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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 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.

The Lord, I believe, loved the Pharisees, the scribes, and the public and those those sinners. He loves the whole world. But you see, there’s some people who think that they’re just so much better than other people and they don’t need the Lord. Well God has a way of showing us that we all need the Lord. And so He says in verse 31, and He said unto Him, Son, Thou art ever with me, and all that I have is dine, I will meet that we should make merry.

It was meet or fit that we should make merry Him. And be glad for this thy brother was dead and his alive again was lost and now he’s found him. Shouldn’t you rejoice in that? When you care about somebody else, maybe they messed up, but don’t you have a forgiving spirit of compassion to heart? This is one of the things that you and I are supposed to show in our life is compassion for other people. Be impatient with people who are now where you and I once were.

We didn’t know somebody helped us. a lot of people hurting and we need to keep that in mind. Also take your Bible and look at Luke chapter 18. That’s a good chapter, chapter 18 of Luke and look in verse 9, verse 9. Here’s a story again about a self-righteous man of Pharisee and an old center. And you look in verse 9 and says this and he spake this parable unto certain which get this trusted in themselves that they were righteous.

And what did they do? Despised others. See there? I didn’t make that up. That’s right there in the Bible. Jesus is telling this. Jesus says it. He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous because they don’t see themselves the way they really are. You know there’s a lot of problems with just pride and envy and jealousy and sins that you sometimes you can’t see externally. But there’s a lot of people who have a lot of sins of the mind, but they don’t perform anything.

They can be just as mean and ugly and hateful as somebody who actually says, I hate you and somebody else can hate you too, but they didn’t say it so he’s right just that one’s not. God looks at the heart and the heart of man is deceitful. Everybody sins. Everybody has problems. Nobody is exempt. The most godliest person you know is still a sinner. The preacher sinner. Deacons and elders sinners. Even their wives. Don’t tell my wife I said that though.

But look what he says here in verse 10, two men, two men, you always got to have the comparison to teach something. Two men went up into the temple to pray. The one of Pharisees, the other a publican, see the difference? It’s always showing you the contrast. A Pharisee, in verse 11 he says, the Pharisee stood and he prayed thus with himself because evidently he’s not talking to God, he’s just talking to himself to hear himself talk. Some people pray but they’re mimicking and quoting something or repetition as the Bible says in Matthew chapter 6, vain repetition.

And he talks about making long pretense and prayer to be heard of other people and they’re not talking to God at all. It ain’t nothing but a show. It’s better to… Have a humble heart where you talk to the Lord and maybe nobody knows what you’re saying. They don’t hear you and you don’t pray publicly, you just pray silently. But this Pharisee stood to pray, God, I think thee, that I am not as other men are. Well, isn’t that a wonderful thing?

I’m so glad I’m not like everybody. But you are very fortunate to have somebody like me. You are lucky. Is that sound a little arrogance. I mean, egotistical. I’m glad we don’t have anybody like that here. He says, I think that I am not as other men are extortioners, unjust, adulterers, and even as this publican. I fast, now he didn’t say Republican, now that’s not a Republican and a Democrat here. It was a tax collector. Everybody despises tax collectors.

How many of y’all are really in love with the IRS. Don’t know we got a camera on it. But that’s tax collectors. Nobody likes tax collectors because they always you know they always want more than we’re supposed to pay. And then sometimes it’s so hard and difficult for us to be so godly and holy and and then pay all those taxes. And we’re always looking for a loophole how to get out of paying more than in my share. But anyway, he says here in verse 12, I fast twice in the week.

Means two days out of week, I don’t even eat. I fast. And I give tithes of all that I possess. Now, is this being said so that other people can hear you pray? Look how great I am. Look what I do. And he says, I do all that. And this publican standing far off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breasts and God be merciful to me a sinner. Now he knows he was a sinner and he just wanted God’s mercy.

The other man prays because he’s demanding from God because look I am so good I deserve I deserve and there’s so a lot of people who think they’re going to go to heaven because they deserve to go to heaven and those other bad people, they deserve to go to hell. Well, I’m glad I’m not like them. But God’s Word says, not of works. The last any man should boast. The last any man should what? Both. But what does a self-righteous person do?

Most. He brags about how righteous He is. A sinner, if it wasn’t for the grace of God and the mercy of God I’d be going to hell. What am I today? I am a sinner saved by grace. And if you’re not saved by grace, you’re not saved. Remember grace means unmerited. You didn’t deserve to be saved. Nobody in this room or watching on the internet, no one has ever deserved to be saved. We’re saved by grace unmerited. So that means that you do not earn eternal life by going to church, giving money, praying, fasting, all those are things that all there might be nice to do, but they will not get your little pinkies one inch closer to the pearly gates.

You’ll go to heaven only because God loved you. He paid for your sins and all you had to do to go to heaven was believe he did it for you. So when you believe he did it for you, he gives you eternal life. You did not earn it. You did not work for it. You did not deserve it in any way, shape, or form. So God will save the person that will trust him. See, there are some people that God can’t save.

God can’t save the people who are trying to save themselves. He only saved those who trust Him because they realize they cannot save themselves. So you have people who are trying to save themselves because they think they can. You have other people who know they can’t save themselves so they trust the Lord. Now which is the best? To spend all your life trying to save yourself and God’s already says it’s not by works. Like a guy who spent 20 years of his life climbing the ladder finally gets to the top and find out was leaning on the wrong wall and that’s where a lot of people are.

They’ll find out they have wasted their whole lives. Now look what he says down here in verse 14, I tell you Jesus says this, this man referring to the center went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalted himself shall be based. And he that humbled himself shall be exalted. To trust in works is to exalt yourself.” To trust in Christ is to humble yourself. So there’s a lot of people who are exalting themselves and you say, where are you going today?

Well, I’m going to heaven. Why? Because I go to church. Because I’m a deacon. Because I sing in the choir. Because I, I, I, I, if it depends on you, you don’t go. You only get to go to heaven if you trust Christ in Him alone. As your only hope of going to heaven. Now look there in the book of Luke chapter 19. See, we’re just kind of, moving right along here. In Luke chapter 19 you’ll notice there in verse 1, there’s a story given here about a little feller.

But now he’s not just a tax collector, he’s the chief of the tax collectors. Now he’s the head honcho. What did they do that was so bad? Well they generally collected more than they were supposed to collect and then they would keep a portion without ever reporting it. So they were extorsioners. They took money that didn’t belong to them. I’m glad we don’t have people like that today to do things like this. So in chapter 19 and verse 1, Jesus entered and passed the Jericho.

Now there really is a place called Jericho. I’ve been there six times and I enjoy going to Jericho. I’ve even looked where the walls fell and looked and saw the remains and how they fell. All the stuff that makes it interesting, just like the Bible says, but there’s a place called Jericho. You have Jerusalem, it sets upon a hill. That’s why whether you went north or you went south, east to west, you always come down from Jerusalem, down from Jerusalem.

If you’re going into it’s a Samaria, you might come down from Jerusalem because Jerusalem is up on a hill. Even though you went north, you went down. And down here, River Jordan, there’s a place called Jericho. And Jericho, there’s an inn and you heard about the good Samaritan, there’s an inn there and they call it the good Samaritan inn. But Jericho, we always get on, the buses would stop and then going there and they’d give you something good to},”E.

So it was a nice little stop as you would journey around Jerusalem and all over the state of Israel. And you’d get a chance to see some of those things and it was good. But the Bible says he was going there, entered and passed through Jericho and look in verse 2, and behold there was a man named Zacchaeus which was the chief among the publicans and he was what? He was rich. He was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was, could not for the press.

That means they had NBC and Fox News and all the press that were there and the newspapers, you know, Tampa Times, all the press. Now because there was a lot of people there and he was a little feller and he wanted to see what was going on, but he couldn’t see because everybody was bigger than him. So, being a smart man, but now he also knows that nobody there would like him. So, we maybe didn’t want to be too visible and what’s he going to do?

Well, that just happened to be a sycamore tree. So, he scedadels up the sycamore tree. So, you see what he says in verse 3, and he sought to see Jesus who he was and could not for the press because he was little of statue. And he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and he said unto him, and he called him by name.

How did Jesus know his name? Jesus even said that about another guy in chapter 2 of the Gospel of John called him by name and says, I saw you when you was under the fig tree and that scared the guy to death. Jesus knows everything. He knows everybody’s name. The Bible says that he knew what they were thinking. How would you like to be around somebody that knows what you’re really thinking. Wouldn’t that be scary? I mean, if you really knew that I could read your mind, would you come to church here?

I don’t think you would. Because if you could read mine, I want to be about a thousand miles away from you. But as long as me and Betty’s been married, we’ve been married in come and up in June, it’ll be 55 years. I think that woman can read my mind. I really do. I think that woman, she reads my mind. She knows what I’m saying. She knows what I’m thinking. It’s amazing how I’ll be driving down the road and I think.

Man, I’ll let something get a cup of coffee and she says, well, go ahead. Did I say something? No, but you were thinking it. That’s scary. But she has, you know, so many times she’ll say things and nothing. I just thought that. And then I’ll say something about it. She says, Yankee, I said it first. She would say it, but I thought it. And then she would say it. And then I would say it, because I don’t hear too good.

says, would you stop repeating me? It’s hooky, but that’s only after 50 years. It’s no good up to that time. But here’s Zacchaeus climbs up into a tree. He has to be a fairly young man because, I mean, he could run, he could climb, but he wanted to see what was going on. And so he says in verse 5, Zacchaeus, make haste, come down for today I must abide at I must abide at Thy house. There’s a few places in scripture where it says, must, must, must.

You must be born again. You must be. So you must be born again. And now he’s using that word must again. You must, he says it before in John chapter four, I must go through Samaria. I must. Because there was a woman there that needed to hear the gospel. Now one on one, I need to talk to you. I’m coming to your house. I want to sit on and talk to you. And I wonder how he felt. Here’s all these people.

And they knew that he was a tax collector. He was rich. They knew it. But he was a sinner because look what he did. He collected taxes. Nobody loves them. But I guess you know, you find out that God showed that he loved Nicodemus when he came. He didn’t shut him out because he was a Pharisee, rule of the Jews. The woman at the well had been married five times and was living with a man that wasn’t her husband.

He didn’t shut around. He talked to her. There was another woman that caught her in the act of adultery, but to find where’s the man? They never brought the man. Caught in the act, but where’s the man? Just see, that’s the way people are. And Jesus is going and saying no more. He’s different than everybody else. When it talks about when the scribe that sent some people to try to trap Jesus and they came back and said, well, how did it go?

How did it go? And they said, no man ever spoke like this man. When we heard him, no man has ever spoke like this man. This man is different and he is different. So he says here in verse 6, and he made haze came down and received him joyful. That means that he came down and they went to the house and he received him joyfully. And whether it carries with it that not only did to receive Him, but that He believed on Him.

So in verse seven, and when they saw it, they all murmured, saying that He was gone to be guessed with a man that is a sinner. Well, you know, were they sinners? They were sinners, but you see how divisive people can be and they try to turn people against somebody else. Yeah, they were sinners. But he says, he’s gone to be a guest with a man that is a sinner. Zacchaeus stood, so evidently they had been at the house, set down, ate, and then Zacchaeus stood up.

And he says unto the Lord, behold, Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restored him for a phone. Now whether or not he did this before he ever met the Lord, it’s not clear. Or because He had been to His house and He heard and understood and the Lord says today salvation has come to this house and because He trusts the Christ of Savior, He was saying that I’m going to make things right.

If I take anything from anybody, I’m going to correct it. And so why He was rich before, it might have been because He took more than He should have. And now that he sees it and understands it, you see, I don’t think Jesus told him that he had to do anything. There’s something about when you trust Christ as your Savior and you know that you have eternal life. You know that you’re going to heaven when you die. And you know that you can’t lose it.

I can’t go to hell. It makes me want to serve the Lord because look how good he is to me. But if I had to do it, well that’s different. I got to do it. That’s bondage. And the Lord has given us freedom. He wants us to serve him because we love him, because of what he’s done for us. And it’s free. He says, you can’t earn it and you can’t lose it. And that’s why we often say the test of the gospel is grace.

eternally secure. Is the gospel? The only way anyone will ever know that you’re really saved by grace is that you know you’re saved for eternity. But if you’re saved and then you can lose it, then you don’t believe it’s by grace. Because you believe you can keep it by obedience. But if you lose it, if you’re disobedient. So then your salvation really depends on you. So, is my going to heaven depending upon me or is it my going to heaven supposed to depend upon the Lord?

I’m going to heaven because of what He did for me. I’m not going to heaven because of what I do for Him. Now for the last 55 years or 54 and a half, yes I serve the Lord but I don’t serve the Lord to get to heaven. If I don’t serve the Lord, I’m still going to heaven because my going to heaven depends upon Him keeping His Word. Does God lie? He doesn’t lie. If I trust Him and He said given to you eternal life.

How long would eternal life last? Last forever. Well if he paid for my sins, everybody hears this. He died on the cross and paid for my sins. Okay if he paid for my sins and he paid for your sins. Why do we have to go to hell and pay for our sins if you already paid for them? And most people never figure this out. He paid for your sins so that you wouldn’t have to pay for your sins. He died for me.

That’s why I’m going to heaven. I don’t have any sins to pay for. He paid for all of my sins. And that’s the best news in the whole world. That’s worth telling people about. But look what he says down here, this is so good. In verse nine, Jesus said unto him, this day is salvation come to this house. For as much as he also is a son of Abraham, and get verse 10, for the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Why did Jesus come to seek, to save that which was lost? You know this verse in the NIV is not even in the NIV. Isn’t that a good verse? You think why wouldn’t that verse be in the NIV? It was not in the NIV, but it’s in the King James. Because see, there’s some versions they take out things. And I don’t like it when somebody wants to do my thinking for me. I say, leave the world of God alone and let me decide if I want to believe it or not, but don’t tell me what the Bible says.

Let me study the Bible. Let me understand what it says, But I don’t want somebody taking a version and put it in their words telling me what it says. I want to see it the way it is and study it and see what God has to say. And I’d rather man just keep his little nasty little hands off of it and just give me the word of God. So this is what he says, salvation is come to the house this day.

Now take your Bible and look over there in the book of 2 Corinthians in chapter 6. Corinthians in chapter 6. And look what he says here in verse 1, verse 1. This is on page 1234 in one of the church Bibles. Verse 1 says, We then as workers together with Him beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the day of salvation have I suckered behold, now is the accepted time.

Behold, now is the day of salvation. A lot of people put it off, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week. But God doesn’t guarantee us a tomorrow. We only have today, we have this moment right now. You may not get a whole day. So if you have not trusting Christ as your Savior. I wonder when would be a good time to do that. Anybody got an idea?

Right now. Behold, now is the accepted time. God will accept you right now. God will give you salvation right now. And maybe just like Zacchaeus climbed a tree, but the Lord knew his name, The Lord knew where He was and He says, come with me. Does God know that you’re in church this morning? And does He know your name? So if He knows your name and He knows who you are, you might need to know, He knows if you need to be saved.

And if you need to be saved, when do you think God would want you to do that? Today. So can you do it today? Let me just show you something real quick. This is you and me, this is sin. And we all have sin on us. Now God says He loves us. Now He hates what we do wrong, but He loves us. For us to pay for this sin is eternal separation from God. But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven.

But you have to be perfect to go to heaven and there’s nobody perfect. We have all sinned. So there’s no sense trying to say, I’m better than you. No, you’re better than him. I’ll hear you better than hurt. We’re all sinners. We have all sinned and come short of God perfection. So because of sin, we can’t get in. And because of sin, we all have to die. And because we all have to die, we all have to go to hell.

But Jesus Christ says that you cannot earn eternal life. You cannot work your way to heaven. So this hand represents the Lord. He’s Christ. came into the world. He loves us, hates our sin, and he took our sins, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead, and said, if you and I would believe it, he would give us eternal life. If you’ll believe that he did this for you, when would he give you eternal life? Because he says that the day of salvation is now, except now.

So when could he save you? Now? That doesn’t mean he can, you know, it’s a long, drawn-out process over the rest of your life. No. If you believe it now, you’re saved now. The day I heard this was in a little old living room in Athens, Georgia. The very day, the very moment I heard it, I understood it, I accepted it, and God says, you’re saved today, right now. And that was 54 and a half years ago, and I never have to do it again, because how many times can He give me eternal life?

One time. Once you trust Christ to save you, He gives you eternal life and will never cast you out and never lose you. Let’s pray, shall we? Head about nice clothes, no one looking around. If you’re here this morning and you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you just talk to the Lord and say something simple like this? Lord, I don’t understand at all. I got questions. I got doubts. But I believe that when Christ died, I believe He died for me.

And right now, the best I know how I will trust Jesus Christ to take me to heaven whenever I die. And if you will do that, God said He would save you. Save you right now, give you eternal life. And you can know that you’re going to heaven whenever you die. Would you do that? I’m gonna ask in just a moment you to raise your hand, but that’s just to let me know. I wanna have prayer for you. And if you’re watching on internet, there’s a little line there just says, yes, I will trust Christ as my savior.

Why don’t you just click that on? That just lets us know that you trust the Christ as your savior today. If you’ve already trust the Lord, you don’t need to do so. So with the heads of our nice clothes, is there anyone at all here to say, preach to that made sense to me? And I want to be certain of going to heaven when I die. And I will accept Jesus Christ as my Savior right now. Would you just slip your hand very quickly and per repate down?

Is anyone at all? Anyone at all? Our Father, we thank You so much for Your blessings. Thank You for giving us the free gift of everlasting life. We pray, Lord, Your will, to be done in the lives of each person here. And Lord, we ask Your blessings upon each person said, we want them to realize the importance that whenever the difficulties seem like it’s just too much, consider Him. Consider Christ and what He was willing to go through as He suffered for us.

We’re not paying for people since Christ did that, but Father help us to be willing to get that message to them so that they can have that free gift of everlasting We invite you to stay safe and be blessed in life. So bless today in Christ’s name. Amen. 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 in your faith on the roles of husbands and wives, warnings of false teachers, and the imminency of the return of the Lord. This 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. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.