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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 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.

I want to try to give you some ideas this morning that can help and determine what is wise, what is right. If you want to get in trouble as a pastor, just try to tell people how to vote. Get in the heap of trouble real quick. So I’ll probably get in a lot of trouble this morning. But I want you to take your Bible first of all and just look at this. But look there in the book of First Timothy, First Timothy and chapter two.

First Timothy chapter two, we are privileged to live in America. The Jewish nation was privileged that they had the word of God. The only problem is they didn’t obey it. And they were privileged to have the son of God come through their nation, they’re trying their certain family in certain city, but then they rebelled against that. So we have the scriptures that was given to us, and many people don’t believe those. But the Bible tells us what we should do.

Now I am a citizen of two countries. I still live in the flesh. I live in the body. I’m living on planet Earth. And I was born in America, and my first birth is a physical birth. I have responsibilities as a citizen of this country. Therefore I believe I have responsibilities. I’m also a citizen of heaven because I have two births. I’ve been a citizen of dual citizenship, as they say. I’m a citizen of heaven. So I have a responsibility toward God in spiritual things.

So today I want to talk to you about our responsibilities as a Christian living in this country. Verse one, I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercession, and give it a thanks be made for all men, except politicians, except the president. No, it’s just for all men. For kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty. So we should pray and we should pray for our leaders, and if we can determine what kind of leaders we have, you can’t pray that we’ll have godly leaders and then vote totally contrary to what we believe will give us this.

Verse 3, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who will have all men to be saved. So if we’re to pray for them, one of the things that we should pray for the leaders is that they come to know Christ is Savior. I’ll be honest with you. I prayed many a prayer that Obama would trust Christ is Savior. I prayed many a prayer and still do that Donald Trump would truly trust Christ as Savior.

Now he may have, but I don’t know. I’ve not heard a good clear testimony. I like his governmental principles, but if we had to elect a pastor of the church, I don’t think he’d qualify him. There’s only one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. So Jesus Christ did come, he died on cross and we’re supposed to pray for all because Christ died for all and that that all would be saved.

So that means if we pray for them we should do everything we can to win people to Christ. And that’s why we thank the Lord for the ministry that has given us and various people who are reaching out to do just that. I want to share a few thoughts with you and I’m assuming this is all ready to go. A a republic is dependent upon the character of the people. And the reason is because it depends upon the character that we have internally.

Whether or not we will obey self-governing laws. Because see, if you cannot govern yourself, you’re going to have to be governed by somebody else. We are free people. We don’t have a king over us. Those in Washington do not rule over us. We are free people and we are individually kings in our own country. We have freedom to do what is our responsibility to do. And therefore, we as a people have given to a government certain responsibilities. That’s not to take away the rights of the individuals.

Since a republic is predicated upon the principle of individual self-government. It is essential that the people of the nation know and practice individual self-government. In other words, teaching a child while it’s young, and as it grows up, how to govern themselves. How to know what’s right, how to know what’s wrong, and why they should do right. And knowing the consequences that if you do wrong, the price that you have to pay. That’s the best form of government, so that when they become an adult, they’ll know there’s responsibilities, so we should teach that.

This self-government can only be practiced and the life of the individual as he consents to the direction, regulation, control, and restraints of the government of Jesus Christ internally. In other words, the reason we want to teach children the Word of God and teenagers the Word of God and adults the Word of God because the Word of God is supposed to be that which helps you to know how to govern yourself because it is to give you and I the direction in life that we need.

And it is to give us the restraints in our life against the things that are wrong toward God or toward one another. But if you don’t know how to govern yourself, there’s two kinds of discipline we talk about. One is self-discipline where you can discipline yourself. The other one is imposed discipline. The reason that I ran away from home and joined the Navy was because I was sick and tired of people telling me what I couldn’t do. So I had imposed discipline.

They never asked me what I’d like. They told me what I had to do. Told me when to get up, when to take a bath, when to take a shave, when to do everything. You talk about losing your freedom. I knew not what I did until it was too late. So this consent of the governed will produce the character of a and for a Christian Republic, which is what our country was founded to be, a Christian Republic. Now Isaiah says, for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, and He will save us.

Now this was to Israel and Israel knew that this is the three branches of government. There is the be these judicial, which is in America, our Supreme Court. There is a legislative and there’s executive. The judge Supreme Court, the law giver, that’s where you have your House of Representatives and the Senate, and so therefore they make the laws and the president is to execute those laws. So in the person, you and I, we are supposed to have our own internal government, self-government.

That’s why we have a body, soul and spirit. Dao hath clothed me with skin and flesh and had fenced me with bone and sinew. This isn’t a book of Job. Dao hath granted me life. So if God granted me life, he has the right to tell me how to use this life. When God has granted me life, that is the right to life, the right to live. Right in God’s Word. And it tells us this. These are the three branches of self-government.

You got a body sold, if a man cannot control his spirit, then he’s no better than a city that has no walls, it’s easy to control and break down, and the man has to have a defense. Now, rights and responsibilities. I don’t believe many people really understand this. Today everybody today’s fighting for their rights. All right, what are rights? Since everyone in every known group seems to be fighting for rights, I believe it would behoove us to know what they really are.

All right, and what I give to you. Are they what I have? Do I determine your rights or you determine mine? But are they what you give to me? Are they what the state legislature says they are? Are they the will of the majority vote? Do they change with society? I’m going to go to the news. So we want to fight for, I got my right. And so many people believe that government has granted to us the right to liberty and all that.

No, they were to secure our rights. They didn’t give it to us. To secure our liberty, they didn’t give it to us. Government didn’t give us the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. God gave us that, not government. Government was raised up in America to secure the the liberties and the rights, the privilege that we already had. Now, are there really .

. minority rights, civil rights, homosexual rights, women’s equal rights? But this was . . back in around 30 years ago when the women were fighting for their equal rights. Our . . rights, whatever we want them to be, just to keep things simple. A right must be right. . . . Now this is gonna be a little twisting of the tongue, and it’s gonna be a little hard to follow, but try to follow it. It can’t be wrong, or a wrong could be right.

If a right is right and a wrong could be right, then everything would be right. There would be no wrong, and you know that can’t be right. So everything that you wanna do, if it’s wrong, can’t be right because right is right and wrong is wrong. And you can’t make it wrong right. Right? All right. Since y’all really understand that, we’re going to move right along. Were there rights before there was government like county, city, state or federal? Do rights change?

How many people does it take to make a right? How many people does it take to turn a light bulb? All depends on who’s in charge. Well, we’ll move right along. simple questions deserve simple answers. See God and God alone is the source of our rights. So I don’t know about that. Yeah, you’ve been wrong before. Governments are instituted among men to secure and protect these inalienable rights. In other words, rights are not supposed to be taken from you.

They’re endowed to us by our Creator. the Lord God of the Bible has given to each individual specific responsibilities. The Lord cannot hold you accountable to fulfill a responsibility unless He also gives you the right to fulfill that responsibility. So instead of people fighting for their rights, no fight for your responsibility because God is going to hold you and I responsible for the things that He’s told us to do. God’s God’s Word tells us about choices we make in life for husband or wives, how we raise our children, the jobs to have, how to make money, how to spend money, how to save money, how to give money.

All these principles are found in the Word of God. So how we’re supposed to live, how we’re supposed to love God, how we’re supposed to love one another. All these things are taught in the Word of God. This is why the basis of every individual must be taught the principles found in the Word of God. Because our country and our freedom is based upon our knowledge. Can I govern myself according to the principles laid down in the Word of God?

If I cannot, then I have to be governed. I have to have more laws to constrain me. And the more rebellious I am, the more laws there has to be. Every law that is passed takes away not only my freedom, but the freedom of every other individual in the country. Because whatever they say you can’t do is something that I can’t do either. Because all the laws are applied to every individual because we’re people under the law. So the next point, any person who wishes to discover his God-given rights need only to discover his God-given responsibilities.

What am I responsible for? who created me? Well, the Lord did. Well, what for? To honor and to please Him. So if I’m to please the Lord, then I’ve got to have the freedom to study the Word of God so that I can know my responsibilities. This is why the Bible tells the nation of Israel who were given the Word of God, teach them to your children that may teach them to their children, that may teach them to their children and that’s found in the book of Psalms in chapter 78.

It’s a beautiful chapter but back there in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 6 he says teach your children and to put the word of God You know, on the door posts of the house and inside, everywhere put the Word of God so that they’ll learn when they sleep to think about the Word of God and when they eat they’ll think about the Word of God. And when they work and whatever they do it, wherever they go, they’ll think about the Word of God and that the Word of God is so important and every parent was to teach their children the Word of God.

Well, in America, you cannot preserve a nation unless you can preserve the education of the children. That’s going to be the next generation coming up. But the very foundation of our country, if it be destroyed, what shall the righteous do? Because, see, that’s why we wanted the children to be taught the Word of God even in the public schools. But now prayer is not permitted. Let’s take that out. the Bible. Well let’s take that out. Then you cannot properly educate the children without this book.

Impossible. You can train them to be an atheist. You can teach them socialism and you can teach them communism but you can’t teach them Christian principles without that which comes because of the Word of God. And if we take the Word of God out and prayer out and teachers that cannot talk to the kids because they can’t do that. That’s the foundation for producing these people that suppose to vote down the road to secure our freedom. So little by little we’ll lose our freedom.

So God and God alone is the source of all of our rights because He’s the source of our responsibilities. He tells us the individual, husbands, love your wives. The husband is supposed to provide for his family and the woman has responsibilities. So they got to have the freedom to fulfill those responsibilities. And so if you want them for yourself, you have to also give everybody else the same responsibility, the same right, they can fulfill their responsibility because that’s what God wants.

Governments are instituted among men to secure it, protect these rights by who are Creator, by the Lord Himself. Freedom without boundaries and limits is not freedom at all. Here’s a train. Says, boy, men, I wish I could get off these tracks. I am limited to these tracks and all I have to do is go down these tracks. I want to go over there and go across that land over there and I want to climb up on those hills over there but as soon as that thing gets off those tracks it’s not going anywhere.

The bird says I want to be able to swim in the water like to fish do, but if it tries it, it’s not going to be free anymore. And that fish, I said, man, I want to be a fly like that eagle up there. Well, it’ll die. But there’s certain responsibilities God’s given to us. And when we get to where we want to do our own thing, go our own way, and whatsoever a man can think he wants to try to do.

If every man just did that which was right in his own eyes. Would we take something that belonged to somebody else if we did that? Would we kill whoever we wanted to kill? Would we have sex with anybody we want to have and we don’t do whatever we want to do in our own eyes? Everybody’s his own judge. What kind of a world would we have? That’s the world we can see coming to be. Why? Because everybody wants to do that which is right in his own eyes.

Not what’s right in God’s eyes. So there’s a price to pay. true freedom is not intended to do to do wrong. God given us freedom said we’ll do right. The choice but rather the freedom to do right. Our forefathers fought and died so that we would have the freedom to fulfill our responsibilities. It is a great shame in America when men are no longer willing to fight for the right to fulfill their responsibility. To fight for your rights is to fight for your responsibility.

And today we’ve raised enough of generation people who don’t want any responsibility. Kids don’t want to make up their room so they don’t. And they want to go out and have free sex and go with every girl or every boy they want to, they just go ahead and do it. Do whatever you want to do. Why? Because that’s what many adults are doing, whatever they want to do. And so when you’re not learning the truth of the Bible, you do not have the wisdom to make the right decisions, you will do that which is right in your own eyes.

But that doesn’t make it right just because you and I think of whatever we want to do. It’s right because of what God’s word has to say. Anyway, true freedom is not freedom from law, but freedom to do right. Freedom and living in good old America, we have the freedom of choice, but it doesn’t make your choice right just because you’ve got freedom of choice. And so many people believe that we just majority will rule. We’ll discuss that. This choice is not between right and wrong, but between right and right.

Because it’s a lot of things that are good, and a lot of things are right. And I can get to the same destination going to a different road, but they can come same play. But in life, we’re to make wise decisions, and to seek the Lord and His Word and what it says and what we should and should not do. Yes, we got a lot of politicians, some women, some men, but sometimes the women are feeling the gap because they’re not enough men making the right decision to wise decisions.

Now, your freedom guaranteed to you by the U.S. Constitution does not give you the right to live the way you please. Can you trust Christ as your Savior? Yes? Can you live as the way you please? Well, yes you can. But is it right? Still wrong. And just because you know you’re going to heaven doesn’t mean that God has given you the freedom. You can just live as wicked as you want. Now you can. You still go to heaven, but it ain’t over yet.

chasting hand. And the chasting hand of God can also come upon a nation when its people no longer honor Him or seek to please Him. Remember if it is a right, it must be right according to whom? God. If it is God alone who says what is right, then God alone says what is wrong. For example, homosexuals are fighting for their lifestyle to be made right by legislation. True or not. And I mean, that’s true. That’s a true statement.

They are doing it. Is it possible? No. God declares this lifestyle as an abomination, which means a strong hatred for the sin. And no legislation of any kind can make it right when God says it’s wrong. If God says it’s wicked, it’s wicked. And no legislative body on the place of this earth can make it right. They can make it legal, but not lawful. And there’s a lot of difference. Therefore, no legislative body state or federal can ever make it right without changing God’s mind first.

But see, they’re not working on God’s mind changing. They’re working on Christians. Because you see Christians, you’re so closed minded, you’re old fashioned. You believe that old fashioned book. You want to go back to the old days. Well, we should have never left the old ways. When the old ways were right, you don’t leave them. Why are we letting the world determine which direction we go as a country? What’s wrong with understanding and believing what God’s word says and stay on the right road and do that which is right and honorable to God?

Why do we have to experiment because they want to experiment? To see whether or not, hey, let’s try this, let’s try this, try that don’t need to God’s already said that’s wrong that’s wrong that’s wrong it may be made legal by the will of the majority but it is not lawful by the will of God homosexuality is in violation of the supreme law of the land the lord will chastise an individual or nation who neglects his responsibility to do what’s right that goes for anything else that he wants that we’re fighting for their rights they’re not fighting for anybody’s right They’re fighting for the right to sin, so they don’t have the stigma as that’s been wrong.

So let’s just take all sin and make it right, therefore it’s not wrong. And then you can’t say something because it’s lawful because they pass the law. They pass legislation. And now as Christians who believe that it’s wrong, you look down upon and I will be looked down upon because of what I’m saying today, not because I’m wrong, but because I refuse to bend or to bow, and I will not change my mind. There are many ungodly sincere women who are naively caught up in the powerful women’s political organizations, yet they actually believe they’re fighting to liberate the women of this country.

You cannot fight for a right or responsibility that violates another’s right or responsibility. If it does, it is neither a lawful right or an unlawful responsibility is neither. For the most part many of the great women of this country are only being used and abused by a few ungodly women who wish to pass legislation that would free all women from their true rights. I believe that we ought to lift women up and honor them. I want to try to treat my wife as honestly as good and godly as I possibly know how.

I want to try to meet her every need and And I want to try to provide for her. I love my wife. That’s not putting her down. That’s not the shame her. That’s because I love her. If every man loved his wife, like he supposed to love his wife, it would change a lot of things in our country. . . . . . . . . . It would keep a man from looking at somebody else’s wife and all the other girls because he knows he got one and he got a jewel, a precious pearl of great price.

And I believe that we ought to hold that woman in respect just like God says we should. There’s nothing wrong going God’s way. She has more freedom because she knows she’s cared for and she’s loved and she’s got a husband who tries to practice what he preaches. And every man ought to do exactly the same thing. I don’t believe it’s right for a man to go cheat on his wife. I still think adultery is wrong and fornication is wrong outside of marriage.

Sex is wrong. I just happen to believe that. Why? Because the Bible says so. That makes me an old-fashioned, fuddy-duddy, then so be it. I’ll wear that tag proudly. Anyway, only God can give rights. No legislative body in the world has the right to make amendments, enter statutes, contrary to the law of God. This is why all politicians, all of them, should be immersed and know and understand what the Word of God says. We got people running for office today that have no clue what the Bible says.

Not only that, they don’t even know what the Constitution says. They don’t even know what the Bill of Rights are. They’re running for office because I believe, and now have some crazy little issue, by the time they get in the office, that’s not even the issue and then they got to solve all these other things and all they’ve got is their human reasoning, which is going to be humanistic philosophy. Contrary to the Constitution, contrary to our right, contrary to our freedom, contrary to the Republican form of government, contrary to the Bible.

But that’s okay because they don’t know this other part over here, it even exists. That’s why we got politicians and they’d be curious. Nothing about what that Constitution says and they’ll violate anybody’s rights. It is truly a disgrace when politicians greed for power so works their judgment that they would stoop so low as to pray upon society with the promise of legalizing their sins. And that’s what we’re doing. More and more of our freedoms are being lost. Where will it stop?

The preamble to the Constitution contains the word promote the general welfare. quote article one section eight Contains the words provide for the general welfare of the United States. It’s in there Welfare as used in means your well-being That was the reason for the other 16 to 18 things mentioned in the Constitution for the well-being of our citizen It had no meaning whatsoever of the government providing for individuals in this country It’s not providing welfare. It’s promoting welfare. Not that the government, the federal government is to provide.

Now we might want to believe that, but it’s not in there. How do you know? I read it. Did you know you could actually sit down and read the Constitution? You didn’t know that, did you? Did you know that we can understand that Constitution just like they did when they wrote it? It’s possible. Therefore, as used in, it does not mention providing for the general welfare of the individual. He said, what difference does it make? Duh. Where do you think so much about taxes go for?

The things listed in the Constitution? No. It’s the things that not even listed in the Constitution. 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. The 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.