Join Bob George as he engages with callers on complex issues of faith and identity. In this episode, Bob discusses the challenges of familial relationships when beliefs clash and how scripture provides both clarity and hope. Through heartfelt conversations, listeners are encouraged to view salvation not just as forgiveness but as a transformative new life in 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 05 :
We’re going to go to El Paso, Texas, listening on KELP. James, you’re on the air. Hi. Hi, James.
SPEAKER 04 :
We have a son that is living in homosexuality, and we went to the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 5, and to us, what we understood it to say was that we should disassociate because he claims to be a Christian. He’s going to church. He lives in another town and is going to church there and very much claims to to be Christian and to be saved. And so I wondered, you know, he’s doing a lot of things that, you know, there’s no fruit there, obviously. And so I just wondered what you thought. I mean, should we disassociate?
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely not. He’s your son. James, that type of what you’re talking about there and those passages are people who are many times in leadership roles that are claiming to be a Christian and yet openly and blatantly practicing sinful practices. They have no desire to even talk about them because you’re wrong and they’re right. To a person like your son, what I would do with him, the first thing I would do with anyone in that type of a deal is to sit down and to see for sure where their salvation is. Like I mentioned earlier, James, there’s a thing of putting, you’re saved by faith and faith alone. Faith in what Jesus did, not faith in what I do. And so we have to find out, did that boy ever exercise saving faith when he said he was saved? Or did he just walk an aisle and go back to the pew as dead as you went to the altar? What we have to do is to check people out. And the way you do that is, son, I want to get this straight. I want us to talk about this. What is your understanding of the gospel? And James, I would venture to say that what your son is going to come back to is Jesus died for my sins. And at that point, you must explain to him, son, that is not the gospel. You’re not saved by getting your sins forgiven. You’re saved by getting the solution to the consequence of sin, which is death by the gift of God, which is life. and that’s resurrection. You have short-circuited the gospel and therefore never came to a completeness of salvation because you stopped at the cross and did not go on to the resurrection. The cross is what cleared the deck for the divine action of bringing life to the dead, but salvation is being saved from the consequence of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is life. And, James, so many people claim to be saved and have done nothing more than go forward and thank God for his forgiveness and go back to their aisle as dead as they went to the altar. And thinking they’re saved, told they’re saved, their life doesn’t represent it, don’t see a particular change, but they’ve been told by the leaders, you’re saved. And I think that’s why it’s up to parents and people like us to check people out on that and to be sure they understand what the truth of the gospel is. Okay, James, again, that’s where I would start. And in other words, I’d make him answer the question, what is your understanding of the gospel? And I can almost guarantee you what he’s going to say is, well, Jesus died for my sins. And explain to him, it’s not the gospel. The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. All of them have a meaning to them. But the resurrection is the only solution to the consequence of sin, which is death, is the gift of God, which is Jesus Christ. So you’ve come for forgiveness, but not for the life that gives you the power for Christ to live his life in and through you. So they’re devoid of power until you come to him by saving faith in his death, his burial, and his indwelling life. And now if Christ Jesus is living in you and me, James… and truly living in you and me, the Holy Spirit is living there, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and Jesus is full of grace and truth, how could I be living in rebellion to what truth is saying? And so it’s impossible for me, for a person to be born again, and say it’s okay to practice homosexuality. I’m sorry, you are sinning against the knowledge of truth. And the Hebrew says you’re going to go to hell doing that. And so the issue is that I may not be able to live in accordance with all of the things that God has the best for me, but I don’t ever want to deny that when God calls something sin, to call it something else. And so you have to deal with that issue, that you cannot be in rebellion to the Spirit of God that lives in you. You may not be able to carry it out. You may be trapped in this sin, and if so, we’re here to help you. But if you deny that that’s sin, there’s no way for you to be saved, period. You cannot say, I believe Jesus here, but I deny Jesus here. It doesn’t work that way. So when you either take Jesus and all of him or you take Jesus and none of him, but you can’t have what he came to do on earth but deny what he’s doing in your life today, I’m sorry, it just doesn’t work that way. So I would spend some time working with him. I’d spend some time, James, not so much concentrating on his homosexuality, but concentrating where he is. in his spiritual understanding and try to help him there, explaining what I just explained to you. Son, you can’t do that. God doesn’t hate homosexuals. He died for homosexuals, but he didn’t die to leave them there. He didn’t die and come alive to leave you in a condition that you were before salvation. If any man be in Christ, he’s a new creation.
SPEAKER 04 :
So would you suggest… I mean, I understand everything that you’re saying, and I’m listening very closely, but would you… You know, when it comes to him coming home and this and that type of thing, I mean, you’re not… Obviously, they… He’s not to bring anybody home. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 05 :
I believe so, James. I’d say, look, son, you’ve got to honor. You have to honor us as your parents. And for me and my house, we’re going to serve the Lord. If you want to come home, you honor that. And we welcome you, and you’re welcome in our home as our son, but you’re not going to bring your homosexual friends home with you. You’re going to leave them someplace else. Right. So I think you’re on ground on that. If he wants you to respect him, then he needs to respect you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes. Okay. Now, that’s been made very clear. Okay. Well, okay, I appreciate this very much. It’s heartbreaking.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s a heartache. It’s a heartache, James. I don’t know what in the world I would do if I had that same situation except what I’m doing, but I’ll tell you it would be a terrible heartache. Because it says that they pay the due penalty within their own hearts. That’s why there’s such a high degree of suicide among homosexuality and of alcoholism. They cannot live with that perversion. They know full well it’s wrong. They feel like a scuzz bag when they practice that. But they’re trapped. They’re trapped in a sin. And what it says in the scripture is if you see someone trapped in a sin, you who are spiritual should go to them to restore them. Don’t judge them. You could fall in the same trap. But to go there with an attitude of restoration, not condemnation. So you’re not condemning the person. You’re condemning the sin. Okay.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, I appreciate this very much, and God bless you all for what you’re doing.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thanks, James. You keep in touch, brother. Our hearts and prayers are with you, my friend. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER 04 :
The Lord bless you all.
SPEAKER 05 :
You too. Bye-bye. Denver, Colorado, listening on KLTT. Ray, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, brothers Bob.
SPEAKER 05 :
How are you, brother? Hey, Ray.
SPEAKER 03 :
Greetings from Denver.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, greetings to you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, brother. How are you doing tonight?
SPEAKER 05 :
Fine, thanks.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, good. I had a question. You know how you heard that before. We’ve been born Catholic. Well, I was a Catholic for 13 years. I, you know, went through my adult life and I got delivered. I got saved. And I had the privilege of leading my nephew to know Christ.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, wonderful.
SPEAKER 03 :
So it was just a great thing. And I know I’ve seen the change. You know, you see the change when it happens, you know.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
But he’s still going to his Catholic church. Now, I didn’t know. you know, to tell him not to, you know, I already know about the Catholic Church. I went through, you know, I’ve gone to the school, I’ve gone, it’s just, you know, with the tradition, it’s just not for me. And I didn’t know, you know, if I should tell him anything about that. My question is, should I discourage him from going there, or should I just And I don’t encourage him about Christ.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, again, Ray, you know, because so many people have come to the Lord who come out of a Catholic background, same way they do with Protestants, both the same. You can be in a Catholic church that absolutely teaches error, and you can be in a Protestant church that teaches error. And the issue is, do I stay in that church? And the issue is, as you begin to learn truth, and so the best thing to do with a new convert is get them into the Bible, get them absorbed in that Bible. And as they learn truth, they will spot error that’s being preached from the pulpit or from tradition, whether it’s a Catholic or a Protestant. Doesn’t make any difference. They’ll be able to spot error. And as they spot error, then God will lead them as to whether to stay in that error or to get out of it. When I came to Christ, I was at a Protestant church where nobody knew the Lord from a lamp post. It was totally liberal and all you ever got were nice, ooshy-gooshy messages on we ought to be nice to each other. And God kept me there. And the church was so liberal that they let me teach a Bible study and ultimately ended up the whole church came to the Lord and a whole change took place in that church. That was what he led me to do. Some other people, they’re in a place, they don’t have a voice, they just sit and soak, and they keep hearing air, and out they go and find another place in order to grow in grace. So it just depends on how God leads you. But that’s not a Catholic deal or a Protestant deal. It’s just the place where you park your body on Sunday. You’re going to have some places full of error and some are not. Find the place. If the Lord is leading you in that direction, find where error is not being taught, hopefully, and where some truth is being taught and grow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. You know, I figured, well, the way I see it, brother, is that let your spirit Be the discerner. Don’t be the discerner for somebody. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
I doubt if anyone told you to leave the Catholic Church.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, no.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, so trust him in the same way. I have never encouraged a person to leave. I’ve always just tried to feed them full of the truth of the Word of God and in due time, regardless of whether they’re in a liberal type, not evangelical Protestant church or a liberal Catholic church. whether it’s full of tradition as a Protestant or full of tradition as a Catholic. And I just say, study the Word of God. When you hear enough of it, you’ll get out of there.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, ask and tell him to search for the truth.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. That’s what I needed to know, to tell him to search for truth, as I am searching for truth every day.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, we all are, brother.
SPEAKER 03 :
I know. Till the day we die.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 03 :
We see our Savior.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, Ray, thanks for your call, brother, and you keep us posted, okay? And congratulations. Tell your relative there that we all rejoice with them in their new conversion to Christ.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, you take care. God bless.
SPEAKER 05 :
Bye-bye, Ray. Okay, bye.
SPEAKER 06 :
Be sure to go to BobGeorge.net to find our in-depth and practical Bible study guides. Each Bible study will teach you more about Jesus and will help strengthen your relationship with God. Now back to our classic Christianity radio program.
SPEAKER 05 :
We’re going to go to Tom in Louisville, Kentucky, listening on WXLN. Tom, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hi, Bob. I wanted to ask you a question about Romans 6.6. It talks about the old self was crucified with Christ. And in Galatians, they talk about the desires of the sinful nature. So my question is, is there a difference between the old self that was crucified and the sinful nature? A lot of times, I think, when I’m thinking about my identity in Christ, that the sinful nature has been crucified, is what they talk about the old self in Romans 6.6. The reason I bring it up, I know that people interchangeably use flesh and sinful nature. I’ve got a pastor buddy of mine that I was going to talk to because he’s always talking about how we have a sinful nature that still pulls on us to have desires that we don’t want to do. So I don’t know if maybe I’m nitpicking about sinful nature and flesh, but it just sounds contrary to our identity in Christ when a person is teaching about We have to deal with our sinful nature.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, Tom, to me, you’ve got two things that you’re dealing with. You’re dealing with identity. Now, when you’re dealing with identity, you don’t have two identities. You only got one, don’t you? That’s right. You are a child of the living God. That’s the only identity you have. Now, that new self lives in a body, and for a person to deny that they have a human nature is denying their own humanity and deny that within that human nature of ours indwells sin. Indwelling sin is to deny reality. Now, the old man was Bob George without the Spirit of God living in me. The new man is Bob George with the Spirit of God living in him. But the Spirit of God living in me gave me a new identity. But the Spirit of God that lives in me still lives in a body that contains flesh and contains sin. So what we have to realize is this passage up here that you’re dealing with of 6.6 says, The key to this is to go down to verse 14 because that’s what it’s talking about. Sin shall not be your master because you’re not under law but under grace. So this is a for or a therefore, which is a conclusion to everything he’s talking about here. And so you must keep in mind what he’s talking about is the law. So when we’re talking about if we died with Christ, we believe we’ll live with him. We know that since Christ has raised the dead, he can’t die again. Death has no mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once and for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God. Now, in the same way, count or reckon yourselves dead to sin. Now, what is that talking about? Well, you’re dead to the sin issue. Your sins have been put behind the back of God, never to see them again. There’s no condemnation awaiting you who belong to Christ Jesus. So God has said, I have dealt with your sin. Now you consider yourself dead to sin. In other words, I’m not dealing with you on the basis of sin and death today. I’m dealing with you on the basis of a new life. And that’s what it means, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Now, because of that truth, don’t let sin reign in your mortal body. That means it’s still there, doesn’t it? So sin is reigning in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. So when you are obeying the evil desires that are in your mortal body, sin’s going to reign there. So his solution to this is don’t offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. And that’s what it says, that God has rescued you from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the son he loves. in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. You’ve been transferred from death into life, and therefore, as a living being, offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you’re not under law, but under grace. So when you see that in the light that it’s being taught, what you have died to is the law and the ramifications of the law. Under the law, the wages of sin is death. You have died to that. You’re not under that anymore. And so sin will no longer be your master because you’re not under the law, but you’re under grace, which means, Tom, that when you are under the law, sin is your master. You’ve got to bring those two together.
SPEAKER 02 :
So getting back to our identity, we only have one identity.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 02 :
So when he talks or people read in the NIV about the desires of the sinful nature, then I guess that’s still a part of our… A new identity in Christ, we still have a sinful nature. I think about Paul saying, I no longer live, I’ve been crucified with Christ. I guess that again is being crucified to the law of sin and death on the wall.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, you see, again, there’s a lot of terms that are used there, and there’s nothing wrong with using flesh instead of the sinful nature, because I believe that the old sinful nature was Bob George without the Spirit of God living in him, and that guy’s dead. So the old sinful nature is Bob George without Christ living in him. That guy’s gone.
SPEAKER 02 :
He teaches that we still have this sinful nature.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think it may just be semantics, but it just sounds so… Well, again, you see, to me, using the term sinful nature kind of negates your new identity. That’s what I think. And so that’s where I think flesh is a better interpretation. But if you understand what it means, it doesn’t matter what you call it.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I’m thinking about all the other people in church trying to mature in their identity, having a contrary… teaching that you’ve got this old nature who’s been crucified, but yet we still have the pulls of it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, they’re very close to each other, Tom. The issue is that as long as you’ve got flesh, you see, again, old nature deals with identity. Flesh deals with reality. And what the reality is, is you still have your human flesh, you still have your human nature, but it says that we have the ability to participate in the divine nature that lives within us. So now we have a new nature living in us, but it’s not mine, it’s his. And I have the ability to participate in that divine nature. And so that is yielding my flesh to his nature. That’s why it says walk in the spirit, yielding to his nature. And I won’t be fulfilling the desires of the flesh.
SPEAKER 02 :
But when he uses sinful nature, you just think I should just forget about it and don’t make a point?
SPEAKER 05 :
I think they’re so close that I wouldn’t make a big deal out of it because there are some people, and I know that I’ve been on both sides of these tracks, but when I come to understand I have a God’s nature living in me, and I’ve got my human nature. You can’t deny that. And I have flesh hanging on me. It’s full of indwelling sin. But the old man, Bob George without the Spirit of God living in him, that guy’s dead. There is no more Bob George without the Spirit of God living in him. Now I’m Bob George with the Spirit of God living in me. That means Christ’s Spirit has come to indwell me and take up residence in my life, giving me the privilege now of yielding and participating, as it says, in that divine nature instead of my own. So you’re very close. The old man is gone, but the flesh, you want to call that nature, you can call it what you want to, but the flesh is still as active as it ever was, and it cannot be changed. It must be controlled.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay. Well, thanks, Bob.
SPEAKER 05 :
Does that help, Tom? It’s kind of a complicated subject, but I think if we’ll just get the difference between identity and the new nature that’s his and my human nature that is mine, you call it flesh, and they’re at conflict with each other.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay. I appreciate it. God bless you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Same to you, my friend.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, bye.
SPEAKER 05 :
God bless you, too. We’re going to go to Chip in Richmond, Virginia, listening on the Internet. Chip, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, hey, Bob and Bob. How are you guys doing tonight?
SPEAKER 05 :
Doing good, Chip. Thank you.
SPEAKER 01 :
Hey, a little quick background on me before I get to my question. I started listening to you back in 1993. And before that, I’d been in Christ for about four years. And I just remember being so sincere in my faith. And I was just really living… the Christian life in my own flesh and the energy of my own flesh. For example, I remember memorizing about 300 Bible passages, and I really thought I was hot stuff. But the problem was I didn’t have any idea or understanding about what the New Covenant was, so I was just utterly confused about what they really meant. For example, I memorized the Sermon on the Mount and really tried to learn how to live righteously. And the Sermon on the Mount did what Jesus, I think, was doing in the Sermon on the Mount. It just killed me. It utterly… condemned me. And, uh, the more that I would memorize it, the more that I just, uh, began to question my own salvation and, uh, really just led me into, uh, you know, being a double minded person. And, um, that was pretty soon after that, where I, um, I started listening to the people to people broadcast and, uh, really just started, uh, understanding a little bit more about the finality of the cross and what Jesus really did to usher in that new covenant. And, uh, and then I began to experience the reality of the resurrection of my life. And, uh, It’s kind of funny because all those Bible passages that I memorized, then they begin to make sense. And I still kind of wonder how I got off track. It’s just so funny how sometimes we complicate the gospel so much. And it was just all there in front of me all the time. And I just can’t thank you enough for the teaching that you guys have been doing for all these years. And it is just setting literally thousands of people across the world free. And I’m a product of that. So thank you guys so much for that. It just means the world to me.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, thank you, Chip, and we appreciate your sharing that with us. You know, that’s one of the things about Scripture memorization. People say, is Scripture memory good? And I say, it just depends. If you memorize Scripture in its context, it’s good, but if you don’t, it can be bad. You don’t have any context as to understand the meaning of something. You certainly have memorized what it says, but to know what it means, you have to have it in its context. Most people that really promote scriptural memory really don’t promote it in its context, just learn the verse. But once you see the context of those scriptures that you’ve memorized, thank God you’ve got them in your heart. And, uh, but once you see the context, it all starts falling together for you. So we’re very grateful for you, pal.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. Another, uh, quick encouragement. Um, just, I’m so excited that you guys are, uh, on the internet now. I haven’t been able to listen to you probably for about the past five years, but I’m able to, uh, get you online now. And, uh, I think podcasting is the greatest invention of all time. And so, uh, I’m able to listen to you, uh, just kind of whenever I want to now. And, uh, it’s just, um, just so good to get that, that teaching in me again. And, um, I’m in Richmond right now, and I’m in the process of planning a church, and that’s going to be launching probably in March of 2006, and just so you know that, I mean, you might not have a lot of active listeners right now in Richmond, but at the same time, just know that your ministry is touching my life, as you know, of right now, but hopefully we’re going to be touching a lot of other people, so, you know, your ministry is multiplied, and you just touch so many people that you probably never even get to hear about, and… I believe that you guys are doing God’s work, and I believe that Jesus Christ is saying well done, good and faithful servants to you now and also to you when you go to be present with the Lord. So I just thought I’d offer that as an encouragement to you, and again, thank you for all that you do.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, you’re welcome, Chip. Thank you so much for the encouragement.
SPEAKER 06 :
Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
SPEAKER 03 :
Put Jesus first in your life and turn your life around.
