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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 message will be a blessing to you and your family.

So the title of today’s message is called Faith or Folly. Faith or Folly. There’s a thin line between faith and foolishness and sometimes I have not been able to discern the difference myself but I had a reckless abandonment to faith where I was just so convinced that God was in everything that I did I didn’t worry about anything and I didn’t even know what I wanted to be but I knew there’s got to be something more to life and just get nothing going to work and coming home and eating and going to bed.

And then that same old routine day in and day out that got to be something more to life. I had a lot of learning to do. But we have been covering here in the book of Hebrews in the last couple meeting about the assurance of our salvation. Because the assurance of our salvation is critical before we can serve the Lord. You have to know that you’re saved. You you have to be really sure of that. Because if you’re not sure you’re saved, what kind of a message are you going to present to anyone else?

So people that are not real sure of their salvation only magnify that into the minds of everybody they talk to. Because if you’re not sure, how are you gonna convince someone else? I know I have eternal life. I know that I’m going to heaven when I die. So once you understand that in your grounded in that, That’s a good thing. Because that’ll bring you peace of mind. Now God made promises to many of His people in the Old Testament.

And it’s interesting to read those heroes of faith. As you study chapter 11 of the God’s Hall of Faith chapter. No Hall of Fame, but a Hall of Faith. Individuals who have not only trusted in the Lord for their salvation, but they wanted to do something for God. And I used to get out here to the Bible bookstore here in Athens, and when Biel Cummins used to run it back in 1961, 62. And I would sit there in the corner and read some of the books off the shelves, the missionary books.

And I kept thinking, Lord, if you can use them, why can’t you use me? And I wanted so desperately to be used of God. But I didn’t feel qualified, because I hadn’t finished high school. and I didn’t have any talents and I didn’t have any abilities. How can God use me? And I felt like I have been shortchanged because I didn’t have anything special that I could do. I could not see down the road because I didn’t know that God wanted to use me more than I wanted to be used.

And that really blessed my little peeping heart when I found out that God was looking for a man. When I read in the book of Ezekiel where he says, God searched for a man and could not find one, to stand in the gap, but he couldn’t find anybody. I’ve always thought, well, like I’ve heard, if you don’t serve the Lord, God will just get somebody else. Well, you know, there’s not always somebody else because there was a time when God couldn’t find anybody.

I believe there’s a lot more could be done if God could only find them. And the Bible tells us in the book of Chronicles that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, looking for a man that God can show himself strong on their behalf. Oh, we’re God just looking for somebody, but the person has to be yielded to the Lord to give up whatever they have and whatever they want, whatever they want to be.

and say, Lord, I just want Your will for my life. And God is simply looking for somebody who wants to be used. Now here in the book of Hebrews are a list of people called people that lived by faith. Because see after you have got yourself grounded in the area of salvation, you know that salvation is one thing, serving the Lord is another thing. But you never mix the two together never think that you’re saved because you’re serving because when you stop serving you’re no Long will think you’re saved You’re saved by grace Unmerited favor you don’t deserve it.

You’re saved because Christ died on the cross paid for your sins And gave you eternal life as a free gift Save means you’re saved from hell means you can’t go there Being saved means you’re going to heaven when you die. And being saved means you have eternal life, and God will never cast you out and never lose you, so that you can know that you’re going to heaven and whenever you die, salvation is free. When it comes to service, service is after you’ve been saved, and now you make up your mind.

What do you want to do with your life? You can either serve God or serve the devil. It’s a decision that I had to make, and everybody has to make. Do you want to not make any decision? No decision is a decision now I had to Come to a conclusion. I Knew that my future was going to be just like my past if I didn’t make a change And I’m so glad that I didn’t have much to sacrifice To give up to serve the Lord.

I was 18 when I trust the Lord But I decided after I trust the Lord. I want the will of God for my life now. Nobody else can make you want that nobody else can make you trust the Lord, nobody else can make you serve the Lord. It’s a personal thing. Believe it or not, service is living by faith. Now you’re saved by faith, that’s because you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you’re trusting Him to save you. That’s His job to save you, take you to heaven when you die, and God said He gives you turn like that’s separate.

Now I did that 47 years ago, never have to do that again. Now the question comes down is what am I going to do with my life. So living my life by faith is a very important thing because it’s what God sees. Now you and I, we look around this room and you can see those fans going around. You can see a screen up there. You can see it Oregon over here. You can see the piano over here. You can see this microphone here.

You can see me standing up here. You can look and see who’s set beside you. You can see the pew. So you can see all these things in here. And you say, that’s real. This is real because I can see it, but you see, in the eyes of God, there’s one thing that God sees that’s more real than anything else. God sees faith. Now, I can’t show you my faith. Show me your faith. Without your good works, I wouldn’t know you had faith at all.

So that’s why he says in James, it’s show me thy faith without your works. I’ll show you my faith by my works. So the only way I can show people that I have faith in God is by what I do because you can’t see my faith. You can only see the results of my faith. But there’s a God in heaven that made the statement when he was here, that when he was walking along and this woman came up behind him and in a crowd of multitude of people up against him and pushing and shoving all this up and one woman reached out and she touched the hem of his garment, but she touched him by faith and then he turned around and said, who touched me?

Remember the story? The disciple says, what do you mean? Who touched you? Lord, everybody here touched you. No, no, somebody touched me because she touched him because of faith. See, God can see faith. God says they’re in verse one of Hebrews in chapter 11. He says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is a substance. Faith is as real as this podium. Faith is as real as my Bible. Faith is as real as this microphone. Faith is as real as that water.

Faith is as real as that wall. Faith is real. Faith is something, is something God sees. As God looks down upon us, He’s looking for one thing in all of His children, more than anything else. He’s looking for your faith. When he makes a statement in the book of Luke, when Christ’s return will he find faith upon the earth, faith upon the earth? People who believe him, people who believe what he promised. Most of the people that know Christ is Savior did he live like they believe his promises.

See the promises of God. Are true. God cannot lie. Faith is believing those promises. Do you think God in heaven knows when you and I believe His word? Believe what He promised? If you and I really believe what God promised, why don’t we put that into practice? Practice what we preach. He makes a statement here in verse 3. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed the word of God. The word world refers to ages, dispensations. Through faith we understand.

You ever hear people say, I just don’t understand why God did this. I don’t understand why God did that. Why do I have to go through this? Or why do I go through that? I don’t understand. Well faith cometh by what? Hearing and hearing by the word of God. So for faith to grow or even to exist. There has to be a knowledge of the Word of God. So we read the Word of God so we’ll understand the promises of God so that we can put our confidence, our faith in God.

The quality of our lives is going to be in direct ratio to the caliber of the faith that you have and what God promised. So if you don’t know the promises of God, you’re not going to trust God for anything. And the more you know, the more you can trust, the more you can trust, the more you’ll have, and the greater results. You know what really impressed me about the book of Hebrews in chapter 11? It’s not a list of these people as he goes down through here and what they did.

But what they did was great. And that’s what we’re to focus upon. But what caught my eye was what wasn’t mentioned. What wasn’t there? I looked there in verse 4. Anybody ever heard of Abel? You know, Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel. Cain got maddened, killed Abel. But it says in verse 4, by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gift and by it he been dead yet speaketh.

Now get this. I look in verse 38 of chapter 10. Now the just shall live by faith. In the book of Habakkah chapter 2 verse 4 is where this verse comes from. The just shall live by faith. The just is explained in the book of Romans. Shall live is explained in the book of Galatians by faith is explained in the book of Hebrews. One verse in the Old Testament takes three books in the New Testament to explain what he means.

Who are the just? That’s those who trust the Christ’s Savior and have been justified. Shall live, not die, shall live. I’ve had so many people say, I’m willing to die for the Lord. God hasn’t asked you to die for him. He’s asked you to live for him. I came to the conclusion years ago that if I would serve the Lord today, then tomorrow I’ll be in the will of God. And when I serve the Lord that day, then I will be in the will of God.

And as my life is lived, then I look back and say, I have given my life to God. But it says, the just shall live by faith. And so now he’s taken a whole chapter telling you, what do you mean? How do you live by faith? He take God in his work. But you’re noticed in chapter 11 and verse 4, it doesn’t say anything about his wife, his kids. It doesn’t say anything about the house he lived in. It doesn’t say anything about the car he drove.

I should say the camel he rode. Doesn’t say how many donkeys did he had, how many dogs he had. Doesn’t talk about how much money he was able to put in the bank because he God sees fate. all that he had faith in him. That is what impresses God. All the possessions that you have doesn’t been pressed God, one iota. God is not impressed with our homes and God is not impressed with our vehicles we drive. God is not impressed with our bank accounts.

Because when we stand before the Lord none of that matters, you will find any of that in none of these verses because that’s That’s not important. You see, we see with the eye the things of the world. But it says when you live by faith, we see beyond this world. And you’re looking at more than just with a naked eye because we see things that others don’t see. And you believe what God’s word says. And so you take what you have and you use it for God’s honor and for God’s glory.

Now, load this what he says in verse 5. By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him for before his translation. He had this testimony. He pleased God. See, what is the most important thing that this man did in his life? See, Abel, he pleased God because he offered sacrifice. God told him to offer. God’s pleased with that. God put him in the book. God’s going to reward him when he gets rewarded.

It wasn’t what he had. It’s what he did by faith. He took God as word. He believed God. Enoch, he loved the Lord so much. And he had such a testimony in his life that he pleased God and God says one day he was walking along. He was and he what? He was not. I wonder what that means. He existed and all of a sudden he was gone, translated out of this world, be me up Scott, he’s gone. No failures.

Because he did one that he pleased God. See pleasing God and that’s why he says in verse 6, and you ought to look at verse 6 very closely. But without faith it is impossible to please him. You see, the Bible says this in the book of Revelation in chapter 4, for we are created by Him and for Him for His pleasure. We’re created to please God. If I am created to please God, then my goal in life is not to find what pleases me.

And most people live their lives trying to figure out what makes them happy. What do they want to do with their life? And they fail to understand that when you trusted Christ as your Savior, you were bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods. Your body belongs to God. Your spirit belongs to God. You’ve been bought and paid for. If there’s things that you do in your life that doesn’t please God, you ought to stop.

You ought to correct it. have a revival in this country if God’s people will examine their lives and stop doing the things that doesn’t please God. Whatever it is, just stop it. I don’t give us habits. Will you talk? Places you go, friends you have. Some people need to make some separation, corrections in their life because it doesn’t please God. But see, most people today say, I don’t care what pleases God is whatever makes me happy. I mean, this is my life.

Don’t try to tell me how to live my life My God news for you. It’s not yours You don’t belong to you you belong to God and You cannot live as you please and get away with it because your heavenly father is gonna beat the tor out of you But get what he says in verse six, but without faith it is impossible to please him For he that come up to God must believe must believe that he is, that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Rewater means God’s going to give you rewards. Keep his in mind. Salvation going to heaven, that’s a gift of God. You don’t earn that. You don’t work for that. Salvation, God saving you from him, that was free. No charge to you. That’s what gets you to heaven. Now that we’re going to heaven, God wants us to have rewards when we get to heaven. So to have rewards, and I must believe that God is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, diligently seek to please God.

Now nobody else can make you do that. It’s a personal thing. But we’re so easily influenced by other people that if sometimes our closest friends don’t serve God, we don’t either. That’s when you have to drop your friend because they’re not worth what’s going to cost you. You’ve got to make up your mind. What does he mean to me? Jesus Christ died for you, not your best friend, not your mama, not your aunts and uncles, not your husband and not your wife and not your kids.

You owe your devotion, your loyalty to one person. That’s Jesus Christ and Him alone. And you should honor Him and serve Him regardless of whatever it may cost you in this life. And if you have to sever certain things, then let it be. Because one day when all the life is over and you’re before the Lord, you’re going to be glad you did what God wanted you to do with your life. By faith, Noah being warned of God of things not seen.

See, this is what faith is. You don’t see it physically with the natural eye. They may never have even seen rain up until this point. He said, he moved with fear. Moved with fear is the same as he moved by faith. By faith, he believed what God says, there’s coming a judgment, there’s gonna be a flood. God told him to build an ark. So he worked on it for 120 years. Build an art, prepare an art to the saving of his house by the way she condemned the world because he demonstrated his faith in the Lord.

Came here of the righteousness, which is a faith. But you know what you don’t find here in this verse? All of the wealth and possessions that Noah owned. And the reason is because that’s not what God focuses upon. God wants you to believe his promise. If you believe the promise of God, let me ask you this, I did it not long ago. How many believe Jesus Christ could come back at any moment? You believe that? Let me see your hand.

All right? You believe it. Do you live like it? You don’t want to be someplace, do something, say something, think something, you shouldn’t be thinking when Jesus Christ comes. You don’t want to be treating people in a way that you shouldn’t treat people when Jesus Christ comes. Since you don’t know exactly when he’s going to come, he can come at any moment. Shouldn’t that change? In effect how you live? I believe it should. How many of you believe that whenever we’re caught up to meet the Lord in the air?

Lord in the air, we will stand in at the judgment seat of Christ. You believe you’re going to stand in the judgment seat of Christ? Let me see your hand. All right? You believe that. When you stand in the judgment seat of Christ, that’s the rewarding stand where God’s going to reward you for what you did and you’re going to suffer loss of what you could have had. And these rewards are eternal rewards and God is going to reward you for what you did here.

You see, if I really believe this, it affects what I do here. So you’re going to really live your life here according to what you really believe. And God says, will he find faith upon the earth? Will his children believe his promises? You know, we don’t have to straighten out the world. We’re not going to straighten out the world. We’re not even going to win the world of Christ. The Bible doesn’t even tell us to win the world of Christ.

It tells us to preach the gospel to every person because you can’t win anybody That doesn’t want to be won You can only present the truth in the individual has to decide whether or not they will they will not believe that message I am not held responsible for people’s choices. I Don’t believe one person Will ever go to hell because of me? I believe but a lot of people will go to heaven because of me. You see they’re already lost.

They’re already condemned they’re already going to help. And I can’t change that. But one thing I can’t change if I serve the Lord, I believe I can make a difference. And how many go to heaven? They’re not going to help because I mean, but they can go to heaven because of me. We’re left here in this world so that we can affect people’s lives so that we can get people to understand and trust the Lord and to have eternal life.

It’s the most important thing in the world. But Noah doesn’t talk about a lot of things in the world. He only talks about when they trusted the Lord, they believe what God said. You get into the biggest one of all here, about Abraham. God called him to go into a country that he had never seen before. But he just believed what God said and he left the early cal days and went to Hernan and down into Israel, a thousand mile journey, just trusting God.

And he says that he believed that there would be a country, a building, a city that God was gonna have. Look what he says in verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received the promises in their lifetime, but having seen them afar off, were persuaded of them and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. See, we’re just pilgrims and strangers here in this world. We’re just the passing through. And there’s things that God wants us to do while we’re here.

Life is so short, life is so short. And we’re getting older and time is running out. And we want to try to see how much can we accomplish for the Lord while we can. But though you may not seem like you’re accomplishing a lot, did you know that God looks down upon every person? Just think, every person in this room, God looking down upon you. God knows what you believe and don’t believe. He knows whether you love him or you don’t love him.

And we can fool one another, but you don’t fool him. And God’s the one that’s gonna honor you. He says, if any man served me, him with my father, honor, pretend like I’m God, okay? We’re just pretending. I’m the Lord. And I tell you, look, I want you in this room. I want you to know that I can’t lie. I’m God, I cannot lie. I’m going to make you a promise. I promise you that if you’ll serve me, you will be blessed while you’re here.

And if you’ll serve me, I’ll reward you when you get to heaven. But in serving me, you may have to suffer a lot. But the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared compared with the glory that’s going to be revealed when you get to heaven. And when you get to heaven, every one of you that served me will receive praise, honor, and glory. You’ll be greatly rewarded. And you’ll rule and reign with me in my new kingdom.

That I’m going to set up. He says, all I want you to do is trust me. Believe me. And then he gives us his word and he tells us all these things and here things to do and things not to do. And then I’m gone. The ball is in your court. In other words, I have hit you the ball and now you’ve got to do something with it. You can either say, yes, I will. No, I won’t, but the decision is yours.

Nobody can make it for you. And it demonstrates your faith in what God says. Is this the word of God or is it not the word of God? Does God lie or does he not? Your service to God reveals what you really believe. If you don’t serve the Lord with all your heart, then you don’t believe what God says. Because he says, if a man will serve me and honor me, he says him with my Father, honor and bless.

I want the blessings of God upon me here and I want the rewards when I get to heaven and I haven’t seen anybody no Christian go against God and win I Have not lived long enough and done enough units where I’ve seen people they say I’m so sorry I served the Lord. I’m so sorry. I dedicated my life to the Lord Buddy I’ve seen a lot of the other kind for people that are men. I wish I’d have done more I wish I’d have served the Lord When I realized that the days are numbered concerned salvation, keep that separate from service.

That’s saying represent you and me. This wallet represents sin. We all have sin upon us. God, He loves us, but He hates our sin. And the reason is because He our sins have to be paid. Since we committed a sin, that’s our responsibility. And the payment for sin is eternal separation from the Lord in a place called hell called hell and God loves us and doesn’t want us to go to hell. To go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God.

Nobody’s perfect. Nobody’s righteous and God can’t let us into heaven because of our sin. The Bible says you cannot earn eternal life. You cannot work your way to heaven. The only thing God except as a payment is death. Since we’ve all sinned, we’re all condemned. We’re all in the same boat. This then represents Jesus Christ. He’s God in the flesh. He came into this world because he loves us. He hates our sin because it separates us from them. So what Christ did for one person he did for everybody.

He took all the sins of the world, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead and said that if we believe he did it for us, he put the payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us. There’s no tricks to that, no gimmicks. If offered you my wallet and you accept you to have a wallet. If Jesus Christ walked in here and offered you eternal life and you accept you would have eternal life.

And if it’s eternal life, it lasts forever. And if it lasts forever and all you’re saying is repaid, where would you go when you die? Go to heaven. Can you know you’re going to heaven before you die? Yes. That’s what all this is about. Let’s pray, shall we? Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, Well if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr. Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man.

Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy. There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of the Gospel-Driven Mail. The mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634.

Again don’t forget to include your mailing address and God bless you and thank you for listening to 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.