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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

your Bible and turn to the book of Hebrews, the book of Hebrews, and chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Today’s message is on a, maybe a strange subject, it’s on bitterness. You know, that’s the poison that people take to destroy themselves. And a lot of people have bitter hearts that expresses itself in envy and jealousy and malice and an unforgiving spirit. So hopefully these things will help you to see what I’m talking about. Why should I forgive somebody because they wrong me?

I say get a Newsy and park their soul in eternity. But that may be not the best way to do it. When I married Betty, we ran away in the Anderson, South Carolina, her dad had a gun in the car and he was going to part my soul in eternity. I had committed the unforgivable sin. I took his daughter without his permission. Well, anyway, Hebrews chapter 12 talks about after you trust Christ as your Savior. Yes, God gives you eternal life.

You’re going to heaven now. But we’re not there yet. And Because we’re not there yet. There’s a lot of things that we have to face in this life. And not everybody does everybody right. So we come time carry grudges and it hurts when it leaves you with bitterness. So the Bible says that God chastens because of bitterness, because bitterness inside reveals itself in the way we treat somebody else. And so God’s going to chase and discipline. And sometimes we don’t like the way God chases.

Now remember this as a child of God. You can choose whatever sin you want to commit. But God is free to choose whatever way He wants to discipline you. And we may not like the way God does it. But He says that He does chase and for our good, because He loves us. But God does not allow His children to live as a please and get away with it. Now he gives you freedom to choose. You can choose good things and you can choose bad things.

The right way, the wrong way. You make good choices, bad choices. But there’s consequences to those choices. So look there in verse 11, where he said, now, no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterwards, it yielded the peaceable fruit righteousness unto them which are exercised there by. Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed.

Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Now verse 15 is very, very important. Many times God chasing us because there is this root of bitterness that is within us. We have an old sinful nature. We sin naturally. Nobody had to teach us how to do it. But he says in verse 15, looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled.

So you and I run a risk of not only troubling ourselves but other people. We become trouble makers. We make trouble. We cause heartaches and misunderstanding. Now I know everybody in this room, we’re all innocent. It’s whatureaubody else does to us. I mean, we would never wrong somebody. Say something we shouldn’t say. But whenever you get hurt, if you don’t deal with the hurt, it turns to bitterness. And bitterness is like a root inside of you that springs up and refills itself, manifests it in many ways.

And many other people become defiled because of your bitterness. But how do you deal with it? Take your Bible and look there in the book of Ephesians, the book of Ephesians and chapter 4. Ephesians and chapter 4 and look there in verse 30. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30 and notice what it says, angry not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed until the day of redemption. Let all bitterness because it grieves the Holy Spirit. that all bitterness and wrath because that grieves the Holy Spirit and anger because that grieves the Holy Spirit and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice because that grieves the Holy Spirit and then in verse 32 how do you saw verse 30 with verse 32 he says in verse 32 and be kind one to another and tender-hearted forgiving one another even as

God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. So the key to solving those problems is understanding verse 32. And that’s not easy to do. So that means that you’re supposed to do that in the last part of that verse, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. So there you have a key to understand where you’re coming from and what you’re supposed to do. So we’re going to take a little trip back in time a little bit so that you can see this and hopefully you will be able to profit from it.

How to poison yourself and others confronting the problems of bitterness and unforgiveness because most people destroy themselves. They poisoned themselves. So in some respect you will never more be like God than when you graciously forgive the guilty. Now if you understand no one has ever been hurt like God has been hurt. No one has ever grieved like God has been grieved. Nobody has ever had anyone do to him like we have done to him. You imagine that God created the heavens and the earth and He is righteous and just and perfect and we have sinned against a holy God and yet God says, I forgive you.

So it is important. Now in the book of Exodus 34 and verse 6, notice a description that’s given about God. the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. Now we’re talking about God. Now these are descriptive words of God. He is merciful. So if he’s merciful then he had to show mercy. He’s gracious so he had to bestow grace. That That means that somebody didn’t deserve it because grace means unmerited, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth.

This is everything he asked us to do. So he’s not asking us to do something that he never did and isn’t doing or will do. You see, this is a description of the way God is. And God wants us to do things the way he does it, not the way everybody else does it. He wants you to be like Him. And He exits the 34th, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Now these things that He’s talking about here is the proof of the other verse.

You see, this means this is how He shows His mercy and His grace and His long suffering and His abundant goodness and truth. This is what He does because we’ve all sinned against God. So whenever you think somebody has wronged you, you just think of all the times you’ve wronged him. And God is still a good, kind, wonderful, loving God. And so he says, and that by no means clear the guilty. See, even though you have and can be forgiven, the consequences of our sins toward others can go on to the third and fourth generation.

. . . . . . A dad can make a lot of bad decisions and God can forgive him, but the damage can still be done to his children, his grandchildren, and their kids on down the line. You see, there’s consequences that last in linger for a long time. A man can drink alcohol and ruin his kidneys and cirrhosis of liver, you name it, and ruin his body and confess it to God and God can forgive him, but it doesn’t heal his body.

There’s still consequences because he was guilty of what he did. Psalms 130 verse 3 says, If thou Lord should have marked iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand? If God dealt with all of us the way we should have been dealt with because of our sin, there wouldn’t be anybody left. He would have to destroy us all. And so in Psalms at 103 verse 10, he says, he hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

But is this how we want to deal with others? You wrong me? I’ll get even with you if it’s the last thing I do. Do we want to re-hallyate and get even with somebody who heard us? Has your father ever hurt you and you hate your father to this day? your mother or your children wronged you and you have an unforgiving spirit you’ll never forgive them. I’ll never forgive them for what they said and did. Well aren’t you glad God isn’t like that.

Everybody has a sinful nature. We all sin naturally. We all want to go our own way, do our own thing and there’s always people in the way. There’s somebody who keeps us from really having fun and enjoyable of life. And so they ruin it for us. So we get mad at him. Won’t take revenge. So he says in verse 11, as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

As far as the east is from the west, they twain shall never meet. When Christ forgives you of your sins. He doesn’t bring it back up. It’s been forgiven. It’s been removed. You’ve been washed clean as though you never did it. Now that’s the power of God. He also says the discretion of a man, the fur of his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. I used to tell college kids, one thing it’ll help you as you grow older, And even when you get married and when you have children, see what one eye here would one ear.

Don’t see everything. Don’t hear everything. Don’t overreact to everything because overreaction means you didn’t stop and think things through. And you simply want to retaliate and you do it without thinking. things you shouldn’t have said. Too big a haste. Suffering long means long suffering. It means that you’re long fused. You ever seen somebody who’s short fused? Was it mean to be short fused? Explosive. You have to tip toe around them. A fridge is going to say the wrong thing and they’ll explode.

That speaks ill of that person. They shouldn’t have to be like that around you. You should be long-suffering. It means long-fused. It means that somebody can’t cause you to explode all of a sudden because, well, you made me mad. They did not make you mad. You chose to get mad. Either you are in control of you or somebody else is in control of you, but learn that. It’ll help you tremendously. The Bible says in Luke 23 and verse 34, then said, Jesus, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

Is it ever occurred to you sometimes that people simply makes some honest mistakes and they just didn’t know they hurt or offended you? It’s possible. Do you ever give them the possibility or do you just automatically, you judged and you come down on them with a sledgehammer? I told somebody when we have our board meetings we come together and we leave all the sledgehammers outside the room. we come in with feathers. Because we didn’t come in here to be up on each other with a feather.

Now, if I come in with a sledgehammer, that’s a different story. Because if I come in with a sledgehammer, they got one too. And when a man lives in a glass house, he shouldn’t do what? He shouldn’t throw stones, why if you live in a glass? Because you know, they’re gonna throw them back. And if I point my finger at you, I got three pointing right back at me. So that’s why you’re supposed to be careful. Get this. This is a very important statement.

If God didn’t forgive sinners. That’d be nobody in heaven, except me and George Washington. Well, he never told a lie. Well, I’m not sure about that. If God didn’t forgive sinners, heaven would be empty. Nobody would be there. Now, think for a moment. Aren’t you glad God forgives sinners? Aren’t you? You ought to be, or you don’t get to go to heaven. You go to heaven because we have been forgiven of what we have done against God. How does an unsaved sinner receive the forgiveness of all of their sins?

How is that done? When you think about all the wickedness that we do, all of our thoughts that are bad, and we do everything wrong, we’re not perfect. Everybody makes mistakes. Well, here’s a verse that will knock your socks off. It’s found in Acts chapter 10 verse 43, to him give all the prophet witness that through his name, whosoever believe it in him shall receive remission of sins. You receive remission of, they’re taken away because you believe in Christ.

Whosoever, anybody, believe it in him, shall receive remission of sins. He will forgive you of everything you have ever done if you’ll believe that when he died on that cross, he paid for your sins. Why did Christ down the cross to pay for sin? And what did he pay for my sins? So that I wouldn’t have to. So that I wouldn’t have to pay for them. Well, what’s the payment for sin? Eternal separation from God in hell. So that’s why every man sins, every man dies.

And we’ve We’ve all sinned so we’re all going to die and be separated from God. But Christ paid for our sins because He didn’t want us to have to pay for them. So whenever you believe He did it for you, He puts that payment to your account and you have a payment for all of your sins. In 1 John chapter 2 and verse 12, He says, I write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you. It’s not like he has to do it in the future.

He’s already done it. You see, when Christ died on the cross 2000 years ago, all of our sins were in the future. We weren’t born yet. But I love that song. When he was on the cross, I was on his mind. He was thinking about me. Now, he might have thought about you, but I knew he was thinking about me. And he loved me. And so before I was ever born, he paid for everything I will ever do. all of my sins he paid for.

And said, if I would believe he did it for me, he would put that payment to my account. I go to heaven, not because I’m good, not because I deserve it, but because of what Christ did on the cross for me. Now, as Freddy Cole will say, isn’t that good news? That’s good news. Now, John chapter one, verse 29, he says, the next day, John seeeth Jesus coming unto him and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which take it the way the sin of the world.”

Now in the Old Testament, they offered up an innocent animal as a sacrifice for the people. Because see, the wages of sin is death, and without the shedding of blood is no remission of sins. So something innocent had to die for someone that was guilty. Well, I can’t pay for your sin. You can’t pay for mine because we’re all guilty, but an innocent little lamb. And so when Jesus came and John the Baptist saw him, he says, behold, the Lamb of God which take it the way the sin of the world.

He was God’s sacrificial lamb. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. So we opened not his mouth. He allowed people to do whatever they wanted to do to him. And they killed him. He died. He was innocent, but he died for you and he died for me to pay for our sins. So that’s why it’s such a good thing. This is why he says in John chapter 3, he must be born again. Now when he talks about you and I as a Christian, how we should live, he says that we should live holy and we should live, Godly, but we don’t have to.

Here you can trust Christ as your Savior, God gives you eternal life and you’re going to heaven whenever you die. And we should live holy, but we don’t have to. But if I want to go to heaven, I must be born again. You must be. It means to be born without a sinful nature. You see, the first time I was born, first time you were born in this world, old flesh birth, we were born with a sinful nature. So Christ He says, you’ve got to be born again.

It means born the next time without a central nature. See if you’ve never been born again. You don’t get to go to heaven. Now, you could be a good person, try to live a good life. But if you haven’t been born again, you don’t get to go to heaven. And the only way you can do that is you must receive Jesus Christ. As many as received him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.

If you will believe that what Christ did, He did it for you. He saves you that very moment and gives you eternal life as a free gift. So he says, as Moses lifted up, he said, the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up. And Jesus Christ was, that he could draw all men unto him. And so when we preach the gospel, the good news of what Christ did for us, the people are drawn to him.

He draws people by this good news. See, it’s bad news to tell people that you have to be good to go to heaven. You’ve got to keep the 10 commandments. You’ve got to go to church. You’ve got to give money. All those things. That’s not good news. But what if he says, it’s free? I love you so much, it’s free. All you had to do is accept it. And that’s what he did. So in John chapter three verse 15, he says, that whosoever believe it in him should not perish but have eternal life.

You would not perish, it means you will not go to hell. Why? Because you don’t have any sense to pay for him. Christ paid for your sins. And so he says, but have eternal life, That means to go to heaven whenever you die. So Jesus suffered God’s wrath in your place. He went and paid for everything you have ever done. Because he did that, he is able now to forgive you because of payment has been paid. And this is why the Bible says it is finished.

In other words, for you and I to go to heaven, the work has already been done. We’re not going to heaven because of any work that we do, because the Bible says in Ephesians 2, 8, 9, 4, by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves? It is the gift of God, not of works. There’s nothing that I can add to what he’s already accomplished. It is finished. And he said that when he was on the cross, he paid for our sins.

So my sin dead has been paid. All that God wants me to do is believe that He did it for me. So that’s why He says, by faith alone, you’re saved by faith. Believing that what He did was for you. So that’s why that is such an important issue. Paid in full. There is no other payment to be made. There’s nothing that you have to do. You can’t add to something that’s finished. Paid in full. So between me and God, I don’t have anything between us.

The sin has been taken away. Not because I was so good. I’m not going to heaven because I’m good. I’m going to heaven because he’s good. And this is why he says back there in the book of Exodus that these words of showing mercy. Mercy, it means that I don’t get what I deserve. I deserve to go to hell, but I got mercy. Now, I get to go to heaven, so I’m getting something that I don’t deserve, and that’s heaven.

I don’t deserve that. But it’s great, great means I didn’t deserve it. So when he’s talking about long suffering, do you realize he put up with me for 18 years before I heard the gospel? What if he’d have let me die out of God straight to hell? But he was long suffering. God was so good, and the Bible says in the book of Romans in chapter 2, the goodness of God leadeth the two repentance, caused me to change my mind when I saw how good God was.

When I realized I don’t have to serve God to go to heaven. I don’t have to be a goody-goody two-shoes and be a sweet little Jesus boy walking in the streets of Tampa. I’m a sinner. That’s what I am. But he loved me. But when I saw how good God was to me, to give me eternal life, make me his child, and I get to go to heaven when I die. I change my mind. I want a servant. I want to please him.

But I’m not doing it to get to heaven. I’m doing it because I’m going to heaven. He’s already paid for my sins. I’m already going to heaven. And I want other people to know it. Because there’s a lot of people that’s never heard this before in their life. Now, keep us in mind. There’s something that religion says, And there’s something that what Christ says. They are different. There’s a lot of religions in the world, all kinds of churches, all kinds of preachers.

You say, well, we all preach the same thing. No, we don’t. Understand the difference. You see, religion says, yes, Christ is important, but he’s not enough. He’s important, but he’s not enough. I have to help him. So yes, I trust Christ 90%, but I believe I’ve got to do at least 10%. Okay? Then you’re trusting in your works to get you to heaven. You’re 10% annulls, the 90%, because God can only save you by grace. Completely you’re trusting Him and not yourself.

Not of works, lest any man should boast. Not of yourself. means that you cannot trust you. You can’t trust in your good works. You cannot add to something that’s already finished. I told a person one time, I said, if Christ did 99% and you only had to do 1%, and let’s say whatever that 1% is, you’ve got to do that. Well, if you have to do this and you don’t do it, where do you go? That’s the hell. So it doesn’t matter that Christ did 99% if you have to do this 1%, it annals everything Christ did.

So a man is not saved by his works, not even one work. Don’t worry about 10 or 15 or 20. Regardless of how long you have so far, you’ve lived. You take all of that time. You haven’t done anything worthy of God saving you. It’s not by your works. You see, God says, Christ did it 100%. He totally paid the way. There’s nothing that I can add to that. He did it all. This is salvation by God’s grace. And that’s the only kind of salvation there is.

There is no other option. But there is an option to something I’ll show you just a minute. Maybe you’ve heard of John 3, 16, for God so loved the world, well that shouldn’t be. That he gave his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. The whosoever, anyone, whosoever, believe it than him. You believe that what he did on the cross, he did that for you. You may have heard it, and still don’t know where you’re going tonight, but will you believe he paid for your sins and you are trusting that to get you to heaven, then you can say right now, I know I’m going to heaven, I know I have eternal life.

I don’t have any sins to pay for. He paid for all of my sins and forgave me of all my sins. Should not perish, that means you won’t go to hell but have everlasting life means you get to go to heaven. John 3 17 says, for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr.

Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr. Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy. There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of the Gospel-Driven Man.

Mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again don’t forget to include your mailing address and God bless you and thank you for listening to Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. And we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So live today and every day believing that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.