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and we recommend that you purchase these materials to read them in their entirety.
The following excerpts from the writings of Bob George are available on this page: The Great Exchange By: Bob George Christians are continually trying to change their lives; but God calls us to experience the exchanged life. Christianity is not a self-improvement program. It isn't a reformation project. It is resurrection! It is new life! And it is expressed in terms of a total exchange of identity. Jesus Christ identified Himself with us in our death in order that we might be identified with Him in His resurrection. We give Christ all that we were spiritually dead, guilty sinners and Christ gives us all that He is resurrected life, forgiveness, righteousness, acceptance. We have total acceptance because we have experienced a total exchange: "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Examine some of the results of our being given a standing of total acceptance before God (our justification). We have been made at peace with God. (Romans 5:1) We Christians have been made complete in Christ. We are forgiven, redeemed, made spiritually alive, and we stand in the righteousness of Christ, totally accepted. Are we perfectly mature? No. That won't happen until the day of resurrection... Because we have experienced God's great exchange, we can consider the past dead and gone, and concentrate on walking in the new life we have received. There are many people who find this message offensive and get angry. There's another group which says, "Yes, yes, I know what you're saying is true. But...you have to go on to practical truth." Listen! There is nothing more practical than the message of God's love and grace, and the believer's identity in Christ! People are always looking for God's power, and this is it! Whatever you or I may be struggling with, the answer is the same. It is only through a total exchange that we will begin to see the changes we desire. From: Classic Christianity. Eugene: Harvest House Publishers. ©1989.
By: Bob George Being made into a new creation is like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Originally an earthbound crawling creature, a caterpillar weaves a cocoon and is totally immersed in it. Then a marvelous process takes place, called metamorphosis. Finally a totally new creature - a butterfly - emerges. Once ground-bound, the butterfly can now soar above the earth. It now can view life from the sky downward. In the same way, as a new creature in Christ you must begin to see yourself as God sees you. If you were to see a butterfly, it would never occur to you to say, "Hey, everybody! Come look at this good-looking converted worm!" And it was "converted." No, now it is a new creature, and you don't think of it in terms of what it was. You see it as it is now - a butterfly. In exactly the same way, God sees you as His new creature in Christ. Although you might not always act like a good butterfly - you might land on things you shouldn't, or forget you are a butterfly and crawl around with our old worm buddies - the truth of the matter is, you are never going to be a worm again! This is why the usual New Testament word for a person in Christ is "saint," meaning "holy one." Paul for example, in nearly all his letters addressed them to the "saints." Yet all the time I hear Christians referring to themselves as "just an old sinner saved by grace." No! That's like calling a butterfly a converted worm. We were sinners and we were saved by grace, but the Word of God calls us saints from the moment we become identified with Christ. Some people ask, "But I still commit sins. Doesn't that make me a sinner? I answer, "It depends on whether your identity is determined by your behavior what you do or by who you are in God's eyes." Do you see how we have continued to do as Christians what the world does by determining a person's identity based on his behavior? The only way to get free of this is to do what Paul wrote in Colossians 3:1-3: 'Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.' From: Classic Christianity. Eugene: Harvest House Publishers. ©1989.
By: Bob George Have you ever heard someone say, "I tried the Christ life, and it doesn't work."? That statement is very revealing. "It doesn't work," people say. Right there you can see the root of the problem. The Christian life is not an "it"! The Christian life is Christ a vital personal relationship with the One who laid down His life for you, so that He could give His life to you, so that He could live His life through you. "Christ is your life," Paul declared in Philippians 12:21. He is what we have been missing in the midst of all our highly dedicated efforts! In my opinion, many Christians look at their salvation in Jesus Christ in the same way a teenager viewed a wedding I was performing. With glassy eyes she exclaimed, "I want to get married!" Notice she did not say, "I want to be married"; merely, "I want to get married." In her youthful understanding, to "get married" meant to have her day in the sun, to be the center of attention, and to wear a beautiful gown. Taking this way of thinking to its logical conclusion, I can easily imagine her wedding. Right after the pronouncement of "husband and wife," she expels a huge sigh of relief, thanks the minister for conducting the ceremony, thanks the guests for coming, an then turns to her groom. Giving his hand a vigorous shake, she expresses her sincere thanks to him for saving her from singleness. Then she goes out the side door, gets into a taxi, and goes home. Her goal had been achieved: She got married! We often look at receiving Christ as the end of something escape from judgment and hell rather than the beginning of a new relationship of growing intimacy with our loving Lord. Now, obviously, escape from judgment is part of the gospel, but it is not the whole gospel. Jesus defined eternal life this way: "Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent" (John 17:3). Salvation is a new relationship, a new birth, a new life! From: Growing in Grace
By: Bob George Christ knows us, He understands us, He loves us, He accepts us, and He is the only true wisdom available to us. He is the solution to all our problems, and our peace in the storms of life. He, and He alone, has given us "everything we need for life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3). He, and He alone, is the One who is "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14), and therefore the only one who can teach us "to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:12,13). A misunderstanding of this truth forces the Christian to become what the Bible calls a "double-minded man, unstable in all he does" (James 1:8) He studies the Word to get to know God, but he studies the psychology books to get know himself. Paul said, "For to me, to live is Christ . . ." (Philippians 1:21). In Galatians 2:20, he said, "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." Since it is true that we no longer live, but Christ lives in us, let me ask you this question: If you want to get to know who you are, who are you going to have to get to know? Him! In other words, to discover your true identity, you will have to discover Him who alone is your life. This eliminates the need for analysis, self-actualization, and going back into memories of past experiences to "understand yourself." When Paul said in Romans 7:15, "I do not know what I am doing," he didn't go on to say, "I therefore need to go for counseling." He merely recognized his condition of sin and death as revealed by God's law and claimed God's solution: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:25). From: Growing in Grace
By: Bob George Jesus Christ did not just come to show us the way; He is the way. He did not just teach us some truth: He is the truth. He did not just leave us a manual to live by. He is our life. Whatever the need of the human heart, Christ offers Himself as the solution. His eternal answer is "I am". Much Christian teaching today is "ten steps to spiritual maturity," "the five-minute Christian parent," or "six ways to overcome grief." It is as if the Bible were nothing more than an instruction manual, a positive-thinking guide to success in any area of life, with just enough religious talk to calm our consciences and quiet that still, small voice that keeps reminding us of our emptiness. In many ways we are just like the Jews of Jesus' day to whom He said: You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life" (John 5:39,40). Rather than digging out of the Bible principles that we apply like a technician to repair our own lives, we are to go to the Word of God to get to know the Person of Jesus Christ, the living Word! Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11: 28). He invites every person to come to Him to experience His love and compassion, and to share His resurrected life. I'm convinced that the devil doesn't care what our eyes are on, as long as they are off of Jesus. And that includes any one of a hundred good things, like Bible knowledge, fellowship, service, giving, or worship experiences. Anything we do that is not centered on the living Christ is a substitute for Christ. What God will bless as a supplement, He will curse as a substitute. The good is often the most deadly enemy of the best. From: Growing in Grace
By: Bob George The Christian world is obsessed with sin. It's all we talk about. Most of our preaching and teaching is directed toward getting people to quit sinning. Are you ready for a really shocking statement? The goal of the Christian life is not to stop sinning! To use the analogy of the starving man, most Christian teaching is like a person following a starving man around saying, "You stay out of the garbage! Do you hear me? Don't eat the garbage! You stay out of there!" Look, when you're truly hungry, you'll eat anything even garbage. What should you do? I promise you: If you will get that man into the cafeteria line, and he begins experiencing what real, good food is like, he won't be nostalgically dreaming about the garbage out back. What is it that every human being needs? The life of Christ! And not just our initial receiving of Him into our lives; we need to experience daily the reality of knowing Christ and walking with Him in a vibrant relationship. It is only in comparison with the riches of knowing Christ that sin begins to lose its appeal. The longer that I am a Christian, the more I feel in my heart that sin is not just wrong, it is outright stupid. I feel so dumb for settling for anything less than experiencing Jesus Christ Himself every minute. Why should I ever wallow in the garbage when the Lord has laid a banquet table for me? And yet, the "stay-out-of-the-garbage" approach to Christian education predominates today. In other words, we continue to try to use the law to produce the Christian life. The law was never given to make men right with God; it was given to show men their need so that they would turn to a Savior who would make them right with God. There are devastating results of using the law in the Christian life: First, we actually end up producing what we are trying to stop sin. I Corinthians 15:56 says, "...the power of sin is the law" The law not only doesn't stop us from sinning, it actually stirs up more! The second reason that the law is useless for producing the life that God desires is that it deals only with externals. God, we are told, is looking on man's heart, but the law only deals with his actions. If merely shaping up our actions were what God desired, then the Pharisees would have been His favorites. The goal of the Christian life is knowing Christ! From: Classic Christianity. Eugene: Harvest House Publishers. ©1989.
By: Bob George I discovered why Christian service had been killing me. I already knew about the Holy Spirit; in fact, I had taught lectures about His ministry in our lives. But I always associated Him with power: giving me power to share Christ, power to understand the Bible, power to teach, power to serve. Of course, there is truth in that. But I was missing the single most important aspect of having the Holy Spirit the fact that through Him I have received the very life of God. As long as I associated the Spirit's ministry only with power, the emphasis was still on me. My prayers were most often, "God, help me to do this activity." God may have been providing some help, but I was still doing it. When I was doing it, there was no lasting joy or fulfillment, and eventually I reached a state of total burnout. Finally I learned that Christ did not come to "help" me serve God; He came to live His life through me! That is why Paul wrote: 'I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20) Failing to hold onto these truths, the Christian world has become so frantic in its activity that it reminds me of the well-known definition of a fanatic: "A person who redoubles his efforts after he has lost sight of his goals." Over and over we have witnessed the spectacle of people coming forward in a service to recommit their lives. In essence, they are coming down to say, "God, I'm really serious this time. This time I'll do it if it kills me!" To them I say, "Don't worry. It will!" I know, because it killed me. We have simply not come to grips with the fact that it isn't hard to live the Christian life. It's impossible! Only Christ can live it. Our only hope is to learn that Jesus Christ did not come just to get men out of hell and into heaven; He came to get Himself out of heaven and into men! Many Christians have been trying to ground out the Christian life on their own, resulting in failure. They cry out for God's help. I respond; a dead man doesn't need help. A dead man needs life!" Salvation is not just something that Christ did for us, but it is Jesus Christ Himself living in us. From: Classic Christianity. Eugene: Harvest House Publishers. ©1989.
By: Bob George "If you are a true Christian, then you are as righteous and acceptable in the sight of God as Jesus Christ!" What's your reaction? If you are shocked..., then it may be that you just don't know who you are in Christ. It may be that you know a great deal of doctrine, but your daily Christian life is still more a burden than a blessing. You may have tried and tried to change your life without success, in spite of all the seminars, books, and tapes you have searched. Whatever your situation, I have great news to share with you. Most Christians, I find, understand the general idea behind forgiveness: God took our sins and gave them to Jesus. But that's only half the message! God also took Christ's perfect righteousness and gave it to us! Second Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." How could I stand up and declare that in the sight of God I am as righteous and acceptable as Jesus Christ? Because of what I do? No way! It's because of who I am in Christ. The Bible goes to great lengths to declare that righteousness is a free gift that a man receives by faith. "For if, by the trespass of the one man (Adam), death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17) Righteousness (a right standing of total acceptability before God) is a gift. You don't work for it. You don't earn it. You don't deserve it. Like any gift, all you can do is accept it or reject it. And once you have it, it's yours. Galatians 3:27 says, "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Because we are in Him we are totally acceptable to God! Now realize that I am talking about ourselves being acceptable to God, not necessarily our actions. In my identity I am eternally acceptable to Him, but that doesn't mean that everything I do is all right. He may put His arm around me, so to speak, and show me the truth about something in my life that is out of line: an attitude, action, or habit. Why? So He can change my attitude that is out of line, resulting in a change of action. But at no time is His acceptance of me ever in question. From: Classic Christianity. Eugene: Harvest House Publishers. ©1989.
By: Bob George Someone experiences a genuine conversion to Jesus Christ that results in immediate changes. But there seems to be something lacking in knowing how to live from that point. He dutifully obeys the instructions that other believers give him, and jumps onto the treadmill of service. It isn't long before he discovers that no amount of service - sincere though it may be will make a person spiritual. In desperation he re-doubles his efforts but, like a person struggling in quicksand, it seems that the harder he tries, the deeper he sinks. Other people get bound up in fear and guilt, effectively frustrating their personal growth. Like children living under hyperauthoritarian parents, they live in a state of constant worry that they will suffer the application of God's big wooden spoon. Consciously or unconsciously, they live by a list of rules. When they keep those rules, they are "okay." When they slip, they get ready to bend over. As a result, many born-again Christians live in terrible bondage, constantly worrying if they are obeying the right rules or doing the right activities to please God. An oppressive burden of guilt becomes their normal, everyday experience. We don't necessarily recognize these people as hurting. On the outside, they may be smiling, repeating the usual Christian cliches, and performing the expected church functions. But inside, they know they are putting on an act. They would love to be free of the burden. They deeply desire to share their fears, pains, and doubts, but don't for fear of being condemned, so they suffer their own silent condemnation, wondering if God will ever find it in His heart to accept them. Is this then, what Jesus had in mind when He talked of an "abundant life"? No! But if people have never experienced anything different, they will accept their predicament as normal. They will assume "that's just the way it is." I have got great news. The Christian life really isn't a matter of perfecting your acting ability. It can be real! From: Classic Christianity. Eugene: Harvest House Publishers. ©1989.
By: Bob George There's a big difference between knowing what something says and knowing what it means. Millions of Christians know what the Bible says. But many do not know what it means because that can only be revealed by the Spirit. Man's pride rebels against the idea that he cannot understand spiritual truth on his own. We need the Holy Spirit to open our minds to the things having to do with the unfathomable riches of His love and grace, those things that "God has freely given us." Those truths are described in 1 Corinthians 2:9 this way: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him." In order to understand the things that God wants to teach us regarding His grace, we must have a humble, teachable attitude, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6). Just as the same sun that melts wax hardens clay, the same message of God's grace that softens the heart of the humble hardens the proud. The proud cannot receive grace because the proud will not receive grace. The offer of grace is offensive to the proud heart. That is why an uneducated but humble person will receive far more genuine and intimate knowledge of God Himself than a highly educated but arrogant theologian. When we humbly and dependently allow the Spirit to teach us, we will know the truth. When we are so busy doing spiritual activities that we cannot hear what the Spirit is saying, then we become candidates for falling into error. That was my problem. I was so busy with spiritual activities - good things - that I didn't realize that error had crept into my thinking. I needed to be still and listen to the Spirit. I needed to go back to the Word with an open heart and hear what God was saying. That's when I discovered the incredible liberty that we have as Christians. We have been set free to enjoy life in all its fullness! That freedom provides us with the means to become what we really want to be holy people with hearts for God. In our own power, we can never make it. All of our human efforts ultimately end in frustration. From: Classic Christianity. Eugene: Harvest House Publishers. ©1989.
By: Bob George Under the law we become hypocrites. The word comes from the Greek theatre. A hypocrite is not an imperfect person; a hypocrite is an actor, a pretender. What made the Pharisees hypocrites was not their faults: It was their pretense that they were righteous. It was teaching one thing and doing another. But that is what law will always produce: people who are always hiding their real selves, always acting, always pretending, and never being real. But what happens when we are set free by grace? One of the most common testimonies I hear is, "For the first time in my life, I am free to just be myself! I'm free to be me." The ultimate consequence of living under law is outright rebellion when you give up because of the hopelessness of ever making it. Time and time again, I have seen these people who have been branded as "rebels against God" or "back-slidden Christians" come out of their chairs in excitement and joy as they learn for the first time about the incredible grace, love and acceptance of God in Jesus Christ. In all my years as a Christian, I have never heard anyone say, "I've had it! I am sick to death of the love and grace of God. I'm sick of other Christians loving and accepting me. I'm giving up this Christian life." No I've never heard that. But I couldn't count the number of Christians I've known who have given up because of being under law, who have been broken by the crushing burden of trying to be good enough to earn God's acceptance, who have been mangled by the competition, the judging, and the demands to conform to some group's standards. "We'll accept you if you look like, walk like, talk like, and act like us." And the implication is always, "And God will, too." So what are we to do? Jesus Christ came to free us from the burden of the law by calling us to a life united with His. We are beloved, accepted children of God, who have been called to His "banquet table" to experience Jesus Christ living in and through us every day. Abundant life is not "pie-in-the-sky" or nebulous theory. It is real, and it is ours for the taking if we will only believe. Let's not settle for anything less. From: Classic Christianity. Eugene: Harvest House Publishers.
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