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 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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

I tell the college to us, I say, look, when you get married, if you’ll make three decisions in a row that’s right, your wife will think you’re so brave. I said if you make three dumb decisions in a row, she’ll think you’re so dumb. I says, no. Whatever you do, try to make at least three right in a row. And very few men can ever reach that achievement. They make one once in a while and then they’ll make a blunder.

Say the right thing and then say the wrong. You can mess up just giving a woman a compliment. and how’s my hair look? Well, that’s too long. It was supposed to be, it was beautiful and everything was great, but you take too long and you’re in trouble, boy. And we just sometimes men just stay in trouble. But as he goes through here, he says, there’s things that are going to happen. Then you get over there to chapter 24 of 1 Samuel at David’s mercy to Saul in in Getty, now I’ve been to in Getty.

And it’s like whenever you’re going down to where Jerry Cole, there’s a road to the side that goes up into the mountains and a little trail. And last time I was over, I mean, James went up into that trail and there’s a little pool up there and a little waterfall, you know, and it’s a beautiful little area. And I think this is where David hid with some of his men up in that area. So as you go through here, you see a lot of interesting things.

David takes somebody to be his wife and has some kids by her and he does a lot of things that probably shouldn’t have done, but he does it anyway. Now look there in chapter 27. And look at the despair of David. So in 1 Samuel, chapter 27, it says in verse one, and David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.” Well, wait a minute. Didn’t God tell him he was going to be the king of Israel?

Well, then he came to parish, can he? If God’s already promised. So he says, there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines, and Saul shall despair of me to seek me any more in the any coast of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hands. So David had to leave and he had about 600 men in the verse two. And so how long was he there in the land of the Philistines?

They were not the friends, but they also knew that David at one time, he had like a crazy man. He’d go in there and he’d spit all over himself and just drool and act like he was nuts. And so the people didn’t want to do anything to him because they thought he didn’t lost his brains. But he was acting, trying to see them thinking that you ain’t got to worry about me, I’m a nut. All the things that they did.

Believe it, verse 7, and the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year in four months, almost a year and a half, he’s over there in another land. Why is he there? Because Saul was trying to kill him. And so he had to do the thing that he did. And yet he was over there with Israel’s enemies. Now, the time came, this is why David was so concerned because of Saul going to fight the Philistines and Saul and Jonathan dies in a battle with the Philistines.

But David had to give his word, he wasn’t going to fight. And so look down in chapter 30, 1 Samuel chapter 30. When David had gone to one place, he had to leave some people in another. And so by doing that in Zilag, he says up in verse 6 and David was greatly distressed for the people’s sake of stoning him. Can you get that? His people. Now because it seemed like everything’s fallen apart and they have captured some of his people and taken them captive.

And so David just doesn’t look like a very good leader. I mean, he had these people come to him a bunch of deadbeats and everything is wrong with them. Miss fits. And so later on, you’ll read about the mighty men of David, the mighty men of David. And God developed these things. man. God was developed in David into a great general and he had a great army, but he wasn’t there yet. See, God sees down the road. He sees how everything’s going to fit together.

And there’s times in our life when we just don’t seem like anything is working. Everything’s going wrong. Have you ever thought that? Everything’s going wrong. Nothing ever works right for me. Nobody knows what I’m going through. Yeah, there’s only about six or seven billion people on planet Earth that are going through life just like you. But maybe not learning the lessons you’re going to learn. And so anyway, it says up here, they was going to stone him because the soul of all the people was greed.

Every man for his sons and for his daughters, but David encouraged himself in the Lord, his God. Now you want to underline that phrase. I’ve told you all this before on the same verse. Encourage yourself. Sometimes there’s nobody around to encourage you. Sometimes you have to give yourself your own pep talk. Sometimes this is why I like canceling people because the encouragement I’m trying to give to them, I have to take my own medicine. And when I remember what they need to do, thinking, you’re hypocrite, you need to do that too.

And it can help you when you’re trying to help somebody else. This is why sometimes if you’ll forget about yourself sometime in your own problem and try to help somebody else bear there, you’ll solve yours because you’ll come up with the counseling and a good advice for somebody else that you need. I’m serious. It will help you when you start learning to help somebody else. Don’t put yourself in a little cave and it’s just you and nobody else and you isolate yourself from everybody else because solving a lot of your problems is trying to help other people solve them because you get answers that way.

You listen and they say that you know that’s what I’m going through. Whatever I tell them well that’s what I need to do. And after you help somebody and they’re so thankful you’ll feel so much better and you get your mind off of yourself. It will work. Caring to you. But as you go down through here, there just happened to be something that David asked God. He says, Lord, if I go after these people that took our people, and not going to be able to overtake them, and God says, yep.

Now wouldn’t that be nice? Lord, I need a million dollars. You going to give it to me? And Lord says, yes. Really? Wouldn’t that make you happy? If we could get answers like that from God and he didn’t even have an iPad or nothing like that, you know, a text, Lord, and Lord text right back. Yes. Sometimes you wonder, how did God communicate back in those days? Yes, David. Look what he says here in verse eight. And David inquired at the Lord said, shall I pursue after this truth?

Shall I overtake them and he answered, pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail recover all. So God told them, go after them, you’ll overtake them and you’ll recover everything. But they’re ready to stone David because they don’t know this. But God can let it get to the place where everybody turns against you, but God. And if you know that you and God on the same page. Don’t worry about anything else. You and God are a majority, but you better make sure for God’s stand and you’re standing with the Lord.

You can’t understand and figure all of this stuff out. It’ll drive you nuts. So anyway, they went after them and they got thing out of it. But look in verse 19. And there was nothing lacking to them. Neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoiled nor anything that they had taken to them, David and Yondal and LaLanda’s words. David recovered all. Now everybody’s all excited. Now everybody’s what a great leader. I’ve had people say, well, that Yankee’s a great pastor and I’ve had other says, he don’t have a clue what he’s doing.

You’re good and bad. Somebody says, we want a young preacher. Other than we want an old one. We want a young preacher that knows everything. Well, then he wouldn’t be young. Can you please everybody? No. So you don’t even worry about it. Just try to do it the right that you know to do and keep getting up and you’ll find out that God will bless you. Turn over there now the first, second Samuel. Second Samuel. Now Samuel has died.

Got killed in the battle. In 2 Samuel, in chapter 1, David keeps asking the question, how are the mighty fallen? How’s the mighty fallen? And he says, because they were slain. See that in verse 25, how are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle? Oh, Jonathan, Dawah slain in die high places. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant, hast thou been unto me. Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How are the mighty fallen?

Now there’s homosexual’s one that’s taking and making more out of that. I don’t believe that, no. Cause there’s not a sin that Bible talks about of loving somebody. but the camaraderie that they had, the fellowship that they had, and the covenant that they had, because Saul had a son, Jonathan, that he wanted to be the king, and Jonathan was married and had a child. And this child was a kid by the name of my Phibis chef. And when trouble arose, the nurse took my Phibis chef when he was five years old and headed out, but she fell and when she did the kid got injured and was never able to walk.

And time passed. But while we’re right here, I want you to look at this. Look in chapter 4, 2 Samuel chapter 4. In verse 1, and when Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in Hebrew, his hands were feeble and all the Israelites were trouble. Saul’s son had two men that were captains of bands and so it goes on to and explain some of that. Now look in verse 4, Jonathan saw son, had a son that was lame of his feet.

He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel and his nurse took him up and fled and he came to pass as she made haste to flee that he fell and became blame and his name was my fibish chef. So they hit him, they hit him and look in verse 10. When one told me saying, behold, Saul is dead thinking to have brought good titans I took hold of him and slew him in zig-lag who thought that I would have given him a reward for his titling because somebody came along and wanted to take credit for killing old Saul.

And you’ll find in chapter 1 of 2 Samuel, he was an Amalekite. I have a sermon that I’m going to be bringing again on. Then came the Amalekites. Amalek. Then came Amalek. But now in chapter 5 you’ll notice there David becomes the king of Israel. After all this time, see David didn’t have to kill Saul. God took care of that. Sometimes you just need to let things alone and let God deal with things. We get into a lot of trouble because we get impatient.

And one of the things the Bible says, tribulation works with patience. So God is teaching us learn to wait on the Lord. Don’t give God your timetable and say, God, you must do this by. And God says, what? Well, the Lord, I need a thousand dollars by Wednesday. Now, you can dictate to God if you want to, but I can’t guarantee that it’s going to work that way. God knows what you have need of before you ask. But that doesn’t mean you’re going to get it.

You see, God has a timetable too. Sometimes God lets us struggle, lets us squirm. I was told that there’s a little duck that was out there by the well and had a little bunch of little bitties and they were running around. Inside the thing, there were still three of them that hadn’t hatched. And so Ryan, I believe, was trying to pick off the shell because it wasn’t strong enough to get out. And he said, well, I’m going to help.

Sometimes when we try to help so that somebody don’t have to struggle, we think we’re doing them a favor. But that’s how they get their strength is that struggling. And that’s why we need to sometimes back off and let people struggle with things. Don’t try to always cushion everything for everybody. Sometimes you got to let people suffer consequences of their bad decisions so they’ll learn. And so it’s a hard thing to do, but sometimes love is tough. So here we have a problem.

David is king, and what’s the purpose of a king? with all those who were before Him that was in the King’s houses is to kill them. Now look there in verse 4, 2 Samuel, and David was 30 years old when he began to reign and he reign for 40 years. So that’s I guess a pretty good long time. So now David is King and he remembers some things. He remembers what he had promised and he had made some promises.

But he had gone out in verse 13, David took him more concubines and wires out of Jerusalem and so on. And so he was, as you would call it, a ladies man? Well, he did a lot of things he should have done, and there’s always problems. Later on, Solomon was born because of one of these deeds, and he wound up having a thousand of them, hundred wives and three hundred porcupines, concubines. And the Bible says that he lost his kingdom and it was divided because of his sin with all those women.

See that doesn’t mean God approves just because God allowed. God may allow you to do a lot of wrong things. That doesn’t mean God’s blessings upon it. Something is wrong is still still wrong. Now Look there in, let’s go over a little bit further where we have in chapter nine, chapter nine of second Samuel. So now David remembers something. In verse one, he says, and David says, is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?

Anybody left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake? Now believe it or not, this is a beautiful picture of salvation because there’s no reason for David to do anything for Mephibosheth. But Mephibosheth had a fall and he couldn’t walk. Mephibosheth is a picture of an old center. He has no rights to anything. But because of Jonathan, David wanted to do this. And it’s called grace. So David now wants to show grace because he had made a promise.

See the Bible says that God made a promise even to Abraham. And for Abraham’s sake, God kept his word. And then when Jesus came, he says, and for Jesus’ sake, then he paid for our sins and we get to go to heaven for his sake. because of anything that we don’t, because we had a fall and look what he did for us. So, here in this verse, he talks about this and so he says in verse 2, and there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba.

And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, our das Ziba, and he said, thy servant is he. And the king says, is there not any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto him? As ever said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet his son, which is lame on his feet. And the king said unto him, Where is he? As ever said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Mykhar, the son of Amiel, in Lodibar.

Lodibar means no pasture. Then kings David sent and fetched him out of the house of Mykhar, the son of Amiel, from Lodibar. Now when Mephibosheph, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David. He fell on his face and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheph, and he answered, Behold thy servant. David said unto him, Fear not, for I will surely show the kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually, at his table, in the King’s house.

Now why is he doing all of this? He made a promise to Jonathan and that he wouldn’t kill him. And so now he has a chance to do right by Jonathan’s son. And verse 8, and he bowed himself and said, what is thy servant that thou should have looked upon such a dead dog as I am? You know there’s somebody else that made a statement, something like that when he went to the cross and he says, I’m just a worm.

Who was that? That’s found in the 22nd song where Jesus made that statement. when he had the sins of the world upon himself, and he was so despised and rejected, people didn’t want anything to do with him, God turned his back on him because he had the sins of the world upon him. And we’re just unworthy. It was the just dying for the unjust, the righteous for the unrighteous, the sinless for the sinner, and he did that for us.

So he made the statement here in verse 9, then the king said to Zebun, Saul’s servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master’s son all that pertain to Saul and to all his house, thou therefore and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him, and thou shalt bring in the fruits that thy master’s son may have food to eat. But my fibish chef, thy master’s son, eat bread always at my table. Now Zeba had 15 sons and 20 servants.

Doing pretty good huh? 15 sons and 20 servants and he gave them the land and they were to work it and to tell it. So instead of being in hiding in a place of no pasture, he gives them a pasture and he’s going to bless them in such a wonderful, marvelous way. Verse 11, then Zebra unto the king, according to all that my Lord the king hath commanded his servants, so shall I serve and do. As for Mafibishev, said the king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king’s sons.

And Mafibishev had a young son whose name was Micah, and all that dwelt in the house of Zebra were servants under Mafibishev. So, my fibshyph dwelt in Jerusalem, for he did eat continually at the king’s table and was lame on both feet. Sounds like a story of an old center getting saved. We don’t deserve anything. And yet here we are feasting at the king’s table or eating the king’s food. If you’re a child of the king, you should act like a child of the king.

belong to the Lord. And therefore, we do not have what we have because of anything that we deserve, but because of what He has done for us. He loves us so much that He did all of this for Jesus’ sake. And therefore, He gives us a beautiful story in Old Testament. Remember this, when you read the 19th Psalm, it talks about the testimonies of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple. In other words, in the Old Testament, we have all these wonderful little stories that we love to teach to the little kids in Sunday School.

The Sunday School stories, all these old stories. The New Testament doesn’t have it. That means stories like that. But the Old Testament just full of stories after story after story after story after story after story. But all the stories in the Old Testament are teaching biblical truth. They’re teaching character. They’re telling us doctrine. And these are the illustrations that teach a biblical doctrine that’s taught and explained in the New Testament. So you see, we have the doctrine, and we have the stories that explain the doctrine.

And this is why you don’t just need one of the testaments. You need both testaments. You need the Old Testament and the New Testament. This is one book, and all of it is about Christ. And as you read this, you can see Christ in these stories. True? up here. Letting this hand represent you and me and the wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. God says that He loves us, He hates our sin. And for us to pay for it is eternal separation from God.

But God loves us. He wants us to go to heaven. But to go to heaven we have to be perfect. As righteous as God, a none of us are perfect. We’ve all sinned. We’ve all come short of God’s perfection. So God says you cannot earn eternal acts. You can’t work your way to heaven. lest any man should boast. So God says, I’m going to do something for you, and I’ll make it free. That sounds pretty good. This hymn represents Jesus Christ.

He was the Lord. See, He came into the world, lived 32 and a half years, didn’t sin. So He didn’t have to die. But because he loved us, he took our place. He took our sins. He paid for it, came back from the dead, said that if you and I, if we would believe he did it for us, he would give us as a free gift, everlasting life. His death for my sins would become my payment. I don’t have to make.

So now I have eternal life and I’m going to heaven whenever I die. But I’m not there yet. So the Lord, in order to live here, gave me a gift. His power, the power of his mind, the Holy Spirit to indwell us. And if you will yield yourself to him, he’ll teach you how to live. The Lord can teach you how to live. How to handle every trial, every tribulation, every temptation, he can teach you everything you need to know.

But you got to let him. He will take you through his word and he will highlight things as you read and study it and a lot of it you won’t even get it it won’t make any sense you won’t understand it but all the sudden there will be a verse that says this is for you this is for you this is all you need right now and then next time you read it ah I didn’t see this before and they’ll teach you something else it is the living word of God let’s pray show you Every head bowed and every eye closed and no one looking around.

If you hear tonight and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, you can do that right where you are. You don’t have to stand up, you don’t have to come forward, you don’t even have to raise your hand. All you need to know is, I’m talking to the Lord and God sees and He understands. He knows those who will believe it. Will you believe it? If you will believe that when Christ died, He died for you. He’ll give you as a free gift ever last in life and you get to go to heaven on what Christ did for you Would you trust him and if he will God said he would save you you can know you’re going to heaven If you’re watching by internet on the screen There’s a little Button up there and says yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior Would you do that would you trust the

Lord would like to know it just sends us a message that says yes? I trust it Christ as my Savior and that’s such a blessing So it has about nine, so anyone else before we close, so yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior tonight and pray to I like you to pray for me, anywhere at all. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, how are you doing in your spiritual life? Are you growing spiritually? Are you getting stronger and stronger?

Did you know that you have within you the Holy Spirit to teach you, to lead you, to guide you? And helping you to do everything he wants you to do. He can walk with you to all of these trials that you have, and we have them. We have a lot of lust of the flesh. He can give you the strength to desire the right things. Father, we do thank you so much for loving us so much that you too, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven us, not because of anything we have done or deserve, but because of somebody else.

We thank you so much for loving us, for giving us the free gift of eternal life, making us your children, and we can set at the King’s table. We’re permitted to feast upon your word. Some day will be in your very presence for all eternity. We thank you for the advice name. Hello friends. Thank you for listening to Bibleline, and thank you to those who write in and tell us how Bibleline is making such a big impact in your lives.

It’s such an encouragement when we receive your letters and emails. Can I ask, how is your prayer life? Does it need some help. Most Christians think of prayer as a secondary or last resort. Do you realize that Jesus spent hours upon hours in prayer to His Heavenly Father and yet we so often fail to practice prayer as a priority in our lives? Well during this month for a gift in any amount we’re going to send you Dr. Arnold’s four sermon series on the power of prayer.

Perhaps prayer is a shortcoming in your life and this teaching is surely able to help. 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. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.