This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

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 m- 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 through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you’ll enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

The blessings of life are dependent upon our obedience to the Lord. rewards in heaven are dependent upon your obedience to the Lord. If you don’t work, you know get the reward in it. You’ve got to do what God says to do. So in the Bible in the book of James in chapter 2, look there in verse 24. Yee-seah, then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. Now here we’re not talking about salvation, how to get to heaven.

going to heaven, you’re just abide by faith without works. But we’re not talking about getting to heaven here. We’re talking about living for the Lord, serving the Lord. We’re talking about being rewarded when we get to heaven and getting God’s blessings now. We’re talking about not being chastened while we’re in this world. Look there in verse 14, what does it profit my brethren? Though a man say he hath faith and have not works can faith save them, not from the chasing hand of God.

No. Oh, as far as the salvation, that’s a finished transaction. We’re not discussing that anymore because now after you’re saved, your life revolves around your service to the Lord. Salvation was free. Service is going to cost you. That’s the discipleship. No man is to be a disciple of Christ to be saved. He simply trusts Christ to save your He has eternal life. That’s what gets Him into the family of God. Now as a child of God, you can choose to be a disciple of Christ.

If you’re going to follow him, you’re going to serve him, then God says, it’s going to cost you, bud. It’s not going to be a free ride. He says, I’ll bless you, but it’s going to be because of what you do. I’ll reward you when you get to heaven. There’s going to be a result of what you do. And if you don’t serve me, he’s not going to chase in you, but that’s going to be a result of what you do.

So there’s a lot that has to depend upon me, and I’m not supposed to just turn everything over to God. I’m not supposed to let God do everything, Because God’s told me certain things to do. For example, when I was in Colorado we had some buses. When it had been something for me to say, I’m not going to drive the bus today, I’m just going to turn it all over to God and let God drive the bus today. Just let God do it all.

I don’t want any credit, I’m not going to teach today, and I’m not going to preach today, I’m not going to do anything today. I want God to get all the glory. Isn’t that spiritual? Look, that sounds wonderful. Doesn’t it sound sweet? But it stinks in the nozzles of God. Why? Because you don’t turn over to God and you don’t commit to God anything God told you to do. God will do what God will do and you’re to do what you’re supposed to do.

And the thing that you turn over to God is the things that you can’t do. Things that you’re not supposed to do. What will cause you stress and strain is trying to bear that which God never told you to bear. Now here in the book of James he says in verse 15, if a brother or sister be naked, destitute of daily food. One of you saying to them, be part and peace for your warmth and feel, isn’t that spiritual?

But you didn’t give him thing to eat, didn’t give anything to wear. What you said was spiritual, that was wonderful, but you really didn’t do anything. Can faith save you without works? No, not for the Christian life. You see, you don’t get rewards in heaven, you don’t get blessings down here unless you do what God tells you to do. And so You cannot just say what you’re Christian life. I’m just gonna turn everything over to God No, because God has turned a lot of things over to you and says but you do this and you do this and you did that’s what causes the struggle That’s what causes the wrestling.

That’s what causes the warfare. That’s where the fight is and There’s a lot of Christians don’t want to fight they don’t want to struggle They don’t want to they don’t want to do what God tells them to do they want to be disobedient, but God bless me God bless me It won’t work that way Look at her James in chapter. The word says submit yourself that’s something that you do. You see in Christian service is faith plus your works.

Faith and what? Faith that what God tells you to flee you flee. Faith in what God tells you to fight you fight. And what God tells you to follow you follow. Faith is doing what God tells you to do with your life. life. That’s living by faith. And therefore, if your faith is believing that God says to flee this, I flee. My works is what gives action to my faith. And if I don’t do the work, God says your faith is dead.

Your faith is in vain. And we’re not talking about getting to heaven because our faith is in Christ’s work for salvation. He did his job. We’re trusting that. God says your rewards in heaven and your blessings now is based upon your faith plus your works. So you’re to believe that what God said is true and because you believe it, you do it. And if you don’t do it, you don’t believe it. And he says your faith is in vain.

Now notice they’re also in verse 7. He says, resist the devil. You don’t tell God to resist the devil, you resist the devil. That’s things you’re supposed to do. You’re not, well just let God do it all. No God don’t want to do it all. God will do for you what you can’t do but you’re going to do what you have to do and supposed to do. In other words, God, you might say, Lord, I want you to meet my needs.

But you’ll lay you rascal, you stay home and you won’t go to work. But I’m living by faith. You ain’t living by faith. You’re a fool. You won’t go to meet your needs. God said, I’ll meet your needs. Get off your can and go to work. You’d be surprised how much your needs will be met. It works God’s way. And God said, if a man don’t work, he ought not what? He ought not eat. Now I’m talking about those who can.

We have a lot of people who can and don’t. Look at another verse. Look there in verse 8. He says, draw a nigh, that’s something you do. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, cleanse your hands. That’s something you do. You cleanse your hands. Purify your heart. That’s something that you do. And look down at what he says in verse 11. Speak not evil one of another. That’s something that you do. Yes, you’re going to have those battles in your life where somebody does you wrong and you want to speak evil back against them.

Well, I’m just going to turn it all over the Lord. What do you do? You’re going to blast them out? You didn’t turn that over the Lord. God’s worth speaking no evil because of my faith that God says don’t do that. Then I’m going to put it into practice and not do that. That’s what that means. That’s how you live by faith. Living by faith is walking and obedience to the word of God, not sitting around trying to talk spiritual slang and love those and thinking, I’m spiritually because I said the right, I just cast it all on the Lord.

You cast on the Lord what God says you to cast on the Lord and that’s the thing that God said He’ll do His promises and don’t try to do God’s job and you do what you’re supposed to do, that’s your job. And you’d be surprised how it’ll work and it will work. you can Bible turn to the book of Romans in chapter eight. The book of Romans and chapter eight. Romans chapter eight look there in verse 13. As a child of God you have a choice.

You can obey the Lord or you can disobey the Lord but you still this child. Once you’ve trusted Him as your Savior you’re God’s child forever. And once you’re His child God says you’ve got this choice of either obedience or disobedience. He says there at verse 13, for if ye live after the flesh, that means that’s your choice. You can choose to live after the flesh or your old sinful nature. You can do that. But God said he’s gonna have to chase in you.

Maybe take you home before your time. Bring a little chasing into your life and cause all kind of things that can happen to you. God is a God of variety. He might use a lot of different things. He says, but if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, that means that this body that you have by which you move and think and act and go through this body of yours, which is an instrument, can be an instrument of righteousness or an instrument of unrighteousness.

It’s your choice. The body in itself is not sinful. It’s how it’s used. And he says, do mortify the deeds of the body. That’s your choice. something that you do. Don’t say, God do it for me. No, God don’t do it for you. God will allow temptation to come before you. Well, I’m just going to cast it all upon the Lord. Yes, what on the Lord? And then you go ahead and do the temptation. Well, I just, that’s me.

That’s just the way that I am. And now I just have to trust God. You’re not trusting God. You’re rebaying the God. He says, free the temptation. You disobeyed God. You’re not living by faith. You’re not walk in the way God says to walk, and God’s going to have to chase you. And many of God’s children are chasing. They don’t have the peace and joy and the happens that they all have because they’re living in rebellion. But they talk a spiritual fight.

But don’t do the battle. You can’t have it. There’s things that you are supposed to do as a child of God. Take your Bible and turn there to the book of Philippians in chapter two. The book of Philippians and chapter two. This is the verse that we read this morning. In the beginning of the service, in verse 12, this is on page 12, 20, 59 in an old scope of reference Bible. But those are in verse 12. Wherefore it might be love it, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now all of us.

also much more in my absence. Look what he says. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Work out your own salvation. You’re working out something that God put in, but you’re not working for it. You say salvation is something that God does for you when you trusted him as your Savior and he saves you from hell. Now he says what he has put in, you work out. God may give you 10 acres of ground and expects you to work the ground and produce something.

He has saved you and given you life to live like giving you ten acres of ground is like giving you time to live. Now he said I want some fruit on the ground. You may have briars and thorns on your ten acres and somebody else has planted it in fruit and God’s gonna reward them and punish you because of your wickedness and your rebellion. You’re the one that decides whether or not am I gonna put anything on that ten acres of ground or am I gonna let it go to waste, do nothing with it.

That’s what you’re doing with your life when you don’t sow the seeds of truth into your life. He makes a statement. Work out your own salvation is not talking about working for salvation. It’s talking about you are, as you go through this life, God wants to save you from the things that happens to you in life. Not save you from them, but save you through them because you’re going to go through tribulation and trials and testing, temptations, all these things.

And God wants to deliver you from all these things. And you should depend upon the Lord to give you the strength and the grace. Obey in His Word that He told you certain things to flee. He told you certain things to follow. He told you some things to fight. He says, so when you do all of those things, He says, I will give you the strength and the grace. All you’ve got to do is flee the things I tell you to flee.

Fight the things I tell you to fight and follow the the things I tell you to follow because of faith, because I told you so. He said, and you’ll have victory, you’ll have escape, and you’ll win, and you’ll get rewarded, and you’ll get blessings, and you won’t have to be chastened. Now, all of life is a choice. You’re going to have one or the other. So he says, in fear and trembling, you should have a little fear and a little trembling that is you live every day you might miss the will of God.

Now you’re going to have tribulations. Some may come tomorrow. But when it comes, you should want that tribulation, which is a testing upon your character and your faithfulness to the Lord. You want to pass through that testing with flying colors. You want to go through that thing and learn what God wants you to learn. And you want to stand the way God wants you to stand. And you ought to have fear in your life that you’ll not stand. That Satan will be stronger than you and you’ll You’ll need to walk close to the Lord.

That’s what he’s talking about. He says they’re in verse 13, for it is God’s which worketh where, in you, to will and to perform on his own good pleasure. God has a purpose in your life, why he allows to happen to you, what happens to you. And he says there’s things that you are supposed to do, and if you’ll do what he says do, God says, I’ll do what I promise that I’ll do, and you can win. And if you don’t, you won’t.

Now I want you to turn in your Bible to 1 Timothy 6, 1 Timothy and chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6 and look there in verse 11. Remember there’s things that you have to do, they’re not done for you. The Bible tells us we’re supposed to study the Word of God. Well I’m just going to let God do it. No, wait a minute. God doesn’t have to study the Word. No, but then you’re going to have to see you sometimes people giving God back their responsibilities No, don’t give God back his your response, but God told you to do certain things you do those you see it’s faith plus Works and if you don’t have the work you don’t have the faith your faith is dead in the Lord Now we’re not talking about like I said you’re not talking about how to get to heaven because that’s when you trusted

Christ is your savior We’re talking about your service after you have been saved So 1 Timothy chapter 6, look at verse 11, but thou, oh man of God, what does it say? Flee these things. So there’s things you are supposed to flee. Get away from. Not boldly go where no man is on before. There’s things that God says don’t do this. Get away from it. Not see how close you can get to the edge of sin without getting contaminated.

He says this, flee these things. Now what things are you talking about up above when he talks about money or the love of money is the root of all evil. And many people, that is their goal in life. They love money. Haven’t you ever thought about how happy you would be if you had more money? That’s the biggest joke there is. Money doesn’t make you happy. One guy says, you know there’s one thing money can’t do. What’s that? Buy poverty?

I don’t know about that. A lot of people are going to have money and still be poverty-stricken. You don’t have to have money to make you happy. You can be happy when you don’t have anything if your joy is in the Lord. Now, look what else? She says, flee these things. Look at the next word. And follow after what? Righteousness. That’s something that you do. do. So there’s things in your life that God says to flee. You say, what are all of them?

You study the Bible and you find them. There’s a lot of things God says to flee. So there’s things that you’re not supposed to do. Follow that’s something that you’re supposed to do. God says, follow after righteousness. That means that you study the Bible and find everything that God says for you to do that’s right and you do it. You say, well, how much? How much do you want to follow? And how many blessings do you want? How many rewards do you want?

it’s open. You don’t have to govern yourself according to what somebody else is doing. You’re not in a rat race with some other Christian. This church is not competing with another church. What do we want? That’s what it depends upon. Then he says here, follow after righteousness, get this godliness, faith, love, patience, meeting. Those are things that you make decisions concerning. You don’t cast everything on the Lord. The things you cast upon the Lord is the thing that God said that he will give me the strength and the grace to go through these tribulations, but I can’t cast that tribulation on God.

God, I want that tribulation. Well, what am I going to cast on him? I am leaning up on him by doing what he says to do. He says to be patient, to love, to forgive, all these things. Do that. That’s leaning on the Lord. That’s depending upon God. That’s casting my cares upon the Lord when you obey God and do what he says to do with your life. Do you really believe that one day you’ll stand at the Judgement City of Christ and God’s going to reward you for what you’ve done?

I really believe that. If you really believe that and you’ve got faith that that is true, why shouldn’t your belief in that affect the way you live then? That should make you be faithful to serve alone. That truth, faith in that, believing that should mean that I should watch what I do with my life because I know one day I’ll stand at that Judgement City of Christ. Do You believe that Christ is coming back soon? That He could come back at any moment?

Do you really believe that your faith in that truth should motivate you to be faithful now? You see, you don’t have to have somebody always trying to motivate you to serve a Lord. Why? Because your knowledge of truth motivates you and you’re motivated by that and not by some man or some preacher. Look what he says here. He says in the next verse in verse 12, what’s the word, fight? There’s things to flee. There’s things to follow, there’s things to fight, fight the good fight of faith.

They hold on eternal life. We’re in two-dollar call because God says this is what He wants us to do. See, having eternal life, Jesus Christ is eternal life. He has placed that within us and He said, I’ll never leave you, never forsake it. That’s why you can’t lose eternal life. It’s the Lord. And now He says because of what He has placed within it, let God live through you. Let these truths in God’s word motivate your life. You’d be surprised that difference that it can make.

Look in 2 Timothy chapter 2. Just turn to the right to 2 Timothy chapter 2. And look there in verse 15. You’ll notice this is something that you are supposed to do. You, Sir Lord, you’ll be obedient. Yes, you have to study, and yes, study, and is a weariness of the flesh. Yes, you get weary doing things that God says to do. It is a struggle, it is a battle, it is a war. Stop looking for the life of these.

Well, I just don’t like all the struggle, and I just don’t like all the battles, and I just don’t like all the shut up. And do what you’re told to do. Stop whining and complaining, just be obedient. Do right! Stop using people, churches, preachers, as an excuse for your own disobedient. Well, I don’t go to church because of those hypocrites at church. That’s amazing. Those same hypocrites go to the grocery store, but they need groceries. They still go. Those hypocrites are at the service station, but when they need gas, they still go to the grocery store.

gas they still go get the gas. I’m going to get gas. What? Hippocrates over there. It’s amazing that only hypocrites go to church. Isn’t that true? No, no hypocrites nowhere but in church. There’s hypocrites everywhere but you don’t stop living and stop doing right because there’s hypocrites. Messing everything up. You still do what you’re supposed to do. Second Timothy 2, 15 says in verse 15, study to show thyself approved. Study. Well, I don’t like to study. Don’t talk about what you don’t like.

Do what God says do. Oh, obey God. So I don’t have time. Yes, you do. Every man has the same amount of time. You say, well, just get up earlier in the morning. Go to bed later at night. And you’d be surprised what you do. You do what you really want to do. If you don’t study the Bible, you don’t want to study the Bible. You’ll do what you really want. Obeyed God. Study this book. Spend time memorizing scriptures.

Pray in the God. I don’t have time to find them too busy. If you’re too busy to pray, you’re too busy. The greatest form of work you as a child of God will ever do is learn in the praise, spending time with God. Learn to obey the Lord and do what He says to do. Look at in verse 16. Verse 16 says, shun profane and vain babbles. There’s things to shun. Look down in verse 19, the last part of verse 19 says, and let everyone that name of the name of Christ do what?

Depart from what? Depart from iniquity. That’s something you do. Not make excuses for your sins in your life and habits in your life that you know it’s not right. Correct the problem. Stop excusing yourself. Work on the problem. You say, what’s the struggle? It’s a battle. Of course it is. But do it. Don’t quit always hanging and always fighting the battle. Look at yourself and see what you’re doing how you’re doing spiritually. How strong are you? Are you surrendering, giving in, defeated, weak, down, complaining, murmuring, griping all the time?

Wake up, you’re Christian. Live like a Christian. Think like a Christian. Fight like a Christian. And you’d be surprised the strength that God will give you if you’re only take him at his word and believe him and practice that which God says to do. Look at verse 22. Flea, there it is again. Flea also useful lusts, but do what? What’s the next word? Follow. Follow what? Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, and then that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

These are things that you do. There’s things that I do and you’d be surprised how so much in your life can be done if we would only simply obey the Lord. Now I want you to listen to me just for a second. I’ll have time to read all these scriptures to you. Of you turned all of them. But I know that in the book of 1 Corinthians and chapter 9 talks where Paul is in a battle. And I’ve had people sometimes say to me, Yankee, you shouldn’t say I did it.

You should say the Lord did it. I thought oh that sounds so much more spiritual. But it’s always the person who doesn’t win soul that tells me I should never take credit for winning a person for the Lord. It was the Lord that did it. But you ought to see how difficult it was when the Lord had to do it all by himself. God uses people. This preacher one time went to see this man and he had a beautiful farm, beautiful crop.

Everything was gorgeous. And the preacher once he says, look what God did for you. Look what God gave to you. He says, you know, you ought to tie on everything that God’s given to you, everything that you have to give, because look what God did for you. He says, Mr. He says, you ought to see what this place looked like when God had it all by himself. You got work to do. God works through you. You don’t be lazy and try to, well, I just get him all the credit to God.

Of course, he can get all the credit. But when he makes the statement, let every man receive his own reward according to his own what? His His own labor, every man has to labor. No labor, no rewards, no blessings. You asked for it. You ever seen that program years ago, you asked for it? You want God to bless you? Then do what will bring it. You want God to chase it? You don’t do anything. It’ll happen to become natural.

But Paul had to fight. He made this statement in verse 26, I therefore so run, I, I, I run. God is uncertain, so fight I fight, I fight, I fight, I fight. Not God, me, I fight, I’ve got to fight in this battle. I’ve got to struggle. And I’m always battling sometimes whether I should or should not do it. Will I, will I not? Things that I have to control my tongue on, sometimes I like to take a fist and give somebody on a Hawaiian punch with holy love.

And I’ll say, well that’s that shankian. The Lord says love him and I have to hold myself back once in a while. He makes a statement in verse 27, but I keep under my body or bring my body into subjection. I go, I, I, I, I, somebody said, no, no, no, it’s not, I, it’s the Lord. No, God will do what God will do. And you better do what you are supposed to do. And he said, well, now I go to the hospital and there’s a person laying there in bed and they’re going to face surgery.

Maybe they’re dying of cancer and I’ll tell that person, all you can do. In your situation, just commit everything to the Lord, turn everything over to the Lord. You say, well, did I have a credit? No, no, no. Because some things lies beyond your power to do anything about. And that which lies beyond your power to do anything about it, totally trusts the Lord. But if you got the power to do something about it, what should you do? Do something about it.

Instead of doing nothing, inspecting God to do it. Whenever the Lord sent the angel in there to the release, Peter, He broke the change and tore down the door, but he told Peter put on your shoes Why did he help Peter put on his shoes? That’s something Peter could do But Peter couldn’t break down that door and break off those chains God did that and as you obey God You expect God to do what God promised that he will do and he’s gonna honor you and he’s gonna bless you And you’re trusting his word and depending upon his works.

That’s why you flee those certainly why you flee that because God says to do it Why are you following after that? Because God says to do it. Why are you fighting such a battle? Because God says to fight faith makes you flee and Faith makes you follow and faith will make you fight But you got to find out what to flee and what to follow and what to fight Because life is so short you can spend your whole life on the wrong things like the man who climbed the ladder for 20 years and Find out it was leaning on the wrong wall Wouldn’t that be a shame Look up here This hand represent you and me this represents sin we all have sin on us now God says that he what he loves us Now he hates our sin, but he does love us now remember this look

I may holler and yell and scream at you, but you know I love you. You know that don’t you don’t you? I do But God says he loves us, but he don’t like what we do wrong and God says for us to pay for that is eternal separation from God and hell But God doesn’t want us to go to hell. He loves us. He wants us to go to heaven to go to heaven You have to be perfect as righteous as God So Jesus Christ came into the world to pay for our sins because you see we can’t earn our way to heaven We can’t do anything about this So Jesus Christ is hand-ropered in the Lord came into the world.

He loves us He hates our sin because the separates us from so Christ took the sin Pay for them the cross came back from the dead and he said if we’ll be leave it He did it for us did put that payment our account we go to heaven or what he did for us There’s no tricks that will give you. That’s a free gift. All you do is put your faith in what the work that he did and you have eternal life by faith alone without works.

After you trust Christ as your Savior, now God says he wants you to obey him in other areas. You obey him on the gospel and you got eternal life. You obey him on the other thing and you’ll have victory in your Christian life and rewards when you get to heaven. It’s your choice, but trustful wouldn’t believe him. It will work. Let’s play, shall we? 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. 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 homepage.

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 10.30 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 Bible Live. And now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. up to meet the Lord in the air.

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