This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

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.

The next thing is you fail to manifest the forgiveness of God. You have been undeservedly given because of Jesus Christ. You fail to manifest it when you have an unforgiving spirit. And you know you should. You know it’s right. You want to, but you have an old sinful nature that fights against you doing the things that’s right. And you know it’s right, but you also have this, I’m not. You remember years ago they used to have this Gilligan’s Island and they’re always trying to get Gilligan to do something and Gilligan’s his life.

You can’t make me, you can’t make me, you can’t make me, then he does it. Any Ephesians chapter four, now look at these verses because they’re very important verses. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Now just think for a minute. God destroyed this whole world because he says he was grieved because of the peoples. In subordination, rebellion, their wickedness. And so in Genesis chapter six, he said, destroy them all, but the Bible says Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

And yet you have people today that grieve God by their rebellion. In the Bible, and we was talking about this in Sunday school, talking about Saul, when God made him the king, when he was little in his own eyes, then he got to big for his britches. And then the Bible says it grieved God that he had made Saul King over Israel. So God can be grieved because the person that he wants to do certain things won’t do them.

God is grieved with his children when his children do not obey him. When you fail in your Christian life, see, being successful in your Christian life, isn’t that you just go to church every Sunday and you give a little money here and there and you try to do what’s right out there in soil again. But listen, it’s demonstrating the grace of God in your life. You’re not allowed to live by the law, laying down the law for everybody. We’re supposed to demonstrate what we can do, which is I can live by grace.

It means that I am going to be stow upon you love and kindness, compassion and care. All the things that God wants me to, regardless of how you treat me, over the years you’ll have it and I will have it. We’ll hurt somebody, somebody will hurt us. But if you never learn how to forgive, you will turn to bitterness. And bitterness is the poison that eats at you until it destroys you. You’re hoping the other person dies from it, but you’re the one that’s taking the poison.

Look what he says, you’re sealed until the day of redemption. That’s the day when we leave these old bodies and we’re cut up to meet the Lord in the air. So how long should we do How long should we serve the Lord until He comes? So we keep looking for the Lord to return. Serve the Lord until He retires, serve the Lord until He returns. Tell He returns. Now look what He said, let all bitterness, all of it. Why does God have to tell us this?

Why does He have to tell us in the book of Colossians in chapter three, husbands be not bitter against you? Why? Because it must be a very easy thing to do. It must be an easy thing to get bitter, isn’t it? Isn’t it easy to get bitter at your husband, bitter at the kids, bitter at your parents, in laws and outlaws, all your relatives? It’s easy to get bitter with the boss, the pericher, it’s easy. Now you want to demonstrate the grace of God in your life, learn how to forgive.

because somebody deserved it. Well, if they asked me, I might. Well, I’ll forgive them for this and this and this, but I’ll never forgive them for what they said. How long are you going to drink this poison? Who do you think you’re hurting? That person are you? It’s what it destroys you. Not loving, not caring, not having compassion. You can’t make everything right. You can’t make everybody love you. But you can still demonstrate to them what God wants you to demonstrate.

When Christ was in this world, who did he wrong? He must have wronged. somebody or they wouldn’t have done to him what they did. Ain’t that right? That’s just plain good logical reasoning. He must have been wrong somewhere. He must not have read Dale Carnegie’s book on how to win friends and influence people. Jesus made everybody mad. He was always offending people. True? Didn’t Jesus offend people? He made everybody mad at him. Well, most everybody. And even his own family didn’t believe him.

The Bible says over and over again, his mother pondered these things in her heart. Well, Ephesians 4.32 says, be kind one to another unless it’s your wife or your husband. It means be kind to everybody, but them. Where do you think it should start? That home. Your home should be like heaven on earth. Think about it. Husband and wife pose a love each other, be of the same mind. And that’s supposed to demonstrate what heaven must be like. I had somebody who came from marriage counseling.

Even after I talked to them for months and months, They still want to get married. Nobody listens to the preacher. But they sat in my office and I asked them, I said, now, have you ever seen a marriage like what you want to have? And I was expecting them to say, you know, my mother and dad. And I said, whose marriages have you ever seen that you would like yours to be like? I said, have you ever seen anybody’s marriage?

No? So you want to have something that’s never been. You want to marry something you have never seen. I said, what’s wrong with the ones that you’ve seen? They’re always arguing and fighting. And of course, when they get married, we’re not going to do that. I’ve had people to say, when I get married and I have kids, they’re not going to be like yours. How do you win? Wait. You know how I deal with my critics? outlive them sooner or later they’ll die and you’re still going because see it kills bitterness and hatred it destroys a person the key to long life as the scripture says learning how to love one another be kind one you see happiness and joy is medicine to the bones you’d be surprised how much better off you will feel when you know you’re doing right The joy that you have when you know you’re doing right.

But when you don’t do right, it makes you sick inside. It just kind of pies up your stomach and little nuts. And just makes you feel terrible. And then sometimes when you’re bitter, you can’t sleep at night. You can’t get the rest that you need. Something’s always bothering you. And don’t tell me it won’t affect your health. It will affect you. Look what he says. Be a kind one to another and tender hearted. Considering that other person and you’ve got to be tender hearted, you care, compassion.

Forgiving one another even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Be therefore followers of God as dear children. That word followers means as imitators. Imitate your heavenly Father. When he was here and people did all these bad things to him, what did he do? What was demonstrating his characteristics? Remember, he said he could have called 10,000 angels, but his song says he died alone. He could have, but he didn’t. He says, my kingdom is not of this world.

He said, if it were my angels, my army, we would fight, but it’s not. We are citizens of another country. The day is coming when there’s going to be a new heavens and a new earth and we will be there. But we don’t have to wait till we get there to love people, to forgive people. This is all temporary. Life is so short. Wouldn’t it be ashamed to live half of your life. Drinking poison, being bitter toward people, carrying grudges that you don’t even have to carry.

Cut people a little slack. I always told people, see with one eye and hear with one ear. Don’t see everything. Don’t hear everything. And I’ve told people this. Sometimes, you know, you think somebody said something and they didn’t say that. And sometimes Betty will say, I told you that. I said, honey, I didn’t hear you. It doesn’t count if I don’t hear you. It doesn’t matter if you say it 50 times. If I don’t hear you, it doesn’t count.

Doesn’t that sound good? There has been times when I’ve heard her, but then I say, I didn’t hear you. Have you ever been accused of selective hearing? You know anybody like that? Is it possible that you could be like that when it comes to church? And you said, oh boy, boy, that was a good sermon this morning. That’s perfect for those people right behind me. They needed that. They needed that. Well, I wish someone would have been here. That would have been perfect for her.

She’s always blabber-maffling about something. And you’d be surprised. Sometimes, sometimes, the Lord wants to talk to you. Sometimes it’s not for everybody else. After last Sunday, I had some people say, who told you about me? And he says, I know you were talking to me. And sometimes I think they think I’m talking to them individually. This is just a message that’s generic for everybody. These are simple verses out of the scriptures. And so if it hits you between the eyes, hello, maybe the Lord has a way of, he just wants to get your attention.

Now it’s better for you just to hear what he said in obey than to him to have to get a two before and put it over your head. So he says, walk in love as Christ also hath loved us. How are we supposed to walk? It’s always about what he did and how he did it. And so therefore we have an example and hath given himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God. Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

Anybody remember who said that? Somebody said that. Someone who said that. He said that. Jesus said that when He was on the cross. Forgiveness they don’t know what they’re doing. Did you ever realize that sometimes you know because of an old sinful nature we have, the Bible says the devil have deceived the whole world. Is it possible that sometimes your husband is just a little deceived? Well he’s a little wild. Is it possible that your wife could be deceived at times?

And she didn’t see or hear and get it straight, and she might be in air. Do you have to nail her against the wall? Do you have to crucify her? Do you have to get the gun and shoot her? Or can you just write it off? She didn’t hear me. It’s okay. It doesn’t matter. And so like the guy who walks in the, you know, he’s sitting there watching TV and the wife walks in and says, what’s on TV?

Dust. And then the war began. Like I told you one day, this woman standing there and she’s looking in her mirror. She says, honey, I need a compliment. I mean, look at me. My hair’s also just straggly all over my head. I got wrinkles, a sagging. I’m getting old. Give me a compliment. I need a good compliment. She says, well, there’s nothing wrong with your eyesight. And then the war begins. Now, wives, sometimes it’s better not to hear certain comments.

I didn’t hear that. Because you know it’s setting you up and you’re going to get Katie Bar of the Door. And wouldn’t it be so nice if everybody could just cut each other a little slack? Your wife isn’t perfect. I had a man one day and this is the truth. He says, preach, I want you to pray for me. I says, sure, why am I? He says, pray that I can find the perfect wife. I says, I will not.

He says, what? I says, I will not. I says, if there’s a woman out there, that’s a perfect wife. Why should she marry you? You’re not a perfect man. Why ruin such a good woman? There’s no perfect man. There’s no perfect women. There’s no perfect children. Except mine. My grandkids. But he says be kind one to another. Tenderhearted forgiving each other. One another. As God hath for Christ’s sake forgiven us. Forgiveness means to have no personal vendetta against the person, but to have given them over it to the only righteous judge, the Lord to deal with the offender as he pleases.

Now y’all know that in 1991 I got a phone call from Colorado that a man had taken a hammer and killed my son. Now the man that killed my son was a black man and they gave him about four years. because even though he confessed to the crime, they had not read him his rights. So he got off because some detectives didn’t read him his rights. So anyway, I had to give a report to the court, to the judge, and everybody was there.

And in the video, you know, that couldn’t be there. I addressed the man that killed my son. See, this had nothing to do with skin color. This has to do with sin. All our problem is a sin problem. The things that we’re facing in our country with all the people in the riots and things, it’s a sin problem. That’s the problem. It’s not the color of the skin. It’s the sin problem. And everybody has a sinful nature. Now, I could go for the rest of my life for 24 years and I could hate and be filled with bitterness.

I told them on the video, I said, I love you and I forgive you. But government can’t forgive you. Government must do what government is supposed to do. It’s the law. They are to handle that. And I have committed this whole thing to the Lord to work through our government. And I have no vendetta against you. I’m not going to take vengeance against you. I have already wrote it off. My mind is clear. I have nothing against you.” I said, but now you cannot escape the court of divine justice.

There’s a day coming when you’ll have to answer to God, but you do not have to answer to me. And you know for the last twenty-three, four years, that doesn’t bother me one eye over. I agree that my son is dead. I’ve often thought about what he could have done with his life and about his children and all that, you know? Yeah? But some things I can’t change. But the only thing that I can deal with is how I feel.

What I go through, my peace of mind, I can’t change the world out there, but I can make sure that I try to live and walk and think the way I’m supposed to and not take vengeance. The Bible says, God will take vengeance. And I’m not his little avenging angel. Yes, brother, I can figure it all right, but I can’t forget. No, that’s something that’s gonna happen when we get to heaven and we won’t have us all sin for nature and we’ll never recall it.

He says the former things will be remembered no more. True forgiveness means burying the hatchet, but not in the back of the other person you’re trying to forgive. Be careful to the man who pat you on the back. He may be looking for a place to plant the knife. What does forgiveness toward others not mean? Trust is immediately restored. The moment you trusted Christ as your Savior, just God forgave you but doesn’t, it’s limitation in how you’re used. He can’t put you in, okay, now you’re gonna become the pastor, you just got saved yesterday, you can be the pastor today.

No, there’s a process to go through. And learning and things not to do, things that you are to do, and you earn the right to be trustworthy. And some people, yes, you can forgive, but they need to earn the right to be trusted again. Forgiveness doesn’t mean all of that’s gone. It just means you as a person, you’re not holding the game. They have still trust to be gained. There are no consequences to faith. There are consequences. You can say a lot of things, do a lot of things, ask God to forgive you and He can forgive you.

But your wife may not, and she may divorce you. And you can get drunk on the job and He might forgive you, but you might lose your job. And you can drink a lot in ruin your kidneys or whatever, and the next thing you know, yes God can forgive you, I forgive you. but doesn’t undo the damage. And you can waste your life, and God can forgive you, but it doesn’t put fruit on the plate. It doesn’t give you anything to be rewarded for.

A wasted life still wasted, it’s still gone. And there’s still need for communication. You see, even after you and I trusted Christ as our Savior and God forgive us, God still wants us to come to and to grow, to grow, to mature. And this is why when people get married, they begin to communicate. And that’s why you have transmissions on cars from the motor to the wheels. You gotta have a transmission. You have to learn how to shift gears.

And everybody thinks it’s all gonna be automatic. But there is a value of having a manual transmission. And so in your marriage you have to learn. You have to grow. You have to adjust. And you’re always learning how to adjust. Have you ever seen a racehorse in a jackass in the same yoke? The racehorse wants to do what? Go! And that jackass may not want to move. And lo and behold they get married. Some of you already done got farther down the road than where I’ve gone yet.

And so you find yourself, well, he is so slow. He is so slow. Don’t knock his judgment, look who he married. So what is the basis and motivation for this forgiveness? Because Christ paid for our sins, we learned to forgive other people. And so you hinder your fellowship with God in your daily walk. It’s hindered in your daily walk with the Lord. Because he the bitterness keeps you from enjoying the Lord. when you’re bitter, you poison other people. When you shed your bitterness and your hatred, you’re poisoning other people.

And the purpose of the poison is to kill them. Don’t allow people who are bitter people to poison you against somebody else. It’s not good, it’s not right, it’s not proper. But learn how to forgive and keep on serving the Lord. And God will bless you. And these are some verses to keep in mind. write these down, 1 John chapter 1, 6 through 10, they are awesome verses because 1 John 1 9 simply says, talks about if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That’s to the believer. But whenever you sin against your wife or you sin against your husband or even if you sin against your children, learn to confess it. own up to it. When that person knows that you wronged them and you won’t admit it, you know that just causes them to lose a little respect for you because you’re not honest. You’re not upfront. You’re being deceptive and it’s hard for people to trust you when you’re not honest and you want to have all of this.

You want to be the way God wants you to be, demonstrating the grace of God in your life. And that’s not the easiest thing to do because don’t wait and do that as you got to stay close to the Lord and not everybody stays as close to the Lord as they could be. It would be great if we did. But anyway, just a few thoughts to help you love each other, cut each other some slack. Don’t be so mean and hard on each other.

Everybody’s struggling. The wife’s struggling. The husband’s struggling. The kids are struggling. We live in a sinful world and always sees a lot of the stuff that’s not good and wholesome for us. But at least when you come to church you’re supposed to learn some things from the Bible that are supposed to help you in your Christian life. I told people before if you come to all the services of the church you’ll have all the counseling you need. You’ll get all the counseling you need.

You don’t have to go pan from some psychiatrist or something like that. It’s a charge a lot of money but this is biblical But it’s the counseling that can help you in every area of your life. See, most problems are sin problems. It’s a spiritual problem. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. Now God, he loves us, but he hates our sin. He loves us. But to pay for sin is eternal separation from God.

And so we were without hope. There is no option to. We have to die and pay for our sins. That’s the payment for sin. You see, heaven is perfect, but we’re not. And God won’t let sin in. We can’t go. How can I get rid of my sin? Die, then it’s too late. So God says, you cannot earn eternal life. You need a savior. So 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 our sin separates us from him.

So the Bible says the only way we can get to heaven is God’s gonna have to just forgive us the note. Forgive us, but he can’t just forgive us because the law says it has to be paid. So he can’t just write it off and forget all about it. So he had to send his son. His son came into the world and died that sin debt that we owe. Everybody has to die. And he paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead.

So now because the debt has been paid, forgiveness can be offered. So he told his disciples to go into all the world and preach the forgiveness of sins. See, the sin payment’s been made. That’s not the issue anymore. Now the issue is, will you accept God’s forgiveness? Who in their right mind wouldn’t? So when I was 18 years old, I heard this for the first time. It blew my mind. You mean it’s free? I don’t have to do something.

I mean, there’s nothing to do. I don’t have to change my life. Start doing something. All I had to do is believe he did it for me. And he would put this payment to my account and I go to heaven on what Christ did for me. And that was a gift free. So this is the message that teaches me. grace of God. God loved us and we didn’t deserve it. And He paid for our sins and we didn’t deserve that.

He forgives us and we didn’t deserve that. Now in our lives there’s people going to sin against us. They don’t deserve forgiveness. They don’t deserve to be loved and they don’t deserve be kind and they don’t deserve our compassion. They don’t deserve So we’re only looking for the people that deserve our goodness. Oh really. God says, I want you to do this for me. Treat them the way I treated you. Now can you understand what I’m saying? Can you really understand what I’m saying?

Shake your head like this means yes. This means no. I was over in India, they went like this. I’d ask them a question and they go like that. Totally confuse me. Let’s pray, shall we? Every head bowed, every eye closed, no one looking around. If you’re here this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you trust Him right now? Would you say something to the Lord, Lord? I know I’m a sinner, I believe Christ died, paid for my sins, and I’m going to trust Him as my only hope of going to heaven.

I want the Lord’s forgiveness for everything I’ve ever done. And the reason He can do that is because He’s already paid for my sins, and I will accept His forgiveness. And if you will, God says He would give you the free gift of everlasting life. And you can know that you’re going to heaven whenever you’re dying. Would you trust Him? If you will, I’m going to ask you in just a moment to raise your hand, raising your hand, doesn’t save you.

It just lets me know that what I said made sense to you. I’m not going to have you forward. Not going to embarrass you. But right where you’re sitting, would you trust Christ as your savior? And if you will, would you let me know by just slipping the hand of very quickly and better right back down? And what at all? Then what at all? With your heads to your bow and your eyes closed, while I was talking, did anybody’s picture flash into your mind?

Can you recall something that was said or done to you or that you did to someone else? And you need to get forgiveness for that. Talk to the Lord about those things. God will bless you. He really will. Our Father, we thank you again for your blessings. Thank you for all you do for us. We’re so thankful that we get an opportunity in our life to demonstrate to others just how good you are and how wonderful and how blessed it is to be sinners forgiven in Christ and we pray.

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 caught up to meet the lord in the air so live today and every day believe in that the lord is coming soon just keep looking up