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

If you have a Bible, turn to the book of Mark, the book of Mark chapter 14, Mark chapter 14. Most of us in this room have insurance. You have insurance on your car for several reasons. One, because if you want to drive, you have to have license. then the state demands that you have insurance. Now why do you have to have insurance? In case, in case you hit somebody, or in case somebody hits you, in case somebody wants to sue you.

So we take out insurance to cover that. And then of course you need medical insurance. And most people have a little bit of some kind of medical insurance. Now why do we want medical insurance? Just in case something happens. You might get sick. And if you get sick, you might have to go to the doctor or the hospital. And it might cost more than what you have to pay so you carry insurance just in case. As you’ve seen in many of the ball games, they’ll have this blimp going over with Snoopy’s.

Snoopy blimp, you ever seen Snoopy blimp? And it had on their met life for the if in life. So you have the word life, and in the word life is those two letters, if for the if in life. And I thought about that one day, and I thought about what about the ifs in life? From another perspective, what about the ifs in the Christian life? The insurance that we buy down here is for everything that deals with us concerning our first birth.

Think about it. We have death insurance. Well it’s not the death of the second birth because it doesn’t die. And it can’t be that we have health insurance for the second birth because it doesn’t get sick. And it really doesn’t need the drive. What just happened to be trapped in a body that needs all this protection? So for the ifs in life, for the if in our Christian life, did you know that whenever you trusted Christ as your Savior, God gave you eternal life?

Now this eternal life that He gave you is kind of like in this life, because I’m not I’m not dead yet. I’ve got insurance. I have got insurance. Not when I die, I get to go to heaven. Now you know if you have car insurance, you have to make payments. And if you have health insurance, you’ve got to make payments. And then of course you’ve got house insurance. And you’ve got all kinds of insurances. You can be, if it wasn’t for paying all those insurance payments, You might have enough money to live on.

But everybody pays so much in just in case something happens. Well do you know when God took the children of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness they didn’t have any insurance? They had absolutely no insurance. They had no guarantee they would get any food or water. There was no health insurance. There was no clothes insurance. There was no shoe insurance. There was no insurance at all. All they had was God’s Word. And you know what, that’s worth.

But that was all they needed. All they had to do was trust the Lord. Now, when you and I trust Christ as our Savior, God gives us eternal life. But down here, we have to keep making these payments on all this insurance. And that’s why I believe some people think that when you supposedly get saved, Christ paid all the payments up to the time you get saved. And now you have to make those regular payments in order to to keep your insurance.

And if you don’t keep making the payments by your good life, then he’s going to take and drop your insurance. And you never know at what point he’s going to drop it. And you’re going to get stuck. And if you die without the insurance, you’re going to hell. But what about the if in the Christian’s life? What I like about the insurance premium that we have when he says, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life is that when He made the payment, He paid all the premiums in advance.

All the payments have already been made for my whole life. The premium has already been paid. I don’t have to make one payment for this insurance that I’ve got. Now I like that. Mark and chapter 14, I want you to look in verse 26. Verse 26, you know and I know that there are people who teach that you must make Christ the Lord, the master of your life in order to be saved. Some tell you that if Christ is not Lord of all, then he’s not Lord at all and if he’s not Lord at all, then you’re not saved.

And so they say, you must commit your life to Christ and Him be the Lord of the Master of your life. He had some disciples and look where they were in verse 26 and when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. When it says they sung to Him, I believe Jesus sung with them. They all sung this hymn. In verse 27 and Jesus said to them, all ye shall be offended because of me this night.

For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered.” He was the shepherd and they are the sheep. And he was going to be crucified and they’re going to be scattered. Jesus already knew what they were going to do. Of course, they didn’t know that, but in verse 28, but after that, I am risen. I will go before you in the Galilee. But Peter said unto him, although all shall be offended, yet? Well, not I.

Isn’t that wonderful of Peter? I mean, though everybody else might deny you, Lord, you’re wrong on this one account. Because Jesus had just said, all shall be offended because of me. And Peter says, not so Lord. Now, he said that later too. He got in trouble as usual. But he says in verse 29, yet will I not. And Jesus said unto him, verily I sinned to thee, that this day, in this night before the cockroach twice, thou shalt deny me thrice, but he spake the more vehemently, but I should die with thee.

I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all. Now I’ve asked those that believe that you can lose your salvation because they believe you you have to make Christ the Lord and the master of your life, because you’ve got to serve the Lord. What would cause you to lose your salvation? First thing you always say, sing black is, well, you’ve got to, if you deny the Lord, if you deny the Lord. Well, let me ask you a question.

Did the disciples deny the Lord? Every one of them denied the Lord. He says, you are all denying me. Likewise in verse 31, they all said that. So when they said, we will not deny you, are they saying that Christ, you’re the Lord and a master of my life, we will serve you even to death. We will not fail. Well, doggy, as you go down through here, you’ll notice there are several things that are mentioned. See there in verse 34, and he said unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death.

And this is all he asked him to do. He said, watch. Watch. And as he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me, nevertheless not what I will, but what thou will. And he cometh and findeth him sleeping and said unto Peter in Simon’s sleepest thou? Couldest thou not watch one hour?

So this Lord and Master business Were they saved because they had committed their life to Christ and whatever you tell us to do we will do it He says watch Did they do it they didn’t do that Then he says there in verse 38 8. Watch you and pray. So there’s two of them added together now. Watch and pray. Did he give him a second chance? Yeah he did. So whenever Christ is supposed to be the Lord and the master of your life, does that mean you’re supposed to obey Him?

Because if you’re supposed to obey Him in order to be saved, then they should have obeyed Him, but they didn’t obey Him. So they must have been lost. All the disciples weren’t saved, is that right? You see, it’s a ridiculous teaching, because you’ll notice what he says here in verse 38, watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. And again, he went away and prayed and spaked the same words, and when he returned, he found them asleep again.

For their eyes were heavy, neither was they what to answer him. So he says, watch, they didn’t do it. Watch and pray. And they didn’t do that either. I doesn’t sound like he’s in charge or he’s the master. And it sure looks like they didn’t have him as the Lord and the master of their life in every area of their life. So I guess all of these, now remember, he had just had a meal with them. They just sung a hymn together.

And now all of them have denied him. Look down in verse 50. Verse 50 says, and they all forsook him and fled. All of them did. They had just said they wouldn’t. So now, okay, Christ is now not the Lord and the Master of their life. Does that mean they’re not saved? See people who teach that you must make Christ the Lord and the Master of your life and serve the Lord. And if he’s not Lord of all, he’s not Lord at all.

all are going to have problems with this. They always do. And that’s why some people cannot understand that when Christ died, He paid for all of their sins and all you’re doing is accepting what He did for you. Now after we trust Christ as our Savior, there’s a lot of ifs in life. What if I don’t serve the Lord? What if I don’t grow? What if I’m not what God wants me to be? Am I still saved? Now according to the Bible, yes we are.

But I do want you to take your Bible and look there with me in the book of Hebrews, the book of Hebrews and chapter 2. Hebrews and chapter 2. Make sure you follow me in the scriptures on this because I want you to look at the if in life. the if in the Christian life. What if the Christian doesn’t do everything the Christian is supposed to do? And you’ll notice that there are several verses in the Bible that will deal with this issue.

And it says here in verse 1, therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard less at any time we should let them slip. Now this is the apostle, and he’s including himself talking about we and what we know, what we’ve heard, what we’ve learned, not to let these truths slip. And there’s a reason. In verse 2, for if, if the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received they just recompense of reward.

In other words, in the Old Testament, God gave His word and people obeyed or disobeyed, and if they didn’t obey the Lord, there were consequences and God dealt with them. So if they could not escape the chastening hand of God, should a Christian think that he can escape. The chastening hand of God. See, once you trust Christ’s Savior, yes, you’re His child forever. But there’s many of God’s children that do not reach maturity. You see, the only thing that separates a child of God from a man of God is the word of God in between.

And so some Christians do not grow because they don’t believe what God says. So just like unbelief, So a lost man can keep a lost man, lost. But to a Christian unbelief can cause a Christian not to grow and to mature. So we have to know where is God leading us? What does he want? So hold your place right there and look in chapter 6 where he’s talking about where is he leading us? And verse one, therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection or to maturity, wanting us to grow up, wanting us to mature so that we can do the thing that God wants us to do.

Many of God’s children are not able to eat meat. They’re only able to drink milk. And then chapter five right above this is talking about how that those who cannot eat meat and only can drink milk are still babes in the Lord. He says, for when the time you ought to be able to teach others, you have need that one teach you again to cause you to grow. So you have to understand that in the context, where is this taking us?

What is God trying to accomplish? And so he says there in verse three of chapter two, How shall we, the believer, escape if we, the believer, neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken of by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. God also bearing them witness them, both with signs and wonders and with divers, miracles, gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His own will. So those that heard Him confirm the word unto us by signs and miracles.

But once the word had been confirmed unto us, as I said in the book of Mark chapter 16, you don’t need those signs and miracles anymore because the word had been confirmed. So as you go through and you read it, you find out there’s a reason why God says what He does. And so for the ifs in life, as you go through the book of Hebrews that deals with the ifs in life, you’ll find out in Hebrews in chapter 12 that God’s going to chasten His children.

He chastens if we don’t serve Him and if we don’t grow, if we do not mature as we should, if we do not fulfill God’s will for our life, There are consequences. Now, we’re covered, we have eternal life. That’s all been paid for. But there also are consequences in our life, in this present life, if we do not serve Him. But if I do serve Him, there are some extra writers that He has in there, benefits that that I can have that’s covered.

So I have to be wise in knowing what’s covered and what’s not covered. I know that if I serve the Lord, I don’t have a care in the world, but I know that if I don’t serve the Lord, I’ve got good reasons to live in Holy fear. The chasting hand of God is gonna come down, And I don’t know when and I don’t know how, but I know it’s sure. So notice, he has given us some things to think about.

Now look in chapter 3. Chapter 3, it makes the statement in verse 6, but Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the whole firm until the end. That means until the end when you reach maturity so that you can enjoy it, the rest that this chapter is talking about. How that the children of Israel in the Old Testament, in the wilderness, many of them died in the wilderness and never got to enter into the rest.

The rest was the land, the promised land that they never got there. Now, the promised land in the Old Testament, the land of Canaan, in reality, is not a type or a picture of heaven. It’s a picture of Christian victory. And a lot of Christians never learn enough of the word so that they can enjoy Christian victory in their life and never get to where they learn how to trust the Lord and rest in the Lord. So that causes all the worry and the impatience.

And we’re like children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctor or every trial and tribulation that comes along. And we’re not solid. So God says, I want you to know Moses had his house, Jesus has his house. There’s certain things that the law tries to build you into and there’s some things that Christ wants to build. And he says, whose house are ye? If you will allow the Lord to build you. You see, that’s why Christ lives within us.

And he says, building up yourselves in your most holy faith. So it means that I, as a child of God, God wants me to be built like a house. Cause he wants to live in this house with me. And remember, there’s a story in the book of Matthew in chapter seven that says, a wise man built his house upon the rock. The teachings of Christ. The foolish man built his house upon the sand. Is it possible for a child of God to build a house upon sand?

But God wants us to build on the rock. And he says, but you need to continue doing this and walking with the Lord and becoming strong and discipline your life so that you can grow and to be the way God says to be, because if you don’t, if you don’t, these ifs in life, he says, you’re gonna find yourself hardening your heart. Now, this is to the believer, not to the lost man, it’s to God’s children. So look what he says in verse seven, wherefore as the Holy Ghost sayeth, today if you are an underliner, sure could that little word if you will hear his voice, hard not your hearts as in the day of provocation when they provoke God in the wilderness.

When your fathers tempted me, prove me and saw my work 40 years. He said, I was grieved with that generation. He says down in verse 11, so I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my red. They never got into the promise land, or they left Egypt, which is the type of your salvation from the Red Sea and passing over. And the Christian going through the wilderness, learning how to walk, but some Christians never mature and never able to enter into the promised land that flows with milk and honey.

And so because of their unbelief, a Christian wanders around in the wilderness all the days of his life and never matures. Never learned how to take God as a word and trust the Lord. And because you see, to grow in the Lord, you must keep believing and continue believing in the faithfulness of God, in the Word of God. That’s why in these chapters, if you look there in chapter four, look in verse 12, he’s talking about what? For the Word of God is quick.

It means it’s alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Pearson even to the dividing a sunder of soul and spirit and another joint in the moral. That’s the body. So you got body, soul, and spirit and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intent of the heart. The Word of God is able to meet the need, body, soul, and spirit. The sever, all three, and teach you things that no other book can teach you because this is a spiritual book for spiritual people, to God’s people.

And look what he said in verse 13, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. And is he still talking to the believers? Of course he’s talking to believers. This book is to the believers. It’s not to the lost man. It’s talking about the believers growing in the Lord. Now you know what most people have a problem with is they think you can be saved the day and then lost when you’re when you’re sin against God.

And then you get saved again, then you do something wrong now you lost again. Well at that rate you’ll never get out of your diapers. You’ll never get out of diapers. You’ll stay a baby all you’ll like vim’t grow. Because if every time you fall and stumble, Well, now you no longer saved, then you’ll never grow up. How many of, did that happen to you? Ah, the little nut he fell again, put him back.

You can’t put him back. You might like to, but you can’t put him back. And when you trust Christ as your Savior, you’re born into God’s family. Now learn how to walk. And you’re going to stumble, you’re going to fall, and you’re going to sometimes lay in the mud, and you’re still sinned. You do all these wicked things you’re not supposed to do. And sooner or later, you just keep struggling and you’ll learn how to walk with the Lord.

But many of God’s people, they go astray. of walking with the Lord and growing up and being mature. And it makes so much sense when you keep the gospel as the lens by which you study the rest of scripture. If you get mixed up on that then you take all these scriptures and make it say something it doesn’t say. And then nobody would know. Let’s say for example all these verses really means that you’ve You’ve got to earn it.

You would be so confused and so mixed up. You wouldn’t have a clue whether you’re coming or going. You would know if you had it today and lost it tomorrow if you ever had it or you… That’s stupidity. It leaves you with a big fat zero. You don’t know anything because that means you can lose your salvation because it depends on you. And all of these… What does it mean that nobody knows for sure where they’re going with they die?

I can say, I know what God says when He talks about salvation, that’s free. That’s a gift. It always is. But when He talks about serving the Lord, yes, I may stumble. I can fall. I can get up. And God will clean me off and keep going again. And He’s gonna be with me and He’s my Father and He’s gonna correct me and lead me and guide me and spank me. It may even take me home before my time.

See that way, we’ll explain scripture the other way, does not work, because it’s not scripture. So anyway, as you go through here and you see all of this, look down there in chapter 3 again, down in chapter 3, where it makes the statement in verse 13, but exhort one another daily. While it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. So can Christians still be hardened to the deceitfulness of sin? Yes, you still can.

You can still become rebellious and walk away from the Lord. And verse 14, for we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end, to the end of what? Where are you going? Till you get to maturity where you can learn to grow and to rest in the Lord. you rest in his work and not trying to make it happen on yourself. See there in chapter four, look down there in verse nine, where he says, there remaineth therefore a, what’s that word?

Rest to who? To the people of God. But a lot of God’s children never enter into that rest. Now you’ll see that when you get over in chapter 10 and chapter 12, and gives us an illustration in the whole chapter 11 of those who listen to what God said and live by faith. Live by faith means believing God. We say, you’re man, you’re saved by grace. You’re saved by faith. What did you do to be saved by faith? You believe God.

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 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 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 Broad 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. 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.