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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.

Well, I know you have a Bible because I ain’t no sense coming to this church if you don’t have a Bible. So we’ve got a few things to talk about tonight. Who are those that don’t know where they’re going when they are going to die? What do you call them? What are people called that don’t know where they’re going when they die? They’re what? Somebody says lost. They don’t know where they’re going when they die. What are they? Huh?

Unsaved? Lost? All of the above. I got an article in the mail and it kind of bothered me just a tad. It was written by Bob Wilkins. Now I know Bob Wilkins, I preach for him. He heads up a group called the Grace Evangelical Society and he’s been strong on the gospel of grace for a long time. But he wrote an article and he says, who is the lost person according to scripture? And he says, when we actually go to the scriptures and see how the word lost is used, we find out it rarely if ever refers to those who lack everlasting life.

Now, I had a problem with that. So I thought, well, that was an interesting statement. It caught my attention. And so I began to read a little bit more. And I thought, well, we got a call on something. This is what he said. He said, there is not one place in the epistles where the term lost occurs in English translations with the lone exception of 2 Corinthians 4, 3 in the King James Version, which is translated them that are lost.

Whereas other translations have those who are perishing. There are a handful of places where Paul refers to those who are perishing. My point is that not only is it uncommon for the apostles to speak of lost people in their epistles, they never do so. Then he says, lost people are people, often believers, who’ve lost their way. I believe somebody’s getting confused or they’re going to confuse a lot of people. confusing language to me. He says that God doesn’t refer to the people as being lost that don’t know where they’re going when they die except in one place.

Well let me ask you something. If God said in His Word, I am coming back to the earth on January the 15th, 2010. How many times would He have to say that for it to be true? Well, it only says this one time. Well, is it still true or is it untrue? How many times must the Lord say something for it to be true? Well, I have a problem. He said, I think it is high time we stop referring to unbelievers as the lost.

If neither the Lord nor his apostles ever did that, remember Jesus only referred to one person, Judas, is lost. Why should we? The Lord taught that if a believer is out of fellowship with God, then that believer is lost. He is born again but lost in terms of his walk with God. The practical benefit of this change would be that we understand the Bible better and we come to realize that any time we are out of fellowship with God we are lost people.

Our concerns should be that we not become lost. There is no guarantee that we will stay in fellowship with Christ. But if we become lost, then we, like the prodigal son, will find famine and loss, and that should certainly lead us to come to our senses like he did and return to the Father, it always pays to stay in fellowship with God. Now was that clear to you? That is not clear to me. Now this is a highly educated man.

And I really believe that He loves the Lord and loves the Word and He loves souls. But this is confusing. I had to read it several times to make sure I understood what He was saying. And when I got through, I totally disagree with Him. Yes, I believe that a sheep of the Lord can go astray, but He doesn’t get lost in the sense that He’s lost. He’s not lost. So what I did, it kind of pricked my mind to try to cover a few things.

And I want you to follow along with me because what are we supposed to call those people that do not know where they’re going when they die? Now we can’t call them Christians that I know that. We can’t call them Christians and we can’t call them believers because that would mean they’d be saved. look there in Romans in chapter 5, Romans and chapter 5 and follow me through a little of my madness. And hopefully that’s what makes sense to you because you are going to have to deal with things like this because people are always coming up with something new and they think they’re making it simple and clear and it becomes muddy.

Here in the book of Romans, I want you to look there in chapter 5, Romans chapter 5. And look what he says here in verse 6, for when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. So I guess we could say that the people that don’t know where they’re going when they die would be, but they are ungodly. But that wouldn’t be a very, you know, good term because a Christian can live ungodly. But Christ died for the ungodly, so that whoever is ungodly, Christ died for, so I guess you could call them the ungodly.

Christ died for the ungodly sister right there. Look at the next verse. Look there in verse 8, but God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Okay, so Christ died for sinners. So we know two types of people that you can maybe call them the you know sinners Christ died for sinners. Christ died for the ungodly. All right, but is it wrong to say that sinners and the ungodly are lost.

I always looked at it this way and I asked people the question, do you know where you’re going when you die? And they often say no. Well if they don’t know where they’re going when they died they don’t know where they’re going. They’re lost. They don’t know where they’re going. If somebody was in the woods and I said where are you going? I don’t know. Then you must be lost. You don’t know where you going? I don’t see anything wrong with the word and I don’t believe that I need to change it because Bob Wilkins says I need to stop saying that.

Did you know this is a very powerful man? Very powerful man because he influences an awful lot of people and he is strong on the gospel of grace. He believes in eternal security just like you and I do. A few years ago, I would have let him preach in my church. No questions, I had to because the man was clear. When I went down there to preach for him in Dallas at the Graysy Evangelical Society, they had a seminar down there.

Tony Evans was down there and a few others. Dr. Seymour was there. Freddy Coyle was down there. He didn’t speak there, but I was he was down there. Anyway, they asked me to speak. I spoke. I didn’t detect it as much thin, but then my friend, Danny Adams. He said, Did you catch I said something strong something from but I could put my finger on it at the time and then afterwards I saw it Take your Bible and turn to the book of Ezekiel chapter 3 the book of Ezekiel And chapter 3 all the way back there in the Old Testament There’s a verse here that I want you to see in chapter 3 This is on page 843 in your old school for a reference Bible and it makes a statement here in verse 17 Son of man, I am made thee a watchman unto the house of

Israel. Therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou giveth him not warning. Thou speak to warn, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life. The same wicked man shall diet is iniquity, but his blood will I require thine hands.” Sounds like we could maybe call the man wicked man. Christ died for the wicked. Would that be true?

He died for the wicked man. And he says to warn the wicked man of his wicked way. So we use sins to show how sinful a man is and how he needs to be righteous to go to heaven and they’re not righteous. So we can use the verses, so I guess we could go on to all the world and preach the gospel to every wicked man. I wonder how many of that would include. Go in the world and preach the gospel to every ungodly man.

I wonder how many of that would include. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every center. I wonder how many of that would include. I think there’s a trail here somewhere and I think it’s going to lead us someplace. A turn in your Bible to the book of Isaiah chapter 55, Isaiah chapter 55. One of these days I’m going to preach the whole 55th chapter. I love the 55th chapter of the book of Isaiah, loaded with a lot of good stuff in it.

But chapter 55, look in verse 1, verse 1 says, Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye by, and ye come by wine, and milk without money, and without price. Do you know what you could say from this one verse of, well, least several things. Everyone that’s thirsty. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone that’s thirsty. That would include a lot of people. They’re thirsty people. So is that what we call them?

They’re thirsty people. And you notice it also says, come ye without money. So there is a verse in the Bible about preaching the gospel to the poor, preach the gospel to the poor. So whoever is poor, we’re supposed to preach the gospel to them. We’re supposed to preach the gospel to anybody that’s thirsty, anybody that’s a sinner, anybody that’s an ungodly person, anybody that’s wicked. So far I haven’t even used the word lost if we don’t want to use the word lost.

Okay, well, what do we call them? What do we call the person that doesn’t know where he’s going when he dies? Take your Bible and look there in the book of Revelation, book of Revelation in chapter 22, Revelation chapter 22. So once in the Old Testament, and here’s one all the way over here in the New Testament, seem like nothing has changed, nothing’s changed. In chapter 22, you’ll notice there in verse 17, and the Spirit and the bride say, come, let him that hear it say, come, and let him that is a thirst come, let him that is thirsty.

Well, that’s the same thing as of Isaiah chapter 55 whole. Like, ho, ho, ho, ho, got good news. Let everyone that’s thirsty come and buy without money, either they’re poor. And here he’s talking about it’s a free gift because it says, and let him take the water of life, how much does it cost? That word freely, how much does it cost? Nothing. It’s free. It’s free. Go into all the world and preach the gospel. It’s free. So I guess just anybody that’s thirsty.

Take a Bible and look here in the book of John, the gospel of John in chapter 6. The gospel of John and chapter 6. John chapter 6 talks about somebody that’s hungry. Looking for 35 Jesus said Under them I am the bread of life In the words there’s bread that we eat in this world that keeps us alive physically But he has some bread that when you eat this bread You will have eternal life See down here the bread that we eat is temporary Most of y’all had breakfast some of y’all had lunch But chances are everybody’s going to eat something today.

So that means that you don’t have to eat the rest of the week, right? Some of you can’t hardly make it until we get out of here and get to the village end. I’m one of them. So just because I eat a big meal at lunchtime doesn’t mean that I don’t have to eat anymore. I still get hungry. But Christ says if you eat the bread that I have, never have to eat it again. I mean, one meal will do.

One bite will do. That’s all you need. That’s why he says, taste and see that the Lord is good. Boy, that was a good bite that I had 50 years ago and never had to do it again. I’ve never had to get saved again. That one bite did me well. I have eternal life. And he says here in verse 35, and Jesus said unto them I am the bread of life. He that come up to me shall never hunger.”

That’s eternal security. Means once you do it, you never have to do it again. So what would we call the lost man? Somebody that’s hungry, somebody that’s thirsty? Well, somebody that’s ungodly, somebody that’s a sinner. I guess we could preach the gospel to just those people. No, just the back of their adopt, maybe we ought to just preach the gospel to everybody. Maybe we ought to just go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Oh, there’s another word.

So what are the lost men? What do they call creatures? They’re creatures. So whatever a creature is, and we’re not talking about the little crawling creatures, we’re not talking about the four-footed time. We’re talking about human beings going to all their and preach the gospel to them because they can hear and understand and believe. That is, I believe the will of God. Look in John chapter 9, since you’re right here in John, look in chapter 9. We just sung a song, I once was blind, but now I see.

I once was blind, but now I see. Look what it says in verse 25, He answered and he said, whether he referred to Christ is a sinner or not. I don’t know, he says, because they asked this blind man, who did this to you? He said, I don’t know. I don’t know. He says, all I know is I once was blind, but now I see. See what he says? One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.

I know that 50 years ago, I could say I was blind, but now I see. I didn’t know where I was going. I was like a blind man. Sorry about that, Ted. I was like a blind man. I was like a lost man. I could not see. But now I see. And I know that it was the Lord that caused me to see. And now I see. So I guess we could say, go into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone that’s blind.

That’s blind. Not with their physical life, but blind spiritually. They can’t see. They don’t understand. And that’s why the question, do you know where you’re going to go when you die? It’s such a good question because most people don’t know. But maybe it’s, we can’t call them the lost man, we could call them the blind man. So everybody going to all run and reach the blind man. And I think that might cause some people a little confusion. So what word are we going to use?

Well, pick your Bible looking Matthew chapter 11. Matthew and chapter 11. Matthew 11 and the Bible says they’re in verse 5 that some of John the Baptist you know he had been placed in jail and he was on the verge of losing his head and he sent a couple says find out is is this raised he really the Messiah and have we followed the right man we pointed it out the right person and Jesus answered them. And I don’t think John questions as much as he wanted his disciples that would follow him to be sure.

That’s my personal opinion. But anyway, when he says in verse 3, and said unto him, are thou he that should come or do we look for another? Jesus answered instead of them, go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see. The blind received their sight. The lame walk. The lepers are cleanse the death here, the dead are raised up. And then look what he says, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. So maybe we need to go into all the world and preach the gospel to the poor.

And is it just those that are poor in this world or just poor spiritually? You know, the same verse or this phrase is mentioned in the book of Isaiah in chapter 61 I believe. Where it talks about the Spirit of the Lord is upon me and hath anointed me to preach the gospel and so forth talking about this very same thing. But there he talks about the meek. Here it uses the word the poor. The book of Luke also refers to the poor.

So what are we going to call those people that you and I are supposed to reach their poor. I was poor. God says that He was rich and He set aside His riches and became what? Poor that we through His poverty might be made rich. So if I’m going be made rich, I must have been poor.” True. You and I were poor, very poor, and now we are rich, very rich. And the Bible makes it simple and makes it clear, I believe, that there’s something that you and I have in our hands.

The Bible calls it, we have this treasure in earthen vessels. This treasure is the gospel itself inside of us and what we know and what we can do for people. You know, I had a ranch meeting up there in Georgia. It never really got super big and we struggled off and all on it. It would be up and down, up and down. And I had some kids come and a lot of them were probably kids. A lot of them, if they were my kids, I would have killed them.

They were brats. Someone was just playing brats. We had one kid that came and he was in the drugs. He was cute and all the girls liked him. He was about 14 years old. And all the girls, they don’t care about anything else, of what he does and how he lives. He’s cute. And I had to constantly keep telling those girls, leave the guy alone. He’s not worth the quarter. No, no, he’s not right with the Lord, no less.

But he trusts the Christ’s Savior. Went to one of my camps, I had to send him home. He’d come to ranch and I had to have him leave. And I kicked him out. I don’t have many times. I’m telling you the truth. Sometimes there’s some kids that you don’t know how to, you can’t help them. I know what I like to have done to him because you can have a couple little brats. They can totally ruin a youth meeting.

And so I have to figure out what I’m gonna do with this kid. But he was so nice. He was like, you can’t help but like the kid. Even when you’re chewing him out, he sat down with a grin on his face, and he looked like the grin off you. But he was just smiling. And the girl just thought he was just, what a hunk. There was a little bitty skinny kid. And the more trouble he got in, the more they liked him.

Can you believe somebody like that? Most of you women in this room, that’s the kind of a fellow you would have went with when you was a teenager. But anyway, I got a phone call this week. I answered my phone. He says, hello? He says, do you know who I am? I says, no, keep talking. He said a few more things and I kind of recognized it, but I couldn’t really recognize it. I couldn’t put a name to him.

I said, I have no clue who this is. He says, my name is Jeffrey. I said, I don’t know any Jeffrey. He says, yes you do. I says, no I don’t. I do not recall knowing any Jeffrey in my whole life. He says, my name is Jeffrey, Jeffrey Hunter. I says, I remember you. He says, it was about seven or eight years ago when I came to ranch. It’s when he trusts the Christ’s Savior. And he was always in trouble.

He calls me up and he says, Yankee, he says, I just want to thank you for all that you did for me. And I thought, what did I do for him? All I remember was kicking him out and chewing him out. But he says, I’ve made up my mind. He said, I’m 22 years old now and I’m going to serve the Lord. He said, now I see, I need to serve the Lord. I want to do something with my life.

I almost come unglued. I almost lost it. And I said, I’m so proud of you. Sometimes you can’t see the result at the time. You just want to strangle a few of them. But years pass, and you see some of the results of some of these kids. And it just blesses your heart. Because at the time, all you were doing was digging up the ground and planting the seeds and nothing grow. Nothing grow. Nothing grow. You know what it makes you want to do?

When you don’t see anything grow, I feel like I just quit. It ain’t worth it. And then sometimes, on down the road, there’s something, have you ever planted something in the garden and you go out there every five minutes and check and see if it’s up yet? And then when you first see the little blade coming up out of there, oh my God, ladies, come on up. So what is it? I don’t know. We’ll have to wait until we get the fruit on it.

And you’re planting all these things and then you have to wait until something happens before you know what kind of work because the winds blew a little, a picture away and you don’t remember what you’re planting. I’ve done that a lot of times. Have no idea. But you know it’s supposed to be some good stuff and to see somebody come along and they finally understand. I’m going to serve the Lord. That’s what you and I are in the business of doing.

We want God to use us to plant seeds. You can’t make it grow. We plant and we water, but God give it the increase. 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 Bible Bibleline programs just go to our homepage atespieministries.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. BibleLineMinistries.org. broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bible Eye, and now, 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.