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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 first part of this two part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

How to witness to Jewish people. Assuming that you are going to witness to Jewish people. Somewhere along the line in your busy life, God is gonna have your path contact somebody that’s Jewish and they don’t know the Lord. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to lead some Jewish people to the Lord? It is such a wonderful thing to realize our heritage, how blessed we have been, all because of the Lord working through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and into the whole nation.

Christ coming into the world and all the prophecies that are fulfilled. And what God promised He hath performed and He died on the cross, came back from the dead and is alive forevermore. And He gave us the work to do and we should be busy about doing that. So I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans in chapter 1, the book of Romans and chapter 1. What you want to do is to give the Jewish person an intellectual opportunity to reject Jesus Christ.

Many people just reject Him and they don’t even know why. They reject Him but have never understood or heard the claims of Jesus Christ as to who He really is, what He really did. And therefore, they do not really understand why the chastening upon the nation of Israel in the last 2000 years and how so much can be changed if they as a nation would accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Wouldn’t it be neat if Israel once again was to be the lighthouse to the world?

Well it will be but only when the Lord comes back. Now notice what he says in the book of Romans in chapter 1 and verse 16. The apostle Paul says that I’m a debtor and then I am not ashamed and that I am ready to preach the gospel. So he says in verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, or it is the power of God and the salvation to every one that I believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Also look there in chapter 2 and look in verse 9, verse 9, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil. Well just think about this. Everybody in the world has a sinful nature so everybody sends and because we all sin we sin against people and people sin against us and the world is wicked and we suffer with a lot of anguish and trials and bitterness and heartache and sorrow in life. Some of it we produce and some of it we don’t.

Just think about the most perfect person in the world. I wonder who that was, Jesus Christ. He came into the world and he even made the world. And how did the world treat the most perfect person that’s ever been here. Well, they crucified him. So you expect people to treat you better? It’s not going to happen. People do what’s wrong and we do people wrong. We misunderstand and we accuse and judge and do all kinds of things that’s maybe not right, as the Jewish person would say, it’s just not kosher.

But you’ll notice that he says to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Look what we have here in your notes. Paul the Apostle thought we should do so. That means to Intelligently present the gospel to the Jewish person and understand in what he did. That’s why he said, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and he gives us this verse here in Romans chapter 1. Paul was designated as the apostle to the Gentiles. The apostle Peter went to the Jews.

Yet if you follow his career through the book of Acts, you will find that he always went to the synagogue first, giving them the Holy Spirit. the first opportunity to be God’s instruments and their respective communities. Some have suggested that Romans 1 16 is more than a historical statement that we should still go to the Jewish community first with the gospel. In other words, when the gospel was given, it was given to the Jew first. And when the apostle and Peter and him, they gave the gospel, they gave it to the Jew first.

So it’s like, well, that is historical fact. That has been accomplished and now we’re to take it through the rest of the world. Remember he said Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the other most parts of the earth. So that’s where it started and they got it first. But there’s another point to this to look at. I don’t believe that I should go into all the world and try to find the Jew first and witness to them. So I got to win all the Jews first and then we’ll try to win the Gentiles.

I don’t worry about whether a person is Jew or Gentile. I just witnessed anybody and I don’t get what they are. I just asked them a simple question like, do you know where you’re going when you die? And if they don’t know, there’s a victim. So I jump in on them. And it doesn’t matter what their religion is or where they came from or the color of their skin, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever be lived in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

And so there’s another little statement written here I want you to see. They point out that the verb is, is also the verb for the clause to the Jew first. There may be room for disagreement here, but there is no justification for the actual outlook of most Christian churches, which is more like to the Jew last or not at all. Perhaps you have some Jewish relatives, friends, or contacts that you would like to tell about the Lord. It might be wise to understand some of the do’s and don’ts when you’re going to witness to some Jewish people.

Now I’m not like Hank Lindstrom, he’s been to Israel 15 times, won a lot of Jewish people to the Lord. Dr. Stanford was one of the best I’ve ever seen in talking to Jewish people. The guy was awesome. And he could talk to a lost person and get him to trust Christ’s Savior as easy as anybody I’ve ever seen. And so when you talk to a Jewish person it’s good to understand a few things and that is knowing the scriptures that deal with Jewish prophecy, with the Messianic prophecies, so you understand how to explain those verses, which what we did in the other lecture.

So scriptures that reveal some of the attitudes that the Apostle Paul had during the church age in which we live, how did he think about the Jewish people? So look, there in the book of Romans in chapter 9. What did he think about the Jewish people? Because he just made an awesome statement to the Jew first, also to the Greek. So even though salvation is of the Jews, salvation was not only for the Jews. It was that the Jews were supposed to be the light to the rest of the world.

And they didn’t do it. But it says here in the book of Romans in chapter 9, looking verse one down to verse three and just look and see how he felt about the nation of Israel and how he loved the Jewish people. Remember Paul was a Jew. He says, I am a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Pharisee. This is who he was. It’s what he was. So you can’t say, well, Jews can’t be saved on the church age.

He was Jewish and it was doing the church age. So he says, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were a curse from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, according to the flesh. He was just like them. But he thought he was doing God a favor in killing those people and putting them into jail that believed in Jesus Christ.

And so he wanted to put a stop to it. And that’s when the Lord had a meeting with Saul on the road to Damascus. And he saw a bright light and God spoke to him. He says, I’m going to show this young man what great things he must suffer for my name’s sake. And so God used him in a great way. But he believed in the Lord. And he knew Christ as his Savior. And he spent time getting the gospel from Christ himself, not from the other apostles.

He was not here with the disciples. And so therefore he had a lot to learn, but he wanted his brethren to know Christ’s Savior. Also to notice what he says here, and look there in verse 32, verse 32, same chapter. He said in verse 13, Therefore, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. Remember the simple little statement. If you believe that salvation is by works, you will stumble over Christ.

If you believe salvation is by works, you will stumble over grace. Because grace won’t make sense. Christ doesn’t make sense if you believe you have to earn your way to heaven by your good works. So there’s people that hear the name of Christ and they hear the word grace but then try to earn their way to heaven by their good life. They’re good deeds and they think that their good life will get them to heaven and that’s why they think well they have to go to church, they go to heaven, got to give money, to go to heaven and none of those things will save a person.

So it’s why this verse is so important because they stumbled over Christ because they were wrapped up in the law and they became law keepers and thinking they were good enough and they exalted themselves and they despised those sinners that didn’t live as good as they did. And that’s why we sometimes say, you know, there’s some people who looked at their long fair, cynical nose at other people and they think they’re like Kellogg’s corn flakes just a little bit better and they’re not any better than anyone else.

Now look there in the book of Romans in chapter 10. Romans chapter 10, you’re right there, look at the attitude the apostle Paul had about the Jewish people. Remember to reach people you have to have a burden, you have to have a concern. It means you have to care. You’ve got to want people to trust the Lord. Now I would hope to think that as you go through life you see people and people hurting all over, that you care about that person and where they’re going to spend eternity.

And it shouldn’t matter whether they’re black or white or, you know, red, brown. It doesn’t matter what they color. It doesn’t matter about their nationality. Those things are not important. Every man is a soul. Every woman, they have a soul. That’s a person. That’s a person who Christ died for. and in God’s eyes they all have value. Not one person has a greater value than you do. God doesn’t love anybody in the whole world more than he loves you.

It doesn’t love you more but he does love you but he doesn’t love anybody else more than he loves you. God is not a respecter of persons. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Acts in chapter nine. The book of Acts in chapter nine and look in verse 20. So after the apostle Paul had trusted Christ as Savior and that’s listed here in the book of Acts chapter 9, it doesn’t say that he went to the churches.

It says that he went in verse 20 to the synagogues and straightway or immediately he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. So this is where he went and the synagogue is what it was for the Jews. So he went there and he did go to the Jew first and he went and he preached the gospel to them. Also notice what he says in chapter 13 of the book of Acts. Acts chapter 13 Look there in verse 5.

Verse 5 says, and when they were at Salimos, they preached the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they also had John to their minister. This is where they went. This is what Paul did. And then the Bible also says, if you look there in verse 14, but when they departed from Perga, they went to Antioch in Pisaite and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue, sent them, and says, teach us some more.

There’s people who wanted to know. So they had many that believed on the Lord. So Paul won a lot of people to the Lord. After the church age started, and he was still telling us to reach the world. Going to all work and remember, this all started because Christianity was the greatest Jewish moment ever in the world. There’s never been anything quite like it, and it’s affected the whole world for 2,000 years. So we’re thankful for all that has been done.

So should we care about winning Jewish people to the Lord? I think we should. I had an opportunity when I was done at the University of Miami. I was doing some gold stamping on books. That’s how I’m making a little money so I could take my exams and all. In the student union building, I was set up by a gold stamp machine, and I had several people that were working for me. Anyway, they would take names down, and we put the yearbooks and not stamp my names on it and put it on in gold and we put heaven tracks and all the year books.

And there’s one guy had it done and he went over there and he opened up and there’s that track in there. He said, I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe in any of that stuff. Well, it wasn’t long before I knew I was going to have to deal with him. So he standing there getting an attention and everybody stopped what they were doing And there was a couple hundred people in the area. And they all look over at me, see what I’m gonna do.

This guy is defiant, you know. And I don’t believe in all of this stuff. Well, I stood up on my side of the table. And I looked at him and I says, yeah, you, yeah, come here. In front of everybody. So he starts walking across the room toward me. And he got led up to the table. Now I was a little clocking back in those days. I said, on the side of the table. I said, come over here on this side of the table.

And he wasn’t sure he wanted to come on my side of the table. And everybody’s watching. He came on my side of the table. And I walked over to him. I said, now, let me tell you something. Jesus Christ loved you so much. He’d rather die than live without you. He went to the cross, and he paid for all of your shit. And I said it low enough that nobody could hear what I’m saying to this guy. And he’s just standing there looking at me.

He was in the state of shock. He didn’t know what I was going to do. So I was talking to him. And all of a sudden he got a tear in his eye. And he told me he says, my parents told me about this, but I never understood it. I explained a little bit more next to him. He trusted Christ as Savior. He walked over to my table, picked up some of the heaven and tracks, and he walked out of the Student Union Building.

He never said a word to anybody and neither did I. But he wasn’t really looking for a fight. He was just looking for somebody to get answer his question. See, he really wanted to know. Some people are just hoping there’s somebody out there that’s got an answer. In the same Student Union Building, after we had taken a break, I walked by and there was a table setting there and there were five Jewish boys sitting there. You say, I didn’t know they were Jewish boys.

I can tell. Anyway, I walked up and they were all sitting there. And so I walked over to him. I said, can I ask you all a question? Now, I did this to a Jew one time. I asked him, I said, how come every time you ask the Jewish person a question, they always answer with a question? He says, why not? So I didn’t do that with them this time. I said, can I ask you a question? They said, sure.

I said, do y’all believe that the Messiah has already come, or are you looking for Him to come? And I said, that’s a good question. That’s not an argument in the question. And so a couple of them said, I don’t know. I don’t know. And a couple of them said, I think He’s coming yet. I said, well, if you think He’s still coming, I said, can I ask you another question? He said, sure. How are you going to recognize Him?

I don’t know. I said, if the Messiah is yet to come, How are you going to recognize them when he comes? What are you looking for? How are you going to recognize them? So I don’t know. I says, can I show you from your book, from your Bible, how you can know your Messiah when he comes? I said, yeah. Would you believe that they let me set it with all five of them? And I had a Bible and I used nothing but the Old Testament.

I said, I know you have a problem with the New Testament, so we won’t even go there. just go to the Old Testament because most Jewish people, at least they believe the Old Testament. And so I went through the Scriptures like I did this morning and all five of them trusted Christ as their Savior. This one kid, he slapped the table. He says, that’s Jesus Christ. I says, yes, I know. I said, remember, you said that. I didn’t tell you that.

And a couple of them had tears and rise, all because I was able to open up a conversation. Don’t be intimidated by anybody. Believe that what you know is so important, they ought to pay you to tell them. But they’re not going to. But you know something that’s so valuable. You know how to go to heaven. And majority of people have no clue on how to go to heaven. And if you can tell them it’s the greatest thing in all the world.

So can you win Jewish people to the Lord? Yes, you can win people to the Lord. And I did it over in Israel. Every time I win, I have a couple of that would trust Christ as Savior. And so I got an opportunity to speak in the first Baptist church in Bethlehem. And there were all Arabs. And I’ve given the wall of illustration. I pull out my wallet, you know, and I go through the thing. And then my interpreter standing there, he’s speaking to him in Arabic.

And I’m giving the gospel, just pouring out my heart, you know. And I said, let this hand represent you and me and the wall of represent sin. we all have sin on us. God says that we have all sinned and because of sin we are all condemned and the wages of sin is death and we have to die. And the Bible says that you have to be perfect to go to heaven and none of us are perfect and I thought, where do I stop this and let him do half of it?

You know, because you have to do a couple of lines and then the interpreters got to do something. I think I might just tell this whole story. And I says, God says you cannot earn it, you can’t work, but you can’t buy it. This hand represents Jesus Christ, he’s God in the came into the world because He loves us, hates our sin, our sin separates us from the Lord. Christ took the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead and said if you would believe He did it for you, He would put this payment to your account.

You go to heaven on what He did, not on what you do. It’s on because He’s good. It’s not because you’re good. And I thought, how was He going to explain this? You know what He did? Next thing I knew He reached over and He grabbed my wallet out of my hand. And I was, I was concerned at that point. He grabbed, no it wasn’t empty. And he grabbed my wallet and he said, he did the same thing. And I watched it.

He did the hand, he had the perfect first time he ever seen it. And he went through and he explained the whole thing. And then we got through. He came and bought it back. I was glad to that. Or did I run him down? I can’t remember. But anyway, I got my wallet back. But you have to remember. people who are wanting to hear a good presentation of the gospel. We have been so privileged, so blessed to know this truth, but it doesn’t do anybody any good if we don’t tell anybody about it.

But look down here at your notes where we have don’t allow yourself to mentally stereotype Jewish people. Well, they’re all the same. Don’t put them all in the same little box. No, people are individuals, but it doesn’t matter if you’re Jewish or even if you’re a Baptist or a foot washing that beredgny. It doesn’t matter what the religion are, don’t figure that they all believe exactly the same things or the same degree. They don’t. There’s a lot of people saying, well, I’m a Catholic, but they don’t want to go to church.

They just go, I’m a Catholic. There’s people who say they’re Mormons and never go to them. There’s people that are Jehovah’s Witnesses or used to be, not anymore. Deal with them as an individual. Don’t put them all in one group. Well, I know everything you believe and then you want to lay them low. Well, women, that may not need you to take them into teeth. Maybe they just need you to present the truth. Maybe the gospel is powerful. And if you explain it, they might understand it.

So the gospel is the light that shines upon whatever belief is wrong, doesn’t it? So if you present the truth of the gospel, it sheds the light upon all those mysterious things that people say and think and believe. So the gospel is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe us. So get that down. That’s the most important thing. Prejudice means to prejudge and we need to just look at a person at face value and try to see where they’re coming from.

And And do you know for sure you’re going to heaven when you die? Well, no, I don’t. And you might be surprised. Well, I know what you are. No. If a man knows he’s a sinner, you don’t have to convince. Say, look, what are they? I’m going to send to you committed lately. Can you tell me about your thought life lately? ain’t none of your business. All you need to know is nobody’s perfect. And to go to heaven you have to be perfect and no one perfect.

So that means we’re all sinners. We’ve all done things wrong. We’re all in the same boat. Number two, look here in your notes, don’t tell Jewish jokes to Jewish people if you’re not Jewish. They usually don’t come across very good. And buddy do I know Jewish jokes. I had to realize just because I can tell jokes and I can tell pretty good jokes. But I’ve also heard a few people over the years telling jokes that I should not have told.

And I realized there might be a better way. But if you’re with a bunch of people and you’re all together, it might not hurt to tell a few little jokes here and there. But when you’re trying to win that lost person, they could easily become offended because of what you’re saying and doing. And remember, the goal is this, to win them to the Lord. And so, gotta keep that in mind. Number three, you don’t use the term like, you need to be a converted Jew.

It’s like taking a living room and converted into a garage. Well, now it’s no longer a living room, you change it into something else. And so, sometimes a Jewish person, you’re trying to change me into something else. If I become a Christian, I’m no longer Jewish. No. Can a Jewish person be an atheist? Well, if you can still be Jewish and be an atheist, why can’t you still be Jewish and be a Christian? You can. I’m a Gentile, but I’m a Christian.

Did I stop being a Gentile? No, I’m still a Gentile. I told a person this one time. I says, when you get up in the morning, you’re looking in the mirror and you see that you’re ugly. Then later on during the day you trust Christ as your Savior Go back and look in the mirror You’re still ugly That didn’t change some things don’t change and your physical body doesn’t change. I used to be an Indian I trust the Christ about Savior now.

I’m a white boy No, and no more than it does to a Jewish person. They’re just a Jewish person. That’s a completed you You’re a completed Jew. You’re just a Jewish person who has their sins paid for. And it will go over a little bit better than thinking that you’re trying to change them from what they are and have been. And because of their nationality, you’re trying to change them. Don’t try to do that. Number four, don’t use the term Jew if you can help it.

Sometimes it’s just a natural way in which we talk. But it’s better to say he is Jewish or she is Jewish. So that sounded a lot less harsh to someone because a lot of people, just like in this country, a lot of blacks years ago, were called a lot of dirty names and it’s not good and it’s offensive. So we learned that maybe we shouldn’t say that, but a lot of the Jewish people have been called a dirty Jew, Christ killers.

And they had nothing to do with it. It’s been 2,000 years ago and these that are living today have nothing to do with anything. And yet they have borne the blunt of all of that hatred and so forth, the bills up in people. Look what Hitler did in causing people to hate the Jew. And some of those people claimed to be Christians and did it in the name of Christianity. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr.

Arnold? 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 Man.

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.

Tada can meet the Lord in the air. So that today and every day, we’re leaving that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.