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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Turn to the book of Matthew, the book of Matthew and chapter nine. Matthew chapter nine. I want to cover a very interesting subject this morning. I’m almost afraid to, but it’s in the Bible and so I feel like I need to cover it. Because you know, to go to heaven, it’s because God has forgiven you or me of all of our sins. They are forgiven, like we never did them. And He can do that because He’s God. But there’s a reason why He can do that.

Now, I know that sometimes preachers are looked upon as somebody who can actually forgive you of sins. Can I forgive you of sins? If you sin against me, I can forgive you for what you did to me, but I can’t forgive you for what you did to God. God can, but I can’t. And I don’t believe any other person can forgive you of something that you did against God. Now I do want you to know that the Bible talks about when we declare the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are declaring something in that message.

We are declaring to a person that they’re all sinners. Now I’m not the one that goes into all the world and tell everybody you’re a sinner. I am declaring to you what God said. God says all have sinned. God said that. So whenever we declare the gospel, we’re telling them that Jesus Christ died on the cross and paid for their sins. I am not telling them that I died on the cross and I paid for their sins. I have yet to save my first person.

I’ve never saved anybody. I’d get credit sometimes somebody says, you saved me. No. I told you the message, I declared unto you the gospel, and you heard the gospel, and you believed the gospel, and God forgives you of all of your sins. So whenever I talk to an individual and I declare the gospel to them, I can declare unto them that all their sins are forgiven, though I didn’t forgive them of their sins, but I can declare their sins are forgiven if they have accepted the payment Christ’s mate on the cross for them.

When the Bible says in the gospel story that he that believeth on me hath everlasting life, I am not the one who gives to anyone the free gift of eternal life. I can declare unto you this truth that if you believe that Jesus died and paid for your sins, that God gives to you the free gift of eternal life. So I can tell a person that your sins have been forgiven, but I didn’t forgive them. And I can tell a person that they have eternal life, though I didn’t give it to them.

I can declare unto you what God said in His word that He that believeth on me are forgiven for all sins and have the free gift of eternal life. wonderful, wonderful message to declare. Now here in the book of Matthew and chapter 9, I want you to look there in verse 1. Verse 1 says, And he entered into a ship and passed over and came into his own city. And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on the bed, and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy.

Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee, and behold certain of the scribes said within themselves, this man blasphemeth. And Jesus, knowing of their thoughts, said, were for a thank ye evil in your hearts. For whether it is easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee or to say arise and walk. In other words, here’s a man that couldn’t walk. Is it easier to say thy sins be forgiven or rise up and walk? Which would be the easiest.

Because they knew that only God can do either one. Because they knew that only one that can really forgive sins is God. It’s not something that we go around practicing and Setting up our my own little booth and say now you come to me and tell me your sin and I’ll forgive you I don’t have that authority the Bible says that only God can forgive sins And he makes a statement here in verse six But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins So what gave him the right to come into this world and to forgive sins?

Well, because he’s the one they sinned against. He can forgive sins. You see, Jesus Christ is God, because you see, they said in another place that no man can do this except God. Only God can do these miracles that thou doest. He said to the man, he says, arise, take up thy bed and walk. So the power to raise a man from the dead or make the blind to see the death they hear, the dumb to speak or to forgive sins, it all comes from God.

Because if you can do one, you can do the other. And so it says that they all marveled in verse eight, when the multitudes sought they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power on the man. Here’s an individual that was able to perform a miracle and something equal to that was having your sins forgiven. See, one of the greatest miracles of all time, better than walking on water or raising the dead, is to have your sins forgiven because humanly speaking, see, it’s humanly impossible.

There’s nothing that a man can do between him and God that can cause all of his sins to be forgiven where God won’t hold him accountable. It’s going to take a miracle. And since every man has sinned, God says every man is condemned and there’s no way for a man to save himself. It would take a miracle. So to have your sins forgiven is a miracle. Now take your Bible turned to Luke chapter 24, the book of Luke chapter 24.

Now we’ll look at quite a few you verses, but I want you to look at this because they’re so important. Jesus Christ has already died on the cross, come back from the dead, and here He makes a statement to His disciples in verse 46, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. Verse 47, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem.

Now get this, that repentance. This is what the man is supposed to do. Remission of sins is what God is supposed to do. So we have a double-edged sword. So when we talk to people about the gospel of Jesus Christ, if a man will repent or believe the gospel, that’s what the word repent means, to change your mind. You can’t save yourself. There’s no good work you can do that will cause your sins to be taken away. If you was to do good for the rest of your life, that will not take away the wrong you did yesterday or 30 years ago.

You see, there’s no way of you taking away your sins as though they didn’t exist because you decided to do something good. So repent is to change your mind about saving yourself by your works because you can’t. And if you’ll believe the gospel, then by your believing, then your sins are forgiven. They’re not forgiven until you believe. But he can’t forgive you of your sin unless the sin debt has been paid. So that’s why Jesus Christ had to come into the world and make a debt payment for everybody’s sin.

Then that payment is put to your account and you’re forgiven when you believe it. There is no other way for a person to get to heaven. So get what he says here in verse 47 and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name. So that means without his name, it can’t be done. It’s only because of who he is and what he did. Then we have the right to go into the world and to declare on to everyone.

Look, a payment has been made for all the sins of the world. If you’ll believe it, God will forgive you of everything you have ever done or ever will do. He forgives you of all of it. And that’s the only way you’ll ever get to heaven is because your sins are forgiven. Take your Bible-looking book of Matthew chapter 18. Here are some very important verses. Many apply all of this to the local church, but there’s more here than meets the eye.

That’s what the word proverbs means, pro-inverbum. More than meets the eye. You see it, but behind that is a greater truth, more in depth. So in verse 15, and you and I are supposed to forgive those who sin against us. So if you can understand that principle, you can understand the ones who sin against us. that God is talking about. Verse 15, Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, it means he did you wrong. Whatever it was, he did you wrong.

Go and tell everybody all about him. Now it says, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. You ought to underline that word alone. If he shall hear thee, thou has gained thy brother. In other words, that’s the reason that you would go to him, right? There were someone wrongs you, do you like to use that as a weapon to tear down somebody because you got to let everybody know what they did to you? That’s not love.

It’s revenge. It’s because you’re hurt and you’re bitter maybe and you can talk about the person try to pull them down because you got the goods and they really did wrong you and you might have been the really innocent individual. But is that how God says to deal with it? No. Majority of people will never do what God says to do. The reason you go to the person is because you want to win the person. They wronged you. Go to them because you want to help heal.

You want to correct a problem. And as the Bible says here in verse 16, but if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or more witnesses every word may be established because you know there’s always somebody says, well, I didn’t say that. Well, that’s not what I meant. So there’s always arguments down the road, you know. So if they won’t hear you alone, then next time he says, you get somebody else to go with you so they can verify what was said and done.

So he says, let everything be established in the mouth of two or more witnesses. That’s even under the law. In verse 17, and if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be under thee as a heathen man and a publican. In other words, you have delivered your soul. You did that which was right. And when you do that which is right on the earth, then God will accept that in heaven.

See, if you will go and you will forgive and you do the right things, God will honor that there. But if you don’t, then God is going to accept that and God is going to have to judge himself of what’s been done. You see, God in heaven will honor his word and his method when people follow his procedure. You hear what he says? In verse 18, “‘Varily I say unto you, “‘Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, “‘and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loose in heaven.'”

Now, this means your decision on the earth. God will honor. God will hold you to your word and what you did or did not do. So if somebody has ought against you and they come to you and you will not forgive them, you will not own up to it, you won’t admit it, when you could have, then God’s going to accept what you said or did. And God’s going to have to judge you. But if you will forgive, as the scripture tells us that we should, then God accepts that as you did the right thing and God don’t have to judge you.

See, God says in his word in the book of Corinthians, judging yourself, examining yourselves. And if we would judge ourselves, he will not judge us, but there’s a God in heaven that accepts your decision. Your decision to obey, and God will do accordingly, or disobey, and God will do accordingly, so that you understand that it’s not a game. And that things that happen in life are not just all bunch of accidents and stuff. a God in heaven that can be opening doors and closing doors.

And in verse 19 he says, more over I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father, which is in heaven. Now in its context we’re talking about here’s two people that have a problem with each other. And because they have a problem with each other, if they two come together and they agree and they solve the problem God’s way then God will accept that.

And so nobody gets punished, nobody gets judged because they judged themselves. And so when two people can’t agree it’s when the disagreement one’s going to be blessed and one’s going to be chastened. But when you agree then both can be blessed. You both learn. Thou hast gained thy brother. And that’s the purpose of why you do it. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all husbands and wives could learn this simple principle of forgiving one another, loving one another as God’s Word says?

So when he makes a statement down in verse 20, he says, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there in the midst of them. In other words, God says, if you will honor my word and do what I told you to do, he says, it’s just like me being there. And whenever there’s two and when I’m on here, then you get another. Okay, you got three. But if you’ll do what God’s word says, it will work.

And so we are to forgive. So in verse 21, then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him seven times. Verse 20, Jesus said unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until 70 times seven. Ooh, that’s a whole bunch. But you see that verse 21 where Peter says, how often shall my brother sin? And here’s those two little words you need to underline them against me, against me.

See, I can forgive all day long somebody who sends against me. But I’m not to forgive you for your sins against God. You have a God problem. Now what we usually say, well, if you’ve got a problem with somebody, you need to go see them. Have you sinned? Have you been to see God lately to take care of it? Because nobody can do this on your behalf. This is something you have to do. supposed to go to God? You don’t want to go to God.

Scared to death, go to see God. What? You know you’re guilty. And we have all sinned and come short of the perfection of God. So every man has sinned. Every man has guilt. God says all are guilty before God. Let God be true in every man, a liar. So the word of God teaches, yes, you can’t forgive us sin against God, but you sure can forgive people who sinned against you. Now, take your Bible looking, Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10.

The Bible says that God had given to the disciples various power to do various things. So he says here in verse one, when he had called unto him his 12 disciples, he gave them power, all kinds of power. Power to cast out unclean spirits. to heal all manner of diseases, all manner of sicknesses. And then he says down there in verse seven. And as you go preach saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the leper, raise the dead, forgive everybody their sins.

No, he didn’t say that. But all these things they could do, but God’s the one that forgives of sins when it comes to salvation. In other words, to get me from here to heaven there, then God has to forgive me of all of my sins. That’s why he says to preach the forgiveness of sins because forgiving you of your sins is like giving you salvation. It means you’re forgiven. Then there’s no sin to condemn me because they’re forgiven. That’s a wonderful thing to know.

And being forgiven is what removes the guilt. I don’t have to be guilty no more. Why? Because all my sins are forgiven. like I didn’t do it. I’m supposed to see it from God’s viewpoint. That’s how God sees it. And God has removed my sin as far as the east is from the west and cast into the depths of the sea. I want you to see there in verse 7 and 8 again. As you go, preach saying, the kingdom of heaven is a hand, heal the sick, cleanse the leopard, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely have received, freely give.

So this is what He gave to them, but they were limited. They could not do everything. God didn’t give to you and I the power to forgive another man’s sins. I remember the story one time when Dr. A. Ray Stanford, the president of Florida Bible College. But Ray said he was crossing the street when he saw that this man had been hit by a car. He was laying up against the gutter and he was dying. And blood was coming out and the man wasn’t going to have long to live.

And the man laid there and he kept saying, he says, call me a priest, call me a priest. Well, there was nobody. There was just Ray. But Ray knows that according to the Bible, that when you and I trust Christ as our Savior, we become priest of God. So he told the guy, he says, I’m a priest. Now he wasn’t a priest of a particular church. But he was a priest in that he was interceding for an individual for God.

And so he says, I am a priest. But he thought that he would do certain things and so on. But Ray sent, he told him. says son listen to me you don’t have a lot of time left But what I want you to know is this, and you’ve probably heard a lot of this before, that Jesus Christ died on the cross and paid for all of your sins. He says, you’ve heard this before? You’ve heard that. He explained the gospel to him how that Jesus Christ loves him, paid for all of his sins, and all that he had to do to go to heaven was to accept Jesus Christ as a Savior.

He says, son, will you accept Jesus Christ as your only hope of going to heaven? He said, yes, I will. And right there was just a few minutes, man passed off the scene. Now, you can declare a man saved if he believes. You can declare your sins are forgiven if you believe. You can declare you have the free gift of eternal life if you believe. But if you don’t believe, none of it is effective to you. That’s why it’s the greatest thing in all the world to go into all the world and declare the good news, the gospel, this message that God has given to us.

Take your Bible and turn to the gospel of John in chapter 20. The gospel of John in chapter 20 is a very confusing verse. It’s caused a lot of trouble over the years. And I want to show you why. But remember, the Bible cannot contradict itself and there has to be unexplaination that harmonizes with all the rest of Scripture. The verse will not stand alone. It’s all Scripture has to perfectly dovetail together. And so when He makes the statement here, after He came back from the dead, He was talking to His disciples in the upper room, and it says there in verse 1 of John chapter 20 verse 19, then the same day at the evening, been the first day of the week, which was on a Sunday, the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews.

And then he makes a statement down here in verse 22. And when he had said, he breathed on them and said, under them, receive ye the Holy Ghost. Now, according to the Bible, the Holy Ghost had not yet been given. And the Holy Spirit was going to come on the day of Pentecost. So even though he said, receive ye the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit didn’t come until the day of Pentecost, which was 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And so they didn’t receive it until later when they were baptized by the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2. And the Bible says that ye shall be received the Holy Spirit not many days hence, so they hadn’t happened yet. But he said, receive ye the Holy Spirit, even though they were going to receive it later. Just like he says in the book of Luke chapter 24, he said, in Matthew 28, going to all the world, priests to gospel. But in Luke, he says, wait until you are in dude with power from on high.

So it didn’t leave it, it didn’t have the power yet. Acts chapter one verse eight, when ye shall receive the Holy Spirit. So I mean they hadn’t received the Holy Spirit yet. You shall receive power to become witnesses on the being and so forth. So even though he said, there’s something else, he says, now when this time comes and you go forth and preach the gospel, he says there in verse 23, and whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them.

Whosoever sins you retain, they are retained. In other words, it’s a word about being bound and being loosed. It’s kind of like when people are married. We say they are bound. Means enslaved. No, they’re bound together. Loose means you’re free. So there’s people that are not married and they’re free. And there’s people who are married. They’re bound. Now take your Bible and look there in the book of Matthew and chapter 16. Matthew and chapter 16. and look there in verse 19.

Verse 19 it talks about giving to Peter the keys of the kingdom. In verse 19 and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. There’s things that you and I can do down here, that God will honor up there. And when He’s talking about this binding and loosing, it means there’s individuals who are bound by sin.

And He says, if you know the truth, the truth will make you free. So people are bound, and those who believe on Christ are loose from sin. And God in heaven will honor the decisions that you and I make down here. For example, here you are. You’re a bound in sin. You are born in sin. You live in sin and you will die in sin to be eternally separated from God for all eternity. Now that is not what God wants.

So he says, go and declare the gospel, the good news of what God did about this because you can’t save yourself that preacher can’t save you. No priest can save you. No church can save you. There’s only one savior, that Jesus Christ. So he go and declare this gospel, the good news, that I will forgive all their sins. And if a man believes it, hear, God will honor that there. If a man does not believe it, hear, God will not honor it there.

In other words, it’s up to the individual to either believe or not to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. So you and I have the blessed privilege of declaring this wonderful message to individuals that may never hear the gospel. So by our telling them this message, they can believe it here and now. You see, when I trusted Christ as my Savior in that little-o living room 51 years ago, I was 18 years old, God saved me and gave me eternal life.

Because the gospel was declared, I chose to believe it. My sins were forgiven. I became a child of God and I’m going to heaven whenever I die. I’m not dead yet, but whenever I die, I know I’m going to heaven. Because it was a gift. It’s free. I didn’t earn it. I didn’t work for it. I don’t deserve it. So the Bible tells us that we have in your hands the message, the key that opens up the door for all these people, all they have to do is believe it.

He that believeth on me hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not shall not see life but the wrath of God abide upon him. So yes, you and I have been given the gospel which is the key on how to get into heaven. So we go and we tell people what God said. We declare it. And even though we may declare it, we are not the ones that forgives the sin. We’re not the one who gives them eternal life.

Your salvation doesn’t depend upon me, forgiving you of your sin. We’re going to heaven depend upon whether or not will you be lead that when Christ died, He died for you and you trust Him as your Savior. Take your Bible and look in Acts chapter 2. The book of Acts chapter 2 and verse 21, I love it when we study the Bible. Acts chapter 2 verse 21, it says, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

So your salvation depends on the Lord saving you. It not call upon your pastor, not call upon the priest, not call upon the church, call upon the Lord, shall be saved. Whosoever will believe it. See that whosoever it means anybody. Doesn’t matter who you are. When Christ died, He paid for the sins of the whole world, and that’s why it’s so important. Now look in Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. Now I want you to look there in verse 38.

Verse 38 says, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Now, before we go any further, what man? Through this man, what man? Well, I’m glad you asked that. Look there in verse 29. Verse 29, when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, They took him down from the tree, laid him in a seperate cut. Wonder who’s talking about that? Can he close? And then in verse 30, but God raised him from the dead.

So we must be talking about the one that died on the cross that was slain and was placed in the grave and came back. 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 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 six 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 we’ll close your thoughts 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 every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.