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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. Be just 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.

Look at the next verse here, Galatians 3.28. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither Bon nor Free. neither male or female, but you’re all one in Christ Jesus. So I guess there’s some things you might like about this and some things you may not like about this. But I know this. God says, you’re not called a sinner, you’re called a saint. The very day you trusted Christ as your Savior, you became a saint. And you don’t have to wait for the Catholic church or the Pope or anybody to have all this done for you.

No, no, no, no. I was a saint the day I trusted Christ as my Savior. Now I may not have lived like one, and you may not live like one, but the word comes from a Greek word, Hagiazo meaning to be made pure and holy and set apart from where we get the word sanctifier, sanctuary. We are saints in the Lord, and as He addresses churches in the scripture, He says to the saints which be at Philippa, or the church that be here, and a church that be the saints, it’s the saints, and that’s you.

Now I want you to see this one. take your Bible and turn to the book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, and chapter 2. Now the Lord says, there’s three kinds of people. He also makes a statement. There’s the Jude, the Gentile, and the Church of God. So you always have to find out what does He mean by in the context that you find it. Well here’s something, there’s three types of people that are mentioned here. Some people don’t believe that this is a reference to three different types of people.

But it is. You look at it and you see. So you look up there in verse 9 of chapter 2 where he makes this statement, he says, but as it is written, I have not seen, ear have not heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. But then the very next verse says, but God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit, ye the spirit, searcheth all things, ye the deep things of God.

And then he says, for what man knoweth the things of a man, say the spirit of man which is within him? And how can a man know the things of God except by the spirit of God? So if you had the Holy Spirit of God live inside of you, you could know things about God. Because the things that are deep and lies beyond the wisdom of man can only be understood by the Holy Spirit of God revealing them to man.

So whenever you accepted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit of God that knows everything about God now lives on the inside of you. And your body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. So you are able now to discern things that a man without the Holy Spirit can’t discern. So the Bible describes the natural man. That’s the man who has a sinful nature, but it doesn’t have the divine nature. So there’s the natural man, the lost man. See look what he says in verse 14.

But the natural man, so that’s one, the natural man receive if not the things of the Spirit of God. And he says why? For they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. The things of God are spiritually discerned and He doesn’t have the Holy Spirit within Him to discern. So there is a lost man and we know that the lost man is the one who has not believed on Christ. There’s a saved man and the saved man is the one that does believe on Christ.

But the saved man gets the Holy Spirit to indwell Him. So now the saved man has an advantage over the lost man. The saved men can know things, the lost men cannot know. The saved men can understand things. He should be able to make wiser decisions with his life than the lost man can. But isn’t it a shame in the world in which we live and the time in which we live that many lost people appear to make wiser decisions than the children of light?

Oh, there’s even a parable about them. They unjust steward. Because see, this is the only world they have and this is all they can plan for because. see they’re not going to heaven. And so what they see and touch and feel and want desire, all the things their whole life is built around satisfying that one thing themselves. Now the Christian is a little bit different. So the Bible tells us this. So you look there in verse 15 and you can see that there is another type of person in verse 15, but he that is spiritual, judge of all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

What does that mean? Oh, that’s a good question. But the spiritual man has the Holy Spirit. That’s the person who’s trusted Christ is Savior. He has the Holy Spirit. He is able to discern all these things that we’re talking about that God reveals and He can discern them. The lost man cannot. And he can know the mind of God. You see, the word of God is the mind of God on paper. So as you study the mind of God, you know how God thinks.

What God loves, what God hates, what he desires, what he wants you to do, what he doesn’t want you to do. You can discern those things because you see, you have the Holy Spirit and dwelling you. And so therefore you can develop the mind of Christ. And so you’re able to discern all these things that the lost man can’t discern because he doesn’t have the Holy Spirit in dwelling them. So you look there in the next verse when he says there in the last part of verse 15, yet he himself is judged of no man or a lost man so he can’t discern him.

We can discern the lost man and we know why he does what he does but he cannot understand why we do what we do. You are a paradox to the lost man. If you decide to serve the Lord, he will not be able to truly realize why you do what you do. Why you sacrifice what you do and why you go and do and say, and the way you live, if you’re a spiritual man. So there is the spiritual man.

And then there’s a another type of person that’s the carnal man. So look there in chapter 3 and I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spirituals, which is a reference to the previous two verses. He said I can’t talk to you as somebody who can understand and eat meat. I’ve got to talk to you as somebody like a baby and feed you some milk. So he says here in verse 1, I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.

So he says, you are babes in Christ. So that means there’s two kinds of Christians. There are those that are babes in Christ and there’s those that are mature in the Lord. So you see, a lot of God’s children are still babes in the Lord. And as you read through first Corinthians and second Corinthians, you don’t find where Paul questions and doubts, Well, let’s assign you’re not really saved. Oh, I had to say that. He didn’t say that. He just says you’re babes in Christ and you’re carnal.

But what does it mean to be a carnal Christian? He gives us the definition himself. So you see there in verse two, I have fed you with milk and not with meat. For hitherto you were not able to bear it neither yet. Now are you able. In other In other words, you couldn’t then, you can’t now. You’re a babe in Christ, you’re not growing. And so there’s things that you’re not gonna be able to understand, you can’t discern. And so you may have trusted Christ as a savior, you’re going to heaven when you die, but you cannot discern spiritual things.

If you don’t understand spiritual truth, you cannot discern the best decisions for your life. A carnal Christian is a fleshly minded Christian. What does that mean? It means that you have an old sinful nature and you walk and live like a lost man. Can a Christian live like a lost man? Yes. That’s because you’re fleshly minded. You live just like a lost man and very little difference. You just do whatever you want to do. A little pittance here, and a little pittance there, but you never really say, I’m going to mature in the Lord.

Never grow up. And if you don’t become spiritually minded, you can never assume spiritual responsibilities. For example, we have a church here. New 20% states are hot. So they cannot assume spiritual responsibilities. They’re not faithful to the Lord. And yet they should be and they can be is that they won’t be. So you have a choice. Are you a lost man? You never trusted Christ as your Savior? So no, I’m saved. Okay. Then you’re saved. Are you a carnal Christian or a spiritual Christian?

Are you? Are you mature in the Lord? Are you still like a babe fleshly minded? A fleshly minded means you’re walking after the flesh like the lost man does. So look what he says here. In verse three, he says, for yet or yet ye are carnal. For whereas there is among you enveeing, strife, divisions, are ye not carnal? And walk as men, walk like lost men. So, you see, how do I know if I’m carnal Christian? Is it the works of the flesh that come from your owe sinful nature?

That’s described, does that describe you more than the fruit of the Spirit? The fruit of the Spirit, love, and joy, and peace, and long-suffering, gentleness, and goodness, and faith, and meatiness, and temper, and all that. All those good things, which one describes your character? Do you walk after the flesh or after the Spirit? So you see, it’s written in such a way so we can discern for ourselves. But if you can’t discern where you are spiritually with the Lord, it might be because you’re not growing in the Lord and been able to discern right from wrong, what you should do and should not do.

What kind of a testimony do you have? If every Christian lived like you, if every Christian followed your example, how dedicated would they be? Ooh, I had a lady walk that door one day and she shook my hand. She says, I can hardly walk. I says, why? She says, my toes are bloody. She says, you jumped all over my feet today. I don’t purposely try to stomp on anybody’s toes. I’m just one people to be aware. And if you’re not very strong in the Lord and you are fleshly minded, you’ll probably become easily offended.

Nobody like that are here, aren’t they? Onward, the preacher couldn’t hurt you if he tried, because you’re so spiritually minded. It’ll be just roll right off your back. But you know, there’s some Christians, there are still babies, and they put a chip on their shoulder, just dog bear the preacher say anything to hurt their feelings because see they’re already looking for a reason not to go to church and they’ll find one. You come long enough you’ll find a reason but wouldn’t it be neat if all of God’s children were spiritually minded but is that the way it is?

In most cases it’s not the way that he says so you still walk as a lost man. So you go over there to chapter 4 and look what he says in chapter 4. In chapter 4, it notice there in verse 1, he says, let a man sow account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. It is required. So So how do you solve a carnal Christians problem?

You don’t try to convince them that they’re not really saved. No? You tell them what is required. So a lot of times, God’s children don’t know what is required. They don’t know what they should do. I’ve talked to a lot of people that trust Christ is Savior and then several years later, they don’t know they were supposed to wait. They don’t know that this is God’s love letter to his children. He just thinks the big old thing, book for the preachers, you know, to blast everybody else.

They don’t know, God’s love led to his children. And these things have already done to you that belief. So those that believe, hey, this is written to you. And a lot of people don’t know that. So you try to tell people what is required. It is required in a steward that a man be found rich. Popular? Faithful. Just faithful. Faithful to what? whatever the stewardship is, what does God require? So that’s why you studied the word of God, so you will know what he requires of me.

What does God require of his children? What does God want? So as you read the scriptures, you’ll find out what God wants you to do. But if you’re currently minded, you want to live like the lost man, and the lost man lives for himself and for this world. That’s what he lives for. If that’s what you’re doing, you’re doing the same thing. I made it my mind years ago. I don’t want to waste my time doing something that 100 years from now probably won’t help me.

Won’t have any value to it. And that is work for eternity. Work to get people into heaven. Because when I get there, the only thing that can go there are the people that were here. You see, I can’t take my house there. I can’t take my car there. I can’t take my clothes there. I can’t take anything from this world there. The only thing we can take from here in this world to that world souls. And that’s why they are so important and so valuable.

So I know that when I get to heaven, I will wish I had reached as many as I could. So therefore, that becomes my drive. Me and Betty was up in Georgia and she called me up and says, Yankee, I’m talking to those people at the funeral place and we’re going to have our head stoned and all that, you Isn’t that a scary thought? And she put it on mine, the gospel driven man. I like that, the gospel driven man.

It can say an awful lot in just a couple words. But I do believe that has been what drives me to do what I do. Now everybody has to have something that drives you, what motivates you. What causes this child that’s in the flesh saved but not growing? What causes him to break out of this and desire something more, something better? I wish I knew what that little trick was, that little thing that you could say or do that breaks it open for somebody and they find it.

I see it, I see it. And it makes a difference to them. So always understand this, when you trusted Christ as your Savior, God says, you are now in the Spirit. Doesn’t mean you’re spiritually minded, it’s just that’s your position, you’re in the Spirit. When you were lost, you were in the flesh. So you have a flesh birth, spiritual birth. So when you were lost, you were in the flesh and now that you’re saved, God sees you as his child in the Spirit.

So take your Bible very quickly and turn there to the book of Romans, the book of Romans, chapter 8. Romans and chapter 8 real quick. And look there in verse 5. In verse 5 it says, for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. But they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. Now you notice the flesh is one thing but the Spirit is capital S. It’s a capital S. That means the Holy Spirit.

Look up here. For a Christian to live like the lost man, to live for himself and the world, is he’s following after the flesh, the zos sinful nature. And you say, well, what’s going to be the result? Well, when you read, what are the works of the flesh? It names all of those in Galatians in chapter 5, and none of them are perdy, the envene, around jealousy, you know, that’s the seriousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variants, emulations, rafts, strife, seditions, all those things.

All that’s the flesh. That’s what you’ll produce, because you’re walking after the flesh. So can a Christian walk after the flesh? Yeah, God doesn’t see you in the flesh. He sees you in the spirit, but you can walk after the flesh. But God says that because you are his child, he wants you to walk and fall after the Holy Spirit. So you see there in verse 14 of the same chapter of Romans when he makes this statement for as many as are led by the spirit of God.

So you, the Christian, have the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit living within you wants to lead you. And if you let the Holy Spirit lead you and you follow, then you will become the maturing saints of God. And this is what it’s just talking about. They become the maturing saint. growing as a child of God if you let the Holy Spirit lead you. So you can follow after the Spirit or you can walk after the flesh. So you see there in verse 5, but they that are all after the flesh mind the things of the flesh.

So to be fleshly minded means you mind the flesh. And if you’re spiritually minded, it means you mind the spirit. So you’re the one that decides which one you mind. You say you have this nature telling you to do this, and you have the Holy Spirit telling you to do this. Well which one do you listen to? So which one do you mind? Have you ever had parents say this, my kids just don’t mind me. What does that mean?

It means they’re rebellious. disobedient. They don’t mind. So here’s the Lord telling you to do something and you don’t mind. And you have the flesh nature telling you to do this. Don’t mind it. Pay it no mind. You see, you get to make choices. God didn’t make us robots. So now we can choose whether to walk after the flesh or we can walk after the Spirit. But you are seen as a child of God in the Spirit. Now look what he says here in verse 6, for to be carnally minded but to be spiritually minded that’s a choice.

How do you think? The reason you and I study the Word of God is so that we can know the mind of God and if we’ll know the mind of God and we do what God wants us to do. God says that He will bless us and there’s those that will not. And then you get down here where He says in verse 9, but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

You see you are in the Spirit when you trust Christ as your Savior. You may walk after the flesh or after God. But that’s a choice that you have to make. And if you make the right choice, God will richly bless you. If you don’t, your heavenly Father is going to have to chase in you because you’re still His child. See, God, He chases His children. And He chases His children because you’re still His child even when you do wrong.

Even when you live like a lost man, you’re still his child. And he said, I’ll never cast you out, I’ll never lose you. But he may have to chase and discipline you. Don’t you think all Christians ought to understand this? See, it’s not that you have to do it to get to heaven, it’s because you’re already going to heaven. You trusted Christ as your Savior, you have eternal life and that’s the best news in all world. Look up here very quickly.

This is you and me, this is Sam. We all have sin on us. God, he loves us. Now he hates our sin, but he loves us. And we are in the flesh. We are lost. We can’t save ourselves. We don’t know how to get to heaven. Man can never think of a way. All he can think of is religion. All he can think about is what he can do that God will maybe let him in. And it all boils down to man trying to work his way to heaven, because he doesn’t know it’s a gift.

He can’t know it’s free. Because see, that’s truth that comes from God and not from man. Man can be religious. And so there’s a lot of religions and a lot of people trusting in their religion. But God says he loves us, but he hates our sin. And for us to pay for sin, he turns separation from God. But you see, God made a way. To go to heaven, we’ve got to be perfect as righteousness. God, we’re not. We’ve all come short of God’s perfection.

So God says, you can’t save yourself. So that’s all bad news. This is good news. Christ came into the world because He loves us. Hates our sin because it separates His front end. So Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die. So He took all the sin of all the world and paid for it on the cross. Now all the sin of all the world has already been paid. You don’t have to ever worry about the payment for sin paid.

But this payment is not put to your account till you believe he did it for you. When you believe he did it for you, he puts the payment that was made to your account. And you go to heaven on what Christ did for you. And God declares you as righteous as God. So that’s the gift of God. It’s free. It doesn’t cost you anything. Jesus Christ paid for all of your sins. See, that’s why he says in John 3 18, He that believeth on me is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned.

He’s condemned because he doesn’t believe. He’s dependent, since already been paid. All you and I have to do is believe he did it for us. And once you believe he did it for you, he gives you eternal life, and he’ll never cast you out. And so as a Christian, yes, you’re going to heaven now. You have eternal life, God will never cast you out and never lose you. But now you have a choice. As a Christian. Do you want to be a carnal Christian, a big Christian all your life?

Or do you want to mature in the Lord and be able to handle spiritual responsibilities where God, because of your faith, God can trust you to do a job for him? Don’t you want to do something for the Lord while you can? Isn’t there something inside of you that says, I want to please my heavenly Father? Even despite all my dad did, I always wanted my dad to be proud of me. Even though I didn’t get to know him very well.

He’d always beat the Torah on you. But I never heard my mother or my father at any time ever tell me that they loved me. I never saw them read a Bible. I never saw them have prayer. I never saw them in a church. And I would love to have heard that and wish they could have trained me differently. I don’t know what I would have done or anything, but I just know that I still had a respect for them.

I never asked my mom. I didn’t my dad. I scared the death of him. But whenever I got me a new daddy, the Lord changed everything. And now I don’t want to be just a person who trusts the Christ of a Savior and then live my life the way I want to. I want to please God. I want to please my Father. And I hope that makes sense to you. Let’s pray, shall we? Every head, bottom, every eye, close and no one looking around.

If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you trust Him right now? Just say this in your own mind. Lord, I know I’m on the center because when God says we all are, You didn’t get a choice in that. You are a sinner. But you have chosen to sin. But the Bible says that Jesus Christ, He’s already paid for all of your sins. All He wants you to do, I believe He did it for you. That He loved you that much.

You can do this. You can do this. Would you trust Him? In the quietness of this moment right now, I’m going to ask you, if your trust Jesus Christ is your Savior, God said if you’ll trust Him, He will save you. You believe it? I did. And so right now, if you’ll trust Christ as your Savior, God said He would give you the free gift of everlasting life. And I like to know and I like to have prayer for you in closing.

So it heads by nice closing. And we’ll all say, yes, that made sense to me. And I’ll trust Christ right now as my Savior and preach our life here to pray for me. Would you just slip your hand up very quickly and put a right back down? Just real quick to slip it up. Put a right back down. Say, yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior. God bless you, buddy. Appreciate that. You can put it down. Anyone else? Our Father, we thank You again for Your blessings.

Thank You so much. Father Clarity, did You give it in Your Word so that we can make wise decisions, heaven and hell. It’s in the balance based upon a decision that we can make so easily, I believe, I believe it. And Father, for those who trusted Your Savior, so easy this Lord, I want to serve You and begin to make the right decisions. study your word and become faithful. Use each one, bless each one. And follow we also ask now your blessings upon each person and Father for those that can do so to be generous in their donations for the cause of Christ.

And we thank you for the Christ name. You have been listening to another great message from Dr. Arnold and we hope that Bibleline is a blessing to you. In appreciation for your support of this ministry we’d like to send to you a gift. During this month for For a gift in any amount, we’re going to send the Bible promise book. It is a book that organizes verses of the Bible by topic. For example, if you wanted to know of verses that address humility, or forgiveness, or obedience, you would simply find that topic in the table of contents, go to the chapter listed, and there you would find the verses that address that topic.

It’s a wonderful study guide and resource for your own devotions, as well as for lesson preparation and will send it to you for a gift in any amount for this month. 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 Bibleline. 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.