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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 Bibleignmenistries.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 Corinthians in chapter 11. 1 Corinthians in chapter 11. I covered this verse last week, but I didn’t comment on it and I want to do so today. More in detail. Because last week we spoke a little bit on the subject of go and send no more. And this week we’re talking about examining yourself, the key to self-examination. When you learn how to examine yourself, you don’t have to have somebody else do it.

That’s one of the things about trying to raise teenagers into adults so they can make adult decisions and not act like kids. So they can be wise, growing up, maturing. So they can learn how to discipline themselves. Do you like having to discipline adults? Isn’t it supposed to be adults supposed to be able to correct themselves? Don’t you despise when somebody tries to correct you? Well, that’s what I’m talking about. So the Lord puts it down into his word here in 1 Corinthians in chapter 11.

And once you look there in verse 28, verse 28, let a man examine his neighbor. Maybe I misread that. Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup, examine himself. So if you’re going to examine yourself, you need to have some knowledge of what to look for. You need to know how to discern between right and wrong. The will of God and the will of man. So I want to give you a couple of things to think about on how to examine yourself, spiritual examination, to see where you’re lacking, so how you can correct and improve.

And I know you’re going to appreciate that because you always want to do better, right? As a Christian, you want to grow and mature in the Lord. Of course you do. So take your Bible and turn to the book of John, John in chapter 3. What I’m talking about is something that’s personal. You You see, when you say examine yourself, that’s personal. We’re not talking about you examining anyone else. We’re not talking about you setting in judgment upon anybody else’s sins or whatever.

That’s off the table today. We’re talking about you, just you. You judging you. You correcting you. You examining you for your own peace of mind. And you’ll see what I’m saying. Here in the book of John chapter 3, and you’ll notice there in verse 16, even though it is a verse to the whole world, yet out of the whole world, it has to be boiled down to the individual, because the world cannot believe for the individual, and the individual cannot believe for the world.

It’s a personal thing, right? But God so loved the world, that’s true, And He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that, who’s so ever, who’s so ever, that’s anybody in the world. But nobody can do this for you. It’s a personal thing. Do you know that you have eternal life? Just because somebody else knows they have eternal life doesn’t mean you know you have eternal life. You have to be settled on it. Do you know you have eternal life?

Do you know for certain that when you die you’re going to heaven? you see, nobody can answer that. Not another person can answer that for you. You’re the only one that can state emphatically that either you believe it or you don’t believe it. You have to make that decision. Do you believe on Jesus Christ? Now look what he says in verse 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

It is your choice. It’s a personal thing. Christian because your parents were Christians. You’re not a Christian because you go to church. I mean just because you walk into a garage doesn’t make you an automobile and you can go into a cake factory and that doesn’t make you a cake or walking into a church make you a Christian. You’ve got to be born into God’s family and it is a personal thing. Your husband can’t get saved for for you and the husband can’t get safe for the wife.

You can’t get safe for other kids in the family. It’s a personal thing, everybody. So God has it in his word, how you can know that you have eternal life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, you may know you have eternal life, but nobody can know you have eternal life but you, because nobody else knows whether you believe it or not, unless you tell them, but you could be lying.

But there’s a God in heaven that knows whether, Do you believe it? And you know whether you believe it. Do you really believe that Jesus Christ died on that cross and paid for your sins? Nobody else can give you that assurance. They may show you the book. You’re the one that has to decide, I believe that. I believe that. I’ve had people say, well, I know I’m saying, how you know? Well, Yankee said so.

Not good enough. How do you know you’re saved? Hank says I am. Oh, that’ll carry more weight than Yankee. Pray not. You can’t know you’re saved unless you know you’re saved because you took God at His word and you believed Him. So look in verse 36, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, he that believeth not, it’s an individual thing. He, he, he, it’s a one person deal. Now he’ll save anybody that believes it, but you can’t get saved for anybody else.

You must trust Christ as your Savior. You can have all the intentions of the world. And one of these days I’m going to, but if you never do, you’ll die and be separated from God for all eternity. Look in John chapter six. John chapter six verse 47 says, very, very truthfully, truthfully, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, hath, present in hath right now. If I believe on Christ right now, he doesn’t give it to my family, he gives it to me.

If I believe it, he gives it to the one that believes. You’re the one that knows whether you believe it or not. Your security ought to come because not because of the church, not because of the preacher, not because of who told you, but because you took God at His word and you believe that. That is so important. Now look in John chapter five and verse 24. That very day, that very moment you trusted Jesus Christ as your savior.

Yes, you were given eternal life. See there in verse 24? Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believe it. You have to hear it in order to trust Him. And believe it on Him that sent me half. Present tense, right now, half everlasting life, and shall not, in the future, shall not come into condemnation. Never be condemned again. And the reason is this, because He says right there, but is past from death unto life, past from death unto life.

Now death is you were separated from God. is you now are with the Lord. So we always make the statement so that people understand it when we do the Wall of Illustration that this represent you and me and this represents sin and we all have sin on us. This represents Jesus Christ. He’s perfect God has no sin. Our sin separates us. Over here we are lost. We are in sin. We are dead, separated from God. We are in darkness.

We don’t know. We can’t find our way. We’re lost. So God says, you have passed from death, be separated from God, to life with God forever. So you’re passed from the flesh to the spirit, from the first birth to the second birth, the very moment you trusted Christ as Savior. The reason you cannot come to condemnation because you’ve always passed from death to life, from flesh to the Spirit, from the first birth to the second birth, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of life.

And if you understand that, you’ll learn how to discern and examine your life. Because if you don’t, you cannot figure it out. You will not be able to decide where you are in the Christian life. And with that, I want to help you to understand this. Now, turning your Bible to the book of Colossians in chapter 1. The book of Colossians and chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. Look what he says here in verse 12. Verse 12. giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us fit, prepared, meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

Now that’s important because you see in verse 13 who had delivered, that’s passed it, hath delivered us from the power of darkness. Already done, It’s a done deal. The day you trusted Christ as your Savior, you that very moment passed from death unto life. You were lost, separated, and the moment you trusted Christ as your Savior, whenever that was, you were passed from death unto life. You now are considered, you are a child of eternal life. You’re a child of light born by the Spirit of God.

you have a spiritual birth. Now notice what he says here. In verse 13, who have delivered us from the power of what? Darkness and hat translated us. In God’s eyes, this translation into his kingdom has already taken place. And he has, as he says right here, have translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. So now as a child of God, I’m a child of the king. I am in his kingdom, the kingdom of God. He says, you cannot see the kingdom of God, enter the kingdom of God unless you’re born again.

So the kingdom of God must be for believers or the children of light, and this is why he’s talking about this difference. Now look there at the next verse. This is what made it possible. In whom Christ, his dear son, we have, have, I have it, redemption. I have been redeemed. I already have been redeemed through His blood because the payment He made to redeem me is a done deal. Then He says, even the forgiveness of sins. If you want to know what does it mean to be redeemed?

It means to have your sins forgiven. See, the meaning is given right here. In whom we have redemption through his blood, meaning the forgiveness of sins. So all my sins I was over here. I was in the kingdom of darkness. I was lost, undone, couldn’t save myself. And I trusted Christ as my Savior. And that very moment I passed from death under life. I received a new birth. I am now a child of God. And this is how God sees me.

Now, when you look at me, I look the same as I’ve always looked. But my soul has been saved. I have been given a new name. I’m in a new family. All things are new. This is unreal. This ought to blow your mind. So this is where God sees you down. You were in the flesh. Now you’re in the spirit. Does it mean you’re spiritually minded? Does it mean you walk according to the spirit? It’s your position that you have in Christ, and that’s what makes it so important.

Now, turn your Bible to the book of 1 John. 1 John, and you’ll notice in chapter 1, 1 John 1. How do you discern now your walk? All right, look up here just a second. The Bible tells us we now have a choice, but be not deceived. What’s whoever man so that shall he also reap. If I, as a child of God, walk in the flesh, I’m walking in darkness. But if I walk in the Spirit, I walk in light.

In Him, there is no darkness. There is no sin. In the flesh, I have a sinful nature. My new birth doesn’t have one. But I’m an individual that can walk in either one and this is the most difficult thing sometimes to discern is whether or not am I really right with the Lord? Am I where God wants me to be? Do I have a spiritual mind? And yet, at the same time, you have all these questions and doubts about who you are and what you’re doing and where you’re going and how you’re living.

And so you don’t know sometimes about what kind of standards do you have for yourself. What do you have in your life that you use to protect yourself? You don’t want other people always trying to put you under rules and regulations and be a law keeper and put you back in the living. So, are you decide for yourself? What’s right and wrong? Can you discern? Can you do right because it’s right to do? Or must somebody have to always get on your case?

And you don’t want it, but if you don’t walk right, it is the responsibility of those that are spiritual-minded to help the brother who falls. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 1. supposed to help those who walk in the flesh. So we’re trying to discern. Now notice here in 1 John, 1 John chapter 1. And you’ll notice there in verse 4, these things right way unto you that your joy may be full. So we’re talking to believers and not so much as your joy is dependent upon somebody else’s walk, as As it’s dependent upon your walk, we’re talking about self-examination.

You decide Him. See many people take the book of 1 John and they see a lot of verses in there that seems to talk about, you know, judging and comparing and looks like your proof of salvation. And so they totally misunderstand. It’s a personal thing where you discern for yourself you decide in whether have you trusted Christ to say you’re now we’re talking about a different issue we’re talking about now as a child of God are you walking in the light or are you walking in darkness are you walking in the Spirit or are you walking in the flesh you walking after the new man or you walking after the old man which one is it?

Can you discern your life? Do you know where you are? And so the book of 1 John is for you to have the joy of the Lord. And the joy of the Lord is the fruit of the Spirit. And that means walking in the light. So there are times when you think that I am walking in the light and God says, that’s not true. you. You are not where you think you are. When you read in the book of Revelation chapter 3 and verses 14 down through there when he’s talking about the church at Laodicea, when they said we are rich and increased with good, have need of nothing, and the Lord says you’re poor, you’re wretched, you’re blind, and God’s them will have to chase them yet.

See they didn’t see themselves the way they really were. Because is it possible that the devil that can blind the lost can deceive the saved? Is it possible? If you’re deceived it means you don’t know you’re deceived. Right? So you could be deceived but you don’t know it. So that’s why you read and study the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit will bring things to you remembered. This is why some people have a hard time being faithful coming the church, why?

Because they have more light. More light. They see more dirt. And they don’t want to mess with that dirt. Some people love dirt. You know, you can take a pig that loves the mud. You can take them out of the mud hole. You can take them in your house and put them in your bathtub. You can hose them down and clean them all up. And you can curl his tail. You can spray them with our piggy. But if you let that pig loose, where’s it going to go?

Right back to the mud. You have an old sinful nature and it’s just natural to be rebellious. You have a natural pull toward the things that are wrong. And that’s why you constantly need church. You need the word. You need the Christian fellowship. You need somebody who cares about you to help you and sometimes they may point something out because they care about you and they love you. Now you can rebel against that and get mad at them or you can take all criticism as constructive criticism or you may take it as destructive and I’ll get you back and you attack.

Sometimes you attack the person who loves you the most. Have you ever tried to correct your children? And they don’t see it as, you don’t love me. You never let me do what I want to do. And so you’ve got that little word that goes on. Now notice what he says here. Look down there in verse six. If we say, now see, you can say anything you want, doesn’t make it true. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in what?

Darkness, what do we do? We lie and we’re not telling the truth. The day you trust the Lord. You have passed from death under life. So God wants you now to walk in newness of life. And you say, well, we’re walking in the Lord. And God says, no, you’re not. This is where you are. And you can’t see it sometimes. You’re deceived. And you excuse yourself. And you think, well, it’s not that bad. All right, let’s fall. Look what he said in verse seven.

If we walk in the what light as He is in the light, We have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son continually keeps us clean. So you see, here you are and you know that in Christ there is no sinful nature. In him there is no sin. He is the light. So when you talk about walking in the light, means walking with the Lord, that’s your fellowship. There’s two fellows in a ship going in the same direction.

So you’re with the Lord. Then notice what he says in verse 8. If we say we have no sin or like a parent, if we say we have no sinful nature, we don’t have no sin. Well, what does he say? We do what? You deceive yourself. There’s people saying, well, I’ve never sinned in 40 years. line your down and they’re lying. You have an old sinful nature and you will always have this sinful desires within you. And you have those sinful desires even most times when you’re not even aware and you’ll think things and you don’t always perfectly discern and split the two.

So God gives us a few things to look at. So when He makes the statement here in verse 6, if we confess our sin that means when you’re walking in the flesh, in the darkness, then admit it to God. Say, Lord, I’m walking in the flesh. I’m fulfilling the lust of the flesh. And that breaks God’s heart. So that’s not where God wants you to walk. And I’ll show you a verse in a minute that talks about He was manifested to take away our sins.

Look in chapter 1 and verse 10. If we say we have not sinned, we do what? We make him a liar. So you can’t say you don’t have a sinful nature. And you can’t say that, well, I don’t sin. Yes, you do. As long as you have this whole sinful nature, you’re gonna sin. Now, when will we get rid of this whole sinful nature? When you die, or when God changes this body, and we’re caught up to meet the Lord in the ear.

Look in chapter two, my little children, these things right, I unto you that you sin not, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ, the right, which one does God want you to walk in? The spirit of the flesh. Spirit, light, over here, flesh, darkness. So this is why he writes this so that you can have your fellowship with the Lord and have the joy God wants you to have. Because sin ruins your joy between you and the Lord.

Sin will just rip it right out of you. You won’t have the joy, the peace, the love, the happiness. You won’t have it. You can’t have it. You’d be surprised how much torment God’s children bring upon themselves. They do it to themselves. Hold your place right there. I’ll be your friend by the way. Look there in chapter four. Chapter four and look in verse 17. Herein is our love made what? So we’re talking about as a Christian you growing in love and Understanding what love is most people they really know what love is He also says this That we may have bonus in the day of judgment because as he is so are we in the world there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts us out fear because fear hath what?

Torment. Christians torment themselves because of fear. And you fear because you know something’s not right between you and God and you’re afraid. It will drive you nuts. So God doesn’t want you to have fear that brings poor men. He wants you to have joy. Now, I hope you can see that. Now, look back there in verse John chapter two. Look what He says here in verse. Let’s just look there in verse four. He that saith. Now, you’ll notice He said, He that saith, He that saith.

So you can say anything you want. That doesn’t make it true. And this is what they’re doing. So, He said, just because you say, you’re not. say something doesn’t make it true. He that sayeth, I know him, or that word there means I love him and keep if not his commandments is a what. You know he’s talking to believers here. He’s not talking to lost people. This is to the believer. And in verse 5, but who so keep646 this word, O base’s word, in him barely is the love of God perfected.

See God is trying to perfect this love that He has in you. God wants to love others through you and you may be hindering that. This is why, in regards to what people do to you, God wants you to love them. That hurt. I’m not going to send them to your moon. Well, in love. So you’re supposed to turn the cheek, but he doesn’t say what to do after that. Anyway, I want to move right along. Now look what he says in verse 6, he that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walk.

Look up here, light, darkness, spirit, flesh, good, bad. So as he says here, he that saith And he abides, where does God want me to abide over here? So this is why he makes a statement in chapter 2, verse 28, my little children abide where in him that we may have come and not be ashamed because if I walk in the flesh and he comes, I’m going to be ashamed. I don’t want to subscale. So then I got to walk over here.

So there is a difference when you’re walking in obedience or you walk in disobedience. So the Christian learns how to discern for himself. Where are you? And so going down through here, he goes to all of these things. But look there in verse 10. He says, he that loveth his brother abideth in the light. Look up here. Love, divine love comes from the flesh or the spirit. Spirit. He that loveth his brother abided in the lighter darkness. What? So you can tell.

When you hate your brother, now I’m just not talking about it. I got a brother. You say, well, I don’t have a brother. I ain’t got a word about that. It’s talking about your brother in the Lord. And if you don’t do right by each other and that hate and that envy and bitterness and jealousy and malice and all that, is that a work of the spirit or a work of the flesh? I know this is hard to understand.

That’s the flesh. You may say, well, I love the Lord, but you live like the devil. And God says, you’re lying. You don’t love me. You see, you’re not going to heaven because you love the Lord. You’re going to heaven because He loved you. You got your new birth because He loved you. He paid for all of your sins because He loved you. He gave you eternal life because He loved you. Had nothing to do with you loving Him.

But now, once you have this new birth and the Holy Spirit entwilling you, God wants you to love Him. 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 Manual. A 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.