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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

Do you think God wants you to show to the world that you love the Father? What do you think? Now do you think you could show the world that you love the Father more by him removing all of your problems and all of the tribulations and the heartache and the grief that you go through? Or could you demonstrate more of the love, the joy and the peace of the Lord in spite of the tribulations. You know the answer, don’t you?

And you probably have said somewhere along the line, I’m going to dedicate my life to the Lord. Lord, I want you to use me any way you want. And the Lord says, good, I’m for that. Can God put you anywhere He wants without back talk from you? Haven’t you despised it when your kids were back talking? I said, yeah. Pish. Have you ever been a little upset when you get in public and they would mess up and you knew it reflected back on you and you wish they wouldn’t do it?

Have you ever seen the kids do anything and you were ashamed of it the way they were or behaved? I used to watch some of the young folks that hadn’t got married yet or when I get married. My kids will never act like that. And then guess what? They get married and they have tenum just like them. Well, God does not remove all of the things that makes it hard on us because God wants you to shine up. The light shines brightest when it’s lighter or darker.

Now, this is the difficult question. know it’s very hard to understand this. So God is going to maybe have a few lights turned out so that you’ll shine a little bit brighter. And so if you want to have and demonstrate to others the peace of God, the joy of the Lord, then it’s going to have to be in the midst of tribulations. Isn’t patient one of the fruit of the Spirit? And what work of patience? Where does it say that?

Where does it say that in the Bible that tribulation work with patience? Is it in there anywhere? The book of Romans chapter 5 verse what? Well you know it’s in there right? Tribulation work with patience. In other words it demonstrates the patience. You could have tribulation and it not produce patience in your life. But you can have tribulation and it can manifest the patience that you do have and that is what you want. So he says in verse 31 that the world may know that I love the Father even so I do.

Now in chapter 15 I want you to look in verse 11. In verse 11 because he’s writing some things to he’s saying some things to them. There’s a lot of things in between that you can spend days here. But in verse 11 these things have I spoken unto you that you may be miserable, that my joy might remain in you. See, the joy is there. And once you trust Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit indwells you and the Holy Spirit has the love, the joy, the everything you need to manifest.

The Christian life you already have. It’s already within you. Now you just have to let it manifest itself. And this is why you’re learning how to get yourself out of the way. Have you ever tried to get someplace and somebody’s in your way? You know, like driving down the highway. And have you ever been in a hurry and it seems like every slow person in the world is pulled in front of you? I hate to be going along 70 miles an hour thinking about how long it’s going to take me to get there.

And then somebody pulled right in front of me and they’re going about 30 miles an hour, I think. If you don’t have any place to go, get off the road. And then have you ever get into fast lane? You know, you get into left-hand lane because the left-hand lane is supposed to be the fastest lane. If you’re going to go slow, what lane you’re supposed to get in? In the right lane. Some people never learned how to drive. Everybody doesn’t know that.

I wished everybody didn’t know that. So you have all these things that are going on. You don’t think clearly sometimes and you have the Lord allowing you and I to have all of these problems and troubles, things that frustrate us. And he says, I I want you to love one another. Now I want you to see something here that I think is very important. In verse 11 it says that your joy might remain in you and your joy might be full.

In other words, complete, full joy. You see some people, well I’m gonna trust the Lord a little bit, a little bit. What if you could totally trust the Lord and not really worry at all? But don’t we still worry in spite of all that you know, all the Bible you know, all the churches you’ve been to, All the service you’ve ever, you’re still worrying, just a little bit. And that worrying is what robs you of that joy God’s already placed within you.

See the fruit of the spirit is inside of you. The works of the flesh, the seeds of all these things it comes out evil, the old sinful nature, it’s within us. That’s what pollutes the man, it’s already inside of you. And it doesn’t take much for it to come out. All you gotta do is just let it come out, no sinful nature, and then it can run wild. So we have to realize this. But now look what he says in verse 12, this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Now how much did he love us? How much did he love us? How much did he love us? Now this is a difficult question. He died for us. So he was willing to give his life for us. And then he makes this strange statement. In verse 13, greater love hath no man than this, that a man laid down his life for his friends. Now this isn’t here talking about laying down our lives for the enemy. This is talking about one another.

Am I willing to spend my life and lay down my life for other believers? And when I read that, and I thought about that for a little bit, and I thought, you know, we want to reach the lost, but living for the Lord is living and trying to keep God’s people challenged and motivated, encouraged. This is why we don’t want to be a stumbling block in the lives of other Christians, because see, we need them and they need us.

We got to challenge and motivate each other. You see, if I love you, if I love you, then I want the best for you. I would want you to serve the Lord. And the last thing I’d ever want to do is to say or do something that would keep you from serving the Lord. Because I want you, when you get to heaven, I want the Lord to say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. I want you to get every reward that was possible for you to get.

Cause that’s what love does. Love wants the other person to win. Don’t you want your husband to get all the rewards he could get? Don’t you want your wife to get all the rewards that she could get. Don’t you want your kids to do, see, you love one another because you want the best for them. When you say, I don’t care. You know what, there’s a lot of people just had that, I don’t care attitude. I had it for about 60 years, I guess.

No, no, I don’t. But I just have, I don’t care attitude. But I had to rethink some things. And think, well, I do care. I really do care. I used to think, I don’t care what people think about me. Yes, I do. Yeah, I do. I want people to like me. Don’t you want people to like you? You really do. You want people to like you? Well, I don’t do what anybody else is. Yes, you do. You do. That’s a front that you put.

Everybody wants to be loved. Everyone likes to be respected. Everyone wants to know that somebody cares about them. So laying down your life for your friends is giving you a good time that helps you get successful. coming together, we’re giving each other some of our time. When you work together in the choir, aren’t you giving each other some of your time? Whether it’s in a ranch or a wana, everything that we do, we’re giving one another some of our time.

We’re giving them part of our life. We’re laying down our lives for each other because we want the best. We’re trying to encourage one another. And I believe there’s more to it than just mates the eye. Yes, Christ died on the cross and He laid down his life for us and he even told his disciples, he says, you are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you because I want you now to lay down your life for me and I want you to lay down your life for others.

So evidently we’re not here just for ourselves. So he says there in verse 14, ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant know if not what is Lord do it but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my father made known unto you. So this is why whatever you have learned from the Lord we’re trying to help and encourage other people in exactly the same way teaching them what we have learned.

Now look there in John chapter 16 and verse 1 John chapter 16 verse 1 these things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended. Now he’s not trying to offend them. Now there were some people in chapter 6, he knew he was going to offend them, but he already knew that they were getting hard-hearted and they didn’t really care about what he would have him to say. They were there because of what they could get from him, like those free fish sandwiches and so on.

So he says in verse 2, they shall put you out of the synagogues. Yay, the time cometh that that whosoever blesses you, whosoever what? Killeth you will think that he doeth God’s service. There’s people that are going to kill you, and they’ll believe that they’re doing God a service. Isn’t it true that perhaps some of those people that cried out crucified him thought they were doing the will of God? They were upholding the law and describes the Pharisees and all of them.

They were honoring God because they were defending against blasphemy. And then he’s gonna destroy the temple and they thought they were doing God a favor. Totally ignorant of the truth. Jesus is, I am the way the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father except through me. He was the only way anybody could ever get to heaven. And so he makes a statement in verse three, and these things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me.

Monstrous. But these things have I told you that when the time shall come, He may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me. None of you asked of me whether go us now. But because I said these things unto you, you ought to on the line is sorrow hath filled your heart. Sorrow hath filled your heart because of what I said.

Now John chapter 16, Look what he says there in verse 16. John 16 and verse 16. He said, a little while, and you shall not see me. Again, a little while, and you shall see me because I go to the Father. Then said some of his disciples among themselves. see me.,… again a little while and ye shall see me because I go to the Father. Then said some of his disciples among themselves. What’s he talking about? This is Mr.

Soil time done to it. What did he say? What did he say? It kind of reminds me of me and I don’t hear everything. I’m sitting there listening to everybody talking to the table and I say, oh, what’d you say? What’d you say? I didn’t get that. Repeat that again. What did he say? And John 17, verse about 17, then said some of his disciples, what is this that he saith unto us, a little while and ye shall not see me.

And again, a little while and ye shall see me. And because I go to the Father. They said, therefore, what is this that he’s saying? A little while. We cannot tell what he’s saying. We don’t understand what he’s talking about. Let me ask you this. Do you have a clue what he’s talking about? There is going to be a time where he’s going to be leaving them. But he says that when I leave, I will send the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit.

And he’ll not just be with you. He shall be within you. He’ll be within you. Another one, just like me. And he says, and I’m going to be gone, but I’ll be back. And it’s something that, even though that happened at that time after his resurrection, and then he says, meet me in Galilee. Meet me in Galilee. 40 days he spent with him and then he was gone. And because now he’s been gone for 2,000 years, he says he’s coming back and going to receive us unto himself.

So it’s been a while. Do you think he’s still coming? You believe he’s still going to come? You think we ought to just give up waiting and just do whatever we want? And then, you know, when he comes, good. I mean, it’s good. But look how much other things we’re missing out on while we’re trying to live so holy. Is this living holy? Is that going to be worth it? And so we wind up being faithful. And in Christ, He said, in me, you have peace.

In me, you have the joy. In the world, you’re going to have tribulation. In this world, we’re going to have sorrow. Did you know, even after the resurrection of Christ, some didn’t believe the story, and they were still weeping and wailing and gnashing teeth, and no joy. And it came to pass it after a while. they really understood and believed. And these people were so bold, they were no longer afraid to die. And that’s why they were able to turn the world upside down because they knew there’s life after death and there’s a resurrection and I don’t have to worry about it.

I don’t have to worry about what man can do to me. That’s why there’s such fear sometimes in our lives. But notice what he says. He makes a statement there in verse 19, Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask Him. Sit unto them, do you inquire among yourselves of that I said, a little while, and you shall not see me, and again a little while, and you shall see me? Verily, verily I say unto you that, ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, just the opposite.

The world will rejoice. Did you know that those people who commanded that Pilate and Herod put in the death, crucify him, they thought the job was done. And they could have said those words, it is finished. We finally got victory over this Nazarene. He’s dead. We won. Everything’s going to be okay now. And it was just the beginning. And that’s why when you read in the book of Acts, was it all over? You think it led up by now in spite of everything.

And Jesus come back from the dead. Do you know over and over and over again? They preach the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And He healed people and then they says, by what name do you do this in? Who told you to do this? They said, you know that when you crucified in His name, He did this. He did this. They were beside themselves. The same ones that had wanted them dead. Now they’ve got 12 of them and then a whole bunch more of the day of Pentecost.

And then multiplying by the thousands in duty. Yes, it was only beginning. When Jesus says it is finished, it was because the work for our salvation was done. But with the world, it’s just beginning to go into all the world and preach the gospel until the end of the age. And that’s what we’re supposed to be doing. But He says here in verse 20, Verily, verily I send you that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, and ye shall be sorrow, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

It wasn’t too long ago. I went through this portion of scripture with you all, and I mentioned pretty much the same thing. But now we’re talking about this time of year when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The Bible says in the book of Romans in chapter 6 that we were… Not only, as he says, crucified, we were buried with Christ, baptized with Christ, so that when we come back from the dead, we’re supposed to walk in newness of life.

We are supposed to live like Jesus did when he died and came back from the dead. we’re supposed to believe that his death is put to our account, and we died, and we have been crucified and buried and risen with Christ. Now we’re supposed to live as though the old man has been crucified. Do you still have problems with this old fellow? It’s because we keep resurrecting him. We keep bringing him back to life. If we could find a way, you’d be surprised the victory we could have in our Christian life because the Holy Spirit lives within us.

Now, I want to close with these words. Look over there in the book of Galatians in chapter 5, Galatians and chapter 5. Now you’ll notice in chapter 5 and verse 16, this I say then, walk in the Spirit, you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. in the spirit is a choice. It’s a choice. After you trusted the Lord, God gave you eternal life. You now have a choice. You can walk in the spirit or you can walk in the flesh.

And if you walk in the flesh, the works of the flesh are natural. If you walk in the spirit, the fruit of the spirit is natural. It’s natural. You don’t have to cut a manufacture the works of the flesh really work at you know being envious and jealous. It’s natural. You don’t have to work hard at telling a lie and being deceitful and worrying and all those things and walking in the flesh. It’s natural. But if you walk in the Spirit, those things will be natural to you.

Dr. Seymour used to put it this way, be natural in your spiritual life and spiritual in your natural life. And for a few years I didn’t understand what he was talking about but it sounded good. I read him, wrote it down. I haven’t wrote that down. But after a while I find figure that I think this is what he’s talking about. And so he says here in this portion of the scripture, see there in verse 19, now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these.

It manifest itself naturally. If you will let your desires of the flesh just naturally fulfill whatever they want to do. What are those desires are? And you know it’s not hard. If that’s what you want to do, it’ll be not it’s easy to walk in the flesh. But if you decide to walk in the Spirit these things, not in verse 22, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, love. That’s from the Lord. And you don’t have to manufacture Him as though it’s some false love or false peace or false joy, false hope.

It’s not false. But if it’s not a book, then you try to make it happen and it’s not real to you. See, a lot of people, Christ isn’t real to them. He ought to be real to you, where you don’t have to try to pretend like, well, I forgive you. And I really love you. No, if you really do care and you really do love, it should be a natural thing. It’s so that you realize in verse 22, the love, the joy, the peace, the long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, maintenance, temperance, against there is no law.

Now there’s a law against the works of the flesh, but there’s no law against bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit. You can do that all you want. You can bring as much fruit as you want. But if you got the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is within you and can be manifested in various areas of your Christian life. So if you let the Holy Spirit control your life, This is what fruit you’re looking for and it’ll be natural.

It won’t have to be manufactured by the works of the flesh. You can’t, as a Christian, well, it’s just so hard to serve a Lord. Well, he says, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I think that’s what he said. In Matthew chapter 11, he says, learn of me. Learn takes time. Learning how to walk with the Lord, learning how to deny the flesh. If you deny the flesh, the other one can grow. Otherwise, briars and thorns will choke a Christian and totally just ruin his whole life.

But anyway, we ought to be thankful that we know that we have eternal life and we’ll go into heaven. We may never get down all this about how to serve the Lord. If you don’t, can’t figure it all out, just understand this. God has not left you alone. He has not left you alone. And he… He knows that in Him you can have peace and joy. In the world you’re going to have tribulation and there’s sorrow. But learn how to think and develop on that which God tells us to dwell on.

Look up here, this hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin upon us. All of us, all of us. We’re all sinners. And God says that we’ve all done things wrong and we need to pay for it. And the wages of sin is death, eternal separation from God. But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven. And to go to heaven we have to be as perfect, as righteous, as holy, as God himself.

And no one’s perfect. And by our works we can never pay for sin. The Bible does not say, if you go to church that’ll pay for some of your sins. And if you give some money well that’ll help pay for a few of them. And if you’ll pray a little bit that’ll take care of a few of them. And if you keep on, you finally got them all paid off. No. The wages of sin is death. have to die.

And every man is condemned, and every man is guilty, so therefore no man can save himself. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He is the Lord God and the flesh. Came into the world because, well, he loves us, but he hates our sin because our sin separates us from the Lord. So Jesus Christ, who had no sin, didn’t have to die. So he came into the world and took all the sin of all the world. And this is how he wanted to show the world that he loves his father, so he did this so that we would know he loves us.

I believe that Jesus loved his father because he was willing to do this for his father. And he wanted the whole world to know how much that he loved us, enough that he would pay for all of our sins. And he came back from the dead. And so Christ was crucified, buried, and rose again and all that he wants us to do is will we believe that He did this for us? And if we will believe it, He’ll give us as a free gift everlasting life.

And we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us. Let’s pray, shall we? With a head bowed, nice, closed, no one looking around. If you’re here tonight and have never trusted Christ as your Savior, why not do it right now in the kindness of this moment? I’m not going to have you forward, not going to embarrass my right where you’re sitting, you say, that made sense to me. I want to be certain of going to heaven and I will trust Christ right now as my Savior.

And friend, if you will trust Him, He will save you and give you eternal life. That’s the best news in the world. There’s no tricks to it, no gimmicks. God loves you. If you’ve never done so, would you do it right now? And if you will trust Christ as your Savior right now, would you let me know by just slip your hand up very quickly and put it right back down? They don’t want it all. If you’re watching by internet, right there on the screen, you can click it on and say, yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior.

If you do, it lets us know that somebody trusts a Christ as Savior. If you’ve already trusted the Lord, you don’t need to do it. But we pray that you that are watching also know that you have eternal life and that you’ll go to heaven when you die. Our Father, we thank you again for your blessings to us. Thank you for giving us a good day. And for those that trust your Savior this morning, we ask your blessings upon each one here tonight.

Help us to be found faithful, to do what we can with what we have, wherever we are, realizing for the lost and also for one another. To be used in Christ’s name 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 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. Hada can meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.