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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 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.

This morning we talked about the King and Kingdom. The King from heaven is setting up a kingdom upon the earth. And in looking at the book of Matthew, it doesn’t have much to say about the church. Several references are in the book of Matthew, but it’s kind of like reading through the Old Testament. And all of a sudden there’s a verse that’s a verse on prophecy and you don’t even know that it’s there. Until Jesus came, some of those verses probably were not even understood.

And all of a sudden you can say, that’s Christ, that’s Christ, that’s Christ. And it’s all over the Old Testament. But some of those prophecies, it seemed like you’re just reading along and there’s a verse that’s put in there just, now what’s that got to do with this? And then you look above it and below it a little bit, you know, and it’s very interesting that you just studied the Bible. When we come to the book of Matthew, a lot of people are getting some things like the rapture of the church mixed up with the the Second Coming of Christ to the earth.

So they’re putting all of this as the rapture also so that you and I are going to go through the tribulation period and then Christ comes back. So instead of us looking for the blessed hope, we’re looking for the blessed tribulation. I don’t think so. So by understanding dispensations, then we know that this seven years, it belongs back here with the 69 weeks that have already gone forth, which was 483 years. So when we come and understand that when the Lord starts talking about the kingdom of heaven, you notice that whenever in the sixth chapter of Matthew it says that whenever they were wanting to know about prayer, it says our Father, which in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

So even that, what they consider to be the Lord’s Prayer, which I believe John 17 is, but that is talking about this kingdom upon the earth. And so when you begin to look at it, you find out that there’s some things that God has said that will happen at the end of this tribulation period. And we know where that goes. Then when you go back into the book of Matthew, and you see certain things that are said, you know, hey, that belongs here.

He can’t be referring to the rapture of the church. And so there’s people who get in all these things all mixed up, and they teach it, and a lot of people believe it. So anyway, I do believe that understanding Matthew helps you understand the church even better in the rapture of the church. Now this morning we ended off with the 13th chapter of the book but I want you to look first of all in chapter 7 of Matthew. Now many times I’ve taken these principles, truths that are found here in the 7th chapter and have developed many messages on them on the clarity of the gospel, the two natures, and about the two ways, the two kinds of fruit, because of the two kinds of trees.

All that’s mentioned right here, and it’s in chapter 7 and verse 13 to verse 23. Now, even though these scriptures are here, is it talking about the church age, or is it going to be talking about the kingdom of heaven. Now look what he says here in verse 21. Not everyone that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the what? Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is the king and he’s talking about the kingdom of heaven. So how do you get into the kingdom of heaven?

Well, believe it or not, you have to get into the kingdom of God in order to back then to get into the kingdom of heaven. This is the physical kingdom upon the earth where he’s literally here and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all of it, they’re all here in a body upon the earth. That would be a wonderful thing to be here and see all of that. And I believe I will be here. But to get into the kingdom of God, you have to believe on Jesus Christ, trust Him as Savior.

This is what, as you read through the book of Matthew, the leaders would not believe on Him. They would not trust Him. And so because they would not believe, He says, you’re not going in. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. So really, He’s addressing those people that he was talking to at that time. But the same truth is truth about going to heaven. You still have to be born again. So John chapter three, when he talked about you must be born again, or you can’t see the kingdom of God, or enter into the kingdom of God.

The answer to all of that was John 3 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, the host of ever, believe it than him, should not perish but have everlasting life. So you had to believe on Jesus Christ. And so when you come here to the book of Matthew in chapter seven, and he makes this statement there in verse 23, and then will I profess to you, I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity.

They wouldn’t believe that he was who he claimed to be. See, this is really about the king and the kingdom. And what did you have to do to get into the kingdom? You had to believe on the Messiah. But now notice what it says in chapter five, chapter five. And notice in verse 20. In verse 20 he makes this statement, he says, For I send you, except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. You shall in no wise enter into the what?

Kingdom of heaven. So you can’t get in unless your righteousness is better than their righteousness. Well, their righteousness was of the law. There’s only one other kind of righteousness that can be. That’s grace. So they had to believe on the Lord. And so even John 3 16 was not the end of Christ’s ministry. John 3 16 was at the beginning of Christ’s ministry. So Jesus didn’t have a works message he’d get saved and get into the kingdom and then you had to believe on Christ.

I know it was the same message. He always used the law to convince people they can’t save themselves by the law so that they would trust Christ as their savior. So you see that here in chapter five. It’s mentioned in quite a few other places, But you’ll notice here in chapter six of Matthew, look at Matthew chapter six. When he makes a statement in verse 10, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. See, that’s not the prayer of the church.

Now we’re gonna be here, but see, we’re way back here. We know to be absent from the body, present with the Lord, and we’re going to heaven. We’re looking for Jesus Christ to come in the air and take us out of here, because we know that there’s a seven year tribulation period And God has not appointed us under wrath. This is not for us. This is the persecution of God’s wrath upon Israel as a nation for what they did, believe it or not, way back there.

And God’s gonna chase in all the nations that comes against Jerusalem right here. And believers will get to go into the millennium, into the kingdom with the Lord. So you understand that from chapter seven. Now go over there to chapter 13, chapter 13. Now the kingdom becomes like a mystery, but notice as you go through with all of these mysteries, it’s talking about a particular period of time. See there in verse three, and he spake many things in them in parables.

So these are some parables that he spoke. And then he makes a statement there in verse 11. He answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. So they were now going to be heaven, something about this kingdom of heaven explained to them in parables because when Jesus spoke it’s like a mixed multitude. Those who wanted to know truth can understand it, those who don’t want to know truth couldn’t understand it because they wouldn’t believe.

So there’s a certain amount of enlightenment. Truth leads to truth. And when you accept truth, you can understand more truth. So it’s like light leads to light, light leads to the source of light. So this is why this is so important. So he goes through here and he’s talking about the kingdom of heaven upon the earth. Now, he also lets them know that he knows that they are dull of hearing and their eyes are closed and he quotes all the way back from the book of Isaiah describing these people in the way that they are.

So then he makes this statement here in verse 19, when anyone’s hearth the word of the kingdom, so this is not about the church. The church hasn’t started yet. This is still about Jesus and the kingdom. He’s coming, he’s the king. And he’s telling them things about the king, but they’re beginning to be a slow progression away from the kingdom teaching and the kingdom been offered to Israel because he says, you put it from you. You don’t want it, you’re not going to get it.

And so another program is going to be started. But now, you notice what he says here also, look there in verse 24, another parable put he forth unto them, say him, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man which sowed good seed in his field, the kingdom of heaven. And look also over there in verse 31. Another parable putty forth unto them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, the kingdom of heaven.

Now see when we get through and you look at all of these things and you know where these scriptures belong, what it’s talking about, not talking about the church, then you can go back and you can look at those parables and then understand the lemmeable what it’s not, you’ll have a better idea what it is. But when you don’t know what it isn’t, then you get confused. And so there’s many people are saying this is all about the church.

Well, the church is back here. This is talking about the kingdom of heaven is like unto this. So I believe there’s a, that’s the key to understanding some of this. I’m not saying it’s the easiest portion of scripture to, to grasp because a lot of books have a lot of difficulty in them. And sometimes it’s kind of like, you know, and you’re eating a good meal and you get a gristle and man, you can’t hardly chew it. You can even cut it.

Now you can sit there and choke on it, or you can spit it out and go ahead and try to understand what you can. And then later on, you can come back there and try to rightly divide it. And it’s not so bad. Cut in smaller pieces. But you notice in verse 33, another parable spake he under them, the kingdom of heaven is like unto this. So as you go through there, he keeps talking about this kingdom of heaven.

And then in verse 41, I want you to see this, the son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity out of this kingdom. So there’s things that God’s not gonna tolerate in this kingdom, we know he’s gonna rule with a rod of iron. And then look what he says in verse 42, and shall cast him into a furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Now, hold your place right here and just look there in the book of Matthew chapter 3 one more time, where we were looking at earlier this morning when John the Baptist came on the scene and he was announcing the king is coming. He made this statement about, I baptize you with water but he that cometh after me shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. The baptism of fire is not something that you want. That’s hell. And so he says here in the last part of verse 14, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

Now notice whose fan is in his hand. He will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheatCEO into the goner. And he will burn up the chap with unquenchable fire. And the other place it just says, and there shall be weeping and wailing the nation of teeth. But could it be the same time? This is about the king and what’s going going to happen and how he’s going to judge things at the end of the age. The end of this age would be the end right here because this starts a new period of time.

When this ends right here, there’s going to be a judgment, a separation from the wheat and the tears. When the rapture takes place, it’s just all believers are gone. But whenever we’re taking up, they’re not going to hell here. That’s over here. But you try to put that over here it won’t fit because it’s not there. It’s just that we’re taken out of here and caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So as you look at it a lot of it will make a lot more sense.

Look in verse 44, again the kingdom of heaven. It’s like unto a treasure. In verse 44, again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto this. In the verse 47, again, the kingdom of heaven. Now, I wonder why I keep saying that you don’t find this in the book of Matthew. This deals with the king coming from heaven going to set up his kingdom. And so it’s a literal period of time. And God said, it’s like this. It’s like this.

It’s like this. Because what they needed to understand is he is right now not going to set up his kingdom. kingdom. They have refused him. They all want him. So he says, you’re not going to have it. No forgiveness for you in this time, in this life. Because you have to believe on Christ. These are the leaders. So in chapter 14, notice what he says, then you have here where the king feeds the flock. He feeds the multitude. You go back to Jeremiah and Isaiah and some other places.

It talks about how the flocks are destroyed because the pastors, the pastors were not feeding the flock. And they weren’t teaching the people the word of God. And he says the priests are wrong, the prophets are wrong, and the people are messed up. Everybody messed up? All of them. Jesus is the good shepherd, and he saw the multitude, and you find here the feeding of the five thousand and so forth and Jesus instead of trying to feed those religious leaders they didn’t want the truth but the common people they followed him everywhere and Jesus would teach them but you see the the balance of power is in the hands of the leaders they were the rulers of the the nation and it was in their hands and he says by wicked hands you you have taken the innocent one and slain.

So you’ll notice here in chapter 14, he says there in verse 14, Jesus went forth and saw the great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them and he healed their sick. So he began to do some things for the individuals and he has them all set down, he feeds them and all these things that he did for them. But when you get to chapter 15, see chapter 14, He feeds the flock. Now he’s fleecing the shepherds. He’s taking these leaders and he’s taking them to task and letting them not get away with anything.

He really begins to rebuke them. And so he takes them to task because now they coming out and they, not only just challenging them, they’re trying to in front of the multitude, put him down. Who gave you the right? Where did you get this authority? Who do you think you are? And so as you go to the 15th chapter, you’ll see that he calls him, he does a pretty good job over in the 23rd chapter too, but you hypocrites, you hypocrites, you hypocrites.

Now one thing I want you to see, he says there in verse 12, then came his disciples instead of him, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying? And I think Jesus purposely offended them. He done had enough. He’s been sweet and he’s been kind. Now he’s gonna get very blunt with them. But you’ll notice when he makes a statement in verse 13, and he answered it and says, “‘Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall he root up.'”

Now, you see, where does that come from? I mean, all of a sudden it just seemed like there’s a statement in there like that. Well, it’s there for a reason. So hold your place right here and just look in chapter seven of the book of Matthew. Now remember he said he was going to put the axe to the root of the tree in chapter three and cut down every tree that would not bring forth fruit. Well every person born into this world has a sinful nature.

We are trees. We’re supposed to have righteous fruit on our trees. And if you don’t have righteous fruit on the tree, that’s a bad tree. That tree has to come down. every man sins, every man has to die. Every man has to die. So he says here in verse 17, even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit. Corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. Good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can it corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Every tree that bringeth not forth fruit is hewed down cast into the fire. This is what’s going to happen to every person Christ as Savior. You see that’s the bad tree Jesus said the Lord will cut down every tree that He hasn’t planted. Now when I trusted Christ as my Savior the Holy Spirit planted that seed inside of me and I believed it I in my new birth earth and a plant of God. So I’m good to go. Now if you trust the Christ as your Savior, you’re good to go.

And so that’s why all of a sudden you see a little verse like that because it’s talking about you don’t believe on Christ. He still gave them the same gospel message that he gives to us that you find in the rest of the gospels. But they were to believe on the Lord. And unless your righteousness should exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. This is for believers. The beginning seed of this kingdom was all believers.

At least that’s what I believe. Now they’re saved people who go in and then it’s their children that must trust the Lord. And so there’s going to be some that will be born in the kingdom. You know some maybe it’s the tears and then there’s going to be another judgment even at the end because there’s going to be a lot of people that are going to die even doing the millennium. Some believe they’ll have a maybe a life span of a hundred years of heaven trust the Lord by the time of a hundred years they’ll.

Time to go Charlie. And that’s it. Now in chapter 15 you find also there is a gentile woman, sorrow finishing woman who comes to him and you see down there in verse 21 and 22 coming from the coast, a woman of Canaan. She cried out and says, Have mercy on me in verse 22. O Lord thou son of David, my daughters grievously vexed with a devil, but he answered her not a word. These disciples came and besought him saying, Send her away for she cryeth after us.

But he answered and he says, I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now does that sound like the church? What does he tell the church? Go into all the world and preach to gospel to every creature. Now how can you apply that to this? Okay, it won’t fit. But he’s still in human flesh. He’s still in Israel and he is still concerned about the people. So he says, I can’t go anywhere else.

This is where I’m sent. And all that he could do was what his father’s will was. Whatever is the will of my father, I will do. And so he says here, then she worshiped him saying, Lord help me. He answered and says, it is not meat or fit to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs. In other words, it’s not fit for me to take the food for the children of Israel and give it to you Gentiles.

Now Jesus would never say anything like that, but he did because it’s the truth. He at this point, it’s Israel’s. He hasn’t sent the message out yet to do anything other than this. He has to fulfill the will of the Father. Now, she says, yes, but even the dogs likes to eat the crumbs that fall from the rich man’s table. In other words, if the Jews don’t want it, why can’t we Gentiles have it? I think there’s a message there, and I’m not preaching on that tonight, but I think there’s more to it.

So that’s mentioned in verse 27. So you go through here, now you look over in chapter 16, the king rejects. He’s rejected, but now it becomes the head of the church, and he’s talking a little bit about the church. Now he’s starting to filter into something else’s because it’s phasing into some other teaching because Jesus knows they have rejected him. He hasn’t yet entered into the city upon the donkey, and where the people go while over him, but the Jews were, leaders were trying to figure out how to kill him.

Some people wanted him and the leaders wanted to kill him. And they wanted him dead. So you see this? In verse 18 it says about the church. But before you get down to that you’ll notice in verse 13 where Jesus asked him, and this is the northern part of Israel, Caesarea Philippi. I’ve been there a number of times, six times I’ve been there. But At this place, he says, whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?

To me, that’s like asking, when was the war of 1812? But anyway, the Son of Mancy is the kingdom title. And so here you have, or some say you’re John the Baptist, and some say you’re Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets, he says, but whom do you say that I am? And Simon, Peter spoke him, says, is thou art the Christ the Son of the living God. And he says, flesh and blood have not revealed the Son to thee, but my Father, which is in heaven.

And he says, upon this rock, I will build my church. Now Peter was a pebble, and Christ was a rock. And upon, he says, thou art Peter. But upon this rock, this rock does not refer to Peter. This rock is referring to Christ himself. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God upon that truth. He will build his church. Now he hasn’t founded it yet, hasn’t started it yet. But the payment was made by Christ when he died on the cross.

So you have here in verse 18, this is what was going on. Now, as you go down through here, you see a lot of these things. a lot of these things and you wonder what’s going to happen next. Here’s the king. How would you think? How would you feel it? So in chapter 17, he gives certain ones a glimpse of the kingdom, a glimpse of himself and glory. Let me ask you something. The Bible talks about him coming and powering great glory seven times brighter than the sun.

You know, that’s pretty bright. And then he also He also makes a statement in chapter 24. He said that when he comes, the light was shining as far as the east is to the west. I mean, brilliant. And about the clothes that he had on the linen and how bright it was. What if you were back there and you got to see Jesus in his glory?

That ought to make you as bold as anything else in the whole world. You would never fear anything. Did you know that Peter was there and he saw all of that? saw that. Did you know that later on he even wrote about that? But somewhere in between he forgot about something. When they saw him taken and crucified, I don’t know, I don’t know the guy. No, I’ve never met him before. I don’t know the man. I Shinzo the man.

The Bible says he cursed Peter. Now you know God can never use somebody that goes around cursing. That’s ungodly. But could God use him? Did God use him? Did God say, well, I’m sorry, you didn’t brew it now, bud. I can never use you. You know, if God can’t use people who mess up, he wouldn’t have anybody to use. If you think you have to be so perfect for God to use you, then you might as well, forget it.

Don’t go any further. But God uses sinners, save sinners. And it’d be nice if we could all just walk and live like that. here is a glimpse and he was transfigured before him. But see, he didn’t show him this. He showed him this because see this is still Jewish. I still have an idea that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that they’re like part of the Old Testament. But then that’s another story. Here in the book of Matthew he goes through here and then explains some of these things and who he is and what he’s supposed to do and the power that he has.

And he says up there in verse 20, and Jesus said of him, because of your, and see that word? Unbelief, because of your unbelief. But then he’s talking about also, they’re going to lose out on so much because, oh, he was talking about somebody to believe, but there’s so many who had unbelief, they will not believe on the Lord. So those that won’t believe He says to you because you rejected the kingdom here. You’re not getting into the kingdom.

They didn’t get to go. They won’t go. They never trusted the Lord. Now anyone who trusted the Lord sooner or later, we’re going to be all together in this kingdom upon the earth. I think it’s going to be a wonderful, wonderful time. 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, 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. 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.