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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. the gospel of John in chapter 3 says there was a ruler of the Jews who came to Jesus by night and said to him Rabbi we know that thou art him, teacher come from God, for no man can do the miracles that thou doeth, except God be with him.

Jesus says you must be born again. He also says to him how can thou be a ruler, a leader in Israel and knoweth not these things. If I speak unto you of earthly things and you don’t understand those, how you’re going to understand the spiritual things? Because he spoke stories of earthly things that they would understand in order to teach them spiritual truth that you’ll find more so in the gospel of John that deals with the new birth of how to be born again.

And so it’s not like the gospel of John happened at another time. In Book of Matthew happened at a different time. No, that happened same time. When he was crucified in all four gospels, it was all at the same time. He didn’t get crucified four times. He only got crucified one time. When he got born, he only got born once. But it’s in different stories. When you talk about in Matthew, it talks about when he was born, King of the Jews.

Later on in the book of Luke, you got Luke who talks as a doctor and tells you some more things about his birth. When you get to the gospel of John, it just says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. And all things were made by Him, without Him was not anything made that was made. And Him was life, and the life with the light of men.

He came into the world, and this is the light that lighteth, every man that comes into the world. And he came into his own, and his own received him not. So you have it from a different viewpoint. There is the eagle. In the book of Mark, you have the ox, the book of Luke, you have the face of man. In the book of Matthew, you have the face of a lion. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. All of those together gives you a picture of Christ.

So though he was teaching certain things that we may not understand, you can utilize the gospel of John, I think, and discerning that. And I believe that it will be cleared up. We’ll look at that in just a second. Look there in the book of Luke in chapter 5. The book of Luke in chapter 5. Luke chapter 5, look in verse 36. And there you will see just a little bit more light. First 36, and he spake also a parable unto them.

No man put at the peace of a new garment upon an old. If otherwise, than both the new make of the rent. And the peace that was taken out of the new agree if not with the old. And no man put a new wine into an old bottle. Else the new wine will burst the bottle and each spilleth and the bottle will perish. The bottle will perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles and both are preserved.

No man also having drunk old wine immediately desired new, where he said the old is better. You notice that last statement wasn’t in the other ones, it reveals us a little bit more. The other one talks about, and both are preserved. Well, it kind of says that here, but look what he says, a little bit additional stuff. But you see, new wine is not fermented. It’s after it ages a little bit, then it gets fermented. And if you put that new wine in that old bag, and then whenever it it gets to be fermented, it’s going to expand and it’s these a wine skins, not bottle, not glass bottles, they’re thinking of their wine skins are made out of animal skin and they will explode.

So therefore, you don’t do that. But what does he refer in this too? An old and a new. Old and a new. I have an idea what it’s talking about. Piece of cloth? An old piece? A new piece? Well, any pressure put on it, the old is still gonna tear. But the new won’t. So there’s teaching something about a new and an old, a new and an old. And you’d be surprised when you study the scripture the Bible talks about the new and the old.

You see, the old nature, the old birth that you have, when you are born into this world, well, God says that it’s old and it’s going to be destroyed, it’s going to die. And so God is going to put eternal life into a new birth, not into the physical flesh, because the flesh is not going to last for long, it’s going to die. So the day will come when we we will get our new body because we’ve been given a new birth.

You see, my eternal life is not in my flesh, nature. It’s in my new nature that God gave to me. When he talks about this and you see it and understand it, you also enlightens upon another issue very quickly, turning the Bible to the book of Matthew in chapter seven. Matthew chapter seven, if you’ll notice there in verse 15, Beware of false prophets. Why? False prophet, have false messages. False messages, leads to false hope. There were people who were hoping they would get into the kingdom of heaven.

They hoped. They thought. They believed because they had heard a false message from a false teacher. So he makes a statement here in verse 15, Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. So you’ve got a distinction between wolves, sheep, wolves, sheep. Now the sheep don’t eat wolves, but wolves do eat sheep. And for 16, you shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistle?

They don’t come from that. That’s why you always hear me say, if you want cotton, don’t sow corn. But if you sow corn, you’re going to get corn. If you sow cotton, you’re going to reap cotton. It’s the same principle. God also always used this comparison, showing the difference between the natural and the spiritual. If you can’t understand the things that happens naturally in nature, you’re not going to understand spiritual things. That’s why there’s certain amount of knowledge that has to be attained to be able to understand what God’s talking about.

That’s why in this world we have sin, sorrow, death and all these things. So when you start talking about spiritual things, you’ll know what he’s talking about because here it’s temporal, but there’s death. But you want to live. You want to live forever. So there’s this contrast. the two places that God talks about in the Bible that are totally extreme. One is heaven and it’s perfect. No sin. Gorgeous paradise. Lift forever. And hell. The worst thing any man can ever imagine is to be in a literal fire burning hell in torment for eternity.

Or total bliss for eternity. Look at the extremities and yet God teaches us these things by in light, giving us a little bit of hell on earth and a little joy so you can understand the difference. Because if you don’t understand difference, you can’t make wise decisions. That’s why as you study the scriptures, you’ll see things that God says that’s right and it’s wrong. bad. So he makes his statement here in verse 17, even so get this, every tree which bring the fourth good fruit but a corrupt tree bring the fourth evil fruit.

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bring if not for good fruit is you down, cast into the fire. Two kinds of trees. A good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit. And a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit, impossible. So what are you talking about? Well see, when you understand spiritual things because of what Christ has done for us, even when you go to the book of John, John tells us Jesus is that which is of the flesh is, flesh that which is of the Spirit is Spirit.

The flesh. We have sinned. And so all will die. We’re all going to cut down. Every man born into the world has bad fruit. And because you have bad fruit, you’re all going to die. But when you trust Christ as your Savior, He gives to you a new birth, new tree, new fruit, new root. And so therefore this one, you’re going to die. And so507 this one is separate from this one. I received this birth when I was born into the world.

It’s called my old nature, my old man. It’s not good enough to go to heaven. We all sin and come short of God’s glory. This is why in the book of Matthew chapter three, John the Baptist says that they’re gonna take an axe and lay it at the root of the tree and cut down every tree that bring a thought, not forth good fruit. So no man has brought forth good fruit because every tree brings forth bad fruit. So therefore we’re all going to die.

So when you trusted Christ as your Savior, God gave to you a new birth. So in the Gospel of John, it explains the two trees. And one is that when you trusted Christ as your Savior, He gave to you a new birth. The new birth born of God. If it’s born of God, it has no sinful nature. It has no sinful nature. It cannot die. If it cannot die, it lives forever. That’s why once you trust Christ as your Savior, how long will you live forever?

See, God cannot leave this birth in this birth because this one is going to die. That’s why God’s going to give you a new body to go with your new birth. But he would always teach with illustrations so that they would get the meaning of it. Now take your Bible and turn with me to the book of John in chapter 1, the gospel of John chapter 1. I want you to look there now in verse 6. Verse 6, there was a man, but he was just a man.

We talked about this in Sunday school, how that this man just happens to be John the Baptist. And this man had a time in which to be born, and this man had a ministry given to him, and he was to carry a message and be a voice, the voice of when crying in the wilderness. And this man, though he was born at a particular time in history as the cousin of Jesus Christ, came on the scene and began to teach and to preach.

And he preached in the wilderness. He didn’t dress right. I don’t of you smell it right, but he ate locusts and wild honey. But that’s what he ate. And yet his ministry was only maybe a year, a year and a half in Lent. And yet Jesus made this statement about John the Baptist. Never has there been a man born of a woman greater than John the Baptist. And he was born at a particular time with a particular message and his message was pointing people to Christ.

Hey, Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming, and he preached the message, Jesus did come, and he baptized Jesus, and he told the people, behold the Lamb of God, which taken the way to center the world. This was not at the end of Jesus’ ministry, this was at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, look at some of the simple things that John said, Why he came. You see, many people think, well, you have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Now we have the book of John. John over here, and this is a different time period. No, no. That was happening at the same time. It’s just that different ones than the writers were able to, the Holy Spirit gets certain things that goes to Christ as the king. And others can listen to the same story and they get things concerning as a servant. and others as the perfect man and others as God in the flesh. So here in the gospel of John, and look in verse 6, there was a man sin from God, his name was John.

The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light and get this part of the verse. What was his message that all men through Him Christ might believe. Now when you go to the book of Matthew in chapter three, it talks about he came preaching repentance and show forth fruit, meat for repentance, and that the ax is laid to the root of the tree. And he’s going to separate the wheat from the chaff and throw the others into the furnace of fire.

It’s not like one bad dude. And yet it was the same message. It wasn’t preaching two messages. It was preaching the same message. Jesus in John chapter three wasn’t teaching a different message than what he was teaching in the book of Matthew. But in the book of Matthew, he would teach it and they would hear certain things and it would minister to them. But at the same time he’s also saying, let me tell you a story. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, But all who believe on Him should have everlasting life.”

But when did He say that? See, there’s not two Jesus. There’s one Jesus with one message, and John the Baptist, according to even the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 19, says, John truly baptized with the baptism of repentance that you should believe on Him whom he hath sent to believe on Jesus Christ. Well, that’s the only message we preach and how to be saved to have eternal life. And so God simply makes it clear here that the all men through Him might be leave.

Not only that, if you look there in John chapter 1, look what He says there in the… What do we just show you this in verse 15? John bear witness of Him, cried saying, This was He of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is referred before me, for he was before me. John the Badness was born six months before Jesus. But he said he was before me. He knew who he was. Then you look there in verse 28.

These things were done in Bethelbarah, beyond Jordan where he was baptizing. Verse 29, the next day John seeeth Jesus. unto him and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God.” If he’s the Lamb of God, he has to be a perfect Lamb of God. He can have one spot, no fault, no sin. He knew what he was saying, which take it the way the sin of the world. He knew who he was and he knew why he came. And this is what he was preaching.

This is not the end of his ministry. This is at the beginning of his ministry. So nothing else changes. God’s Word is true. Now take your Bible and look there in chapter 3. When John was going to pass off the scene, he talks about there in verse 27, John answered and says, A man can receive nothing except he be given him from God. God had given to him a voice, gave to him a message, and gave to him a little slot in time, a little small segment of his life.

Because the first 30 years, we don’t have anything over it. And yet he only lived for a short period of time as far as his ministry goes. Well, think about Jesus, his ministry was three and a half years long, maybe. How long have you had to live so far? And God may have you here for a little sliver of time, because it might be that that certain thing that you’re going to say or do has to fit within a certain frame, that God has God designed.

He has a plan. So you and I don’t always see and understand everything. And God may have you for a particular thing. You just don’t know when and how it’s going to happen or what it is. It may have already come and gone. It may still be yet there in the future. God has a reason why we live as long as we live. The way we live, where we live. You see, I didn’t determine where I was born or the family that I have, or when I trust the Christ as my Savior.

God got that message to me and I thank Him so much for it. But there’s a lot of things that we don’t have to understand. We just trust and keep going. And want to be faithful to do those things God wants us to do. But it says a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven Because they had come up to the question about hey look John Did you know that there’s there’s more people following Jesus now than you oh?

So this is what he says up here in verse 30. He says, he must increase, but I must decrease. He must increase. I must decrease. Therefore, it’s telling us these things in advance. Things that happened toward the beginning of his ministry that is not a different time period. It’s the same message. And if you overlay the simplicity of the gospel from John, this was also being preached at the same time. All these other things. things were being said that was illustrations and you can understand them a little bit better.

Look at John chapter 5 and verse 28. John chapter 5 verse 28. John 5, 28. And you’ll notice when he says to you in verse 28, marble not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life, they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Not long ago I listened to or I should say I read some of the comments the different ones were put on the website about this verse.

Not a one of them answered the verse. And the reason is because if you take that those that have done good, that’s the new birth. Those that have done evil, that’s That’s the old birth, satisfied that and answered that in a paragraph. And they were quoting all these guys and these philosophers and the commentaries and all that because you see when you go back there to the book of Matthew and the two trees, the good tree can have bad fruit and the bad tree can have good fruit.

So there’s two different trees. The good tree is the new birth, the bad tree, the bad birth. So when you were born into the flesh, the spirit, understand that, there’s going to be a resurrection. And those that have trusted Christ as Savior and their bodies are in the grave. Some have already gone to be with the Lord, like Hank Lindstrom and others. Well, he’s in heaven, but there’s going to be the resurrection of those that have done good. What was that good thing they did?

They trusted Christ as Savior. Only good tree is a tree who come from a good root and a good root come from a good seed, incorruptible seed, which is the Word of God. So that’s why when you trust it, Christ is your Savior, you’re a good tree. That’s your new birth. You still have this old one. And whenever you die physically, the die is to live. Ray Stanford said, I’m going to live Till I die. Then I’m gonna live forever.

Live till I die and live forever. And so he made the statement, if you wanna understand it, because so many would not come to Christ. And he told them in the book of Matthew chapter 19, when they wanted to know, especially a rich young ruler, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus says, be perfect pretty much. Well, he said nobody’s perfect. That’s the point He says I’ve done all of that he says sell everything that you’ve got and follow me That sounds like work for salvation But because Jesus knew that he coveted He used the sin thou shalt not covet the show then that he’s broken the law and he hasn’t kept the law and Then the disciple says if this is true who can be saved and And Jesus says with man, this is impossible, but with God, it is possible.

Only possible for a man to be saved is through Christ. And he says, what must I do to inherit eternal life? So if you will, look there with me very quickly in John chapter 5. And look what he says there in verse 39. Search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life. they are they which testify of me and get verse 40 and ye will not come to me that you might have life. How to have eternal life is come in the Christ.

You don’t come to Christ, you don’t get eternal life. But this answer answers the question over there in Luke chapter 19. Other scriptures in the gospel of John will answer other portions of scripture that seems to be so dark and you can’t understand it. The Gospel of John is light. It’s like a special little key. To unlock other scriptures. That’s why we often say that the gospel, the clarity of the gospel is the key to unlocking the rest of scripture.

Because the gospel gives you eyes in which to discern the rest of the book. When you don’t have that, you can’t discern the Bible. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The wall of represents the sand. We all have sin on us. God loves us. Understand this. God loves you. He doesn’t like what you do wrong, but He loves you. And for you to pay for what you’ve done wrong is eternal separation from God. Inhale. Now God wants us to go to heaven.

They go to heaven, you have to be perfect. It’s righteous as God. Guess what? You’re not. We are not good enough to go to heaven because we’ve all sinned. We’re all in the same boat. That’s why we’re all going to die. We’re bad trees. Got bad fruit. This hen represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh, came into the world because he loves us, hates our sin because it separates us from him. So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die.

He took all of our sins, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead and said if you and I would believe that he did it for us, that he paid for our sins, he would give to us as a freak gift ever lasting life. And I go to heaven on what he did. So God uses a lot of different illustrations to show you the difference between the old, the new, the old, the new, the good tree, the bad tree, soft-hot in the book.

And it’s to help us to discern. Give us some good illustrations on how to explain spiritual things. It’s a spiritual birth that you need. Not another physical birth, a spiritual birth. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, you haven’t got it yet. And I wish you would. Let’s pray, shall we? Every head, bottom, every eye, closed. No one looking around. If you’re here this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ, maybe you’ve heard about it all your life, but never understood.

Friend, I am not gonna have you come forward. I’m not gonna have you stand up. I don’t want anything to do with trying to trick you or manipulate you in any way. I want you to talk to the Lord. I want you to tell God. That way you’re not making a mistake. Because only the true and living God knows what you’re doing. And so you can do it in your own mind. But say something simple like this, Lord, I know I’ve done things wrong.

I know I’m not perfect. I know that I’ve sinned against you. But I want to go to heaven. And Lord today I understand that you paid for my sins. And if I trust you as my Savior, you would give me eternal life. life and I would get to go to heaven when I die. If you’ve never done that before, would you do it right now? And if you will, I’d like to know it and I’d like to have prayer for you.

So I’m going to ask you in just a moment to raise your hand. Raising your hand doesn’t save you. It just lets me know that what I said made sense to you and I’d like to have prayer for you. So if you will, trust Christ as your Savior this morning, you’ve never done it before. Would you just slip your hand very quickly and better up back down? They weren’t all. They weren’t all. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, you’re His child, you’re going to heaven when you die.

Read the word of God, study it. Father, we thank You so much for this time together. Bless each one for being here. We ask You to word Your blessings upon each person, each family, and use this for Your honor and glory in Christ and every prayer. 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 home page at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. 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. Friends, 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.