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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 message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Turn in your Bible to the book of James, the book of James chapter 1, James chapter 1. The topic today is faith on trial, faith on trial. And you need to understand what that really means. The Bible makes a statement that the trial of your faith be in much more precious than of gold that perishes. Though it be tried with fire, might be found under praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So we know that our faith is on trial and so it’s going to be tested every time you turn around.

But with this kind of a trial, you don’t know when the testing is going to come, you don’t know what the questions are going to be. You don’t always know what God is after, what he’s trying to establish, so it does get very, very interesting. So if you serve God, there is a price to pay. Now we know salvation is free. Salvation is the gift of God. It’s not of where it’s lest any man should boast. But if you serve the devil, There’s also a price to pay.

So you’re going to pay a price regardless. Just understand, you’re going to pay a price. If you serve the Lord or if you serve the devil, it’s going to cost you. But now what I want you to look at is there is the cost of rebellion and then the cost of obedience so that you know that there’s a price to pay regardless of what you do. And you might say, I’m getting tired of serving the Lord because of the price that I have to pay.

But if you don’t serve the Lord, you need to consider the price you’re going to pay. Wouldn’t it be needed? We could always discern correctly, make the right decisions all the time. But it doesn’t always happen that way. We have a flesh nature and sometimes we get drawn in the other direction. there in the book of James chapter 1, looking verse 15, that when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin and sin when it finishes, bringeth forth death. That is a sequence.

Now remember, God does not tempt any man to sin. Is what I sinned because God tempted me. God doesn’t tempt anyone to sin. Now there is the devil and the devil will tempt.” See there in verse 13, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. So then you can’t blame God, for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempted he any man, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.

So there’s decisions that we have to make and this is why you and I study the Word of God so that we’re not drawn away because of the enticement, the law or the desire to sin. That comes from your old sinful nature but you’ve got to have a stronger desire. They come from a new nature that you weigh it and look at there’s consequences to this whole thing. Now look there in 2nd Timothy chapter 3, 2nd Timothy in chapter 3, 2nd Timothy chapter 3 and look there in verse 12.

All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. That’s a cost. That’s a price. That’s what you’re going to have to pay for obedience. So obedience is not free. Remember this salvation cost you nothing, but discipleship will cost you everything. And so we are to purify ourselves, keep ourselves pure and assert the Lord. Look there at number two, pressure of the yoke. Remember, if you’re not a person, you’re not a person. If you do not serve the Lord, God said that He will put a yoke of iron up on your neck until it weighs you down and destroys you.

So it makes the statement here, and I want you to look there in Deuteronomy chapter 28. Deuteronomy chapter 28. Way back there in the Old Testament, you don’t have this verse underlying your Bible, it would be a good thing to do. a tremendous verse. Look in verse 47, because thou serveth not the Lord by God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things, therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee.

In hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in want of all things. And he shall put a yoke of iron upon by neck until he have destroyed thee. So he will place a yoke of iron. So there is the pressure of the yoke that if you don’t serve the Lord, it’s not like you’re gonna have all this great, wonderful freedom. God is gonna put a yoke of iron upon your neck until it destroys you. But what if you decide to serve the Lord?

Well, if you serve the Lord, He promises you a lighter yoke, but still a yoke. He says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. But there’s still a burden, there’s still a yoke. There’s still the pressure. See, when you decide, I will serve the Lord, there are pressures in the ministry. There’s pressures in your home.

There’s pressures on the job. Everyone lives under pressure. It is this pressure that causes us to have these trials. And you never know, at what point, a trial is going to arise. And sometimes it happens right away. Sometimes you can see it coming, but pressure is pressure. If you say, I’m going to serve a Lord, then you ought to understand there are pressures in serving the Lord. And they’re not going to be easy. And so there’s a weight there.

But that pressure also is the pressure of responsibility. Because when you accept a responsibility, now you’re under the pressure to fulfill a responsibility. For example, the lady says, I’m going to marry this guy. say, and I do, it was so easy. But now she has accepted a responsibility as a wife. Now she has to fulfill the responsibilities of a wife, and she has to obey her husband. That’s pressure. She didn’t have it before. Now they’re four kids. Well she didn’t have it before.

But now she has a responsibility. That’s pressure. The husband now before he was single and his money did jingle and now he’s not single anymore but he accepted a responsibility but to fulfill the responsibility is pressure and pressure well is I a burden it’s a weight yoke upon your shoulders and so when those four kids came along you may have to work longer do without and remember all those times you thought about men I just want get out on my own and have my freedom to do whatever I want to do but the desire for so many things cost and Money doesn’t grow on trees So you’ve got to work to make the money to do this and money to do that money to do this and money to do that And so after a while say you’re under the pressure and the yoke of work

And it takes us told some things where you down break you down And that’s why even serving the Lord can be a difficult thing if you don’t really learn how to Trust in the Lord and rest in the Lord and Look at number three number three the pleasure to enjoy Because, see, faith is on trial, and everyone works under the pressure of pleasure, because we love the things that bring us pleasure in life, the enjoyment in life, the happiness in life.

We all want that. And even if a man rebels against the Lord and the cost of rebellion is that there’s going to be pleasure for a season. So for a little time, there is pleasure. Why do people sin because it’s fun? There’s enjoyment in sin. God didn’t say there wasn’t. But understand that it is going to be only for a short period of time. But you’re looking for something long lasting, something that will last for all eternity. To do things now that will bring eternal joy for all eternity.

Look there in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I want you to look at this. 2 Corinthians and chapter 4. 2 Corinthians and chapter 4. Looking verse 17, where it makes a statement, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment. See, for the believer who serves the Lord, it’s talking about a light affliction for a moment. If you rebel against the Lord, there is pleasure for a moment. So if I serve the Lord, there will be affliction, and if I don’t, there will be some pleasure, but both is for a moment.

Now, the wise man can look at the results and make an educated, determined decision. Do I want an affliction for a moment, but eternal joy or pleasure for a moment and consequences for eternity? The wise man can piggy this up. So look what he says, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, work it for us. So the light affliction, the problems that we have are working for us. There are opportunities for us. And he says, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

So there’s result, there’s consequences. But you’ll like the consequences of the pleasure of the Lord and the light affliction, though it’s for a moment, is working for you something better in the long run. So since I’m going to pay a price, why don’t I just go ahead and decide I’m going to serve the Lord because I’d rather have eternal weight of glory and rewards for eternity than not to have them. You see, we’re talking to those who know the Lord, those who have trusted Christ as Savior.

So your obedience has something for you. Your disobedience has something for you. So there’s a price to pay, but it makes a lot more sense. The serve the Lord with all your heart. Let me just throw this one in verse in here. Look in verse 18. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal. The things which are not seen are eternal. So there’s things that God wants us to look at that are beyond this life.

Not just for the temporal pleasure of some particular sin or some fame, honor, power, grab, glory, how, those things are so limited. But there’s something that God has that’s a lot better and will last for eternity. We get number four, the purpose of sowing. Does it matter what you sow to be not deceived? God is not mocked for whatsoever man’s sowing. That shall he also reap. Now, how do you mock God by mocking sin? And so when you mock sin, like I can do it and it won’t harm me or it won’t, it’s no price to pay.

nobody will know. And so you can do the things that you do, say whatever you want to say, and think that it really won’t matter, but it all matters. So look there in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 11. Ephesians chapter 5. And verse 11, God is telling us something here not to have fellowship with the un-fruitful works. You ought to unline that word un-fruitful. Un-fruitful works of darkness. Darkness is the kingdom of darkness, which is the old man. It’s as a lost man.

It’s in a different ram. Now when you trusted Christ as your Savior, you entered into the ram of the kingdom of God. of light. So therefore, as a child of God, we’re to walk as a child of light, not as a lost man, as a child of darkness or in the dark, like you don’t see. And that’s why you stumble so much. So he says here in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 11, have no fellowship with the unproofable works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

And so you can shine light upon the things that are not right and reprove them, you can’t improve sin. But your reproof is that you see it and name it to what it is, stay away from it. And so he said not to have fellowship with the unproofful works of darkness. So you and I as a cell of God are not supposed to walk as a lost man, producing the works of the flesh. And that’s my fellowship. you have fellowship with the works of the flesh, God says that’s not to be.

So there’s a price that you have to pay. If you walk in the flesh, then God’s gonna have to chase in you because it’s still against the law. Did you know that murder’s still against the law? Well I’m no longer on the law. Oh that means you can murder people. No. Now shall not commit adultery. Oh that’s okay now because I’m not of the law. No, that’s a misunderstanding of the scriptures. The law has never been changed. The law served its purpose, but sin is still sin.

It’s still wicked, still wrong, and there’s a law against it. So God says the worst of the flesh, these are not the things of the Spirit of God. Because when he lists the Spirit of God and the fruit of the Spirit says against such, there is no law. So there’s no law against loving one another. There is no law against forgiving one another. Isn’t that nice? There’s no law against patience and self-discipline. There’s no law against that. You can do it.

It’s okay. But there is a law against the other thing for work in the flesh. And because of that, if you sow to that, there is going to be a price to pay. God will chasten OSP largeDownload So you and I cannot live as we please and get away with it. There is a price to pay and everyone needs to understand that. But in chapter 15, in verse 8, when he makes the statement, here in is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit.

So this is what God wants us to do. He says, so shall you be my disciple? So there is a price to pay. That means it’s going to cost you something. You know the scripture tells us those that go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again, bringing his sheaves with him. In other words, if you go forth weeping, you’re going to bring forth fruit. Does that mean whenever I hand somebody a track, I should have tears in my eyes?

You always know the difference. I got to go quiet. Now I believe is talking about the tears you might shed in order to reach people. All the hurt, the rejection. You witness to somebody and they tell you to shut up mind your own business and where to go. And to leave them alone and have nothing to do with them. And people can be mean. People can be very crude. And it can produce a lot of hurt. And the things that you may go through on the job at home.

personally and it produced serving the Lord is not wearing a happy face every time you turn around. Sometimes there’s a lot of heartache, there’s a lot of greed, a lot of pressure. It’s called the trial of your faith, the trial of your faith and you may suffer a lot of things that get the gospel to people because there’s a price to pay. So look at the next point. Number five, the perfect vision. The Bible says, be sure your sin will find you out.

In other words, when you commit sins, it’s amazing how that it always finds its way of telling on you. Does God have to get a two-by-four to get your attention? To let you know that maybe you’re doing something that you shouldn’t do or go in a direction you shouldn’t go. I face that all the time. But I want you to understand that we have a responsibility to try to do what’s right, and our faith is on trial. And God is going to hold us accountable, and it’s like there’s going to be a verdict made on the decisions that you and I have made.

And what’s the verdict going to be? We did write it. Enter the end to that kingdom known prepared for you and so forth. And you want to have the joy of the Lord. But it says, be sure your sin will find you out. Whenever you rebel against the Lord, it’s amazing how you think I’m going to get away with it. It’s not that bad of a deal. After all, I’m not as bad as so and so and so. So everybody thinks it’s going to, you know, not be that bad, but sin is sin.

Sin is bad. Sin is wicked. And everybody is a sinner. I’m a sinner. Everybody’s a sinner. That means we all do things wrong. But aren’t you glad that there’s a God that forgives us? Now, when we’re dealing with God’s children and a child of God can walk in the new birth or the old birth. He can walk as a saved man or is a lost man. And if you walk as a saved man, it says the blood of Jesus Christ continues to teach it to me.

When you rebel against the Lord, God says, don’t deceive yourself. don’t say, well, I don’t have no sense in nature. I have no sense. Yes, you do. Because he said, if you say otherwise, you’re not telling the truth. And if you do sin against the Lord, he says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of ourselves and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It didn’t mean he was going to save you again. You don’t have to get saved every time you’re sinned.

Well, I said, I got to get saved again. Well, I said, now I lost myself, I got to get saved again. No, that’s not what you’re saying. is to God’s children that mess up. So as a child of God, there’s time in our life when we are obedient. And then there’s time in our life when we’re disobedient. So when we get to heaven, God is going to reward us for all of our obedience. And we’re going to suffer the loss of all that disobedience that could have been productive.

So it’s why he says, do not fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. So there are words that a man can do, but it’s unproofful. God wants us to bear fruit that will last forever. Look over to you right now. Second Corinthians in chapter 5 and verse 10 talks about that we may receive the things done in the body according to that he hath done. But we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. So God says that one day we will all appear at the judgment seat of Christ and God is going to reward us for what we have done.

And we’re going to suffer the loss of what we could have had. So is there a price to pay for our life of obedience or our disobedience? As long as you understand, the only thing I want you to do as a child of God is to do what you honestly wholeheartedly believe is what God wants you to do. I want you to do nothing more, nothing less except just whatever God wants you to do in your life. I want you to be whatever God wants you to be.

I want you to do whatever God wants you to do. Just be you. But be all of you you can be. Whatever it is God wants you to do. And you’re supposed to apply the Word of God to your life. life. And we study the word of God and He says He gave some to the church that they can be equipped to do the work of the ministry. So who’s supposed to do the work of the ministry? All of God’s cheating.

We are involved in the work of the ministry. That’s why everyone of God’s children should have a work in the ministry of the Lord. So important. Oh look there, last one, number six, permanent results, permanent results. And this is about Moses in chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews where it says, esteem the reproach, the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, which is temporary. So if you choose the things of this world, they’re temporary. Moses knew that he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.

He was trained to be the next Pharaoh in line. He gave all of that up to be what God wanted him to be. Was there a price to pay? Yes, it cost him. He cost him dearly. And then when he made up his mind to really serve the Lord after 80 years, 40 years in Egypt, 40 years in the backside of a desert, and then he decided that he’s going to be whatever God wants from the bee. So yes, He went down to Egypt.

Let my people go. As you study the next 40 years of Moses life, was there anything that caused him to get upset? Mad or bitter? He did. And he blew it. And because of it, God did not allow him to enter into the promised land. But did God use him? See, God can’t use perfect people because there aren’t any of those. I as a pastor I can’t use perfect people why because there aren’t any You don’t have a perfect pastor.

I am a pastor. I’m not the best pastor. I am just a pastor I got false and flaws and you can compare me with any other preacher, but I do think I got a good message Like the gospel as the me the most important thing of all But never make a man more than a man And I shouldn’t make you more than what you are You’re a child of God. And I want you to love the Lord, and I want you to understand that there is a price to pay if you serve Him.

Everything’s not going to go well. There’s going to be all kind of problems. The devil is going to be after you. People in your own household can be after you. People in your work can be all kind of the devil going to use anything in anybody to discourage you. What do you think God had to even tell Joshua? I was with Moses even so shall I be with you only be strong and very courageous He’s I’ll never leave you.

I’m not gonna forsake you Meditate and I word for you day and night that thou may have served to do all that I’ve spoken unto you It is in everything that you do I will make that way prosperous Strong only be courageous doors to really believe the Lord to walk with the Lord God said he’ll bless you He tells you. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 20 says, but lay up for yourselves treasure where in heaven. So there’s a price to pay, yes, but there’s only one side of these that has great rewards.

If you are obedient to the Lord, there is great reward, a great reward from God who created the heavens and the you are his child. So when you’re tested, just look to the Lord. Isn’t the Lord sufficient? Isn’t he worth serving, worth loving, and being obedient to because of all he has done for you? Don’t do things just because of people. People come and go. People are obedient, disobedient. People obey, disobey. People hurt and then, but Whatever it is, put your trust in the Lord.

And if you’ll serve the Lord, there will be great results, permanent results. And the permanent result is to be honored by the Lord in praise, honor, and glory for all eternity. 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 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 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.