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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 Your prayers and monthly support make it possible for a 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 you ought to understand that God can take the devil and use his wicked devices to put you right where he wants you to accomplish exactly what he wants to accomplish. So I want you to look at this verse and you’ll notice there in verse 11 where he says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

It’s not like God stops the devil, but He tells you how to prepare for the devil. So God doesn’t tell us what He’s going to do tomorrow, and God doesn’t tell us all the ways in which the devil is going to try to get us tomorrow. But we do know and understand that the devil is on our trail, and he is like a roaring lying seeking whom he may devour. So, I mean, if I’m God’s child and God really loves me, God’s not gonna let Satan get me.

Is he? I mean, God’s not gonna let the devil ruin my life. Is he? Why wouldn’t God allow the devil to get the best of me? Don’t he care about me? And when he talks about knowing the wiles of the devil, you don’t have to know everything all you’ve been. God has given to us the weapons of warfare. And if we’ll do what God says, do, we’ll have what we need to battle tomorrow. But if God told us in advance all the details, the exact details of tomorrow’s battle, we may not want to face tomorrow.

It could be so disurgent, so disheartening. And God doesn’t even tell us in advance some of the great blessings we’re going to have tomorrow. Did you know just me receiving a couple of these letters, do you know that is heartwarming to my soul? Do you think I’ve got another kinds of letters? I have. I’ve had some where people are just taking me to the task. I mean, just whoop the daylights out of me. And I thought, why do they feel that way toward me?

I don’t feel that way toward them. Why don’t everybody love me? I’m such a lovable guy. I don’t bother anybody. All I do is try to win people to learn, challenge them to serve the Lord. What’s the problem? And especially God’s people ought to be for me, right? Not against me, but not everybody’s gonna be for you. You already know that in advance. You just don’t know who it’s gonna come from and how it’s gonna be and what time of the day.

And there’s all kind of things. But God in his wisdom has saw fit not to reveal them. Let me just mention this to you. Call this important to know. You remember that there were times when Judas, the Bible says, he bear out of the bag what was put into the bag. What did that make him? A thief. He was like the secretary for the group. He was in charge of the finance. He was in charge of the finance committee.

And so he would take out. So he was a thief. the devil I don’t believe can read your mind but I do believe he can read the impressions upon your face and I believe that he might be able to see and tell what kind of an attitude you have when you know the will of God and you refuse to do it. He also might be able to read your actions you think that’s possible? Do you think the devil could have saw when he was taking money out of the the till and and could say now this is the guy I’m gonna get.

And this is the guy that I’m going to get to betray the Lord. Did you know that by Him betraying the Lord so that He would be killed? Fulfill the will of God. Did you know that the devil in thinking that he finally has defeated Jesus actually produced the victory? Because Christ came back from the dead. And Christ, even though it was ordained by God that He would die at the hands of wicked men, God has fulfilled His will in that He raised Him from the dead.

So Satan does and does not know everything. I’ve often wondered why it seems like throughout the Scriptures, over a span of about 15 to 1600 years, with all these writers, up to 40 different writers, and all these years, prophecy was written far enough in advance that the guy who wrote it could not fulfill it. So it could not be said he made it happen. He said it and then he made it happen. But God would allow one man to reveal one thing and then a couple hundred years past, another man reveals something and then a couple hundred year later another man reveals something.

And I believe there are several reasons for that. One is so that the devil would not know the plan of God. Now he might know overall that there’s something going to happen and a Messiah may be on his way, but he doesn’t understand everything. He even misquoted Scripture. And if he had known that Jesus Christ was going to have to die and pay for our sins on the cross, well, he might have said, hey, well, I’m not going that route.

I need to change this thing here. And maybe that’s why he was trying to kill him in the Garden of Gethsemane. I don’t know. But I know that the devil is not God. He does not have the ability to know everything and he does not read thoughts. The Bible says Christ could do this, but not the devil. But he will try to interject thoughts into your mind. So he even told Satan, the Bible says that he entered into Judas and got him to portray the Son of God.

Why would the Scriptures be written in such a way that even when Jesus was born, why didn’t Satan know where Jesus was going to be born? Did he understand Micah chapter 5? There’s two. without Bethlehem, Africa, though there will be little among the thousands of Judea. Yet I’ll be, shall he come forth, to be ruler in Israel, who’s going forth to have been from old everlasting. Did he know that? Why couldn’t he have found a way to tell Herod so that Herod could have been here in advance and haven’t killed?

See, there’s a lot that we don’t know that goes on behind the scenes. But God has seen fit to word things in such a way. And even with his disciples, the Bible says, even when he told them of his crucifixion, it says that they understood not for these things were hidden from them. He hid them from them. So because if those disciples had known precisely what was going to take place, is it possible that they might have tried to intervene, change the out course?

If you knew what was going to happen to you tomorrow, Angel is going to have a wreck on the corner of Hillsborough and Sheldon. He’s going to have a wreck. What would you do? He wouldn’t go there. He said, not this boy. Not this boy. I’m not going there. So if God says, this is going to happen at two o’clock that tomorrow you’re going to go by the bank and there’s going to be a robbery and you’re going to get shot and killed.

Well, what would you do? You would not go buy that bank because you knew what was going to happen so you would avoid it. So you could change the out course of the plan of God. Maybe that’s what God wanted. God in his wisdom knows that it’s best for you and I. And this is why he wants us to trust him day by day. if he was to give you a written detail of tomorrow, did you know the old devil would know exactly what to do to you tomorrow?

So he has to wait till tomorrow, too. Isn’t that wonderful? Both of us have to wait till tomorrow and fight it out again every day of our life. But if we yield ourselves to the Lord, He will guide us and protect us and use us and we’ll have the armor that we need to fight the old devil. And God says that whenever the battle is over, there’s no more work to do that God’s going to take us on out of here.

Some good stuff. Take your Bible and turn to 1 Timothy chapter 1, 1 Timothy and chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. I want to show you just a couple of thoughts here. 1 Timothy chapter 1, and notice they’re in verse 20. And it says this, of whom is Hymenius and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. So evidently there’s somebody that had overthrew the faith of some of God’s people and it says that they knew this but they have made shipwreck of their faith and so it makes a statement also there in chapter 2 of 2 Timothy but we won’t look at that right Now, where it says that they taught things that were not true and overthrew the faith of some, but is it possible that the Lord may turn you over to the devil that you may learn a lesson,

that you may learn? To them, not to blaspheme, but for somebody else it might be a different story. God can use the devil. Remember, God did not stop the devil from tempting Peter. Remember, he says, Satan hath desired thee that he may sift you as wheat. Why didn’t God stop the devil from doing it? But he didn’t. He allowed the devil and in what did Peter wind up doing, denied the Lord three times. Did you know the devil was behind that?

Peter never had any inkling that he would do such a thing. Christ already knew what was going to happen and he just happened to tell him before the cockroach thrice you’re going to deny me. You are going to deny me three times. See, Jesus already knew and he already knew who was behind it and how he’s going to influence you. And though he told Peter, it was said that when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. You see, there’s lessons for you and I to learn.

And when we lift ourselves up with pride, God utilizes whatever necessary to teach us valuable lessons. Look in 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians in chapter 2. I want you to see this. Even though this is during the tribulation period, this is when the Antichrist is going to be revealed. But he’s going to deceive the people because they would not believe the truth. But if this can happen then, cannot it happen now? Not that the Antichrist is here, but how the devil works.

So you see there in verse nine, even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan. Remember Satan is at work. The devil is as a roaring lion. Now the Lord is at work, the devil is at work. work. And you and I are supposed to be at work.” And then he makes a statement, with all power and sign and lying wonders, and with all the civil bonus of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.

Now here you and I are. Why did it happen to them because they would not believe the truth? So the devil is able to capture them with a lie. So remember, if you understand, Christ wants to capture you with truth and bring all of our thoughts into captivity to the Lord. Well, the devil wants to capture your mind, but he can’t do it with truth. He uses a lie. He deceives you. It’s what he does and makes a statement because they believe not the truth.

In verse 11, and for this cause, God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie. In other words, you won’t believe the truth, then I’ll let you believe the lie. Alright, that’s doing the tribulation period. But how Satan works there is also how Satan works now. That’s also how Satan worked with Adam and Eve. Deceive, lie. Why did they yield in the tribulation period? Because they believe not the truth. What about you and I? Every time the Word of God is taught, you’re learning truth.

And whatever truth you don’t learn could have been the truth that would have kept you from believing a lie. So therefore there’s many of God’s children that believe lies and they’re deceived and they waste their life, they spend their wheels and never accomplish what God wants them to because the devil has sown his seeds of deception. So he look what he says here in verse 11 and for this cause God shall send them strong delusions. Well, who are the delusions coming from?

From the liar, from the devil. You see, God can use the devil to accomplish His will. God can use every individual for His honor and for His glory. I told a man one day, he had trusted Christ as Savior, but he didn’t want to serve the Lord. And I told him, I said, you know, God can get glory out of your life, whether by life or death. I said, you know, God could take your life, have a lot of people come to your funeral and a lot of people trust the Lord.

Now wouldn’t you rather Him have these people trust the Lord because you’re alive or because you’re dead? What would you prefer? You know sometimes it wakes people up. You got to jar them. You know the scripture talked about, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. Do you like being rebuked? You don’t, huh? What if the preacher rebuked you sharply? So let hurt my feelings. That’d make me mad. I’d get even with him in class. But what if God says to do it?

I would be disobedient if I didn’t do it. Now, if you were me, what would you do? Don’t you hide your head, Peter? I’m looking at you. But But you see, there’s things that God has put into his word. Take your Bible looking, 1 Timothy 4, 1 Timothy and 4. 1 Peter 4, look in verse 15. Make it chapter 5 and verse 15. First mistake I’ve made today. Devil made me do that. And verse 15 of chapter 5 says, for some are already turned aside unto Satan.

Already turned aside, unto Satan. that’s God’s children making bad decisions. Also look there in 2 Timothy in chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and we had mentioned this before, can a Christian be taken captive by the devil? Can the devil capture you? Yes. That means you become his slave, you’re trapped. But notice what he says in verse 26, and that they may recover themselves. Recover themselves. Out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

You see, that’s why you find up there in verse 15, Study to show thyself approved unto God. A workman that need if not to be ashamed, rightly divided into the word of truth. And if you don’t know truth, you cannot discern error. And if you don’t know the truth, you’re easily deceived. And it will seem right. Remember it says in the over in the book of Proverbs over and over again, there is a way that seameth right unto a man.

This is wrong, but it seems right. Have you ever argued about something that seems right to you and you find that later it was wrong? If I ever have that happen, I’m gonna admit it. You know I’m joking, you know that. But it is so important to realize that the only way to be released out of Satan’s little prison is to believe the truth. Christ says, if you know the truth, the truth shall make you free. But if you don’t believe the truth, you’ll believe the lie.

And if you believe the lie, it will capture you. It will so disappoint you and discourage you that you don’t even want to face tomorrow because you feel like God has let me down, and you had high expectations, and they weren’t met the way you thought they ought to be met. I am so glad that I have no idea what’s gonna happen tomorrow. Now I know that God’s gonna be with me, so I don’t have to worry about that.

I know the Holy Spirit lives within me, so I know I got all the power I need for whatever’s gonna happen tomorrow, but I also know that tomorrow, the devil could use a hundred people to say something against me. that I would say, when we’re all I’m gonna go out in the garden and eat worms, I’ll pet rock night. You know, everything is bad. But I should know that before tomorrow comes, but I don’t know all the details. I don’t want to know all the details.

Or I may not even get out of bed in the morning. Say, safe right here. And a little did I know that I stayed in bed that day. That’d be a sinkhole. Wouldn’t that be a scary thought? I’m safe here. Did you know you can break your neck getting out of the bathtub? What’s the motto? Don’t take baths. I finally got an amen over here from Mike. I think it was Mike. That would be a terrible thing to happen though.

It really would. I want to just read a couple of thoughts to you that I had wrote down. God spread prophecies out over the years so man could not make it happen by his planning. but also to keep knowledge, I believe, from the devil. If the disciples had known all the details, they might have tried to change the course of history or from God’s will from being accomplished. If Satan knew he could work to destroy those plans, if Satan knew it.

I wrote down this last little phrase on my notes. Praise the Lord. Nobody knows but Him. I’m so glad that devil don’t know what’s going to happen to me tomorrow because he doesn’t know how God’s going to work. And he’s not God. He is not omniscience. He is not all wise. He’s not all knowing. He’s not. He’s not omnipotent. He’s not. He’s not omnipresent. God is. And I’d rather just walk every day trusting the Lord and see what He has for me.

And that’s why you’re supposed to lean upon Him every day and look to the Lord every day. Remember that one little prayer mentioned over there in the book of Matthew chapter 6? Give us this day our monthly bread, weekly bread, daily. It means to be in dependence upon the Lord every day, every day, because you don’t know what’s coming tomorrow. And he says to him that know if to do good, it means to commit tomorrow to the Lord because you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.

And to do other than that God says it is sin. To him that know if to do good and do it to not to him it is sin. So that means that every day I’m supposed to, if the Lord will, we’ll do this or that, but I’m going to trust the Lord. And I believe that God will open up doors and I believe God can close doors and I believe God can protect. But I also believe that according to the Scriptures, if I choose to be rebellious to the Lord that God can turn me over to the devil for the destruction of the flesh.

I’d rather just serve the Lord. And I know God will bless. Look up here. Here are watching by internet. And this is an amazing day, every once in a while, we hear from somebody. Who knows how far people watch on the internet. And I had a letter that I got this last week from, well, I think I had Peter read it last week about somebody from another state that says, hey, we’re over here in Nebraska and we’re also listening to the broadcast.

But anyway, this is you and me and this is sin. We are all sinners. God loves us. You realize how many times I repeat that? God loves us. And I hate our sin, but He loves us. Because a lot of people, they don’t know and they don’t believe God loves them, but He does love us. But it hates what we do wrong. But the Bible says, for us, the pay for the wrong that we did against God is eternal separation from Him in Hell.

But He loves us and wants us to go to heaven. And to go to heaven we’d have to be perfect just as righteous as God. And none of us are perfect. None of us are righteous. We’re all sinners. We’ve all come short of God’s perfection. So God says, you can’t save yourself. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord, God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loved us. He hates our sin because it separates us from him So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die So he took all the sin of all the world Payed for it on the cross and came back from the dead and said that if we would believe that he did it for us He would put the payment our account and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us

That is Salvation being saved from hell by grace. You don’t deserve it. We don’t deserve it But God loves us that much. Let’s pray shawty Every head bowed and every eye closed and no one looking around if you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior Would you trust him tonight? Because you don’t have a clue when you’re gonna die the road to hell is paved with good intentions and You might think well, I’ll I’ll do that right before I die What power do you have over when you’re going to die, or how you’re going to die, or if you’ll be even in your right mind when you die.

So a wise person will accept Christ as their Savior right now. It’s the smartest thing you could ever do. The devil will lie to you and deceive to you and say it’s not that important. You can do it later, but why not right now in the quietness of this moment, just between you and the Lord. Say something simple like this, Lord, I know I’m a sinner. And I believe Christ died on that cross, paid for my sins, and I’m going to trust Him as my only hope of going to heaven.

And if you’ll do that, God said He would save you, give eternal life. If you will, I’d like to pray for you. Would you slip you in a very quickly and put it right back down? By that you mean, yes, pray for me, I will accept Christ right now as my Savior. If you will trust him, he said he would save you from hell, give you eternal life. Our Father, we thank you so much for all that you’ve done for us.

And we’re thankful, Lord, that in your wisdom you saw fit not to reveal the future to us. Except telling us that yet there’s a heaven and yes there’s a hell. Yes you’re coming back, but you didn’t even tell us when. And Father, one day we’ll stand at the judgment seat of Christ and be rewarded for the things that we’ve done, but you didn’t tell us how long we were going to live. Father, there are some things in your wisdom you’ve seen fit to keep from us.

But you said in your word, the secret thing belonged unto you. Help us to learn to walk with you and to trust you. And Father, we don’t know what tomorrow may bring forth. But we know that you are in charge and we trust you. We lean upon you. And Father, help each one of us here to humble ourselves under your mighty hand. Trust in that in due time you’ll raise us up according to your will. In Christ’s 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 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 broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.