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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. 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 message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Take your Bible and turn to the book of 1 Corinthians and chapter 10, 1 Corinthians and chapter 10. I want to speak to you on the difference between Israel and the church. And if you do not understand the difference, you will be like a lot of people that are in what they call Reformed Theology or Covenant Theology, which means that they believe that the Old Testament, the Old Covenant and all the promises that God made to Israel because Israel blew their chances and their opportunities, the church now is the new Israel and the church is to fulfill the promises, I’ll reap the benefits of all the things that God promised to Israel and that the church now is gonna bring in the kingdom and so on and that Israel is no more and I wanna show you some of these things so that you’ll understand the difference.

Here in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 10, look there again in verse 32, give none offense. Neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the church of God. There are three distinct groups that are mentioned here in this verse. This happens to be in the New Testament. It is something that is in the church aged our time in which we live. And so there are these three main groups. And God says there is the Jew, there’s the Gentile, there’s the church of God.

And they’re all different. And you’ll notice the very first thing that’s mentioned here, showing you the difference between Israel and the church. Because if you don’t understand this, you don’t even understand the purpose of the local church. You might think it’s just a place where people go to study the Bible. And maybe that’s all you think of it. It doesn’t mean much to you. Just like it’s an option, it doesn’t really matter. Well, for those who know Christ is Savior, it is very important and it does matter.

He has given us His Word and explained it to us and we’re supposed to know it and understand it because we’re gonna have to be held accountable for it. The first thing mentioned here entered by the physical birth. That means that God made a promise to Abraham in the very beginning that he was going to have a son That was going to be the beginning of a great nation. Abraham at this time was childless. He didn’t have any children, maybe Sarah.

But you go all the way back here to the time of the promise that God made to Abraham. And so you became an Israelite simply by being born into the nation. And so that was a physical birth. Now the church age is totally different. You’re not into the body of Christ. You don’t become a member of the church except by the new birth. So this is one that whenever you trust Christ as your Savior, you’re born into God’s family.

Now this is where we are today. This little portion of time. This is about 2,000 years long. Call the time of grace. Back there, you’re talking about maybe 4,000 years. So you got 4,000 years, 2,000 years, that’s 6,000 years. The Bible says that there’s gonna be 1,000 years upon the earth which will be known as the kingdom. And this thousand years, well, that’s the seventh day. One day as a thousand years, thousand years as a day, six days, one day of rest.

And that is the scripture that God has given in the book of Peter. Now, when we talk about Abraham, God made a promise to Abraham that he was gonna make of him a great nation. And that’s what he did. And so there are those that are born into the nation of Israel and they’re part of that covenant that God made with that nation. The next statement, Jesus is Israel’s Messiah. John chapter one verse 41, the Bible says that when John the Baptist saw him, he says, behold the Lamb of God which take away the sins of the world.

And later on, one of the disciples says, come and see, we have found the Messiah. So any time it’s found in a New Testament where it refers to Christ as the Messiah and uses the word Messiah as an untranslated word. He is the Messiah, the Old Testament Messiah. He is Christ. Now, when Christ came, He is to be the head of this nation of Israel. Israel is to be a kingdom and a kingdom with a king. That’s why there was Saul who was the first king and then came David.

So God had made promises to David that He would have a son that was set up on the throne of Israel forever. Well, many thought, well, that’s talking about Solomon. It wasn’t Solomon because after Solomon died, the kingdom was divided. So there is the nation of Israel, and God had made promises to the nation of Israel, and He was born king of the Jews. When the wise men came to find Him, they said He is born king of the Jews.

Where is He that is born? King of the Jews. Because that’s what He was. So Jesus Christ is to be the king of a nation, the nation of Israel. This is important because, see, you don’t want to do away with the nation of Israel today and say it doesn’t mean anything, and it’s not important what happens in the Middle East. Yes, it is. Because God made promises to that nation that He must fulfill. And just because they rejected Christ doesn’t mean the promises are not going to be fulfilled.

They will be, and not by us. We are not the Israelis. We’re not the Jewish nation. We are the church. Now, across the page from that statement is, Christ is the head of the church. It means that when you and I as an individual, when we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Bible says we are part of the body of Christ because of this. When Christ went to the cross, He shed His blood on the cross and did that for you and I.

So in God’s eyes, when we believe He did that for us as our substitution, God was set satisfied as though I hung on that cross and I died on that cross and I was buried and came back from the dead and I’ve seated in the heaven He’s in Christ because what Christ He would put to my account and He did it in my place. So every believer is in the body of Christ But the Bible says Christ is the head of the body So the body is here the body of believers But the head of the body is Christ and He’s in heaven So he is the king of the nation of Israel, but he is the head of the church, head of the body.

Two different things, they’re not the same thing. So we’re not looking for the promises made to the nation of Israel. God has made new promises to the church. So when I know what they are, I know how I’m supposed to think, how I’m supposed to act and live, and what I can look forward to. And so meaning these things are written in the Word of God and are very simple, very clear. Now the next thing is this. In the book of Exodus chapter 20, the Bible says that Israel will be under the law.

So God gave the law to the nation of Israel. He did not give this law to you and I down here in this period of time, he gave the law to Moses for the nation of Israel. of Israel, and it was a conditional covenant based upon the people’s response under the law. And when God gave them the law, the people said, all that He asked us of us, we will do. And if they did it, God would bless them, and if they didn’t, God would chasten them.

Very simple, easy to understand. They had dietary laws that do not apply to us today. They had the ceremonial law, The sacrificial law, the moral law. The moral laws what we consider to be the 10 commandments. Those are laws that God gave to the nation of Israel. He didn’t give it to the nations of the world of the Gentiles. So all the people that were not Jewish were considered Gentile nations. But the church is made up of individual believers of a Gentile and a Jewish person, and they both become one body.

And so we are believers made up of Jews and Gentiles. So there is the Jews and they are the Gentiles and there’s the church of God. And if you don’t keep those things straight, you’ll be putting things where they don’t belong. And this is what mixes up a lot of people when they come to study in the Bible. And so you need to keep those things clear. The Bible says they’re in Romans chapter six and verse 14 that you and I, we are not under the law, we are under grace.

Look up here. You and I today, we are not under the law. We’re not Israel. We are under grace. Though every person born into the world is condemned by the law because the law is still the righteousness of God. And a man who breaks the law is still sin. Even those that are not Jews, they are still sinners and they broken the law. And many of them don’t know it, but that’s why the Jews had an advantage over the Gentiles.

And that’s why it says in the book of Romans in chapter 3, what advantage did they have to chew in much in every way? Chief, because they had the oracles of God. They had the word of God. So there is a difference between Israel and the Gentiles and the Church of God. And there is a program for all three. God has a certain thing that’s going to be fulfilled through them until the end of time. Now, look at the next statement.

The citizenship is on earth concerning the nation of Israel. This is what God says to be part of them. You are born into the nation. That’s why you could not be just a proselyte. You had to be one that was literally born in the nation of Israel. You were born a Jew. And the Jews thought, well, because I am a child of God, because I have been chosen by God. We’re a special chosen nation. And that’s all true. But does it mean that that person in that nation of Israel automatically will say it have eternal life just because of them being born in the nation?

They still, as an individual, have to accept Christ as their Messiah. And if they reject Him, it didn’t matter. They still were lost. They have to be saved the same way that a Gentile has to be saved. All are saved exactly the same way. Now, when it comes to the believer, I want you to see this verse over there in Philippians chapter 3. Look at Philippians and chapter 3. And notice what it says there in verse 20. For our conversation here, if you’ll notice, if you have an old-schoolful reference Bible, the word there means citizenship.

Citizenship is where you were born. You’re a citizen of what country? Here in verse 24, our citizenship is in heaven. Cause when it says you are born again, to be born again me to be born from above. So you and I, when we trusted Christ as our savior, we were born of God. and therefore God been in heaven. We were born from the incorruptible seed. Our citizenship is in heaven. So therefore we are heavenly beings. Once you trust Christ as your Savior, you have a new birth, born of God.

It’s a spiritual birth, and it wasn’t talking about the physical birth. So with the nation of Israel, you had to be physically born into it. With the church, you were born into it by the new birth, by trusting Christ as your Savior. So they are two different things. They’re not the same thing and things that are different are not the same The next point I want you to see is in the Old Testament They were not baptized by the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit would come upon individuals Take for example Samson in the Old Testament.

What was he noted for? His strength and the Bible says that the Holy Spirit came upon Samson and and Samson could do these mighty deeds. And he took the jawbone of an ash, and one time he killed a thousand Philistines. Now, that’s a pretty good warrior. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of anybody else doing quite that much in one battle. So the Bible says that he had all this power, but when the Bible says that he wished not that the Holy Spirit had left him, he had his strength because the Holy Spirit was on him.

And when the Holy Spirit was off of him, he didn’t have that power, and he could not do it. And so that’s why you and I need to understand the Holy Spirit would come upon them to perform a deed and then would leave. That’s why even King David prayed in the 51st Psalm, I pray that I will not take the Holy Spirit from me. So we’re talking about something totally different for you and I. Now, when you and I trust Christ as our Savior, we’re born into God’s family.

We have eternal life and the Holy Spirit indwells every believer. very moment you trust Christ to save you, the Holy Spirit indwells you forever. And that’s why he said, I’ll never leave you and never forsake you. He lives within us. So keep that in mind. The next point, look at the Israelites were blessed with physical and material blessings. God promised that as long as they would obey his law that he would protect them in the land, their enemies could not devour the product that they had and everything that they produced.

God I would protect them. He said, I will put none of the diseases of Egypt upon you. So it was a health care plan. It was all the insurance they ever could have wanted. They had God as the great physician who would oversee his people and bless them materially in any other way. So physical and material blessings were guaranteed to the nation of Israel conditioned upon their obedience to the law. If they did not, then God would take them out of the land.

Now that is exactly what happened years later. God took them out of the land. But with you and I, the Bible says for you and me, it’s a little bit different. He says we, you and I, in the book of Ephesians, chapter one and verse three, we have been blessed with spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. God never promised the earth to you and I. He promised the earth the land to the nation of Israel, and that they will get.

Look there to the next one. On earthly temple, God promised in 2 Samuel, when he was talking to David, that he was going to have a son, they would have a temple. David wanted to build a temple, but God said, because you’ve got blood on your hands, I’m not going to allow you to build it. But he used David to gather the materials to build a temple, and then when Solomon came along, God used Solomon, And God gave Solomon wisdom like he’s never given to any other man.

And that man had wisdom greater than any man who has ever lived on the face of this earth, outside of Christ himself. So God said that this is what he was going to do, and he did it, and he did it through Solomon. But he says that Solomon built the temple, a literal temple, upon this earth. Still part of it is called the Western Wall. That’s why there’s such a problem today because Jewish people claim that Solomon built this temple.

God gave them this land and it belongs to them and nobody else has a right to it because God made the earth and God can give it to whoever he will. So God says that he gave it to Israel. The next thing I want you to see there, heavenly temple is because God says that we have something a little bit different. And this one, the Lord tells us that we have a heavenly temple. See in the Bible, the temple that’s in heaven is the one that Moses used as a pattern to build the one in the wilderness, the very same temple.

God says, we have a heavenly temple. That’s why when Christ died on the cross, He told Mary not to touch Him because He had not yet ascended unto His Father. The Bible says that Christ went into the holy place Himself. When it wasn’t the temple on the earth, it was the temple that was in heaven, a tabernacle. that He sprinkled His blood upon the altar, the mercy seat for the sins of the world. Down here in this temple upon the earth, the high priests had to do this all the time, every year.

But He went into the holy place in heaven and did it once for all, for all people. And so that whenever we have a payment made for our sins, it is the incorruptible blood of Jesus Christ that lives forever and therefore we have eternal life and our high priest doesn’t have to die again. So there is a difference. The next thing you want you to see is the temple is a building. In 1 Kings 5 and 8 there is a literal temple that was built and later on the people came back from the Babylonian captivity and they rebuilt the temple but it was smaller.

It was not the size that King Solomon had built. It was not in its glory And many of the saints, they wept when they beheld the temple that they had built, and they didn’t compare with what they remembered. And then Herod came along and there’s Herod’s temple, and there were several reconstructions of the temple. But the Bible says for you and I, when we trust Christ as our Savior, God says our bodies, our literal body becomes the temple of God.

This is true in the New Testament. This is true for the church. My body is the temple of God. This body is where God Himself that created the heavens and the earth. God lives in me. That’s what He says. He met with the people in the Old Testament, in the temple, in the Holy of Holies. There was always the Shekana glory that was over the temple. And one day, because of the sins of the people, the Shekana glory went away.

And they said that Ichabod was written above it. It means the glory of the Lord is departed. Now the Lord, this Holy Spirit, where He is Lord is liberty. So He dwells within our bodies. So everywhere you go, whatever you do, you take in this living body, this living tabernacle, the Holy Spirit with you. So every individual in the church age has the Holy Spirit living within them. The next thing what you see. The Jew and Gentile distinction is always made.

When Christ was here, He says, I want you to go to the house of Israel. Do not go to the Gentiles. Christ said that. It wasn’t until after He was rejected as the king that He told him in Matthew 28, go into all the world and praise the gospel. So that was something that came. So in the next one, I want you to look there, Israel will experience the tribulation. Matthew 24th. Israel as a nation was a nation all the way down until you have Titus who came in from Rome in 70 AD They laid siege against the city and Rome destroyed the temple and the temple was burned and the people were scattered and Israel was out of the land for almost two thousand years Now, God promised that that’s what was going to take place and that’s exactly what has happened.

But the Bible tells us this, in the last days, Israel will go back to the land and they have. And what’s waiting on them is a seven-year tribulation. Israel as a nation will go into the tribulation period. But what about you and I? Do we go into the tribulation? No, we are not Israel. God promised that would happen to the nation of Israel. Now, what are you and I looking for? We’re not looking for the tribulation because we won’t be here.

We are to be kept out of the tribulation period. So we will not go into the tribulation period. Look at the next thing. Looking for the revelation of Jesus Christ. In other words, the nation of Israel who will be here upon the earth in the tribulation period are looking for the revelation of Christ. The Messiah revealed power, great glory, every eye shall see Him. This is when Christ comes back in power and great glory to the earth. Israel is looking for that.

Israel was looking for that back there. They thought back before He came the first time He was going to come in power and great glory and deliver them from the iron heel of Rome. And he didn’t come like that. He came meek right upon a little donkey. But the next time he comes back, he’s coming back on a white horse. For the church, it’s a little bit different. We’re not looking for the revelation of Christ to be revealed. We’re looking for the blessed hope for the rapture.

That means that if the Lord came back today, every person who trusts Christ’s Savior will be changed in a moment, the twinkling of it. I be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we be with the Lord forever. And that’s why he says in the book of 1 Thessalonians in chapter 4, 13 through verse 18, says comfort one another with these words. So there is an agenda. There’s a program for the church age. There is one for the nation of Israel.

Israel, because they rejected the Messiah, has been scattered. So while that was going on, the Bible says God accomplished the job with the church as far as going into all the world and preaching the gospel. That’s what he wants to do. But he never promised us a kingdom down here. Never promised us land down here. He didn’t promise us the material and the physical blessings down here. And these preachers that are preaching this health and wealth gospel is false teaching.

That’s why you’ll find out that even the apostle Paul had troubles that he couldn’t heal. Timothy had stomach trouble that couldn’t be healed. Epaphroodius had problems that Paul couldn’t heal. And over and over again the Bible says there’s a totally different thing. And some of them didn’t have anything. They were poor. And whenever they went into the temple one day, he says, Silver and Gold have I, what? None. But such as I give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

So there is a difference between the nation of Israel and the church. Now look at the next thing. Nation of Israel started with Abraham, started with him as the father of the nation of Israel. the Bible says for you and I, the church started on the day of Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came down, Pentecost is 50 days from the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 50 days. That’s what the word Pentecost means. So this is the beginning of the body of Christ.

So on this day, those believers that were there at that moment were baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. That’s not something they did, that’s something that Christ did. Because remember John the Baptist said, he Christ shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit. That’s something he does to every believer. In the book of John in chapter 7 verse 39 and 40 and 41 it says, behold that day of the great day of the feast, Jesus stood in Christ and if any man thirsted, they’d been coming to me and drink and at the script they have set out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

This speak He of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive. Those that believe on Him would receive the Holy Spirit. So the church was born on the day of Pentecost. That’s when it started. So Christ was rejected as the king of Israel. He became the head of the church and now the church age were not under law, were under grace. They had to do right in order to get God’s blessings. We, because we have been blessed, are supposed to serve the Lord.

We are supposed to serve the Lord not because there’s laws, we’re supposed to serve God because of love. If you wrote L-O-B-E, that’s the motive. There are no laws that puts us under the law. We serve by grace or in view of what God has done for us. Let us present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

So now, why do I serve God because of what He has done for me? They did it in order for God to do something for them. And they were under the law. We’re under grace. We should do it and go to church because that’s what He wants. He’s not going to take away my salvation if I don’t. I give because that’s what He wants me to do. I pray because that’s what He wants. I dedicate my life because that’s what He wants.

And if you love Him, what He wants you to do isn’t hard. Only time that the Christian life becomes hard is if you don’t love God. If you love Him, you don’t mind doing it. But if you don’t love Him, you don’t want to do it. Everybody wants to do what they really love to do. And if you really love the Lord, you can live like you please, if you love the Lord with all your heart. Israel rejected Christ.

The church is because they received Christ. He said he came into his own and his own received him, not. But as many as received him, to them gave him the power to become the sons of God. It involves one nation, the nation of Israel, but with the church it involves all people all over the world. See the church, the true church is made up of every believer from the time of Pentecost until the rapture. It doesn’t matter what church they are in.

If they have exactly trusted Jesus Christ and Him alone, as they are only hope to go to heaven, they’re saved, they have eternal life and they’ll go to heaven whenever they die and they are part of the body of Christ. When the rapture takes place, it’s not a rupture. It’s not God’s going to take those that are faithful. Every person, ready or not, here I come, is going to be caught up to make the Lord near. God says that.

Whether you’re ready or not. And we’ll stand at the jedman seat of Christ. That’s a reward stand in heaven where God is going to reward you for what you have done for Lord. This does not happen to the nation of Israel. And when we are taken out, it’s just like the seven years, you could slide it all the way back over here, and Israel is still going strong right on through. This is like a parenthetical phrase in a sentence.

You can take it out and not hurt to flow the sentence. And so this is in here. God’s going to take it out the seven years and Israel will again be in the land. The temple was going to be rebuilt. There’ll be a peace treaty made with Israel for seven years. And that’s what they’re working on now. They’re trying their best to get a peace treaty made in Israel. Yes or no. And there is no other nation upon the face of this earth that’s ever been out of their land for 2000 years and then go back to the land and become established as a nation.

And it’s all happening in our lifetime. And I’m excited as I can be. The Lord is coming back soon. As they would say, Glory Hallelujah. 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. 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. 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.