Bibleline Radio Show – 2015-05-28 – Is Your Name Written In The Book Of Life? Pt.2


Transcription:

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. And 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 go back there to the book of Matthew in chapter 1, Matthew and chapter 1. There may be a better way of explaining this, but it’s kind of clear in my mind, so that the only thing I can do is tell you what’s clear in my mind. I don’t know somebody else’s, but now you’ll notice in the book of Matthew, once in the Old Testament, first book, the New Testament, first book. And here it says in verse 1, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ.

And you go all the way down through here, and you see all these so-and-so big-got, so-and-so and so-and-so big-got, so-and-so and so-and-so, forgot, so-and-so, and everybody forgot everybody out. You have all these forgotts, but there’s no deaths recorded because this is a different book. There is another book. So the Bible says that one day God’s going to open up the books, and so you’re going to get a chance to see all these books. I’m turning your Bible to the book of Revelation chapter three, the book of Revelation and chapter three.

Now we’ll just look at a few things to try to get a fairly good idea, but in the book of Revelation in chapter three, there’s a verse that’s mentioned here verse five, and this is what it Revelation chapter 3 verse 5, and this is what it says, He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out His name out of the book of life. To see the book of life I believe is different from the book of the living.

Because the book of the living, your name can be blotted out, but in the book of life it cannot be be blotted out. You see, when we’re born into this world, we have a sin for nature because we all sin, we all die. So there’s coming a time when God is going to close the books. And all those who have never trusted Christ as their Savior, well, there will be spent an eternity separated from God in a literal fire, burn in hell.

Now, when you trusted Christ as your Savior, when you trusted Him, if If you have, your names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. It’s the book of eternal life. So when you trusted Christ as your Savior, you see you have a new birth. This new birth is born of God. This new birth of mine, born of God, doesn’t have a sinful nature because I’m born of God and God doesn’t have a sinful nature. This one is not born of the flesh.

This one is the flesh. This was a different birth. So when you trusted Christ, you got a new birth, and this new birth has a new nature and a new nature that’s holy and cannot sin. It’s a divine nature. If it cannot sin, it cannot die. If it cannot die, how long would it live? Forever. So you have two different. This one can die. This one can never die. So your name can never be blotted out the Lamb’s book of life, but you are going to die and God says you’re going to lay the axe to the root of the tree and cut down every tree that does not bring forth the righteousness which is the perfection that God’s looking for.

So that’s why every man has sinned and every man will die. So look here in Revelation chapter three. Where it says, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angel. So our name is in the book, and this is what he’s going to profess. Now get this. In the first part of the verse it makes the statement. He that overcometh. Okay, now that means I’ve got to deserve.

I’ve got to overcome. Well, turn in your Bible to 1 John chapter 5. Just turn to your left a few pages to 1 John and chapter 5. And look there in verse 4. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 4. And get what he says is here in verse 4, for whatsoever, get this, is born of God. That’s the new birth. Overcometh the world. This is the victory that overcomeeth the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcomeeth the world?

But he that believe it, that Jesus is the Son of God. That means you believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord who came in the flesh in order to pay for your sins came back from the dead and you believe he did that for you. When you believe that, what he did was for you, his victory, his righteousness, his perfection is given to you. And you get to go to heaven on what he did. He overcame the temptations of the world in every trial.

He overcame sin and and overcame death and overcame the grave, and his victory is given to you as a gift, free. So you have overcome because you’re in Christ, and that’s why you will walk in white. And that’s why your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life because you overcame in Christ because He did it for you. And once that is done, God gives to you this wonderful, free gift of everlasting life. Now look there in the book of Philippians.

The book of Philippians is turned to your left few pages, the book of Philippians, and look there in chapter 4. Chapter 4. And you’ll notice there is a verse in verse 3 that says, and I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel with Clement also and with other my fellow laborers and you are underlying this statement whose names are in the book of life. But when refers to the book of life he’s talking about believers it is the believer whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

It’s a totally different book and that’s why your name cannot be blotted out of of the book of life. Now in the book of the living you got a problem. But God tells us what’s going to happen and when that’s going to take place. So look here in Revelation chapter 13. Revelation chapter 13. You see why you need a Bible here at this church. We want you to read the Bible. Now wouldn’t it be a shame if you didn’t know where chapter 13 was of book of Revelation.

Revelation is the last book in the Bible, but if you turn it upside down it will be the first book in the Bible. Revelation chapter 13. Look what he says in verse 8. Verse 8, “…and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him, whose names are, and you ought to get this, not written in the book of life.” So there are people whose names are not written in the book of life, but there are people whose names are written in the book of life.

So, well, why is that so important? You better get it in the right book. And I’ll show you why in just a minute. So he says there’s those whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life. How do you know if yours is or not? He said, why is that so important? Well, because there’s a destiny ahead of us. Does a place call heaven? Does a place call hell? Those who have trusted Christ’s Savior and their names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life, those are the ones that get to go to heaven.

Those are the ones that will be in the new heavens and the new earth. Those are the ones that’s going to be in the Holy City. But if your name is not found in the Lamb’s Book of Life, you do not get in. You don’t get in. So when should you try to make sure that your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? You think now is be a good time? If you wait till it’s too late, it’s too late.

If you wait till you die, it’s too late. You only have this period of time that you have to live to make that decision. And nobody can make it for you. You can’t say, hey, Mom, take care of that for me. There’s some time I’m gonna fly here and I’m gonna fly there and something like that. I tell Betty, huh, make me a reservation. She can’t make this one for me. Nobody can make this one for you because it is a personal thing and that’s why it is so important.

Look there in chapter 17 chapter 17 chapter 17 and Looked in verse 8 looking verse 8 The beast that thou saw was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into Perdition and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they behold the beast, whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life. You see from the foundations of the world I believe that your names are in the book of living, but your name’s not in the Lamb’s book of life until you believe, till you trust Christ as your Savior.

You see it’s not something that God looks down to that long telescope of time and He says, I’m going to save you and I’m going to save you and save you and I’m He says that God has already predetermined before the foundations of the world to save all of those that will believe. And it is your choice to believe. And if you’ll believe that what Christ did on the cross was for you, he will put that payment that he made to your account.

And you get to go to heaven on what he did. When you trust Christ as your Savior, you have your name written in the Lamb’s book of life. You have your name written in the Lamb’s book of life, because that’s when you were born. I was born in the God’s family. September I think it was the 17th, but it was on a Friday night of 1960, a couple years ago. And I knew that night when I was 18 years old, when I trusted Christ as my Savior, my My name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

I was born into God’s family. So your name cannot be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life unless you have been born into His family. And the way you get to be born into His family is by you personally accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior. And as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, the child of God when you receive Christ. Your name can’t be written ahead of time. It’s written when you believe on Christ.

So if you do not trust Christ as your Savior, before you die, it is everlasting to late. It can never be done in the future. So that’s why it’s so important for every person to remember. Go to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation in chapter 20. And look there in verse 12. In verse 12, there’s an interesting verse here. He says, and I saw, this is the end of time. This is at the Great White Throne Judgment. You know, you always hear about it’s appointed unto every man and wants to die.

And after this, the judgment, this is what he’s talking about. It’s called the Great White Throne Judgment, where God, and you are going to have a confrontation. You have an appointment and I guarantee you, everybody will make it. So he says in verse 12, and I saw the throne for the dead small and great stand before God and the books were open. The books were open. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. So you know that the book of life is separate from the other books.

You know what I was going to do this morning? I didn’t have time to do it, but I was going to. I thought about it. I was going to have, when you stand before God and He opened up the book and He has a page of all of your good deeds, and then I was going to have a scroll that I was going to drop and it was going to roll all the way down the aisle of all of your bad deeds.

It should not have done that, but I just tried to paint a picture so you could see it. But anyway, there is a judgment coming, and he makes this statement, which is the book of life. And get this. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to the works. See, when you’re born into the world, . . . . . . . . . Everything you’ve ever done, your judge, according to your works.

Whether it’s the thoughts, the deeds, the words, even the Bible says in the book of Matthew chapter 12, even your very words set in jest, everything recorded. Hmm. And God has it all down. And He says that every man that’s lost, that never trusted Christ is Savior, will have their day in court, a court of divine justice. You may get away with a lot of things down here, but with God, you don’t get away with anything. You say, well, I did this, this, this, and this, the other way with it.

No, you didn’t, it ain’t over. It ain’t over yet. So God says he’s gonna open up the books and there’s this book of the living where you are going to be judged out of those things which are written in the books. And in verse 13, and the sea gave up the dead, which were in it, death and hell. Death is the bodies. Hell is the soul. If you were lost to say you never trusted Christ as Savior, your body goes to the grave.

The real nut’s gone. That’s just a shell. No, but he goes to a place called hell, a place of torment. And then at this judgment, the bodies are going to come out of the sea. They’re going to come out of the grave wherever they are. And God says, he’s going to bring the souls and they’re going to be reunited and stand at this judgment. And he says this, in the last part of verse 13, and they were judged every man according to their works.

So that’s why there’s a book and that’s why they’re judged out of the books. So, evidently somebody is keeping tabs, whether you like it or you don’t like it. Now we can cut this out of the Bible if you want. Go home and cut out all the things you don’t believe. But it’s in there. And look what he says down in verse 14. And death and hell were cast where? Into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

So everyone who is judged because of this book, According to your works, it’s for those who have not trusted Christ as their Savior and they will be cast into the lake of fire. Look at the next verse. In verse 15, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So everyone whose names are not in the book of life was cast to the lake of fire. So the only way to get your name written in the Lamb’s book of life is you must be born into his family.

Now I’ve got three kids. I’ve got five grandkids and one great-grandkids. But they’ve been born in my family, my kids. Now you can’t unborn them. I tried none of them. So when they’re good, they’re mine, and when they’re bad, they’re beddies. Now, when you’re born into God’s family, you’re his child. God becomes your father. He is not your father unless you are his child, and that’s only by a new birth. That’s why Jesus said when he came, he must be born again.

So that’s when you accepted Christ as your Savior and you have as a free gift ever lasting life. And that’s the best news in all the world. So as you read these verses, you find out that God has said a lot of these things. Now look in chapter 22 and verse 19. In Revelation chapter 22 and verse 19, it makes this statement, and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life.

So when somebody sees that, oh no, I can be taken out of the book of life. No, it didn’t say that. When he says in chapter three, in verse five of the book of Revelation, I will not blot your name out of this book. Your name can be out of the other because he says after a while there will be no remembers of them anymore. What Christ did for you and is when we trusted Christ as our Savior. See, it’s because He took all of our sins and nailed it to His cross.

And so there’s people who don’t believe that. They don’t accept Christ as their Savior. Now, God will not make anyone believe it. That’s a personal choice that you can make. But once you accept Christ, that payment he made was put to your account as though you made it yourself like I paid for my sins. That’s why I say that I can’t go to hell today. I can’t go tomorrow. I can never go to hell. And the reason is because I don’t have any sins to pay for it.

Christ paid for all of mine, not some of them, all of mine. So I have a payment for all of my sins. But you see, as a child of God, there’s so much that God wants us to have, so much He wants us to do. We’re going to be rewarded because of what we’ve done for the Lord. So going to heaven is free. What we have when we get there depends upon what we do for Him. So God says, if we would serve Him, He would bless our life here and reward us when we get there.

And because if you don’t believe what God says, you’re not going to live the way God wants you to live. Will you still get to heaven? Yes. But you’re not going to have all that you could have had. So you’re going to lose some portions of something that you could have had and you’ll never receive it. I think one of the darkest days of most Christians is when you get up and find out what you could have had, what you could have done.

And that’s why I believe God says He shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. when you see as the Bible puts it this way, ye are our crown of rejoicing. You know, the people that we’ve reached for the Lord. They get to heaven and see those people that you have reached for the Lord. And then they see what you probably could have done will bring a lot of, I guess, tears to our eyes. And God says, after a while, He says, you’re going to wipe away all tears from our eyes.

There will be no more sorrow, no more sickness, no more death, none of those things. But see, God is not done yet, but payday someday. Payday is coming. And it’s something that you and I ought to keep in mind. So let me show you this simple illustration. This hand represents you and me. And the wallet represents all the things that we do that’s wrong. The Bible says that God loves us, but we have a problem because we were born with a sinful nature and because we have a sinful nature, we all sin and therefore because of sin, we can’t get in.

So God says we’ve all come short of God’s perfection. You see, God is perfect. We’re not. We come short. So it doesn’t matter how good you’ve been. You cannot save yourself by your good deeds. Your good works will not help get you to heaven. No one has ever lived good enough to get to heaven by their good works. Never. That’s why we all need a Savior. Now God says, you can’t save yourself. That means your good works. Going to church, living a good life, paying money, will not help you get to heaven.

Doesn’t help at all. Has no value to it. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us. He hates our sin because our sin separates us from him. So Jesus cries who had no sin didn’t have to die. So what did he do? Well, he took the sins of not some, but all the world paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead and said that whosoever, anybody in the world, would believe that he did it for them.

He would put that payment to their account. And I get to go to heaven. You get to go to heaven on what he did. He says, Now when you believe this, you are born into his family. Now you may have heard about this all your life, but has there been a time when you say, I believe that. I know I’m a sinner, I realize I can’t save myself. I believe Jesus Christ died and paid for my sins. And I’m gonna trust him and him alone is my only hope of going to heaven.

So when you trust Christ as your savior, God says He gives you a new birth, the free gift of everlasting life. And your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, can never be blotted out, and that’s how you can know that you’re going to heaven because there’s a judgment coming one day, and all those whose names were not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will be cast into the Lake of Fire. Now won’t that be a shame when no one had to go there?

He made a payment for everybody in the world that all that any of us have to do is believe it. You don’t have to change anything, stop anything, promise anything. You just, Lord, I’m a sinner. I got questions and doubts, maybe about a lot of things, but this you need to understand. You’re a sinner. Christ paid for them. Came back from the dead. Would you believe he did that for you? You can do this. This is doable. You can do this.

This is not hard. It’s not complicated. So all you have to do is write where you’re sitting. So that makes sense to me. That makes sense because there’s no tricks to it. No gimmicks to it. You don’t have to join this church to go to heaven or any church. You don’t have to be baptized in water or turned from your sins and hoping that you’ll be good enough for God to save. No, no, no, no. He came to save centers.

He didn’t ask you to be a saint. He just says, believe on me. And God said that he would save every individual that believe for God. So love the world that he gave his only begotten son, the whosoever, believe it in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. If I offered you this microphone and you accepted you’d have a microphone. If I offered you my Bible and you accepted you’d have a Bible. If I offered you my wallet and you accepted you’d have an empty wallet.

If Christ walked in here right now and offered you eternal life and you accepted what would you have? Eternal life. And if it’s eternal life, how long would it last? Forever. And if it lasted forever and all of your sins are paid, where would you go when you die? The heaven. So can you know you’re going to heaven before you die? Of course, I’ve known that for 53 and a half years. Best news in all the world. Let’s pray, shall we?

Every head bowed and every eye closed and no one looking around. If you’re here this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you trust Him? Would you just simply believe that when Christ died, He died for you, those friends, He loves you so much. And if you’re here and you say, yes, that made sense to me, sense to me and I’m going to trust Christ as my Savior this morning. What do I have to do? Well, God knows who you are and He knows where you are.

He knows what you’ve done, what you’re going to do, and He wants you just to trust Him to believe that when He died, He did it for you. And that payment He made, He puts it to your account, you go to heaven on what He did. You’ll never be good enough to live a clean enough life to go to heaven. That’s why He says it’s a gift. It’s totally free. God loves you that much. I’m going to ask you in just a moment to raise your hand.

Raising your hand doesn’t save you. Just let’s me know that what I said made sense to you. And you’re saying, preacher, that made sense to me. And friend, I’d like to know and I’d like to have prayer for you. So would you just slip your hand out very quickly and put it right back down? Yes, God bless you sir. Anyone else? Just slip it up. God bless you in the back. Anyone else? You can slip it up and put it right back down.

Anyone else? So that made sense to me. I want to make sure my name is written in the Lamb’s book of life and the only way you must trust Christ as your Savior before you die. I’m not going to die. Anyone else before we close? Not going to embarrass anybody. Not going to point you out. Anyone else before we close? Not going to embarrass anybody. Not going to point you out. Over and done with when you make that decision is the most important decision you will ever make in your life.

Anyone else before we close? Our father, we do thank you so much for these that indicated by an uplifted hand that they would trust your Savior. By doing so, you guarantee them eternal life. Their names are written in your Lamb’s Book of Life, that you’ll never cast them out and never lose them. We ask your blessing Father now upon the communion service, and Father, we know that taking the Jews or the bread doesn’t save us, we’re already saved. But it helps us to remember what you did on the cross for us, that you were willing to come and to bear our sins in your own body and to shed your blood to make the payment for our sins.

We ask your blesses now upon this moment in Christ’s name. Hello, this is Peter Amato and from all the staff at Bibleline, we want to thank you for tuning in to today’s program. This month we’d like to send to our listeners and supporters the book, The Declaration of the Gospel. This is yet another book authored by Dr. Arnold and it addresses the concerns over what is called the crossless gospel. Is it enough to simply tell someone to believe in facult for them to be saved?

Does the topic of sin need to be addressed in order for someone to understand what the gospel really is? What are the essential points that a lost man must be told in order for him to be saved? And what does believing in Jesus really mean? These are just a few of the topics that are covered in this book. So for the month of May, when you send a gift in any amount, we’re going to give you the book, The Declaration of the gospel.

Our mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634, and don’t forget to include your mailing address as well. God bless you and thank you again for supporting Bible Army. 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. We’re leaving that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.