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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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

Now look in Romans in chapter 14. Romans and chapter 14. Sometimes we have that little part of our lives that really bothers other people. We like to judge others. We like to sit in judgment and we become critical and we know that that’s what causes arguments because we always know that you’re right, right, they’re wrong, and so there’s arguments. And everybody thinks that they’re right and everybody else is wrong. Being people, we have an owe-send-for nature, and we don’t always see everything and understand everything.

So we always think that our position is the best. Of course we do. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have any problems in this whole world at all If everybody just agreed with me. Well, don’t work that away. But anyway, in Romans in chapter 14, won’t you look in verse 10? In verse 10 says, but why does thou judge thy brother? Or why does thou said it not thy brother or count him of less respect? Because he doesn’t see eye to eye with me on everything.

You see, in life, no Christian perfectly agrees with everybody else. I hate to say that, but that’s just the truth. Let me ask you this. Do you love your wife? Do you love your husband? Do you love your kids? And you all agree perfectly. Well, it’s not like that with the believers either. There’s certain people that I will take a definite stand on and I’ll say they can’t speak in this pulpit. But then there’s others that I will say, yes.

But that doesn’t mean I agree with them on everything that they say and do. You have to know when to draw the line. And where are you going to draw that line? I always like to bend a little bit with things. And then I snap back to my original position. Because you know you’ve got to be patient with people who are now where you once were. Did you know there was a time in my life when I taught that a man had to turn from his sins to be saved?

Do you know there was a time in my life when I thought that you had to ask Jesus Christ and do your heart to be saved? You didn’t know that? You still love me, don’t you? But you don’t know now. But aren’t you glad that somebody, somebody out there loved me, somebody out there tried to help me. Somebody out there helped me to see the light. Aren’t you glad? No. be that way with others. You sitting right here did not always believe what you now believe.

You were one because somebody cared about you and tried to help you. Yes. Donald back there would still be believing what he believed. If somebody like Dr. Hank Lissen hadn’t been on the radio and he didn’t get it the first time from what I understand he had had to hear him for a long time, over and over and over again. Are you patient with other people? Well, we don’t believe the same way. Well, maybe you don’t. Have you tried to win them?

Try to win. Try to convince somebody. And so the day will come when we’re going to stand before the Lord. And he’s the judge. Now, there are certain things that we as individuals do, there’s certain position we take as a church, and things that you may do as a family, that’s not exactly the same as somebody. For example, you may don’t see anything wrong when you go on out here and go into a movie and things like that, and a lot of people do.

There was anything wrong with that. I haven’t been to a movie outside of my house. I haven’t been to a movie in 52 years. Or 51 years. Never been to one. I don’t go to a movie at the eighters. So should I judge everybody else by my standards? No. That’s what I do. I just know there’s a verse in the Bible that says something like, um, make not provision for the flesh. I’m always, and I’m still scared of it, of what I might see or what I might hear that might make a difference in my life and cause me to go toward the flesh.

And I’m always, the reason I never took a drink in my life. because I was afraid I might like it. I never smoked a cigarette, why? Because I was afraid I might like it. I’ve never worn a cuss word in my life, why? Because I thought if I ever say the first one, I might say the second one and then it might become something and I say all the time. So I’d rather not do it than have to stop it.

But see, not everybody has the same standards, but you have to decide in your own personal life what is it that I I think would be the best for me to be strong. So that’s what you got into college. Well, because I’m gonna have to answer to the Lord and you’re gonna have to answer to the Lord. True? We may disagree on what we’re gonna eat.

You eat pizza? What do you got clogged arteries? You’re gonna die. And so you try to get everybody else to eat wheat germ. Have you tried to live on just wheat germ? If you want to, go ahead. But don’t sit in judgment upon somebody else that likes meat and potatoes. Romans 14 is a whole chapter on just this issue. Or what day is more important than another day? Well Sunday is the most important day of the week. I don’t know if it is or not.

Whatever I do on Sunday, I try to live that same way on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday in Thursday and Friday and Saturday. To me, all the days are holy days. Because to me, they all belong to the Lord. And I don’t believe that I should be less godly on Sunday. Oh, we’re coming into the presence of the Lord this morning. So we’re all holy. And cannabin we got, you know, there’s only about eight inches between a halo and a noose.

And you try to be too holy in some, you’re going to get hung. Or you’re going to make yourself a little prison that you live in and nobody else is going to be able to live up to your standards and you won’t have any friends because you’re going to be so far above and so you should be natural in your spiritual life and spiritual in your natural life. It means that whatever you are, it ought to be real and it ought to be you.

And so each person has to decide what will make me strong and what will cause me to be weak. And then after you’ve done that, whatever I allow myself to do, if I allow other people to follow my example or try to convince somebody to follow my example, well they become stronger or weaker and it’s your love for others that causes you to kind of watch what you think and say and do. Now when you don’t have that in your life then you’re gonna maybe give yourself more freedom or more liberty.

Well there’s a God in heaven that says one day we’re all gonna appear before the judgments of Christ and every man is going to be judged because God knows why we did what we did. So you may not do anything wrong and you’re so proud of it that you don’t have any humility whatsoever and you judge everybody else because of your high falutin standards as though you’re so much better. You may not be. Did you know somebody else may have less knowledge and walk closer to the Lord than somebody else who knows the Bible back it forwards and they never discipline their life whatsoever but they can become religious hypocrites.

You ever seen any of those? So you have the scripture here that says in verse 10, but why does not judge thy brother or why does not said it not thy brother? But we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. We’re always trying to seek ways in helping people to mature, to grow, to be more effective. There’s nothing wrong with that. We always want to try to get them to see that they can do more for the Lord if they do this or this or this or this So we’re always working towards those same looking verse 12 where he says so then every one of us Shall give a count of himself to Dan Hall aren’t you glad it doesn’t say him it says to God You’re gonna have so but if it was to Dan then Dan was sitting judgment on us and well that could be bad news

We would think to ourselves who in the world he think he is Who made him God? Well, you are going to see God one day. You’re going to meet him. And he’s the one that knows why we do what we do. And God is going to reward us accordingly. First Corinthians chapter three, look at it. First Corinthians chapter three. First Corinthians and chapter three. And it makes this statement in verse 13. Every man’s work. Now we’re talking about every Christian man.

The believers shall be manifest. It means he will appear for this purpose. And your works are going to be judged. For the day which we believe is the day of Christ, shout declare it because it shall be revealed by fire. And the fire shall try every man’s work of what get to sort it is. So then we look in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 10 when it talks about good and bad. We’re talking about the sort. I used to work in a printing company.

And I used to have the jog papers and they would come out there and you’d get a big old stack and you had to put them in your hand and you jog them and get them all the funnies and the comics and all those things down in there and the advertisement and the sports section and the perspective section and all these sections and you had to jog all these papers. And but you had to really work it. You fluff them up and so forth and you bang them down and so that you could insert some other thing.

And sometimes when the printing presses are rolling, there’s always somebody watching and pulling out bad copies, bad copies, bad copies. And there were good copies and then there were a few bad copies and they would pull those out. See, when we get to heaven, it’s not gonna be the, like sins, it’s the bad copies, the bad copies. The things that are all the wood, hay, and the stubble.

God mentioned six things, and we’re talking about its value, the value. Let me just mention this to you, because I believe it’s important. The Bible talks about in the book of Hebrews in chapter two and verse nine, it talks about Jesus Christ, coming into the world, and that he, by the grace of God, He was crowned with glory and honor, crowned with glory and honor. Is it possible that the crown is glory? The crown is honor. We know that in the book of Peter in chapter 1 where it makes a statement that the trial of your faith has been much more precious than gold and silver though we try with fire.

He says, at the appearance of Christ, shall be found under praise, honor, and glory. And so there’s a possibility that maybe the crown is where God is going to be stole upon you a certain praise or honor or glory for all eternity. Because He’s talking about us giving this honor and so forth to Christ, and He is crowned with glory and honor. It also makes the statement in the book of Revelation in chapter 4, where it talks about the 24 elders, and the 24 elders, and they took their crowns and they cast them at his feet, saying, Thou art worthy to receive glory and honor and praise.

So is it possible that the honor, the praise, the honor, the glory that God gives to you and I is what we give back to the Lord. And we praise the Lord and give Him honor because of who He is and what He has done and that He really deserves all of it. A good possibility. There might be more here than meets the eye, but it is so important for us to realize that they will come when we will stand at the judgment seat of Christ and be rewarded for what we have done for the Lord.

Look at the another verse here and that’s 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 5. See there? 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 5. Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness. So he’s going to bring out these two main things that we don’t maybe think about. The hidden things of darkness and will make manifest, that’s the same word talking about up here, manifest the counsels of the heart.

And that is the motive, the reason why we did what we did. Remember this, we are to let our light so shine before men that they may glorify our Father, which is in heaven. But if the reason you did what you did was only to be seen of men, then God says you have your reward. It’s one thing if you do what you do for the praise of men or you did it for the praise of God. Have you done things for the Lord and become very hurt and bitter toward people because they didn’t give you the praise, honor and glory you thought you deserved or the recognition.

Nobody appreciates what I do. Well, wait a minute, who did you do it for? Well, I did it for the Lord. Oh, really? Really? Think about it. Think it through. And find out whether or not did I really do this for the Lord or did I do it to be seen of people so that they’ll think of me, maybe more highly than I ought to be thought of. So, see, God knows all these things will reveal. Because when he wants to give you this reward or this praise or this honor or this glory, thereÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ might be a reason why he doesn’t.

See there in verse 5, and he says, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, will manifest the counsels of the heart and get this. And then shall every man have praise of God, that is every man who has a right to have praise of God. Now, that everybody’s gonna get praise of God. Now, you’ll get to heaven, but we’re talking about the rewards, the judging, that which you have earned. See, salvation going to heaven is free, that’s a gift.

But rewards are earned, and God always wants us to check our motives of why we do, or what we do. A look in Luke chapter 8, the book of Luke and chapter 8. Luke chapter 8 and look in verse 17. Let’s just start with verse 16. There’s a good statement there, the last part of that verse that I like. And verse 16 says, no man, when he hath lighted a candle, covered it with a vessel, or put it under a bed.

But set it on a candlestick, and get this, you ought to underline this statement, that they which enter in may see the light. They may see the light. So why you do what you do? Because you do want other people to see the light. And yesterday I was coming from across the bridge over here, 275. But I stopped over there. I’m not even sure the name of the place. But it was a little restaurant. And so I got almost stopped in here and get me a little bowl of soup.

That’s why it got me a little bowl of soup. I walked up there to pay and I noticed the girl that was behind the camera, she had a set of crutches there. I said, what’s wrong? Why do you need those crutches? And she mentioned something, I could not understand the word. When I have a hearing problem, I can’t discern some time and I hate to keep begging you on it. I said, oh, I said, how long have you had this?

She said about three weeks. I said, I got something I want you to read because I know you can’t walk around too much. I said, so if you just sit here, I said, can I give you something? I said, it’s got my picture on it. She said, okay. So I gave her one of our church tracks and heaven tracks. And I said, now over here is the test. I said, now everybody fails it. I said, over here is the answer.

I said, don’t cheat. She laughed. And I said, everybody needs to know how to go to heaven. She says, I don’t believe in hell. I never even heard her say that. I just went ahead and explained to her. And I explained to her how she could know she could have eternal life and be certain of going to heaven. And it wasn’t long before she trusted the Lord. And I told her, I said, I was 18 years old when a man came through my life and explained that to me.

And I says, no one else has ever explained it to me. And she looked at me and she says, maybe you came by here just for me. I said, yes, ma’am, there’s a good possibility, we probably will never see each other again. Our paths may never cross again. but they came together at this time. And says, maybe it was just so I could tell you how to have eternal life. And she was so glad, so thankful, and she smiled.

Anyway, I didn’t leave her a tip because she wasn’t my waitress. But look in verse 17. And for nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest. Neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed, therefore, how ye hear, for whosoever hath to him shall be given, whosoever hath not from him shall be taken, even that which he seemeth to have. Do you know there might be a possibility when we get to heaven? Because we didn’t do what we should have done and made the load a little heavier on someone else.

God may give to them what He would have given to you. But because of a lack of faithfulness, or elastic, and asical attitude, it’s not that important. And we don’t take something serious that there just could be a price to pay. But I like that verse in verse 17, nothing is secret. Now, for example, I just told you a story about a lady I talked to yesterday. Now, in your mind, you may wonder, what’s the real motive? You could think in your mind, he wants us to think he’s just a great soul winner.

And you’ve got it all figured out. But who really knows my motive? God knows my motive. And I know he knows that. Now, if I told you the story just so you would think great things about me, That’s one thing. But if I told you the story because I want you to learn something from the story or because I want to encourage you to be a soul winner, there might be another purpose. So I do want my light to be seen.

I have no desire to magnify myself. God knows my heart. I got a phone call last night from a guy named Peter Motto. I got a call from him Friday night and he was telling me about the teenagers and how that they came and trusted Christ as their Savior. I mean, they went so winning and had about, I don’t know, 40, 950 or something like that. And you stop and think about that. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Did you know that there’s a God in heaven?

If there’s joy in heaven over one, can you imagine what 50 of them made them do? Did you hear in your rumbling going on last night? You’d be surprised. That is really what lightens up heaven. The joy of people trusting Christ as their Savior. And so that’s why you keep doing what you’re doing and don’t stop. And we should share because if you study the book of Acts, you’ll say that they came back and they told all that they did.

Isn’t that true? That’s what they did. Because they want to encourage others, this is what we do. This is what it’s about. So just keep on, keep on on, and keep one in people to Christ. Look up here. This is so important. You’ve got to watch this now. This is the most important part of the whole sermon. I want you to listen. Pay attention. This represents you and me. Everybody in the world, you are Gentile. It doesn’t matter. Red and yellow, black and white, all of us.

The Bible says that we have all sinned. We’ve all done things wrong. Nobody is any better than anybody else. And the pay for this sin is eternal separation from God. And since everybody sins, everybody’s condemned. That’s why everybody dies. To go to heaven, we have to be perfect as righteous as God. And none of us are perfect. None of us are righteous. because of this sin we can’t get in. So I want you to understand that your good deeds will not take away one sin.

All of the good things you’ve ever done in your whole life has never paid for one sin, not even one. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us. He hates our sin. So how can I have my sins washed away where all that’s left is me and I get to go to heaven? What can wash away my sins? What can wash away my sins? There’s got to be something that it washed my sins away.

The blood of Christ? What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Christ. the blood of Jesus. We sing the song, but listen to what it says. Jesus Christ came into this world because He loved us. He took all of our sins upon Himself and shed His blood, paid for our sins, came back from the dead and said if we would be lead that He did it for us, all our sins are washed away. We’re forgiven of all of our sins and now because all my sins are forgiven.

All paid I get to go to heaven on what Christ did for me. I understood that 51 years ago in a little old living room where my father will explain this to me. I didn’t get all of it altogether but I knew this. I knew I was a sinner and Christ paid for my sins. If I trust Him I’ll go to heaven whenever I die. And that was the best news I ever heard my whole cotton in big in life.

You didn’t know this, but I am a cotton picker. I used to pick cotton. I really did pick cotton. So you can call me a cotton picker if you want. Let’s pray shouting. Every head bow and every eye closed, no one looking around. If you’re here this morning and maybe you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, you’ve been religious, maybe you’ve been religious all your life, maybe you’re sincere. Maybe you’ve done a lot of good things for a lot of people.

But if you haven’t trusted Christ as your Savior, see You still don’t get to go to heaven. You must trust the Lord. He’s the only one that can get you to heaven. So I’m gonna ask in just a moment to raise your hand, raise in your hand, does not save you. It just lets me know that what I said made sense to you and you’re saying, preacher, that made sense to me. And I’m gonna trust Christ as my Savior this morning and I’d like for you to pray for me.

So with head bow nice, close, and no one looking around, is there anywhere at all? Say, preacher, I will trust Christ as my Savior right now and I’d like for you to pray for me in closing. Would you just slip your hand out very quickly and put a right back down? In what song? Just slip it up real quick for a right back down. If you’ve never done it, do it right now. Yes, God bless you, man. God bless you, I appreciate that.

Yes, sir. Anyone else? Just slip it up very quickly. If you trust Christ right now, did you know God saves you right now? Yes, God bless you, appreciate that. Anyone else? I’m not gonna embarrass you. I’m not gonna have you forward. Not gonna pin you against the wall. You see salvation is you receiving what Christ did. Does not you trying to promise to be better, to do good? No. We are sinners. Christ died for sinners. He died for you.

He loves you. Would you trust Him right now? If you’ve never done so. Say, Lord, that made sense to me. I believe Christ did it for me and I’m trusting Him right now. Anyone else before we close? Our Father, we thank You so much for those that indicated by an uplifted hand that they would accept Christ as their Savior, and no one that anyone who so ever trusts You, you guarantee them a free gift, eternal life. We ask Your blessings on those that have come our way to visit with us, and for those that come week after week, for their faithfulness, we thank You so much for them.

In Christ 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 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 broadcasts 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.