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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. We just toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

What if I had said today a church? Every person who comes to church tonight. Peter and model is going to give you a thousand dollars each. I had to figure out who had the money. Peter and model give you every person a thousand dollars. Y’all came so you get a thousand dollars. Those that didn’t come, don’t get it. Now we didn’t make anybody come. You chose yourself. But he had already predetermined that whosoever would show up tonight at six o’clock would get a thousand dollars.

So don’t get mad at him he offered it to anybody. And so those who came get a thousand dollars. God says he offers eternal life to whosoever will let him come. And if you do, you get something. You get the free gift of everlasting life. And some people will, some people won’t. You cannot make people trust Christ as their Savior. So here’s a few of these. One, the Bible talks about being conformed to the image of his Son, to be just like Christ.

Now the thing is, whenever you trust Christ as your Savior, yes the new birth is just like the Lord. It’s perfect, there’s nothing wrong with it, but we’re still dragging around this old dead body and so we got a problem until we drop this old body here and we will escape it and we’ll be with the Lord. So we know that one day, yes, when we get to heaven, everything’s going to be wonderful. We’re going to be in heaven, this new body and everything, and we’ll be just like the Lord and don’t have to worry about this whole sinful nature anymore.

But also, while we’re here, God does allow things to happen into your life so that He might conform you to the image of Christ. Now remember that. In the book of Romans in chapter 12, This is not talking about waiting till we get to heaven. This is talking about now here. I beseech you there for brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God which is a reasonable service. Does God want us to do that when we get to heaven or do that now?

If He wants us to do that now. Alright then the verse 2 be not conformed to the world but be transformed. So that means that God wants to transform us now here in this present life, in this present world, and He wants us to become more like Him. So that’s something that may happen and may not happen. But you and I are to believe that God allows things to happen in our life to conform us to the image of Christ and He conforms you to Christ and not conforms you to the world.

So to be transformed is by the renewing of your mind. So He wants to renew your mind here or there. Now, this is talking about now being conformed to the image of His Son. So there are two things here, the present and the future. We know one day we will be, but we’re not there yet. But God is still working in us to perform in us. That’s in the book of Philippians in chapter 1 and verse 6. This is one of the blessings of God that predestinated is for the believer.

That the believer is going to be fashioned, made, transformed, transfigured into the likeness of the image of Jesus Christ. This is why more and more as you mature in the Lord you should be growing in grace. Growing in your love growing in your forgiveness, growing in your compassion, growing in your mercy, growing, growing, growing. That’s living by grace. When those qualities of God are manifested in our life, it doesn’t mean you don’t fall, but it means you should fall less and get up quicker.

You should have a quicker response. I’ve been in some cars and you just touched the gas pedal and it wants to jump like a rabbit and jump about two blocks on you. And then I’ve been in my diesel that I had for years, and you could stomp the floor, and you might move 10-15 feet, and it takes a while. It has a mind of its own. So the response is not there. And everybody wants that quick response, so you’ve got to have more horsepower in there.

So the same thing with the Lord. Number two here, the things you might be He’s suffering at this moment or happening to you to make you more like Christ. You see, we have been blessed that we have been glorified with the Lord. One day we will be actually glorified, we’ll be with the Lord, we’ll have a new body. But God also says He wants us to suffer with Him. In other words, Christ is in this world living in us.

And we will suffer while we’re in this world. But one of these days He’s going to take us out of this world and we’ll suffer no more. But until then, we must learn to suffer for Him. We don’t get everything we want. People don’t respond the way we think they should. People will walk on you. They will abuse you. You will be defrauded. All kinds of things will happen to you. And the thing is that you can get mad and fight back and get ugly or you can have a Christ-like spirit and learn how to forgive them.

for your enemies, love them and keep going. Because God in heaven is watching and He’s going to make it worth your while when you get to heaven. So understand it and believe that. At the rapture, whether we be dead or alive, it is coming. We are going to be changed and be holy life unto Christ. But that day hasn’t come yet. The second thing is the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. Now there are several things that you could look at when we talk about adoption.

Somebody could be in another family and say you and your wife don’t have a child and so you like to adopt the child into your family. Now it’s not your real child but you can adopt the child into your family and you can make it legal, give them your name and so forth and we can call that an adoption. But it’s a little bit different in Israel and also some of the Greeks and the Romans. They used to have it where if you were adopted then you were their child, but when you reach a certain age, well then you were considered to be a son.

You were a child, and therefore mom and daddy was responsible for everything that happened to you, because you were a child. But when you hit a certain age, and it could be around 13 of age, that’s why daddy’s and mommy’s had to make sure that the kids knew all the rules and knew the law, so that when they became responsible for their actions and their decisions that they would be able to suffer the consequences of them. So now they’re considered a son and so they only ones in scripture that we’re talking about, the only ones who can be adopted are God’s children.

God’s children are adopted as sons. Now let me show you this. We are told that the Christian is predestined unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. It doesn’t say that the sinner was predestined to become a child of God. So don’t think that, well, all the lost people are predestined to become a child of God. No. God’s talking about children born becoming sons. Now notice it doesn’t say that. No, but rather the saint has been predestined unto the adoption of children and something that’s going to take place.

And it’s found in the book of Romans in chapter 8, you can read it also in the book of valgalesians chapter 4, but adoption simply means to declare as a son or son placed. The fourth chapter of Galatians clearly defines the meaning of adoption. Only a child of God can become a son of God. You should allow the son of God when I was born to be God’s family. Yes, I know. But there’s certain things that God wants us to do.

And I was born into God’s family. And now as I begin to grow and mature, I should begin to accept spiritual responsibilities. Where there’s a time when you don’t know what’s right, you don’t know what you should do, not do. You’re a child, you need to have somebody bring you along and teach and help you to tutor you and so forth. But there come the time when God wants you and I to accept the responsibility that is laid upon us and to serve the Lord.

And he says that you are my son’s if. You let the Holy Spirit lead and guide you the Romans chapter 8. You’re his son, but you’re not maturing in the Lord unless you’re yielding and learning how to walk with God. We all need instruction. We need help. And this is why it’s one thing to lead somebody to the Lord, but another thing to try to get those people to grow in the Lord. It is the time appointed by the Father when his son ceases to be considered a child and becomes a son.

In Jewish language over there in Israel, and also we’ve had a few Jewish people in our church, it’s called a bar mitzvah. It’s when they declare the child to be a son and they had to teach them the law. I’ve been over there in Israel and I’ve been outside the western wall, people call it the wailing wall, and I’m talking about there were hundreds and hundreds of people and they were having the bar mitzvah. And here’s all these people and they stand in the wall and they’re going like like that and there’s these 13 year old boys.

I mean just all over the place and the daddy’s is so proud of them because now they’re becoming a son. Well, they’re already their child. So it’s a term that God uses. Now get this, the boy becomes of age after his 13th birthday on a date selected by the father so it is with us. We are children of God but we’re waiting our bar mitzvah, our adoption. time when our Heavenly Father would declare us of age and place us as Son before the whole universe.

Even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to it the redemption of our body. You see one day we are going to lose these bodies and we’re going to be changed in a moment in the Twinkle of an Eye. This big change I believe is what God is calling our adoption. Now it may not be, it could be a lot more to it, maybe a lot less to it. But I believe, as according to the scripture, that takes place when we leave this Old World, and we are, yes, I am a child of God, and you will read in the book of 1 John chapter 3 where he talks about the love of it.

Now are we the sons of God. We are the sons of God, but it not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. So don’t get hung up on it. Just know that that’s something God will take care of and you don’t have to worry about. You just do all the right you know to do. Knowing that God is holding us responsible for the things that we know, the things that we do.

What we could have done. Does God know all the potential that you have? Does God know what you could have done with your life? Well, of course. Won’t it be interesting to see that when we get to heaven what we could have done, and we might be patting ourselves on the back right now thinking, look how great I am. And God says, look what you could have done, if you deserve me with all your heart. That ought to be scary enough.

Predestinated according to the purpose of Him. Here’s the third blessing for the child of God. Being predestinated according to the purpose of Him, who work with all things after the counsel of his own will. Like I’ve said before, when God designed this whole thing, he didn’t ask us to come into his counsel and give him some good advice. He didn’t run it by us first. You see, before God ever made the first man, God had already had a plan.

He already had a plan in place. God is simply working out his plan. God knows what he’s doing. And it’s not, you know, as chaotic as sometimes you see the world and it looks so chaotic. Everything’s going wrong. But it doesn’t mean that God’s not on the throne. God is still God. And God has a plan and he’s letting us see how wicked we can be, how wicked the world is. But one day God’s going to straighten everything all out.

And he has a ways and means committee and and that he will do. So why did God do all of this? That we should be to the praise of his glory. In other words, God says in the book of Ephesians in chapter two that in the ages to come that we might be to the praise of his glory. Little trophies of his grace. So that God can say, look at these little trophies that I got over here. Look what my grace did for these individuals.

because they didn’t earn it, they didn’t deserve it, but my grace took a person and lifted him up by the of a mighty clay, put a song in his heart, springing his step, and so great things can happen. But you’ll notice it is not for salvation. When he talks about it and uses the word predestination, it’s not talking about about God predetermined and who to save. It’s talking about those… That have already trusted the Lord, that you and I, God has predetermined that when we believe we get eternal life, and that we should be through the praise of His glory.

And the only way we can be through the praise of His glory is that He saved us by grace. Be saved by your works that would be the praise of your glory. And that’s not going to happen. Election, according as He have chosen us, and it’s amazing how many people overlook these two little words. in Him. How did God choose you and me? He chose us because we were already in Christ. He chose the saved. He didn’t choose the lost man.

He chose the saved man. And He chose to do something for the saved man. And He says, according that He have chosen us in Him before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. So God has already determined that all of those who trust Christ’s Savior that are in Him will be to the praise of His glory, blameless and holy, made perfect, His child, go to heaven. All of that is an act of God.

That’s what God’s doing. And God is doing all of that because that’s predestination. It’s an act of God. It’s what God does. Number two, the New Testament words chosen, chosen, and election are the same. The Old Testament word is simply chosen or service. It’s forced service. It doesn’t mean that God chose to save a particular individual over somebody else. No, God so loved the whole world, but God chose different people at different times for a particular service. From the above scripture, Many have felt that God chooses some to be saved, some to be lost, but those Scriptures have nothing to do with, saving anybody.

This is about somebody who already is saved. Predestination and election, choosing have nothing to do with how to be saved, but it’s for a surface. God can use a lost man, even to serve a purpose, and he has. From the following scripture we learned what the choosing or election of God is about. For this is the word of promise, at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca also have conceived by one even by our Father Isaac, for the children, been not yet born, neither have done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works but of him that calleth.

God has a reason. He said unto her. Now notice what he’s talking about when he talks about this election and so forth. The elder shall be saved and the younger shall go to hell. Is that what he said? No, I didn’t say that. Not talking about going to heaven, going to hell. He’s talking about a choice. God says, one will serve the other. And so He says, Jacob, have I loved but Esau have I hated? Oh, that’s a terrible thing to say.

Who would have ever thought God would say, I love this one and I hate this one. And so some people get hung up on that’s right here. It’s like eating at a buffet and you’ve got all this prime rib there and somebody gets choked on a gristle and they can’t chew that gristle and so it chokes them and kills them. And when you start reading the Word of God and you come across a gristle like that, when you can’t swallow it because it doesn’t make any sense, well spit it out.

Don’t worry about that one. Keep getting some more. Then go back there later with a knife and a fork. You know, this verse and this verse and rightly divide it and then try to swallow it now because it’ll make a little bit more sense because you’ll understand you have other scriptures. They help you to understand what a particular verse may say. And so remember, one represents the flesh birth, a one represents the new birth, one represents the flesh, one represents the spirit.

So God hates the sinful nature, but He loves the divine nature. You see one was, you take like Isaac, He was a child born of faith, it was a miracle child. Okay, well then that’s what He represents, He represents the spirit. And so on that line. And then you have on the other side, you’ve got Amalak, you’ve got Esau and so forth, and Amal and on down the line, they represent the flashlight. And so he says about Esau, he represents the first birth.

The other one represents the second birth. And there’s no question. And when God said this, those two individuals, they’d been dead for a thousand years. This was way later. So he’s not actually talking about those two people that he loved the one and he had the other one. represents something, it’s what they represented. So, election or choosing has to do with service. The elder shall serve the younger. And who was the elder? He saw. And who was the younger?

Jacob. Well… What happened to cause the one to have to submit to the other? Remember, being the first born in the family, you became automatic air. Well, he despised his birthright, and when he despised his birthright, he sold it for a mess of pottage. Or Jacob did not despise the birthright. He wanted it. And so whenever Isaac is that lay dying, I guess you’d say there’s a little deception there. Mama Lou has to get involved, put some skin on him, told him he would feel hairy, you know, like he saw wood.

He got some venison to fix it for him. While the other kids out there are going to hunt him, he’s in there deceiving daddy. But Mama’s at the bottom of all of this. But when he gave the blessings, and as the children later, he can’t take it back. He’d already done the blessing. He said, well, give me some blessing. Give me one blessing. And he says, you’re going to have a lot of people after you too, a lot of nations, but never been blessed like the nation of Israel because one despised and one did not.

See, God’s foreknowledge, but God also did not make any one of them do anything. God tells us what people are going to do. And so always understand that one represents first, one represents a second. In the 15th chapter of John’s gospel, the Lord Jesus said he had chosen or elected them as disciples. For salvation, no, for service. Because he chose, I have chosen you. Now he has chosen his own to do a service. God can choose other people. I can refer to this morning in the Batsayras.

He chose him to be a servant. And God used him. And so God can use lost people to serve a cause. use Pharaoh, but he didn’t say Pharaoh, he used Pharaoh for a service. Even Judas was chosen for damnation, no, but like Pharaoh, who was a fit-desil under wrath after being given many chances to believe he refused and thus was used for God’s purpose. So God allows people to harden their heart and God hardens them by bringing them to a point of decision.

They have to make up their mind, choose. And he says, this or this. So God forces the issue, and then they make the wrong choices. And they hearten themselves against God. So God is free to use them as a vessel of wrath from his chapter 9. Others who will yield themselves to God, God will use them as a vessel of mercy. The prophet Isaiah said that Israel is God’s chosen people. Isaiah 41, 8. Does this mean that all Jews are saved?

No, it simply means that God has chosen Israel for a service. And we know that that service was one to give us the word of God, bring the Lord Jesus Christ into the world and use Israel as a light to the world. These are some of the things I remarked to you this morning. The same prophet Isaiah says that the Lord Jesus Christ is the chosen servant of God. Does that mean that God chose the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved?

He didn’t need to be saved, but he was still a chosen servant. Did God choose his son for his service? And that service was the name of the Lamb of God who would die for the sins of the world. And he was the obedient servant of being obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Now in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4, now this is a good verse because of these two words that tells you how God chose. According as He hath chosen us in Him.

We are in Him. God has chosen all those in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. So before any man was born, did any good or bad, God had already made a decision. All those who believe on Christ will be in Christ. And God has chosen to give all of those believers that are in Christ the free gift of eternal life. They get to go to heaven when they die.

They get a brand new body. They’ll live for all eternity. And they will be to the praise and honor of His glory. They shall be spotless and holy and without blame because they’re in Christ. God have chosen those who are in Christ to be holy. Likewise, God has chosen all of His children to partake of the Lord’s Supper. This is an act of worship or service, but not for salvation. Anyway, I hope some of these things will be a little clearer for you.

I would hate to think, you could sit here and listen to me for three or four years, and then you leave here and you go to some church that’s Calvinistic. But I would venture to say some of you will in time. And you’ll go to some other church, well, they’re not as clear as Calvary. and because they are clear, it won’t matter because they are. And so they know they are clear. So it doesn’t matter if they’re not. Because they know they are.

But you listen to it week after week after week after week and next thing you know you won’t see anything wrong. It works on your mind next thing you know you not only will accept that you’re promoted. The very thing that once you despised. Remember that. Remember the preacher told you. No, I don’t have for knowledge. But I’ve watched a little bit over 50 years. This center present you and me. This wall represents sin. We all have sin on us.

God, He loves us, hates our sin, but He loves us. And for us to pay for the sin is eternal separation from God in hell. And if nobody would do this for us, we’re all guilty, we’re all condemned, and nobody gets to go to heaven. Nobody has eternal life. We’re all dying forever dying and never dying. Wouldn’t that be terrible in a flames of hell for all eternity? No hope. But because of the love of God, there was only one way, only one way.

No two ways, only one. He sent His Son into the world to live a perfect life, Jesus Christ. And He had no sin, didn’t have to die. And so He could give Himself for us. So He took our sins and died for us in our place. Came back from the dead and says that if we would believe he did it for us, that he would put that payment our account, we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believe it in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Best news in the world. Let’s pray, shall we? with his bow nice clothes and no one looking around. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, if you’re watching by internet, and I hope that maybe that person that was watching from over there in South Africa, trusted the Lord, I hope he’s watching again, and just think there could be hundreds and thousands of people that tune into the broadcast that made trust Christ as their Savior, always keep that in mind, always pray for that, that they will understand.

I just want people to understand God loves you. He paid for your sins. Would you believe He did it for you? And if you believe He did it for you, then you have a payment for your sins. That means that you don’t have to pay for them. You don’t have to pay for your sins. Christ paid for it. You get to go to heaven when you die because you don’t have any sins to pay for it. God loves you that much.

Best news in all the world. Our Father, we thank you so much for this time together. Bless each one for being here. We pray for wisdom, for guidance, for strength, and for your mercy. Thank you Lord in Christ and we pray. 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 Frieze 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 will 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. Hada! Pemit the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.