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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’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.

So now as a child of God, you and I are supposed to be very careful how we build on this foundation. and you build because of what the Word of God says. So that’s why you learn the Word of God so that you can do what God wants and build your life. So what we talk about is this, and I mentioned this to several here, we don’t wanna take and use people just to try to build a ministry, but use a ministry to build people, to make people strong, strong in the Lord.

Cause the greatest thing you’ll ever build is gonna be yourself. whatever you are is what you reproduce. And so we have a responsibility as God’s children to try to teach and help and educate others so they can be strong in the Lord because you want the best for them. So he says, you don’t have to lay the foundation again. See there in this verse, the foundation of repentance from dead works. That means that you don’t have to get a person to get saved again because he’s not been lost.

He hasn’t lost his salvation, so he doesn’t have to get on the foundation again, because he never fell off the foundation. He is on the foundation and he is secure on the foundation and that can never change. He has eternal life. But he says here, the foundation of repentance from dead works, means you do not trust in your works, dead works for your salvation, but because of your faith in the Lord. So every man is to repent, change his mind and see that he cannot save himself by his works.

Dead works can’t give life. Dead works come from a dead man and a a dead man is someone who separated from God. So a lost man cannot save himself by producing dead works which cannot give life. Eternal life must come from life. And that’s Christ. So he is eternal life and he gives me the free gift of eternal life when I trust him as my Savior. So when he talks here about the let us go on to maturity, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, then He tells us what those simple principle things are.

And He’s mentioned in them right here in verse 2 of the doctrine of baptism, laying on of hands because you see this was in the transition period where the apostles laid their hands upon different ones to receive the Holy Spirit. And afterwards that is not done. And the baptism, eternal judgment, that’s all has to deal with the first principles of the oracles of God. knowing and understanding you’re saved and why you’re saved and how long you’re saved for and you’re saved from something eternal judgment.

So in verse three he said then this will we do if God permits. Well why wouldn’t God permit it? The only thing that keeps you from growing and maturing in the Lord is your lack of faith in what God’s word says. Not to believe the Lord. And yes there is a point can be made from chapter 3 and 4 of the book of Hebrews about the children of Israel in the wilderness didn’t go into the Promised Land because of their unbelief.

Now it is their unbelief that got him into the Promised Land, but the Promised Land wasn’t heaven. The Promised Land was a place of victory for the mature Christian. The wilderness is like for the the person who just wanders all over the place for 40 years and wastes his life. So yes, as a believer in Christ, I want to go to the Promised Land. I want to go to that which God brought the maturing of a believer to believe the Word of God so that I can.

Be mature where I can discern right from wrong. And meet five mature, and I learned these things. Then the Bible talks about cast not away, therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. You see, rewards in heaven is a result of your work, and your work is a result of your confidence, and your confidence is a result of your faith. So therefore, as you study the Word of God and believe the Word of God, your faith increases, your work increases and your reward increases.

So therefore, it’s important for every child of God to discipline himself, to absorb whatever light you have, truth that you know, and walk according to the light that God has given to you. So that verse here, verse one, is explained in the following verses. So he says, not land again the foundation of repentance from dead works and a faith toward God. Why? Because it’s impossible, as he says there in verse six, if they could fall away to renew them again unto repentance.

So that’s why you don’t lay the foundation again. In the words, once a man is saved, you don’t have to get him saved again. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior and you’ve been saved for 30 years, but you’ve never matured in the Lord. You still can’t get that person received because that person can’t get unsaved. Because once you’re on the foundation you have eternal life and you’re going to heaven whenever you die. And this is what the Bible is teaching here.

So if you look up there in verse 3, and this will we do if God permits several things here. One, God will not let you understand some deeper truths in the word of God because of your lack of discernment. You can’t understand what God is saying. It doesn’t make any sense to you. So that’s why sometimes when you will not obey the truth or the light that God gives to you, you can sit down and read the Bible and you’ll get a little milk here and a little milk there, but the meat you won’t be able to get and you will not understand it.

You will not develop as a strong Christian. You’ll see others that mature and take off like a rocket and you’ll wonder why? What’s wrong with me? Well, maybe you’re haven’t developed right. Maybe you don’t believe the word of God and trust him like you should and you’re discernment to make the wise decisions. See, some Christians, they just make some of the stupidest decisions that affects their whole life and they don’t think make it makes any difference. Do you know who they marry?

Or where they work? Or the way they live? Nothing matters. Just do whatever you want. You’re lacking discernment. And so therefore you’re not going to get what you would have loved have had. Now look in verse four. In verse four it says, for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, have tasted the heavenly gift and made partakers of the Holy Ghost. Now some people say, you see, this is just those who come up to the threshold, but not really partake.

They only tasted. They really didn’t, you know, go all the way and get everything. They almost got saved almost. They were right there to door and they turned around and went the other way. Like a gripper says, almost, our persuadest me to be a Christian. Oh, we don’t know. He could trust the Lord later. He didn’t have to trust the Lord that minute. minute? We don’t know, but is that what this is talking about? Look there in chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 2.

Hebrews chapter 2 and look in verse 9, where it says, but we see Jesus who has made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. Get this, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man, but he didn’t really die, he just tasted it. Now, would you say that about this verse? If you would say it about the other verse, then you ought to say it about this verse.

So when he tasted death for every man, do you really mean lead that he literally died for every man? I do. And when he says in this verse that have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made, that’s past that, were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. Well, you only got a part of him. You didn’t get all of them. You just got maybe some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but you didn’t get the Holy Spirit. Why read all of that?

Watch it’s just literally what he says. So, see, your theology sometimes will dictate how you understand the Scriptures instead of letting the Scriptures dictate your theology. Sometimes people, they have in their mind, they’re prejudiced. And they’ve already decided what they think, because they’ve used reason and logic, and it makes sense to them. So then they try to interpret the Bible according to what they already believe, and try to find verses that back up what they believe. Instead of just go to the Bible, take whatever you believe, throw it in the trash.

Now what did he say? And believe that. You won’t have as much trouble. That way you can approach it, press in anew. Say Lord, what do you want me to learn? What do you have to say? So he says here in verse 5, and I’ve tasted that word used twice. Once in verse 4, once in verse 5, it’s also used over there in chapter 2, verse 9, have pasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance.

So that means they were saved, but now we’re saying hypothetically, if they shall fall away, if they could fall away from this foundation. To renew them or get them saved again would be like crucified Christ all over again. Because the only way you could lose your salvation is to commit a sin Christ didn’t pay for. Well if I can commit a sin Christ hadn’t paid for, the question is when is He going to pay for the next sin that I committed?

If He has to do it again that He has to be crucified again. That’s why by the time you get to Hebrews chapter 10, he says, but this man, after he had offered himself once for all. And when he comes back the next time he’s not coming back to make a payment for sin, without sin and the salvation, he’s coming back again, but not to make a payment for sin. It’s all done once and for all. So there is no other payment to be made.

So that’s why you can’t get saved and then lose your salvation because only you can lose it is to commit a sin Christ didn’t die for And then if you could lose it you can’t get saved again because there’s no one to pay for that sin So you the Christ paid for all of them or it didn’t do us any favors So yes, I believe that yes a man can be saved Not serve the Lord be a babe in Christ dull of hearing Can’t discern right from wrong spiritually the a child of God and go to heaven when he dies That is grace He doesn’t deserve that None of us do but you’d be surprised how many people still believe that you have to deserve to go to heaven Yeah, you’re saved by grace But you got to live right Because then if you don’t live right you don’t deserve to go

You just don’t deserve it Of course you don’t deserve it And so they manipulate the Scriptures and because of what they can’t believe about God, they begin to change the Word of God. So I believe he’s talking to the believers and letting them know that we’re gonna go on to maturity if God permits. And that’s gonna be because of your yielding to what the Word of God says. You’re discerning. Can you grasp that? He says, I got a lot of things to explain to you, but you’re dull of hearing.

You haven’t matured enough. And these things, this is the difference between milk and meat. You see, as you study this, isn’t this a little bit more complicated than believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved? For by grace who you save through faith and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Well, that’s easy to understand. And then we talk about Melchizedek, after the order of Melchizedek.

You say, who is he? What’s all this talking about? See, it gets a little bit more complicated. But I want you to know that the Word of God is written in such a way to feed your soul all the time with something new. You’ll get a little bit of the old, but whenever you read it and you reread it and you reread it, you’ll never exhaust it. You’ll never get it all. And then after a while, you might think to yourself, I don’t know anything.

The word of God is deeper than anything you’ll ever get your little teeth around the chew. Look what he says here. In verse six, if they shall follow away to renew them again, I mean, they can’t be renewed again. So that’s why he said you leave that foundation. Why? Because they don’t have to be renewed again. Duh. To me, it makes it so easy, so easy to understand. That is, if you believe, really believe in eternal security. See, if you don’t believe in eternal security, you’ve got to change all the scriptures.

Then you believe that you can lose your salvation. See, there’s not much of a stigma to tell people just to, you know, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. You say, well, that’s the gospel. I know it’s the gospel, but aren’t there a lot of religions that teach the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and are not saved? Because, see, they don’t understand it was for the purpose to justify the the heathen. God, by His death, Berlin resurrection, to pay for my sin, to come back from the dead, is why I can be justified by faith.

And I don’t have to trust my works. I don’t have to trust the church or some preacher. For example, if a man, I say, here’s Peter or a model down here. Peter or a model wants to go to heaven when he dies. But I believe he has to be baptized in water also. He wants to go to heaven but he has to be baptized and I’m the only preacher in town and I refuse to baptize him. Wouldn’t you hate to think that your salvation depended upon somebody else has got to baptize me?

What if you’re out there in a desert and you pick up a track or a Bible. There’s not an ounce of water for a thousand miles, you can’t go to heaven. There is no way to get you baptized. Isn’t it a shame that if you had to be baptized to be saved, that means that your salvation depends upon the person who baptized you. That means the person who baptized you saved you and the ought to get the credit for it.

you had to be baptized in water to go to heaven. That means that that person did your favor because you couldn’t have gone to heaven without that person. Now you may want to believe that. I can’t buy that. I don’t believe any man’s salvation depends upon another man’s work except just to present the gospel. God has designed it where we’re supposed to tell people about it. But aren’t you glad salvation is the gift of God? So he says in verse seven, and he uses this brilliant illustration, he uses the earth which drinketh in the rain that comes off the fawnate, bringeth forth herbs, meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiving and get this, you ought to underline this phrase, blessing from God.

So now we’re talking about a person getting the blessings of God or the chasing of God. being cursed by the Father. Now you’re never cursed in the sense of going to hell. But by the time you get through with this you’ll find out that this is laying out the other chapters that’s going to follow and talks about what living by faith is and the chasing hand of God in chapter 12. And so you can either be blessed by God while the rewards in heaven or you can be chastened by the Lord.

So he uses a piece of ground and there’s a piece of ground and that’s we just say that to you. Now what are you going to bring forth out of that ground? You see in verse 8, but that which bear a thorn’s ground can bear thorns and it can bear fruit, herbs. And briars is rejected. The thorns and the briars are rejected, not the ground. Some people try to say that. See there God rejects you and God burnt. No, no, no, that’s the, That’s what comes from the ground.

See, once you and I trust Christ as our Savior, we’re going to stand before the Lord, and He says He’s going to reward you for the gold, silver, and the price of stone, but the hay wouldn’t stubble. What’s you going to do with those things? You burn those up. What’s that? That’s their works that are no good. That’s because of your discernment. You did this and you did this. So God’s going to reveal to you why you did this, and you’re going to lose what you could have had for the Lord.

So he says in verse 8, but that which is what bears thorns and briars rejected and is nigh unto Kershen, whose end is to be burned. But in verse 9, be leaven. That’s an illustration. We are persuaded better things of you, things that accompany salvation, not salvation, but there’s things in your life that you ought to have. And there ought to be some fruit from the ground some herbs but if not them. You’re going to produce briars and horns, and God’s going to have to chase in you because of what you’re bringing forth.

So is God concerned about what comes from our life? Yes. Should I, as a child of God, shouldn’t I serve the Lord? Yes, I should. But to do more for the Lord than I need to grow in the Word of God. So that’s why you come to Sunday school to learn the Word of God so that you can be more faithful to the Lord. not only just for yourself, but learn the Word of God so that you can explain it to somebody else.

See, if you don’t understand what these verses right here are talking about, somebody else could tell you another idea about these verses. And you might believe it. Then you’ll question your salvation. Well, I guess I’m not really saved. Well, I used to be saved, but I can’t be saved anymore. I mean, time I’ve had people say, oh, I used to be saved. I said, well, what happened? Well, I started smoking again.

I started smoking again. That’s always the one. Why? Because somebody told them that if you’re saved, you can’t do that. Well, doggy. Notice what he says here. In verse 9, things that accompany salvation through thus we speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. Now, if we talk about your work and your labor of love, you think he’s talking to believers? Yes. Or is he talking to lost people on how to be saved?

You see, you don’t talk to lost people about your work and labor of love because they’re not saved by their works. It’s not even an issue. We’re talking about the believers work. The believers labor. And that’s why you don’t have to lay the foundation again or trying to get somebody saved. So how do you know if somebody’s really saved. All you can go by is what they tell you they’re trusting in to get them to heaven. If they say they’re trusting in their good deeds to get them to heaven, I would question their salvation.

I’m sure you are. If Billy Graham told me he was trusting in his good deeds to get them to heaven, I wouldn’t believe it. It wouldn’t matter. But God says salvation is free. It’s a gift. And as a child of God, God wants us to bring forth fruit in our life. Things that accompany our salvation. It doesn’t replace salvation. It’s because you are saved. You have land, but produce something on the land. So he says in verse 10, God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love.

Wouldn’t that be a shame if God doesn’t remember what you’ve done? That’s why as you serve the Lord but you don’t have to remember everything you’ve done for the Lord. Why? Because God does. I was talking to the somebody just reads and says, it’s not bad once in a while to have a little journal of what you’ve done for the Lord. You know, a little thing just so you can remember because down the road when you get older, you know, like Dan over here, you might not recall.

And it would be so nice just to read and say, oh, this date I talked to these people, they trust the Lord. I helped this old lady across the street. She didn’t want to go, but I helped her anyway. But isn’t it wonderful to know that God in heaven is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love? There isn’t anything you have done for the Lord that God has forgot about. Now people might not remember all those wonderful sacrifices you made.

And it might even hurt your feeling a little bit when nobody really appreciates all those things you did. But you remember, you didn’t do it for them anyway. You did it for the Lord, didn’t you? And so therefore, as long as God remembers and God knows, you’re satisfied with that, right? So therefore, you don’t have to get your feelings hurt and get mad and bitter because people don’t appreciate how great you are. He made this statement. God is not in righteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed toward his name.

In that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. In that you have ministered to the saints. I don’t know who those are. That’s because of your encouragement to other, that’s why Devahba talks about in the book of Hebrews in chapter 10, let us draw near and let us not forsake our profession of what we really believe and let us encourage one another and let us not forsake the assembly of ourselves together. Let us. And God says, this is what I want you to do.

Everybody needs help. Everybody needs encouragement. Everybody can find thought with everybody. Now, this is a eye opener here. I’m going to make a statement. If you stay around me long enough, you’ll find out that I probably have a flaw. I knew it was going to hit you hard. I try to let you down easy. But everybody has flaws. Everybody. What do you pose to do? Well, magnify them. Let everybody know. No. Learn how to love covers a multitude of sin.

And God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. And look what He says in verse 11. And we believers, we desire that, and you ought to underline these two words. Every one of you. So He’s talking about some are not responding. they should. Some are dull of hearing, but some are doing the work and ministering to one another. But what is the desire? We want every one of God’s children. That’s why we have to sometimes be so careful of what we say and do because we don’t want to turn anybody off to the Lord.

And He makes a statement, and we desire that every one of you do show the the same diligence to the full assurance of hope onto the end of your race. You see that in the book of Hebrews in chapter 12. We’re running a race. Finish your course. Finish the race. And don’t stop. Don’t quit. It is worth it all. In verse 12, that you be not sloppel, but followers of them who through faith, and that’s those enlisted in chapter 11, the whole of faith heroes, the Old Testament saints.

And God lists a whole bunch of them there. You ought to go just read and study them. And you know all those names that are listed there? And by faith they did this, by faith by faith. You know, you don’t find one thing against any of them. When we get to heaven, the only thing that’s going to be remembered for all eternity is what you did for the Lord by faith. And believe him. All of those things will not be remembered and be called into remembrance.

There’s things God can’t forget and there are some things God won’t remember. There’s a sermon in there somewhere. It really is. I never wrote that out before. I like that. Let anyway hope you understand it just a little bit better. Let’s pray, shall we? Father, we thank you so much for this time together. We’re so thankful that, yes, salvation is free. And we can know it and know that we have eternal life and know that we’re going to heaven.

And Father, we may not always do the things that we should walk with you and discern as we should. But Father, we know that we’re on the foundation and you’ll never cast us out, never lose us. And as your children, we know that you’re merciful. And Father, we also know as your children, we can confess our sins and your faith from just to forgive us and defend us from all unrighteousness. And the Father, as your children, we should serve you to do right to bring forth good words, not to be safe, but because we are.

In Christ and we pray, amen. 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. 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 every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon. And soon, just keep looking up.