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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. One-line donations may be made through the Bible-lined website at calvaryoftampa.org. 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.

So take your Bible, turn to the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 16. Many have said many things about this man, Peter. He was a great apostle. He was one of the disciples. He was one that was on the inner circle. You always hear about Peter, James and John. But he was always there. He was always putting his foot in his mouth, saying things without thinking. And Christ had to rebuke him on a number of occasions. But God greatly used them.

You even have the books first and second Peter that God used him to write. God’s the author, but God used these men to pin the words. They wrote the very words that God wanted them to write. But in the book of Matthew, Christ asked His disciples a question. The question that he asked them was, whom do men say that I, the son of man am? That’s kind of like saying, who’s buried in grants to them? Or when was the war of 1812?

Whom do men say that I, the son of man am? That’s the answer. But as he asked the question, I want you to look there in chapter 16 and verse 14. And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, Some Elijah, others Jeremiah are one of the prophets. He said to them, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That statement that he made was the truth.

That statement that he made was a rock. That was a foundational truth. Verse 17 says, and Jesus answered, and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon, bar, means son of Jonah, Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed in thee but my Father, which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Now there are several things that are mentioned in this verse and some people, without I believe correct understanding, has tried to build holding nominations off of it.

Or believing that God founded his church on Peter or that Peter is the rock that he put his church upon. And I hope that by studying the Bible you’ll find out that there are many lies that have been told about the Apostle Peter. One thing I want you to notice there in verse 18 when he says, and I say unto thee, thou art Peter. Thou art Peter, the word Peter is a word that’s called petro, and it means a word of a little stone, like a pebble.

If they play upon words, as he says to Peter, thou art a stone, and he says, thou, but upon this rock, and this rock is a different word, whether it’s a petra, and it’s talking about a rock or a big boulder. without art a stone, but upon this rock. So he’s talking about two different things, vowel, art, and this. So this is in him. This would refer to something other than that. So he makes the statement here that upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Now, look up here. When a person died in the Old Testament before Christ came, their sins had not yet been paid for. They went to a place called Hades in the New Testament in the Old Testament to be Shio. It was the place of the departed dead. And in that place was called, they call it hell. Hell came from an English translation that we have, but it comes from those two words Sheol and Hades. One is Greek, one is Hebrew, but they both mean the same place.

It’s the place of the departed dead. But in that place was two compartments, one of Paradise, Abraham, bosom, and the other one’s a place of torment. So that when a person died, they all went to a place called Hell or Sheol grave in some places translated. But it also talks about it been the place of the departed dead. So the levers went to the compartment of paradise, Abraham bosom. The loss went to the place of torment. So when Christ was on the cross, he said, without suffering, his soul in hell.

But Christ did not go to hell and suffer to pay for sins in hell. Christ went to that place, but he went to the place of comfort. He did not go to the place of torment. The Bible says that when people died, this is where they went. So when Christ died on the cross, he went to the heart of the earth and the Bible says he took those people that were there, now that the payment for sin has been made, and delivered those people out of captivity and took them to heaven.

The Bible teaches that once Christ paid the payment and went to heaven that the gates of hell, the gates of shield, will never close upon the church. It means that now nobody who trusts Christ’s Savior will ever go to that place because Christ entered there and He has the keys of death and of hell and He has opened the door, taken those people out and He says that those gates gates, and gates only do two things, open and closed.

It will never close upon another believer ever again, because now to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Paradise is now in heaven. So then when he taught these things and he says, I will build my church upon this rock. The rock was not Peter. The rock was himself. It was the statement that Peter made thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And this is what you and I must believe in order for us to be saved.

That Jesus Christ was the Son of God who came into this world and made a payment for our sin and we’re trusting Him. This truth is the rock, is the foundation upon which we rest. Because I trusted Christ as my Savior, He is the rock of my salvation. I trust in no other person, no man, nothing else. I don’t trust myself. My good days, nothing. He is my rock upon whom I’m trusting, dependent upon. I do not depend upon Peter.

I don’t trust in Peter. I don’t believe in him. I don’t believe he could do anything for me today. But Jesus Christ can and he does and he is alive. Now take your Bible and turn to 1 Corinthians in chapter 10. 1 Corinthians and chapter 10. To show you this and verify that what I’ve said is the truth. And my understanding of those verses is correct. When the Bible was talking about the people in the Old Testament, of that came out of Egypt, the Israelites who were headed toward the land of Canaan.

It says that they all passed in verse one through the cloud and all passed through the sea, verse two. And we’re all baptized unto Moses in verse three and it all eat the same spiritual meat and that all drank the same spiritual drink for they drink of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Peter. That rock was what? Christ. Who is the rock? Christ is the rock. You will not find a verse that says Peter. was ever a rock.

That word refers to him as a stone, a pebble, and upon this rock I will build my church. He did not say that he would build a church upon a man. He would never do that. He did not do that. He is the rock upon which we are placed. Now look there in 1 Corinthians in chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. It’s important to know what the Bible teaches because if you don’t, You will not know that there are a lot of religions that teach falsehood.

They teach lies Many of the preachers in many churches are nothing more than hypocrites I hate to say that but it’s true if you think I’m a hypocrite Show me where I’m wrong in the Bible and I’ll have to back up and admit it the Bible is the authority I am not the authority I am right only as I agree with the scriptures and when I’m off from the scriptures I am wrong period and every other man is the same way There is no such thing as an infallible man.

There was only one of those and that was the Lord. Jesus Christ was truly man and truly God. He was the perfect God man. There has never been another one like him and there will not be. Here in 1 Corinthians in chapter 3, look what he says in verse 11. For other foundation can no man lay, then that is laid.” Which is St. Peter. No, that is not true. It is Jesus Christ, no other foundation. So there can be no one.

Look what he said in verse 11. For other foundation can no man lay, then that is laid. That is laid. In other words, there’s only one foundation that is laid. I mean, it’s already been done. There is only one foundation laid. And who is that foundation? Christ is not a man. Who said that? That’s the word of God. Now any religion that teaches contrary to this, is it telling the truth? No, it is lying. It is lying. It’s deception.

It’s not the book. It’s wrong. It’s a sin. Ungodly. You’re not supposed to say the Bible said something when the Bible don’t say it. You don’t say well the Bible teaches it if the Bible don’t teach that. You have a lot of people to say what you can get saved today and lost tomorrow. The Bible doesn’t teach that. Man says that, religions teach that, but the Bible don’t teach that. And any preacher who teaches that, that preacher is wrong.

He is a liar. He is a liar. You understand what I’m saying? And you can tell any preacher you want to, I said that. That doesn’t matter to me. Any preacher who teaches you can lose your salvation, that man, that preacher, that priest. Any, I don’t care what you call him, clergy. He’s a liar because the Bible is the truth. And the Bible says, I’ll never cast you out. I’ll never lose you. You’ve got to go by what the book says.

So don’t you think for a moment where all religions teach the same thing? No, they don’t. There’s no way in the world that I believe what most churches teach. Now take your Bible looking. First Peter, first Peter and chapter two. It’s very important to look at these verses. 1 Peter chapter 2 and notice what he says there in verse 4. Now remember that this is written using the human author the Apostle Peter the one we’ve read about just a little earlier and look what he says there in verse 4 To whom coming talking about Christ when you come to Christ as on to a living stone living stone rejected indeed of men but chosen of God and precious.

Verse 5, he also as lively stoner living stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood. In other words Christ is the foundation and you and I are like living stones because he is a living rock and we when we trust Christ as our Savior we’re like little living stones that are placed upon the foundation and it makes a spiritual house where God will dwell. And so every one of us are part of a spiritual house in the book of Ephesians chapter 2 it teaches that and says those very words.

So here notice what he says now in verse 6. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief corner stone, elect precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Verse 7, unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient or unbelieving, the stone which the builders rejected, disallowed, rejected, the same as made the head of the corner. He is the chief corner stone. He is the foundation Jesus Christ.

Who said that? Peter. Peter said that it’s not him. He’s not the foundation. He’s not the rock. There’s only one foundation that’s laid. That’s Christ. He is the rock. We’re little stones upon the rock. That’s what he told Peter. That’s what his word means. His name means seephas. Now take your Bible and turn with me to book a Matthew in chapter eight. Matthew and chapter eight. And notice what the Bible teaches here. Because remember this Peter was not the foundation of the church Peter was not the first pope or a father of the church.

How do you know that? I’ll show you what the book says. Here in Matthew chapter 8 I want you to look there in verse 14. In verse 14 it says and when Jesus was come into Peter’s house he saw his wife’s wife’s mother laid and sick of a fever. Now don’t you tell me something. Don’t you believe that’s a little ridiculous to get yourself a mother-in-law without getting a wife? What man in his right mind would get him a mother-in-law without getting a wife?

Some people say, well, you know, Peter never got married. He and have a wife. Look what he says. He saw his wife’s mother laid and sick of a fever. That means this is Peter’s mother-in-law. Any way you want to read it? This is how he comes out. And he touched her hand and the fever left her and she rose and ministered unto them. Now this says that Peter had a mother-in-law and evidently he had a wife. It was his wife’s mother.

If this is true, then there’s a lot of other teaching that is not true. This says that Peter was married. Yes or no? True? The Bible said that. The Bible teaches that. So anybody in any religion, if they teach contrary to that, Are they lying or telling the truth? They’re lying. You have to go by what the book says. You say, well, maybe they don’t know that verse is in there. Maybe they don’t. Maybe they don’t know what’s there.

Now they do. Now they do. Take your Bible also in turn with me to a book of 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy and chapter 4. In 1 Timothy chapter 4, the Bible tells us that in the last days, perilous time so come. But in 1 Timothy chapter 4, the Bible says also something else in the latter days. Look in verse 1. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1. It says in verse 1, now the Spirit, that’s the Holy Spirit, speaketh expressly that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.

That means teaching, various teaching doctrines, teachings of the devil, mean that don’t come from God. But a lot of times people say, well, God said, and God didn’t say that. But he says here in verse two, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Look what else they’re going to teach. And remember now this is a doctrine of the devil. Verse 3 says, forbidding to Mary. Are there religions today that forbid certain people to marry?

Yes. Is it right or wrong? It is wrong. We do not have any authority given us to forbid anybody to get married. Preachers are not forbidden to get married. The Bible says to leave mother and father and cleave unto your wife and multiply and replenish the earth. That’s what the Bible says. But the Bible teaches that some are going to begin to teach this. It didn’t come from God and forbid marriage. That’s wrong. It’s ungodly. It’s It’s a doctrine of the devil.

It didn’t come from God. Now notice something else that goes with that. Whoever teaches the one, chances are it’s going to teach the other. Forbidding to marry and command and to abstain from what? Abstain from meat. Are there religions that teach you must abstain from certain meats? Yes. On certain days. Yes. Where do you get that in the Bible? It’s not there. The Lord says everything can be eaten. You and I can, we can eat any kind of meat.

With Thanksgiving. He said, was that in the Bible? In the last part of verse 3, he says, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving to them which believe and know the truth. We don’t eat any food with the belief that it’s offered unto idols, sacrifice to some gods. We believe that we can cook food and we can eat it. Now you may want to be careful what kind you eat or how much of it you eat. You might like pork.

Aren’t you glad you’re not Jew? This wasn’t before the law. We’re after the law. We’re not under the law. God says we can eat it with Thanksgiving. That’s also mentioned in chapter 14 of the book of Romans. Get a chance to read those chapters together. But notice what he says. In verse three, For bidding to marry abstaining from meat is the doctrine of the devil, snot of God. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Galatians in chapter 2, the book of Galatians and chapter 2.

We’re just covering some things this morning that deal with a great apostle, the Apostle Peter, but he was only a man. God did not exalt him above any other man. He was a man like you and I. In Galatians in chapter 2, remember now this is years after. This is almost 30 years after Jesus had been crucified. Think about that almost 30 years later. Well, now the time is come where another young man comes on the scene and he was the Apostle Paul.

Well, see, the Apostle Paul was not one of the original disciples. He was not an apostle. He wasn’t with them. But he was born as one out of due time later on, but God called him to preach and God allowed him to see Christ after his resurrection and that’s one of the signs that I on a apostle had to have what he could do the miracles and he had to see be a night witness of Christ after the resurrection and he was because Christ revealed himself to him in a special way.

The time came where the apostle Paul had spent about 14 years you know kind of hiding and running but learning and the day came when he went to Jerusalem and when he went to Jerusalem the Bible says that he took somebody with him, a man named Barnabas, Titus, who was a great. But anyway, when he got there, he said that someone were trying to spy out his liberty that he had in Christ, and they wanted to put him under the Jewish law.

And he said, but while he was there, he said, some of these apostles that seem to be somewhat, he uses that word. You know, the people that you would think, well, need the, these are the pillars in the, these are the leaders. The head honchos. But remember, Paul was not raised around those big shots, but they were there before him. But when he went there, they got together. They got a chance to see Paul and Paul got a chance to see the apostles.

But he says they’re in verse six. But of these who seem to be somewhat, what server they were, it make if no matter to me, God except if no man’s person, and evidently he didn’t either. Not one man above the other one. And he says, for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me. But contrary wise, when they saw that the gospel of the Gentiles was committed unto me, Paul, as the gospel of the circumcision, the Jews was unto Peter.

For he that brought affectionately in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. He says, so God was using Peter to reach the Jews, and God was using him to reach the Gentiles. So they were both in the ministry, and they both were apostles, and there was Peter, and there was Paul, and one was reaching Jews, one reached in Gentiles. And lo and behold, one day, well, Paul started a church, started a church in Antioch.

And in the church, they had believers of Jews and Gentiles. So he decided to have a guest speaker. He invited Peter to come from Jerusalem to the church in Antioch to preach. And guess what Peter did when he came to the church? Split the church. Peter split the first church. The apostle Peter did that. So what did he do that was so bad? Oh, it was bad. You don’t know what he did? Let me show you what he did.

In verse nine. And when James and Sefa, that’s Peter and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me. They gave to me in Barnabas, the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the heathen, they unto the circumcision. Only they would that we should remember the poor at the same, which I was already forward to do. In other words, I was going to do it anyway. But in verse 11, but when Peter was come to Antioch, I would stood him to the face because he was in fact.

He was so valuable. He was perfect. He was so holy and we all bowed to Him and kissed His big toe. Is that what it said? No, it says, He was to be what? Blamed. Now can you tell me how somebody can be blamed for something and can’t be doing anything wrong? Did He do anything wrong? He must have done something wrong. Look what else He says, for before that certain came from James. He did eat with the Gentiles, but when they were come, Jews who came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

In other words, he was a compromising. He was fearful. He was afraid. Does it sound like a rock to you? Sound like a big rock to build a church on? Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin. No, not according to the Bible. This man had some problems. What was he doing? He was compromising. It means he was being hypocritical. That’s what the word, the simulation means. He was one way when the Jews weren’t there. He would eat with the Gentiles.

But when some Jews showed up, he wouldn’t do it. And so when he wouldn’t do it because he was afraid of what they would do, then the Jews that were part of the church there at Antioch well they did the same thing Peter did because one of the people he is. So Paul had to rebuke Peter in front of everybody because what he was doing was wrong and split into church. He was compromising the truth of the gospel because he was giving some credence to the message that those Jews were preaching and their message was false.

They believed it was by keeping the law. And Paul says it’s only by grace. And Peter knew that. But he was compromising his stand on it. He says there in verse 13, and the other Jews dissembled themselves likewise with him, in so much that Barnabas even, Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation, that word, dissimulation, mean their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly, according to the truth of the Gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, if thou, be in a Jew, liveth after the men of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, Why can’t tell us now that Gentiles will live us to the Jews which is by the law?

You hypocrite And he faced him in front of everybody does that sound like the infallible father to you Now the Bible to you see that’s what people do and when people don’t know the truth They believe air and we’ll leave leave air their eternal destination is at stake If the man if they listen if religious will lie to you on that they might lie to you on something else too You won’t know what to believe. People need to get the Bible and study the Bible.

You ought not believe everything I tell you. You ought to have your Bible and you read it and you study it. Don’t you just swallow everything I say, hook, line and sinker? I am a man and I can make mistakes. This book don’t make none. You get into this book and you study the Bible because your eternal destination, heaven and hell, rest on you believe in the truth. Not believe in our line. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, with Dr.

Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our home page.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold.

Friend, one day it will happen, the trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and everyday, believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.