In this enlightening episode, Bob George addresses some of the most profound questions about living a life in Christ. Beginning with a discussion on the eternal conflict between spiritual and fleshly desires, Bob offers insights into how believers can strive for victory by embracing the centrality of Christ and living by truth. Through an engaging dialogue, listeners are guided to understand that the solution to overcoming sinful desires lies in thought control and what it means to be dead to sin but alive in Christ.
00:16:51 Discussion on Eternal Security and Salvation
00:26:44 Recommended Resources and Closing Thoughts
SPEAKER 05 :
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 :
Vancouver, British Columbia, listening on Carrie. Alvin, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, yes. I was listening to one of your sermons on Friday, and you talked about taking a closer look at your identity in Jesus Christ, and that when we accept Jesus into our life, He sends us the Holy Spirit. However, as a result, conflict arises with our desires and the Holy Spirit, and we can never get rid of ourselves of these desires. So I was wondering… How can we live with these desires and become victorious over these desires?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, you’re going to live with the conflict until the day you fall into the grave and are absent from the body and present with the Lord. That’s one of the reasons that you should be looking forward to that day because it will be the only time in your life that you’ll be free from the sinful desires of your sin nature. In Galatians 5.16, it says, So the opposite of gratifying the desires of your flesh is learning how to live by the Spirit. And again, Elvin… It tells that God is spirit and you must worship him in spirit and in truth. And Jesus is full of grace and truth. So to live by the spirit is to live by truth. and to live by Jesus is to live in his truth. He is the truth, and we live in that truth. So the sins of the sinful nature, the gratifying, the desires of the sinful nature are created by thoughts. You desire something because you think something, don’t you? We’re designed that way by God, whereby our emotions are going to predictably respond to whatever we’re thinking. So it isn’t controlling our emotions, it’s controlling our thoughts. And the only way that you can control those thoughts, those sinful thoughts that produce sinful desires, is to live by truth and to be able to reject those sinful thoughts that come into your head. They sound just like you talking, but it’s satanic, it’s demonic. They’re the ones who are encouraging us Those demonic desires are being produced in everything that we look at, television, magazines, billboards. All of those things are designed to try to stir up our thoughts that produce the sinful desires of the flesh. So the only way in the world that we’re going to be able to gain any kind of victory over that, and again, I think that victory is always just momentarily. What we’re always looking for is total victory, never to have that again. Well, if you really want that, pray for death, because then it will happen. But until that time, you’re going to have that struggle between the flesh and the spirit. And it says that the desires of the flesh are contrary to the desires of the spirit. The desires of the spirit are contrary to the desires of the flesh. They’re in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want. And so Paul said, the things I want to do, I don’t do it. The things I don’t want to do, I do them anyway. So if he was in that conflict, so will you be. But the only solution to that is to learn what truth is and to live by it. So when those thoughts come into your head, you know exactly who’s putting them there. It’s Satan. The thoughts. Absolutely. And he’s doing that to produce sinful desires in your flesh. And when those desires are created, our will gets in action. And the next thing you know, we’re doing it.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. We get to control our thoughts.
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely. It’s your thought life. Sin begins right at the threshold of your head. And that’s where the battleground is. You and I talk about battlegrounds. Our battleground is what sits on our shoulders. And that’s where the entire battle is fought, is right up there in our minds. Because as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. So we have to realize that the world is out there. Every single aspect I can think of, practically, Elvin, is there to produce thoughts that produce sinful desires. I mean, almost everything you see on television. And it’s getting worse.
SPEAKER 04 :
We can never get rid of these desires, even though it says that we are dead to sin.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, you’re dead to the law. And that’s when you’re talking about dead to sin, that God is no longer dealing with you on the basis of sin and death. So basically, you’re dead to that aspect of God dealing with you. So it isn’t the case that when you sin that you’re going to get beat up or condemned because you’re dead to that. You have learned that there’s now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus because the law, the spirit of life, has set you free from that law of sin and death. So if God has done that for you, then you need to die to it. It isn’t that you die to sinning, but you die to the fact that God is dealing with you on the basis of sin and death today. Thank God for that. If he was, you’d be a goner. So now that he is not dealing with you on that basis, and he is dealing with you on the basis of a new life, now we’re asking a question, how does a new creature in Christ live his life? And the answer to that is Galatians 5.16, live by the Spirit. Live by truth. Yeah. And you have the spirit living in you that can identify error. And when it does, give it back to them. If you had a piece of software that didn’t belong in your computer, just spit it out. That’s what we have to learn to do. It takes time and it’s not easy. But it’s what you must do if you’re going to learn to live by the spirit.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. Okay. That clears up a lot of confusion.
SPEAKER 02 :
And you’re not the Lone Ranger. You do have to understand that every person who walks on the face of this earth who names the name of Christ is in this conflict. As a matter of fact, a Christian is much more in the conflict than a lost person because a lost person doesn’t have a conflict. They just live in afflation and enjoy it until it eats their lunch.
SPEAKER 04 :
I was listening to that sermon on Friday that you were giving about Christ. getting a closer look at your identity to Jesus, and I didn’t get the end of it. That’s why I was taping it, and then I had to leave, and then when I came back, my tape ran out, and I missed that last part, and I don’t know how it ended.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, you can get the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say, on the archives if you have your computer. I don’t know whether you do or not, but if you do, you just log on to realanswers.net, and then you can pick up the archives on those programs.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, actually, I ordered that tape.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, good. Well, listen, brother, I think just, again, don’t be too hard on yourself. Recognize this is very normal what you’re going through, but you don’t have to live fulfilling the desires of the flesh.
SPEAKER 1 :
Right.
SPEAKER 02 :
The passage did not say that the desires of the flesh would go away. Neither did it say try to clean up the flesh and you’ll be spiritual. It said that your flesh is going to be erupting for as long as you’re in this body of ours. And there’s only one way to control that, and that’s by the spirit. And the way you control the error from dominating your mind is to go to truth and let truth dominate your mind.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yeah. Oh, that makes perfect sense.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, my brother. You call again, and when you get the tape, keep listening to it. And if you’ve got any more questions, don’t hesitate to call, okay? Okay, thank you. God bless you, my friend. Bye-bye. Let’s go to Corona, California, listening on Kay Bright. Brian, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. How you doing, Bob?
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m doing fine, thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I heard your earlier program on Kay Bright. And I have one thing I’d like to say to all those King James only people out there. They really need to get a life. They really need to get a life. And, boy, I’m behind you 100%, brother. And count it all joy when you go through those moments of accusation and criticism.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 03 :
You are not alone.
SPEAKER 02 :
No. Well, I recognize that too, Brian. I said it’s just, Byron, it’s amazing to me sometimes of people that you know are, you know, they’ve been benefited. Their lives have been turned around by the ministry and then can be so narrow in their thinking to think that when you attack something like this or deal with something like this, that you can do that without passion and without compassion. I cannot do that. And if that comes across as harsh, well, I’m sorry for that because that’s not my heart. But I cannot preach the gospel without the passion that is in my heart to do so.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. I understand with that 100%. Sometimes it’s a very lonely road, too. The last couple of months I’ve been to three different churches and been politely told to go somewhere else. just that the evangelical church today does not want to hear the truth and I get so excited and my voice raises and everything my body language and everything and people start getting really defensive and so I end up quenching the spirit but the reason I called you was in regards to I heard you talk yesterday to a brother on the Lord’s Supper and I’ve read your books, and I’ve heard you make comments about the Lord’s Supper. I just want to clear up one little issue, because I was talking to a pastor last weekend on this issue, and he nailed me on the communion issue about examining ourselves. And I was trying to refer to him. Well, that’s not on the basis of asking for forgiveness.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, on the basis of examining yourself, you’re examining yourself to see whether or not you’re being a drunk and a glutton by eating up all the bread and drinking all the food before the rest of the body gets there.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 02 :
So, again, people are playing spiritual hopscotch through the scriptures, Byron, and taking something totally out of context. It says, whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner. What was the unworthy manner that they were drinking it and eating? One remains hungry. When you come together, it said, is it not the Lord’s supper you eat? For as you eat, each one goes ahead without waiting on anybody else. One remains hungry. Another gets drunk. Kind of annihilates grape juice, doesn’t it? Yes. And he said, don’t you have homes to eat and drink in, or do you despise the church of God, the body of Christ, and humiliate those who have nothing? So the manner in which they were taking the supper was eating up all of the bread and drinking up the wine before the rest of the body. And he said, whenever you do that… and you eat and drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body, that’s you and me, and the blood, that’s the life of the Lord. So a man ought to examine himself, what? Before he eats the bread and drinks the cup. What is he examining himself for? To find out, am I waiting on the body, or am I eating all the bread and drinking the wine before the rest of the people gets there?
SPEAKER 03 :
What is your motive in focus?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, for anyone who eats and drinks just tells you what it is without recognizing the body of the Lord. Eats and drinks judgment on himself from the body.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
And that’s why many of you are weak and sick and a number of you have passed out.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I understand that. Does this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord? will be guilty of the body.
SPEAKER 02 :
No, he’s guilty of sinning against the body. He is not recognizing the body of Christ. And then sitting there and taking the new covenant, which is the cup of the covenant, which says there’s sins and lawless acts. I’ll remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there’s no more sacrifice for sins. And sit there and celebrate that after you’ve had everybody sit in a maudlin mood for about 15 minutes, confessing all their sins and asking for forgiveness.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s not celebrating the new covenant. The new covenant is there’s sins and lawless acts. I’ll remember no more.
SPEAKER 03 :
There you go. That’s right.
SPEAKER 02 :
So the whole thing is messed up. Yeah. So you tell, you know, a pastor stating that passage is just taking scripture out of context. Well, he was using. Totally taking it out of context.
SPEAKER 03 :
He was using that one. He was also using John 15. And I said, well, we don’t produce. We don’t produce the fruit. We only bear the fruit. Well, you know, he disciplines and he will cut off and he will throw it into the fire. I mean, just all kinds of sideline me and sidetrack me from the real issue.
SPEAKER 02 :
I hope that isn’t where you’re going.
SPEAKER 03 :
I hope not either.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. I mean, why would someone want to be around that encouragement?
SPEAKER 03 :
No, he was just really confounded, you know, because when I was confronting him, he didn’t have any real answers to God’s truth. So he tried to stop me.
SPEAKER 02 :
Why were you discussing with him?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I had given him the book. Oh, I see. And I went to him in his office and I said, listen, I need to make it perfectly clear, and I want you to understand… where I’m coming from because I don’t want any conflict. Well, he just gave me some mild lip service, but when it came to Sunday school, I started asking him questions in Sunday school. It just kind of disrupted the whole Sunday school class because he was teaching law.
SPEAKER 02 :
So that is where you’re going.
SPEAKER 03 :
I was going.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, you were, yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m no longer there. He don’t want me there.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, well, that’s good. I think that you should be complimented on that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, like I said, brother, it’s a very lonely place.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. You want to hang on?
SPEAKER 03 :
Brother, that’s enough. I just want you to know that I’m behind you 100%. I love you. Thank you. God bless.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thanks, Byron.
SPEAKER 05 :
Amy George’s book, Goodbye Is Not Forever, is a wonderful story about her life in the Ukraine during World War II. This book will inspire you as you read about the struggles and hardships of wartime and the faithfulness of God throughout it all. Get your copy of Goodbye Is Not Forever today at bobgeorge.net.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, Tina, are you there? Yes, I am. Okay, I thought you fell off the chair or something.
SPEAKER 01 :
I’m sorry. I’m here at work. How are you?
SPEAKER 02 :
Fine, thank you.
SPEAKER 01 :
Good. I had a question. We were having a little discussion here at work, okay, and it was a question about being saved, okay? Once you’re saved, you’re always saved. I understand that part, okay? But is it true about… no matter how much we sin and we don’t repent, due to the fact that we’re saved, that our soul still goes to heaven.
SPEAKER 02 :
Tina, you could not sin the grace of God if you tried. Now, there’s a lot of people that certainly have tried. But the grace of God, there is no man who is bad enough not to receive the grace of God or is good enough to earn the grace of God. your salvation is complete, not by us, but by him. In Hebrews 7, 24 and 25, it says because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood, and therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him. So Jesus is the one who saves us, and he saves us completely. You see, people that are preoccupied with how much sinning you’re doing don’t understand what salvation is because those sins are were not only taken away at the cross for them as a Christian, but they were taken away at the cross for the entire world. But when people think that salvation is just getting your sins forgiven, why then, quite frankly, it would be universal salvation because Christ not only died for our sins, but the sins of the whole world. And God was in Christ reconciling the whole world unto himself, not counting their sins against them. Now that’s what God did to clear the deck of for salvation, which is being saved from the wages, the consequence of sin, which is death by the gift of God, which is life. And so you’re not saved by the death of Christ. You’re saved by the life of Christ. Now, again, you couldn’t have one without the other, but don’t mistake one for the other. because it is the eternal forgiveness that he provided at the cross, eternal forgiveness for the entire world throughout the entire ages that enabled him to offer eternal life to those who would recognize the work that Jesus Christ did on that cross and recognize the fact that they are dead spiritually and come to him for spiritual life. Now, that life that he gives us is eternal life. And the reason it’s eternal is because there is nothing to cause death. And that’s sin. And the reason that sin cannot cause death, again, once you receive life, is because of the cross where your sins were taken away.
SPEAKER 01 :
Okay. But the thing that I’m having a problem understanding is, okay, if in actuality, so if I’m once saved, I’m always saved, that means I cannot do enough sin to not ascend to heaven.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, yeah, but Tina, the object of salvation is not just to get to heaven. God came to do far more than get a man out of hell into heaven. He came to get himself out of heaven back into man. The dynamic of your salvation is what you have right now. Now, heaven is going to be wonderful, but that’s after you die. So he came to live in you now. Now, again, if you’re truly born again and have God’s spirit living in you, The question, well, can I go on sinning, you know, up a storm? That’s somebody that doesn’t understand what salvation is. Christ sure isn’t leading you to go back into the garbage pail. Your flesh may be, but he isn’t leading you to do that, is he? He’s leading you to walk in the newness of life.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s the question that we had here at work. But the thing of it is that if you sin and you don’t repent, Can you still make it to heaven?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, Tina, you know there’s something thick going on there in the mind. Listen for a moment. Listen to your question. If I sin, can I still go to heaven? Where is that sin? What did Jesus do with it? At the cross.
SPEAKER 01 :
He died.
SPEAKER 02 :
He took it away, didn’t he? So how could you ask the question, if I sin, would I still go to heaven, when that sin was taken away 2,000 years ago? You see, you’re not coming to a therefore. If Christ took away the sins of the world, how many sins did he not die for? Were your sins judged at the cross? Sure they were. All sins were judged to the cross. What was the verdict? Guilty. What was the punishment? Death. Who took it? Jesus. How much of it? All of it. Is anything left for you?
SPEAKER 01 :
Okay. Okay. Question. The water baptism.
SPEAKER 02 :
Let’s forget about water baptism. You need to get salvation in mind. See, you’re going all over the place, Tina. And I’m trying to, believe me, I’m not trying to be rude, but I’m trying to get you to hang on to a subject long enough to come to a therefore on it without worrying about other things. If Jesus, did he or did he not mean what he said when he said at the cross, it is finished?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, he did mean it.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay. Then is there any sin that was not forgiven at the cross? No. Okay. So then if you are in Christ, it says in him you have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. Are you in Christ? Yes. Then what do you have?
SPEAKER 01 :
Redemption.
SPEAKER 02 :
Redemption. What else do you have? Forgiveness of sin. Now, you don’t ask to get redeemed and you don’t ask to get forgiven if, indeed, you are already a redeemed, forgiven person. If you are in Christ, forgiveness is your possession. Redemption is your possession. So there’s no more forgiveness to be executed on your behalf by God. If that’s the case, then his cross was not complete. And that’s why I said when I come back, I’m not coming to bear sin, but to bring salvation for those who are waiting for me. Why isn’t he coming to bear sin? He’s already done so. Now, settle that issue. What I’m saying is it’s like being married and then for 10 years looking over your husband in the morning and saying, will you please marry me? He’s saying, what’s wrong with you? We are married. That’s a done deal. So Christ, there’s no more forgiveness to be executed on your behalf by God. Without the shedding of blood, there’s no forgiveness. Is there any more shedding of blood to take place? Is he going to die again? No. Okay. So without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins, and there’s no more sacrifice for sins left. So there’s no more shedding of blood, and without the shedding of blood, there’s no forgiveness. So the one time he did shed blood, he provided forgiveness for the entire world. He not only died for our sins again, but the sins of the whole world. Now can you put a therefore to that?
SPEAKER 01 :
Okay, so in other words, you’re saying that even if I’m not filled with his spirit, that I’m still saved?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, Tina, you’re not filled with His Spirit right now. You couldn’t be controlled by His Spirit and not understand His cross and understand His life and understand the very things that you’re talking about. There’s no way to be controlled by the Spirit of God if you don’t understand the meaning of the Spirit of God. So to be controlled by the Spirit is a totally different subject altogether. That’s an ongoing being controlled means to be or be filled means to be controlled by, and that’s being controlled by the love of God. That’s an ongoing process. Sometimes you are, sometimes you aren’t. The issue is if you are in Christ, do you have eternal life or did he give you temporal life?
SPEAKER 01 :
You have eternal life.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay. Then how long does eternal life last? And if it’s eternal, could it ever be taken away? You see what I mean? I mean, you can’t take away something that’s eternal, can you? And when it says he saved you completely, then what people are saying, well, no, no, you didn’t save us completely. Completely means you’re saved completely. I’ve already delivered you to shore. In fact, the Bible says you’re already seated with him in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus. You’re already there. So you can’t lose that. You cannot lose what he said. I’ll never leave you nor forsake you. I’ve saved you completely. And I gave you eternal life. And when you got that eternal life was the very moment that you had the son. He said, I’m not going to leave you. You cannot leave me. And so we’ve got a permanent relationship with each other. Now, the issue is rest in that, you see. What faith says is, I believe that. Now, you see, if you’ve been brought up to think faith is causing God to do something, that’s making yourself God. Faith responds to what God’s already done. And when we don’t understand what he’s done, how are you going to respond by faith? And without faith, it’s impossible to please God, you see. Okay.
SPEAKER 01 :
Can you give me some scriptures on that?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I could give you the entire New Testament through covenant, but I’ll tell you what I’m going to do, Tina. I’m going to mail you our book, Classic Christianity, and you read through that and then check every one of those passages of Scripture that we have in that book out to your Bible in context and just let the Spirit of God continue to speak to you on that, okay?
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I’ll be more than happy to send that to you as our compliments, and I think that that will really help you to solidify these matters, okay? Okay. You hang on now, Tina.
SPEAKER 05 :
Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
SPEAKER 04 :
Put Jesus first in your life and turn your life around.
