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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 Bibleline Ministries dot O-R-G 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. Now, I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Genesis and chapter 2. Last week I spoke a sermon on the clarity of the gospel in the Old Testament. So today is part 2, the clarity of the gospel in the Old Testament. Now a lot of times people say, well, it’s clear in the New Testament, but it’s not clear in the Old Testament.

Well, I beg the differ with you. I want you to see what God had told them all the way back there in the garden. So if you look there in Genesis chapter 2, look in verse 23. Genesis chapter 2, verse 23, boy, you can’t get much further back than the first man in the first woman, can you? My son will start at the beginning and you’ll notice something here in verse 23, and Adam said, this is now boned of my bones, flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” Now whenever you read that little statement there, they were both naked and they were not ashamed. Might make you blush a little bit to read that in the Bible. But I don’t believe it was because Adam and Eve were ashamed of each other. But they were not ashamed before God that they were naked.

And then I want to show you something else. They had been told, you know, free enjoy everything that I provided for you. In other words, God gave them a utopia upon the earth. In other words, it never got any better than that since the day of creation. They had it made. You realize they didn’t really have to work. Just enjoy themselves. And they couldn’t handle it. They were only told one thing not to do and they couldn’t handle that.

And did it. And so it says in chapter 3 and verse 6, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desired to make one wise. Well, what woman wouldn’t go for that? She took the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were open and they They knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves apron.

Now they know they were naked. So being naked costs them a little bit of fellowship with God. If you will, I want you to hold your place here because I’m going to come back here, but I’ve got a verse I want you to look at with me. Turn all the way over there to the book of Hebrews in chapter 4. Hebrews and chapter 4. You’ll lose your place now in the Old Testament there, but in Hebrews and chapter 4.

Hebrews chapter 4, and you’ll notice there in verse 12, verse 12, where he says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the divide in the sonder of soul and spirit and then of the joints and the tomorrow. That’s body, soul, and spirit. And is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. The Word of God is all of those things. That’s why when you read the Bible, it kind of convicts you.

It makes you feel guilty sometimes. It pricks your heart. The Word of God is sharp and powerful than any two-edged sword. That’s why the most powerful thing on the earth is the Word of God. And notice what He says in verse 13. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. So there was no place to hide, no place for any man to run because everybody is naked before God.

God sees everything and everywhere. So there’s nothing you can say or do that God doesn’t see. Now let’s go back to the book of Genesis. So when it says, and their eyes were open and they knew they were naked, they knew they were naked before God because they had sinned against God. They knew they now were guilty and they had a reason to be afraid. They had a reason to want to hide from who? God. They did not hide from each other.

They didn’t run from each other. They hid from God because they knew now God knows their sin and they hid. They were afraid. They were naked before God. Now go back here to book of Genesis in chapter 3. And you’ll notice they’re in verse seven and the eyes of them both were open and they knew that they were naked. They knew they were naked. Now I want you to look down in verse eight. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

And Adam and his wife and Yorah on the line, these two were. This is what they did. Why? Because they knew they were naked. They knew that they had wronged themselves. They had wronged God. And he says, and they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Isn’t it true that whenever we do this little thing with the wallet, one of the first things we try to teach anybody that we’re all sinners?

Or what is the problem here? Is that they were all sinners. There’s only two of them, but they were sinners. And because they had sinned, they had to lead the presence of God. What? present no sin. You have to be perfect. You’ll find the gospel presentation in the Bible, in the Old Testament. They’ve all were sinners and there was a payment for sin. But you’ll also know that there’s always going to be religion that enters in to just about everything.

They say there’s two things you never argue about and that’s religion and politics. It’s the only thing there is. Everything has to deal with what you believe or what you do. So because of what you believe that you want to go for a mental force that takes care of that and allows you to do what you believe is right for you to do. So we try to change people’s mind and educate them on how to think so they know how to live.

So we try to teach even little children how to read and write so they can be beneficial to in society. But now here’s what he says, in verse eight. And they hid themselves and you ought to underline this word from the presence of the Lord, the presence of the Lord. That’s why we say, see, in God’s present, you have to be perfect. No sin. Well, that’s taught right here. So the gospel and the reason for the good news is right here in the Scriptures, and I’ll show it in just a second.

In verse 9, and the Lord God called on the Adam and said unto him, where are thou? What did you think God knew where he was? God knew where he was. He just maybe didn’t know where he was. See, when When you get lost, you don’t know where you are. You’re lost. Where are you going when you died? Well, I don’t know. Then you’re lost. You see, if you ask me that question, pastor, where are you going when you die?

I’m going to heaven. I know where I’m going. So I’m not lost. I know how to get there. And if you don’t know where you’re going when you die, this is because you don’t know how to get there. Are you lost? But let me show you it away. He says, where are you? In verse 10, and he said, I heard thy voice in the garden. I was afraid. Why was he afraid? Remember, God had just told him the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.

Now spiritual death done, but now they’re still physically alive. How far is God going to take this thing? Do they deserve to die? Die like die, die dead? I believe so. Why didn’t he just kill him right then on the spot? Let me get this. So he says in verse 10, and because I was naked, and I hid myself, see that’s what sin does. Sin makes you afraid of God. That’s why the people today and even in America, they don’t want the Bible in the schools.

What, because the Bible makes people feel guilty. He said, why? Because they’re guilty. You sure I have an inferiority complex, but you ought to, you inferior. That’s why you feel that way. You have a guilty complex because you’re guilty. The word of God is designed in such a way to make a man feel guilty, works on his conscience, because you know what’s right and wrong, and you know you’re wrong, so God deals with us. But look what else he says, I hid myself.

So some people try to hide from God. But now, there’s also something else that he did in order to hide from God. You see up there in verse seven, looking verse seven. And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked before God. And they sowed fig leaves together. Well, who told them to do that? And what were fig leaves for? Well, they, God can’t see them now. They could see each other, but they don’t want God.

They’re hiding from God. But God was not satisfied with their fig leaves. You see, fig leaves is man’s good works to hide himself from God. You see, there’s people who think, you know, God is good, God is righteous, God is holy. So to keep God from being mad at me and sending me to hell, I’ll go to church. And I’ll even put money in the offering plate. Because that kind of keeps God from seeing my sin because he sees all these good little things that I’m doing.

And so I do these good deeds and God won’t see my bad deeds. So I’m hiding in religion. Do you believe that there’s people that actually go to church thinking that that’s going to help get them to heaven? They think God can’t really see them because look how good I have been. Is it going to work? It’s not going to work. Because see, the fig leaves was man’s righteousness. It was man’s way of hiding his sin. It was man’s way of trying to earn favor back with God.

So God can’t see they’re wrong. And I want you to notice that when sin enters in, it causes a whole bunch of problems. Look there in verse 11. And the Lord, who told thee that thou was naked? Who told you you were? Has thou eaten of the tree? Where have I commanded thee that thou should earth not eat? Were they confronted? They were confronted. And look what else he said. And the man said, the woman, now get this. He did not blame the woman.

He blamed God. Look at it. The woman whom thou gave us me. Lord, you know that woman you brought to me? It’s not my fault. It was that woman you made. It’s the blame game. Don’t people say, well, if God didn’t want me to sin, He shouldn’t have made me like this. I can’t help I’m a sinner. If God created me and I’m a sinner, well God made me so there you go. Why get mad at me for something He did?

It sounds like pretty good reasoning to me. Well, that was His reason way back then. Did God accept his reasoning? No. And he says, the woman whom thou gave us to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I didn’t eat, but she did it, but it’s the one you gave to me. And then number 13, the Lord God said unto the woman, what is this that thou hast done? And the woman says, the serpent begualled me, and I didn’t eat, it was the serpent’s fault.

It wasn’t Adam and these faults, it was God, it was the serpent, it was the devil. they they it’s their fault of why we’re like this. So whenever we as sinners get caught, it’s so easy to lie. God says let God be true in every man a liar. Now I didn’t say that God says that. His word teaches that. So sin separates us from God’s present and sin causes fear. It produces religion and it produces blame. Now look in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 21.

Genesis chapter 3 and verse 21. You’ll notice in verse 21 what God did. He says, the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die. So did they deserve to die? Well, yes. Well, did they die that day? Well, physically, no, because he lived to be 950 years old. Now, that’s a perted day of grace. But look in verse 21, unto Adam, also and to his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothe them. Now, you stop and think just for a moment.

Did they at that moment deserve to physically die? Yes, because that’s what God said. So on that day as a substitute for their sin. If they had a coat of skin, then there must have been an animal that died. Huh? Yeah. So something died that was innocent, that didn’t have to die. What does a sacrifice mean? It means instead of God killing them, on that very day, there was something else that died in their place. a substitute, a covering, and they took off the fig leaves and put on the coat of skin.

The reason for that is because the God wanted not salvation by your works of what they sowed together but by a blood sacrifice, a substitute. Now listen, this is with the first man and woman that you’re not saved because of your but by a substitute, something dying in your place. So when there’s a sacrifice made, what does the sacrifice really mean? It teaches the mercy of God. It means instead of you dying and getting what you deserve, this animal died in your place.

And it taught the grace of God. You got to live because of a sacrifice. It taught forgiveness. You see, that sacrifice teaches something. It’s not just, okay, let’s just kill this animal. Why? Because God wanted a blood sacrifice something had to die. The day that you eat there, I’ll surely die. Death was required because of sin. and there was a substitute made because of sin. And who provided it? God did for the first man and the first woman. But look there in Genesis in chapter 3 and looking verse 15.

Looking verse 15. One of the things that’s mentioned here, and we ought to consider this to be the first promise in the Bible, where the Bible says here in verse 15, and I will put in the between the and the woman. He’s talking about the devil here. And he’s saying, and between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. So down the road, the woman doesn’t have a seed, but remember that the Holy Spirit of God moved over Mary and placed the seed in the woman.

And it says, that holy thing shall be called the son of the highest, the son of God. And that seed that came from that woman was going to crush the head of the serpent. But in doing so it will bruise his heel. Now if I saw a little rattlesnake calling up here to get me and I lifted up my leg and I crushed it’s head, I might kill the snake, but I’ll bruise my heel. When Christ went to the cross, yes, he was bruised for our iniquities.

The Bible says this, but in doing so, he defeated the devil and came back from the dead. So this is taught in the Old Testament in the very first promise given in the Word of God about a substitution. Now look there in chapter 4 and verse 1, chapter 4 verse 1. And Adam knew Eve. So hello Eve. Well hello Adam. No, this is talking about an a married relationship, the intimacy between a man and a woman. She conceived and barricade and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

She probably, and I can’t swear to it, she probably, this was the man. That’s going to be the one from God. I don’t know how much you knew or understood, but whatever it wasn’t him. Cain was not the deliverer and he was a keeper of the ground. And his brother in verse 2 was a keeper of sheep. So you have somebody who raised vegetables and you had someone that raised sheep. Somewhere along the line they had to understand. Somebody had to tell them what the sacrifice meant.

And that was a payment for their sin. And that it showed the mercy of God and the grace of God, the forgiveness of God, because God didn’t take it out on you. That’s substitution. But it was a picture of one day the seed of the woman that was going to come is going to be the payment for the sin of the whole world and these sacrifices they made were only a type. A type, a picture of something that was coming down the road.

Now, get what he says here. It says here in verse 4, and Abel he brought of the first lean of his flock and of the fat thereof and the Lord had respect and to Abel into his offering. But under Cain and to his offering he had not respect and Cain got very He brought and his countenance felt. So he got mad, he got upset. But in verse six, and the Lord said in the cane, why are thou wroth? Well, why you mad?

Why you so upset about? He says, why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well? Well, if you bring the right sacrifice, no problem. But if you don’t understand him, there’s an offering at the door. In other words, there probably was a little lamb laying there at the door, and all he had to do was offer the little lamb like God had said, but he wouldn’t do it. And he says, if you do, he says, you, you’ve been ahead of the home, been the first born.

Your brother will wind up serving you. Let’s see, he blew it all. But the truth is still taught to the very first family. This is the first family. She was the first lady. And these kids, one of them was a liberal and one was a fundamentalist. The liberal didn’t want to listen and do what God says to do. They’re going to do it their way. And of course you have Abel. He did it God’s way. And God had respect to that one and not the other one.

And understand this from the very beginning. God does not have respect for all the religions of the world. He has none. He said, don’t you have respect for other people’s belief? No. No. Why? Because God doesn’t. You see, God has given his Son as the payment for the sins of the whole world. And only people who believe that and trust Christ and Him alone have eternal life. You cannot earn eternal life. You cannot work your way to heaven. Salvation from hell is only through Christ.

It’s not through the church. It’s not through the preacher. Not through the priest. Not through anybody. Only through Christ and Him and Him alone. So you can offer your good works. Well, I go to church and I pray and I do my beads or I do this, I do that. Whatever it is you do and give my money and I try to help people and that will not help you. That will not say, that’s a fig leaf. It won’t work.

That’s bringing vegetables. God wants the blood sacrifice, a death for your sins. The wages of sin is death. And he says concerning the body of Christ, the blood of Christ, he says, and the blood of Christ, he says, is it an offering for your soul? And that’s why we understand that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. There is none. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Genesis in chapter 4. Well, I want you to see this up there in that verse 7, where it says, if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?

For if thou doest not well, sin, lie at that the door. And under thee shall be his able’s desire, and thou shalt rule over him. But see, he blew it. And it says nine in verse eight, nine in 10, where he killed his brother. Because see, when you don’t do things God’s way, it leads to one sin that leads to another sin that leads to another sin. You see, there’s people today, they’re having abortions. I believe abortion is murder.

I believe abortion is sin. Why? Because it’s to cover another sin. You see, when the Roma had the right to choose, she’d made the choice before you had the baby. Before you had sex. It is wicked for people outside of marriage to live together, to have sex together, to have children out of wedlock. It’s wrong. You can’t make it right. And all the, well, we just love each other. No, you don’t. True love does right by each other. True love doesn’t want to hurt, to shame, to pain anyone that you really love.

So you go by what God’s word has to say. And I know that sometimes that makes people upset. And you say, well, that makes me feel guilty. Well, you are. If I was to preach on the holiness of God and how perfect God is, and you’re sitting there thinking, well, I’m not holy. Of course you’re not. Well, I feel guilty. Well, you should. We’re all sinners. We ought to feel guilty. So when Christ died, He died to pay for our sins to remove the guilt.

So I don’t have to live my life feeling guilty. Did you know that I don’t care what sin you’ve ever committed? God can forgive it. I like that, but you gotta pay by the rules. You have to admit, this is what I am. I am a sinner. Christ died for me, paid for my sins. Now look in chapter 8. Genesis in chapter 8, Genesis chapter 8 and look there in verse 20. Now you know there’s been a big flood.

There was a lot of water and a lot of mud. They finally got off the boat. Did you know that whenever he got on that boat, God told him to take excellent on the boat because he wanted them to offer them as a sacrifice. So when they got off the yard, he had a sacrifice. See there in verse 20? And Noah, build up the boat.

and altered unto the Lord and took of every clean beast and of every clean foul and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Now you don’t offer those except for sin. It’s because of sin. Noah and his wife, his three sons, and their wives, they were sinners and they made sacrifices. There was nobody else. It was for their sins. It wasn’t for God’s sin, he didn’t have any. They were the only people on the earth that had to be for them.

Something innocent had to die for their sin. That’s substitution. You see, that’s what we still teach today, but we all point to Christ. Christ was my substitution. He was the one that paid for my sins, and I don’t have to offer him up as a sacrifice. He offered himself without spot or blemish. He had no cause to die. He was a perfect lamb of God. And so when he died on the cross, he paid for all the sins of all the world.

And you and I get to go to heaven because of what he did for us. Now, turn to Genesis chapter 22. Genesis chapter 22. There’s a wonderful, wonderful story here, and I hope I can bring it out as well as it’s written here. But there’s a story about Abraham, and God had promised that he was going to have a son, and through his son he would have a great nation. And that the families of the earth would be blessed through this son.

the son’s name was Isaac. And so God had told him to leave the early cal days about, oh, when he was 75 years old. His wife now was 90 years old and he was 99 years old. So they had this physical problem. They were past the age of chalbearing. So unless God weren’t American, they wouldn’t have a child. Abraham knew that. So he says, Lord, a one that is born from my loins must be my seed. And I don’t have a child.

And I just happen to be 99 years old. So God told him, says, you’re going to have a child. And lo and behold, it wasn’t long before Isaac was born. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tappa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part 2 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 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. 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 1030 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.