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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.

Turn in your Bible to the book of Jude, the book of Jude. We’ll start there, but we won’t stay there, and we won’t end up there. We’re just going to start there. There’s a couple statements that I want to share with you. The Bible tells us that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And then he tells us in the book of Colossians, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.

And were saved by faith, where to walk by faith. There is a body of truth that God has given to us that we consider it to be the faith. It’s the basic teachings of what God’s word says. We are to believe so that we can do the thing God wants us to do. Whatever the faith is, it’s what saves us and it’s what leads and guides us and protects us. Tells us what our responsibilities are, tells us how to live.

So here in the book of Jude in verse 3, Beloved, what I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation. It was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. So the faith that was delivered to the saints is the faith I believe that first of all brought us to faith. We trusted Christ as our Savior, that body of truth that we heard.

When it says, faith came at by here and here, and by the word of God, there’s got to be a body of truth that you heard in order to produce the faith, the confidence in what God’s word has to say. And then there’s verses that tells us not only about salvation, but how to serve the Lord. So we often break it down and there are salvation verses and their service verses. And so as we study the scripture, we always like to try to keep them separate, lest somebody thinks you have to serve in order to be saved.

And we want people to know that once the gospel has been presented and a person has accepted it, we don’t try to keep leading them to the Lord. We want them to grow in the Lord. So he makes a statement here that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints because, and here’s the reason, because you once believed the truth doesn’t mean you’re going to stay in that body of truth because there are false teachers, as he says in verse 4, for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace of God into something called a license to sin, as he says here, into less civiousness.

The freedom to just live any way you want to and call it grace. And that’s not what grace is. True grace causes us to discipline our life. I preached a sermon when I first came here on how that grace, the motivating power of God. I think I want to take and bring it again one of these days. But it says here that turning the grace of God into something where people deny the very God that saved them. Now take your Bible and turn over there to the book of 2 Timothy.

and Timothy. 2 Timothy, chapter 3. 2 Timothy, chapter 3. And verse 15 tells us something that’s important about the word of God. As you’ll notice, a lot of time will go to these scriptures because of the importance of what they say. And it goes with what I want to talk about tonight. So in verse 15 where he says, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise one under salvation. Then it says to make you a man of God.

So the scriptures are able to do that. So this body of truth, this that we have that gives us our faith. God said, I want you to maintain this faith, contend for this faith, because there’s others that will not stay clear on the gospel. And there’s some that won’t stay clear on the purpose of the Christian life. And that’s what confuses people. They don’t know if they’re having to serve to be saved or they just don’t get it. So they get confused.

Then he makes a statement in verse 16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, instruction, and righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished and do all good works. So that’s That’s what God wants to produce something from a child into a man of God. Takes the word of God. Now, turning their revival to the book of 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy in chapter 1. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, I want you to notice not only how many times the word faith is mentioned, but how it’s used.

faithfulness is because you’re true to the faith. You can be faithful in a lot of things. A lot of people are faithful to go to work. They pay their bills. They’re faithful in a lot of way, but not faithful to the faith. So it says here in verse 4 of chapter 1, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, Because there’s a lot of things that just gender strife. It doesn’t solve anything, it just creates more problems.

And causes more arguments on things that you can’t solve. And you can dwell on many things. But then the time that you spend doing those useless things takes away the time that you need to be doing important things. You see, the devil wants to get us into little minor things, trying to make our mountain out of our molehill, major on the major. And as you notice here in verse four, which minister questions rather than godly edifying. See, I can do both, I can get involved in a lot of things.

I can even get involved in all the issues that are going on in the government. and buddy, there’s a multitude of problems. But I don’t believe that I’m gonna be able to solve any of them. I have a position on everything as at times you find that out. But doing all of that is not gonna help me contend for the faith, like I believe that I should. Though at times I like to do a little warning and I will do so, but now notice this.

Rather than Godly edifying, which is in faith, so do. But the word faith is a body of truth. It’s something that we’re to believe. There’s other things that has nothing to do with that which a Christian is to do, so it’s nothing about what a Christian needs to believe. You have to learn discernment from the Word of God in living life life and making decisions about what is right and what is not. Look in verse 5, now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith on fame.

In the words faith that is fidelity, in other words it’s pure, it’s pure, it’s accurate. That’s why I talked about in 2nd Timothy, that you may study the word of God that you me rightly divide means accurately. Purely, be able to discern the Word of God and break it apart. And know what this is talking about and know what this is talking about. Without everything running all together. It’s like getting a piece of state and with a real sharp knife, you can make a swift stroke and separate.

Some people just get a dull knife and all they do is just hack and beat the meat to death. So God’s talking about a swift stroke, rightly divide, truthfully dividing, understanding, discerning what it’s saying. So you’ll notice as you go through here, look there in verse 12, when a man knows the faith, that body of truth that he is to know, then he’s to be faithful to it. And our faithfulness to God is gonna be, Were you faithful to the doctrine that’s taught into Word of God?

This is why it’s so important for a child of God to learn the Word of God. Because that is what is going to help you to stay faithful for the rest of your life. So he says in verse 12, and I think Christ Jesus our Lord, who had enabled me for that he counted me and you are not faithful. It means he was faithful to do what he was told to do. And because he was faithful, God put him into the ministry.

He didn’t put him into the ministry and hope he’ll be faithful. You put him to the ministry because you are faithful. Look what he says there in verse 13. Verse 13 says, who was before a blasphema and persecutor in injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it I did it ignorantly in this word unbelief. It means because you did not believe. You didn’t know the truth. You didn’t know the faith. You didn’t know what to believe. You did it because you didn’t believe in the truth.

Unbelief, you didn’t know and believe the truth. But once he heard the truth and believed the truth, Paul became a faithful man. Look at this other verse 14 where he says, and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, get this, with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. So as you grow in the Lord and your faith is in the Lord and your love is in the Lord and you allow his love and remember this when Christ came into the world everything he did was because of faith.

He totally, 100% trusted His heavenly Father. And He says that all the things that He did, He did it by the power of the Holy Spirit, He was led by the Spirit. And He did all that He did by the Holy Spirit. Christ is the greatest example of faithfulness that there is. And so his love and his faith is where we’re supposed to get our faith and our love from the Lord. Now nobody says in verse 15, it’s the word faithful, but this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation means it’s worthy for everybody to accept, as he says right here, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.

I’m the chief and if he could save the chief he could save all the Indians. So there’s sometimes people say God can’t save me. I’m just too bad. Show them this verse. And Paul even states the reason as he says in verse 16, how be it for this cause I obtain mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering for a pattern to them which should hear after believe on him to life everlasting. Isn’t it nice to know that God is able to use you as an illustration?

If God can save you with what you went through, your story that you tell, your testimony that God uses that in the lives of other people. There’s a lot of people on planet Earth that are just like you and that’s why a personal testimony is so powerful. Not everybody is going to relate to everything you say. There are some people that I will be able to reach because of the way that I am. But there’s also going to be some people that I’m going to turn off because of the way that I am.

There are some people that will be listening to you because of the way you are, because of your testimony, because of what God’s done for you. Every one of us is an example of the believer. And because God has allowed certain things to happen in our life, it’s so that, as he says also in 2 Corinthians in chapter one, that we might be able to comfort others with the comfort where we have been comforted. Well, that’s good for the Christian life and all the problems you go through, but also your salvation story.

You see, everyone has a story to tell. If you’ve been saved, you’ve got a story to tell. You always tell what you thought, what you found out, and what you did. So now look there in verse 19. Verse 19 says, holding faith and a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck. Now this is talking to the believers, not talking to the lost people. Because you see, you must maintain the faith that you have. You see, just because you believe the truth today.

And you know what you stand today. Did you know you can stop coming to church, get out of the Bible, stop meeting with other Christians, and it won’t be long before you won’t know what to believe. You can begin to question and doubt everything. And you can start going to other churches and things that you knew that was wrong today. You can accept with open arms tomorrow. You must maintain your confidence and faith in what God’s Word says. And because some people did not do that, then it says they’re faith.

See there? They have made shipwreck. And if you shipwreck your faith, your life becomes a shipwreck. You break apart up on the rocks. See the ship was made for Ben out there in the deep waters, but when you hover too close to the land which is a type of the flesh and the water type of the faith and you’re out there trusting God, but because you don’t get sure anymore you want to hover close to the land just in case, but just in case caused you to shipwreck upon the rocks and you wreck your whole life.

It didn’t have to be that way. But that’s what happens. Look there in chapter 2 and verse 15. Concerning even the women, and there’s a lot of verses in the Bible that talks about women, but it says in verse 15, not with stand and she shall be saved in childbearing. If they continue in faith with charity and holiness with a variety of you see in verse the right before that Adam was not deceived he knew exactly what he was doing it was Eve that was deceived and because of that she lost that so-called 50-50 you know I’m also boss no you’re not you’re not boss you can claim to be boss and tell you the position of being boss but it’s only if your rebellion to Lord, but the husband is not supposed to rule with a rod of iron.

He’s supposed to be a loving, kind, gentle type of an individual. And he posed a love his wife and so forth and it works whenever everybody works. But Eve because of her disobedience, her lack of faith says she shall be saved in childbearing. So that’s why in Timothy you have much scripture, but it’s talking to the guys in position of leadership and so forth. The men are supposed to rule. I believe that men should run their home and I believe that men should run the church and I believe that men ought to run government.

You say, well I don’t like that. I don’t care. I still believe the book. Now if I don’t know the Bible then I’ll just take it. If I either I go by it or take the thing and throw it in a trash. Everybody just do whatever they want to do. But you have a pastor to believe what this book says. I wish I understood it even better. I mean, you get to heaven and find out, that’s not what I meant.

All right, when I get to heaven, but I’m not there yet. But get what he says. If they continue in faith, see, the woman has that wonderful blessed privilege of raising the children And because she has children, God said, you can teach the children. Did you know that if every mother reached the children, everybody in America and the world would be saved? If every mother reached their children, taught their children the truth, the faith, it would win the world.

So do the women have a great opportunity? Yes, they do. You see, men are supposed to provide, and the women are supposed to look over that little flock that she has, and minister to those children. And so the see that those kids come to know Christ as their Savior in their early age, sure the man can do it, but also the women is the one who usually spends most of the time with the children to teach and to raise those kids.

So she is able to take all that she knows and place that into those kids’ class because one day she does children. They’re going to be the leaders. They’re going to have their own families. They’re going to be running churches. They’re going to be in government. And our mother is able to change the world. But today, most mothers are killing their babies. Can you imagine that? And the womb should be the safest place on the planet. And it’s become one of the worst places to be.

But even the women are supposed to know the faith, know the truth and to teach it. Look at another scripture. I’ll look down here in verse 11 of chapter 3. Even so must their wives be grave. You say, mine’s grave, all right. He’s already putting one. No, I’m not talking about that. But to be serious minded, not slender sober, faithful in how many things. Women are to be faithful in everything. Did you know most the men could not do what they do if they didn’t have a faithful wife?

You’ve got to have a faithful wife. I would hate to think how little I would be able to come if I didn’t have a faithful wife. But see I don’t have to worry about my wife. I don’t have to try to get her to come to church. I don’t have to try to beg her to go to Sunday school. Beg her to come on Wednesday night. She does it because she she just she does it. I, all these years, I’ve never had to worry about that.

She is just she’s just faithful. She knew truth before I knew truth. There was a body of truth that she knew and understood why because she got it from her mama and her daddy that also taught her some of these things. We’d said in church they’d sing song and she just right there just singing everyone. I’m not having him heard these. All I ever heard was you know, some Johnny Cash song or something to my daddy song. I didn’t go to church.

And so I was with the hillbillies, they come. I really had a lot of work to do. And knowing the Bible, he would turn here, and I couldn’t. I didn’t even know where, I didn’t know there were books in the Bible. And I couldn’t stand it because I couldn’t stand it. My wife knows so much more than me. Is it possible for a wife to know more than her husband? Yes. And a woman can a woman be godly? Yes, a woman can be godly.

A woman can know just as much as the man. In some cases, they do. And know more than the man. So therefore she ought to be the leader. No, she still has to submit herself to her husband. And with wisdom, try to help him all that she can. He’s the head, yes, as they say, but she’s the neck that turns the head by now. Now, it says here, faithful in all things. Look down there in verse 13. For they that have used the office of a deacon well, purchased to themselves a good degree, and great bowlers in the faith.

Whatever the faith is, you’ll find it mentioned always through the book of Timothy. Because he’s telling young Timothy, you need to stand for the faith. This body of truth that’s been given to you, what’s been passed on to you. Paul said it was given to me, and I’ve been faithful in them. then he says, I’m fixing to close out my time here on earth.

Now it’s your turn. And so it’s like giving them a charge. When you read chapter four of the second Timothy, it talked about a charge. And generally when people are gonna be ordained into the ministry of those are the scriptures that they usually read when someone’s gonna be ordained as a pastor or something. Now, in chapter four, look there in verse one. In verse one of chapter four, he says, Now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter time, some, not all, some shall depart from the faith.

Do I expect all the people at Calvary Community Church will always be rock solid? Some will not be, some will not maintain. Some will begin, they’ll miss on Sunday night, or they’ll start missing on Wednesday night, they start missing Sunday school and they start missing church and they come every one time. It won’t be long. They won’t be one anywhere at all. What? Because see the devil starts putting questions and doubts into your mind. You know I didn’t pay my dues.

I know the Bible. I know everything the preacher’s gonna say anyway. So therefore you don’t maintain. You see it’s one thing to have all these nice big super highways. That they put in. But you know, we’re not doing those roads anymore. But they were done years ago back in the 60s and so forth. And they put roads everywhere, these super highways. I’m glad they did that. I really am. But you have to maintain the roads. The Bible talks about in the book of Titus about maintaining good works because these are good and profitable on the men.

Maintain. Now, whatever you know, maintain that. Don’t change. Don’t stop. Keep learning. Always stay at it. Always stay at it. He says, some have depart from the faith. And how do they do that? They begin to give heed. Credibility. The teachings that’s not sound. And a little by little they begin to change. So look down in verse 6. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things. See, it’s something you knew, but you had to help people to remember over and over and over again.

Have you noticed, as long as I’ve been here, I always tried to in every service teach you a little bit of something new, but also review a little bit of something old. Because though you may know a lot of things, but after a while I’ve got to tell you that again. You know, since I’ve been here, I think I preached on, then came in like three times. The two natures like this, I’ve done that about four times. See, I write down every sermon that I preach on account.

I have every sermon that I preach. Ain’t that right, James? Every service, every time I speak, I have wrote down. Now I can’t remember what I teach, but I write it down. And you can ask me when the service is over, what did you speak on? I haven’t got a clue. Because I don’t try to remember what I preach. See if you tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said. If you teach a lie, you better remember that lie.

Because the next time you talk, you won’t have to take back that lie up. But if you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember it. That’s so much easier, because see that way I don’t have to clow up my mind with all of stuff that I don’t have to worry about. Just tell the truth. So he says here in verse 6, Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ nourished up in the words of faith and of sound doctrine.

You see, the people can’t generally be much stronger spiritually than what the preacher is if they only depend upon the preacher for their food. If you only depend upon me for all of your spiritual food, you can’t rise much higher than what the preacher does because of what he’s feeding you. But you can go beyond that if you’re learned to feed yourself. Have devotion, have some time that you spend between you and the Lord, and you can grow as strong as you want to be.

And nobody can stop you. There ought to be a time in your life where you have a precious time between you and the Lord, and you spend time with God. We’ve been listening to another great message from Pastor Arnold and we at Bibleline thank you for tuning in. In appreciation to those who support this ministry financially, we would like to send to you a copy of the Jim Tingen story. The Jim Tingen story is a true story about a young man that just couldn’t explain the gospel clearly.

He wasn’t the type of kid that most people made friends with, but he knew that people needed to hear the gospel to be saved. Believe me, you’ll be affected by this story in a profound way, and this book is offered to you as a gift for your donation in any amount. Our mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634, and don’t forget to include your mailing address as well. So for this month, receive a free copy of the Jim Tingen story with your donation of any amount.

It’s a small token of our appreciation for your support of Bibleline because without your thoughtful gifts and prayers from listeners like you, we would not be able to remain on the air. Once again for your continued support. 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, leaving that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.