they still stand as they are, except the Moses part has been dealt with, and that’s been put away. over the New Covenant, but the Ten Commandments still, because he says at one point, Well, again, Andy, that’s just what you’re saying.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s just plain dead wrong.
SPEAKER 04 :
Is it?
SPEAKER 02 :
And it’s being taught by somebody that doesn’t have any understanding at all of the Scripture. The Ten Commandments, the law was given to lead you to Christ. So are the Ten Commandments still applicable to a lost person? Absolutely. That’s what it says. The purpose of the law was added… Because of transgressions or sins until. Now, when you see an until, Andy, there’s a before and an after. Right. So, again, the scripture that I’m reading to you right now is out of Galatians 3, 19 through 24. And that’s how it starts. What then was the purpose of? Not is the purpose, was the purpose of the law. And I think that’s interesting that it doesn’t say what is the purpose, but what was the purpose. We’re talking now in the book of Ephesians over in the new covenant. And so the question is, what was the purpose of the law? It didn’t say it is added. It was added because of transgressions until the seed, that’s Jesus, to whom the promise had come. And that was the promise of Abraham that he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.
SPEAKER 04 :
The scripture declares that the whole… His was faith on what? Just…
SPEAKER 02 :
faith in what was revealed to him but don’t worry about that that’s not our salvation so don’t worry about what abraham our salvation is in our faith in christ so uh andy let me continue on here uh it declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin so that what was promised given through faith in jesus christ might be given to those who believe now before this faith came And that would be before Jesus came or before faith came in your own life. You were held a prisoner by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So you’re going to be a prisoner of the law until faith is revealed, faith in Christ.
SPEAKER 04 :
So the law… When it says, formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods, the law applies to them. But… After accepting Christ, you’re no longer under the law. You have it in your heart.
SPEAKER 02 :
No, you don’t have it in the heart. In fact, if you have it in your heart, you cannot live by grace. And it says that very, very clearly. And I think that what you’ve got to do is to leave the law where it is to be left, and that’s at Mount Sinai. Romans 8, 14, those who are led by the Spirit… Our sons of God, those who are led by the Spirit, which is walking by faith of God, are sons of God. And if you’re led by the Spirit, you’re not under the law, which means if you’re under the law, you can’t be led by the Spirit. I hope that nobody that’s listening to this says, I don’t want to be led by the Spirit. I want to be led by the law. Now, let me deal with this stuff that people come up that say, well, yeah, we’re no longer under the ceremonial laws, but we’re under the Ten Commandments. Well, go to 2 Corinthians 3, 7 through 9, and here’s what you’re going to hear about that. If the ministry that brought death… Now, what was that? The Ten Commandments. Yes. Which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses… Moses gave us the law. It says that the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ our Lord. When you see the law in that singular form, it always is referring to the first five books of the Bible called the Pentateuch. That’s the law of God. When it talks about that I will put my laws in their hearts in Hebrews, it It’s supposed to be a quotation out of Old Testament. And in the Old Testament, it says, I’ll put my law. But in Hebrews, it says, I’ll put my laws. What’s the difference? It’s not the law of Moses. It’s the laws of Jesus. The laws of Jesus that say… That to love your God with all your heart, mind and soul, you love your neighbor. And upon these ends, the fulfillment of the entirety of the law and the prophets. So again, getting back to this deal, they couldn’t look steadily into the face of Moses because of its glory fading, though it was. Will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? So he’s comparing the Ten Commandments given by Moses. We all know that story. No question at all what he’s talking about, Ten Commandments. So if the Ten Commandments came with glory, how much more glorious… If the ministry that condemns men, so what is the law? It’s a ministry of condemnation. Yes. If it condemns men as glorious.
SPEAKER 04 :
Telling us that we’re sinners.
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely. How much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness? And so there’s no question about it that when you’re talking about being dead to the law, you’re talking about all of it. And people, in Galatians 3.10, Paul says, all who rely upon observing the law are under a curse. If you want to be under the law, then you have to be under all of the law. And that means the punishment of the law.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. You can’t separate the law from the punishment of the law.
SPEAKER 04 :
So that would disregard grace then.
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 04 :
You have to do that or that.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So it says, I think Romans 319, Andy, is a great passage when you interpret it properly. It says, when we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law. So in other words, the law can only speak to those who are under the law. It doesn’t speak to people who are not under the law. So the only place that the law can speak to, the only people that the law can speak to is people who are under it. So if it’s going to speak to the people who are under the law, what’s it going to say? It’s going to say, shut your mouth. you’re held accountable to God, and you will not be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law, but rather it’s through the law that you become conscious of sin. So if you’re under the law, listening to the law, it’s going to tell you to shut your mouth. You’re doomed.
SPEAKER 04 :
Because every man says to himself, why am I here? What am I doing? What’s my purpose? Why is there life after death? And then at that point right there, the law is going to hit them and say, well, you want an eternal life? Live this, which you can’t.
SPEAKER 02 :
You can give it a try or you can walk with faith. Yeah, I think that’s the option God gives us. He said, you want to try it on your own? Have at it. But that’s what Paul said. He liked to work himself to death. He said, the things I want to do, I don’t do. The things I don’t want to do, I do them anyway. He was working himself to death. And he finally came down to the point of saying, wretched man that I am, who will free me from this bondage of sin and death? See, he realizes if you’re going to be under the law, you’re under the law of sin and death. And who’s going to free me from this bondage? And his answer was, thanks be to God. Through Jesus Christ, my Lord, he’s the one who set me free. So we’re no longer under any of the law. We are now being guided internally by the spirit of God who lives in us, not externally with laws written on stone, but internally by the living person of Christ Jesus living in us through the Holy Spirit of God. And he is our guide. He’s the one who now leads us and guides us into all truth. The law condemns, the spirit gives life.
SPEAKER 04 :
Is that why I feel guilt a lot? I don’t know. I feel guilt like I’m doing things wrong all the time.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, again, in order to feel guilty, you have to be guilty. And what I’d be asking you is, are you guilty in the sight of God when he’s taken away your sins and never to see them again? Is he saying you’re guilty? Now, if you were guilty, your sins were guilty, but they were all punished at the cross, weren’t they?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, but there’s some habits I have, right? Even though, I mean, I love Jesus with all my heart, but there’s these silly, stupid habits that are hanging on to me. Well, join the crowd.
SPEAKER 02 :
Join the crowd, Andy. You don’t think that you’re by yourself in that, do you?
SPEAKER 04 :
No, I guess not.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, see, the thing of it is that’s unrealistic expectation. You have indwelling sin still living in your flesh. You also have the Spirit of God living in you. And what does it say? That you have the privilege of participating in the divine nature that lives in you. You also can participate in the yucky flesh that lives in you. You have a choice. When you give yourself to God, that’s what it’s called walking in the spirit, you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. It didn’t say the desires of the flesh would go away. It didn’t say clean up the flesh and you’ll be spiritual. It said the only solution to not giving into the flesh is walking in the spirit. It’d be like saying that the only way that you’re going to escape the law of gravity is to get under the law of aerodynamics and stay there. If you decide to step out of a plane to get a breath of fresh air, you don’t have to choose to get under the law of gravity. You’re under it, and you’re going to zap down to the ground. So it’s the same thing. Quit worrying about your flesh and preoccupied with what your flesh is doing and keep preoccupied with Christ Jesus and what he’s doing. He isn’t through with you yet. So when you’re sitting there under guilt, you can’t love God. You can say you love him. I’m sorry. That’s not true. It’s not that you love God, but that he loved you first. And you can’t love God if you think he’s beating you to death. So it’s only when you can get rid of the fact, when you can come to the conclusion that nothing can separate me from the love of God. If God be for me, who can be against me? Trials can’t separate me. Tribulation can’t. Knowing all these things, I’m more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus, my Lord. Nothing can separate me from the love of God. And live in that. Live in that love. And you’ll be controlled by the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, okay. So if I… Okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay?
SPEAKER 04 :
All right. Okay, then.
SPEAKER 02 :
All right, Andy. You keep listening.
SPEAKER 01 :
Ask God to keep revealing truth to you, okay? 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 El Paso, Texas, listening on KPAS. And Todd, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hi, Bob. How’s it going?
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m doing good, Todd.
SPEAKER 05 :
This is my first time to be calling. And I want to let you know that right now, today, I’m kind of lost without Jesus. Because when I was back in 1994, they diagnosed me with schizophrenia and suicidal. And there have been times that I tried to kill myself. I don’t know the Lord Jesus right now. I’ve got the devil tugging at my shirt, telling me, do this, do that, do this, do that. And I want to get away from my back. How can I do that?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, Todd, as you probably heard as I was talking to one of the other people there, that salvation is recognizing what God has said about you. Now, you can go to a psychiatrist and he’ll tell you about you, but he doesn’t know you any more than he knows a lamppost. He’s as messed up as you are. But when God says something about you, you sit back and say, well, God made me, and if there’s anyone who ought to know about me, it should be the one who made me. So the issue is you’re willing to listen now to what God is talking about you instead of some shrink talking about you being bipolar or schizophrenic and all these kind of terms, which you’re not going to find in the Scripture. Yeah. And you’re going to say, no, I want to listen to what God has to say about me. And what God has to say about us, Todd, is you were born dead spiritually. And what death is, is the absence of life. The life of God departed from Adam when he sinned. And you and I are born in Adam, dead to God. And he said, but I don’t want you to stay that way. That’s your condition. But I was raised from the dead to give you life. And the kind of life that I want to give you is eternal life. And if you’re willing to turn to me by faith, accepting the fact that I took away your sins at the cross when I died on that cross to do that, and I was raised from the dead in order to give you resurrected life, and if that’s your desire, then I’m ready to come and to live inside of you and be your guide and to lead you into all truth.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
Do you feel, Todd, that’s what you want to do?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, sir.
SPEAKER 02 :
Let’s pray together. Todd, just repeat after me. Lord Jesus, I need you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Lord Jesus, I need you.
SPEAKER 02 :
I thank you for taking away my sins at the cross.
SPEAKER 05 :
I thank you for taking away my sins at the cross.
SPEAKER 02 :
I now receive you into my heart as my Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER 05 :
I now receive you into my heart as my Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER 02 :
And my very best friend.
SPEAKER 05 :
And you’re one of my best friends.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. Okay, Todd.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, sir.
SPEAKER 02 :
Now, when you just prayed a minute ago, it was as a result of exercising faith in what God came to do for you, to take away your sins, never to see them again. Do you realize that all of your sins, Todd, throughout your entire life have been placed behind the back of God, never to see them again?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, sir.
SPEAKER 02 :
And that’s what Jesus suffered and died on the cross to provide for you. And so in doing that, he did that because the consequence or the wages of sin is death. And had he not taken away the sins of the whole world, he could never have offered you eternal life, which is what you really needed was life. And so the fact that he took away the cause of spiritual death is He’s now given you eternal life in Christ Jesus. And Jesus literally came to take up residence in your life. And he lives in you. And now he’s going to guide you into all truth. And Todd, I cannot encourage you enough to begin to realize that man will tell you anything as long as it sells. And I can’t depend upon man. I’m going to have to depend upon God and his word to find truth about myself and about God and about people. Do you have a Bible, Todd?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, sir.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay. want to send you a new believers package, Todd, and if you’ll work through that new believers package with your Bible, it’ll solidify all of these things that you’ve done. But I’m just tickled to death for you, my brother. Thank you. Yeah, that’s, you know, it says all the angels in heaven rejoice when one person turns to Christ, so there’s a lot of rejoicing going on up there right now.
SPEAKER 05 :
I know.
SPEAKER 02 :
And rightfully so.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, as a
SPEAKER 02 :
think about it every day that the devil is trying to get to me it really hurts me real bad i’m turning into tears every day just thinking that the devil is still after me yeah well he the thing of it is todd he was going to stay after you because he was afraid of losing you now he’s lost you and that doesn’t mean that those what you have to do now is to come to know truth And that’s where the study of the word of God is going to take place with you, Todd. Study the word of God. Ask God to reveal the meaning of the word of God to you. And when that error comes into your head, you can give it right back to him because you know what truth is now.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
There’s only one source of truth we have, and that’s the word of God.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
Todd, if you’ve got any further questions, any time, don’t hesitate to call. You’re never a bother. We’d love to hear from you, and don’t hesitate to call us.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
All right, my birdie. Do you have any other questions before we go?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, sir, no.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay. Why don’t you hang on, because we want to get your address. We’ll send that information to you. You work through it. If you’ve got any questions along the way, you just call us back, okay?
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. Thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Renee, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hi, God bless you. I have a question. Actually, I need an explanation on a verse just to kind of get your take on it. It’s Malachi 3.16.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, what is it that you don’t understand about the verse there? Well, you know… Number one, Renee, it isn’t speaking to you anyway, so I don’t know why there would be… You see, again, let’s just go back to what this is about. Okay. In the eighth or the sixth verse, I, the Lord, do not change, so you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Now, you’re not a descendant of Jacob, are you? No. And so this isn’t written to you. It’s written to descendants of Jacob’s. And ever since the time of your forefathers, you’ve turned away from my decrees and not kept them. Those are the descendants of Jacob. Return to me and I’ll return to you, says the Lord Almighty. And then he asks a question which people today drag over into the new covenant and teach people tithing out of it where the thing wasn’t to them to begin with. You ask, how are we to return? Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. And you ask, how do we rob you? in tithes and offerings. And you are under a curse. Who’s under a curse? The whole nation of you. What nation is he talking about there, Renee?
SPEAKER 03 :
So he’s still talking about Jacob.
SPEAKER 02 :
He’s talking about the descendants of Jacob, yeah. He isn’t talking about yous and me’s because you’re robbing me. But the whole tithe, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food for my house. That was what tithing was. Tithing wasn’t giving money in checks. Tithing was giving food to the Levites, the descendants of Jacob, where it was giving to the Levites to support the Levitical priesthood so that you will have food in the house so that you can eat. The priests, the Levites, were prohibited of going out and earning a living. And so they had to be fed and furnished food and housing and clothing by the other 11 tribes of Israel. That’s how God set up the Levitical priesthood in there. Nothing talking to us. And so it talks about I’ll prevent pests from destroying your crops. That isn’t for us. The vines in your fields will… And the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit, says the Lord Almighty. And then all the nations will call you blessed. Certainly not for us.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, the way I heard it, and that’s what was throwing me, is it was said, and I walked in on it. It was said, you know, God, anytime you are speaking of God himself, he keeps volumes of it.
SPEAKER 02 :
And, you know, I was… A scroll of remembrance was written in the presence, in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. Well, if there was such a thing as a scroll of remembrance, again, he isn’t talking to us.
SPEAKER 03 :
He’s talking to the descendants of… Well, you know, that’s what was throwing me, because I went back and I’d read, you know, the verses you were talking about, and I thought, okay, well, I just don’t understand how they got that, but that’s why I thought I’d call.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I’ll tell you, Renee, in this day and age, people are so desperate to try to convince people to tithe that they will try to nitpick any piece of Scripture they can to fulfill that philosophy. But tithing was to the Levitical priesthood. And where in the Scripture it says where there is a change in a priesthood, there must also be a change of the law. Now, unless a person is still… their priest is Levi instead of Jesus, then they ought to be tithing and following all of the laws in the Old Testament. I don’t know why we pick this and then ignore sacrifices and ignore eating shrimp and ignore eating pork chops and all of that type of thing, because I want to do that. But we ignore the things we want to ignore and then promote the things we want to promote if it’s to our benefit. But tithing is not a form of giving in the new covenant. It’s never mentioned under the new covenant. Free will giving is mentioned under the new covenant to give generously. to give without compulsion, to give in accordance to what you do have, not with what you don’t have, to be a hilarious giver, and to excel in the grace of giving, not the law of giving, but the grace of giving. And that’s part of the instruction by Paul in Corinthians as to the attitude of the heart of a giver today under the new covenant. It has nothing to do, this doesn’t have anything to do with you and me.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, you know, I didn’t understand. I thought, well, I don’t know how that worked in, but I thought I’d ask.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. Well, it’s a good question, and people ask that all the time, these things. But the issue is what we have to realize is we read this, but this is what God said to the descendants of Jacob. Sure, I can read that. That’s what he said to the descendants of Jacob. It doesn’t have anything to do with me, but that’s what he wrote. Okay. So a scroll of remembrance, he says, was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. So again, if there is a scroll of remembrance, it would be to those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. Well, you’ve answered my question. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER 02 :
You’re welcome, Renee. Thanks for your call.
SPEAKER 03 :
God bless you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Bye-bye. Thanks. Same to you. Bye-bye.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George. We are a listener funded program and your financial support is greatly appreciated. Your generous gifts keep us on the air and they help so many people find hope in Jesus Christ. Go to BobGeorge.net online 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.
