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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 first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I’m not sure where I’m going to go today. Well, I have an idea what I’d like to cover because as I studied about Christ, I kept trying to figure out some of the things that seemed so difficult in the book of Matthew. I kept wondering, Lord, why did you make it so hard and complicated? Why can’t it be something simple like the Gospel of John? You know, John is such an easy book to read and understand. When people trust Christ to save you, I always tell them, study the gospel of John.

And just notice how many times it says, all you have to do is just believe and know you have eternal life. And it’s a good book. It really is. And then you come to Matthew. It’s kind of like new believers want to know, where should I start studying the Bible? And they say, when I started in the book of Genesis and about a time I got to the book of Leviticus, I hung it up because you couldn’t make no sense out of it.

There’s a few books that are like that. But I want to give you a little bit of the insight that I have that I think will help you. At least I pray so. So turn in your Bible to the book of Galatians in chapter 4. You say, that’s what that’s got to do with Matthew. I knew you was going to say that. But Galatians in chapter 4, I want you to look there in verse 4. Galatians verse four and verse four.

For it says, but when the wholeness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made unto the law. So God had a son, and God sent His Son, and He was made of a woman, and made unto the law. That says on a whole lot, just that one verse alone. Jesus being made under the law of a woman in the nation of Israel, under the law He had the responsibility to keep the law.

And several times as you read, you hear this phrase, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. You say, what’s so funny about that? Remember, of all the people upon the earth, he was never able to say that. There was another person that he could say in whom I am well pleased. Now some people come and they go, a little obedience here, disobedience there, but nobody was perfect. God sent his son. So take your Bible and look there in the book of Mark.

And look in chapter 12, Mark chapter 12. You see, the reason this is so important is if Jesus Christ came into the world and he had to keep the law Number one he’d have to know the law He’d have to know all of the law He’d have to know the moral law the sacrificial laws and all the laws concerning the Israel He had to know all of them. Well, I don’t think there was a problem there because he’s doing it wrote it but as a man he learned and and he astounded the people that listened to him.

They would say over and over again, where did this man get this learning? This man speak if not as other men speak. Why does he speak with such authority? Not like the scribes and the Pharisees. This man is different. And boy was he different. You see, Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. But as a man, he had to submit himself to the law that God had given to Moses on Mount Sinai, and he had to keep that law perfectly.

They came to him one day and says, Rabbi, what are the two greatest commandments? And he says, love the Lord thy God with all thy hard mind, body, soul and strength. And the second one is like that one. Now, I shall love thy neighbors thyself. Look what he says here in verse 28, Mark chapter 12. One of the scribes came and haven’t heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he had answered them well, ask him, which is the first commanditbart of all?

And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is here, oh Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Now, there’s a lot in just what he said right there, just in that one little statement. We won’t get into it right now. But every one of those words, whether it’s Elohim or whether it’s Jehovah, Adonai, all those words are used in that one verse, meaning that there is a unity in the Trinity. But anyway, verse 30, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength, which is the first commandment.

And the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And describe, said unto him, Well, Master, thou have said the truth. For there is one God, and there is none other but He.” Good statement. Now, pick your Bible and turn all the way over there to the book of Exodus in chapter 20. Exodus and chapter 20. in this chapter 20 gives us the law. God gave the law.

The law required perfection, and when perfection was not performed, there were sacrificial laws. So all the sacrificial laws, somebody or something innocent paying for the sin because the wages of sin is death. And so when you break the law, something has to die. And there were different kinds of sacrifices, whether you were rich or whether you were poor, and what type of sin you committed. When Jesus came, Jesus would have to keep the law perfectly. When He makes a statement here in Exodus chapter 20, and He says in verse 1, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought the out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shall have no other gods before me.” So that means that when Jesus came, he couldn’t have or worship any other God than God. You see, Jesus has to keep every law perfectly. When it makes the statement, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, body, soldiers, nobody ever did. But Jesus did. He had to do just that. So when he came into the world and literally lived his life in the nation of Israel, they would have to watch him to make sure did you keep the law in every jot and tittle.

Not only in the big things, but even in the little things. Did he keep the law? It means that while he was here, he has to steal. He has to love the Lord thy God. And whenever the Father looked over the banister of heaven and says, this is my beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased, it had to be because his Son was obeying him perfectly, not close, but perfectly. When he talks about he has to love thy neighbor as thyself, he did.

You realize all those miracles and things that he did. He did so because he loved his neighbor as himself. He provided fish sandwiches for everybody at one time, and he was able to make the lane to walk and the blind to see, the death to hear, the dumb to speak. He even raised the dead. Wouldn’t you like to have a neighbor like that? That he could do all those things for you if it needed to be done. Someone that would meet all of your needs really watched after you.

Boy, that would be some kind of a neighbor to have. You know, we often sing a song. Neighbors are kind. I love them everyone. We get along in and sweet accord, and you can get along with your wife, or your husband, or your children, or your parents. How we doing? You see, we can’t keep the law perfectly. Jesus had to keep the law perfectly in everything. So as you go down through here and you see all these things, and there’s some that refer to God and there’s some that refers to man.

And the way you show that you love man is by the last six and the way you show your love for God is by the first four, but they all go together as a package deal. You couldn’t pick and choose which one you wanted to keep. You see, they all hang together. And the Bible makes this statement, if you keep the whole law and offend in one point, you’re guilty of all of them. In other words, if you’re hanging over a cliff, ten links in a chain, and you’re hanging onto the last link, what link in the chain has to break before you fall?

Does it really matter? You’re mashed potatoes. So it won’t matter which one. You say, well, I never did this and this and this and this, yes. But if you ever told a lie, well, a little one, it was white. It was a white lie. You see, we don’t qualify and we never will take your Bible now and turn to the book of Matthew. In the book of Matthew, Jesus was born. In Matthew chapter one, it says in verse 18, now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise.

When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, she was engaged to him. Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. The child was not of man. This child was placed there by the Holy Spirit, placed the seed within Mary, and that holy thing would be called the Son of God. So you see, he didn’t have an earthly father. He only had a heavenly father. He had no sinful nature passed on down by the men.

A body has now prepared me. So Jesus was born of a woman but born in the time under the law that he might redeem them that were under the law. So the law condemns everybody in the whole world because nobody’s perfect. Nobody’s kept the law perfectly. So Jesus was born and when He was born the Bible says they looked for where He was born and they found out, yeah He’s gonna be born in Bethlehem Epheta. And it says in Micah chapter 5 verse 2, but thou Bethlehem Ephertot thou, thou be little among the thousands of Judea, yet out of thee shall He come forth.

That is to be ruler in Israel who’s going forth and been from all everlasting. Never had a beginning, never has an ending. This is where he’s going to be born. So you look there in verse 1 of chapter 2. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying, where is he that is born? Notice that phrase, king of the Jews. He’s the king.

Now in the book of Deuteronomy it makes the statement that when you get into the land and when you have a king, The king is supposed to know the law. The king is supposed to write the law. He has no excuse for not knowing the word of God. So every king was supposed to know the law. Do you think Jesus knew the law? He was the word. He was the law. And as you read the book of Matthew, you will find over and over and over again it says as it was written, as it was written.

That means in the Old Testament. Even after his resurrection he says he opened up the Scriptures concerning the law, the prophets and the Psalms concerning him. And they said, did not our hearts burn within us as he opened to us the Scriptures? Because see he’s the greatest teacher of all time. Wouldn’t you just like to set it his feet and let him tell you what it says, really says. Well, that would be wonderful. You’d be surprised when we get to heaven.

He might just have a little jam session with all of us and we can have questions and answers. Wouldn’t that be neat? I want to say, Lord, how did you do that creation thing? I want to. And I’d like to have a video of the flood and all that. But the Scriptures tell us that he was born King of the Jews that is born unto you this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord.

So the Lord was the Messiah. He was Christ. He was the King. So as you read the book of Matthew you’re seeing that Jesus Christ had the credentials to be the King. That’s why you have the genealogy in the book of Matthew showing that he had the right to claim the throne of Israel. Of course you and I know he was rejected, and crucified. And so unless Christ comes back again, no one can ever claim to be the king of Israel because he’s the king.

And the Bible says, and he was cut off, but not for himself. In the book of Isaiah 53, no one can claim the throne after Jesus because he was the only one they had to write to claim the throne. And no, he was not married, and no, he did not have kids. Doesn’t matter what somebody writes and what somebody says, all that junk is trash. And so he was the king and he was raised as a prince. Now, where he was born, you wouldn’t think that.

And where he had to live down in Egypt for a few years, that doesn’t look like it. But he had made this statement in prophecy out of Egypt, I have called my son. Though it’s a prophecy, but also the nation of Israel was down in Egypt and he called them out. But also he had sent his son down there and called him out when the time was right. And so as you go through and you read this, look there in chapter three of the book of Matthew.

In verse one, in those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now there’s two things that I think will help you. One is the kingdom of God and two, the kingdom of heaven. So what’s the main difference between the two? majority of Bible scholars and what I was taught at Florida Baba College and I haven’t been able to dispute what they’ve said is the kingdom of God is that spiritual realm that you are born into by the Spirit of God.

And so that’s from the first man to the last man, that’s the kingdom of God. It’s a spiritual realm and Jesus had told Nicodemus he says, unless you’re born again you cannot see or or enter into the kingdom of God. Now the kingdom of heaven is that thousand year reign upon the earth because the king came from heaven to set up his kingdom. The king was rejected, the kingdom was postponed and moved out into the future. But when Christ came, he came and was born king of the Jews.

So he was going to set up his kingdom upon the earth. So he chose some men. He formed his cabinet. He established his Constitution, as we would call him sometimes the bylaws. How are you going to run this kingdom? So Jesus, as you read the book of Matthew, pictures Jesus Christ as the King, as the lion, as the head of Israel, governmental wise, because He was called the prophet, the priest, and the king. All three things. He is the spirit of prophecy.

He is the answer of all prophecy, the fulfillment of prophecy. He is the priest because he was the great high priest that had the right, the only one that did, to go into the holy of holies and offer the blood sacrifice upon the altar for the sins of the world and split open the veil from top to bottom because now we have access on to the Father because of the blood of Jesus Christ. And one day Christ will be king.

He will literally rule upon this earth. That is coming in the future. But we have here in the book of Matthew, I believe the revelation of the purity of Christ in word thought and deed because he has to meet all the criterias. He has to perfectly fulfill all the law. So as you read the book of Matthew, you will see that it deals an awful lot with the law and it gives you the impression that you have to do all these good works.

Well remember, if a man could earn his salvation, then he should. Did you know there’s only one person that’s ever lived that never could have been lost? He never had to send to pay for, but everybody else has failed. We’ve all sinned and come short of God’s perfection. The law is perfect. There’s nothing wrong with the law. The Bible says what’s wrong with the law is the weakness of man. Man can’t keep the law. He cannot love God the way God demands.

Man cannot, he doesn’t have it within him to love his neighbor as himself. We’re all selfish. We think about what we want, how we want to live our own way. We are rebellious by nature. And so therefore we would love to please God in every area of our life, but we don’t. We fail. Regardless of your intentions, regardless of your motive, you come short of fulfilling your heart’s desire. So as you go through here, he talks about the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven.

I just want you to see this in verse 17, where he makes a statement and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Well pleased because my Son pleases me in all things. He doesn’t mess up. That’s why in the book of Isaiah, he says, My righteous branch shall come, the root out of a dry ground, the root of Jesse. He’s coming and he is perfect. He will please me. He is the righteous branch.

That one thing, that one little tree that comes up and has no bad fruit on it. Because Jesus had made the statement, every tree that God did not plant, he won’t destroy. That means everybody in the world that has a sinful nature is going to be cut down. It means we’re all going to die. But Jesus Christ, he never had a sin, so he didn’t have to die. He did that willingly. God could only use a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world.

So Jesus had to come and he had to keep the law perfectly, not just in obeying some do’s and don’ts, but about his love, about his motive, about as the Bible talks about grace, tempering it with judgment. He says some of these things you’ve done, he says, but some of these other things you haven’t done, you’ve shown no mercy, no understanding, no kindness. And so as you go through and you see all the things that he has done. It’s very rewarding.

But he says, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven. Not look in chapter 5. Chapter 5, it makes the statement in verse 1, and seeing the multitude, he went up into a mountain. When he was set his disciples came out of him, he opened his mouth and taught them in saying, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs of the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn for they He shall be confident. Goes all the way down through here, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed.

Did you know that He has to do all of this that He’s telling them they should do? Whatever it is, He commands them as a man He has to do too. He has to do everything perfectly. He cannot mess up in any way, shape, or form. So as you go through, He’s talking about there is going to be the kingdom of heaven upon this earth. He came to rule. Now He hasn’t been rejected yet. He hasn’t been crucified yet.

His offer of the kingdom was legitimate. Him as the king, he met the criteria. He was to speak in parables76561 which he did. He had to keep the law which he did. There was no reason ][ for them not to accept him as the king, but they didn’t accept him. And so he makes the statement as he goes through chapter 5, all these things that deals with your heart, your love, the way you treat others, how they treat you and what you do in response.

Because you see, like he says up here in verse eight, blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers in verse nine. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. All this has to do with the kingdom of heaven, that rule upon the earth. And you see, to enter into the kingdom of heaven without dying, well, then you had to earn the right to get in. Because you see, you had to be perfect.

Nobody’s perfect. So he uses the law to show that nobody, nobody is as righteous as he is. No one could point their finger at him at any time and say, you’re not qualified. He was the only one that was. And so he would show scripture over and over again that they should know and understand. Now look there in chapter 5 and verse 17. Verse 7 he says, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets.

I am not come to destroy, but to what? To fulfill the law. That means every jot and every tittle. Every little spy, everything that the law said, he has to do it all. And he’s talking about also that the Word of God is such that it cannot be broken. The Word of God is not to be contaminated, corrupted in any way. The Word of God is perfect. Jesus Christ came to fulfill the law. In verse 18, for barely I sinned you till heaven and earth past one jot or one tittle, shall it know wise past from the law to all be fulfilled.

So when Jesus Christ came, he not only has to keep the law, he has to fulfill all the law says in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning him. When he came, he has to fulfill and that’s why over and over again you see all these references to the Old Testament as it is written, as it is written. It was fulfilled. It means it was prophesied. And so when Christ comes, He has to perfectly fulfill every prophecy. I mean, fulfill means fill it full.

And then nothing left that has to be done. Now there are some prophecies that deal with the future. But this is talking about concerning the Messiah, where He was born, how we live, what they would do to Him. I would think His righteous branched in which there would be no flaws whatsoever. He would be the perfect lamb for the sins of the world. No flaw could be found in him. So as you go through here and you see all of this, some good teaching.

That’s why in verse 20 he says, but I see into you that accept your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. You shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. How is the normal person going to be and live better than the Pharisees who knew the law, but didn’t keep the law because they had added so many more laws and he makes a statement in the book of Matthew later on. He says, there are a bunch of hypocrites.

He says, they won’t lift their little pinky to help anybody, to do anything for anybody. They do whatever they do to be seen of men. He says, they make broad, they file factories and so forth. And he says, they do all this in the dress and their long prayers to be seen of men. He says, I, hypocrites. It’s not because they love God or because they love them. They love the praise of man. They do it to be seen of man.

So they didn’t like Jesus because he revealed their hypocrisy. And he called it, says this is what they’re really like. They’re like a white and seperica. It’s beautiful on the outside, but inside is dead men’s bones. Pucking about the religious leaders of his day. Do we have anybody like that today? Yes. Beautiful on the outside. say all these wonderful things, but inside is dead men’s bones, stinks to high heaven, because they do it to be seen of man. They want everybody to like him.

So look what he says. Here in verse 21, ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill. Well, where is that thou shalt not kill? I know it’s in the Old Testament somewhere. In fact, I like clue. That’s one of the law thou shalt not kill But I say unto you You see not only must Jesus not kill He cannot get angry in an unjustifiable without cause manner That’s why what he’s talking about is the purpose behind Thou shalt not kill.

Why would you kill? because you’re mad and you’re angry and you’re filled with vengeance and that deals with your attitude. It means that there’s somebody you don’t love because now you’re filled with hate. So you see it’s more than just thou shalt not kill. When Jesus was here he had to show the other part of him, the temperance, the attitude, the motive. They couldn’t find fault in anything Jesus said and did. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr.

Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. 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. 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible and 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. live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.