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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 a 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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. So we have here in verse 14, when the apostles which are at Jerusalem heard that Sumerian, Yara Andalandis, had received the Word of God. So we’re saying that they did believe it, they received it. And so we’re supposed to believe that he was preaching the gospel because it says he went everywhere preaching the Word, talking about the gospel and people believe the message.

And so he says here in verse 15, who when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. For yet he was falling upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost. So this was in what we call a transition period because it was finishing up of the dispensation of law, which ended, I believe, around the time of the fall of the temple in Jerusalem, and the Jews were scattered.

But the church began on the day of Pentecost, and so in this period of time here, you have a transition period, where they’re going from law to grace, Judaism, Christianity, and so they were able to do signs and gifts and miracles and so forth doing this period of time to confirm the word. You see Philip couldn’t say, now I want all of you all to take your Bible to look in the book of Ephesians 2 8 9. He couldn’t say take your Bible looking first John 5 13.

He used the Old Testament Scriptures that knew hadn’t been written yet. And so but they were able to take the Old Testament Scriptures and preach the truth and preach the gospel whereby they could have eternal life. And so this is what was going on. And the Holy Spirit had not yet been given. But remember this, when Jesus in chapter seven of the gospel of John, verse 39 says on that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried. Say, if any man thirst led in coming to me and drinking as the scripture hath saith, out of his belly shall come stream to live in water.

And it says, and this is the key of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive. For as yet Christ had not yet been glorified and that Holy Spirit would come upon all those that believe. So as time goes on, there was no Holy Spirit given. It was given to them on day of Pentecost and then after that, then they would lay hands on them. And then after all the miracles and signs and the transition periods of it, when you simply believe you received the Holy Spirit.

And so you’ll find this several times in the book of Acts. It’s a transitional book until everything is done. And then when we have the complete Word of God, you don’t need all of that stuff anymore. And so that has been removed. It’s no longer sufficient. Now here he makes the statement. In verse 18, when Simon saw that through land on of the Apostles hands, the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money. Now I do not see this as him trying to buy salvation.

He was talking about something else. He’s talking now about this power. Remember, he’s had power to do things. He wants this power. And it’s not talking about salvation. It didn’t say, Simon did not ask for salvation. He says in verse 19, saying, give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. This is what he was asking. I don’t think it’s a different issue than salvation. But if I doubt his salvation, then I have to doubt all the salvation of all the other people that believed also.

And his baptism meant nothing than the other people’s baptism that mean anything either. And in verse 20 says, but Peter said unto him thy money perish with thee because thou hast fought for something they’s thinking, that the gift of God may be purchased with money. But is this the gift of eternal life or the gift of God as you find in the book of Acts in chapter 2 where it makes a statement in verse 38 says, then Peter said unto him, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost.

So here he’s talking about receiving the Holy Ghost. So this gift is not something you can buy. When you and I trust Christ’s Savior, the Holy Spirit is free. But there, because of the transition, it was to validate the word which they spoke and the miracles and things that they were able to do. And so it made the statement in verse 21, they’ll have to neither partner a lot in this matter. For by heart is not right in the side of the God.

In other words, this isn’t something that you can buy. You can’t buy this. But I don’t believe he’s talking about being saved. It doesn’t say that. I can make it say that. I can twist it around a little bit and say that that’s what it means. No, I believe that just like this, for example, you may have trusted Christ as your Savior. You know you’re going to heaven when you die. But does that mean you automatically serve God? No.

Can you still, as a believer, be rebellious and be filled with bitterness and gall and hatred and jealousy and envy. Yes, you can. You can have all those things. And he’s talking about the way he was thinking. His thinking was wrong. And you can get to where you want what somebody else has. You want somebody else’s power. You always realize everybody seems to think the other side of the fence is greener. Let’s say for example, here you You’re just walking Somebody always has the other job you you wish you had they had the money you wish you had They have the help you wish you had They have the looks you wish you had Or you have the husband I wish I had or you have the wife I wish I had Or you have the kids I wish I had and very few people are ever content with what they have and

And so they’re always living this way, their whole lives. But he says here in verse 21, they’ll have neither part of it. This isn’t your decision. In verse 22, change your mind therefore of this wickedness. Pray God if perhaps the thoughts of thine heart may be forgiven thee. I don’t believe this is talking about one thing, one sin, a thought, a deed, concerning something that was wrong. Now, we already know about An anisinsophar. They were in the church and they sold their property and they brought it, but they simply gave the impression they gave it all and they didn’t.

And so they just dropped dead because of it. Is it possible for children of God to make ungodly decisions to say things wrong, to do things wrong, to covet things they should not? Yes, they can. And I believe that’s the case here. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Because he used to have all that praise and that honor and that glory. And he’s given all that power up and maybe trust Christ’s Savior and he wants to be able to do what they’re doing.

I don’t know. I do a lot of things I don’t know. I don’t have to know. But just by reading this, if I’m going to doubt his salvation, then I also have to doubt all the other ones up there in verse 12 where he says, but when they believe Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both many women. Then Simon himself believed also. No, either he did or he didn’t.

And if that’s good enough for all these other places where it says, just believe, well then why would he put it in here? Because if he didn’t really get saved, he shouldn’t have said he believed, but it says he did. So as you go down through here. In verse 24, then Simon said, Pray the Lord for me that none of those things which you have spoken come upon me. And I think he’s talking about God chasing in her judgment upon him because of the way he was thinking and what he was desired even though it was inward thing.

And so he made the statement and they, when they had testified, preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem and preached the gospel many villages and some Americans. Now here with Philip and the Ethiopian. This is an awesome story. This Ethiopian had come to Jerusalem to worship. And now he’s on his way back and it says that he was the treasure for the Queen there. And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip and said, arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth in from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

He arose and he went and behold a man of the Ethiopia, a unique of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians and had the charge of her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for the Lord. worship was returning and sitting in his chariot. He read Isaiah the prophet. So here’s a man that’s reading the book of Isaiah and he’s in a chariot. He’s returning. And in says in verse 29, then the spirit said unto Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot.

This This is almost a hundred miles away. He’s got there in Samaria. Great revival going on. But God knows there’s one man down in the middle of a desert, in his chariot, going through the desert. Lord knows exactly where He is. And it says that Philip ran to him. Look what he says there. In verse 30 says, and Philip ran. Philip ran. God told him what to do and he did it. You know a lot of us, we just won’t do what God says to do.

We got to wait. You know delayed obedience is disobedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience. But Philip it says here, join this man. Look what he says there in verse 29. The Spirit said unto Philip, go near, join thyself to this chariot. Philip ran to the to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and says, understand it what thou readeth. Now you know what we’re reading? We’re reading the greatest stories in all the world. There’s a lot of stories in the world, but these are stories of soul winning.

There’s just people telling people how to have eternal life. You may not think that that’s the greatest thing in the world, But it is. There isn’t anything greater than telling people how to have the free gift of eternal life. We’re all going to die. And the question is where are you going when you die? I told you this last week I got to repeat it one more time. A lady had called the church. Mike answered the phone. And when Mike answered the phone, this lady says, oh, I’m sorry, I have the wrong number.

He says, you don’t, maybe you don’t have the wrong number. He says, do you know where you’re going when you die? She says, oh my God, it’s the funeral home. Well, it’s not the funeral home, but it is a question that we asked around here. We get more people to trust the Lord when we do it that way than when we don’t. They went so when in Friday night, Friday night and they had about 30, trust the Lord. And they’ll have good opportunities and sometimes people don’t wanna hear.

But you keep doing it because it’s a right thing to do. But what if everybody did it? So he says here, go near and who told me, I’ve failed to do this. The Holy Spirit. You see, the Holy Spirit will lead you to witness and lead you as you witness. You see, we already know to go. It was easy for the Lord to guide Philip because Philip was already moving. When you’re already serving the Lord and you’re willing to go wherever God wants you to go, it’s easier for the Lord to guide you.

Why steer a card that’s not, the motor’s not running. You’re not going anywhere. And you’re saying, Lord, lead and guide me. Why you’re not moving. You’re not going to work. It’s easier to steer a card that’s moving. And so he says here in verse 31, and he said, how can I accept some man should guide me? This is what people need, somebody to guide them. All we’re trying to do is, soul winning is leading a person Christ, you’re going to lead this person to the Lord.

That’s so winning, leading somebody to the Lord. And God wants to use us to bring people to Him. We can’t save anybody, but it is the will of God that we serve Him. So He says here in verse 31, He says, how can I accept some manger guide me? He desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. Like a lamb done before his years it’s so open he not his mouth.

This is Isaiah 53. Isn’t that amazing? That he would go all the way back and he’d be reading Isaiah. I wonder why he wasn’t reading John chapter 3. He’s a lot easier to understand. There was no John chapter 3. All they have was the Old Testament. And so they use the Old Testament to preach the gospel. And he says here, who’s this talking about? He in verse 33, in his humiliation, his judgment was taken away and who shouted clear his generation for his life is taken from the earth.

They can understand that from the Old Testament reading. His life is taken away. And the unique answered Philip and said, I pray the of whom speak at the profit, this, of himself or some other man. Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. and as they were on their way, they came unto certain water. The eunuch said, see, here is water, what did the hender me to be baptized? Now being baptized does not save anybody.

Water baptism will not wash the dirt off your neck. If you don’t use soap, would it? Water is a pitcher of the death barrel and resurrection of Jesus Christ for you. You see, whenever you stand in the water, it’s like a pitcher of Christ on the cross. when you go under the waters of the picture of your burial, when you come up out of the waters of the picture of your resurrection. When you believe that Christ died on that cross and that He was buried for you and came back again from the dead, that’s why your baptized in water is taking a picture.

And that’s why the picture doesn’t save you. Water baptism doesn’t save, it’s a picture of your salvation. That’s why you only get baptized if you’re saved. And God forbid all those people and all those churches and the parents that think that their little baby is gonna be safe and secure and go to heaven because they’ve been baptized. Baptism is always after you believe, never before you believe. Baptism is why they call it believers baptism. You get baptized in water because you believe that when Christ died on that cross, He did it for you.

And if you don’t believe He did it for you, you’re not to be baptized. So baptism is only for the believer. That’s why he says, what does hinder me to be baptized? And Philip says in verse 37, if thou be leavers with all thine heart, you may. Now tell me this little child, now a little child, would you like to be baptized? Do you believe with all your heart? Googoo. And you baptize that little baby. What did that little baby tell you that he believed that Christ died on the cross and paid for all of your sins?

And that little baby grows up so well, I’ve been baptized. I’ve been a psalmonized, pasteurized, fortified. That has nothing to do with salvation. So being baptized is after you believe. You’re saved because you believe that when Christ died on that cross, He paid for all of your sins. and you’re going to go to heaven whenever you die. See, this man here, was he in the church when he got saved? No, he was out in the middle of a desert, riding along in a chariot.

You don’t have to be saved in a church. You can be saved anywhere. That’s why you can lead people to the Lord anywhere. You read the stories in here and you’ll find out most of these people were saved, not in a church. They were saved outside. Why? Because the people were scattered everywhere and where everywhere they went, They told the story of how to have eternal life. And that’s why you’ll find out books written like the book of Romans.

It says your faith is heard and spread throughout the world because there’s people that have been reached all over the world from people, from maybe even Calvary Community Church. Would that be great? Because of the radio or because of the internet? I will do everything we can to get the gospel to as many as we possibly can. I think it would be great. Oh, look what he says here. He says in verse 37, If thou believe us with all thine heart, thou mayest.

And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still and they went both down into the water. Now, wouldn’t that be dumb? To get totally wet like that, when all you had to do was take a little cup and throw it on the head. Why should I get wet? All I got to do is reach down here and get some water in the hand and throw it on top of his head.

The heart baptized. Is that how you bury people? I got a little dirt. That’s it. He’s buried. I don’t think so. And baptism is a picture of your burial. Burial. And so when you baptize, it says they both went down into the water. And they baptized him. Did the baptism save? No, they did that because he was already saved. Not to be saved. So no water baptism has ever saved anybody. Never will. Have I been baptized? Yes, I have been baptized.

I had baptized one man one time. And as I took him under, for some reason or other he got scared, and he grabbed a hold of the plate, the glass that went across there so people could see, you know, and it sounded like this. I went down there, he grabbed all that thing, because it scared the death. Anyway, I pushed him on the air and I said, I got everything under but the hand. Everything went on but the hand.

Did you know that he got cancer in that right hand? And he knew it was because he didn’t baptize his hand. He says, is that true? That’s true. True story. But anyway, I can tell you some stories that are very funny that I’ve had happen. Some I like to forget. But it says in verse 38, he commanded a chariot to stand still, he went down. But now notice this in verse 39, and when they were come up out of the water, what does it say?

And when they were come up out of the water. Now how would anybody have a problem with understanding? I don’t know if you just posed a sprinkle or not. Well, what does it say? What did he do? Baptize him, they went down into the water, come out of the water. Can you understand that? Some people can’t understand it. And so he says, in verse 39, the spirit of the Lord caught away Philip and the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way complaining.

What’s the word? Rejoice in. Because you know my sins are forgiven. I’m going to heaven let look. When God saved you and gave you eternal life weren’t you thankful? Well aren’t you still saved? Well why shouldn’t you still be thankful? And yet there’s people going on and on and on and on and on. Oh he’s whining about something. Down in the mouth. Always think of Jonah. He came out all right. But Philip was found at Azotas and passing through.

He preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea. But isn’t this a good, soul-winning story of individuals? Some people will do right, some people won’t do right. You may have trusted Christ as your Savior, your God’s child. If you don’t serve the Lord, you still get to go to heaven when you die. That’s called grace. You don’t deserve it. Grace means you don’t deserve it. But if you do serve the Lord, He’ll reward you when you get to heaven and you’ll enjoy life a lot better.

God designed all this. But remember as a child of God you have a choice. When you’re born into God’s family you are his child. Now you have a choice. You can be an obedient child or a disobedient child. If you’re an obedient child God will bless you here, reward you there. You still go to heaven. If you’re disobedient, God will beat the tar out of you here.

Maybe take you home before your time, and you’re not gonna be happy, and you’re not gonna have a peace and a joy that you ought to have. So you as a child of God, you better serve the Lord, and you better do right, because you’re Heavenly Father, though He’ll never cast you out and He’ll never lose you. You haven’t got an idea how bad and severe God can chase in you. You cannot live as you please after you get saved.

Or you can live as you please, but you can’t get away with it. Or you can live as you please. But remember, God is going to chase in you. Like I said before, you can choose how you’re going to live and God can choose how he’s going to beat the Torah out of you. Isn’t that fair? Are you still saved? Yeah, you’re saved. You’re going to heaven because of what Christ did. And I hope you serve the Lord because of what he means to you.

But I don’t serve the Lord to get to heaven. I serve the Lord because I’m going to heaven. Makes so much sense to me. I hope it does to you. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. Everybody is a sinner. We’ve all done things wrong. And the Bible says that you and I committed to sin. We have to pay for it. That’s eternal separation from God. But to go to heaven, we have to be perfect as righteous as God.

And you and I know nobody’s perfect like God. You’ll see heaven is a perfect place. God is perfect. You have to be perfect to go there. Well, then who gets to go? Nobody. Because we’ve all sinned. Unless God does something for us, nobody will be in heaven. So what did he do? You see, you and I, we can’t pay for our sins by the things that we do. It’s not by money, it’s not by good works, it’s not by joining the church.

There’s only one way for you and I to get to heaven. Jesus Christ, this hand represents Jesus Christ, he’s the Lord, God in the flesh. It came into the world because he loves us. hates our sin because it separates us from it. So Christ took all the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead, and says that if you and I, if we’ll believe that He did it for us, He would give us the righteousness we need to get the heaven on.

You see, when Christ came into the world, He was perfect, He was righteous. You and I are sinners. So Christ, He took all of our sins upon Him. When you and I believe that He did it for us, and we accept this payment He made, He gives us His righteousness. If God gives me His righteousness, see that makes me as righteous as God. I’m going to heaven on His righteousness, so in God’s eyes, I’m perfect. He paid for all my sins.

All of them, not most of them, all of them. I’m going to heaven because of what He did for me. He died in my place. All my sins are paid. There’s not one sin that can condemn me to hell. I can’t go today. I can’t go tomorrow. I can never go to hell in the future. That’s pretty good news. Let’s pray, shall we? With heads by a nice close and no one looking around. If you’re here this morning, you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior.

Would you trust Him? Would you simply just believe that when Christ died, He died for you. You’ve heard it. He loves you. It’s something that you can do. It’s not over your head. I told you some great thing to do. You’d probably try it. But this is so simple. God just wants you to believe that what He did was for you, that He paid for your sins. If you’ll believe that He did it for you, God said He would save you and give you the free gift of eternal life.

And you can know that you’re going to heaven when you die. In just a moment, I’m going to ask for raise your hands. Raise in your hand doesn’t save you. It just lets me know that what I said made sense to you. And so if you will, trust Christ as your Savior this morning, I’d like to have prayer for you. Would you just slip your hand up very quickly and put a right back down? Do you want it all?

Just slip it up real quick and put a right back down. By that you mean, yes, pray for me, I will trust Christ as my Savior this morning. I want to be certain of going to heaven when mind died, it went at all. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, you’re God’s child. As God’s child, serve the Lord, do right. There’s a lot of people that’s never heard the free gift of eternal life. Let God use you. How shall I accept some men guide me, somebody out there needs you?

Father, we thank you so much for this time together. Thank you for your word you’ve given us. We’re thankful for these stories that you put in your word so that we can understand what they did. And how it happened, give us encouragement, give us boldness. We’re thankful for it. Bless each one, bless this church. In Christ’s name we pray, amen. 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.

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 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 six 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.