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 monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can read the Bible. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online 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 message will be a blessing to you and your family.

God has given to man revelation to be able to see the world so that we can reason that there is a God. And then He gave us His Word so that we can reason. So God gave us the world and the Word because God says, come now and let us reason together, say of the Lord. he makes this statement concerning the sun, he talks about the day, it says it gives messages. Now I believe in the very beginning that God told stories and it was done by the firmament what we call the day the zodiac.

And we even today identify the so-called twelve signs of the Zodiac, but I believe that they have been misused and twisted until it’s an evil thing. But I believe that God says that He used those things to teach by. And He says their speech went into all the world and people knew things because of the stories and there’s a whole lot of stuff that you can teach from doing that. Their line has gone out through all the year and their words to the end of the year in them had to set a tabernacle for the sun.

Now get this about the sun itself, which is as a bridegroom coming out of this chamber and rejoices as a strong man to run a race. like every day when the sun comes up, it’s like a strong man that runs his race. And without the sun as you in, there would be no life on the earth. But the sun is like the S.O. in, but in the book of Malachi, it talks about the sun as you in son of righteousness, which is a statement that refers to Jesus Christ.

That’s what he says here. He says in verse 6. His going forth is from the end of the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. In other words, there’s a message in here somewhere. And whenever you read in the book of Romans in chapter 10, when it talks about the gospel and getting the gospel to the ends of the earth, it refers to these verses. So now, up to chapter 6, See it talks about the world that God made.

Now look in verse seven, now we talk about the word. In verse seven, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting to soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure. Now as you study the Old Testament stories, you’ll find out that these stories are about real people and real decisions and real consequences. And the stories talk about a person who either obey God or disobey God and the results. So that when you read those stories, those stories are to make you and I wise.

And the testimonies of the stories of the Lord are true. See what he says? He says, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, and your underlying. The line is making wise the simple. So if you want to be wise, study the word, study the stories. Because they deal with a person’s character. Well, when you teach little children in Sunday school or in a wana, isn’t it true that most of the time, instead of teaching them some great big heavy loaded doctrine, we tell them stories in the Old Testament?

We go through all the stories and we use those stories to teach Bible truths to the kid because they love stories. It’s easy to teach children with the stories and they’ll set on the edge of their Satan. Listen to every word when you’re telling a story. The Old Testament is loaded with these illustrations, but we use those stories to teach those Bible doctrines that’s in the New Testament. You don’t find all those stories like that in the New Testament as much.

Those little stories in Daniel and the lion’s den and David and Goliath that’s just loaded with all kinds of stories. And so the Lord says this, making wise the simple. Now look in verse eight, the statutes of the Lord are right. And you ought to underline it, rejoicing the heart. See, there’s times in your life that nobody will be able to bring you peace or happiness, but you can learn to rejoice your own heart by the Word of God.

And he says, Rejoice in the heart. The commandments of the Lord is pure. And your underlying is enlightening the eyes. It’s what helped you to see, to have discernment. A lot of people see they don’t have discernment. They don’t know right from wrong based upon the word of God. They just let their own mind guide them. There is a way that’s seameth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death. It’s a way it seems right.

Jeremiah says it is not within man that walk up to direct his steps. In other words, nobody is smart enough to live without God. No man. So we’ll get what he says. In verse 9, the fear of the Lord is clean and during forever the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. Now when you read the book of Proverbs, you’ll find that statement mentioned many times about the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

And the beginning of wisdom is to hate evil because to hate sin. You see, we have people today that don’t hate sin. They don’t hate sin. They’re not afraid of consequences. They’re not afraid of consequences. They’re so well that there’s not much consequences to it. But we ought to let people suffer the consequences of their disobedience. For example, the so-called National Healthcare thing rewards disobedient people, keeps them from suffering the consequences of their own bad decisions. By not taking care of themselves or discipling themselves, do whatever you want, it doesn’t make any difference, get on drugs, you can do anything, age, you know, and it doesn’t matter because, you know, all those other people out there that don’t do like you do, they’re going to take care of you.

Now, is that good or is that bad? And so we have eliminated. There was a time when people thought that sex outside of marriage was wrong. Didn’t they? I used to think that was wrong. Didn’t they used to think that homosexuality was a sin? Call of the sin today. It’s an acceptable lifestyle. So you see, people have got to the place where there’s no such thing as sin. There’s no right and wrong. Everything just a dirty grave. But not according to the Word of God.

Now look in verse 10, giving you a, I think, a beautiful picture of how you and I ought to perceive the Word of God. More to be desired, are they? What? The Word of God. More to be desired, are they than gold? Now if you had choice, the wisdom of God in his word or gold. And you can hear a lot of people on the news today talking about buy gold, buy gold. Well, only you can buy gold if somebody has to sell it.

Well, if it’s so invaluable and so good and it’s going to go sky high, why would you sell it? If you had a Sounders, why would you sell your gold if it’s going to go off the roof? I mean, Why would you do that? Because you don’t really believe it and you want to get yours why you can and you got to get somebody else to buy that goal at that price. Remember it wasn’t long ago you could buy gold for a couple hundred dollars an ounce.

Okay. Now you got to find somebody else that wants to buy at a higher price. Maybe, maybe not. The government four or five times had already been cleared. They just want to confiscate the gold. That’s another sermon. I won’t get in that. But anyway, look in verse 9. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous all together. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold.

Sweet are also than honey in the honeycomb. What? The word of God. A man on a dig for the hidden treasures of the Word of God, more than a man with dig for silver and gold. Hold your place right here. Look there in Proverbs just for a second. Look in Proverbs just for a second. I want you to see this. Look there in chapter 2. But Proverbs in chapter 2, look there in verse 2, verse 2, he says, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding.

Yea, if thou cryest after knowledge, and lifteth up thy voice for understanding, if thou seeketh her as silver, and search it for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. That is a mouthful. There is wisdom. But see, most people don’t seek the word of God as though they’re looking for hidden treasures, like looking for that little gold mine in the scriptures and that little silver mine. And as I studied the Bible over the years, I have been so blessed to come across my own little nuggets that I found.

See, I don’t mind getting a few little nuggets from Somebody that I heard here and there and around the square, but I like finding my own Wouldn’t you like to sit down? Would just you and the Lord God’s Word and you are looking and digging for your own little nuggets You know when you find them and you dug it out It’ll become more precious to you Then if it wasHOUst given to you It’ll become more precious to you than what I teach you on Sunday morning or Sunday night or Wednesday night the Word of God ought to be so precious to you because if this isn’t precious to you, God isn’t precious to you.

If the Word isn’t precious to you, Jesus is not precious to you. He is the Word and you reveal your love for the Lord by the love you have for His Word. Because this is how you learn about Him and this is how He leads you. This is how He guides you. is through his word. Now look there in verse 11 again. Verse 11, now this is so important these last few verses. Moreover by them is thy servant and you are to underline this word warned.

So as you study the word of God you’re going to be warned but notice the next part and in keeping of them and you are to the line these two words. There’s great reward. You see the two different things in this verse. One is the warning and the other one is great reward. So you know that if you violate the word of God, there’s warnings in the scriptures and the price to pay. But if you will study the word of God and keep His promises, seek His will.

He says, there’s great reward. And verse 12, He says, who can understand His errors? Talking about you and me and why do I do what I do? Pends down me from secret faults. You see, sometimes they’re not just things that we know that we do. Sometimes we do things and don’t even know we did it. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

But you see, it’s the Word of God that’s going to help you this way. You and I have an old sinful nature, and it’ll get the best of any of us. And only as you stay close to the Lord and close to His Word and search for these little nuggets, you’re gonna stay strong. Now look what he says in verse 14. He says, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, my Redeemer.

This verse is the purpose of this psalm, that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart would be acceptable unto the Lord. Take your Bible and turn to 2 Timothy and chapter 2. 2 Timothy and chapter 2. Last I spoke concerning the incorruptible word and what the word of God should mean to us. You see, there’s no sense studying the word of God that we call the word of God if it’s not the word of God.

And how you live your life is going to be based upon what you believe about this book. If you believe that it simply contains the Word of God, you may take issue with what you believe is the Word of God and what is not. So I believe that this is the Word of God, not that it contains the Word of God. And there is a great difference. It’s what can give you confidence, it can give you boldness. See, Christians should not be intimidated by the world.

No one in the world or no thing. No problem that you and I should ever face should ever intimidate us. You know what fear is? When something in this world intimidates us. Because you’re afraid. Now if you and I really believe this book and that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord, to those who are called according to His purpose, why would we be afraid? Remember he says he had not given to us the spirit of fear, of love, power, and of a sound mind.

So we’re supposed to believe that this truly is the Word of God and we can trust it safely, rely upon Him. So here in 2 Timothy I want you to see this in chapter 2 and verse 15. Several scriptures here but I want you to see this in verse 1. When it says in verse 15, study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that need if not to be ashamed, that means skillful in living the Christian life. Whatever it is God wants us to do, not to be ashamed of the way we act, think, do, all those things, rightly dividing the word of truth.

So when he says rightly dividing the word of truth, he’s not talking about the newspaper, not talking about some magazine, he’s talking about his word. So it is the will of God that God’s children are able to rightly divide the word of God. Know what it means, be able to understand, to discern right from wrong. And so God has given us his word. And in verse 18, those who do not believe it, look what he says in verse 18, who concerning the truth have aired.

So the word of truth is truth. If you want to know what truth is, it’s the Word of God. Jesus Christ is, I am the way, the truth and the life. So when you study the Word, you’re studying truth. And you study truth, you find out the truth about God and Jesus Christ, you, the world, you know the truth. And there are those that will teach contrary to the truth. Now look in 2 Timothy and chapter 3 and notice there in verse 16.

where he says, all scripture. So the word of God is considered scripture. All scripture would refer not only to the Old Testament, but also to the New Testament. Many times in the New Testament when you read, as it is written, as it is written, means an Old Testament scripture. It is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, correction for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect or mature throughly furnished unto all good works.

So the word of God is to give us all that we need to do the work of the Lord and to take a child of God and to produce a man of God. Now look in 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3 and notice what he says in verse 15. Verse 15 says, but But if I carry long that thou mayeth know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, and you are to underline this phrase, the pillar and the ground of truth.

You see, God gave truth to his people, to the church. We live in society, so we’re supposed to take truth and apply it to life. And the truth that we learn, we’re supposed to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world. Now, when we often say there’s something rotten in Washington, it’s generally because there’s no preservative there. There’s no salt. Thank you. Christians are supposed to be the salt of the earth, they preservative. We are to preserve the way God wants things.

So you will be preserved in your life as long as you take the preserved word of God and believe it. Your life will be in direct ratio to the caliber of the belief that you have in this book to preserve you. If you fall apart, it’s because there’s something you don’t believe. Every person truly lives their real theology. What you really believe is how you live. Now, if this is true, and I believe that it is, that’s why he says, every man shall live by every word of God.

Man shall not live by bread alone. And many people think that’s all the man needs, as long as he got some bread. A man needs more than bread. Jeremiah says that it is not within man that walk up to direct his steps. It means that no man is capable of leading or guiding himself without the word of God. It might seem to be right, but it will be wrong. And there’s no way that a man can do it. Now take your Bible and turn there to the book of 2 Peter in chapter 1.

2 Peter and chapter 1. We’ll be going to the Old Testament in just a minute, minute, but I want to show you a few of these other things that I think is very important. Second Peter and chapter 1. And look there in verse 21. Second Peter chapter 1 and verse 21. Says, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So it’s not not that men decided what would be the Word of God.

They didn’t just sit down and write their own little ideas. They wrote what God told them to write. And approximately 1,800 times the Bible says that it came from God. Now either it did come from God or it came from man. But God said that it came from him. could not have wrote this book. A good man says there’s no such thing as good men, so that would have made them liars. Evil men would not have wrote such a good book.

So this book came from the Lord, and I believe that. Take your Bible looking first Corinthians in chapter 2, first Corinthians and chapter 2. So first 1 Corinthians 2 and look at verse 9. I want you to have a great appreciation for the word, because then you’ll have a greater appreciation for the Lord. And verse 9, but as it is written, as it is written, that means it’s recorded in the Old Testament as it is written. I have not seen nor heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God had prepared for them that love him.

But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, ye that deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, say the Spirit of man, which is in him. Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. But what if I could have the Spirit of God live inside of me, then the Holy Spirit can teach me things about God. I would not know no other way.

So the Holy Spirit told men what to write. And so by studying the Word of God, we can know the mind of God. You see what he says here? Look there in verse 15 of chapter two, but he that is spiritual, judgeeth all things or is able to discern all things. Yet he himself is judged or discerned of no man. The natural man cannot discern a spiritual man. A lost man cannot understand a Christian. No more than a lost man can understand the word of God.

A lost man cannot understand God. A lost man cannot understand Christ. Well, if you have trusted Christ as your Savior and you decide to be a spiritual God, the individual, and you want to believe what the word of God says and you grow in the Lord, the lost man is not going to understand you. Other Christians might understand you, but the lost man cannot because those things are spiritually discerned and he doesn’t have the Holy Spirit. In verse 16, for who Who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?

I mean, before you ever trusted Christ as your Savior, did God ask you your opinion on things? Whenever he was going to create the heavens and the earth, he called you into a secret chamber and said, hey, what do you think? How do you think I ought to do this? The Lord did not seek our counseling. But once you trust Christ as your Savior and the Holy Spirit indwells you in the last part of that verse, but we have the mind of Christ.

So God wants us to believe that His Word is the mind of God. That’s why I often tell people, the Bible is God’s mind on paper. So when you study the mind of God, you’ll know how God thinks, how God feels. What He wants you to do, you can understand the will of God for your life. So it’s a tremendous thing. And the reason you want to study the Word because of the Holy Spirit and dwelling you is just because the Holy Spirit now can teach you things that the world cannot know.

See there in verse 12, but he says, now we have received, past tense, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. See when he says in verse 10, but God hath revealed them unto us, that’s revelation. And in verse 12, now we have received, That’s illumination. You notice down here in verse 13 when he says, but which the Holy Ghost teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual, that’s inspiration.

So we’re able to study spiritual things by spiritual means. Spiritual things can only discern by the spirit. And so that’s why the Lord gave us his spirit so that we could really know the things that God has given to us. Now, take your Bible and turn to the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy and chapter 8. Deuteronomy chapter 8, no, I’ve covered this whole chapter before where he lays before them life and death. Look there in verse 1, the start in verse 1, all the commandments which I command thee this day shall you observe to do, that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swear unto your fathers.

And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness. And get why he did what he did. Once you understand a little bit about why God did what he did with the nation of Israel, understand why he does a little bit of a few things with us. Picture Israel as a person, not as a nation. And you’d be surprised how much better it looks. You can understand. God deals with Israel as though Israel was a person, one person, like Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel.

And so God deals with that person, like that person is just one person. And there were times when Israel was obedient and then Israel was disobedient and God would bless and God would chasten and kick him out of the land and all kind of things. But it’s like a person. And once that person is a miracle child born by faith, they’ll always be. And that’s why in spite of all that the religion of Islam wants to do Israel, there will always be a remnant.

They can’t annihilate them. Can’t. They’ll try. And if Christ doesn’t come back at the end of the tribulation period, they could. Because He says that there could be no flesh be left alive on the face of the year. 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 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, 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, and just keep looking up.