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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 Mulcair 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 first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I have mixed emotions on what I want to speak on today, only because it’s supposed to be special day remembrance. But I really wanted to change the tone of all of it and speak on something that I believe is perhaps maybe a little bit more important because see everyone dies. some die of natural causes, some from accidents or declarations of war. And where a person spends eternity is the most important thing in all the world. And I believe that telling another individual how to have eternal life is the greatest act of freedom that we can do for another individual.

You know, a lot of people never learn how to talk to somebody because they’re scared to death. It is. It’s a scary thing to talk to somebody about the Lord. Well I had somebody ask me a question, Pastor, why does it seem like in the Old Testament it seems so hard to see the gospel in the Old Testament. It seems like it’s so complicated or it’s not there. You don’t find Ephesians 2, 8, 9 in the Old Testament. You don’t find 1 John 5, 13 in the Old Testament like that.

And John 3, 16, so clear in the Old Testament like that. And I said, you know, that is a very good question. That’s a very good question. Deserves a good answer, I wish to had one. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Philippians in chapter 3, Philippians in chapter 3. I want to show you a key that opens up the Old Testament. Believe it or not, there are a couple keys. Today I just want to show you one of those keys that if you see this key and it goes into the Old Testament and it will unlock some scriptures and you’ll see some things and I believe it’ll be a blessing to you.

The Apostle Paul had talked about something in his life that he had done, not by himself, it was done when he was really young and it looks like it’s a problem. So in chapter 3, look in verse 1, finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it’s safe. Beware of dogs, Gentiles, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision for we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.

Now I want you to underline that in the Bible if you don’t have it on the line. no confidence in the flesh. No confidence in the flesh. That means that you do not have any confidence in yourself that you can buy anything that you do save yourself. So this is Paul, a Jewish man saying this, and he says they’re in verse four. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. In other words, if anybody has a reason to have confidence in the flesh, he says, I do.

If any other man thinketh that he had to wear off, he might trust in the flesh, I’m more. He said, look who I am. Look who I am. In verse 5, circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law of Pharisee, Concerning zeal persecuting the church touching the righteousness switches into law blame Boy, I am somebody if anybody He said, look who I am. And I have no confidence in the flesh because of what I’ve done because of who I am.

No confidence whatsoever. But he says, I will circumcise the eighth day. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Galatians. Just a few pages to the left. Now remember, you must follow me all the way to the left. Now remember, you must follow me all the way through or you’re going to get lost. You can’t leave me for a couple minutes and then come back and think you’re going to catch up. You will lose something in the sequence and it’s so important.

So in the book of Galatians, look in chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5 and now look in verse 1, stand fast therefore in the liberty where with Christ has made us free, be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. So what’s the yoke of bondage? Well, the law, trying to keep the law, trying to earn your way to heaven, that’s slavery. See, if you have to earn your way to heaven, it’s like being a slave. You have to do all these things, and then God’s already said it won’t work.

But you’re a slave to something that won’t help. And that’s people who go to church and try to live a good life and try to be all these things and God says it’s not going to help. So he makes a statement here in verse 2. Be hold, I Paul say unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Well wait man didn’t he just say in Philippians I will circumcise the eighth day. Well if he’d been circumcised and here he says if you’ve been circumcised, Christ won’t profit you anything.

So Paul can’t go to heaven, thought he had been circumcised. He said so. Is there a contradiction in the Bible? No. Because Paul realizes he got into the ram of the Lord and realized that salvation was not by his works and simply by grace. He understood that his circumcision had nothing to do with saving him. So he said, don’t trust in the flesh. Don’t trust in the flesh. And then in verse 3 he says, before I testify again to every man that is circumcised, He is a debtor to do the whole law.

So if you’re going to be circumcised to be saved, you also have to do the whole law to be saved perfectly in every area. And Paul says, you won’t work. No flesh shall be justified by his works, by his deeds. So I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans in chapter 4. Romans and chapter 4. decision was a sign. And you will find that mentioned end throughout the Old Testament. And that the whole nation of Israel was commanded to be circumcised.

And I have to admit, most people have no clue what it’s talking about or what does that mean and what does it reference to and what’s it in the Bible for? A big deal. Who cares? But it’s in here for a reason. So So in Romans 4, I want you to see there in verse 11, and he received the sign of the circumcision, the sign of circumcision. So circumcision was a sign of something. So the key is to find what was it a sign of?

What was it a sign of? He says, and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet been uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that believed, though they be not circumcised, that righteous not be imputed unto them. Isn’t that all clear? You know, you can read that sometime, he said, what? And yet, when you slow down and you look at exactly what he’s saying, it’s clear as a bell.

So there’s something that God told Abraham that is very, very important. So take your Bible and look in Romans chapter four and verse one now, because if it was a sign, what was it a sign of? So verse one tells us something that Abraham found out. And verse one, what shall we say then that Abraham, our Father, as pertaining to the flesh hath found? Paul found out later, well Abraham had alreadyutilsSourceFile]). NOTICEHoustonourningProduction:{href You’re talking almost 2,000 years before, and the message hasn’t changed.

And it’s true today, and it was true back then, and everybody saved the same way. But it doesn’t look like it’s clear in the Old Testament, but it’s because we haven’t studied the Old Testament like we do the New Testament. But look what he said, for if Abraham were justified by works, if he were justified by works that means that a man could earn his way to heaven, right? But he says he hath wear of the glory but not before God.

For what say if the scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness? So all that Abraham had to do not by his works, all he had to do was believe and he would be made righteous. Believe and he would be justified. He believed and it was counted under him for righteousness. God would give Abraham his righteousness if only Abraham would believe. Now there’s a course what did he have to believe? But we’ll explain that in just a second.

So it’s all in here and it’s all very clear. Take your Bible turn to Galatians chapter In Galatians in chapter 3, Galatians in chapter 3, I want you to look there in verse 6. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 6 says, even as Abraham believed God. there in verse 6. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 6 says, even as Abraham believed God. Well, evidently God must have said something and Abraham had to know what it was and he believed it. And because of his faith in what God said, he was justified.

He lived to be 175 years old. But none of his works for 175 years got him to heaven. Only one thing. He believed what God said. Look what he says in verse 7, no ye therefore that they which are a faith the same or the children of Abraham. In other words, you get to be a child of God, just like Abraham became a child of God. Same thing, same way by faith. And verse 8, and the scripture, the Old Testament, foreseen that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In these shall all families of the earth be blessed.

So here’s a verse saying that it’s found in the Old Testament. So we talk about how clear it is in the New Testament, but God is using the Old Testament to help us understand it. So evidently it must be clear also in the Old Testament. Look at that statement again. When he says, in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. You need to understand what it means to be blessed. You see, God cursed everything. And man, and everybody dies, everything dies.

But to be blessed is to live forever. To be blessed is to have eternal life with the Lord. You say, you made that up. No, I didn’t make that up. When you go to the Old Testament and you’ll read and talk about the blessing and the cursing, here He’s talking about the blessing. What word is the cursing? Well, I’m glad you asked. Look at verse 10. as many as are of the works of the law or under the what?

Curse. Why? It is written. Curse it is everyone that continue, if not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them, for the just shall live by faith. So there’s blessing and there’s cursing, and that refers to salvation or no salvation. So he makes the statement in verse 13, Christ had redeemed us from the what curse of the law, being made a curse for us, curse it as everyone that hangeth on a tree.

What? That the blessing of Abraham might come. So the reason Christ died as a curse under the law was to pay for our sins. He was cursed in our place. And we are blessed in the sense that God has given to you and I salvation eternal life. Because of what Christ did on the cross for us, see there in verse 14, for the blessing of Abraham. Might come on the Gentiles through somebody. Anybody? Through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the seed that came from Abraham.

And that’s why he says that in verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, he say if not and the seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ. So when you go back and you see that you’ll understand he’s talking about Jesus Christ. That’s talking about the gospel. That’s talking about how to be saved, justified before God. Now, take your Bible and turn all the way over there to the book of Genesis in chapter 12.

Genesis in chapter 12. Here you find some of the statements that are made in the Old Testament that God uses in the New Testament to explain the gospel. how that God preached the gospel before unto Abraham. And he says here in verse two, and I will make of thee, talking about Abraham, a great nation, and I will bless thee, make thy name great, and thou shall be a blessing. And I will bless them that blessed thee, and curse him that curses thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

So God is going to have, through Abraham, a seed down the road that would make a payment for the sins of the whole world, through Christ. And the blessing is that a man would be justified by faith. This is what this is teaching, that a man is justified by faith and faith alone to be blessed of God. And nobody can get salvation by his works. No man. Now take your Bible and turn to Genesis in chapter 15. Genesis in chapter 15.

Genesis chapter 15, it says there in verse two. Abraham has a problem. You see, he was 75 years old when the Lord told him to come out of the early the counties and years are passing away and he says, hey, I got a problem. Hey, how do I know you’re gonna keep your words? He said, I have to have a child. I have to father a child and I don’t have any. How is this going to work? Abraham knew there’s a problem here because his body was already past the age of being able to have children.

So what am I going to do? How is it going to happen? So he says there in verse 2, and Abraham said, Lord God, what will thou give me? I go cholice and the steward of my house is this eliaesar of Damascus.” And Abraham said, Behold, to me that is, that has given no seed and lo, one born in my house is by an heir. And behold, that word of the Lord came at him saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

And he brought him forth abroad and said, Look now towards heavens and tell the stars count them, if they’ll be able to number them. He said unto him, so shall thy seed be. That’s a promise from God. And so in verse 6, he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness. So his righteousness was put to his account and Abraham was justified by faith because he believed what God said about the seed and the seed is not seeds as of many, but of the one which is Christ.

So Abraham believed what God said about Jesus Christ coming into the world. So I believe that he understood just like you and I have to understand. And it’s mentioned here and explained very simply and very clearly. Now Genesis, I want you to look in chapter 17, chapter 17 and look there in verse 1. And when Abram was 99 years old, 99 years old, he still does not have a child yet. He’s 99 years old. And God had promised him that he was going to have a son.

So in verse 1, it says, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect of mature. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. Neighbor, I’m fell on his face and God talk with him sin. I’m going to change your name. Made a covenant with him and blah, blah, blah. Then he says in verse seven, and I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after the end their generation for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after.

after thee. And he says, and I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting position, and I will be their God. So God had made a promise to Abraham that he’s going to justify the heathen by faith alone. Because he says, and through thee all families of the earth will be blessed to be justified by faith alone. So he then he makes this statement in verse nine.

Now get what he said, because otherwise you won’t understand it, you’ll hear the phrase of the terminology, but you won’t get the purpose of it. Because you have to remember in the New Testament, the book of Romans in chapter four, when he pays the statement in verse 11, that the circumcision is a key to understanding the gospel in the Old Testament and what it was a sign of. So he says in verse 9, and God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant, therefore thou and thy seed after thee in their generation.

This is my covenant which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee. Every man child among you shall be circumcised, and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. It was between you, Abraham, and God. It was a sign of something. You see, when Abraham believed God, his righteousness, God’s righteousness was put to Abraham’s account. And he was to be circumcised as a cutting away of the flesh, which was a sign of no confidence in the flesh.

It means that Abraham put no confidence in the flesh, in him, in a man’s works for his salvation, that he was justified by faith and faith alone is how he was justified. And circumcision was a sign of the seal of the righteousness he already had before he got circumcised. So being circumcised was not what saved him. There was no confidence in the circumcision. It was only a picture of something. It was only a sign of something. So every Jewish man who circumcises Jewish little son was because of the faith of Abraham.

Abraham was justified by faith alone and they were to circumcise their sons because of the seal, it was to teach a whole nation that you’re justified by faith without your works, that is simply by trusting Christ and Him alone as your only hope, and to have no confidence in the flesh, because that is what circumcision was a sign of. Abraham had no son for all those years that God promise him he was going to have one. From the time he was 75, until the time he was 99.

No kids. Oh, he had one by Ishmael. I mean Ishmael, who was by Hagar, an Egyptian bond slave, but not his son. That was the promised son. And now he’s 99 years old. And now because he’s 99 years old, he got circumcised within a year. Isaac was born. So God made the promise to Abraham when he was not circumcised, and yet it wasn’t fulfilled until later. So Isaac was born after Abraham was circumcised. So that’s why you find when did God make this promise to Abraham?

When he was circumcised, or before, it was before. Why? So that Jews and Gentiles all understand that everybody say it exactly the same way, and that Abraham can be the father of all of those that believe. Whether you’re a Gentile and never been, or you’re a Jew and you have been, but it was a sign that you understood Abraham was justified by faith. Now, wouldn’t it have been neat and great? And maybe they did. Every father explained to their children as they grew up what circumcision was about.

that Abraham, our Father, did not put any confidence in the flesh, and he simply believed on the Lord about Jesus Christ, and he was justified by faith, and it was a sign of the covenant between God and Abraham. Say, you’re making all that up. No, no, I’m not. No, it’s all here. And he says in verse 11, and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and so shall it be a token of the covenant between mix and you.

And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you every man child in your generation that is to be born in your house and blah blah blah all the way down through here. Now look over there in verse 20. He said and as for Ishmael I have heard thee behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. Twelve princes shall he beget and I will make of him a great nation. Now this is talking about Ishmael and there’s where the opposition came.

Every one of us have within us. If you have not trusted Christ as your Savior, you have like a little Arab terrorist lives inside you. I can put your whole sermon on that. But when you trusted Christ as your Savior, it’s like having a little Jew inside of you. Now what’s they two going to do? They’ve been fighting for 4,000 years. And if you’ll watch the news, you’ll find out that it won’t be long, something has got to explode in the Middle East.

And you can see it coming. The United Nations are even sympathetic toward the Palestinian statehood. And you watch. Isn’t it something that God said this will happen in the last days? They started all fighting and they’ve They’ve been fighting never since. And it ain’t over yet. I could get sidetracked till you know that. But I’m not. I’m fighting the urge. So he says here in verse 23, And Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day as God had said unto him.

And Abram was 90 years old and nine when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Isaac was born after this, not before this. So that Isaac was like a miracle child, born by faith in what God said because he had no confidence in the flesh. And this was a sign of the seal of righteousness that God had given to Abraham before he was ever circumcised. But that was the teaching and the lesson of why it was done so that everybody in the whole nation would know how Father Abraham got to be Father Abraham and how he got to have eternal life and know that he was going to be in heaven someday.

All this is mentioned. So in verse 25, Ishmael, his son was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, and then you find out, yes, Isaac was born. 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. Part two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. 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, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.