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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 by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will 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. As a child of God, you can’t live as you please and get away with it. You can try. But there’s a God in heaven that has laws set up. Call the law of sowing and reaping, the law of the harvest. You reap what you sow, you reap later than you sow, and you reap much more than what you sowed.

So God is in charge. Do you think for a moment that God knows what’s going on in this nation? I think God knows what’s going on in this nation. You see, well, why don’t God do something? He is doing things. He most certainly is. You see, there’s a thing that you need to understand. It’s not whether or not is God on my side, is God a Republican or is God a Democrat, is God an independent? What is God? I sure hope God’s on our side.

Well, it’s interesting. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Joshua chapter 5, the book of Joshua and chapter 5. You see, to recognize God’s jurisdiction is a way of appreciating his sovereignty. Understand very clearly, there are extremes in everything. One of the extremes is this, secular humanism, humanism, human man, man in charge, no God, no creation. Man is the epitome of all things. Man is God. And so man can determine his own destiny. So it is a religion in itself, the religion of humanism.

If you follow humanism to its ultimate destination, it will always lead to socialism and communism. It has to go that way, because it is the survival of the fittest. It means that a few people get in power and control the rest. It will not be for individual freedoms and liberty and life and the pursuit of happiness, because there is no such thing. You have no right to anything. will be controlled. So it always leads to bondage, humanism. That is what is being taught in our schools today.

Now that is one extreme, but there’s another extreme. The extreme of religion. You see religion, not Christianity, religions of the world when they are in charge and they can control will always be oppressive. All religions because they mandate by force how you must live. How you’re going to live. Take for example the religion of Islam. That peaceful religion. It’s not peaceful. It’s not of God. The Quran is a war manual. Muhammad was not a prophet of God and Allah is not God.

You say, you shouldn’t say things like that. And blessed be God. Why not? It’s the truth. So anyway, because everybody believes that they oppress everybody. And you are free to worship the religion of Islam. And they’ll all do the same thing. Oh, they may pray there five times a day and they get on their knees and they bow and all that time. And everybody does it. You’d be scared not to do it. But it becomes oppressive. That’s not freedom.

The thing that makes true Christianity different is Christ. Christ sets us free. Christ says, be not entangled with the yoke of bondage and entangled with the laws of man and not the freedom that we have in Christ. But what I want you to see here in the book of Joshua in chapter 5, there’s an interesting story here that come up to the river Jordan. They’re about to cross the river Jordan. They’ve been in the wilderness for 40 years, Moses has passed away.

Joshua is now in charge. And so they had to get some new food in the new place because the manna had stopped. Now you wanna live and you wanna eat. Hey, there’s some over there in that land. You just gotta cross a little river here and get over there and there’s Jericho. There’s a big city of Jericho and the walls around it, fortified giants in the lands. That’s a scare half the death. And there was another little town called A.I.

which is mentioned in chapter 7. A little town called A.I. and a big one called Jericho. So the key comes down is, Lord, who side of you on? Are you on our side? Are you on their side? So we’ve got to find out what side God’s on. Well, look what he says here in Joshua chapter 5, looking verse 13. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand.

And Joshua went unto him and said unto him, our thou for us or for our adversaries. Hey, are you with us or are you with him? Hey, who are you for? Who side you want? This was an angel of the Lord. And it’s not so much as are you on our side. The question to ask is are you on his side? Are you on God’s side? So you always try to find out where does God stand and I stand with him.

That’s where I stand. It’s not am I a Republican, a Democrat, a Washington Aborigine, or Penn Striped. am I standing where God stands? What would God want me to do? How would God want me to vote if I had the freedom, the choice of voting? I would find out what are the principles, the principles that affect life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Because true freedom gives you the choice of how do you live your life? liberty that you have, to be what you want to be, to pursue whatever it is that you believe God wants you to have.

That’s freedom. That’s why this country was set up different from all countries, never had one like this country. We have truly been blessed. And so because of this, we have the freedom of choice. So an individual should always keep in mind when And it comes to somebody in place of leadership or in government who are given a power or authority to make laws, you want them to make laws in agreement with God’s. No man has any authority to make any law contrary to the Word of God.

He has no jurisdiction. God, James chapter 4, John, he is the law giver. The Lord, he’s the law giver. He gave the law. He knows how to run a nation. God knows how to run a family. So when the family is falling apart, it’s because you’re not making choices in agreement with God. When your individual life is falling apart, it’s not because God isn’t in charge and God is not, you’re not making choices in agreement with God’s choice. You see, God has told us how to make decisions, choices, right choices, that’s why he says order it over again.

Choose you this day. Choose your choice. And if you choose the right thing, they’re going to be certain consequences. You choose the wrong thing, they’re going to be consequences. So it’s up to us to make wise choices. God, who is going to go by your decision, the choices that you make. That’s why it’s so very, very important. So he says in verse 14, and he said, nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord, am I now come?

and Joshua fell on his face to the earth and says, I’m on your side. That was in Hebrew. I’m on your side. I submit to you. You see, it wasn’t that God was just choosing. I’m on Israel’s side. And that’s why you won the Battle of Jericho. The first one to go across was the priest, not the army. Now, when you come over to this other little bitty place, they came to the conclusion that’s a small place, so we don’t have to send a lot of them in there.

Well, let’s just send about 3,000 of them in there. So they went up and they got hooked. Well, wasn’t God on their side? And God says, you sinned against me. You sinned against me. whether something is big or whether something is small, your decisions are important because are you on his side? Not whether he’s on your side. Are you on his side? Do you find out where God stands on things and you make decisions in agreement with the Lord?

As you look at the election, one of the things you could always look at and think about is this. You want a government that is set up and designed to protect as an individual your right to life and your liberty and your pursuit, your freedom to be and choose what you want. That’s not government’s job. Government’s job is not determined who lives and who dies. You already have the right by God. So therefore people who are for abortion, it is murder, it is not according to the Lord.

It violates Godly principles, and therefore the individual should wait carefully. Should I vote for a person who wants to take away the right of a person life? You think it through? Become intelligent? The scripture that was read by Jay this morning about young Solomon making a wise decision, and God God gave him an understanding heart to discern, to make judgment, and God richly blessed him. And the whole nation, sin is a reproach unto any people, and God will bless a nation that is a righteous nation, and a nation whose God is the Lord.

So we want God, bless America without yielding to God. And you can’t have it both ways. It has to be, I want God to bless America because we’re one nation under God’s authority, under his sovereignty, accepting his rule, his law, his judgment. You see, we want God bless America so that we can live as dirty and as rotten, as filthy as we want to live. That’s not what freedom is about. You see, God has made decisions. He’s already decided that He’ll bless those that honor Him.

And He’s going to chasten those that will not. So as an individual, you look at it and you look at a candidate and you find out which one comes closer to preserving the longest life and the liberty and my right to do whatever I want to do is my dream. It’s not government’s job to determine your dream. It’s not government’s job to determine what job you have and work for and how much you get paid. It’s not government’s job to take from these people and give to these people.

That is not their jurisdiction. They have none. Our Constitution doesn’t give them the right. You say, well, they’re so compassionate. They’re so feeling and so loving. They want to help everybody. Take all your money and help all you want. I don’t care. But you don’t have the right to take mine. I want to do with my money what I want to do. Why should I give it to you? That’s not your job. We’re supposed to pay for them to protect this country and post-office in the roads.

There ain’t many more things outside of that there’s supposed to do. You see, as individuals, government needs to understand. They don’t make laws governing the home. They have no jurisdiction over the home. God established the home. home. God made the laws for the home. Government is to make sure that another man doesn’t take away the right of another man. Or here’s a family. You don’t have a right. You have no jurisdiction, no power to impose upon another family. You don’t do that.

There’s a limit, for example. Back to that ball field. That ball game is going to go on. There is a playing feel and there’s an out of bounds. You see you’re supposed to do all you’re playing with inside those boundaries and the referee is just supposed to make sure you play according to the rules. And when they throw that flag and Leroy said, what do you do that for? purposely tried to hurt the quarter back 15 yards. He says, you stink.

He says, another 15 yards. He says, now how do I smell? You see, the one that can make the rules based upon the choices you make on the field. You see, they just can’t arbitrarily, I just find you $50,000 for what? because I just wanted to. You were out of bounds. I was not. You see, they’re supposed to play by the rules. So there’s this team and there’s this team and there’s another team called refs who are determining whether you stay inside the boundaries.

And did you play according to the rules? Whether you get kicked out of the game or penalize 15 yards when it comes to life, there’s a ref. and you don’t see the wrath, but you’re still on the playing field and he says you have all kinds of freedom as long as you stay within the boundary. When you go outside of the boundary, God is free to chasten you. Or if you don’t play according to the rules within the playing field, God can chasten you, discipline you and maybe take you home.

You see, God is in charge. He is the ref and he does see and nothing misses his eyes. I watched the game of two weeks ago and I thought the guy’s blind is a back and lo and behold most of the nation thought so too. But God doesn’t miss anything. Did you really understand that there is a sovereign God who is on the throne and who is rolling and that you can’t make any decision you want without suffering the consequences of your decision.

Do you realize that your buried life, your breath is in his hands? He even makes a statement in the book of Corinthians in chapter 11. He says, and many are sick and many are weak and some are dead because they violated his law, his rules. Didn’t play according to the rules. That’s why you study the Word of God so you’ll know how to live life. Government has no jurisdiction over the Church of Jesus Christ. God never gave government that right.

There’s thing government, government’s not free to do whatever they want to do, there is a boundary. They have a certain jurisdiction and the Congress is bound by the change of the Constitution about what they can and cannot do. So this is why every child of God, you study the word of God so that you know what’s right and what’s wrong. What is in agreement with the principles of God and you make your decision based upon those principles. Now there’s people that run for office.

I don’t like the one. It’s not my religion. It’s not what I believe. But when I get on an airplane, I don’t ask them. I just hope the guy knows how to fly the plane. Sometime I don’t even get to see the guy at the parapolo in that plane. I just hope he can get me up and get me down safely. When it comes to running a nation, I just want somebody who understands their limitations, the jurisdiction, things they cannot do.

I want a man that appreciates life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They don’t determine that. They only protect the right for you to do it. They’re not to supply the needs of everybody in the world. You see, there’s nothing. in our country that government has to do concerning caring for one another. I get a lot of flack on this, but it’s okay. I believe that if you are taught the Word of God and you love the Lord, and you learn the love of the people, then you want to help people.

You want to help people. I believe we ought to be charitable to give and to help, But I don’t believe we need our government to pass a law dictating that you have to give your money so they can give it to whoever they choose. That’s not their right. So they should not violate our right. And by the stroke of the pen, the illegal plunder steal the wealth from the American people and give it to people so they’ll vote for them.

I believe it’s wrong. It’s not according to the principles found in this book. So therefore, I just wanted to share that with you just a little bit. Freedom means you control the choices and God controls the consequences. The progress of a nation is directly related to the state of its morality. Let me read it to you again. The progress of of a nation is directly related to the state of its morality. We want to go forward, whatever. What is the morality of this nation?

Would you say it’s good? You say, you can’t legislate morality. Why not? Have you ever heard of the moral law? That’s the moral law. It means God legislated morality. What do you want? Laws that legislate immorality, so that people can live in whatever sin they want in it to be an acceptable lifestyle? Sin is sin. Wickedness is wickedness. I could get sidetracked here today, and I’m trying my best not to. I had determined before I decided to preach this sermon, I’m not gonna make anybody mad.

I was just gonna be nice and cool. But look up here now. you’ll see the because this is so important. This is what’s behind everything because you see, regor stand God is sovereign. It means that God makes decisions without your permission. To understand that sovereignty of God means that everything happened because God caused it or God permitted it. Can’t get away from it. This hand represents you and me. This wallet represents sin. We all have sin upon us. God loves us.

Now, he hates what we do wrong, but he loves us. But he says, everybody is a sinner. Everybody does wrong. We’re all in the same boat. And God says, the wages of sin is death. So that means that we are all condemned to die, to be eternally separated from the Lord. But God loves us. God loves you. Wants you to go to heaven. To go to heaven means that you have to be perfect as righteous as God. And nobody’s perfect.

You see, God being sovereign, He decided this. He didn’t even ask our opinion. He decided this after the counsel of His own will. And for us to be with Him for eternity means that we have to be perfect just like Him. If we went to heaven the way we are right now, with lying heaven. With cheat, kill, murder, rape, and you name it, we’ll do it. So God says, you can’t go unless you’re perfect. What, then nobody gets to go.

How you gonna get there? So God says, by your works, you’ll never earn eternal life. So you don’t go to church, hoping that you’ll be good enough to go to heaven or giving money or trying to live a certain way thinking that this is why I’m going to heaven because I’m so good. God says that won’t even help. So how are you going to get there? There’s only one way. You see, this hand represents Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, well, He’s the Lord.

He’s God. He has no sin. Doesn’t have to die. He came into this world and lived a perfect life. Didn’t have to die because it didn’t sin. But because He loved us, He took all the sin of all the world upon Himself. Paid for it, came back from the dead. He said that if we would believe that He did it for us, He would put this payment that He made to our account, and we get to go to heaven on what He did.

So when you believe that Christ died and paid for your sins, it means you don’t have to pay for your sins. He paid for them. He’s paid for the sins of the whole world, but that payment’s not put to your account unless you believe He did it for you. So when you believe He did it for you, He gives you as a free gift, eternal life, and you get to go to heaven. I’m going to heaven whenever I die, because, see, all my sins have been paid for.

I didn’t do it. I don’t deserve to go to heaven. It’s called grace. Grace means unmerited favor. I didn’t merit it. And people can’t believe that. It sounds so strange. But, you see, God is sovereign, and He didn’t ask our opinion. He just said, this is the way it is. And if you want to go to heaven, you’re going to have to accept it the way it is. You cannot earn it. Do you get that? You can’t earn your way to heaven.

So don’t even try. The only way to get to heaven is will you believe that when Christ died, He died for you. And if you believe He died and paid for your sins, means you know that you don’t have to pay for them and you know that you couldn’t earn it and you’re trusting Christ as your Savior and you’re going to heaven because of what he did. He gets all the honor, he gets all the credit, he gets all the glory.

You get how much? None. Because you didn’t do anything. He did it all. Christ paid for all of your sins, all of mine. Now, were you believe he did it for you? See, there’s no tricks to this, this will get me. You can’t go to heaven. Joining this church ain’t gonna get you to heaven. Being baptized, I’m gonna get you to heaven. seeing your prayers and counting your beat. That won’t get you to heaven. Nothing gets you to heaven, except Christ.

Will you trust Him? If you will, God said He would save you and give you His free gift of our lasting life. Let’s pray, shall we? If you’re here this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your savior, friend, that’s the most important thing you can ever do. You see, the only way Christ can rule your life and bless you is because you make the right decision. Will you become God’s child? Will you become his child? Will you accept him as your Savior?

He said, if you’ll trust him right now as your Savior, he would give you right now as a free gift ever lasting life. And if it’s ever lasting life, it lasts forever. It lasts forever and all you send are paid. Where would you go when you die? You’d go to heaven. Don’t that make sense? It’s simple. It’s free. It’s free. It doesn’t cost you anything. God loves you so much. Would you trust him? If you will, I’d like to know and I’d like to have prayer for you.

and I’d like to have prayer for you. I’m not going to have you forward. I’m not going to have you stand up. Not going to embarrass you. But if what I said made sense to you, and you say, preacher, that made sense to me, and I will trust Christ as my Savior this morning, and I’d like for you to know it, and I’d like for you to pray for me. Would you just slip your hand out quickly and put a right back down?

Does anyone at all? And by that, say yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior. Our Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for every family here. We thank you for our church. We thank you for our nation. We pray Lord for good people in place of leadership to make wise decisions to protect our life, liberty, so that we can enjoy the freedom of fulfilling our God given responsibilities. We just pray, Lord, Your will, be done in Christ and we pray.

You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you are 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 tool free. 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, Just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you are 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 clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.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. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.