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

I want you to take your Bible and turn to 1 Peter, chapter 5, 1 Peter and chapter 5, make sure you look at these verses. The Lord tells us there’s a lot of suffering that we’re going to do in this life. And in the midst of all this suffering, he tells us that we’re going to have, he says, by the way, there’s the devil to him. And so you look there in chapter 5, when the Bible talks about us humbling ourselves on to the Lord.

See there in verse six, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time. If we would just do what God says in due time, his timing, he’ll raise you up and he won’t reward you for what you do when you get to heaven, but he’ll bless you here and now. And that’s really what we want. Who doesn’t want to be happy in life? I think I think most people want to be happy.

They want to have joy. They want peace. They want to be successful. But you know everything that you want that’s really good God wants for you. There’s just a difference on how you get it. So the devil is trying to tell you, hey, you follow me and I’ll give it to you. And the Lord says, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don’t listen to him. You listen to me and I can get it for you. So we have this battle going back and forth of who we’re gonna listen to.

Well, remember this, the Lord is truth, the devil is a liar. And so only by studying the word of God can you find out who is who? What are they telling me to do? How do I discern? So he says here in verse seven, casting all your care upon him for he careth for you. Now this is a difficult thing for people to really believe that there’s a God in heaven that made the heavens and the earth, and he’s concerned about little old mean.

He cares about me. God cares about me. God cares about you. Now the devil, what’s he going to try to do? Convince you that the Lord doesn’t care about you. He just does the opposite. Remember, he is an imitator. He counterfeits everything that’s good and right and true. He counterfeits. And so you need to know how the devil works and you’ll be on your toes just a little bit better and you’ll be able to discern. But now look what he says here in verse eight.

Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, your adversary, he’s yours. There’s a lion that’s loose and he’s on your trail and he’s after you. There’s a lion. And the Bible says here, your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walk at the bow, seeking whom he may devour. This is written to the believers. Now written to the lost man. This is written to believers. So can the devil devour you? means He will consume your life and eat up your time.

You only get one trip through, no reruns, no instant replays, nothing. You just get one trip through life. And so you want to have as much of your life count for the Lord as you possibly can. And then He says here in verse 9, whom resist steadfast in the faith. So you can resist the devil by standing Steadfast. So that means you have to know doctrine. You need to know what the Word of God says and stand firm there and resist the devil.

Because he’s going to tempt you, he will lie to you, deceive you. Whatever it takes, the devil by all means is going to do this. So we know that from the Scriptures and look there very quickly in the book of Matthew, look in Matthew in chapter 3, Matthew chapter 3, and there’s a little portion of Scripture there that kind of gives us an idea about something the devil wants to counterfeit. So in your notes there, Satan has a counterfeit Trinity.

That first word is Trinity. And though you don’t see the word Trinity in the Bible, there is a Trinity in the Scriptures. So look there in Matthew chapter 3 and verse 16. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straight away out of the water. Now why was Jesus baptized? it is a picture of his death, barrel, and resurrection of what was going to take place. When we are water baptized, it’s a picture of our death, barrel, and resurrection, because we believe what he did, but this is because of what we are doing, because it’s a picture of our own death, barrel, and resurrection.

We believe that what he did was put our account. So he says here, “…and lo the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lightening upon him. And lo a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. There you have the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. All three are equally God. Now take your Bible and look there in Matthew 28, Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew chapter 28, The Bible makes this statement in verse 18 says, And Jesus came and speak unto them saying all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go you therefore and teach all nation baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. All three. only one God revealed in three persons. And so the Bible teaches that. But whenever it comes to the devil, he wants to always counterfeit. So what does he do?

He does the same thing. I just want you to look at this over there very quickly in Revelation in chapter 16. Revelation chapter 16. When you know what he does and how God reveals him, it can help you to be a little bit more aware of how he’s going to work on you. In Revelation chapter 16, look what he says in verse 13. Now even though this is going to take place in the tribulation period, just notice this, the antichrist that’s going to come into the world for the last world government, that tribulation period right ahead of us, and claim that He is God.

We’ll notice that from this verse 13. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon. That’s the devil. Out of the mouth of the beast, that’s the antichrist. And out of the mouth of the false prophet. So you have the Trinity. It’s kind of like the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. And the false prophet gets people to worship the beast who claims that he will be God. And he gets his power from the devil.

And we’ve covered much of this stuff in our classes in Daniel in Revelation. But he works upon the same principle. He copycats the truth. But he is a liar. He is a liar. The Bible says in John chapter 8 when Christ was speaking, he says, ye are of your Father the devil. He’s a liar, a murderer. And this is who he is. It’s what he is. He is the liar. He is the lie. Jesus says in John chapter 17, sanctified them through thy word.

Thy word is truth. Then he also makes a statement in John chapter 14. In verse 6, I am the way the the truth and the life. Jesus is always about the truth. He won’t lie to you. He doesn’t deceive you. He doesn’t manipulate you. Now the devil works from a different point of view and does everything possible to deceive, to lie, to rob you of that which God wanted. Everybody wants to be happy, feel with joy and peace and all those things.

Well, the devil offers you a false peace and a false hope and a false joy. His always leads to destruction. The Lord’s always leads to that which is honoring to God. And it’s a lot of difference. Look in Revelation chapter 2 and verse 9. He counterfeits the synagogue. You see, in those days they had a lot of synagogues. The Jewish people had been scattered. There were synagogues everywhere. And so whenever the apostles went, they would go to the synagogue.

You’ll find this especially in the book of Acts where they went to the synagogues and he would preach. But there’s also something else that’s mentioned here. In Revelation chapter two and verse nine, I know thy works, intribulation and poverty, but thou art rich. And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. In other words, Satan copies, he counterfeits. And sometimes even today when you go to the bank or you go buy gas, they know that at the restaurant, you give them cash and then they check that thing and see if it’s real or not.

They either mark on it, run it through something, try to, because they say there’s people who counterfeit money and they pass it off and try to see what they can get away with. But down. Number three is the word worship. He counter fits worship. Look there in the book of John in chapter 4, the gospel of John, in chapter 4, when Jesus was talking to the woman at the well. The woman though knew a little bit and so the Bible tells us that Jesus made the statement to her.

He says in verse 22 of chapter 4, ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship. You don’t know what you worship. If you don’t worship the truth, you must worship the lie, but they don’t know if they have a real God. They have the moon God, the sun God, they’ve got alligator God, crocodile God, the volcano God, they got all kinds of gods out there. And they’ve got millions of gods. In Hindu, I mean it’s just incredible.

But whenever you stop and think about it, there’s only one true and living God. If it’s not the God of the Bible, their God is false. They have been lied to and deceived. Though they worship, they can pay homage, they can do all of that stuff, but it’s all in vain. Even the Lord says in His Word in Mark chapter 7, He says, they worship me in vain. With their lips they say something, He says, but with their heart it’s far from me.

And they cancel out the Word of God because they deny what God says and they have their own tradition, by their own traditions. And they hang on to that and they say, well, God said, and God says, I didn’t say that. So they lie, they deceive. But there’s a lot of people who worship and they go to church every Sunday, even the churches, a worshiping, not God. Because if they’ve never really trusted Christ or their Savior, they’re worshiping in vain.

You have to know who He is. And you can only know the true and live in God through His Son, Jesus Christ. You don’t go through Christ. You can’t know God. You may know there is a God about God, but you don’t know God unless you go through Christ. Christ is the revelation of God. This is how you have to come to know the Lord. I know the Lord through his Son, Jesus Christ. You reject the Son, you don’t know God.

So that’s why it’s so important. Now, number four, his own counterfeit angels. Are there angels in this world? You can’t see them, I can’t see them, but God created angels. And if I let them in, they have a will, and they can choose. Isn’t it a shame that so many of them have been led astray by one of the most powerful angels there were and lifted himself up against God? Wanted to be like the Most High and took probably a third of the angels and led him into destruction.

Now there’s no salvation for angels. The Bible says two-thirds of the angels are the good angels. I believe that I have a guardian angel. I believe every one of us have guardian angels. Some of us may have more than one. I often thought, when I’m driving, I’ve got about a half, five or six, you know, but you know for me. I’ve had even some angels that put in for transfers because it scared them to bad. But everybody has guardian angels.

And the Bible talks to them. about this. But there’s angels that are wicked. Satan uses angels. The fallen angels that rebelled against God, they’re called demons, some are in prison, but many are not. And they are used. And because they can be everywhere, all these angels, it’s almost like thinking that the devil must be, I’m not present, but he’s not. He’s just in one place, he’s just one spirit, but he has demons all over the world. How do you know that’s true?

Because Jesus says so. I just want you to see this real quick. Look there in the book of Luke chapter 8. The gospel of Luke chapter 8, just a few pages till you’re left. In Luke chapter 8, the tribe of Gad is settled in this certain area by Galilee in the north part. So in verse 26 of Luke chapter They arrived at the country of the Gatoranes, which is over against Galilee. When he went forth to land, they’re amid him of the city a certain man which had devils, long time, and were no clothes, neither bowed in any house but in the tombs.

When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. Now he knows they’re going to be tormented, but they do not want to go there yet, but they know it’s coming. But he says, we are a legion. There’s so many of us. And so he says here in verse 6, for he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.

For oft times it had caught him, and he was kept bound with change and infetters, and he He broke the bands and was driven of the devil into the wilderness, driven of the devil. You’ll either be led by the Lord, or you’re going to be driven by the devil. In your life, you can either serve God and follow Him, or the devil is going to drive you, and you’ll think you’re in charge. And how many times we can be deceived?

The Bible says in the book of Revelation, chapter 12, he have to seed the whole world. Don’t feel like he’s only got me. He deceives the whole world. But most people cannot detect. Until you know what truth is, you cannot discern error. This is why it’s so important. So he says in verse 30, and Jesus asked him, saying what is thy name? And he says, Legion, because many devils were entered into him. So there’s story after story about Jesus casting devils out of individuals, some that were a dumb spirit and there’s a reason why they were like that.

So there’s things that happens. They possess people’s bodies. Now you cannot possess a believer’s body, but we can be oppressed but not demon possessed. And that’s for another sermon at another time. So Satan has his own angels that he uses. God has his angels that he uses. When you read in Daniel in chapter 9 you’ll study about how that there is a warfare that’s a spiritual warfare that you cannot see that goes on behind the scenes. In the book of Revelation talks about certain angels that have our prayers and a sense of taken it up to the throne, the throne of God, ministered behind the scenes.

So with our natural eyes that we don’t see that other world that’s been lived the same time. But we can see the human perspective, but John was caught up and caught the divine perspective. So he could see what was going on behind the scene and he saw angels running hither and there and saw them doing all these things behind the scenes. But you and I can’t see that. It doesn’t mean it’s not real just because we can’t see it.

But the Bible tells us that the devil is real, demons are real, and they are at work leading people astray, lion and deceiving. See? We said this before, the only reason of that you can catch a mouse with cheese is because there’s something inside the mouse that likes cheese. And if you put some of that cheese on a rat trap and that little mouse eats that cheese, it got him, and you can catch him. You see, there’s something on the inside of every one of us that loves sin, or he couldn’t use sin to get us.

So we have the sinful nature already within us. All he has to do is stir up those desires that we have to go into the world and feast on the things of the world. And you’d be surprised when you let the flesh, desires, control your life, Satan has all the bait out there to get you with, and he’s going to lure you. And he can try to trap you with money and fame and popularity and you name it and girls, sex, drugs, you name, I don’t care what it is.

There’s something he has for everybody. And so by all means, now I want you to see that look over in 1 Corinthians in chapter 9. First Corinthians chapter 9. First Corinthians in chapter 9. Here we have where the apostle Paul says, I do what I do so that I might buy all means that I might get some people to trust the Lord because that is so important. Look in verse 22. To the week became my is weak that I might gain the weak.

I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some.” In other words Paul was willing to go anywhere, talk to anybody in order that he might win. More people to the Lord. So he talks about this all means. Now look there in 2 Corinthians in chapter 11, 2 Corinthians in chapter 11, 2 Corinthians 11, St. Corinthians chapter 11, and notice what we have here. There is the verses that’s talking to us about the things that we should be very concerned about.

We know the Lord loves us and wants to guide us, and He will never guide you to do something that’s wrong or contrary to his word. So you know that has to be from the devil. So as you go through and you study these things it will help you to understand what God says how the devil is going to do it. So look what it this year very quickly. See there in verse 3 of 2 Corinthians chapter 11, but I fear less by any means as the serpent begowed Eve through his subtlety so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

The devil by any means. So he knows every one of us. He knows what we like and don’t like. He knows how he has trapped people for 6,000 years. He’s a lot smarter than you are. There’s no salvation for Him. He’s really messed up bad. His only way to get back at God is to hurt God by deceiving those whom God loves. So He is going to be after you and after me to get us and and use us to hate God.

You see, we are tools. God wants to bless us and use us and He tells us the truth and the devil is always telling us the lies. Look at the next statement. The next one is number five, his own counterfeit sacrifices. Now this is a tremendous verse, so look there in 1 Corinthians in chapter 10, 1 Corinthians and chapter 10. There’s really two things here. One is sacrifice and then verse number 6 is fellowship. So look what he says here in verse 20 of chapter 10.

But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils or demons and not to God. There’s a lot of people that believe they’re giving money. And they give money as a sacrifice, their living sacrifice, they work, they go and they get involved in the doing, and they’re worshiping devils. They’re giving it because of the message that is being preached. And they don’t use the clarity of the gospel to discern what is right and what is wrong.

The Bible talks about the fellowship of the gospel. If we don’t agree on the gospel, it’s very difficult to have fellowship in these other areas. And that’s why when you notice here in verse 20 talks about sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons. Then he says, and I would not that you should have fellowship with demons. So whenever you believe wrong, you’re gonna worship wrong. You’re going to sacrifice wrong and yet you can go to church and you’re doing the same thing if it’s not really what God’s word says.

And the preacher’s not really preaching, thus saith the Lord. And this is why every child of God should know the word of God so you can decide whether or not. Is that preacher telling the truth by what the word of God says? God wants his children to know the truth. When he says these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. God, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. These things have I written unto you that believe.

So if you believe, these things are written to those that believe. Do you think God wants His children, those who believe to know these things? These things have I written unto you that believe. So if you’re a believer, it’s written for you. This is God’s love letter to His children. So God wants us to know these things, to study these things, and they will help us, and it will be a blessing. Now, while you’re here, take your Bible turn there to the book of 2 Corinthians in chapter 11 again.

But this time we’re going to look at a different word. And that is number 7, his own counterfeit, I should say the, I want to look at the one in number 8, his own counterfeit gospel. Go to right here in Corinthians. 2 Corinthians in chapter 11, look there in verse 13, verse 13, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers. And you see, this is important because when he makes the statement there, deceitful workers transform him themselves. They do this to themselves.

It’s not a work that’s being done by God, but by the devil, and deceiving them and they’re transforming them lives as though they are the ministers of God but they’re not ministers of God they’re ministers of the devil and so he says now how do you transform the gospel into something else because it talking about changing the God how do you change the gospel the gospel is you’re saved by grace. How can you change a grace message? Add one work to it.

If you add works to the gospel and it’s the only way you can change the gospel of grace is to add works to it. And God calls that a perverted gospel. It’s not another gospel of the same kind or another one of the different kind. There is no other gospel and therefore they are producing one of their own and a false gospel will have a cursed message. A cursed message means people are not going to be saved by it and this is why it’s so important.

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 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 it that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.