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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 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 me to the book of Romans, the book of Romans, chapter 1. I was sharing a little bit of this with the kids in college, and I want to elaborate on it a little bit more because I think these are some mighty good scriptures. But I want you to notice a couple things here in verse 32 of chapter 1, and it says, who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death.

But by the time he gets through these first three chapters, you’ll find out that all have sinned and all have come short of the glory of God and all are condemned to die. The wages of sin is dead. And in spite of what we know, we still mess up. And sometimes we do it willingly. We know right and still won’t do right. It is true we are all like sheep and we all want to go our own way. But he says here, not only do the same, but have pleasure and then that do them.

I’ve had a few friends. I wouldn’t say they were too good a friends. But when they wanted to get in trouble, they wanted me to go with them. I remember one night there was going to have Halloween coming up. So some of the teenagers get together and they would, just for meanness. once they got in the group, individually they wouldn’t do this. But as a group, they’d do anything. So they would take off the gas caps and they just loved it pouring sand down the gas cap and then putting the thing back.

Nobody would ever know. Nobody would tell anybody. But they’d go down the streets with some sand and I went with them a couple of times and then I remember this guy came out of the house and man he was mad and I can’t remember he had a gun and not everybody was so scared and it was funny, like crazy. Now I wasn’t that big of a fella. And so we hid in some briar patch. That is not the best place to run into.

But it was dark and was off the side of the road and they’d come by checking to see, you know, they could find whoever did it. They never did. I knew who did it, but nobody ever asked me. And you know, if you tell, you’re a tattle-tail and that gets you in more trouble. They come and get you. So you see a lot of things and you think some things are just not right, they’re not fair, but you need to be convinced of this.

God is a just God. God does right. God does not do wrong. He won’t do wrong to you. you by you, God does right. So he talks about the judgment of God. But now look at man in verse 1 of chapter 2, therefore thou are inexcusable, oh man, whosoever thou art that judges, for wherein thou judges another thou can dimest thyself. For thou that judges do it the same thing. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth.Fixed Now that’s what we’re supposed to believe.

Whatever God is, we know that God has to always do right. It’s got to be according to truth. So the Bible tells us that the goodness of God leadeth a man to repentance. Regards to how bad man is. Regards to what man deserves, regardless of what he’s worthy of. God is still good. And God talks about how that the goodness of God is to lead a man to change his mind so that he’ll believe on the Lord. Because see, God knows the consequences.

They used to have a program on TV years ago called Truth or Consequences. Some of y’all remember that. Truth or Consequences. Well, this is the Bible. It’s truth or consequences. There’s consequences to us believing the truth and not believing the truth. Obedience, disobedience. There’s consequences. We just can’t go through life like it doesn’t really matter. You can try, but there’s a price to pay. There’s consequences, consequences of not listening to the truth. So he makes a statement here in verse 4, or despises thou, get this, the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering.

So you know those are good things for God to forbear. In other words, God could, if he chose to, bring judgment immediately upon every individual for whatever wrong they’ve done. But God is rich in His goodness. He’s patient. He waits upon us. He gives us time to correct a problem. He’s not willing that any should perish. God doesn’t want anybody to go to hell. He’s patient and He gives people time. And so God is working in every person’s life, whether they know it or not, but he’s working.

And the goodness of God is to cause a man to see how good God is. And when you see yourself the way you really are, it should help you to see God the way he really is. He is holy and he’s just, he’s righteous and he’s merciful and he’s good. And so he makes a statement here in verse 5, but after thy hardness and impenitent heart.” In other words, a person who hardens themselves stiff their neck, refuses to obey God, refuses to give in.

Then God says, because of an impenitent heart, where a person refuses to listen to what God has to say. They’re storing up for themselves the wrath of God. So there is, yes, the love of God, the goodness of God, but what happens to the person who rejects the goodness of God, rejects the blessings of God, rejects his love. So then he makes his statement here in verse 5, treasureth up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

See, now people can accept the mercy of God because when Christ died on the cross, who did he die for? He died for everybody. And the only thing we have to do is to accept what he did for us and trust him as our Savior. But what if you don’t? If you harden yourself against the grace of God and refuse to simply trust the Lord for your salvation and remember every person who seeks to earn their way to heaven by their good deeds are actually spitting in the face of God because they reject what he did for them and think that what they do for him is better than what he did for them.

Just think about it. And that’s a shame. So he makes a statement here in verse 6, who will render to every man according to his deeds. So we have a choice. And the Bible says there is no respect of persons with God down in verse 11. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans in chapter 5. Romans in chapter 5. We know that we’re shaded by grace, but understanding when we are born into thisgomery with a sinful nature, we have something that is enmity against God.

We’re enemies of God. God loves us, but we can’t get together. So he says here in verse 9, much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. So there is the judgment of God, and every one has been declared a sinner, not perfect, not good enough to go to heaven, not good enough or ever will be good enough to earn your salvation. So there is a salvation that God has provided. And if you accept that salvation God provided, then you’re free from the wrath that God is going to pour out upon the earth.

So you see there in verse 10, for if when we were enemies, we were enemies of God, God had every right because he’s God to have sent every individual to a literal fire burn in hell for all eternity. But the goodness of God because of the love of God, God says He is forbearance. He’s put up with an awful lot. But instead of people coming around and believing on the Lord, it’s like they’re spitting His face, walk away, want nothing to do with God.

And buddy, that’s about the way the world is today. Look how many churches there are on how many street corners all over America. How many radio broadcasts, TV broadcasts? And it seems like we can’t affect one city, let alone one state. In the time of the apostles, 120 people could shake the world and we can have 120 churches in one town. They don’t even know or believe that God is alive. We have lost our salt. We’ve lost our light.

we have lost our influence. People no longer respect the preachers, they respect science, they look to politicians for the answers, the solutions, they look to Congress, they look to the White House as though they’re going to deliver us from this devastating dilemma. Well, we have enemies all right. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans in chapter 9, Romans in chapter 9. And I want you to look there in verse 21. And verse 21 says, half not the potter power over the clay.

You know, a potter has some clay there and he spends a wheel and he wets it all down and gets his hands nice and wet. And he works that clay while it’s spinning around. Now, if the clay is pliable, it means it yields to the will of the potter. It yields. And if he mashes it here or here or there or there, it forms the shape. And he can shape it into the kind of a vessel that the potter wants.

But if the clay becomes hard And it’s not pliable anymore, but then you can have to break it. So there’s vessels the Bible talks about that are vessels of mercy and vessels of wrath. So whether you are a vessel of mercy or a vessel of wrath depends upon how do you yield to the potter. So there is the potter and you and I who have trusted Christ as our Savior, we’re still like the clay in the potter’s hands. And He’s spinning things around and He’s using circumstances and problems and testings and trials and all these various things and He’s shaping and molding us.

And if we are pliable in His hand, He can shape us into the kind of a vessel He wants us to be. and we become a vessel to demonstrate the goodness of God, the blessings of God. But if we harden ourselves and become stiff-necked and refuse, rebellious, so we become a vessel that God can’t mold into His likeness. So He uses those kinds of vessels that hardened themselves to demonstrate his wrath upon. Now you and I are the one that determines am I obedient?

Being obedient means I yield and he can shape me. Being rebellious means I harden myself against his will. So we’re the one that determines what kind of a vessel we will be. So sometimes God’s children rebel against the Lord. They don’t want the will of God for their life. And so he says some hardened their neck and they’re often reproved and then they’re cut off without remedy. So we have to understand how do we determine what kind of a vessel we want to be?

I believe that God says the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance, to change your mind, see God differently, to think differently. Now take your Bible and turn with me over there to the book of 119th Psalm, 119th Psalm, and there’s several verses that I’ve shown you before, but I want you to see them again, because every Christian needs to know that these verses are or in the Bible and see the importance of them as a child of God, we don’t always make the right decisions.

Sometimes we become hard-headed. We go astray. So he says here in verse 67, this is in Psalms 119 verse 67. Look what he says here. before I was afflicted, what did I do? I went astray. So if I go astray, I deserve the chastening hand of God. And so sometimes God has to afflict. In the book of Hosea talks about a hedge of thorns that God puts a hedge of thorns about you. And if you wanna go your own way, It simply means that you are going to be placed by God inside of a hedge of thorns, so that whatever you do, wherever you want to go, whatever you want to be, you’re going to prick yourself of these thorns, and you’re not going to be happy.

You’re not going to be filled with joy because you’re in a place of rebellion. So you are going to hurt yourself. God places the hedge of thorns, but because you are trying to get away from God, You don’t want to yield to God, then God’s going to have to chase in you. So if you understand it, why does God chase in you? Because He hates you. He loves you. And He says in the book of Hebrews in chapter 12, He chases every son whom He received it.

God loves His children. But God doesn’t make His children obey Him. You are free to become rebellious. But understand, obey the truth or suffer the consequences. Obae the truth or suffer the consequences. And nobody can make you obey the truth. And nobody can keep you from suffering the consequences. deals with every individual and therefore you have to understand every individual is responsible to the Lord. So he makes his statement, before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word.

In other words, he learned from it. Now some people never learn. They don’t correct the problem. But if the goodness of God can lead a man to a change of mind, is it possible that the wrath of God can also help a person get right with God? Because when I went astray, I was afflicted and it got right. Some of God’s people will allow the chasing hand of God to bring them back. Remember, whatever God does, whether it’s good or the wrath of God, chasing whatever it is, is God is always taking the initiative and drawing you.

He wants you that bad. Now God, if He wanted to, has all the right take you out of here. He doesn’t have to put up with any of our shenanigans. He doesn’t have to be patient with us. But His love compels Him to do so. But there is a limit to how much God will put up with it. If you read the story of Israel, you’ll see that. Now look what He says down in verse 71. verse 71, where it says, it is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn.

You and I are supposed to learn of Christ. Learning is going to be according to the lectures that God wants to teach us. You see, God has things also. And he is a good teacher. He knows what every one of us need at whatever point in our lives. He knows what you need tomorrow, and he may have just the perfect thing for you tomorrow. The perfect thing for me to learn. And it’s not something that we always have the answer to.

We can always solve. Sometimes these things come so disguised. Now in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 29 and verse 29, a little memory verse. that somebody might remember, the Bible tells us that the secret things belong unto the Lord. Now, God hasn’t seen fit to reveal everything to us. Some things God has hidden from us. But what He has revealed, He wants us to know and to know it well. And one of the greatest things a child can learn from the parents is why the parents do what they do, learning their philosophy, learning their habits, imitating them.

That’s what we all do. And so the more we can spend time with the Lord, God knows the same thing will be true. It’ll affect you. It’ll influence you. So God is always trying to keep us his little children from going astray. So he does what a good loving father does to keep us close to him. So therefore, he doesn’t always give you what you want. He doesn’t always say yes, because he knows some things that you want is not the best for you.

Now we preach that and it’s so easy for me just to say that. But the application of that is a different story altogether. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Revelation chapter 6, a book of Revelation in chapter 6. There’s a number of scriptures that talks about the wrath of God, but even the wrath of God is designed to draw us closer to the Lord. See in chapter 6, a lot of people have already died. You see that in verse 9 when he opened up the seal.

But I want you to look down there in verse 16. Verse 16 says, and said to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that siteth on the throne and from the enduroandelioness wrath of the Lamb. Wrath of the Lamb? I can understand the wrath of the lion, but what about the wrath of the lamb? Has somebody done something wrong to a lamb? I wonder who this lamb is. This lamb is no doubt the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he came into this world. Can you remember what somebody did to this Lamb? This Lamb was rejected and slaughtered. And the Bible says that he went as a sheep to the slaughter. He opened not his mouth before his shears as though he was dumb and no defense for himself. allowed man to do to him anything they wanted to do, and if they wanted to slap him, they slapped him. And if they wanted to beat him over the head, they did it.

If they wanted to pull his beard out, they did it. And if they wanted to nail him to a cross, they did. And they spit on him and they mocked him and made fun of him. Catatine tails across his back. Think of all the things they did to this Lamb, and this was a truly innocent Lamb. I wonder what He’s upset about. Well, you see, ever since then, for 2,000 years, He said, go into all the world and tell them what this Lamb did for them.

And so we preached the message of what Jesus Christ did on the cross, and why He died, and why He allowed people to do this to Him, And then we tell people, he did it because he was so good. Christ, death on the cross, demonstrated the goodness of God. It showed the patience of God and how that God did not pour out His judgment upon everybody, that He poured all of that judgment upon His Son, that penalty that you and I should have to pay in Christ’s night for us.

So he says the day of the wrath has come, but he’s pouring out his wrath upon those, not that believed, but those who would not believe, because they chose not to believe the truth. Therefore, the Scripture tells us in 2 Thessalonians in chapter 2, they would believe a lie because they refused to believe the truth. It’s to believe the truth or suffer the consequences. So here’s the nation of Israel that said, let his blood be upon us and upon our children, and it has been.

And so there’s a price that Israel has paid because of the rejection of Jesus Christ down through the years. And then we have all the nations coming together to fight against that little the low-bidity nation of Israel in the future. And God is going to pour out his wrath. But his wrath also upon the nation of Israel, God will use them. And then God is going to pour out his wrath upon all the Gentile nations. You see, God has, I guess you could say, had enough.

Do you believe that if God judged Sodom and Gomorrah that there is a limit of how much He’s going to tolerate an America and God’s going to say that’s enough. That’s enough. I don’t know how bad it’s going to be. I don’t know when God’s going to do it, but in studying the Scriptures, God is a just God. He is a righteous God. And people cannot just do whatever they want to do and think there are no consequences. There are grave consequences.

So we see that He’s talking here in verse 17, for the great day of His wrath is come and who shall be able to stand. Look in chapter 9. Chapter 9, He’s warning them, He’s telling them the day of His wrath is come and in spite of all of this. He’s got 144,000 preaching Jewish evangelists all over the world. He has an angel flying in the midst of the heaven preaching the everlasting gospel. And then there’s chapter 7, chapter 14 of Revelation, multitude of people that were killed in the tribulation period that trusted Christ as their Savior.

So many, many people would believe on the Lord and believed in the goodness of God how good it is for the Lord to make a payment for my sins that I did not earn, don’t deserve, and it’s by grace and grace alone. But woe to those individuals who spurn such love, the consequences, how bad it’s going to be for all eternity because they would not yield to the love of God and trust Christ of their Savior. I think about all those churches throughout the world where there’s people trying to earn their way to heaven by their good deeds and will not simply trust Christ of their Savior.

Truth or Consequences? And it won’t matter how sincere they None of that matters. Is that there’s consequences to rebellion. Not to believe on the Lord. 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, 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. 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.