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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 BibleInmenistries.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.

Well, we’re going through the story of Christ, the life of Christ. And there’s an experience that the apostles had, and they were kind of excited about being there, though they were surprised. But then the Lord told them, says, I want you to keep it a secret. Have you ever had somebody tell you something, don’t mention this to us so? I don’t like it when people tell me stuff and they say, I don’t tell anybody. Because the first thing I want to do if it’s good, I want to tell everybody.

So turning our Bibles to Matthew chapter 16, Matthew chapter 16. Now we’re going to go into chapter 17, but we need a little running room, a runway before we kick off up into chapter 17. So we’ll start off in chapter 16. And in chapter 16 of Book of Matthew, the Pharisees came to Jesus and well they’re always trying to trap him. They said, why don’t you give us a sign? Give us a sign. So in verse 1, the Pharisees also with the Sadducees, they came tempting to desire him that he would show them a sign from heaven.

Well, he done done a lot of things already, but they wanted a special little magic trick that he could do. You know, like David Copperfield make this you know, Statue of Liberty disappear, something like that, you know, just do something really well. In verse 2, he answered and he said unto them, when it is evening, you say it will be fair weather for the sky’s red. And the morning it It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and luring.

Oh, you hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky, but can you not discern the signs of the times? You don’t understand the signs of the times, the times in which you’re living. Then you know that you had the word of God that gave you these signs, and one of the greatest signs was Him. Scripture told them of the greatest sign of all how to recognize the Messiah and he had to be born a certain time certain place and live a certain way and do certain things and he was doing everything just like he was supposed to but they could not discern.

So he says here and he called him a bunch of hypocrites. And verse 4 a wicked and adulteress generations seek it after a sign. There shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah, and he left them and departed. Now, when you read Matthew chapter 12, you’ll see the rest of what he did say. See, one book doesn’t always tell you everything that was said. And sometimes those things probably happen over and over again, and Jesus would give an answer and then he’d give the same answer, but it may not be exactly the same.

So people call that a discrepancy in the Bible, not a discrepancy. It means you weren’t there. You didn’t hear the whole story. Not everything that he said was written. Only portions of what he said was written. And then another book will have portions of what he said. That doesn’t mean that they conflict. It’s just that you don’t understand how that all fits. I’ll be talking a little bit about that tonight. But it’s so important just to trust the Lord, trust His Word.

And you’ll notice down here in verse 5 where He says, And when His disciples were gone to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. So, evidently, they were going to get hungry, they didn’t take any food with them. So that initiated another subject to talk about. The leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the leaven of the Herodians. The leaven wasn’t just the yeast that was in the bread because it to rise. It was talking about the doctrines that they teach.

So he was warning them about the doctrine of the Pharisees, the doctrine of the Sadducees and the doctrine of the Herodians. So there were false doctrines out there and those doctrines contradicted what Jesus was teaching. So they looked at it as Jesus is wrong, not them. They didn’t agree with each other, but they found a common denominator, Christ, to be mad at, because he didn’t agree with any of them. So therefore they all worked together to try to to find something wrong with Christ.

Well, that’s what goes on. It’s just like, for example, we have the Bible here and I get these emails all the time and I’ve had people just rave about my clarity on the gospel. They like that. And they’re like the soul winning zeal, but I have a preacher that’s just up the road here a little ways that goes to a group of preachers that I used to go to at once in a while and I would speak. Well not every one of them loved me to death.

So they were tined and they would try to poison people’s mind about using me. And most of it has to do with the Hostdollville reference Bible because that’s what I use. That’s what Hank used. The doctor’s name, that’s what he used. And so I’ve had people that write me all kinds of things. I mean lots of information that would tell me how, you know, see I just go feel what a heretic he was and what a, you know, an apostate he was and a false apostle that he was, but he never claimed to be an apostle anyway.

But the things that he has in his, in the old Schofel reference Bible, we use and I love. But his notes are not inspired. Nobody’s ever said they were. He doesn’t even say that. But whenever he teaches like dispensations and you don’t believe in dispensations or the way he teaches about dispensations, whether you’re not going to like the ice go-field because that’s what’s in the notes. If you don’t believe in the gap theory, which I don’t believe in the gap theory, well he does, but I don’t believe that.

Ray Stanford believed in the gap theory in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 2. Hank Lindstrom, he believed in the gap theory. I don’t have problem with what they do, they’re going to change nothing in the gospel. So, men hate don’t have to agree perfectly on everything, but when it comes to the clarity of the gospel, what the gospel is that makes a difference on eternal security and all that, we believe exactly the same. A few things about prophecy, how you give and take, because it really is not going to change anything.

But this gospel business, that’s the difference of heaven and hell. So we take a strong stand on that. But did me and Ray Stanford get along? Well, of course. Did me and Hank Lissam get along? Well, of course. He had me down two years to speak at his camp before I ever became pastor. Well, before he passed away. So we’ve been friends all these years, but we still use the scope of the reference Bible. So a lot of people use it.

But there are things in the notes that you may not agree with. And so whenever you find something that it’s, you know, you don’t agree with like things on repentance and so forth that we may say okay that’s what it means is change of mind and so forth well we don’t have too much trouble with Schofill on that but if somebody else believes something differently well then they don’t like this and so they don’t like people using it so they they attacked the man well the man’s been dead for years and you take for example Dr.

Lee Robertson had the big college up there Tennessee. Well, he used Sculphur reference Bible. I used it. Most people have. And most fundamental preachers will use the old Sculphur. So I don’t have any problem in using it. I started using it because Betty’s dad, that’s what he used. And by studying those notes, I I got a Bible college education. This thing has got notes in it that are really super on the gospel and explaining what propitiation is and the righteousness is and justification and all these things.

And it’s good. And when it teaches about the covenants, it teaches about the dispensations, all those things, it’s good. But you see, there’s some preachers that don’t believe that the rapture starts before the tribulation. they believe it goes into the tribulation. So boy, you ought to see what I’ve get on those. Somebody’s always trying to straighten me out. And I think they must think I’ve never read or studied. And well, I haven’t really studied that. I don’t know too much about this book that I haven’t read and studied on or people that I’ve listened to and all the philosophies out there and the different winds of doctrine that comes along.

And I just smiled. I’ve had them call me up from Colorado. And somebody called me up the other day from California. And they just want to straighten me out on a few things. And they think that, oh, I got his time to sit here and listen to them talk. And they’ll call me, so now I know you’re a busy man, and this is only I want to take about 30 seconds. Five minutes later, they’re still going. And I said, thank you, sir.

I appreciate that, but I got it run. And so sometimes I have to hang up on, because they won’t stop talking. Have you ever watched the news sometime and they’ll have somebody on there and they start talking and then they won’t shut up? They won’t take a breath and then they try to just out talking, keep on talking, not that I just hit a sound but you’re off buddy. Once in a while they do that, just, then I do that in a minute.

But some people, they don’t listen, they just wanna talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. But anyway, I have great respect for the book. And you’re not going to find everybody that’s going to agree with everything, but it’s a good translation, I believe. And good notes. Like I said, started with Betty’s dad, led me to the Lord, and I didn’t have a Bible, so I still have Betty’s Bible. And so I started using Betty’s Bible, and then Betty had to go get an element.

So when I went to Bible college, I had her Bible. A little small thing. So small, I couldn’t hardly read the thing, but I could read it, but that Bible is all marked up. pages, there’s disintegrate in the color of Haddett for over 55 years. But here in Matthew, he goes through and he says about these things on the doctrine. See down here in verse 6, Jesus said unto them, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, and they reason among themselves saying, it is because we’ve taken no bread, which when Jesus perceived he said unto them, oh ye of little faith, why reason you among yourself because you have brought no bread.

Do not you understand? Remember the five loaves and the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Neither the seven loaves and the four thousand and how many baskets you took up. Don’t you remember? How was it that you do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees then understood they how that he made them not be aware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees because they have false doctrine.

This is the thing that will get more people because when you don’t know what you believe, you’re only as strong as the last person you talk to. This is why you have to be careful of what you listen to. Study the Bible. Now if you walk into my office and I’ve gotten rid of a thousand books up there and I got rid of hundred books since I come down here, I’ve got lots of books but they are not the authority.

This is the authority. Those books are not right and wrong based upon you know the man who wrote it, based upon whether or not is this the book, this is the book. And it is amazing how many men write books trying to explain the Bible. I even try to do it, trying to explain how to win somebody to the Lord. And the Bible itself never recommends us reading another book. If you read the Bible it will mention certain books that have been written but it never recommends us to go study other books.

Because this is the book but we try to explain things of what this book says but our books that we write are only as good as if it agrees with the Bible. So that’s why your knowledge of the Bible was so much more important. Otherwise, you won’t know if a preacher telling you the truth or if he’s lying to you. You won’t know what version to use or not to use. So these things are important. But look what he said in verse 13.

When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, now this is in northern Israel. I’ve been there about six times. He asked his disciples saying, whom do men say that I, the son of man in? They said, some say, you’re John the Baptist, some Elijah, and some Jeremiah, and one of the prophets, he said unto them, but whom say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered, said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed are thou Simon Bargeona.

Bargeona means Son of Jonah. He said, For flesh and blood have not revealed unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. and I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and that simply means if your scofa refers Bible, saves you a lot of time instead of having to dig up the strongs, you can look right there and you can check it out with the strong and then it’ll be right. And that’s why I do like it. But Peter, Petros literally means a little rock.

But when Jesus says upon this rock, it’s more of a stone, a big rock, a little rock and a big rock. And he says, thou art a a little rock, but upon this rock, not talking about Peter, thou art Peter, upon this something different, not upon Peter, on this I will build my church. So he’s, and yet you’ll have people have built a whole denomination off of a misunderstanding of this one verse. And the Catholics today say that Peter was the first pope, but the pope is not supposed to be married, but Jesus healed his mother-in-law.

Now, isn’t it a shame to get a mother-in-law and not have a wife? I mean, there’s some people that I guess that think that’s all right, but Peter was married. He was not the first pope and there’s no proof that he ever went to Rome. That’s all made up because people want to build a doctrine and they do it. So anyway he says that I will build my church on the road. Now look in verse 19 and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.

So many people believe that God just gave to Peter the power to forgive sins and so forth and so therefore You have to go through him through the Roman Catholic Church and all the priests now can forgive you of your sins So that’s why you come and you set that little booth and you go in there and maybe you pay a little money And you can pay sure sends to the priest and he has the power to absolve you of all your sins Isn’t that wonderful and all that is taken from these verses right here But it’s not exclusive to Peter Because just take your Bible this turn of our one chapter look in chapter 18 chapter 18 just very quick Luke in verse 15.

Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or more witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect thee here they tell it to the church. But if he neglect to hear the church let him be under thee as a heathen and as a publican.

Verily I send you whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loose in heaven. That’s the same thing we just read over there in the other chapter. We’re here we’re talking about people anybody in the church. In other words do you realize the power of forgiveness and that decisions that you make here God will abide by it there and And also when he’s talking to the Jewish people and talking to them about, you know, forgive us our debts as we forgive others who send against us and forgive us of our sins as we forgive others who send against us.

And Christ says in chapter 6 of Matthew, if you will not forgive one another, I will not forgive you and so forth. Well, that’s under the law and most of this and a lot of this is the same way. So if you want God to forgive you there, then you forgive others here. And so God has given to us the power to forgive people. But you may not do it. And so decision that you make here is going to affect what God does up there.

So God is able to work. There’s a lot more on this here, but we’ll cover that later because I want to bring a whole message out on just that one issue and what that’s talking about. But just so that you kind of get an idea on that. Matthew 19, Matthew chapter 19, look at verse 28. Jesus also talking to his disciples about in the kingdom, during the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven upon the earth. He says in verse 27, then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee.

What shall we have Therefore Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory. That’s doing the kingdom. And so in the book of Matthew, it talks an awful lot about the kingdom of heaven when the king comes and sets up his kingdom upon the earth. So in the book of Matthew, as the king of Israel, he builds a cabinet of his men, and he gives us the Constitution, starting around verse 5 on, of how he’s going to rule in the kingdom upon the earth, and look what he says.

When he comes back at that time, when the son of man shall sit in his throne of his glory in verse 28, ye also shall setulet upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. So are these apostles going to be judging the twelve tribes of Israel? That’s what he said. But that’s doing the kingdom of heaven. And so whenever he talks back there, just go back there very quickly to Matthew chapter 16. And notice in verse 19, verse I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

That’s not the keys to the church. That’s to the kingdom upon the earth. That’s a totally different period of time. But you see when you don’t take these things and put it in the right place, you can get all balled up. I sometimes don’t get all balled up. Because you can’t always remember all these scriptures and where they’re found. And sometimes you make a statement, but you don’t know there’s another verse that might contradict this, what you just said.

but the misunderstanding can be with us not the scriptures. The scriptures are not wrong. So don’t discredit the Bible because you don’t understand it. That doesn’t mean the Bible is wrong just because, well, I just don’t get it. The Bible must be wrong then. Not exactly. There was a time when I didn’t even know there were books in the Bible. I didn’t know there was an Old Testament or a New Testament and I was 18 years old. So what I know about the Bible I have learned since then, not before them.

But go back there to Matthew in chapter 16 and you’ll notice this. In verse 21 he says, from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go into Jerusalem, suffer many things of the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying, be it far from the Lord, this shall not be unto thee. But he turned and he said unto Peter, get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offense unto me.

In other words, you have offended me, for thou saver not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, follow me. Now all this take up your cross following this is for service. This is not for salvation. This is as a disciple and So he talks about the reasons why because God is going to reward you for what you do for him What you do for his sake and in verse 24 What is a man profit if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

The word soul here is talking about your life You lose your purpose in life life. You lived your life, but you didn’t live it for the Lord. He said, well, what would you give an exchange for your life? Here you are. God has given you a reason to live, but you exchange it for something else. Isn’t that what we do? We’re making choices, decisions. So he says up there in the last part of this verse in verse 27, for the Son of Man come in the glory of his Father with his angels, then see that word then?

Then he shall, and that word. Reward. Salvation is always free. That is always the gift of God. It’s not a word. So when he’s talking about working and rewards and glory, you know he’s talking about service then. So he says, he shall receive every man according to his work. Isn’t that what we find in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 3 and verse 8? Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor, your own work.

So that’s for reward. So God is going to reward us. So then he says, I got something I’m going to tell you and got to keep it a secret. You know, there’s times when Jesus did things and he said, now don’t tell nobody about to. Did you know that they kept that secret? As far as we know, kept that secret. The secret was, you see, there was multitudes and then there was the twelve and then there was Peter James and John, this inner circle.

And he showed them something and says, don’t tell nobody else about this. So what he did was awesome. See them verse 28. Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Some of you are standing here and you are not going to taste of death, until you see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom, in power and great glory. the way that he will be when he comes, they’re going to get a glimpse of it.

Wouldn’t you like to have been there to see that? Well, that’s what happens in chapter 17. It’s called the Transfiguration, the Mount of Transfiguration. So in verse 1, and after six days, Jesus take of Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bring them them up into a high mount on the part, and was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto him Moses and Elijah talking with him.

Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make, hear three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And while he yet spake, be holy, bright, cloud over shadowed them. And behold, he voiced out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. How when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were so afraid.

And Jesus came and touched them and says, Arise, be not afraid. When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man except Jesus only. Now there’s people who have made a whole religion off of just Jesus only. They’re just a Jesus only group. Sometimes you want to just slap their jaws because they would, that’s just like reading a book of Acts and it says Paul says, unless you abide in the ship, you shall not be saved. So there’s a new group out now called the shipites.

I’m just making that up. But it says there, unless you abide in the ship you can’t be saved. Therefore you can start the whole doctrine on that. Don’t want to be saved. You got to get in the ship and stay there. What am I going on when these cruises are just going on that ship and just stay there and they feed me and all that stuff? Wouldn’t it be nice? You know, I know of some people and I’ve talked to some people on the ship the last time we were on this cruise.

This couple had been on 52 or 53 cruises. They said that that’s how, that’s their retirement. Instead of having a house and you got to be taxes and not maintenance and upkeep and invest all that much money. He said we just took our money and we buy cruises. And we, because on the cruise, he said we get all of our food, all of our laundry, everything’s done. We don’t do any dishes, we have no utility bills. We have, and they got doctors on board.

And so we just go from one cruise to the next cruise to the next cruise and say for a couple thousand dollars a month, He said, we can just live like that. And so I was thinking of myself, self. Sure is a nice way to see the world. And just go from one place and next like that. So we’re going to start a group called the shipites. We call it the Yankeeites. Now we won’t get there. They used to call it, you know, the race stand for the Stanfordites.

I guess you get the Hankites. You know, I am a Hank. I am a, you know. We at Bibleline would like to extend a free offer to those who support this ministry financially. This month we are sending a free copy of Dr. Arnold’s teaching series on First and Second Peter. It is a small way that we can show our appreciation for your support of this radio program. Peter’s epistles are filled with lessons of suffering, trials and your faith on the roles of husbands and wives, warnings of false teachers, and the imminency of the return of the Lord.

The CD Series is certain to help you in your home Bible studies, so contact us today to receive your CD teaching series by Dr. Arnold on 1st and 2nd Peter. Our mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And don’t forget to include your mailing address as well. Without the thoughtful gifts and prayers of our listeners, we would not be able to remain on the air. God bless you. 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.