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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 BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

Now along with this verse I want you to look there in verse 28 and 31, 28 and 31. Where these scriptures are talking about in the regeneration. How do you know it’s talking about the in the regeneration? Well, because I’m going to show you the verse that will explain that to you. Now, in verse 35, I want you to take a look quickly in verse 35. There’s a question that came up, a problem. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came unto him, say, in Master, we would that thou should do for us whatsoever we shall desire.

Isn’t that wonderful? And he said unto them, what would you that I should do for you? They said unto him, grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand and the other on thy left hand in thy glory. They did ask for much. Hey, when we get this kingdom set up, I want to be on one side and he wants to be on the other side of you. I can’t believe they did that. That’s for me and James.

We’re going to do that. I can’t believe that they tried to get in on what we’re going to have on James. Number one, what he says. He says in verse 38, you don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know what you’re asking. But he says on verse 39, and they said to him, we can, and Jesus said to them, ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and be baptized with so forth. And then in verse 40 says, but to sit on my right hand and on the left hand is not mine to give.

But it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. So God, the Father, is going to do it when He’s ready and might be you. And verse 41, and when the 10 heard it, they were so excited. They began to be much displeased with James and John. Who do you think you are? I mean, now I’ve often said this. You know, God got a lot of kids in his family. And in every family, you know, as well as I do, there’s a pet child and I’m his pet child.

I mean, he loves you. He loves you. He really loves you. but I’m his pet child. And you’re supposed to feel the same way. I’m joshing with you now. But they were very displeased. In verse 42, and Jesus called them to him and he said, you know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them. And they’re great ones, exercised lordship or authority over them. But so shall it not be, but it so shall it not be among you.

But whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister. And whosoever of you will be the cheapest shall be servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.” What he’s saying is, if you want to be first, you’ll have to be last. You want to be first, you’ll have to be last. If you want this honor, then you’re going to have to serve the greater.

Serving the Lord is serving people. And if you want to be greatly used by God in the future in the kingdom, then you have to serve the Lord greatly here. So that means you’re not setting yourself up so you can be served. You’re trying to serve people. And you know, I’ve had Krishna says, I don’t want to be involved in nobody’s life. That’s why they don’t want to get involved in a ministry because try to help people and all they’re interested in is themselves.

Not others. So there’s something here that he mentions. It’s very very important and I want you to see it. So take your Bible and look at Matthew 19. Matthew chapter 19. Matthew chapter 19 and look at verse 27. A similar question is asked, and when you read the book of Luke chapter 14, you’ll see that when he talks about unless you’re willing to leave mother and father and brother, you must love me more than them. Because if you don’t, he says, you’ve got to hate them to serve me.

It means that your love for the Lord should appear as hate toward everybody else. You love him so much more than anything. The love the Lord more than your wife or more than your children or more than your husband or more than anything. How much do you love the Lord? You see if you love anything else in this world more than you love the Lord than whatever it is you love becomes the nidal and becomes between you and God and God is a jealous God and God has a habit of removing anything that you placed before him between you and him.

Be careful. But notice what he says in verse 27. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all. Followed thee. What shall we have there for? What are we going to get? And Jesus said in verse 28, barely I send you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, the Son of Man shall set in the throne of his glory. So we know when the regeneration is. You see, God created the heavens and the earth, but there’s a time coming when he’s going to redo this over earth and it’s going to be like the Garden of Eden.

And he’s going to set up his kingdom upon the earth and it’s going to be for a thousand years. When he sets this up and when he comes back from heaven to the earth and his feet will touch upon the Mount of Olives and it will cleave in the mist and he sets up his kingdom, the Bible says he’s going to have the judgment of the nations. This is when Christ was set upon his throne and he will rule and reign and he makes a promise to his disciples.

Now remember what he said before, who gets to sit on one side and who gets to sit on the other side is not mind to give, but this is what he did say. When the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye shall also sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. So you hear people talk about the lost tribes of Israel. Well, somewhere along the line he’s going to find them. And they’re going to be here and they’re going to be twelve judging the tribes of Israel.

So look what else he said. And then beside them everyone, there’s everyone that is many and there’s the disciples, the apostles that are few. You see, when he comes to salvation, everybody in the world, the many. God calls all through the gospel. Many, but few are chosen. See, God’s only chosen to save only those that will believe the gospel. That’s why we present the gospel to everyone. Now, when it comes to serving the Lord. God says there’s certain things that He wants to have us do with our lives.

And if we will serve the Lord, God is going to use us in various positions in our service to Him. Now it comes on to this. I’ve been saved for 52 years. Peter, how long you’ve been saved about? Six years? Seven years. Now, I’ve been serving the Lord for almost 52 years. He’s only been serving the Lord for seven years. We both died today. When we get to heaven, let’s say He’s been His faithful to serve the Lord for those six or seven years, as I have been And it was the 52 years.

Well of course, I’m going to get a lot more than him. I mean I worked harder. I worked longer. I mean I was there in the heat of the day. I started early in the morning. He shows up late in the afternoon. He puts in one hour’s work. If he gets what I get, that’s not fair. I was first. He was last. It’s not fair. Be honest, in your understanding, it’s not how long you served the Lord. Is it are you faithful with the time God gave you?

God’s going to reward you when you get to heaven for did you do what you could have done with the time he gave to you? Not the length. Otherwise, a guy who lived to be a hundred years old, he had more chances. He had more opportunities. That’s not fair. Because inside of us we know God has to be just and whatever he does and however he rewards. And so he’s talking about here in verse 29, everyone that hath forsaken houses and brothers and sisters and father and mothers or wife or children or land for my name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life.

But you know that the everlasting life is not earned. The other things were. the one you inherit. You inherited because of who you are. You see I am a child of God so I went to inherit eternal life. Remember they said what must I do to inherit eternal life? Nothing you can do you have to be born into God’s family. We become heirs of God and join heirs with Christ and then notice the last verse here in verse 30.

But many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first. Now what’s that got to do with anything? It’s just like in of all other places. All of a sudden you’d throw a verse in there like that and you’d say, what in the world does that mean? It’s like you’re eating your food and you’re doing real good and all of a sudden you get a piece of gristle. They’d go, Lord, what’d you put the gristle in there for?

Wouldn’t you like to eat some steak without gristle? I hate it when I get them and then you get a gristle and you got to get a knife and you got to cut them. God does that. But there was a reason. And see, He’s going to explain this to us. But I want you to look there in chapter 20 and look over there where it says in verse 24, because this is similar to what we’ve been talking about. When the 10 heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.

But Jesus called them unto him and said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercised dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority upon them and it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.

So he had promised that that’s what he was going to do. Now, you remember while ago when we mentioned there in Matthew chapter 22 about the wedding garment, many are called and few are chosen. The first shall be last, the last shall be first. It’s the way God has chosen to do things. You see, God has chosen that some of us will have longer lives than others. chosen to give some more difficult past than others. Not everybody has the same talent and abilities as everybody else, but whatever it is that God has given to you, God simply wants you to be faithful to do what you can with what you have.

Because if God is going to reward me according to the length of my life, which I’m thankful for, I’m no seven, he’s not bad, 72 looks better, but it doesn’t matter how long is how well did you live the time you did live? And God says he’s going to reward you when you get to heaven. So now in Matthew chapter 20 look what he says in verse 1, for the kingdom of heaven, see this is the kingdom of heaven.

This is that time upon the earth when God sets up his kingdom upon the earth. This is the visible part and there’s something that he does here and he uses a simple illustration and one of our last meetings that we had Herman over here. He brought out this chapter 20 and but we had a good time with that and there was so many points that you get out of it and somebody got this out of it and somebody got this out of it and it was great and we sat there and we listened and we learned but also want you to look at this here as though What in the world is he talking about this?

You know, first and last. In order to save a little time, let me kind of tell you the story. This is a guy that had a lot of work that needed to be done. So what he did is he went into town and lo and behold, there are some people there, so he chose a few. He chose a few out of those that were there. And he took him and they worked. And as it says there in verse 1, for the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is a householder which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard.

And he agreed with them a penny a day, but that was pretty good. And verse 3, and he went out about the third hour, which would have been about 9 a.m., so others standing idle in the marketplace. So he said unto them, go, you also unto the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, I’ll give you, and they went their way. Verse five, again, he went out in about the sixth hour and the ninth hour because their day starts at six o’clock in the morning, you start at six o’clock and go through the day.

So now you’re talking about 12 o’clock and three o’clock. And in verse six, in about the 11th hour, he went out and found others standing idle, and said unto them, why stand you here all the day idle? They said unto him, because no man had us. He said unto them, go you also into the vineyard And what’s whoever’s right? That shall you receive. When Eden was come, the Lord of the vineyard said unto his servants, “‘Call the labors and give them their higher “‘beginning from the last unto the first.'”

Here you find that phrase, the last, the first. And then it makes the statement in verse 16, where it says, “‘And you have these two things put together “‘in the same verse,” looking verse 16. “‘So the last shall be first and the first shall be last, “‘for many shall be called, but few chosen. Remember this, a man needed somebody to work. There’s a minion. He chose a few. Went back later and got somebody else. Went back later and got somebody else.

But see, the day began six o’clock. Somewhere there at six. Others came nine. Others came at 12. Some came at three. He got a few more at six. Now these that worked early in the morning and worked all day. When pay time came, who should get the most? These guys worked all day. Twelve hours they worked and then there’s somebody else who should have and they only worked for one hour. Now this is about the way we are in Christianity.

That’s not fair. We said in judgment. And the Master said, why are you evil? Because I’m good. Did not I agree to pay you a penny for the day and you agreed and you did it? When he went to the other ones, he never said that. He just says, and I’ll just give you what’s right and whatever’s right’s gonna be whatever he thought. And so the rest of them and he started with the last. The ones have just showed up and look what he says.

In verse 8, so when even was come the Lord of the vineyard said unto the storage, call the labors and give them their higher beginning from the last unto the first and when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour they received every man a penny. But when the first came they supposed that they should have received more and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it they murmured against the good men of the house.

And what did they say? That’s not fair. Verse 12, these last have brought but one hour and thou hath made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and the heat of the day.” But he answered in one of them and said, friend, I do thee no wrong. This thou not agree with me for a penny. Take that dine is and go thy way. I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own?

Is dine I evil because I’m good? So the last shall be first and the first last. But you know in its context it’s talking about service, talking about serving. You see, just because I started serving Lord at 52 years ago when I was 18 years old, 1960 I trusted Christ as my Savior. Well, He didn’t trust the Lord until, you know, 2000 something. Should I Lord that over Him? Should I not be just thankful that I’ve had all those years that I’ve had to serve a Lord?

What an honor. What a privilege He can even keep the penny Because I serve the Lord because I love the Lord. And when I get to heaven, I simply want to be found faithful with whatever God’s given to me. Somebody else like Al Marshall, he’s a couple years older than I am. I don’t even see Al. He usually sits right in there. In San Francisco. He’s 80 something years old and he’s back here in San Francisco. Maybe he’s just one of the kids.

I don’t know. But look how long he’s been around. And see, not everybody will get, I guess you could say, we shouldn’t be in this or jealous of anybody. Because we should just be thankful that God used us at all. And when he’s talking about those that want to be first should be last. I believe it’s talking about in the world. People look at it as being Lord over everybody. You know, I’m the top dog and you’re under my authority and I rule and reign and therefore I’m the greatest.

Jesus says, no. The greatest must be the one that humbles himself the most. If you want to be great, be humble. And if you’ll be humble, God said he will exalt you and raise you up. up. But if you try to exalt yourself, God’s going to put you down. I often wondered, if I serve the Lord faithfully and you serve the Lord faithfully, why shouldn’t we get the same thing? But we know that we’re going to be rewarded for our works.

How God’s going to do all of that? I’m going to trust Him to work it all out. But I do know from these scriptures, as it says verse 12, you see that word equal? Thou hath made them equal. I’ve often wondered when he says, the first shall be last, the last shall be first, does that mean you all get in the same time? Another way of looking at it. But we’re talking about when he sets up his kingdom upon the earth and people are gonna rule and reign.

I would do this. Make sure you serve the Lord with all your heart as faithful as you can with all that you’ve got, all the time that God gives to you. Don’t plan on a lot of time in the future because you may never get it. Serve the Lord today. The opportunity is there for everyone who is alive. But few are gonna take advantage of it. I gave up a lot of my dreams. I gave up a lot of things that I wanted to do in life.

I sacrificed all of that because to me it didn’t hold anything more for me. All I wanna do is please the Lord. Just serve the Lord. And I believe that in the long run, I not lose, I will win, I will gain. And so it doesn’t matter about the things that happens in life, because you know you’re looking beyond this life and trusting that the Lord is going to reward you and God is going to bless you. There are probably a lot of things you can look at this same person of scripture and talk about the Jews and the Gentiles and how of all the relates.

But I always look at things that can help me spiritually, to help me to focus my mind upon things that I need to understand less, less I become envious and greedy and feel with jealousy and then hatred and embeddedness because of how God uses somebody else and not me. We all have to fight that because we have a sinful nature that rebels against it. What What did these people do? Because they had worked all those hours, but in reality like I’m talking about years, and then somebody else getting what they got.

Why do you resent what somebody does for somebody else? I should be thankful to no end that God uses everybody. You know what I get a blessing out of watching when Jesse comes up here? Like he owns this thing. And when he talks, he talks forcefully, doesn’t he? Like he’s in charge. Like he wants my job. Maybe one day he could have it. But I am thrilled to see him growing in the Lord. I thrilled and I get blessed because I see him doing something with his life.

I get thrilled when I watch James, when I watch Peter and I watch some of the others and you develop it and grow it in the Lord. I am impressed when I see the faithfulness of the choir. And I see how hard they work trying to do something that’s better and get it better and better. That’s what certain the Lord’s about. We ought to be thrilled to death. God is using somebody else and not just me, not just you, but God wants to use all of us.

To God love you, I think He does. And I think God wants to bless all of us. And maybe when we get to heaven, see, don’t worry how God’s going to figure it out. But just like with salvation, the payment He made is for everybody. But He chose to save all of us. those that believe it. And God wants all of His children to serve Him, but He’s chosen to use only those that are willing to pay the price to be used.

And if you want to be used, you’ll have to be last. It means you have to put other people first. There is no other way. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The all it represents sin. We all have sin on us. Every one of us is a sinner. Aren’t you glad God loves sinners? The only kind there are. But God loves us, but He hates what we do wrong. And to pay for this is death and hell.

But God wants us to have eternal life and to go to heaven and to go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God. None of us are perfect. None of us are righteous. We are all sinners. We’ve come short of God’s perfection. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh came into the world because he loves us hates our sin because it separates us from him So Christ who had no sin did not have to die He took our sins patron on the cross came back from the dead and said it will believe that he did it for us He would put this payment to our account Who’s so ever believe it he died for the world, but who so ever believe it?

not everybody will believe it. If you do believe it, then God said, He would put this payment to your account. You go to heaven on what Christ did for you. You cannot earn it. You can’t work for it. It’s a gift. Let’s pray, show it. With every head, bow, and ivory are closed. No one looking around. Would you right now in the closing moments, talk to the Lord. You see, God knows who you are, He knows right where you are and He loves you.

And He said that if you would believe that when He died on the cross, He did it for you. Would you believe that? If you’ll believe that He said He would save you from hell, give you eternal life and you get to go to heaven on what Christ did. If you’ll make that decision, I’d like to have prayer for you. I’m not going to ask you to stand up. I’m not going to ask you to come forward. I don’t have anything for you to sign.

I just want you to receive something. Will you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior? Will you receive the free gift of eternal life? If you’ve never done it before and you’ll do it right now, I’d like to have prayer for you. We’ll just live in it very quickly and put it right back down. Then we’re at all. Then we’re at all. See, that made sense to me and I will trust Christ as my Savior. Anyone’s all before we close.

If you trust that Christ is your Savior, you see God wants to use everyone, But he’s chosen to only use those who are willing to pay the price of discipleship. Will you serve him? Father, we thank you so much for this time together. Help each one to realize that if they want to be first, they got to be last. Bless each one. Christ and we pray. Amen. Have you heard about Bibleline Institute, the online Bible College of Bibleline Ministries?

There are 11 different Bible College courses to choose from. And for this month, we’d like to give you a free enrollment to the class Personal Evangelism taught by Dr. Arnold. For your gift to Bibleline Ministries in any amount, you’ll have full use of the 10-hour course which you can access whenever you like as often as you’d like. It’s online. The classes include video instruction, lecture notes, quizzes, and if you’d like to send a quiz, you can submit it. Again, it’s all online.

When you send in your gift, please include your email address and we’ll enroll you in the class personal evangelism. Our mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your email address or contact information. 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.