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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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

Now, won’t you take your Bible and turn to the gospel of John? In John chapter 1, look what it says now in verse 1. where he 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. He was in the beginning with God. Who? The Word. That’s the Son. He was in the beginning with God. And he says, all things were made by him and without him was not anything made, that was made.

So he is the Creator. He’s the one that did it all. Who? The Son. Because that’s what the Bible teaches. See, there in verse three, all things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. But what was the purpose of God sending His Son into the world was the message that John the Baptist taught. And if you’ll see that down there in verse seven, the same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men, now here’s the reason that all men through Him might be what?

might be leave. So there’s something that you and I are to believe. And so therefore, there was someone who came to bear witness that, hey, there’s a body. And he says, I’m baptized and you would water, but he that cometh after me, there’s a body. There’s the evidence of all those Old Testament scriptures. There’s a body. There’s an actual person that has been born that’s the Son of God. And see, as the Son of God, He is also the Son of Man.

So that’s why in Matthew you have the lineage of Christ, and in the book, G’lou, you have the lineage of Christ. Because He has to be a Son of God and also the Son of Man. So He fits both of these criteria. He has to be in order to be the Savior that the world needs. So he came right on schedule, born in the right place at the right time by the right family. A body has not prepared me.

So Jesus Christ, God’s son was placed inside of a body. And Mary had a baby boy and they knew that it was going to be a boy named it in advance and says she is with child. didn’t say she is with fetus. She was found to be with child. That’s a child in there. And it was already a boy or a girl before it was born. God knows all these things. You know, he’s the one that designed all of this.

And so he makes the statement there in verse 14, look in verse 14, and the word was made flesh. There’s a body. The body is the evidence and the evidence has to meet the criteria. It has to be born in a certain place. He has to be called a certain thing. He has to be a perfect child. He has to live a perfect life. There was an actual person who came into this world, historically speaking, he was here. It was real.

All the world today recognizes the fact that it’s either before Christ after Christ, before Christ, BC or after Christ. All of our calendars, all of our dates, everything is from Him. It is His story, history, history. And that’s why the world knows that something has happened, something has changed. Jesus Christ is God. In the flesh and the word became flesh and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.

This is no ordinary child. This was a special child. Now, I want you to take your Bible and look there in the book of John chapter three, John chapter three. In John chapter three. When you’re looking for 31. In verse 31. He that cometh from above. above. So there’s somebody who came from above. And that is the Lord who came down from heaven. And he says, One day you’re going to see me ascending and descending. He said, what I’m saying now blows your mind.

He said, wait, do you see that? So he says here in verse 31, He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is above all, and what He hath seen, and heard that He testifyeth. And no man received His testimony.” In other words, He came into the world and He gave His Word. Here’s somebody, even His own family didn’t believe Him. He had a hard time convincing people. You would think, well, if they knew the Scriptures, then they read it, they ought to know.

But they they were blinded. They had like a veil, scales over their eyes. They had eyes but they could not see. They had ears but they couldn’t hear. And so he made the statement in verse 32, and what he hath seen and heard that he testified. And no man received with his testimony. He that hath received his testimony have set to his seal that God is true. In other words, if you can see him, then you can believe him.

And you’ll know that what God said, that it was true. You see, God knows that we’re hard headed and stiff neck. So He said, I’m going to tell you what will happen before it ever takes place. So then when it does, you’ll know, hey, I told you so. I told you that. Did not God tell us all these things, hundreds and hundreds of years in advance? Yes, He did. And did somebody show up right on schedule, born in the right place at the right time, just like God said He would.

And He would live and never commit a sin. And He would be able to speak in parables, which He did, because when He talked to make His audience, one of the know the truth could understand. Those that didn’t want to know the truth could not understand. And He was speaking parables, but He also validated everything He said and did by the things that He did. like raising the dead and making the blind to see and the death to hear and the dumb to speak, walking on water.

When’s the last time you tried that? But no man ever born has ever been able to fulfill all of these scriptures, the prophecies. And there was a literal body that came that was prepared on a body that did not have an earthly father, but it did have an earthly mother. That’s why Jesus had to be born of a virgin so that he would not have a man’s sinful nature. He got it from the Holy Spirit and Mary said, how shall this be?

Seeing I know not a man. Says the Holy Spirit shall overshadow thee and that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called son of the highest. this is what Christmas is about. It wasn’t just by Him being born. He had to be born a certain way that Jesus had to live and He had to keep the law. He had to be perfect in every way, under every circumstance. The devil tried to get him and people would try to have him killed and all kinds of things that went on.

He was rejected and despised. But look what he says in verse 34, For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of of God, for God give it not the spirit by measure unto him, the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things unto his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. So it all boils down, all of humanity is based upon do you believe on the Son or do you not believe on the Son?

Do you believe that he was who he claimed to be did what he said he was going to do and that he will save you if you simply believe that what he did was for you? So that’s why it says in John 3 16, the many people quoted, but listen, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. He only had one and he gave him As the payment for all the sins of all the world and all that we have to do is what the scripture says they that believe on him should not perish.

In other words, the only thing that can keep you from perishing going to hell is to believe in on him. Your good works will not help. Your good works, how you live has nothing to do with you going to heaven. Christ died and paid for all our sins. Now look in John chapter 5, the book of John in chapter 5. In the Gospel of John in chapter 5, the Bible says that Jesus was making claims that he was equal with God.

Well that’s blasphemy. That’s why they wanted to kill because he was claiming to be God. Now either he was God or he was a liar. I’ve had people tell me and somebody told me it’s not longer. Jesus was a good man. And I believe Jesus was a good prophet. I believe he was a good teacher but I don’t believe he was God. I said that everything you just said is a lie. Jesus says he was God. If he was God and you say that he wasn’t, then you’re calling him a liar.

I’ve got to believe somebody. I’m going to believe him. Because he God sent his son and therefore he was equal with the Father. Look what he says here in verse 18. John chapter 5 and verse 18, therefore the Jews Jesus sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father, making himself equal with God. Now, Jesus said that God was his father. You see, Joseph was not his father.

Joseph was not his father. Mary was found to be with child before they came together and he never touched her until after Jesus was born. So Mary had a miraculous, Christ was born of a virgin, and therefore God was his father. So he wasn’t lying. And for people to think that he was a good man, a good teacher, a good distant, but he wasn’t God. No, no, no, no. If he wasn’t God, he wasn’t good. He deceived the the whole world.

He lied. He was deceptive. Or He was who He claimed to be. I believe that Jesus was exactly who He claimed to be. Look down in verse 30. This is what Jesus said. He says, I can of my own self do nothing because when He came into the world, He came not to do His own will but the will of the Father. So He only would do, say and do what was pleased into the Father. That’s why the Father says, this is my beloved Son and who I’m almost well pleased.

Whom I am well pleased because see he did everything to please the Father. Not my will but thy will be done. So this is why he says in verse 13, as I hear I judge and my judgment is just and because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father, which see that word sent me, sent me. He sent me into the world. I was with Him from the very beginning. I never had a beginning, but I was with the Father and you can’t have a everlasting Father without having a everlasting Son.

You say, I don’t understand that. Welcome to the club. You don’t have to understand it. I don’t even understand how my brain works. We’ll leave it right there. Because you were thinking about saying something and you didn’t say it because you know you’re in church. I can say I don’t have an electricity works but I’m sure you’re going to use it until I find out how it works. I don’t really don’t care how it works. I just use it.

I noticed this. He makes a statement in verse 31, if I bear record of myself, the witness is not true. You see, everything had to be established by two or more witnesses. Under the law, everything has to be established that way. So if I just by myself, my testimony is not to be believed. He said, but, but, you see, he has a body. He’s standing there in front of him. They’ve seen what he’s done. He says, believe me for the works’ sake.

If you don’t believe me, pick out what I said, look what I’ve done. In the words, Jesus had to defend his credibility. He said, I’m the light of the world. They said, you’re not the light of the world. He says, when you put me on the cross, my father will tell you who I am. So when Christ was on the cross, God took the main switch of heaven and all the lights went out. But notice what he says here.

In verse 31, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that bearth witness of me. And I know that the witness, which he witnessed of me is true. You sit unto John. and he bear witness unto the truth. John told you that I’m just a voice in the wilderness. I’m not the prophet. I’m not the Messiah. He’s coming after me. He said, John told you that and John baptized me and whenever I would come in the bottom of the water, the Holy Spirit like a dove appeared upon me.

And the Father says, this is my beloved Son. So you had the the Holy Spirit and you had the Father, and that’s all the testimony you need. Oh, thank God would have been sufficient. But you see, you had all three of them there. That’s where he made this statement in verse 33, ye sinned unto John, he bear witness unto the truth, but I received not testimony from men, but these things I say that you might be saved. So there’s reasons why Christ said and did what He did.

Now the whole book of John is written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that by believing you may have life through His name. That’s the purpose of the whole book of John. This is God’s heaven track. And so He says, there’s a lot of things that He did that are not written. But these things that are found in the Gospel of John, the signs, the miracles, everything What I’ve been doing is revealed here is to get people to believe that Jesus is who he claimed to be.

He was born that he might die so that all we had to do is simply believe that someone died for me. He paid for my sins. That means if I believe that’s, yeah, I don’t have any sins to pay for. That’s what I told a person today. I can’t go to hell today. I can’t go tomorrow because I don’t have any sins to pay for. Christ died for my sins. That’s why I can’t go to hell because I don’t have any sins to pay for.

He paid for all of them. All I had to do is believe it. And yet there’s multitude of people all over the world that don’t get this. They still don’t have a clue where they go and they die. And yet he says, this is why I did what I did the way that I did so that you might believe. I’ve given you all these miracles and things that I’ve done, the the wonders so that you would believe. I am who I claim to be.

I’m the body. I’m the visible evidence that you’ve been looking for. I am the Messiah. I am here. I am real.” Sorry, it makes a statement in verse 36. But I have a greater witness than that of John. For the works which the Father have given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father have sent me. These are the evidences done by me in this body that you have seen and witnessed and evidenced.

Now why in a world wouldn’t people believe him? He said, look at what I’ve done. What normal man has done what I’ve done. He could read their thoughts. He would tell them what they were thinking. He would answer the questions before they asked the question. Wouldn’t that irritate you just a little bit? the being the president of somebody that you knew could read your mind. My wife can do that. But that’s enough to be scary any day. But Jesus could do the thing.

He said, listen to what I’ve done. Did you see? So he makes a statement here in verse 37, and the Father. The Father himself, which have sent me, hath borne witness of me, ye shall neither, you have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape. But you can see me. You can see my body. I’m right here. I am the revelation of God the Father. I am God manifested in the flesh. And he told, he that have seen me have seen the Father.

And he made the statement in John chapter 14 that the world may know that I love my father even so I do I do what I do because I want the world to know that I love my father So when he came into the world, he did nothing that would be ashamed to his father So that whenever we saw Christ or hear about Christ, there’s no reason why you should not believe he is truly who he claimed to be the son of God born of a virgin God in the flesh.

And if he came the first time, just like he said, you and I have no legitimate reason not to believe that he’s coming back the second time, just like he says. And I believe he will. Look what he says there in verse 38. And ye have not his word abide in you, for whom he hath sent him ye believe not whom he hath sent God sent me. And you think you’re right with God, you think you know God. He’s my father.

And if you don’t know me, you don’t know God. I had a man tell me that. You don’t know Jack. I said, I do know Jack. And then Jack Matthias, I do know him. You don’t know God. Yes, I do know God. God is more real to me than the clothes I got on my back. And look what he says in verse 39. So he says, search the scriptures. for in them you think you have eternal life, but they are they which testify of me.

He said, you go back and you read them. And if you believe them, they tell you all about me. And if you look down there in verse 40, where he says, for he says, if you had Moses and you say, you believe Moses, but if you don’t believe Moses, you don’t believe me because Moses wrote about me. Moses wrote about me. And you think you understand the writings of Moses? If you don’t know who I am, you don’t believe Moses.

Look in verse 47, but if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? You wouldn’t think that he would have to convince anybody that was open-minded, wanted to know the truth, and they had the Old Testament Scriptures and And all I had to do was find out what it says, hey, there’s a real person, a real individual who actually was born into this world. And this is where he was born. And this is the right line.

And he’s the son of David. Why shouldn’t we believe he is the Christ, the Son of a living God? And to believe that what he came to do was to make the payment. And that’s when when John the Baptist saw him, he says, Behold the Lamb of God which taken the way the sin of the world. Christ was born. A body has not prepared me. So that God could give his son and his son lived in the body. A child is born.

The son was given. And he grew up and never committed his sin, kept all the law perfectly. and therefore he could willingly, because he had no sin to pay for, he didn’t not have any sins to die for. So he took all the sin of all the world upon himself, and God allowed his son to die in our place for my sins. So if I believe this, God takes this payment that his son made on the cross and put it to my account.

I go to heaven on what he did for me. I did not earn that. I did not work for it. I do not deserve it. And that’s why I have no sins to pay for in hell. He paid for my sins. This is Christmas. This is understanding what Christ coming into the world is all about. At Christmas time, yes, we’d love to get gifts and give gifts, but it’s really about God given to the world the greatest gift of all, the gift of his son.

Now, would it be a shame for you to reject the gift of eternal life, which is the desire of all nations to live forever in a perfect place, perfect joy, perfect peace, and yet to reject that. What if you spend a lot of money on a special gift for your wife or your husband or your kids or grandkids, and they don’t want it. They don’t want it. Have you ever seen them in a commercial, the camera zooms in on this guy?

He gets his wife this beautiful little gift. She opens it up. It’s from Jared and she says, he says, well, you marry me? Yes! Now, wait a minute, is she want him or is she want this? You mean if you hadn’t gave me this? No. The other family was, yes, will you marry me? No. I think I make a good commercial. I don’t want it. No, but sometimes people don’t understand when they reject Christ, they’re rejecting the gift of eternal life because you can only get it through Him.

No one else. That’s why it’s such a wonderful thing to know. It’s such a wonderful thing to share. Look up here. This hand represents you and me and this wall of represents sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us. Now, He hates what we do wrong, calls sins, and we’re all guilty, and we’re all going to have to pay the penalty of death. Eternal separation from God. But see, God loves us. He wants us to live with Him in heaven for all eternity.

But to go to heaven, say we have to be perfect, and none of us are perfect. We’re not good to go because we are sinners. Centers can’t get in. So I got a debt to pay. And the only payment is eternal separation from God, which will never be paid is eternal separation. So many people think they have to do all these good works and if they do these good works and cover their sin, if they’re good, outweighs or bad, they’ll get in.

But if they’re bad, outweighs are good, then they go down. You ever heard that? But see, that’s not what the Bible teaches. The Bible says you cannot save yourself. You can’t even help. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. Came into the world because He loves us. Hates our sin because our sin separates us from God. So God sent His Son into the world. Not just to stay a baby. Some people still worship the baby in the manger and they forget about the man on the cross.

He’s not even there anymore. You see, He was taken off the cross, placed into the tomb, and came back again from the dead. He had paid for our sins. All we have to do is believe that He did it for us, and God would put this payment to our account. And we go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us. That’s the best news in the world. No tricks to that. Let’s pray, shall we? With every head bowed and every eye closed and no one looking around.

If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, why don’t you trust Him right now? So maybe you didn’t understand it all. But friend, you don’t have to understand everything, but you do understand that we’re sinners. We’ve done things wrong. We can’t save ourselves. Will you believe that when Christ came into the world, will you believe that He died to pay for your sins? And if you’ll believe that, and trust Him to take you to heaven, God will give you the free gift of everlasting life.

Would you trust Him if you’re making that decision right now? You’ve never done it before. So yes, that makes sense to me. And right now I will trust Christ as my Savior and preach, I’d like for you to pray for me. Would you just slip your enter very quickly and put it right back down? Do you want it all? Just slip it up real quickly and put it right back down. Do you want it all? If you have trust in Christ as your Savior, your God’s child, your have eternal life, you’ll get to go to heaven whenever you die.

But there’s a lot of people who’ve never heard this. Explain it to others. Make sure your family knows and understands this. You know, your grandkids, your kids, your aunts and uncles. And, you know, if everybody just reached their family, we’d reach the world. Father, we thank you so much for this time together. Bless each one. And we are thankful for the story of Christmas, of God sending His Son into the world, so that we can have the free gift of everlasting time.

We thank you for the Christ name of Christ. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa of 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 by the line 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 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.