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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.

Whatever God did for me, He did for you. So we’re all saved the same way. We all have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. We all have the same purpose in life, but not everybody yields to what God says. Now, notice what he says. He says how that all our fathers were under the cloud. Now, he’s going all the way back to the children of Israel, back there in Egypt and coming out of the land through the Red Sea, under the cloud, and how God took care of them.

Now, look what it says. All our fathers were under the cloud. There was protection. All passed through the sea. There was their guidance that God gave to them and were all baptized under Moses. And they had the same counsel, the same leader, they all had Moses. So they had the same counseling from the same leader in the cloud and in the sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat. They all had some manatee and did all drink the same spiritual drink because they got some water from the rock.

So they all got the same food, they all got the same water, they all had the same counselor, they all passed through the sea. Oh, what happened? What happened to all of them? What God did for me, He did for you. He did it for all of us. But we’re all in this race and God allowed us the chance to live. I notice what he says, that spiritual rock was Christ. And verse 5, but with many of them, God was not well pleased.

All right, now think about it. He’s talking to the most carnal minded church, and correct, they were very carnal minded. They were fleshly minded. They were rebellious. And so he’s letting them know with them, God was not well pleased, which is another way of saying, He’s not well pleased with some of y’all. And he wasn’t well pleased because they were living like lost people. So he kind of gives them a little, a wake up call. So he says here in verse five and referring to those all, there were some in verse five, but with many of them, God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

These are warnings because of their sins. Their sins become warnings to us because God had to judge them because of their sin. And God is using that as an example for you and I. So He makes the statement here in verse 6. Now these things were our examples to the intent. we should not lust after evil things as they also lust them. Are we still talking about running the race? Because there’s things that will hinder you from running your race.

And so you have a body that you need to keep control. That’s why he said, up here in verse 27, I will keep my body in subjection. Your body is a good tool to use, but it’s a terrible master. Don’t let the physical body be your master. Let the Word of God be your master. Do you know him? Do you follow him and serve him? For they were overthrown in the wilderness and then in verse 6, now these things were our examples to the intent we should not.

So he’s applying what they did to what they should be doing here in Corinth. We’re in a race. We’re all in a race. Some, God was not well pleased with. I, Paul says, and set for the defense of the gospel. It burns inside of me. He says, whoa unto me if I don’t do this. But we’re in a race. And my goal is to win. Win as many as he possibly can win. So now look at the next one.

In verse 7, these sins are mentioned because it’s possible for God’s children to commit all five of these sins. True? It’s possible. All of God’s children can commit all of these sins because he’s referring to them. You do it lest they cause you to fall because Satan wants to get an advantage of you. So he says in verse 7, neither be ye idolaters than it must be possible that they could become an idolater. He wouldn’t have to say that.

See Christians can fail. Christians can mess up their life. So he says, as we’re get this Yoran line, some of them. See not everybody falls the same way. get some this way and he’ll get a few people this way and he’ll get a few more this way. But the thing is it didn’t have to be that way is that when you take your eyes off the Lord. Did you realize that when they were in the wilderness God allowed them to get thirsty?

God allowed them to get hungry so that they would have to take the food that he gave and the water that he gave to drink. And some people, no doubt was satisfied with God’s provision. But then there’s always somebody says, you remember those onions and leeks and garlic we had down there in Egypt? Man, I wish I was back down there. I’m sick and tired of this food. I wish we had some meat to eat. How many times I’ve heard people in church?

I’m tired of this milk. I wish I had some meat to eat. Sounds like people who want to go back to Egypt again. But that’s okay. Now look what he says in verse 8, neither let us commit what? Why would you have to say this to believers if it wasn’t for believers that even had that possibility? It must be possible. Can Christians commit adultery? Can Christians commit murder? Getting the drugs? Commit suicide? Christians can do every sin the world can do.

But he says, Paul said, I don’t want any of those things to trap me because of my love for the Lord and my love for the gospel. For the gospel’s sake, I do this. And that’s why he made himself a servant. Nobody can make you dedicate your life to the Lord. Nobody can make you serve him. So notice what it says here in verse 8, neither let us commit for an occasion as some of them committed and fell in one day, how many?

Three and twenty thousand. Twenty three thousand people died one time. Whatever will be will be. That must have been the will of God. No, it wasn’t what God wanted because that’s a consequence of people rebelling against God. Now look what he said in verse nine, neither let us, neither let us. So he’s a one, you want to run this race. It’s just not that, you know, I’m going to do this and not worry about all this other stuff. No, you got to worry about every area of your life because Satan is looking for an opportunity to catch you in a moment of weakness so he can destroy you and cause your testimony to be such that God will not have to, he won’t be able to honor you.

He won’t be able to use you and you have to set you on a, you’re disqualified. Because God wants a clean vessel. Keep yourself clean, keep yourself pure. Now, I know what he says up here in verse nine, neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted. So that means they tempted Christ in the Old Testament. And he says, and we’re destroyed of serpent. Remember he sent those serpents among them because they murmured and complained. You don’t want to be caught doing that, do you?

Mermering and complaining. Okay, that’s rough. Because everybody complains about something, don’t we? Mermer, when, when, when, I was up there with training tender one day and I must have been whining about something. Tender walks over me and he says, you want some crackers. And it says for what? He says go that wine. You get it. Next time somebody starts wine and says you want some crackers with that. So and I didn’t drink any wine either just so that you know I’m but he says here in verse 10, neither murmur ye, because all of these are things that cause you to fall.

You have to see there’s that in verse 8. See that one word committed? Fell in one day. See, you’re running a race and some fell. You don’t want to fall. So notice what he says here in verse 10. Neither Mermany as some of them also, Merman and were destroyed of the destroyer. All these are things that happens to people that keeps him from being a success. that keeps him from running the race and attaining the goal and winning more souls.

You’ll get more if you’ll watch your life. Look what else he says here in verse 11. Now all these things, those Old Testament things he just mentioned to who had all had five privileges exactly the same. You’ll have some people that will whine about everything. Boy, if I had the opportunities that he had and they don’t realize they get the same opportunity, They just don’t take advantage of them. Or maybe they think, you know, if I’d have done this, I could have done that.

Yeah, you probably could, but you didn’t do that. So you can’t do that. And you can have desire without knowledge, and you have knowledge without desire. But if you put the two together, God can open up many doors. Now, lovely says. In verse 11, now all these things happen to them, for examples that they are written for our admonition, for us to learn from, to admonish us, Because we’re all in a race and we’re running, but there’s a reason why we run.

This is why Paul said, he says, having therefore this ministry, we faint not. We don’t quit because of the ministry is so important. And what we do is so important in your life is so important why in the world we wanna let the devil get an advantage of us and ruin our life. Bitty’s dad told me something, not after he lemons you the Lord, he says, Yankee. He says, the world has never seen what God can do through one man that was totally yielded to him.

I thought about that. I’d go to work next day and run an old bread route there in Athens, Georgia, Benson, Bakery. It’s gone now. Used to be Benson Bakery. And I think the world has never seen What God can do through one man totally yielded to him. Now think, that ain’t right. That ain’t right. The world ought to see at least one man totally yielded to the Lord. And I’ve often wondered, could it be me? Could I do that?

And if it’s not me, can I challenge somebody else to do it? Because I think the world ought to see, through somebody’s life, What God can do through a man is totally dedicated to him. Now if I had heard that and I’m one of these college kids sitting here, I’d sit there and I think, I can do that. I want to do that. I want to be that man. I can be that man. I know I can. But you’ll know that God’s going to require such discipline, such love, such commitment that you may not be able to pay the price.

Are you listening? Are you paying attention? you pay attention. I hope so. Look what else he says here. Look in verse 12, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he do what? What are you running, a race? Is it possible to fall? This is to admonish you to let you know you can fall. And what caused you to fall is thinking I can’t fall. When you get so lifted up in your mind, you think, boy, Lord, you are so fortunate to have me.

Because I am so strong. I mean, the devil can’t get me. Oh, really. And you’d be surprised how if it wasn’t for the Lord putting up head to protection around you, you couldn’t stand. So maybe one of these days got to just open a little gate so that the devil can come in through one little gate in your life that you just, you wouldn’t keep that one closed. You didn’t guard that area in your life and saying, can come in and ruin your whole life.

I used to tell it this way. Here you got a big old fence and you got four gates on it and you got a hunter head of cattle in there. How many gates do you have to leave open to lose the whole herd? One gate. One area of your life gone unguarded. So if I was the devil, I would watch you to see what your weekend and I’m going to do my dead level best as the devil. I’m going to get you.

I’m going to get you. Have you ever heard that there is in the Bible a verse somewhere that says that the devil has a roaring lion seeking whom he may want devour. There’s a lion on your trail. A lion is after you. So now notice what he says here. In verse 13. So now he’s telling you, even though there are temptations in the world, you don’t have to fall. You don’t have to fall. You don’t have to be like some of those others that did fall.

You can finish your course with joy. So he says in verse 13, there have no temptation taken you. See, this is why in verse 5 it said, they were overthrown in the wilderness because of temptation. Tempted to rebel against the Lord, tempted to murmur and to complain, tempted to follow the lust of the flesh, tempted to have idols. See, all of those things which they all fell was because they yielded to temptation. They were tempted. And who is the great tempter, the old devil?

And you say, well, he ain’t going to get me. If you don’t stay close to the Lord, he will. Look what else he says. There have no temptation taken you but such as is what’s those words common to man. You see, he don’t have to use anything new because what he’s been doing for the last 6,000 years has worked pretty good. He’ll get you the same way he gets everybody else. the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Those three things is how he got Adam in the garden in the eve, and that’s how he says that he’s going to get you. And this is why the Bible says in the book of 1 John chapter 2 verse 15, 16, 17, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. And he that have the love of the world does not have the love of the Father living in him, because it means if you love the world, you’ll love the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

You want to be somebody, you want to get something, and you’ll be surprised the lust of the flesh will be so powerful in your life that it can destroy you. So notice what he says here, but in your auto-alignness in your Bible, God is faithful. Does God know all about temptation? Does he know that when you run a race, the obstacles? Does he know the course that you’re you’re going to run? All the problems you’re going to have? God knows all of that.

But God says, He is faithful. He said, I’ll never leave you and never forsake you. You have somebody to go through life with. Learn to do what it says in the old time. They walked with God. They walk with God. They walk with God. They walk with God. And I don’t care what it is, but just trust the Lord to walk you through it. And He’ll give you all the strength and the grace that you need as long as you walk with God.

But when you see walking with God, you’re on your own. You can’t fight the devil. You can’t handle the lust of the flesh. You’re not smart enough, or strong enough to battle it. You’ll lose. You will lose. Now if you want to lose, okay. But Paul says, I do all these things that I might win. I want to win. I want to win. I want to win. I want to gain. I want to gain. So this is why he says that.

Now look in verse 13, there have no temptation taken you but such is common to but God is faithful, get this, who will not suffer you, permit you to be tempted above that ye are able, you didn’t have to fall. So it was just too great too great for me. No, God will not put up on you anything greater than you can bear is that you chose not to bear it. You did not choose to win, you chose to fail.

When When you turn your eyes toward the things of this world, you’re choosing to stumble. You’re choosing to fall. I had a man one time. He was married and he wanted to have a meeting with me. So I met with him and his wife. So anyway, we’re sitting there talking and she was kind of upset with him because he didn’t want to go to church anymore. He said, I don’t need to go to church. So I asked him, I said, when did you decide to start working on your divorce?

He said, what? I said, if you’re not smart enough to do what God says to be the leader of your home, I said, when did you start making up your mind that you wanted divorce? He says, I don’t want to divorce. I said, yes, you do. I said, because you’re not willing to stay spiritually strong. I said, she knows you ought to follow the Lord. And you’re not going to follow the Lord. He didn’t want to follow you. it wasn’t a couple months, they got it a divorce.

I can see it ahead of time because I’ve been doing this long enough. I know that if you do this, this will happen. That’ll happen. That’ll happen. It’s a trail. But notice what he says. He says, is he who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you’re able, but get this now, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it and keep running and stay in the Stay in the race, you can bear it.

This is the sword, so what? You’re in a warfare. It’s like our soldiers going to war. I mean, this gun’s so heavy. I don’t I’m like gonna carry it anymore. Duh Maybe you don’t well the weather even with hot out here and you got a march 25 mile March Well 75 pound back pack you did that didn’t you in the Marines?

He died both times But they will require it and it gets rough. That’s why the Bible talks about endure hardness as a good soldier It’s not going to be a piece of cake There are a lot of hard decisions But you’ve got to look past all these pressures of life figure. What do I want? When it’s all over I want the Lord to look and say Yankee I’m proud of you You gave it all you had Well done thou good and faithful servant You know what you want?

Don’t you want the Lord to be proud of you? Man, I wanted that more than anything else in the world. I’ve never had a dad to say, you did a good job on anything. Till my dad died when I was 13, but he had already left my mom and they’d already separated by the time I was seven years old. So I want to raise with a dad. I didn’t have the privilege that a lot of people have. I’ve had to learn a lot of things the hard way.

I wasn’t the smartest kid in the world. The Lord has sure been good to me. and I thank the Lord for it. Now, look what he says in verse 14. Wherefore my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men, judge you what I say. In other words, like, do you understand what I’m saying? Do you get the point? You see, you can’t just start in chapter 10 and think you’re gonna understand what chapter 10’s talking about.

And you can’t just finish out with the last part of chapter nine and think you understand What the thing’s talking about. There’s more to it. It goes together. But there’s a lot of chapters in the Bible that are just like that. You gotta put it in there. This thing goes all the way back there too. Whoa, and to me, if I preach not to gospel. That’s why I run this race. That’s why I can’t stop. That’s why I can’t quit.

Cause it’s so important. I know that most of y’all here have already trusted the Lord, but there may be somebody watching. We’ve had several people who trust the Lord in the middle of the night. And that’s why I told the college guy that says, well, I was sleeping and I went so winning because some people trust the crisis, their savior. I think we had somebody from Virginia, did you ever, you see it Jesse? And then somebody else in Alabama, and if somebody else, someplace else, and I can’t remember where.

But I just think it’s just awesome. So anyway, this hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on it. And God says he loves us, but he hates our sin. And for us to go to heaven, we can’t take this with us. And how do we get rid of it? Well, we’re in debt. We have a bill and we got a pair of bill. You have a lot to eat and they bring in that little receipts and you owe this.

Have you ever heard them say, this is your check? Why have we called it a check? Have you ever tried cash in one of those things? It just sounds so much better to call it a check. This is a bill. I’m in debt. I got a bill to pay. And God says, you’re not leaving. You can’t go there until you pay your bill. You owe God a bill. You’re in debt. So the wages of sin is debt. You say, how do I pay this bill?

You got to die, huh? You got to die. Well, what if I gave you, I’ll go to church. What if I give you some money? No. You got to pay your bill. What if I went in there to get myself some breakfast over here at Nicky’s? I got ready to leave and, She says, you got to pay your bill. I got to shoot. And I’ll just leave you my shoe. And if that won’t work, I’ll even throw in the sock.

She’ll be impressed with that, wouldn’t she? What about a slightly used handkerchief? You know, whatever I can use to pay my mail with. All she wants is the money, just the money, honey. You know what’ll get me some time? I’m sitting there and I’ll have it. Don’t come up here. Hello, sweetheart. What can I get for you?” I said, man, I’m married. I don’t know. But I walked in the other day. I didn’t know who they were. And I walked by them.

I said, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Don’t get up. Don’t get up. Don’t get up. They weren’t playing. Don’t get up anyway. But I said, don’t get up. Don’t get up. And I don’t know what it is. It comes over me sometime. I just don’t know. I just, you know, I just do it. I get track so easy. Have you noticed that?

God, I have to start all over again. God loves us. But this is a good place to start. God loves us. But he hates our sin. And we have a bill to pay. And the payment is eternal separation from God. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us. Hates our sin. But our sins separates us from the Lord. So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die.

So he took our sins, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead, and said that if we would believe he did it for us, give us as a free gift everlasting life and we get to go to heaven. I had a man, a preacher called me up this afternoon and he says, I’ve been listening to your YouTube videos. He says, and it’s really helped me out a lot. And he says, he was from Fort Worth, Texas.

And he said, but I noticed that you don’t ask people to pray. And I says, well, if you want to go ahead. I said, I don’t care if people pray, but you can pray and not trust the Lord. But if you trust the Lord, God will save you. And I said, all you have to do is believe that He did it for you. Well, you believe that means if you really believe He paid for your sin, then you’re not going to try to earn your way to heaven because you know you’re already going.

Why would you try to earn something you already had? I’m not trying to work for my salvation, but if you want to pray, go ahead. I prayed the night I got saved, But praying doesn’t save you. And so anyway we had a good talk. Let’s pray, shall we? We’re going to pray now. But if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, and if you’re watching by the Internet right where you are, you can just talk to the Lord.

If you want to, or just say, Lord, that made sense to me, and I’m going to trust you right now as my Savior. And if you’ll believe it, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. The hosts who ever believe it in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. If you trust Christ and Him alone is your only hope of going to heaven, believe in that he died on that cross, paid for your sins, and came back from the dead, he will give you as a free gift everlasting life.

And you can know that you’re going to heaven because it’s a gift. It’s totally free. God loves you that much. Father, we thank you so much for all you’ve done for us. We thank you for the word that you’ve given us. And we ask Father, your blessings upon each person here and those that are watching by the Internet to realize that we have a great responsibility, an awesome, awesome opportunity. We have been blessed to have the gospel given to us and trusted to us and help us to be found faithful.

We’re in a race, help us to run. And if we’re going to run, we want to win and help us to learn everything we can in in order to get people to trust your Savior, because that’s why we’re running. We want to gain and help us to guard our lives so that we can finish our course with joy. In Christ’s name we pray. 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 caught up to meet the Lord in the air so live today and every day believe in that the Lord is coming soon just keep looking up