Bibleline Radio Show – 2016-12-27 – The Crib, The Cross and The Crown Pt.2
Transcription:
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. and reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleEye Ministries AMERG 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.
So you have a burden, a purpose that God has given to you and I for living our life. So we’re supposed to take up our cross daily and follow Him. Now that’s not to be saved, because we are saved, we’re God’s children. So we’re supposed to do this thing. And so take your Bible look there in first Peter chapter one. First Peter in chapter one. First Peter chapter one kind of gives us a little bit of an idea of something that people in the world lost people lost people, and even Christians can live their whole lives for something that’s going to be corruptible.
But look what he says here, 1 Peter chapter 1, and notice what he says here in verse 15, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be holy in all your manner of life, your manner of behavior because it is written, be holy for I am holy. And if you call on the Father who without respect a person, judge at the court of the day, every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourn in fear. So you’re supposed to live your life, I believe, in fear of missing the will of God for your life, missing the fulfillment of the purpose God has given to you to live.
So we didn’t ask to be born in this world, but lo and behold, we were born. And we had responsibilities. And as a lost man, you still got to work. You still got to eat. You got to sleep. You got to have clothes. You got to have a place to live. All these are things. And all of this here, burden that we have mainly is because somebody’s sin back here in the garden and God says, a man’s going to have to work by the sweat of his face.
And he’s got to work. There’s all kind of things that God says. The woman’s going to have children suffering, pain. I guess before they could have had all the kids they want and they wouldn’t have suffered. But because of sin, childbirth is a lot of pain, suffering for people. But that’s because, you know, we have a burden to bear. And it seems like if it had not been for God given us work to do, we would truly be of all men, most miserable.
So this burden that God gave to us, the toil of having a work for a living is truly a blessing of God. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have something to do. I love staying busy, living for something. One thing after the other, something to do, it’s a blessing in life. But He makes a statement down here in verse 18, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold.
Now I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t know that silver and gold was that corruptible. I bet it would last my lifetime. So if you have any of that old corruptible junk and you don’t want to have it anymore, you just come and see me and I’ll take it off your hands. But we know that one day everything in this world, the silver and the gold is all going to pass away. And to think, Some people live their whole lives for these earthly valuables that are going to simply pass away.
A burden that they work and labor for, and then when it’s all over, they have nothing to show for it because you lose it all. When a man dies, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a, you all behind a Hirst, because he’s not taking it with him. You know, there’s one man he died. He’s going to die and he told his wife, he says, honey, when I die, I want you to take that $200,000 we got in cash and I want you to put it in the casket with me.
He says, we get promised. He says, I sure will, hun. So when he died, she wrote out a check for $200,000 and she put it in the casket. And if he can cash it, God bless him. That woman wasn’t stupid. Told an other one, says, honey, whenever I died, take all my money and put it up there in the attic. She says, why? She says, so whenever I leave, I can pick it up on my way. He died. She went up there and looked, and it was still there.
She said, I know I should have put it in the basement. But now, get this up. But silver and gold, these precious things that you may live your life for is a corruptible life. And to think that some people, you’re born in corruption, you live in corruption, and you die in corruption. And to be banished from God for all eternity. But when we talk about Jesus Christ, we’re talking about something a little bit different. You see with the Lord, His birth was incorruptible.
His life was incorruptible. Isn’t he going to get an incorruptible crown? Now take your Bible and look there in the book of Philippians in chapter 2. Philippians in chapter 2, Philippians chapter 2, you’ll notice there in verse 5, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who been in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant.
This is when he became a man, made in the likeness of man. This is a little sermon that I preached a long time ago called the crib, the cross, and the crown. It’s a simple little outline, but the crib the cross and the crown. But I believe that represents a person’s life. You see you and I, we had a crib, we were born. We have a burden, we have a cross to bear. And one day when we lead this world, we’re going to stand at the judgment of Christ and God’s going to reward us, there’s going to be a crown for those who bore the cross.
But when Jesus Christ came into the world. The Bible says that He was made like of the man, born of a woman in the fullness of time, Galatians chapter 4, born of a woman, right on schedule. Now, I was talking in Sunday school class this morning. I says, now, if I was to give you a clue on how to meet me, you’ve never seen me before, but if I told you that I’m going to be downtown by the football stadium over here at 3 o’clock on Sunday afternoon.
There’s a football game on and I’ll meet you in the parking lot. Did I give them enough information to know how to recognize me? I don’t think so. But if I told them that I will be riding backwards on a mule. Plan a banjo and singing Yankee Doodle went to town. Is there a possibility I might be the only guy doing that? You just liable to recognize me, right? And with five pieces of information, you can find just about anybody in the whole world.
Maybe there’s seven billion people on planet Earth. But if you know the person’s name and you know the country, you know the town, you know the street, you know the number, you can send a piece of letter to anybody just about in the world. Now when Jesus Christ came into this world, there were over 300 and something prophecy is given and He had to fit every one of them. Now do you think that you, did you have the power to determine where you were born?
Did you choose your family? I did. No, I didn’t. We didn’t choose what family we were. Did you choose when you would be born? I mean here you are. Why after 6,000 years as far as we know? You were born. What are you doing here? Who made you? What makes you think you’re so special? Because you know who I am. If you’ve been created by God, you’re a creature of God, and you’re somebody’s important. You’re somebody special.
But you and I have been made by God at a particular time in history. history. And we did not choose who our families were. We didn’t choose whether or not we would be in a rich home or poor home. You didn’t even decide whether you were male or female. And there’s some people haven’t figured it out yet. They got their marbles or shooters missing them. But quite over here on this side. But now that you and I, anybody here ever play marbles?
Man, I tell you, playing marbles is so much fun. So, you know what the Bible says, know that that’s condemned in the Bible. It says, marble not. I don’t know whether you do this. But hearing Philippians look down again. I want you to see this in verse 8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross, he had a burden, a mission. He had a message from God about what God wanted him to do.
So Jesus Christ did that and he bore the cross that God had given to him. And then he says in verse 9, wherefore God hath also highly exalted him and given him a name, which is above every name. And this is the crown he has high, lifted up, exalted, bragged on, and every knee shall bow. Now whenever you study the four gospels, you’ll notice that Matthew and the book of Luke talk about the birth of Christ. Now Mark and the gospel of John doesn’t talk about the birth of Christ.
You see Christ coming as the king, that was important to have the genealogy in there, his birth, the show that he had the right to be the king of Israel. That’s why it starts off. Where is he that is born king of Israel? So Jesus was born and there’s a genealogy through Joseph. And then we go to the book of Luke. You have the genealogy through Mary showing that he is of the Son of Man. It goes all the way back to Adam because our redeemer has to be a man, but he has to be a perfect man.
And so in the book of Luke in chapter 1, when he starts off, he starts off in righteous letter to a man by the name of theophilus and tells him there’s many that were here and saw and heard and seen and are writing. He says, but let me set before you in order the story. And as the Holy Spirit guided him, he began to explain the birth of Christ and he is a medical doctor. But he goes to and explains things that the other ones don’t.
Now it’s not in the book of Mark because you see Mark is a servant and a servant doesn’t have a divine pedigree doesn’t need it. The gospel of John, well he doesn’t have to record about the word because God never had a beginning, never has an ending. It just starts off in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word he wasn’t born. But he tabernacle among us and it says in verse 14. So each book represents something different.
So, but therefore, when you studied about the birth of Christ and that night of miracles, what a glorious night of miracles. Christ coming into this world was a miracle. And remember, God made Adam without a woman without a man. He made a woman with a man but not a woman, made Eve. And then you have Jesus been made by a woman but not a man. It seemed like he can do just about anything he wants to do. You and I were not different.
We were all because of a man and a woman, who becoming one flesh. I am the result of two people, a man and a woman, not a man and a man, not a woman and a woman, but a woman and a man. I am just thankful that God gave me the chance to live life. I don’t know how all of us gonna end up yet, but I gotta lie, a little bit of an idea. I would rather do have lived than not to have lived.
Are you glad that you had a chance to live? Because he could have kept it where you never would have existed. But lo and behold, wouldn’t it be a shame to live your whole life? And it’d be said about you. Been better if you’d never been born. Been better if you’d never been born. I don’t want that to happen. The word you know, you’re born and then banished. from God for all eternity. One of the most important things for you and I to realize that we are going to be in the presence of God for all eternity and it will be worth it all.
But just like with Jesus Christ when he came into the world, and I just want to see this before we close it, look in the book of Luke in chapter 1, the Gospel of Luke in chapter 1. I’ve mentioned this before, about Jesus being born, he was truly a different kind of a child. You notice what he says here in verse 31 of chapter 1, “…and behold thou shalt conceive and thy womb and shall bring forth a son shall call his name Jesus.
He shall be great, shall be called the Son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto the throne of his Father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end, no end of this thing. You see Jesus was prophesied in Genesis chapter 3 and where he talks about the seed of the woman. First prophecy in the Bible, he was looked for and and expected to come, they just didn’t know when, but they knew that this Messiah, this Redeemer is going to come.
So he was not only expected at the time, later he was prophesied over and over again, all this about this child that was to be born and how that he would live in how he would die. So this was an expected baby, This was a very prepared for baby. Did you realize that God had to prepare the world for this exact time for Jesus to be here? In the fullness of time, not just haphazardly, just in the process of that, in the fullness of time when the time was right.
God had already said how long it’s going to be from the book of Daniel chapter, for nine or 27, tells us when the sun would be born, when he’s gonna die. All these things mentioned in the word of God. So it’s very important to realize the world stage was set. Some people say, you know, this is a bad time for a person to have a baby. I mean, this is terrible times. Well, what if you live back there when Moses was born?
Was that a bad time? I mean, was it a bad time when Jesus was born? I think it was pretty bad time when I was born. They just came out of the depression. That’s why my mom had to feed us nothing butManchester for years. It was too long before I started walking straight. I just joking. But he was a prophesied baby, a baby that was talked about and prophesied. And the thing about this baby, now I know when that little baby’s gonna be born downDenver, she’s gonna look at that little thing and she can all, it’s a pretty, oh precious little baby.
But one thing she can’t say, you’re perfect. She’ll want to and probably won’t even say that. But nobody’s little baby’s perfect except my little granddaughter. But none are like that. And to think that how much would this little baby Jesus, how much would He be worth? Here’s the whole world and all these people that are all going to be damned to hell for all eternity, If we could only have something that could pay our debt, how much is that little baby worth?
Have you ever seen that commercial priceless? Is that commercial priceless? No, this is priceless. That little baby Jesus is priceless. How could you put a price on him? What is he worth? Have you ever thought about how much you are worth? You are worth whatever somebody’s willing to pay for you. And you know what we often say? How much will I get for this old nag? I’m not talking about a woman, I’m talking about a real nag, a horse, a horse.
How much? This man says I’m not saying my wife’s a nag, but she has to go to the blacksmith shop to get her shoes. But anyway, you have a horse here. This horse. How much is it worth? they look at this teeth and so for like a dare and no $50. Well. And put on the same album, and we were surprised. I couldn’t hear that. Time. I was a kid. Time. Time. Time. Time. Time. Time. Time. Time. Time. Time.
Time. Time. Time. Time. Time. Time. Time. But I was a, had a big discount. Then anyway, you’re worth what somebody’s willing to pay. You must be very valuable to the Lord. You’ve got to be valuable. And so you’re worth something. Don’t think that you don’t amount to anything. Don’t belittle what God loves and he loves you. Don’t integrate yourself as though you’re worthless. No, you’re valuable in the eyes of the Lord. You will not have a bad self-image. If you see yourself the way God sees you.
Now your baby can be precious and your baby can be pretty. Now I can’t say how pretty Jesus was as a baby. I never saw him. But when he grew up, he didn’t look no different than anybody else. He just blended into the crowd. And the Bible says that there was no beauty about him that we would desire. So he might not have been a very handsome fellow at all. You don’t know what he looked like. I don’t know.
I’ve often wondered if Adam and Eve were so good looking, where did the ugly people come from? But then I got to thinking, well, maybe they were both created ugly and everybody got better and better. Ha ha ha. Have you ever looked into the mirror and say, you tiger, you don’t you ever die. Okay, get it on control. Dr. Hudson gave a little quote, it goes like this, unless thou to die no one horn, it shall remain forever in the state of untootedness.
So I know that sometimes you want to, when you read the 23rd Psalm, the Lord is my shepherd. That’s all I want. That’s all I need. But whenever you look at the 23rd Psalm and the Lord is my shepherd, it’s like I belong to Him. He’s my shepherd. I am His sheep. Why would He waste His time on me? Does the sheep Make the shepherd or does the shepherd make the sheep? Does he need me as much as I need him?
He’s the one that created us. Somewhere along the line, I think, maybe God needed you and I. He needed someone to love and He wants to be loved. And He has planted that desire into every one of us. We want to be loved and we want to love. This is one thing he says that show that we love the Lord, we tell people that God loves them because God loves people. And the best way we can tell people that God loves them is by the gospel that we preach to them.
You cannot, with the lost men, ever prove love any more than by giving them the gospel. There isn’t anything that is superior to the gospel message because that message is what tells that lost man who was born corrupted and lives corrupted and will die that way and be banished for all eternity. If somebody doesn’t accept the burden that God has placed upon us and share that burden with others. And then one day God said, I’m going to give you a crown.
I’m going to reward you for what you do. And it will be worth it all. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. No wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. Now God says He loves us. And that is good news. God loves me. God loves you. Now would He love something that wouldn’t be We were of 11.
He loves us. Now he hates what we do wrong. He hates our sin. And because we committed the sin, we have a debt. And we ought to pay for it, which is eternal separation, banishment from God, cast into a lake of fire for all eternity. But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven. And to go to heaven, you have to be perfect. It writes us as God. What does God want? He wants us in His presence for all eternity.
Now He must love us. an awful lot because he’s the only one that did something about it. None of us can help the other have eternal life. We can tell people about it, but we can’t save anybody. I’ve never saved anybody in my life. I’ve had people give testimony and said, I’m just so thankful Yankee saved me. Nobody saves anybody else. There’s only one savior, and that’s the Lord. We can point people to the Savior, But God says, you cannot save yourself.
You need a Savior. The only one is Jesus Christ. There’s born unto you this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. He was born. He is the Lord. He is the Savior. But he’s not your Savior until he saves you. Christ had no sin. He hates our sin because it separates us from Him. So Christ took the sin and paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead, said, if we would leave He did it for us, He’d give us as a free gift, everlasting life.
And we can know that we’re going to heaven whenever we die. Best news in all the world. Let’s pray, shall we? With yours bow nice clothes, and no one looking around, if you’re here tonight, or if you’re watching by internet, and if you never trusted the Lord, would you trust Him right now? You see, we’re all born in this world, all corrupted. We need a brand new hard drive. You see, God said that He would give us a free gift, eternal life, if we simply trust Him.
He’s the only one you can trust. He died on the cross, paid for all of your sins. And said, if you trust Him, you can know that you’re going to heaven whenever you die. Gives you a new birth. You become His child. Said, he never cast you out, never lose you. That’s how you can know that you’re going to heaven whenever you die. If you’ve never done so, would you do it right now? Will you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior?
We’ll just slip you in it very quickly, better write that down. If you’re watching by internet right there on the screen and says, yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior, but you haven’t, I pray that you will. Our Father, we thank you so much for all that you’ve done for us. And for the opportunity you’ve given us just to share some of these thoughts tonight. Bless each one here, help us to see ourselves the way you see us.
Something of value. You loved us. You made a big price payment for us, for all of our sins, because you want us to live with you for all eternity. And while we know that we were born, we’re now living one day we’re gonna die. And Father, we know that by faith in you, we have the free gift of everlasting life. So bless each one here in Christ and we pray, amen. 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 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.
Hot up can meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.
