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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 air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

It’s good to have you out here. Got a few things I want to share with you. Turn in your Bible to the book of Romans in chapter 8, the book of Romans and chapter 8. Shared a couple thoughts on the radio the other day that I thought maybe that’s something I need to share with you and I hope it will be a blessing to you because we live our lives hoping for a lot of things. When Betty and I went on that cruise I was hoping that she wouldn’t get seasick because sometimes she kind of gets oozy.

But she did all right. But just because I hoped it didn’t mean it’s a guarantee that she won’t. I was hoping I would have a very interesting time and I did. But I couldn’t guarantee that I would. When we went on that zip line down there and believes I was hoping that we wouldn’t fall. And we didn’t. But there was no guarantee that I wouldn’t fall. It’s just that we felt safe because of all those harnesses they put us in.

And then with the thing that they come to parachute, yeah, in fact, have an version. But the more security you have, the greater your hope, the greater your peace, the greater your joy. I am looking forward to my kids coming down, grandkids, taking any way you want. But I hope that they have a safe trip, but there’s no guarantee that they will. And I hope that they don’t kill me at Bush Gardens last time they tried to get me to write everything that they wrote.

And they had one thing that goes out like this and it stops and then drops. It’s like flying on their plane, you know, if it stops it drops. And I thought I was going to die. I mean, I thought I was going to die. And but I didn’t die. But I was hoping I would. Not everything you hoped for happens. And you got married. You hoped that that was going to be eternal bliss as they ride off into the sunset and they lived happily ever after.

You hoped everything would work out right. Sometimes it doesn’t. Just because you hoped something doesn’t mean it’s going to be. So I want you to turn there to the book of Romans in chapter 8. And it makes a statement here in verse 17. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, join heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with Him, we may also be glorified together. Now one day we’re going to be glorified together. You see we’ve been saved, we was buried together and raised together and seated in the heavenly’s.

That’s how God sees us. But there’s something else that’s mentioned here that I wanted to kind of show you. He says because He said, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which I’ll be here after. Now what’s coming down the road based upon what God says is a sure thing. It’s guaranteed. our desire, our expectation, It depends upon who we’re trusting to fulfill it. If we’re trusting that, well, you know, I want to do something tomorrow, therefore I hope, I hope it doesn’t rain.

But just because I hope that it doesn’t rain doesn’t mean that it’s not going to rain. It could rain. I would go on a trip. I’d like to have it not eventful in the sense of breaking down. But I have broke down a lot of times. And all of our hoping in the world didn’t change it. I’ve even asked people, where are you going to go when you die? Well, I hope I’m going to heaven. Now they got the desire.

They’re expecting, but they don’t have the guarantee that they’re going to heaven. So can you hope in vain? Yes. Can you trust in vain? Yes. You see, you can trust in the wrong thing and put your hope in something that will never produce the results that you want because you can’t guarantee certain things. You can’t guarantee what’s going to happen tomorrow though you may hope that everything will be all right and you can hope that you don’t get cancer But just because you hope you don’t get cancer doesn’t mean you won’t get cancer So you can hope and it can be in vain because it depends upon something beyond your power to control And there’s a lot of things like that It’s see it’s not just that God is going to deliver us from this evil world and Transport us into a new world that’s going to happen

So that is a joyful anticipation. I desire it. I expect it, but it’s guaranteed. Some things are not guaranteed. Some things are. So I need to find out what does God guarantee and put my hope in the Lord. If I put my hope in man, it would be like you can take this to the bank. If you like your present insurance policy, you can keep it. Now you and I know that that may not materialize. So somebody can say something but it could lie beyond their power to make it happen.

There’s all kinds of things we can do this. You ever buy a car, make all those payments five or six years, finally on the last payment the car breaks down. Isn’t Isn’t that amazing how it works like that? Well, here in Romans, I want you to look at this. When he makes the statement in verse 19, for the earnest expectation, see those two words, earnest expectation. It’s a guarantee, you’re expecting something that’s guaranteed. The earnest is like a down payment, it’s the guarantee.

But you’re expecting something. It’s not just that we expect what God is going to do to me. If I live long enough and make it to the rapture, I am going to be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye and caught up to meet the Lord in the air. That’s guaranteed. If I’m alive, when Christ returns, that’s guaranteed. I have a guarantee I joyfully anticipate something based upon what God said. So when my hope is in what God says, what God says is to truth.

What God says is guaranteed because it depends upon his ability to perform. And the Bible tells us over and over again, God is faithful. God cannot lie. So therefore, if I put my hope in him, I get a different result than if I put my hope in you, or if you put yours in me. I may fail you. You may fail me. You may fail yourself. You anticipate a lot of things. We live with the desire of a lot of things, but it may not materialize.

So he says here in verse 19, for the earnest expectation of the creature of the creation, waiteth, see the word wait, you ought to circle that word, wait. And if you will, you’ll notice it’s used again down in verse 23. And then notice in verse 23, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit, even our cells grown within ourselves waiting. Waiting. Waiting for something that is going to take place. Anticipating. It’s guaranteed because it’s based upon what God said.

Therefore our hope isn’t, well, where you going when you die? Well, I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope, I’m going to heaven. But it’s not sure if it depends on you. But if my hope depends upon the Lord, it’s guaranteed. And then I can say not only that I hope, but I hope. I’m going to heaven. I can say, I know I’m going to heaven. Isn’t that better? So it is an earnest expectation.

You see, when people trust in their good works to get them to heaven, they’re trusting in something they can’t deliver because God says no man can be saved by your good works. So if you put your hope, your expectation, your desire, and your performance, then you don’t have any reason to have a guarantee because it depends upon you and you can’t guarantee what you’re going to do today, let alone tomorrow or the next day and the next day. Therefore, it can be hope in vain.

Now you’ll notice also something here in verse 25, for if we hope for that we see not, then we do with patience, wait for it. This is where faith comes in. Faith is taking God at His word and faith means that we believe that whatever God hath promised, He is also able to perform. So when I’m trusting what God said or what God will do, then that is my guarantee because it’s based upon the faithfulness of God. If you’re going to heaven depends upon the faithfulness of man, you have every reason to worry because you can’t fulfill the requirements.

You say, what’s that? Perfection. You’ve already blown it. No man is perfect. No man can live good enough to save himself. That’s why this church, you can put your hope in the church, but the church can’t deliver. You can put your hope in the preacher and the preacher can’t deliver. You can trust the priest or the father or the pope. You can trust anybody, but it can’t deliver. There’s only one that can deliver the goods and that’s Christ alone.

And so if you put your hope in Him because of who He is and what He said and what He did, then it’s guaranteed because it’s based upon the promise of God. now. You’ll notice in verse 20 where he says, for the creature or creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who have subjected the same in hope, because the creation itself also, here’s those three words, shall be delivered. So you’ll notice over there in Romans in chapter seven where it makes the statement in verse 24, Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?

Who’s gonna deliver me from the body of this death, this body that I have with my old sinful nature? Therefore I thank Jesus Christ my Lord. He’s the one that will deliver me from the body of this death. So I live with the desire and the expectation that one day this body is going to be changed like unto his glorious body. And it won’t have a sinful nature anymore. And I’ll have a body that will last for all eternity.

But not only you and I are looking for that day of redemption of the physical body, the world itself is going to be changed. This world, God says it’s going to be a new heaven a new earth. And that’s why he says there in verse 22 of chapter 8, for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together unto now, and not only they, but our cells also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to it, the redemption of our body.

And then notice the next line, for we are saved by hope. Well, I thought I would say, by Christ, you’re saved by putting your desire and your expectation in the Lord. Someone who can guarantee the goods. Can he do what he promised? If you trust your good works, can you produce perfection? No. Don’t put your hope in man. Don’t put your hope in your good works. Don’t trust it for a moment. It will not work. Now, another script I want you to see is in the book of Ephesians in chapter 2.

So turn to the book of Ephesians and chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2, the Bible tells us that, yes, you’re saved by grace. That means without works. You simply trusted the Lord and He saved you, saved you from hell. you cannot save yourself. So if you trust Christ, well, He can keep His word. He never lies. Heneaues sin. And therefore, you can believe His promise. He that believeth on me, hath, present tense, hath everlasting life. So when I When I believed on Christ 53 years ago, I was given as a free gift ever lasting life.

So now I earnestly look forward to the day I’m going to be with the Lord in DevOnline. I don’t hope I’m going to make it someday as though it depends on me. I know with guaranteed, with security, I’m going to heaven when I die. Now look what he says in verse 11, wherefore remember that ye been in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by thy, which is called the circumcision in the flesh, made by hands, that at that time, when you were lost, when you didn’t know the Lord, he says ye were and get this without Christ.

When you were without Christ, You notice what he says about it? Having no hope without God in the world. So when you do not know the Lord and you’re not trusting Christ, then you are a person without hope, without a guarantee. You can put your trust in anything that you want, but it’s like, I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow. Does that mean it won’t rain tomorrow? No, it could rain tomorrow. And so you can hope for a lot of things.

You can hope that you’ll have enough money to retire on. You can hope that your health is gonna stay good. You can hope, but those are not things that are guaranteed that they will. I can hope that I don’t die in the next year. Or maybe you hope you do. Maybe your wife hopes you do. But it doesn’t mean that you will. Because see, there’s some things that depends on God and some things that doesn’t depend on God. You can make wrong decisions and hope that, you know, like some people, they sow their whileows while they young and pray for a crop failure.

Well, now notice what he says here. In verse 12, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope. Because you see, you didn’t have the promise from God of the guarantee. So God guarantees us things. So I want you to look there in chapter one of Ephesians and verse 13. Verse 13 says, in whom, talking about Christ, ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth.

So you heard the truth, I heard the gospel, you trusted Christ, and He says, in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. He was promised. It was guaranteed. Christ says, I will send the comforter, the Holy Spirit, and He came just like He promised, because that was guaranteed. We don’t have to, well, I hope that I get the Holy Spirit when I get saved. No, you do. That’s why he said on chapter 7 verse 39, on that great day of the feast, Jesus stood in Christ and if any man thirst led and come into me and drink, and as the Scripture hath set out of his belly-shelflow rivers of living water, this fake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive.

So when you believe the promise, it’s a guarantee it’ll come true. So the key thing is what does God say. But now notice what he also says in verse 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance. The word earnest is like the down payment. It’s the guarantee that you’re going to get the rest. The Holy Spirit indwelling me is the guarantee I am God’s child. I have eternal life. I’m going to heaven when I die and I’m shield until the day of redemption.

So therefore… This earnest of our inheritance. You’ll notice if you draw a line from the word earnest in verse 14, you go all the way down to verse 18 where it says, the eyes of your understanding been enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling. Know and hope so that you can know what is the guarantee of his calling. You see God calls by the gospel. And in that call is that everyone who believe it, hath everlasting life.

So if you’ll believe it, you can know you have eternal life. And if you know you have eternal life, that knowledge is a guarantee. You are who God says you are, and you are going where God says you will go. So do I have to worry about where I’m going when I die? I don’t have the least worry whatsoever. I don’t have any doubts in my mind because my hope is in the one that does not lie. It’s guaranteed.

And you can’t get it any better than that. But if your eternal destination depends upon how you live, you have every reason to worry. Because God never promised to save anyone who tries to save himself. He only saves those who will not and cannot save themselves and doesn’t even try to save themselves. I said to people, I said, well, I’m just so bad. You just don’t know what I’ve done. No, but God does. And He loves you. And you made a payment for your sins.

So as you go down from verse 17 and 18 and 19, all these things that God wants you to know because it’s guaranteed, guaranteed, guaranteed, guaranteed. Now, I want you to take your Bible and turn to Psalms 33. Psalms 33. The 33rd Psalm, I’m looking at verse 22, there is a word that we often use, whether accidental or weather’s delivered, because there’s things that doesn’t always happen the way we want it to. You’re probably sitting here this morning hoping that the preacher will stop on time.

Now that could be a false hope, because it depends on me. I may not stop on time. One man right in the middle of my service, he got up and started walking out. I said, sir, where are you going? He said, I’m going to shave. I said, why didn’t you shave before you came? He says, I did. One time I put it to a guy, he says, hey, wake up that guy sitting beside you. He says, I will not.

He says, you put him to sleep, you wake him up. Some people, you just can’t win. But they’re here in Psalms 33. Look, they’re in verse 22. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us according as we hope in thee.” Here the Hebrew word means to trust in thee. When hope becomes trust, you will say, I hope it doesn’t rain. It means I’m trusting that it doesn’t rain. I’m hoping the car doesn’t break down. You’re trusting that it won’t break down, but you don’t know for sure.

But when you put your trust in the Lord, it’s a guarantee. if it’s based upon what God promised. So you have to find out what did God say so that I know I can trust Him for it. That’s why He says the great and precious promises that are in the Word of God. And if you’ll read those precious promises that’s based upon God fulfilling and all you had to do is trust Him, then it’s guaranteed. And that’s what can give you so much peace and joy and hope.

When the raptor takes place, the Bible talks about that you be not ignorant as those who have no hope. See, there’s some people who don’t have any hope whatsoever. Therefore, we don’t sorrow as those who have no hope because we know we will see our loved ones again. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of 130 of Psalm, the 130th Psalm, 130th Psalm. and look in verse 5, and look in verse 5. He says, I wait for the Lord, my soul death wait, and in His word do I hope.

That’s the same word as trust. So I put my trust in the Lord and I wait patiently. That’s why in Romans in chapter 8 you saw where it talks about the earnest expectation. You saw the weight, the weight, the hope. Because, see, when you’re trusting the Lord, you can wait patiently for it because you know it’s going to work. You know it’s the truth. God does not lie. And so that’s the reason why it can build your confidence and your trust in the Lord.

God said, He’ll never leave you and never forsake you. You can take that to the bank. You can trust Him. And he also makes the statement that he will not put upon you anything greater than what you can bear. Believe him. It’s the truth. You can take it to the bank. He said, just take it anymore. Yes, you can.

Because there is no reason for God’s children to break down under pressure. You break down under pressure because you choose to. Not because you had to. The Bible says the Holy Spirit lives within you to give you the strength and the grace that you need. strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. And when you don’t have the joy of the Lord, you don’t have the strength and you can’t keep going yet. You crumble and you fall. But that was a inside job.

You did it to yourself. Of course you blame God because He put too much on you. God doesn’t put too much upon you more than what you can bear. You can bear it. You just don’t like the situation. You can complain about the situation. Or you can learn to trust the Lord put your hope in the Lord put your trust your confidence in the Lord now I want you to take your Bible and also turn over there with me to the book of Romans in chapter 5 looking Romans chapter 5 Romans chapter 5 and look there in verse 2 see in the New Testament the word Greek word is Elpus and it means to expect or anticipate with pleasure sounds pretty good doesn’t it So now you have here in Romans in chapter 5 and verse 2, by whom also we have excess by faith into this grace wherein we stand.

Now where we stand is absolute, it’s concrete, it’s surety, it’s security, it’s a promise by God. When you trusted Christ as your Savior, you became a chalice of God. You have a new standing in Christ because now you’re his child. And then notice what he says. Wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. You can stand and rejoice in this hope that one day you’re going to be just like the Lord. We’re going to be in heaven and we’re going to be as perfect as righteous as God.

God already sees us that way. But you see, we’re to live with this hope. But not a hope it works. I hope you’re going to get there. I hope, I hope, I hope. No, not that kind of a hope. We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about something that’s guaranteed by God. 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 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, just keep looking up.