This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, 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 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.

Sometimes we wonder why should I study the Bible? I can’t remember what a red study diversions memorize them the next day. I can’t remember what it was Have you been there? Seems like sometimes it’s just a waste of time Because sometime you don’t see any immediate results from what you do well There was an old man that lived up in the woods still use an old stove and the cold that he put into it. So of course it was cold dust everywhere.

But his grandson decided to come and visit him. He spent a few days with Grandpa. While he was there, Grandpa says, you know, we need to read our Bibles. So he’d get out the Bible and he’d read. Told the grandson, you know, you need to memorize scripture. He said to Grandpa, He said, I tried reading the Bible and I don’t understand what I’m reading. And I tried to memorize verses and I can’t remember the verses. I don’t see that it’s going to help me one eye, Oda, it’s not going to be any good.

And he said, I go to Sunday school year after year and it doesn’t do anything for me. So grandpa thought that I might have just dropped that subject for a little while. He says, I see that old basket over there that I get cold in. He said, I want you to take it down here to the creek and get some water and bring it up here. So the grandson, the be obedient, he got that basket and he went down there and put water in it.

But before he could get back up there, all the water leaked out. He said, you’re going to buy all the water and it leaked out. He said, well go get some more. So he went back down there and got some more water. Thought he’d walkyond a little bit faster this time. to watch a little bit faster, but when he got up there, all the water was leaked out. Here’s a grandpa. I can’t get in the water up here because it’s just too far, and all the water gets out of it.

He’s going to just go get some more and run faster. So he went back down there and got some more water and ran as fast as he could to get up there, but when he got up there, all the water leaked out. He said, Grandpa, what’s the use? There’s no sense in it. Three times I’ve done it. Why should I keep doing it? I’m not getting any water up here. So he looked at his grandson and he says, look at that basket.

He looked at the basket. He says, it’s cleaning it. He said, yeah. See, it’s not that the water has to stay. it has to run through. When you and I study the Word of God, you may not remember all the sermons you’ve heard the preach of preach. And you may not be able to recall all those verses that you thought you’d memorize when you was in a wanner, you know, Sunday school, devotions. But the constant running of the water helps you to stay clean.

It’s just keep studying the word. You don’t have to remember everything. But just like this, you have probably eaten how many meals over your lifetime? How many meals? And yet today you would say, after I get through, I’m gonna go get something to eat. Why? After about 4,000, 5,000 meals. Shouldn’t you be full, my though? But you see, you start to keep on eating some more. And that’s the way it is with the Word of God. Now believe it or not, years ago, I decided to go to Florida Bible College.

I was 22 years old, and I was learning how to walk by faith, live by faith. And I’ll have to admit, I didn’t know too much about it. But it was the one in, I think, my first year of Bible college. college, they told me I had to write a paper. I’m not used to writing a paper of any kind. I’d already been out of school for six years, I guess. So now I’m back in school and I got to write a paper.

And so they said, just pick a topic and write something on it. Well, I did. I picked a topic. Betty was going through some stuff today and she found my paper. It It was written about 1966. And the subject was faith by Ralph Arnold. And I had to turn it in to get a grade. The grade they gave me was a B. It should have been an A plus and I know that. They gave me a B. The subject was on faith.

I hadn’t learned a lot of things yet. I was just beginning to learn. I was in college because of my faith, what I believed. So they had asked me if I would write a paper. I sat there and I looked at a part of it that Betty had showed to me and I said, honey, that’s good. That was 47 years ago. 47 years ago, I wrote this. Now I want to read it, part of it to you. And I want to share some things with you.

But you’ll have an insight into my thinking 47 years ago. And why my faith is, I think, as strong as it is today. I don’t know if it’s stronger than it was, but the principles found in it is still the same. So I hadn’t graduated. I was just a first-year student. So this is what I wrote. Why won’t you listen to every word? Don’t you go to sleep on me.

Bobby, I want you to keep an eye. If anybody goes to sleep on me, I want you to bottom in the nose. All right. For you that are watching my internet, he’s blind as a bad, he can’t see you. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11-1. Faith has its beginning and ending with God. By this I mean God is the Father of faith. just as Satan is the father of unbelief.

The Bible says there is one father of mankind, but it is the devil and not God. Year of your father the devil and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and the bow not in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh the lie, he speaketh of his own for he is a liar in the father of it. John chapter eight verse 44. Every person born has the same nature rebellion against God in unbelief as Satan their father has.

So God is, or man is born in sin, lives in sin and dies a sinner from start to finish. When a man accepts Christ as a Savior, he is born again by his faith in the payment made for him. A child of God is born by faith, lives by faith, and dies with his faith in Christ from start to finish. In the gospel we see the righteousness of God reveal from faith to faith from its 117. From faith to faith means the just who are saved by faith are to live by faith.

It is the nature of the natural man to be like the Father which he has. Now this section right here they wrote on here and underlined it poorly stated. And you believe they said that about my writing. It is also the nature of the new man to be like the Father which he has. When one trusts Jesus Christ as his Savior, he then receives a godly nature which means that now he has two natures from fathers which are contrary one to the other.

What I meant was when you’re born into the world you have an old sinful nature from the old devil and you trust Christ as your Savior you have a nature from your new Father. So you We’ve got two fathers, two different ages. The thing mentioned so far will be commented on further on, but to begin with the, we must see how faith begins with God. I thought this was interesting back then. I’m not saying I was totally accurate in all of my dissertation, but since the believer begins his new birth by the hearing of the word, I will begin with the word of God.

By the word of the Lord, were the heavens made? And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth, Psalms 33, 6. God could never have spoken for the heavens and the earth to be made if he did not have faith in his own word. That what he promised or commanded would be done. For he, God, spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. He also says, when it writes, for these words are true and faithful.

Revelation 21, 2, and 1. 5. The Lord could never make a promise without the faith in himself to perform it. God who cannot lie knew the faithfulness of himself. Therefore he could say let there be light and know that light would appear. The Lord could say seek, knowing that he would let you find, he could say ask, knowing that he would give, and he could say not knowing that he He would open unto you. God knew that He was faithful.

The Father also has faith in the Holy Spirit. But the comforter which is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance. Whatsoever I have said unto you, God says the comforter will bring us comfort by teaching us all things and then in time of need bring these things to our remembrance. God has faith in the Holy Spirit to fulfill these promises. Because you see when you make promises somebody has to fulfill it.

So God has faith in confidence in what He promised. God has faith in the Holy Spirit to fulfill these promises. Our comfort depends upon how much we let the Holy Spirit teach us the word because He gives us comfort by bringing these scriptures to our remembrance. If we greet the Holy Spirit from teaching us the Word of God, we cannot have His comfort when we need it. Happiness is the hardest thing to find among Christians because they refuse to heed the instructions and warnings of God.

When there is unbelief, there is sadness. Our comfort also depends upon the ever abiding presence of the sent Holy Spirit. I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28 verse 20. God would have to be faithful in order for us to be obedient because our obedience depends upon God’s faithfulness.Known He trusts the Holy Spirit to give us power to witness, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is upon you, and he shall be witnesses unto me, Acts 1 8.

He trusted the Holy Spirit to quicken the body of Jesus Christ, been put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. 1 Peter 3 18. God shows his faith in his Son by sending him to do a work that meant absolute obedience in his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, and his intercession for those who trust Him as their Savior. To our surprise, we find that God has faith in His children, because in 1 Thessalonians 2, 4, but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak.

One of the greatest things a man can have is to know that someone has faith or confidence in Him. You see here that God has faith in us by entrusting us with the gospel because when you stop and think about it, all the work that Christ did on the cross and then put that message into the hands of sinful men and entrusting us to get the message to the world is that trust God has put something into our trust.

anyway, as I’m moving right along. Just to have a mother or father to have faith in you is of great price. But when our Father in heaven tells us that He has faith in us is joy and speakable. The one thing we cannot explain is why God would trust us to do a certain job when He knows ahead of time, we will fail Him. If we believe not or doubt do not trust, Yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself.

2 Timothy 2, 13. I do not want to betray the Lord, who has entrusted me with the gospel. Paul says, I am dead or both to the Greeks and to the barbarian, both to the wise and to the unwise Romans 1, 14. Can Paul be indebted without Owing? And can he be owing unless he has been entrusted something? Then Paul says he is not ashamed to preach the gospel. God would not ask us to do something we could not do.

He could not ask us to have faith in him if he did not have faith in himself. Since he has never failed himself, we can have confidence in knowing he cannot fail us. Our faithfulness to God depends upon God’s faithfulness to us. When he says, go ye therefore and teach all nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Lord would have to be faithful to enable you to go, to enable you to teach, and to enable you to baptize.

Many Christians wonder whether they have enough faith or not. It is not how much faith you have, but it’s whom you put your faith in that counts. A man can have faith in his wife, his job car, help people, and his religion. And people say that this man has a lot of faith. Great faith does not depend upon the quantity of your faith, but the quality of your faith. What is its foundation? Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith, Matthew 8, 26?

a word little referred to the size or the amount of their faith or does it show the object of their faith? The disciples ring the ship when Jesus was asleep, when the waves begin to cover the ship. Was there faith in Christ or in the ship? What brought the fear? Was it the storm or a lack of faith in Christ? There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts us out fear, 1 John 4, 18. perfect love will bring perfect faith which will bring perfect peace.

Peter could walk on the sea until he saw the winds. He began to sink as soon as he began to doubt Matthew 1431. For one to doubt fear or not believe makes faith of none effect. Is it any wonder Jesus said unto the centurion? Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great, no, not in Israel.” Matthew 8, 10. What was the object of his faith? Matthew 8, 8 says, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

His faith was in a great object, his word. Whether your faith is great or small depends upon who has your faith. God’s definition of strong faith is explained in Romans 4, 21, and fully persuaded that what he had promised he was also able to perform. The main thing is to be fully persuaded in the thing which possess your faith, because Abraham staggered not at God’s promise to unbelief but was fully persuaded in faith, God received the glory. When the daughter of Jarius was at issue of blood twelve years, she was made whole when and she touched the hymn of Jesus’ garment.

And Jesus immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, Mark 5.30, the word virtue in the Greek is dynamon, which means power. Even though the multitude pressed upon him, she was fully persuaded that she would be healed if she but touched the hymn of his garment. Faith determines what you risk. To have power in your Christian life, must have faith in the one who has power. Let me read it again. To have power in your Christian life you must have faith in the one who has power.

God exchanges his power for your faith. Faith in him also gives power to save souls, to witness, to love the brethren, to love his word, to pray and to bring peace in your life. God uses circumstances, disappointments, and despair to close us in until we are ready to take the way of faith. When these things arise, God’s children usually panic from a lack of experience, lack of knowledge, lack of a willingness to serve the Lord and a lack of faith.

The testings of God to His children are to shut them up to faith. The nature of the old man is sin and unbelief. The nature of the new man is righteousness by faith. Works of righteousness cannot be produced without faith. Neither can there be faith without the production of righteousness. We are commanded to walk with the Lord but not by sight. For we walk by faith, not by sight, 2 Corinthians 5 and 7. Unless the just are living by His faith in God, He is not living as far as God is concerned.

Can we not see why God says in Romans 14, 23, and whatsoever is not a faith is sin. This is why the just shall live by his faith, Habakkah 2.4. In the New Testament, Paul takes one statement and writes three books on it. Romans explains the just. And who they are. Galatians tells the just that they shall live because he no longer has a claim upon them. Galatians 2 19. That they might live under God. And Hebrew shows how the just are to live by faith.

God uses many things in the Christian’s life to teach us to live by faith. God leads us into difficulties in order that we may trust him to lead us out. Man’s extremities may be providential or may be forced upon us or may be of our own creation. Regardless, they are God’s opportunities to use them for our good, for it has been proven that they are not hiding places from God but meeting places with God. Faith is usually born of despair because faith works better when there is no natural hope.

And there’s this little poem that I put in here. Doubt sees the obstacles, faith sees the way. Doubt sees the darksome night, faith sees the day. Doubt dreads to take the step, faith sores on high. Doubt whispers who believes? Faith answers, I. Another definition of faith is confidence in others, reliance upon testimony. True faith is composed of the following, knowledge, belief, and trust. Knowledge, one must be informed before he can have faith. This is true in the things of man, so it is in Christ.

It is impossible to have faith in Christ without the word of God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God,” Romans 10, 17. Sometimes we may ask for more faith, but this is out of order. To increase one’s faith, one has only to read more of the word of God because a person can have faith, but he also must know that it exists. Number two, belief. The second element of faith is belief. Everyone knows what belief means, that is to accept it as the truth.

People can know that there is a Savior by the name of Jesus and believe that He can save. Yet this is not saving faith to have faith in a chair. One must know that it exists and believe that it can hold Him up. Still, this is not complete faith in the chair until the third element is involved. And that is number three, trust. Trust is essential to faith in everything. It is most essential in saving faith. It is one thing to know that Christ died and believe it.

It is quite another thing to trust Him. The dying and resurrected Savior for salvation. Let us take the chair again for example. The one knows that a chair exists and believes that it can hold him up, but faith in that chair is not exercised until he sets in it. Are you trusting completely in Christ for your salvation, in whom you also trusted. After that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, Ephesians 1, 13. We see according to this that faith comes by hearing and then trusting what you hear.

In order to trust more, you have to hear more. It is to have, or as we have seen, how God has faith in himself, the Holy Spirit, the children, and his son, we should come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. Because that Jesus was faithful to the death of the cross and stands now on the right hand of God as faithful high priest. God has not asked us to die for him, but to live for him.

And without faith it is impossible to please him. Hebrews 11-6. Galatians 2-20 says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lived in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. When our Father makes us a promise, we as children of faith should trust the one whom we have never seen to fulfill for us what we cannot see.

If I trust the Lord to give me a car than I would patience wait for it. We’re not too scheme and connive to bring about the ways of God to supply our need of the ways of man. If I do not wait for the car, then I am not trusting. When the car comes, I no longer hope for it because the end or results of my faith is finished. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope.

For what a man seeeth, why does he yet hope for. But if we hope for that which we see not, then we do with patience, wait for it. Romans 8, 24, and 25. But if we hope for that which we see not, then we do with patience, wait for it. All of us based upon your confidence that you have in the Lord. And in this last statement, faith is no longer faith when I see the things I hope for or trust for.

So the fulfillment of a promise is the end of faith, because faith is what brings us to the fulfillment of a promise. And then I have a couple footnotes. Now that was 47 years ago. You know it doesn’t hurt to refresh my mind and think, you know, that’s still pretty good for the day. So here you are and you trusted Christ as your Savior. Do you have anything that’s challenging your faith? Want more faith? Get more of the Word of God.

And it’ll work that away. Now, I want you to take your Bible and turn with me to the book of Mark, the Gospel of Mark, chapter 8, because it’s so difficult for people to understand because it’s hard to trust something that you cannot see. But I didn’t make this world, it’s here, so I know God made it. And the easiest thing in the world is to realize, you know, I’m here, I didn’t make me. Did you make me? I didn’t make you.

See, you are a creation of God, specially designed by God. And God loves you and wants you to have eternal life and they go to heaven. But to go to heaven, you see, you have to be perfect and nobody’s perfect. By your works, you can’t be perfect. But by your faith in Christ, you can be. So faith can get you something that your works can’t get you. the church can’t get you to heaven, given money, living a good life can’t get you to heaven.

But if you put your trust in Christ and what He did on the cross for you, you get to go to heaven and it’s free. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever, they leave it in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. So if you’ll believe it, that’s not blind faith. That’s faith in the facts because if God says something, it’s truth. and if it’s truth, it’s the fact. And so it’s faith in what God says.

It’s faith in the truth. Therefore, you can rest assured that if God made it promised, it’s based upon God’s faithfulness to keep His word. Can you trust God? That is faith. Can you take God at His word? So if He walked in here right now and offered to you a free gift of eternal life, and you say, yes, I believe that Christ died, paid for my sins, and I’m gonna accept that payment He made for me. Do you believe that if God promised you eternal life that he’ll do it?

Do you really believe he’ll give eternal life? God can’t lie and God is faithful to his word. And if you want your faith to become strong, then you must know what the word of God says. You may know you have eternal life and you’re going to heaven when you die and you can feed You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tappa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message.

Part two 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 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.