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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 year. 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.

your Bible to the book of Mark, the book of Mark, chapter 12, Mark chapter 12. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to make this message as clear as I would like, but I’m going to try. So you do me a favor and don’t daydream or you might miss one key part of the whole message that might help illuminate your mind. I have often heard people say that when you trust the Lord, there ought to be evidence in your life.

You know, signs. A man by the name of Josh McDowell wrote a book called Evidence that Demands a Verdict. So there’s things in the Word of God that if God was to gather up the evidence from you? Would there be enough evidence to convict you of being a Christian? So is there evidence in the Christian life? And if there is no evidence of Christ living in your life that you trusted the Lord, you’re saved, does that mean you’re really not saved because there’s no evidence that you are?

You know, there’s a lot of people who examine themselves, and of and of course everybody else, to see if they’re a real Christian, you know if they’re really genuine. In other words, they have in their mind a mental test by which everybody must meet the standard that would verify your genuine. If you were to give yourself a test, would you put down, yes, I am a Christian because, and what would that list contain? Is there more than one thing on that list?

I mean, it’s because, well, I go to church and I know I’m a Christian, well, I read my Bible and I pray and I do all these good things. What is the evidence that you would look for if it’s true? I mean, if there should be evidence of a Christian, what would you be looking for? And here in the book of Mark in chapter 12, I want you to look in verse 28, says, and one of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he had answered them well, ask him, which is the first commandment of all?

And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is here, oh Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. In verse 31, and the second is like namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment given or greater than these. Now, if these are, well, the greatest commandments, these two great commandments, love God, love man, then there is no greater commandment than these two.

If they are commandments, well, who are they two? So somebody must obey the command, and if you are commanded, well, there must be results of disobeying the command. So what would be the evidence that you did obey the command? Isn’t that simple? You can follow me so far, can’t you? I nod you head like this when I go like this. Okay, it works. Now, the Bible says that we are commanded to love God. All right. Is there any evidence in your life that you love God?

What would that evidence be? I mean, even if somebody else was to observe you, what would they use to prove that you do love the Lord? Is there certain things that you would do? Now, when you take the Ten Commandments, you know the first four, a result to back to God, refer to him, and the last six of the Ten Commandments refers to man. So we’re to love God and it’s revealed by that obedience and we love man is right by this other obedience.

So there’s some do’s and don’ts. So out of these do’s and don’ts, what’s the conclusion? Well, let me tell you what it is so I can save you a lot of time. I want you to look over here at that tree. I was going to have James bring it over here, but he says it might fall over on me. So I thought we’ll just leave it over there. But over there’s a tree. Now that tree is you and me.

Now the Bible says this, now I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Matthew chapter 3. Matthew and chapter 3. And you’ll notice that there’s the ministry here beginning of John the And it says they’re in verse 7, because John the Baptist is out baptized and doing his thing and people are coming from everywhere to see what he’s doing. Verse 7 says, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees come to his baptism, he’s said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

So you and I are supposed to believe there is a wrath to come. And if there’s wrath coming, we’re supposed to flee from it. Now we know that there is going to be the wrath of God upon man and that we ought to flee from this wrath that is to come. So there’s commands that are given and there’s results for not obeying that command. So what would you use as the evidence that you prove to God that I don’t need to have the wrath of God upon me because I have the evidence that I obeyed that command.

So if you were to examine your life, what would it be? What would it tell? Do you have the assurance that you know you wouldn’t have to worry about the wrath to come, but in another verse. He makes a statement down here in verse 10. And now also the ax is laid into the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which brings up not forth good fruit is you down and cast into the fire. So over there is the tree.

You and I were born into this world and so we’re all trees. We came from a seed and they came from a seed all the way back to Adam and Eve and so everybody born into this world were like a tree. What God is looking for is the fruits of righteousness on the tree. Well, what is he looking for? He’s looking for evidence of your obedience. You obeyed. Now he’s looking at the tree. So he’s looking for something. Will he find it?

Now, I want you to notice here also in verse 11, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But he that comeeth after me is mightier than I, who shews, I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose spand is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into his garner and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. So there’s some that he’s going to put into a barn, because it’s good, and there’s others that are going to be burned.

So I’ve had people say, you know, you’ve got to get the baptism of fire. You could have it. I don’t want it. Because that’s where you’re talking about a place called hell. I have no desire to go there. So those that want it, you can have it. But the Bible says that he is going to lay the axe to the root of the tree and cut down the tree. And he’s going to cut down the tree because he’s looking for fruit on the tree.

Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Matthew chapter 7. Matthew and chapter 7. Now part of this I covered years ago, a couple years ago, but I’m going someplace else this one. And I got a laid off foundation so that you’ll be able to follow me. So in Matthew in chapter 7, he talks about a broad way and a narrow way. You see up there, and if you look at it very quickly in verse 13, enter ye in at the straight gate, or why it is the gate and broad is the way that lead to destruction.

Many there be which go in there at. This is in Matthew 7 and verse 13. So we know that there’s two ways that Wally Bolson to his God’s way, man’s way. And there’s only one God so it’s narrow. There’s a lot of people, and that’s why. So everybody has their way of getting into this place called heaven, or how to keep them going to hell. So a lot of people have a lot of beliefs and a lot of religions, but it doesn’t matter what anybody says.

It doesn’t matter about man-made religions. It boils down to what does God say. And then he says in verse 14, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which lead us unto life. And this is talking about. Turn a light, few, few, there be the find it. So as you look at the scriptures, it seems like there’ll be more people going to hell than going to heaven. And the reason is, is because there are so many false prophets and people are believing a false message because they’re listening to false teachers.

So you look there in verse 15, Beware of false prophets. Right, a false prophet has a false message. A false message leads people astray and it causes them to believe something they were not supposed to believe. That’s why they’re called false. They’re false messages and people believe them and multitudes do. How do you know you’re not one of them? You need to look for some evidence, evidence that what you believe is the truth. Otherwise, how do you know that you’re not one of those that’s going to be, you know, thrown into the flames of hell?

Notice what he says. He used an illustration in verse 16. He says, in verse 16, ye shall know them by their fruits. You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes, of thorns, or figs of thistle? No, they’re either grapes or they’re thistle. like some people like to talk about Christian science. You know, Christian science. It’s like great nuts flates. It’s not grapes and it’s not nuts. It’s not Christian. It’s not science. But there’s words that people use.

But there has no meaning. There’s clouds without rain. And he makes a statement. He says, you can know them by their fruit. Now we got a tree over there. God is looking for righteous fruit from the tree. He knows what he’s commanded. What is he going to get? So it makes the statement verse 7, even so every good tree, bring the fourth good fruit, but a corrupt tree, bring the fourth evil fruit. Or if we looked on you and I, if we are a tree, And God is going to look for some fruit on the tree.

He said, there’s two kinds of trees. One is a good tree, one is a bad tree. He said, a good tree doesn’t have bad fruit. And a bad tree doesn’t have good fruit. Oh, boy, this really narrows it down. So if God is looking at your tree, if he finds any one bad fruit on the tree, it’s a bad tree. What’s it to you? In verse 18, a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Is that clear? So that means if we look at that tree over there and that represents you and me and if we find one bad fruit on it, the whole tree is bad. So if you examine your life, have you and Can you find one bad fruit? Whether in thought, word or deed, that’s not right. That’s not perfect. What would the evidence say? The evidence is you are a bad tree. And what it means is when God gets through, He says, all have sinned and comes short of God’s perfection, all.

So everybody in the world is a sinner. It means we’ve all missed the mark. We’ve all harmatano. We have come short of God’s perfection. So this is what God is saying in His Word. And there’s people, false teachers, that tell all of us, all you have to do is brain force the right kind of fruit and you’ll get to go to heaven. Because God’s looking for this perfect fruit. And all you got to do is bring forth the right fruit and you get to go to heaven.

But no, if you have any bad fruit on the tree, you can’t go. So that eliminates the whole human race. And God says, man cannot save himself. Now hold your place right here, but turn in your Bible to the book of Isaiah 61, the book of Isaiah in chapter 61. And I say, in chapter 61, there’s a statement here mentioned about the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 1, Jesus Christ mentions this in the New Testament when he was talking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

He says in verse 1, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. So you have the Trinity right there in that verse. The Holy Spirit, Lord God, Father. upon me, Son. Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek, he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” And the last part of that he didn’t quote in a New Testament, but there’s a reason.

Now look down in verse 3, to a point unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes. And the oil of joy for mornings, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Now remember that all the trees are cut down, dust to dust, ashes to ashes. But God is able to miraculously bring beauty out of ashes. Look what else he says here, the last part of this verse, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified.

What he’s talking about is because of Jesus Christ coming into the world, he was born, took on flesh, never committed to sin, and when God examined him, he had no cause for him to die. So with all the people born in all the world, there’s only one that had no sin. That was Jesus Christ. So God says that he’s going to take the seed from this tree, Christ. And God said, he’s going to plant the seed. And he’s going to bring beauty out of ashes.

And it’s going to be a tree of righteousness. God has another tree. So lo and behold, that’s where you and I come in. You and I, when we realize from the scriptures that we’re all sinners, we can’t save ourselves, and there’s no good work that we can do that will be good enough to get us to heaven. And if you had to live good to go to heaven, then you’d have to wait until you’ve done it to see if you made it.

So you’d have to wait until you die. So how would anybody know now, where they’re going when they die, if you’re going to heaven because of your good works. You’d have to wait until you lived your whole life and then see whether or not at the end does my good outweigh my bad. See it’s not a matter of the good outweigh in the bad. God won’t have any bad at all. There’s our problem. So God says you cannot save yourself.

You need a Savior. So that’s why when you trust Christ as your Savior, when you believe He died, and paid for your sins, God gave to you as a free gift ever lasting life. Take your Bible look there in the book of Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 and 9. I want to show you two of my favorite verses in the Bible. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. And you’ll notice here in chapter 2, this is on page 1251. And you’ll notice in verse 8, 4 by grace are you saved.

Why would you have to be saved by grace because nobody can be saved by their works? There isn’t anyone good enough. So it doesn’t matter how good you are. You do not have any evidence that you’re perfect. All the evidence is contrary to you being perfect. If I was to ask you this question, have you ever done anything perfect? Are you perfect now? Do you perceive that in the future you will be perfect? No, because you have been a sinner, you are a sinner, and you will stay a sinner.

Unless God intervenes, and lo and behold, that’s where we are. So we have all the evidence that we need, that we’ve all come short of God’s perfection. So that’s why the acts is laid to the root of the tree, and we’re all going to be cut down. That’s why the wages of sin is death. Everyone’s going to die. Jesus Christ had the tree of righteousness, the fruit of righteousness, so He didn’t have to die. Well all the sins that we have done was put upon history.

He died in our place, but God took that seed that was planted and all those who believe in Him the payment He made is put to our account and we can have a new birth. We become a new plant born of God. Now here in Ephesians 2.89, for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. So you’re not saved by your works. You are not kept saved by your works.

So where does works come in? Well, after you trusted Christ as your Savior, it is the will of God that we do good works. See, look in verse 10. First 10. He says, for we are His workmanship. You know, they’re self-made man. God performed this work. He’s the one that saved you, gave you eternal life, made you His child. For we are His workmanship. Now get this, created in Christ Jesus. That means you have a new birth born of God.

And then the last part of it says unto good works. So does God want you to bring forth good works? Yes, He does. Does everybody bring forth good works? No, they don’t. Look at the last part of the verse, where he makes a statement half before ordained that we should walk it. In other words, it is the will of God that all of God’s children walk in good works. That’s the book. But it is also the will of God, excuse me, that everybody trusts the Lord.

God’s not willing that any should perish. God wants everybody to be saved. So because that’s what God wants, does everybody get saved? No. So do all of God’s children serve the Lord? No. Some of God’s children are obedient, some of God’s children are disobedient. But did you know our obedience to God is still boiled down to those still two great commandments? One is, do I still, do I love the Lord? And my love for the Lord is revealed by, do I love one another?

So should I love one another? Why yes, but am I loving anybody to get to heaven? No. For example, let’s take a man. A man has a wife. And let’s say we’re going to put him over here. Let’s take another man and another wife. Let’s put them over here. Now, this couple over here, they’re saved. This couple over here, well, they’re lost. They don’t know the Lord. Can the lost man still love his wife? You lost people or lost man?

Does he love his wife? I think so. If they have kids, then they have kids. Can the lost man, can he still love his kids? Over here we got a Christian. Can the saved man, will it be automatic? He will love his wife. If he has kids, will he automatic? He can be a believer and not love his wife. He can be a believer and not love his kids. You can have a lost man over here who loves his wife and not be saved.

And love his children and not be saved. So if you’re looking for evidence whether or not a man is saved or not. or not. If you look at the evidence, you might say, they’re lost and they’re saved. Look who they are. This man, he takes wife and children to church. Is that good or bad? That’s good? That’s good. Here’s a saved man and a saved woman and they don’t go. This lost couple over here, they read their Bible and pray.

And the Christian over here, he doesn’t read his Bible and he doesn’t pray. So who deserves to go to heaven? They don’t deserve to go because you don’t have to be good. You have to be perfect. So all of their good deeds don’t get them to heaven. This is what blows people’s minds. But this is what Jesus said. You don’t get to heaven because how good you are. You’ve got to be perfect and no one’s perfect. You must trust Christ as your Savior.

But if you looked at the evidence, there might not be any evidence that they love God or they love people. It just doesn’t sound right. Did you know when he says for by grace or you say, this is what he’s talking about? Nobody deserves to go to heaven. Well, why should they get to go and not them because they trusted Christ as their Savior and they didn’t. Here you are sitting here this morning. It doesn’t mean you’re better or worse than anybody else, but some people might live better than you.

But if you don’t trust Christ as your Savior, see, you don’t go to heaven. And that person you know that drains and smokes and runs around and does all those bad things, but that man may have trusted Christ as a Savior and he gets to go to heaven and you go to hell. You say, well, it’s not fair. We’re not talking about that. You say, well, that’s not worth it. We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about God. God, see, made salvation is a gift to whosoever would believe it.

Anybody that would accept it. Now, let me show you something that most people really get all bold up about. Take your Bible and turn to the book of First Corinthians. First Corinthians. And you’ve got to stay with me now, or you’re going to get mad at me, and I don’t like people being mad at me. First Corinthians in chapter two. See if a man is not saved by his works, you cannot use words as the evidence of why he he should be saved or go to heaven.

You said, well, what about after you trust the Lord? Well, after you trust the Lord, does that mean you’re automatically going to serve the Lord? Let me kind of break that down for you. 1 Corinthians 2. I want you to notice there in verse 9. But as it is written, I have not seen nor erred, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But he makes a statement in verse 10.

But God hath revealed them unto us by a spirit. Yea, the spirit searches all things. Yea, the deep things of God. So when you trusted Christ as your Savior, you trusted Christ as your Savior, you were born of God from a incorruptible seed. See that tree over there? That’s the new birth. That one over there, that’s the old birth. When you still have sin in your life as a Christian, it’s not a sign that tree does not exist. It is a sign that tree still does.

Let me repeat that. You’re a Christian. If you still have sin in your life, it’s not a sign that one doesn’t exist, the New Birth. It’s a sign the old one still does. You still have an old sinful nature. You still do things that you should not do. So while you’re looking for the evidence, you might find nothing but the fruit of this old tree. Even though you can’t see that birth wife, because you see the New Birth is a spiritual birth.

Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. 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.

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