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

I want you to take your Bible and be turning to the gospel of John in chapter 11. 11, the Gospel of John in chapter 11. I was sitting in my office and doing a little writing a little bit and trying to think of a title for my sermon. Well, I hadn’t got it developed yet and I thought this is a good title. The Treasury of Tears are tears of any value. the value of them. And tears, believe it or not, can say an awful lot about you.

And so I wanted to bring a sermon on the treasury of tears. Let me just ask you and be honest, how many of you have shed some tears in the last few years? Anybody? How rich you are and you just maybe didn’t know it. tears tell on all about you and I think you’ll see that as we go through some of this. I wrote a little statement that I want to just read it to you. I just want to read it right out.

Paul fought battles that caused him to weep. He did not weep for himself but for the condition and cares of the church. Tears may reveal how rich you are. Tears may reveal how much you hurt, how much you care, how much you love. Tears can reveal how much compassion you have. Tears may reveal to you what is really important in your life. There are some things that are not worth crying about. Some things are not worth crying about. There are some things that are worth crying about.

Some day the Lord will wipe away all tears from our eyes. There will be no more death, sorrow and pain because these things brought us tears. Our tears have taught us a valuable lessons in life. And thank God for the treasury of tears. Death makes you appreciate life. Sickness makes you appreciate being well. Tears make you appreciate no tears. Having sorrow makes you appreciate having no sorrow. You see by the things that we hurt in this life as a result of sin has produced many tears.

So when we get to heaven, God says, there’ll be no more tears. I don’t know if we would really appreciate heaven if we had never known what we’ve suffered here. This life that we have is a time of suffering. And He says, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be hereafter. So we know in the Bible, the Bible says that Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Why would He weep over Jerusalem?

What did His weeping tell us? Why even put it into scriptures that Jesus wept? Does it tell us something about him. How often I would have gathered you together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wing, but you would not. In other words, there’s something that he wanted so bad for somebody that he loved, but he can’t do it against their will and it grieved him. It hurt him, and he went. I want you to take your Bible and look there in the book of John chapter 11.

We know the story about Lazarus, he was dead. Jesus comes there and he’s all about four days late. And sometimes you may think the Lord is late, that he’s tearing too long. But it says here in verse 31, the Jews then, which were with her in the house. and comforted her when they saw Mary. Thatumbledore rose up hastily and went out, followed her saying she goeth unto the grave to weep there. Now why was Mary and Martha weeping? They were weeping because they’ve lost their brother and they went.

It revealed some things about what they thought was a value to them, about a value that they had lost, Someone that they loved was no longer with them. Tears can tell you an awful lot of things, and I kept wondering what is the value of the tears? Why did God create tear duct so that we could cry? Because it reveals somewhere along the line, you’re hurting about something. Something’s hurting you. Something’s grieving you. And he makes a statement in verse 32, then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hath been here, my brother had not died.

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the Spirit and was troubled. And he says, where have you laid him? They said unto him, Lord come and see Jesus’ web. Now there’s speculations about why Jesus did weep. Did he weep because they wept or did he weep because of their unbelief? Did he weep because he knew Lazarus? But regardless of that, the impact that it made upon somebody else was this in verse 36.

Then said the Jews, behold, how He loved Him. They believed He went because He did love Lazarus. So weeping does say something to somebody. When you lose somebody and there are no tears, it might say something. When we lost our son, when he was 28 years old, I never cried for about nine months. I did not shed one tear. And then one day when I was over there in Israel, we were standing at the McDavid Hotel. We ate McDavid hamburgers.

Was on McDavid Street, and everything was about David, and my son’s name was David. And one night about one o’clock, it all came loose. And I cried and sobbed for about an hour and half or so, just just bald. I kept thinking about what he could have done or what he could have been. I thought about the light that was cut short and all of a sudden it just flooded my soul and I sobbed like a baby. That night when my father-in-law explained the gospel of me.

I could not understand why I went, but it was uncontrollable sobs. I had never seen anybody get saved. I didn’t know what the rules were. I didn’t know what you didn’t do. All I know is what he says is true. I’m going to hell and I didn’t want to go to hell, and that was enough to scare me to death. And I stood there in the dark and sobbed, and my my father-in-law got me over to the couch and laid me to Christ.

Now that was 53 and a half years ago. There’s times in our life when we can’t put our finger on it. I’ve noticed that as I get older, it’s easier for me to swell up with tears. Before I could, I fought it off. I just thought that’s not a manly thing to do. I’m macho. But now I didn’t got where I can see something and it just breaks my little peeping heart. And I weep a lot more than I used to.

I used to watch Betty’s dad hit set in church and the preacher get the preaching. And they always had a couple of beacons sitting there at Northside that would start, hey, man, brother, hey, man. The next thing you know, it’s just start a wave, you know, like you see them do the wave. They would do that and, hey, man, hey, man, hey, man, all over the place. Well, but his dad, he didn’t say amen. He’d sometime re-hang, glory, glory.

And I’m sitting there. I hadn’t been in none of this before. And then he would take his hand to you. Has any of y’all ever been in the church where you saw anybody do that? Yeah. And so preach to me, preach it long. And whenever they say amen, it’s just like saying, sick them to a bulldog. And then he preached it harder. and he gets loud and he pounds a pulp in a little bit more. And next thing you know, whoa!

And then they’re crying. Then they start, and then I’ve even seen them where they get up and run around the church. I saw one man get up and he run outside the church. He was visiting, he was gonna run around the church. He didn’t know there was some barbed wires on the other side, and briars. He didn’t come back in looking like he left the power of the Lord leads ya. Dr. Virgil Edwards one time was preaching and he was getting excited and One woman she stood up He said sit down to say I shut up she did He said if I had been of the Lord she wouldn’t have stopped He’s an uncle how high you jump and how loud you hollard, but whenever your feet touch the ground you ought to be walking straight and speaking a language I can understand Everybody will know.

Everybody will know. People are different. They have different emotions on how they explain things, how they feel things. Not everybody weeps at the same time over the same thing. Betty’s dad, her mother passed away. And when they went to the funeral and everybody was standing around and just crying. But Betty’s dead, Mr. Jackson. He was just over there with a smile on his face. Slight tears in his eyes, but he didn’t. He wasn’t saying anything. He wasn’t doing anything.

He wasn’t deep sobbing and all that there. So they asked him, I come. It didn’t affect him like it does the rest of him. He says, because I know where Mama is. Mama has been waiting all these years to go to heaven. And I’m so glad that she’s there. tears were tears that he’s so glad she’s there. Others, I’m so sorry I’m gonna miss her. Some because she’s gone and some because she’s arrived. It all depends. I remember that not too long ago Mrs.

Kurt she’s sitting back there right now somewhere. Her husband passed away and they had several other sons. They had just trusted Lord. He came to church that one Sunday and he trusts the Lord. Did you realize the tears that they shed? I’d venture to say when they think about it, probably still sheds a few tears. When I think about certain things, I can go back in my mind and shed some tears. But I got some things and I probably never finished this sermon today.

I just like to, I ramble sometimes. You notice that? You notice that? So yeah, we’ve notice that. But I wanted you to look here in your notes. Second Corinthians in chapter 2 and verse 4 says, for out of much affliction, right? Turn your note, just read it for right now. Much affliction and anguish of heart. This is the great apostle Paul saying. He said, I wrote unto you and you ought to underline those two words. I put it in bow, but you need to understand it and mark your Bible.

Many tears. You think, well, serving the Lord should be see all All smiley face. All Christian life isn’t all smiley face. Sometimes there’s a lot of anguish. You go to a lot of heart, a lot of sorrow. Sometimes you sit in a waiting room, or you sit in the hospital room with a loved one, and you watch them, and you see them hurting, and you can’t do a thing about it. So you just talk to the Lord. You pray for them, but you can’t physically, manually, you can’t make them feel better.

You’re at a limit. And it hurts, and it breaks your heart. Sometimes I’ve seen the person that’s there in order to comfort the person that’s in the bed hurt worse than the person that’s drugged and haven’t got a clue what’s going on. But it breaks their heart. You know, why does God let all this happen to us? You’re not going to appreciate a mansion if you’ve never lived in a shack. You’re not gonna appreciate being rich unless you’ve been poor.

God allows us at times to be totally stripped of all of our wealth so that when we get to heaven we’ll know how wealthy we really are. So God teaches in various ways. And a scripture that I like to look at in your Bible is 2 Corinthians in chapter 12. Look at those verses. 2 Corinthians in chapter 12. In your notes here, I wanted to finish this thought because it is so good. The verse that we were just reading where it says, wrote unto you with many tears.

Not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love. That you might know the love. love. It’s the tears that they shed because of much affliction and anguish of heart, what they went through with all those tears that they shed so that you might know we really love you. And our love for you is revealed by what we were willing to go through in order to reach you with the gospel. Paul says, I’m not eloquent. I don’t have anything really going for me.

I’m not that good at speaking. I was among you in fear and trembling on the basis you can get. But he says, because we loved you, we did all of this and it produced a lot of tears. We want your note. We really care. We really love you. And I mentioned this Wednesday night. I don’t know how it came across. Before I came down here, I didn’t know you. I really didn’t care what happened to you. I didn’t know you as individuals.

I didn’t know if you were having good times, bad times. I really didn’t care. I didn’t know you. I’m not concerned about the people that are out there that I don’t know them. They lost their loved ones. I didn’t even know it. I didn’t grieve. I didn’t shed a tear. It doesn’t bother me. But since I’ve been here and I start spending no time with you and I see you week after week, little by little, you have found a way to weasel your way into my little peeping heart.

Now when When you heard, I heard. I didn’t hurt before. Now when you have a problem, I’ve got a problem. Now when you cry, I cry. Some of you have lost some loved ones and I’ve done some funerals for some people right here. And I’ve seen you break down. I’ve seen you hurt. Before I knew you, it didn’t bother me. But now that I know you, I started liking you. And then when I started liking you, then I didn’t, I didn’t fell in love with you.

And though when people, you love them, it does something to you. You hurt because you want so much for them. You don’t want those that you love to hurt. You don’t want them to go through pain and sorrow, but you do and you can’t stop it. And as the days roll on, more of you are going to hurt from a lot of things. You’re going to start losing your mate. You’re going to lose your kids. Some of you young folks are probably happy as a lark.

You’re going to get married and you’re going to find out. I shouldn’t have said that. But you’re going to have kids. And it bothers you. As Paul relates some of these things to the church, You can relate them to your own family. Because you see, everybody gets hurt. Everybody has tears. And the older you live, the more people you know, and the more people you love, and the more it hurts you, and it grieves you. So why don’t God just stop all of that?

That’s because there’s sin in the world. We have sinful natures. This isn’t heaven. That’s where we’re going. We’re not there yet. This is on the earth. here. This is now. See, we have the pie in the sky, but we’ve got to live in the Master here and now. But here in 2 Corinthians in chapter 12, I want you to see this verse in verse 12, for I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved, and doesn’t that hurt sometimes.

The more abundantly I love, the less I’m loved. This is why I’ve told people, you have to learn to serve the Lord as though you have never been hurt. And so in the scriptures, 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 15, very, very important. But I also wanted you to see this while you’re right there. 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 28. Look what he says, as Paul lists all these things that he has as a burden upon him. Enough to break the normal man.

He says in verse 28, beside those things. Beside that. There are without that which cometh upon me daily the care of all the churches. And I thought, I only got one. He had all those churches. And look at all the things that he had to go through and the anguish of soul, the sorrow that he had. The tears that he shed, and then he says this in verse 20, who is weak? Am I not weak? Who is offended? And I burn not?

You don’t think I’d get irritated? And I burn, but he still didn’t have to sin, but it bothers you. You’re concerned. You see, if I didn’t know you and didn’t care about you and I’m out there in my motorhome traveling around the country, if I didn’t know you exist, I wouldn’t care what you believe or don’t believe. But now I’m here and I care about everything you believe. I’m concerned about every little wind of doctrine that’s not true to the scriptures.

I want to expose it because I know that it will cause damage in somebody’s life. I know that you can believe one little error in truth and it can lead you away and permeate every area of your life. And that bothers me because I used to not care. Now I do. See when you’re on the road, you don’t think about that. You don’t worry about it. Nothing. You just go into a church, you preach, cause trouble, lead, go to the next church, cause trouble, leave me.

So but here you can’t do that. You’ve got to stay and face the music and make everybody happy. Have you ever had children that tell you, I’m out ofhere. I’m tiredartney’s rule and regulations. They leave home. I feel the same way with 601 people in the church. That pastor is too hardcand. I have church people run away from home. Do you think that hurts if you were the preacher? that hurt you if people left the church because they don’t like something about you.

You have no idea what it means to me when somebody comes to the church like this new couple that came right down here. They just come to the church because they just heard me on the radio. They’re here because they don’t really know me. I’m afraid they might get to really know what I’m like. But the more you’re with people, the more you understand. And I want people to know what I’m really like. I’m not like I am. But there’s so much that God put into his word that we are supposed to do because we love.

And it produces the tears. Look at number one. Paul wept because of the division in the church. He says there’s wolves that are looking for the sheep. Acts 20, 29 says, for I know this that after my departed shall grievous wolves entering among you, not sparing the flock. of your own cells shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. He’s I know this is going to happen and that concerned Paul, he cared about them. You don’t care about them until you know them.

That’s just why the more you spend time, that’s why I’d like to get people in the church to knit to know each other. This is why we like to have the third Sunday dinner because you get to come and sit down at the table and talk to my men, and I, who are you? you, you’ve been here for 15 years. We’re glad to meet you. I’ve been here 20. And you get to meet somebody and say, Hi, by, Hi, by, Hi, by, Hi, by, that’s where they came from.

Number second thing here, let it be, human leaders that are filled with envy and jealousy. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 10, he says, Now I beseech you, brethren, that you all speak the same thing, that there be no division among you for it hath been declared unto me of you, my brother, and by them which are the house of clothes, that there are contentions among you. There were people having problems. There was envy and in jealousy, the backbiting, the divisions caused, and that caused Paul to have tears.

There were 14 major problems in church in Corinth. All these things, the cares of the churches. And he says, I did all these things, went through all these things. It’s a simple-sized thing to do, but it’s very easy to see. I get to know when I get to know the truth. I feel like I get to know it’s easy to hear the truth. But it’s not easy to hear the truth. It’s easy to know. I feel like I feel like I’m going to try to do it.

I kind of feel like I feel like I’m gonna do it. And in the book of Acts in chapter 20, with tears, year after year. But see, if you don’t love, it doesn’t hurt. If it don’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt. There’s no tears. The tears when your children fail and something happens in their life, or they marry somebody you don’t want to prove, well, cause you’re some tears. Or if you don’t get to see your grandkids and you love them and you want to, it can cause you some tears.

That’s why I always said I love to see them come. Love to see them go. if they don’t go soon. But you know, you can only take some, you know, I realized that the older I get, the older I get. You know, you miss them and you want to go and see all of your relatives in about two hours you’re ready to go home. Most of you know what I’m talking about, you know I’m telling you the truth. If you stay too long, you’ll start arguing and fighting over something, right?

You sure do? Well, this is why it’s important to know why God allows us to have tears in the first place. It reveals what is important to you because you shouldn’t cry over something that has no value to it. Over something that doesn’t really matter. But there are some things that really matter that are important. Look at the third thing, of the cross has become foolish. And this is why Paul has, because now they’ve lost their vision. They’ve lost their focus.

He had to go back and tell them what it was. He had to convince them that I am an apostle. You are my people. I led you to Christ. They turned against Him. Paul hurt. Paul had tears. But he couldn’t let the tears stop him. Don’t let the heartbreaks of life get you so down and so discouraged you stop serving God just because things are rough and life is tough and nothing’s been going your way and all you get in is lemonade.

I mean, we’re lemons and you just suffer and got a bitter taste in your mouth because of all of it. Don’t stop. Keep serving God. Look at the next statement here. they had now become as the lost, the natural man. But the natural man received, if not the things of the spirit of God for their foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they’re spiritually discerned. If the lost man cannot discern the things of God, then a carnal Christian is having difficulty discerning spiritual things because he’s living like a lost man.

And so in 1 Corinthians in chapter three, He says, you’re just like the lost man. You can’t think, you can’t discern that hurts Paul. One thing that I want for God’s people, is not just to be a child of God. I want you to grow in the Lord. I want you to be strong. I know that you have to have discernment and discernment only comes because you can discern with the word of God, what’s right, what’s wrong, what the will of God is and what the will of God is not.

And if you can’t discern that, you’re gonna be shedding a lot more tears. We at Bibleline would like to extend a free offer to those who support this ministry financially. This month we are sending a free copy of the book The Gospel Driven Man for a donation of any amount. It is a small way that we can show our appreciation for your support of this radio program. Without your thoughtful gifts and prayers, we would not be able to remain on the air.

The book explains the basic doctrines of the Bible and can help you to be more confident in leading people to Christ and for understanding the driving principles of the gospel itself. So during the following month, we would like to send to you a free copy of The Gospel Driven Man by Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold for a donation of any amount to Bible on. Our mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634, And don’t forget to include your mailing address.

Thank you again for your continued support and prayers in helping us bring the clear gospel message to the world. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. 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. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will shout. 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, just keep looking up.