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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 a 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. So this was in what we call a transition period because it was finishing up of the dispensation of law which it ended, I believe, around the time of the fall of the temple in Jerusalem and the Jews were scattered. But the church began on the day of Pentecost. And so in this period of time here, you have a transition period where they’re going from law, to grace, Judaism, Christianity.

And so they were able to do signs and gifts and miracles and so forth during this period of time to confirm the word. You see, Philip couldn’t say, now I want all of you all to take your Bible to look in the book of Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. He couldn’t say take your Bible looking first John 5, 13. He used the Old Testament scriptures that knew hadn’t been written yet. And so, but they were able to take the Old Testament scriptures and preach the truth and preach the gospel whereby they could have eternal life.

And so this is what was going on. And the Holy Spirit had not yet been given. But remember this, when Jesus in chapter seven of the gospel of John, verse 39 says on that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried. Saying, if any man thirst led in coming to me and drinking as the scripture hath saith, out of his belly shall come stream to live in water. And it says, and this is the key of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.

For as yet Christ had not yet been glorified. And the Holy Spirit would come upon all those that believe. So as time goes on, there was no Holy Spirit given. It was given to them on day of Pentecost. And then after that, then they would lay hands on them. And then after all the miracles and signs and the transition periods of it, when you simply believe you received the Holy Spirit. And so you’ll find this several times in the book of Acts.

It’s a transitional book until everything is done. And then when we have the complete word of God, you don’t need all of that stuff anymore. And so that has been removed. It’s no longer sufficient. Now, here he makes a statement. In verse 18, when Simon saw that through land on of the apostles’ hands, the Holy Ghost was given, He offered them money. Now, I do not see this as Him trying to buy salvation. He was talking about something else.

He’s talking now about this power. Remember, He’s had power to do things. He wants this power. And it’s not talking about salvation. It didn’t say Simon did not ask for salvation. He says in verse 19, saying, give me also this power that on whom so So over I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. This is what he was asking. I think it’s a different issue than salvation. But if I doubt his salvation, then I have to doubt all the salvation of all the other people that believed also.

And his baptism meant nothing. Then the other people’s baptism didn’t mean anything either. And in verse 20 says, but Peter said unto him, thy money perish with thee because thou has fought something they’s thinking. the gift of God may be purchased with money. But is this the gift of eternal life or the gift of God as you find in the book of Acts in chapter 2 where it makes a statement in verse 38 says, then Peter said unto him, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost.

So here he’s talking about receiving the Holy Ghost. So this gift. It’s not something you can buy. When you and I trust Christ’s Savior, the Holy Spirit is free. But there, because of the transition, it was to validate the word which they spoke and the miracles and things that they were able to do. And so, it made the statement in verse 21, they’ll have to neither partner a lot in this matter. For by heart is not right in the side of the God.

In other words, this isn’t something that you can buy, You can’t buy this, but I don’t believe he’s talking about being saved. It doesn’t say that. I can make it say that. I can twist it around a little bit and say that that’s what it means. No, I believe that just like this, for example, you may have trusted Christ as your Savior. You know you’re going to heaven when you die. But does that mean you automatically serve God? No.

Can you still, as a believer, be rebellious and be filled with bitterness and gall and hatred and jealousy and envy. Yes, you can. You can have all those things. And he’s talking about the way he was thinking. His thinking was wrong. And you can get to where you want what somebody else has. You want somebody else’s power. Everybody seems to think the other side of the fence is greener. Somebody always has the other job you wished you had. They had the money you wished you had.

They have the help you wished you had. They have the looks you wished you had. Or you have the husband I wished I had. Or you have the wife I wished I had. Or you have the kids I wished I had. And very few people are ever content with what they have. And so they’re always living this way, their whole lives. But he says here in verse 21, they’ll have neither part of it. This isn’t your decision. In verse 22, change your mind therefore of this wickedness.

Pray God if perhaps the thoughts of thine heart may be forgiven thee. I don’t believe this is talking about one thing, one sin, a thought, a deed, concerning something that was wrong. Now we already know about An anisinsa far. They were in the church and they sold their property and they brought it, But they simply gave the impression they gave it all and they didn’t. And so they just dropped dead because of it.

Is it possible for children of God to make ungodly decisions, to say things wrong, to do things wrong, to covet things they should not? Yes they can. And I believe that’s the case here. For I perceive the tower in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Because he used to have all that praise and that honor and that glory. And he’s given all that power up and maybe trust Christ’s Savior and he wants to be able to do what they’re doing.

I don’t know. I do a lot of things I don’t know. I don’t have to know. But just by reading this, if I’m going to doubt his salvation, then I also have to doubt all the other ones up there in verse 12 where he says, but when they believe Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, Christ. They were baptized, both many women. Then Simon himself believed also. No, either he did or he didnjury didn’t.

And if that’s good enough for all these other places where it says just believe, well then why would he put it in here? Because if he didn’t really get saved, he shouldn’t have said he believed, but it says he did. So as you go down through here, in verse 24, then Simon said, pray ye the Lord for me that none of those things which you have spoken come upon me. And I think he’s talking about God chasing her judgment upon him because of the way he was thinking and what he was desired, even though it was inward thing.

And so he made the statement, when they had testified, preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem and preached the gospel in many villages and the Samaritans. Now, here with Philip and the Ethiopian, this is an awesome story. Now, we know that in Ethiopia, I’ve been in Egypt and I’ve seen a lot of Ethiopians. I preached a whole bunch of them, several about four or 500 of them went at one meeting. And I had several hundred of them trust the Lord.

And Ray Stanford got so filled with jealousy, he said, I want to do it too. So they got him another three, 400, and he preached to them and I stood there and I watched. Ray Stanford, he was 85 years old, and he preached the importance hard out. And he only had just a little bit of money. He didn’t have much at all. But before the end of the meeting, He had given all of his money away, every bit of it.

And so we went to a restaurant to get something to eat and raise it. I’m not hungry. We went later and got something to eat and I’m not hungry. Said, right, why aren’t you eating? Yeah, I’m just not hungry. I said, Ray, I want to ask you a question. Do you have any money? Any kind of lord has had a little business? I said, what happened to you money? He’s a Yankee, he said, all these poor people, they had come across from the Sudan and Ethiopian, they just didn’t have anything and they were just so hungry.

And they started and I said, I just couldn’t do it. I can’t eat this food and know there’s starving. I gave him all my money. The man who took us over there, old was he burning, he was hot. He couldn’t believe it, he jumped all over Ray for doing that. He says, they’re unlimited. He says, you shouldn’t have done nothing like that. So anyway, we helped re-out for the rest of the trip. But that’s Ray Stanford. He just had a compassion and it didn’t matter to him.

That gave everything he had. I mean, we still had some time to go. He had died. He didn’t start the death. But he just, it didn’t matter. But anyway, this Ethiopian head come to Jerusalem to worship. And now he’s on his way back and it says that he was the treasure for the Queen there. And the angel of the Lord spake on the Philip and said, arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth in from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

He arose and he went and behold a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority. Under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians and had the charge of her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for the worship was returning and sitting in his chariot. He He read Isaiah the prophet. So here’s a man that’s reading the book of Isaiah, and he’s in a chariot. He’s returning. And in says, in verse 29, then the spirit said unto Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot.

This is almost a hundred miles away. He’s got there in Samaria. Great revival going on. God knows there’s one man down in the middle of a desert, in his chariot, going through the desert. Lord knows exactly where He is. And it says that Philip ran to him. Look what he says there. In verse 30 says, and Philip ran. Philip ran. God told him what to do and he did it. You know a lot of us we just won’t do what God says to do.

We’ve got to wait. You know delayed obedience is disobedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience. But Philip it says here, join this man. Look what he says there in verse 29. The Spirit said unto Philip, go near, join thyself to this chariot. Philip ran to the to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and says, says, understand it what thou read it. Now, you know what we’re reading? We’re reading the greatest stories in all the world. There’s a lot of stories in the world, but these are stories of so winning.

It’s just people telling people how to have eternal life. You may not think that that’s the greatest thing in the world, but it is. There isn’t anything greater than telling people how to have the free gift of eternal life. We’re all going to die. And the question is where are you going when you die? Where are you gonna go when you die? I told you this last week, I got to repeat it one more time. A lady had called the church.

Mike answered the phone. And when Mike answered the phone, this lady says, oh, I’m sorry, I have the wrong number. He says, you don’t, maybe you don’t have the wrong number. He says, do you know where you’re going when you die? And she says, oh my God, it’s the funeral home. Well, it’s not the funeral home, But it is the question that we asked around here. So he says here, go near and who told me, I’ve failed to do this, the Holy Spirit.

You see, the Holy Spirit will lead you to witness and lead you as you witness. You see, we already know to go. It was easy for the Lord to guide Philip because Philip was already moving. When you’re already serving the Lord and you’re willing to go wherever God wants you to go, It’s easier for the Lord to guide you. Why steer a card that’s not, the motor’s not running. You’re not going anywhere. And you’re saying, Lord, lead and guide me.

Why, you’re not moving. You’re not going to wear. It’s easier to steer a card that’s moving. And so he says here in verse 31, and he said, how can I accept some man should guide me? This is what people need, somebody to guide them. All we’re trying to do is, So winning is leading a person to Christ. You’re gonna lead this person to the Lord. That’s so winning, leading somebody to the Lord. And God wants to use us to bring people to Him.

We can’t save anybody, but it is the will of God that we serve Him. So He says here in verse 31, He says, How can I accept some magic guide me? He desired Philip that he would come up and sit with Him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter. Like a lamb done before his ears, it’s so open he not his mouth. This is Isaiah 53. Isn’t that amazing that he would go all the way back?

that he would go all the way back and he’d be reading. I wonder why he wasn’t reading John chapter 3. It’s a lot easier to understand. There was no John chapter 3. All they have was the Old Testament. And so they used the Old Testament to preach the gospel. And he says here, who’s this talking about? See in verse 33, in his humiliation, his judgment was taken away and who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth.

They can understand And that from the Old Testament reading, his life is taken away. And the unique answered Philip and said, I pray the of whom speak at the prophet this, of himself or some other man. Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And as they were on their way, they came unto certain water. The unique said, see, here is water. What did the hinder me to be baptized? Now being baptized does not save anybody.

Water baptism will not wash the dirt off your neck. If you don’t use soap with it. Water is a pitcher of the death-barreling resurrection of Jesus Christ for you. You see, whenever you stand in the water, it’s like a pitcher of Christ on the cross. When you go under the water, the pitcher of your burial. When you come up out of the water, the pitcher of your resurrection. When you believe that Christ died on that cross and that He was buried for you you and came back again from the dead.

That’s why your baptized in water is taking a picture. And that’s why the picture doesn’t save you. Water baptism doesn’t save. It’s a picture of your salvation. That’s why you only get baptized if you’re saved. And God forbid all those people and all those churches and the parents that think that their little baby is going to be safe and secure and go Go to heaven because they’ve been baptized. Baptism is always after you believe, never before you believe. Baptism is why they call it Believer’s baptism.

You get baptized in water because you believe that when Christ died on that cross, He did it for you. And if you don’t believe He did it for you, then you’re not to be baptized. So baptism is only for the believer. That’s why He says, What does the hinder me to be baptized?” And Philip says in verse 37, “‘If thou beleavest with all thine heart.” You may. Now tell me this little child, now a little child, would you like to be baptized?

Googoo. Do you believe with all your heart? Googoo. And you baptized that little baby. What did that little baby tell you that he believed that Christ died on the cross and paid for all of your sins? And that little baby grows up That’s what I’ve been baptized. I’ve been salminized, pasteurized, fortified. That has nothing to do with salvation. So being baptized is after you believe. You’re saved because you believe that when Christ died on that cross He paid for all of your sins.

And you’re going to go to heaven whenever you die. See, this man here, was he in the church when he got saved? No. He’s out in the middle of a desert, riding along in a chariot. You don’t have to be saved in a church. You may be saved anywhere. That’s why you can lead people to the Lord anywhere. You read the stories in here and you’ll find out most of these people were saved, not in a church. They were saved outside.

Why? Because the people were scattered everywhere and where everywhere they went, they told the story of how to have eternal life. And that’s why you’ll find out books written like the book of Romans. It says your faith is heard and spread throughout the world, because there’s people that have been reached all over the world from people from maybe even the Calvary community church. Would that be great? Because of the radio or because of the internet? But look what he says here.

He says in verse 37, if thou believe us with all thine heart, thou mayest, and he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went both down into the water. Now wouldn’t that be dumb? To get totally wet like that when all you had to do was take a little cut and throw it on the head. Why should I get wet? All I got to do is reach down there and get some water in the hand and throw it on top of his head.

The heart baptized. Is that how you bury people? I got a little dirt. That’s it. He’s buried. I don’t think so. And baptism is a picture of your burial. . . . . . . . . . Fair real. And so when you baptize, says they both went down into the water and they baptized them. Did the baptism save? No, they did that because it was already saved. Not to be saved. So no water baptism has ever saved anybody.

Never will. Have I been baptized? Yes, I have been baptized. I baptized one man one time. him under. For some reason or other he got scared and he grabbed a hold of the plexiglass that went across there so people could see, you know, and he was down like this. And as I went down there he grabbed a hold of that thing because it scared the death. Anyway, I pushed him on the air and I said, I got everything under but the hand.

Did you know that he got cancer in that right hand? And he knew it was because he didn’t baptize his hand. You say, is that true? That’s true. True story. But anyway, I can tell you some stories that are very funny that have had happened. Some I would like to forget. In verse 38, he commanded a chariot to stand still, he went down. But now notice this in verse 39, and when they were come up out of the water.

What does it say? And when they were come up out of the water. Now how would anybody have a problem with understanding? I don’t know if you just pose a sprinkle or not. Well what does it say? What did he do? Baptize him. They went down into the water, come out of the water. Can you understand that? Some people can understand it. And so he says in verse 39, the spirit of the Lord called away Philip and the eunuchs saw him no more and he went on his way complaining.

What’s the word? Rejoice scene because you know my sins are forgiven. I’m going to heaven. Look when God saved you and gave you eternal life weren’t you thankful? Well aren’t you still saved? Why shouldn’t you still be thankful? And yet there’s people going on, always whining about something down in the mouth. Always thinking Jonah, he came out of it. But Philip was found at Azotas and passing through. He preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea. But isn’t this a good, so winning story of individuals?

Some people will do right. Some people won’t do right. You may have trusted Christ as your Savior, your God’s child. If you don’t serve the Lord, you still get to go to heaven when you die. That’s called grace. You don’t deserve it. Grace means you don’t deserve it. But if you do serve the Lord, He’ll reward you when you get to heaven. And you’ll enjoy life a lot better. God designed all this. But remember, as a child of God, you have a choice.

When you’re born into God’s family, you are His child. Now you have a choice. You can be an obedient child child or a disobedient child. If you’re an obedient child, God will bless you here. Reward you there. You still go to heaven. If you’re disobedient, God will beat the tar out of you here. Maybe take you home before your time and you’re not going to be happy and you’re not going to have a peace and a joy that you ought to have.

So you as a child of God, You better serve the Lord and you better do right because you’re heavenly Father though He’ll never cast you out and He’ll never lose you. You haven’t got an idea how bad and severe God can chase in you. You cannot live as you please after you get saved. Or you can live as you please but you can’t get away with it. Or you can live as you please but remember God is gonna chase in you.

Like I said before you can choose how you’re going to live and God can choose how he going to beat the Torah out of you. Isn’t that fair? Are you still saved? Yeah, you’re saved. You’re going to heaven because of what Christ did. And I hope you serve the Lord because of what He means to you. But I don’t serve the Lord to get to heaven. I serve the Lord because I’m going to heaven. Makes so much sense to me.

I hope it does to you. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. Everybody is a sinner. all done things wrong. And the Bible says that you and I committed to sin we have to pay for it, and that’s eternal separation from God. But to go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God and you and I know nobody’s perfect like God. Let’s see heaven is a perfect place.

God is perfect. You have to be perfect to go there. Well then who gets to go? Nobody. God does something for us. Nobody will be in heaven. So what did he do? You see, you and I, we can’t pay for our sins. It’s not the things that we do. It’s not by money. It’s not by good works. It’s not by joining the church. It’s only one way for you and I to get to heaven. Jesus Christ, this hand represents Jesus Christ.

He’s the Lord God in the flesh came into the world because he loves us. Hates our sin because it separates us from him. So Christ took all the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead, and says that if you and I, if we’ll believe that He did it for us, He would give us the righteousness we need to get to heaven on. You see, when Christ came into the world, He was perfect. He was righteous.

You and I are sinners. So Christ, He took all of our sins upon Him. When you and I believe that He did it for us, and we accept this payment He made, He gives us His righteousness. If God gives me His righteousness, that makes me as righteous as God. I’m going to heaven on His righteousness, so in God’s eyes, I’m perfect. He paid for all my sins. All of them, not most of them, all of them. I’m going to heaven because of what He did for me.

He died in my place. All my sins are paid. There’s not one sin that can condemn me to hell. I can’t go today. I can’t go tomorrow. I can never go to hell in artificer. That’s pretty good news. Let’s pray, shall we? If you’re here this morning, you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior. Would you trust Him? Would you simply just believe that when Christ died, He died for you? You’ve heard it. He loves you. It’s something you can do.

It’s not over your head. You’ve heard it. He loves you. It’s something that you can do. It’s not over your head. ITHIS IS SO SIMPLE, GOD JUST WANT YOU TO BELIEVE WHAT HE DID WAS FOR YOU, THAT HE PAD FOR YOUR SINS. IF YOU’LL BELIEVE THAT HE DID IT FOR YOU, GOD SAVE YOU AND GIVE YOU THE FREE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE. YOU CAN KNOW THAT YOU’RE GOING TO HAVEN WHEN YOU DIE. IF YOU WILL, TRUST CRISIS YOUR SAVEW THIS MORNING, I’D LIKE TO HAVE PREPHERE FOR YOU.

But you just slip your hand over it quickly and put it right back down. It’s in with it all. Just slip it up real quick and put it right back down. By that you mean, yes, pray for me, I will trust Christ as my Savior this morning. I want to be certain of going to heaven when I die. It won’t at all. If you have trust that Christ is your Savior, your God’s child. As God’s child, serve the Lord, do right.

There’s a lot of people that’s never heard the free gift of eternal life. Let God use you. How shall I accept some man guide me, somebody out there needs you? Father, we thank you so much for this time together. Thank you for your word you’ve given us. We’re thankful for these stories that you put in your word so that we can understand what they did and how it happened. Give us encouragement, give us boldness. We’re thankful for it. Bless each one.

Bless each one. 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 are blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach by the line 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. ,,,,,,,, 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. 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. Friends, 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.