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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 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 always have this battle, the battle. The old man versus the new man. I am so glad that of all the things that I learned when I was at Florida Bible College, they taught the two natures. The teaching on the two natures helped me as much as anyone’s sermon I’ve ever heard in my life. Because now I knew for the rest of my life why I did what I did, what I do, what I do. And I know that in the future, as long as I got the whole sinful nature, I’m going to mess up.

I’m going to offend. I’m going to hurt. You may not want to, that’s why he says in the book of Romans in chapter 7, for I know that in me that is in my flesh, dwelle of no good thing, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For to will is present with me. I want to do right, but when I want to do good evil is present with me. What a battle. And that battle is definitely, it’s real.

Look in chapter 5 and verse 2. Chapter 5 and verse 2. Look, first of all in verse 1, because verse 1 tells us, if you want to imitate anybody, well, here’s somebody you can imitate. Be therefore followers of God, means being imitators. Imitate God. Even the apostle Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ. Could you tell people, look, follow me as I follow Christ? In other words, if you follow me, you’re not going to get in trouble. You won’t get too far off the path.

We are supposed to be good examples. And love and faith and spirit. That’s what Paul told Timothy. He said, be thou an example of the believer. Here he says, be therefore followers of God as dear children. And look in verse two, and walk in love. Christ also hath loved us and given himself for an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet, smelting, saver. Did you know the offering of Christ, even while he lived, was like a sweet, smelling, saver in nostrils of God?

You see, in the Old Testament, they used to burn the sacrifices and they would offer them upon the altar and the smell that Bible talks about how it was such a sweet smell in the nostrils of God. Even in the book of Hebrews in chapter 13 it talks about the sacrifices that we make. How that they are sweet. Oh that smells good. Did you know as God looks over the banister of heaven and he sees the sacrifices you made, when you die, we are a living sacrifice, and the sacrifice you make now is a sweet smell in the nostrils of God.

That’s why in Christ’s life he says, Dawart, my son, in whom I am well pleased. Oh, what he’s sacrificing for me. It smells good to the Lord. Now, this is what I believe. He says, a sweet smell and saver. But there’s some things that he says not to do in verse three, let it not be once named among you as become of saints. So there is something about the saints. You have trusted Christ’s Savior. You are His child. You’re going to heaven.

We are ordained of God to walk in good words, not to get to heaven, but it is the will of God that we walk in good words. That means walk according to truth and walk in according to truth. the truth and as you’ll notice in the book of Ephesians, it talked about speaking the truth in what? In love. Walk in love, walk in truth, walk according to the Spirit. You did run well. Are you running as well as you used to?

Are you closer to the Lord now than you used to be? Do you love him more now than you used to love him? How precious is the Lord to you? These are just things you’re supposed to think about and do. But look down in verse eight. In verse eight says, For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord? Walk as what? Children of light. Walk like you can see. Walk like you can see. Don’t walk with your eyes closed.

Walk with your eyes open, and I believe he’s talking about spiritually. And that’s why he says in verse 15, See then that you walk circumspectly, looking all around, watching, guarding, because you know that there’s a devil who wants to trip you up, mess you up. He wants to cause you to stumble, he wants you to fall, he doesn’t want you to walk. And so God says, redeem the time because the days are evil. That’s part of the walk. A lot of people waste their lives.

They waste their time. I don’t like sleeping my life away. I go every day. I go every day because I enjoy. I can’t wait to see what God’s got for me tomorrow. I can hardly wait for tomorrow morning to come. I can’t wait to go to bed tonight, but I can’t wait for the Lord to see what He’s going to do tomorrow because tomorrow is a brand new day. There might be another email and it might be good. I might get a phone call and somebody read my book and they enjoyed it.

I might get a call from somebody that I led to the Lord 30 or 40 years ago and they just called up to say thanks. You see, there’s seeds that you planted all your life. One thing I’ve come across as is, You plant a flower seed and whatever it comes up. What’s the name of a flower a tulip Somebody said something Give me an easy word a What a Sunflower Alright a sunflower a flower You see if you plant a sunflower seed you don’t have to try to make this plant turn into a sunflower It’s already in the seed.

All you’ve got to do is nourish it and sunshine and sunflower, you know. And some water and a little time, you don’t have to make it have so many petals on it. You don’t have to determine the color of it. You don’t have to determine the shape of it. You don’t have to determine anything. You see, it’s all in the seed. You see what never you have a Christian. They’re almost like this plant. See, the seeds is the word of God.

Just plant the seed, and when a person obeys that seed, God uses the person, and their yieldedness to the seed, and God will flower them and cause them to look the way he wants them. I do not try to make people in my image. I want people to be in God’s image, in Christ’s image. I want you to be just like the Lord wants you to be. And all I have to do is water it, nourish it a little bit, and lo and behold, you will develop into that pretty little flower that God wants.

Now if you don’t, you might develop in a ragweed, a dandelion. Yeah, we don’t love dandelions, do we? No, nobody likes. If I love dandelions, then we probably wouldn’t have many of them. But when it comes to the Christian life, you don’t have to try to make yourself into something. You don’t have to work on yourself and determine the color of this and that. And all you got to do is just be just yield. Yield to the Lord wherever you are and whatever’s going on and let God shape you and build you, it’s all in the genes.

It’s in the flower. It’s in that seed and let you flower and be what God wants you to be. And it’s so much easier. Then you see, you don’t have to worry about all those other pretty flowers. I wish I was a pretty flower. Right? They are. Shout out. Just let God finish you. If you will be the flower God wants you to be and don’t have to worry about what somebody else is or isn’t. I think I’ve lost you all on this a little bit and I’m not sure.

Can y’all understand anything that I’m saying? Not a person raised her hand. I’ll give his one back there in the back and he didn’t hear me. But you’re supposed to… Be what God wants you to be, imitators of God as his dear children. And then when you do, you’ll be how he wants you to be. Because he knows what he’s trying to do out of your life. And to put into your life, all these things are so important. Look in verse 15, I showed you this just a minute ago, but see then, see then, in, based, because of all the things that’s gone on, that you walk circumspectly.

Not as fools, but as wise. Because a man is a fool who doesn’t guard his steps. He doesn’t watch what he’s doing. And that’s why it’s so important. Look there in the book of Philippians in chapter three. Just turn to your right a couple pages. Philippians in chapter three. And notice there in verse 16. It is the will of God that you walk according to the light that you now have. Now parts of these things I’ve shared with you at times, but refreshing your mind is not always bad to stir up your mind.

And so he says here in verse 16, nevertheless where to we have already attained, let us walk. Let us walk by the same rule. Let us mine the same thing. See, it’s the will of God that all of us, all of us, obey the same truth. But did you know that if all of us obey the same truth, will be all alike except for the personality that you have, that you bring to the table? There’s something that’s different about you and me.

There’s not another one like me. There’s not another one quite like you. The word of God is the same. And if we all think the same way and live the same way, The only thing that’ll make us different is your own personality Because the same Lord with the same Holy Spirit with the same Word of God will work the same in every individual The Word of God can’t change it doesn’t change so God wants us by the Things that happens in our life all these experiences Is what makes us different than everybody else?

Because there’s things that you have learned that somebody else didn’t have that same thing happen to them. They got the same word, same Holy Spirit, same Bible, and it works. But God is going to take you and make you what you ought to be. And that’s what makes you different. Let’s take away all of that. In the world, you’re just a lost man with a whole sinful nature. nature and the Bible says you walk according to the course of this world and you’re a slave to sin.

You’re not free. You’re trapped. But when you trust Christ as you’re saving, you become His child. There’s a new birth and you can be different. God can do things for you and through you. Desire of that. But He wants us to walk according to the truth that we already have. If you will do that, then God will give you more truth, more light, more understanding. But that all comes as you walk with the Lord. Look there in Colossians in chapter 1.

We just covered the book of Colossians. So you should be very, very familiar with this verse. But as he talks to the people here in the book of Colossians and he gives them this Look at in verse nine of chapter one, for this cause we also sense the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you. And to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you might walk worthy.

Now we’ve talked about walking in faith, walking in love and walking honestly and walking, walking, walking. So how you been walking? Are you walking worthy of what God called you to do? What do you know right now that would be the will of God for you? Don’t worry about it five years from now. Don’t worry about it 10 years from now. What do you believe is the will of God for you to do right now? Then do that. Do what you now know you should do.

And what you don’t know, trust the Lord for that. You just go ahead and keep doing all the right you know to do. do. Don’t let your ignorance of the will of God 10 years from now cause you to be foolish and stupid and idiotic now in the present. Because if you’ll do what God wants you to do today and then when tomorrow comes you do the will of God and then the next day comes and you do that will of God and the next day you do the will of God will after a while you’ll look back and says, I have lived the will of God for my life.

See, a lot of time what we want to do is God to reveal the future so that we can see whether or not do I want to do that or not. I don’t want to do that or not. Because I might not like what he has for me, but see, living by faith is I can trust the Lord with my future. I can trust tomorrow with the Lord. And I don’t know what tomorrow brings forth, but I can trust the Lord and know that he’s going What worthy of that thing we call faith.

You see, look what he says in chapter two, look in chapter two in verse seven, excuse me, verse six, where it says, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Does the word of God have anything to say about how you live your life? All these words about walking, walking, walking, walking, walking, is because God is letting you know he’s concerned about how you live. How you walk is how you live. Walking by faith, living by faith, according to truth.

You’ve got a race to run. How are you doing? When the race is all over and you stand for the Lord, and God says, tell me in your own words, did you walk with me? Well, you know, wow, I was going to. I tried. Well, there’d be a lot of excuses you think when we see the Lord. My little children abide in Him that when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

If we are ashamed, I wonder what we’re ashamed of. What happened? Could have done more. waited too long to get started. I didn’t finish well. I wonder why I would be ashamed that is coming. He wanted me to do something, I didn’t do it. Or now I got to stand in the jim and city of Christ and I realize that most of my life is going up in smoke. Hey, wood, double. Do you think when you get to heaven, he’s going to say, well done, now good and faithful servant, that he was pleased with your life.

Do you think about stuff like this? I do. Scares me to death. I think about it because I know it must be important. God would not tell me to do all of this if it wasn’t important. How many times would God have to say something in his word for it to be true? One time. How many times do you find in the New Testament even about walking with God? God. Just one time? Many, many, many times. In many, many different ways.

You think it might be important that God not only wanted to save us from hell and give us eternal life and we get to go to heaven, but do you think that God is concerned about how His children live? Did you know if you do all the thing God says to do and you walked away, God says to walk, did you know you’re not going to have time to get in a lot of trouble? You won’t have a lot of time to get in trouble.

And that’s why he says, make not provision for the flesh. Make not provision, what does that mean? Don’t make opportunities to get in trouble. Stay away from the edge. Don’t play with fire. You’re going to get burned. You know, there There might be something to that. So the Bible tells us, yes, this is what we ought to do. A lot of times people do, some times people don’t. But look there in 1 John in chapter 2, 1 John and chapter 2.

1 John 2, look in verse 6, verse 6 says, He that saith, he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk. If you say something, you should do something. If you say you’re walking with God, what should you do? Walk with God. You see, it’s easy to say, oh, I just love the Lord. Well the Bible says that if you don’t walk in him and serve him, you don’t love him. That’s what he said. You can say, oh, I just love the Lord.

You can say it every day of your life and not love the Lord. So we can say something and it not be true. He says, if you say this and you don’t walk in truth, and you don’t walk in obedience to my word, he says, then you’re lying and you’re not telling the truth. Look there in chapter one, I want you to see this. In chapter one, look what he says in verse six, I believe he’s talking to his children, to believers about how to have fellowship with the Lord.

He says in verse 6, if weBILY say that we have fellowship with Him andTemeter, and walk in darkness, that means walking in the flesh, we what? Ooh, guess the nasty word, we what? We lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one incorporator and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleansdLs us from all sin. Do you believe that for the joy that God wants me to have is based upon the fellowship that I am supposed to have?

And the fellowship with the Lord is based upon my walk. If you ever want God to restore fellowship, you have to restore your walk with God. Remember God never moved. He said, I’ll never leave you and I will not forsake you. So if there’s any leaving and any forsaken, it was you that did it. Talking about in your walk with the Lord. Salvation, not him, never leaving. Never going to forsake you. But he’s not the one who moves. It’s when we don’t walk with him.

He’s always right where he’s supposedmyra. And so whenever you want to start walking with the Lord again, you know right where he is. He’s right where you left him. You see, God doesn’t change. God doesn’t move. He wants us to walk with Him. And sometimes we deceive ourselves. See what He says there in verse 10. If we say we have no sin, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. Serving the Lord is being truthful with Him.

And walking according to the light as He is in the light. You see, God doesn’t walk in the flesh, so if you want to walk with God, you can’t walk in the flesh. You have to walk in obedience to truth. Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? I am truth. I am the way, the truth, and the life. If you want to know what truth is, it’s the Word of God. Sanctify them through Thy Word, Thy Word is truth.

So that’s why you studied the Word so that you’ll know what God wants you to do and how to live and how to walk. And if you’ll do this and God says that He will richly bless your life. Now if you’re here tonight or watching by internet, how you live has nothing to do with going to Heaven. Going to Heaven is free. That is a gift. And that’s because of what Christ did for us. We don’t serve the Lord to go to heaven.

We don’t have to love God to go to heaven. This isn’t representing you and me. The Bible says that God, He loves us. But we have an old sinful nature and that’s why we sin. Because of sin, God can’t get close to us. Can’t tolerate sin. Can’t have sin in His presence. Because He heaven is perfect, we’re not. God is perfect, we’re not. And because of sin, we have to pay for it because we’re guilty. And God says in His Word, the soul that sin shall die.

Since every man’s sin, every man has to die. The wages of sin is death, eternal separation from God, and the literal fire burning, hell. And we don’t want to go to hell. God doesn’t want us to go to hell. But He’s a just God and a righteous God and sin has to be paid. And because God loves us, He wants us to go to heaven. And to go to heaven, we have to be perfect as righteous as God and none of us are.

And God says, buy your good deeds, which you don’t have. There are none. You cannot save yourself. All of our righteousness or as filthy rags. This ends in Jesus Christ, He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us, hates our sin, because our sin separates us from the Lord. So Jesus Christ who had no sin did not have to die. He took all the sin of all the world, paid for it on the cross and came back from the dead, said that if we would believe He did it for us, He would put the payment He made to our account and we get to go to heaven on what Christ did.

That’s the gift of God. will save you. From Hell. Give you the free gift. of eternal life. Only if you’ll believe that he did this just for you, just for you. Now you can believe he did it for the world, but you must believe he did it for you and he paid for your sins. So you see, if I really believe that he paid for my sins and I don’t have to worry about paying for my sins. So how do I know when I really believe when you don’t have to worry about going to hell and paying for your sins?

Because if I really believe that, that he did it for me and I’m accepting that payment. that I don’t have one worry in the world about going to hell and paying for one sin. Well, that’s been nice to know for over 50 years. I’m going to heaven. Close the demand to one arm. Walking good works. As it says in Ephesians 2, 10. Serving the Lord is a blessing. I don’t feel like I’m doing it. It’s a duty. I just, I gotta do this.

It’s my responsibility. It’s all of that, yes, but what a privilege to serve the Lord. What an honor that God would allow us on this side of the grave to be able to serve Him. And we would like to believe that our sacrifice to the Lord and the fruit of our lips, our praise that we give to Him is a sweet smelling saver in the nostrils of God. Let’s pray, shall we? But head by nice clothes and no one looking around.

If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you just talk to Him and say something simple like this, Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I believe Christ died and paid for my sins. And tonight I will trust Him as my Savior. If you’ll do that, God said He would save you, give you eternal life. You’re watching by internet tonight. I know you can’t come forward. You could even raise your hand and I wouldn’t see you. You can make promises and pledges.

You don’t need to do all of that. You don’t have to do anything. He’s up right where you are in your own mind. Lord, I’m a sinner. God knows it. Just be honest. And Lord, I know I can’t save myself. And right now the best I know how, I will accept Jesus Christ and Him alone is my only hope of going to heaven. And friend, if you’ll do just that much, it’s all God wants. And you can know that you’re going to heaven.

be paid for all of your sins. I pray that you’ll believe that. If you are here tonight in the auditorium and you’ve never trusted the Lord, maybe you’ve heard it for years, have you truly trusted Him? God knows. If you haven’t, would you trust Him tonight? Would you do it right now? Would you slip you in a very quick and say, yes, pray for me. I will trust Christ as my Savior tonight and pray to our life for you to pray for me.

Anyone at all before we close? My Father, we thank You so much for this time together. We thank You for Your Word that You’ve given us, help us to read and study it, believe it, walk according to this truth. Bless those that listen by internet, we want to be a blessing to them. We pray, Lord, that when we get to heaven we’ll see a multitude of individuals who by faith alone trust the Christ and Him alone is our only hope of going to heaven.

Thank You for this day, for the services, for this time together, the fellowship in Christ and then 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 are 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 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. 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.