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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.

Take your Bible in turn with me to the book of Matthew and chapter 12 Matthew chapter 12 We are studying through the book of 1 Corinthians various messages And so I won’t talk to you about a little subject called the signs of the Holy Spirit When Jesus Christ was going to come into the world the Bible says behold a virgin shall be born. And it would be the sign that she was a virgin and Christ would be born and so there were many, many signs.

And when Jesus was here, He did many miracles. He could walk on water. That’s a pretty good sign. And He could raise the dead. Now that’s a pretty good sign. And He could make the blind to see and the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. When’s the last time you did dead. Now Jesus did those things, but remember nobody got saved because he rose somebody from the dead. Nobody got saved because he caused the blindness, the sea of the death to hear.

Nobody got saved because of that. And nobody got saved just because he could walk on water. You see, those were signs of his apostleship. They were the signs that he was the Messiah And he was who he claimed to be. And because of that, he still has to give the gospel. You still have to tell them the good news. You could go into all the world and say, Jesus walked on water. Nobody could say it. They’d still have to know who is he and what did he do?

What will he do? So you have to have an understanding, yes, that Jesus is who he claims to be. And so there were miracles that he did. But even though he did many of these miracles, there’s one sign that was a sign that stuck out more than all the other signs all put together. So here in Matthew in chapter 12, I want you to look in verse 38. Matthew chapter 12 and verse 38 where it says, then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered.

in Master we would see a sign from thee and he answered and said unto them an evil and adultery——————————– generation seeketh after a sign, but there shall be no sign given to it but the sign of the Prophet Jonah. And it says, for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the Wales bell, even so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So he says an evil and adultery degeneration seeketh after a sign.

all the miracles that he did, they wanted, give us something bigger, something bigger. And he says, I’m going to die and come back from the dead. He says, is that going to be good enough? And he says, because of your unbelief, your hard-headed and your stiff-necked. So there’s a lot of people like that. Sometimes I’ve wondered, I wondered if people would listen to me more if I was able to raise the dead. I mean, if I could just all of a sudden just kind of hover above the pews here.

That would really, you know, you’d come out here and say, hey, our preacher’s different from every other preacher. Sounds good, don’t it? Or if I could walk on water, I told him, yes, Dad says, whenever they hit that little thing on the side of that little bunk tank, you watch. When the seat goes down, I’m going to just float on top of the water. that little brat, that little boy, he hit that thing and I went down. I did not float on top of the water.

I went through the water. I swallowed the gallon of it. It didn’t work. So I don’t know when it’s going to be. I told them up and know the Minnesota one time. I said, I can walk on water. I said, I’ll just be up here in like January because everything’s frozen. No, I just walk right on the water. They didn’t think it was funny. I thought it was funny. But I do want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of first Corinthians.

First Corinthians. in chapter 1. 1 Corinthians and chapter 1. You will find that there’s a scripture here that helps us to understand why there were signs given. There were signs and miracles that Christ did that validated the living word, the living word. He was the living word. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And then it says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father.

So the miracles that He did, the greatest sign of all time, it was to confirm that He was the living word because the word came into the world. Took upon flesh. It’s kind of like having a thought but a word you can hear. And so we speak. God is invisible but Jesus is the word that reveals the Lord himself. So here in 1 Corinthians in chapter 1 I want you to look at in verse 18. He says for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but under us which are saved it is the power of God.

For it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise and where is the scribe and where is the distributor of this world have not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom do not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. In other words God has taken something so simple by which a man can be saved.

We don’t have to go in all the world and work miracles and perform all these. All we got to do is there’s a message that God gave to us that if a man hears this message and understands this message, it will cause a blind person to see. And they will be able to hear what they could not hear before. And it will actually cause them to come alive because they’re dead and separated from God. little message that we have does all of those things that Jesus did and more.

It can take an old center and cause them to be justified, declared righteous, give them eternal life and it gets to go to heaven because of what Christ did on the cross from. That message that we have, that gospel, most powerful thing in the world. It can do for people what miracles could not do that message. Do you know that love story of the gospel is a very powerful love story? Because a lot of people they want love and they don’t know that anybody loves them that much.

And so when they hear that wonderful love story, it breaks people down. I’ve talked to many people and I’ve seen the gospel story cause grown men, big men, to break down and weep. When I heard the gospel for the first time, it did it to me. It doesn’t do it to everybody, but it did it to me. It broke me in half. I mean, it really crunched me up. I had never heard such a story in all my life.

I guess whenever some people hear it all the time, it becomes a little hat to them, but it hasn’t happened that way to me. It stays new and it stays fresh. It’s a wonderful thing. But it says, because of the wisdom of this world. And if the wisdom of the world, if they were so smart, they would have never crucified the Lord of glory, as it says in chapter 2. But it does make this statement in verse 22, for the Jews require a sign.

They always want to give us a sign, give us a sign, show me something. And the Greeks tell me something. And what they wanted to hear is some new thing. They want to know the latest philosophy. They They sought after the wisdom of the world philosophy, full philosophy, the wisdom of man. And he says, the wisdom of man is foolishness. So God says, here’s the answer to Jews and Gentiles. You preach Christ and Him crucified to the Jews, the power of God, and to the Gentiles, the wisdom of God.

So though the Jew sought for a sign, a power, a miracle, and the Greek sought after wisdom, you preach Christ and He’s the answer for all of man’s needs. He is the power of God. He is the wisdom of God. And so the unbelieving that Jews needed a sign. Show us a sign. So Jesus Christ was the sign. Him being born into the world, he was a sign. His miraculous birth. His miraculous life. And his miraculous death and resurrection.

That was a sign to us. believe in Israel. And believe it or not, they still would not believe the one rose from the dead and dead ashamed. So this is what happened when Jesus Christ came into the world. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Isaiah, the book of Isaiah, all the way back there in the Old Testament, Isaiah and chapter 28. Isaiah 28, and I want you to look there in verse 7 as the Lord’s Word is explained to the people of Israel and some of the leaders and how messed up they became.

It says, but they also have aired through wine and through strong drink or out of the way. The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink. They are swallowed up of wine. They are out of the way through strong drink. I’ve had so many people tell me, well, I don’t see anything wrong with strong drink. You know, as long as you’re moderate, as long as you’re just a little sociable drink here and that they don’t see anything wrong with that.

All right. When you stop and think about it, I do not want anything that dulls my thinking, dulls my mind. Since I have to give account to the Lord for every thought, every decision, every word, and my walk, then I think I need to be careful of what I put into my body. That just makes sense to me. me. Why should I want anything that dulls my thinking? I don’t want that. So I want to be clear in my thoughts.

God’s word here is saying, look what happened to people who didn’t think it mattered. It does matter. But anyway, here at the last part of this verse it says, they are swallowed up of wine. They are out of the way through strong drink. They air in vision. They stumble in judgment. Now they’ll know this is all true when you really drink wine, but see there’s people of God who have become drunk on the world. They have become drunk on the wisdom of man and their vision is not clear and they’re walked, they stumble.

You may be here this morning and have never tasted or drink in your life that’s a strong drink that would cause you to be drunk in any way. But you have drunk and drink in all the wisdom of the world, the philosophy of man and your vision isn’t clear and your walk isn’t right. So he says here in verse 8, for all tables are full of vomit and filthiness. You say you shouldn’t have said that while I go. Why not?

It’s right here. Look at that. I didn’t make it up. That’s the first, next first. See that? You say, vomit’s not a nice word to say in public. It is too, it’s right there. It’s in the Bible. And it says here, so that there is no place clean. Whom shall he teach knowledge? Whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Then that are winged from the milk and drawn from the breast. So there’s something else that God wants us to have.

You see, there is the wisdom of God. there is the power of God, that God wants us to learn from Him. And if you don’t learn from the Word of God, then you are going to be weaned on the milk, the wisdom of the world. And you’re not going to see like you ought to see. And so you’re not going to think the way you ought to think. And you’re not going to walk the way you ought to walk.

So the lack of Bible knowledge is going to cost you, though you won’t even know it. That is why the Bible says you and I are so easily to be deceived. When it talks about the devil he deceives the whole world, the whole world. So without knowing it, of course if you knew it you wouldn’t be deceived would you? So you are able to be deceived and not know it of course. Don’t know what he says here in verse 10.

For precept… The teach must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line. Here are little and there are little. So God says because you don’t listen to me, because I’ve given you my word and you won’t heed what I have to say. So God says, I’m going to speak to you with lips and stammering tongues. In other words, I’m going to have somebody else that’s going to speak. Through their lips a language that’s going to blow you away So God prophesied in his word and tells this is what’s going to happen.

This is what’s going to take place And he says here and verse 12 to whom he said this is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest And this is the refreshing now that word refreshing you’re going to see that in the book of acts when we get to it because there’s something that’s going to take place and it costs about the times of refreshing. I probably won’t get to that today so that means you’ll have to come back next week.

Alright, take your Bible now and turn to the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 14, 1 Corinthians and chapter 14. Since we know that signs were for the Jews, but for the unbelieving Jew. And the wisdom since everybody wants to be smart and intellectual, look how many people do they think because they go to some university and they get all these degrees after their name, they’re more intelligent. Did you know that a little child in our Sunday school that’s only four or five years old and knows Christ is their Savior, knows they’re going to heaven when they die, is more intelligent than that man.

That child all knows God. If that man doesn’t know God, he don’t know nothing. Anyway, I thought I thought that out there. We have a lot of brilliant kids here in this ministry. But anyways, we’re moving right along. First Corinthians in chapter 1, I want you to look there in verse 20 where he says, brethren, brethren, he says, be not children in understanding, albeit in malice, children, but in understanding, be men. Understand the pines in which you live. Understand and discern right from wrong.

Then he makes the statement in verse 21 in the law in the Old Testament. It is written with men of other tongues and other lips. Well, I speak unto and you ought to underline these two words, this people. It means to the unbelieving Jews. And yet for all that they will not hear me sayeth the Lord. Wherefore tongues the ability to speak in languages are for a sign not to them that believe. Now you’ll hear a lot of people say well speak it in tongues of the sign and you’ve got the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

It is not. It’s not a sign to the believers. It was a sign to the unbelievers and get what else he says here. I will speak unto this people and yet for all that they will not hear me, sayeth the Lord, wherefore tongues are for a sign not to them that believe but to them that believe not but prophesy and serveeth not. for them that believe not, but for them which believe. So there’s a question about the speaking in various languages.

Who is it to? What was it for? And when you understand it and you put it where it’s supposed to go, then it begins to make a little bit more sense. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Hebrews in chapter 2, Hebrews and chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2, and look there in verse 1, Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 1. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, And every transgression and disobedience received, they just recompense of reward, how shall we escape? If we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him. Now one thing I want you to kind of catch down through these words. You see, when it makes the statement in verse 2, for if the word spoken, the word spoken.

And then when it says in verse 3… Where it makes the statement to be spoken by the Lord. And then the last part of that verse confirmed unto us by then that heard Him. So when the law was given to Moses and they heard the law, administered by angels, they trembled. And they were scared because of the voice of God that fundered out from that mountain and the lightnings and all that stuff. You ought to read about that in 12th chapter of Hebrews.

Scared to people to death. And they said, don’t talk straight to us. Talk to Moses and let Moses talk to us. So they didn’t want to hear the word of God straight from God. Talk to Moses. So all the things that happened and some of the miraculous things was to confirm the word that God spoke even to Moses. And God had to confirm to O’Feyro that the word that he had given he meant it. And so he was able to do many miracles.

When Christ came into the world, the Bible says that the word was confirmed by the things that he was able to do. believe me for the worst sake. Chapter 10 of the book of John. So he preached the word but people have a problem believing what God said. It didn’t make it different if it was Moses or if it was Christ himself. Now when we get to the study of the book of Acts we call it the Acts of the Apostles or the Acts of the Holy Spirit.

And here we have the Holy Spirit coming into the world as a result of the promise that God had made to his disciples to the Lord when he said, I will ask the Father and he shall send the Holy Spirit. So now the Holy Spirit is coming in low and behold here we got the signs and miracles all over again. The Holy Spirit has come into the world. And when the Holy Spirit comes into the world Well, why did he come?

Why is the signs and the miracles and all these things? To confirm the word, it never changed the purpose. So he says here in verse two, if the word spoken by angels was steadfast in every transgression and disobedience received if they just recompense every word, how shall we escape if we, believers, neglect so great salvation? See what God has placed into our hands, the knowledge of how to have eternal life. This word, this gospel that we are to preach, how can they hear without a preacher?

Somebody tells people how to have eternal life. So that’s why when you have heard and received the word, you are to proclaim the word and God expects all of his children to be found faithful and to do that very thing. You say, well, I’m not a preacher. Well, you don’t have to be. You don’t have to be the pastor to tell the most important message in the world. Anybody can do it. The power is in that message. You ought to let it loose and see what can happen.

But God will bless the person who is a blessing to that message. There’s power in the gospel. But here it makes a statement in verse three, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first they began to be spoken by the Lord. was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers’ miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will.

So the purpose of their ability to speak in these languages or all these miracles was to confirm the word. Now take your Bible and turn all the way over to the the book of Mark, Mark chapter 16. You’ve got Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and look there in Mark chapter 16. And you’ll notice in this verse, this is really used and twisted a lot, but I hope that I can explain this to you. In verse 15 and chapter 16, it makes a statement in the book of Mark, it’s on page 1069, and he said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gossip.

When all were in preach the gospel to every preacher, wouldn’t it be needed if every preacher did understand the gospel? But go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth in his baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs, see that word signs, signs shall follow them that believe in my name shall they cast out devils and they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them.

They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. When’s the last time you tried any all that? Tried drinking any poison lately? Tried any rattlesnake dancing lately? I mean, what else can you do here? Look at all these things. Lay hands on the sick. They shall recover. You see, what are you going to do with all of that? No problem. I’m just going to get me some scissors. I’m just going to cut that right out of my Bible.

Then I’ll have to worry about it. Is it in the Bible? It is in the Bible. So there must be an explanation because I’ll have to be honest with you. I haven’t drank any poison lately. And I haven’t done a lot of things as mentioned right here. But now notice this is what Jesus told his disciples. And so he was talking to his disciples. So he says in verse 19, so then after the Lord had spoken unto them, that’s past tense.

He was received up into heaven. We read about that last week and that’s past tense. And sat on the right hand of God, that and sat on the right hand of God, that’s past tense. They, the ones he told, they went that past tense. And they preached everywhere that’s past tense. The Lord working with them and confirming the what? the Word confirming the Word with signs following the Word. So they were told to go into preach the gospel and the ones that he told by the time Mark was written, they had already done what he told them to do when this was written.

So when this was written they had already filled. Now see God didn’t tell us to do all of this and this was going to be, this was to them. And they went and they preached and they healed and they did this and they did that and they did. And whenever you read in the book of Hebrews, there in chapter two, it says, and they went and they preached and all these miracles confirming the word. See, it didn’t say that you and I would be able to do that.

I guarantee you, if there’s some arsenic up here and you drink it, you might get sick or dead. I wouldn’t recommend it. I would not tempt the Lord thy God. So understanding that the miracles in science were to confirm the Word, they did not have the complete Word of God like you and I have. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tapp of Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message.

Part Two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing 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 home page at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.