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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.

When you are born into this world, you have a flesh birth. birth means you are born of flesh and blood parents. And because of that, you have a sinful nature. You are a person with a sinful nature. So you naturally sin. It’s our nature to sin. It’s the nature of a dog to bark. It’s our nature to sin, to be rebellious because our parents were like that. They pass it on down to us. So when people talk about getting saved, They often talk about trying to get this person here to convert his life.

In other words, you’re doing all those bad things, promise you’re not gonna do those bad things anymore. And you gotta promise you’re gonna live better, commit your life to Christ, make him the Lord and the master of your life. So they say, well, not you gotta stop being bad, turn from your sins, and you gotta commit your life to Christ, it means start being good. So they’re trying to get you to convert and change this guy. And that’s not the Bible, that’s not the gospel.

See, whenever God talks about saving a person, He saves you from this guy totally. And how does he do that? Gives you a new birth. When you trust Christ as your savior, He doesn’t do anything to this first one, that’s the flesh. He gives you a new birth, and this one is born of God. Born of God means born of the Spirit. It means God’s the Father of this birth. If God’s the Father, God has no sinful nature. This birth has no sinful nature.

If it has no sinful nature, it cannot sin. If it cannot sin, it cannot die. Because it cannot die, you’re a child of God for all eternity. You see, God doesn’t try to change this one. He’s giving you a new birth. And that’s why it says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. But when you trust Christ as you’re saving, you’re given a new birth. This was born of God and you inherit everything your father has. Ears of God joined heirs with Christ because you’re born into his family.

Flesh and blood is not in his family. Those are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of God. So once you understand that, it helps you. When Christ comes back, he’s not coming back because he said flesh and blood cannot inherit. Neither death, corruption, inherit, in corruption. So what God is going to do is going to be totally miraculous. He sees he’s going to take these corruptible bodies that have already died that are corrupted and he’s going to make them incorruptible.

And God’s going to take those of us who are still alive and change us to where we’ll be made immortal. See, only God is immortal, but now notice, the flesh, birth cannot inherit eternal life. But the new birth does inherit eternal life because you’re a child of God, and that does make a difference. Behold, I show you a mystery. That’s a truth that’s hidden in time past, but now revealed for the first time. We shall not all sleep. It means we’re not all gonna die, but we’re all going to be changed.

That little phrase, we shall all be changed. In Colorado, we put that little slogan above our nursery door. So when parents dropped off their little children, we shall all be changed. they come back anyway. We’re right along. You can fill in the blanks there. In a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump of the trumpet shall sound the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we that are alive shall be changed. The scriptures teach it. You can’t deny it.

It’s in the Bible. For this corruptible the dead body shall put on in corruption and this mortal alive but subjected death shall put on immortality. Now in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3 talks about the church aid, talks about the seven churches and at the end of the seven churches it says in chapter 4 verse 1 I looked and behold, the door was open in heaven, the first voice which I saw was ever the trumpet talking with me, and it says, come up hither.

And I’ll show you things that’s going to be after the church aid, and then he gets into the tribulation stuff. So the church does not go into the tribulation. There’s those who teach that. They don’t know how to rightly divide the Word of God. It’s not like, well, they know something you don’t know. No, no, no, no. I know what they know, and I know more than they know. But what they know isn’t right. I know their view and I know the Bible view.

But anyway, as we’re moving around long, he says, come up hither. So as soon as the church ages over, we’re going to come up and meet the Lord, and we’re going to go to the Judgement Sea of Christ. Now get the sequence of how this is going to take place. The Lord descends from heaven with a shout. The trumpet of God sounds. The dead in Christ will rise into the air. And our mortal bodies are going to be changed, made Him mortal.

And living Christians rise into the air, and we are with the Lord forever. Now that’s how it’s going to happen, because that’s how God had laid it out in His Word. So do you believe it’s going to happen? I do. How will Satan try to explain away the rapture? Now let’s just pretend for a moment. If the rapture took place today, right now, how are people going to explain where we are? playing where we are. I mean, all of a sudden, we’re all gone.

I mean, can’t you imagine this afternoon the Broncos and the Bucks are playing? It’s a quarterback sneak. Everybody piles on. Everybody gets up and the quarterback’s missing. Wouldn’t that be exciting? What about their flying along in an airplane? All of a sudden somebody says, has anybody heard from the captain lately? No? He’s missing. Can you imagine what happens to the plane? Would it be interesting and exciting trying to figure out how they’re going to explain all these people that are missing from the earth?

Because if it was to happen, here you are with your wife and you’re driving on the road and you never did believe she trusted the Lord anyway. And all of a sudden, she’s gone and you’re still driving the car. Now You don’t believe this one day. I went to the church in Colorado. And me and Betty, we got there early. We didn’t think it was that early. And nobody showed up. Nobody was there. And after about five, 10 minutes, nobody showed up yet.

And we kept thinking. And I, for saying, I thought it was the rapture. And if it was true, what am I doing here? Oh! We forgot to set our clock. They have no idea, but one of these days wouldn’t be something. Millions are missing from around the world. Now some churches will be able to continue without any effect whatsoever. But I would hate it if the Raptor took place right now and a half of y’all got to stay because you’d never trust the Lord.

Is it possible that some of you sitting here have never really ever trusted Christ as your Savior? possible because see you can fold the preacher, you can fold each other, can’t fold God. He’s coming back to get only those who have trusted him as Savior. And how are they going to explain where everybody went? What will they say that Christians are abducted from off the earth? They’ve got to be missing. Where did they go? I mean it could be everywhere all over the world.

All kind of imagine the accidents there’s going to be. I mean trains and planes and boats and cars and motorcycles and everything. People just disappear and wrecks everywhere when the body of Christ is caught up to be with Him in the air doing the harp huzzo which is a rapture. Those who are left behind must produce a reason that is believable about those who have suddenly vanished from off the earth. Well we’re finally rid of those right-wingers those fundamentalists they’re gone.

People were perhaps more readily believed that millions of people suddenly have been abducted by UFOs than they have been caught up in the clouds with Jesus Christ. If it came down to believe in that we must have been caught up by Jesus Christ into the air or we were abducted by UFOs, what do you think most people would believe? I don’t know, I’m not going to be here. But they’re going to have to come up with an explanation. Imagine a worldwide black out millions of people vanishing, car wreck, plays, crash them, babies missing, shoes and clothes where bodies once stood.

Can you imagine the fear, the despair, and the total confusion by people all over the world? It’s gonna happen one day. If what the Bible says is truth, that’s gonna happen one of these days. Now get this, this is so important. The Rapture versus the Revelation. You see, the church is going to be caught out. It’s called the Rapture. Seven years later will be the Revelation. See, the Rapture is, he comes in the air and we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

When he comes to the earth, the Revelation, he comes to the earth and he comes back with his saints to the earth. Two different things. they get a mixed up or they try to get the church into the tribulation period. The rapture is coming when God says it is and it’s going to happen and taking us out before the tribulation period upon the earth. So understand those two things are different. The rapture and the revelation. The revelation is when he comes in the air and everybody will see him.

Every eye will see him. Power, great glory with his armies and all that coming to the earth. the rapture is not that, totally different. The difference between the rapture and the revelation, Christ comes in the air for His own. The revelation Christ comes with His own to the earth. Church is taken to heaven. Christ sits up His kingdom upon the earth, two different things, and could happen at any moment. We’re never told in the Bible to look for the blessed tribulation.

We’re to look for the blessed hope. hope was talking about Christ coming back. Revelation can occur for at least seven years because see there is the 70th week of Daniel which is seven years, not three and a half years, it’s seven years because up till the time Christ was cut off it was 69 weeks or 483 years and there’s one week left, but half a week. That period of time that 70th week belongs to that 69. It doesn’t belong to the church.

It’s a different period of time. And some people don’t understand this cessation or tension, but they’ll find out God is right. The rapture, there’s no mention of Satan. Revelation, Satan’s bound for a thousand years, but not at this time. Precedes the Mary’s of the Lamb. Revelation is bride descends with him. Rapture, only his own, will see him because we’re going to be caught up to meet the Lord in the year. Revelation, everybody sees him. And this is why Israel will be leave on the Lord because they see him and say, where did you get the wounds that are in your hands?

And he says, I got him the first time I came. That’s in exactly right chapter 13. So he is coming. So will you be ready when the Lord comes? That’s the most important thing. What’s the wall of illustration very closely? Because time is running out if the Lord was to come back very soon. Now let me show you something you have never seen before in your whole life.

Because this is so very important. The most important thing of all is, are you ready when the Lord comes back? You can’t deny it’s in the Bible. It’s going to happen. Some generation of people are going to be alive when this takes place. And you’re going to be changed in a moment, the twinkle of an eye, but not everybody’s going to be ready. And so there’s only one way for a person to be prepared. He came the first time just like He said, and we talked about the second coming of Christ.

There’s two phases of the second coming. You see, He’s coming for the believers, and then He’s going to come back at the end of the tribulation period with His saints to the earth. Now let me show you something. This hand represents you and me. This wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. We have all sinned. Because we have all sinned, we all have to pay the penalty. The penalty is eternal separation from God. We all have to die.

That’s why the Lord don’t come back and get us. We’re all gonna die. And we don’t wanna die. Most people I know don’t really wanna die. They wanna live. You and I are gonna be condemned for all eternity in a literal fire burning hell. So you don’t need a savior if there’s no hell. Jesus spoke more on hell than he spoke on heaven. And so for you and I to go to heaven, we have to be perfect as righteous as God.

None of us are perfect. None of us are righteous. And because he says we’ve all sinned, we’re all condemned. So there’s no way you can get out of this, except pay the debt. The debt means eternal separation. God doesn’t accept money. You don’t need your money. God doesn’t accept your good life. God doesn’t accept anything from you. God says you’ve got to die. That’s the only thing you can do is die. You can’t stop your sins.

Try it. Hello there doggy. If you stopped acting like a dog, I’ll make you a chicken. Now can a dog stop acting like a dog? It’s a dog. To tell a person to stop acting like a sinner, that’s what you are. You are a sinner. You sin naturally. You’re naturally filled with pride and you get anxious and you worry and you fret and you’re a braggadocia sometimes. You’re filled with a lot of the pride and the envy, the jealousy and not all the sins that we commit, the hatred, the murder, the rape, all the things that goes on in the world.

That’s because we’re all going to be able to do it. because central nation, our problem in America is not a skin problem, it’s a sin problem. And see, the government has no way of solving the sin problem. So they got to blame it on something else? No, God loves us. We cannot save ourselves. So this hand represents Jesus Christ, he’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us. And And he hates our sin because our sin separates us from him.

See, this is why I can’t go to heaven because of sin. And I don’t want to go to hell, but that’s what I owe. So how can I get out of this? Well, you can’t do anything about it. He can. You see, he didn’t have any sin, so he didn’t have to die. So because he loved you, he loved you so much he’d rather die than live without you. So he took all of your sins. And this was to prove to you that he loves you.

He paid for all of your sins before you were ever born, he thought about you. When he was on the cross, you were on his mind. So he paid for all of your sins in advance. And he came back from the dead. And the only thing he wants you to do is the only thing you can do. Well you believe he did that for you. When you believe he did it for you, he puts this payment to your account.

Now you’ve got to pay me for how many of your sins? All of them. If I’ve got a payment for all of my sins, there’s no sin for me to pay for it. The reason I know that I’m going to heaven is because I know I can’t go to hell. And the reason I can’t go to hell is because I don’t have any sense to pay for it. He paid for all of mine. But He did the same thing for you.

And the only thing you have to do to go to heaven is believe He did it for you. You can handle that. That’s not hard. That’s not complicated. Can you believe that when He died, He died to pay for my sense? So why am I going to have Him because He paid for my sense? He paid for my sense. People have heard this all the life, but they don’t get it. It’s free, it’s a gift. If I offered you this book and you accepted you’d have a book, for if you might wallet and you accepted you’d have a empty wallet.

I know smarties here. So if Christ walked in here right now and offered you eternal life and you accepted, what would you have? Eternal life. If it’s eternal life, how long would it last? Now this is very difficult. This is about as bad as who’s buried in grants tomb. If it’s eternal life, it lasts forever. So when you trusted Christ as your Savior, He gave you eternal life and you became his child. Now, because he gave you eternal life and you’re his child, you can know that you’re going to heaven whenever you die.

Now, one of these days, the Lord’s coming back in the air. And who is he coming for? He’s coming for those who have trusted him as their savior. If you have not trusted Christ as your savior, you don’t get to go and you don’t collect $200 and you’ll be here doing that seven-year tribulation appeared upon the earth. The worst period of time the world has ever known, is right ahead of us. But God will take us out before. That’s why it’s so very important.

Now, I want to explain something else to you before we close. Look there in 1 Corinthians in chapter 11. 1 Corinthians in chapter 11. You’ll notice when we often do our communion service, we read from 1 Corinthians in chapter 11 because it’s one of the best, the clearest portions of Scripture that it explains. Those who have trusted Christ as their Savior, have eternal life. Some of God’s children will obey the Lord and some of God’s children will not obey the Lord, but you’re still the child of God.

Now I learned a long time ago, if I wanted God to bless me, then I should be an obedient child. God doesn’t bless disobedience. But if I would not servant, then he would chasten me. And I don’t want to be chastened. So I can live however I please. I can choose to please the Lord and get His blessings, or I can choose to please my own self, go my own way. But then I got a ripped consequences of those bad decisions.

And I don’t want to be chasing. So can you live like you please? You got a choice. Obedience, disobedience, however you want it. But if you want the love and joy and peace and happiness in your life, then Oh, my God, not to get to heaven. And God says, when you get to heaven, I’m gonna reward you for what you did. Rewards are earned. Going to heaven is free. That’s a gift. So every day you live, every moment, every decision, you’re affecting eternity by the blessings of life here.

And when you get to heaven, how God’s gonna reward you. So is it worth it? It’ll be worth it. It’ll be worth every bit of it. So God says, here’s what I want you to do. Until… I come back till I come and get you. I want you to have the Lord suffer. It’s a divine command. It’s the Lord’s table. In other words, He says, I’m telling you to do this for me. I want you to remember something. I want you to remember what I did for you.

So He says here in verse 23, the Apostle Paul writing, I have received the Lord that which also I delivered unto you what I received I delivered. He said that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which you would do it. betrayed took bread. When he had given things he’d break it and says, take it, this is my body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. Now he was sitting there in his body and he took some bread and he broke and said, this is my body.

So you know this is not really his body. But it’s a picture of his body. Represent his body. He said, I want you when you eat this bread, I want you to remember something about me. Look what he says. He says, do in remembrance of me. And verse 25, after the same men are also, we took the cup when he had sups and this cup is the New Testament of contract in my blood. This do ye as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

Remember if Christ is going to give his life for me, in Leviticus 7, he and 11 says, the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar and I’m making a tome and for your sins. So life of the flesh in the blood. So if he’s going to give of his life, he has to shed his blood. So if he shed his blood and he’s drained his blood, the body is dead.

The life of the body was in the blood and he shed the blood so he gave his life. So he said, when did you do this? I want you to do this and remember me. So the body that he lived in is Mary was used by God to reduce the body. And Joseph was not the dad. The Holy Spirit placed that seed within that woman. It was called that holy thing. And then in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10 said, a body has stopped, prepared me.

And so he lived in that body for 33 and a half years, a perfect life. Never sin, never did anything wrong. And then the Bible says that he gave his life for us. He took the sins of the whole world upon himself, because he had not sinned, he didn’t have to die. So he voluntarily chose to die. He laid down his own life. And so he took our sins upon himself and paid for it. And he gave his blood, he shed his blood because he gave his life.

So he said, now, when you take that bread, I want you to remember what I did for you. When you drink that blood, I want you to remember something. I died, but also that I came back from the dead. And then he makes a statement here, this very important, looking for 26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he comes.

So the reason we do this is because we look back at what he did, and we’re looking forward to his coming again. And every man who understands this realizes you to examine your life. How are you doing right now? the time that God’s given you to live, since you trust it, Christ is your Savior. Are you ashamed if the Lord came back today? Or are you living in a way that glorifies the Lord that pleases God? You see, you have to decide between you and God on that.

I’m not God, I’m not the judge. I’ll just tell you what the judge said. But he says, all these things are important. And he says this, in verse 28, let a man, and what’s those next two words, examine his neighbor What does it say? Oh, examine himself. So you’re supposed to sit there and examine yourself. Is there things in your life that are not right between you and God? Confess that to him. You realize that when he died, look what he went through for you.

Now, you have an opportunity as a child of God. What are you willing to go through for him? You see, we’re going to Heaven heaven because he loved us. We should live for the Lord because we love him. But you see, you don’t have to love him. You don’t have to love him and he won’t make you. You’ll see, he loved you and you can’t stop him. He chose to love us. Now he wants us to choose to love him.

I made up my mind years ago, I would rather have the blessings of God than the chastening of God. I would rather love the Lord than anything else in this world. Look what he did for me. So that’s why I want to serve Him. Now this hand represents Jesus Christ. He hadn’t noticed it. He didn’t have to die. So He came into the world because He loved it, took all the sin of all the world upon Himself. And what did He do with it?

He paid for it. Came back to the dead and says, now, well, you believe I did that for you. And if you’ll believe it, He’ll give you eternal life. Well, wouldn’t we give it to you? Well, wouldn’t you believe it? He said, He that believeth on me, have. Now. Everlasting life. When you believe it, you got it. You believe it? I do. I got everlasting life. If you was to ask me, he said, Rachel, where are you going today?

To heaven? How come? Because I’m so good. And no. Because Christ died on that cross and paid for my sins. And I’m on a servant because I don’t have to. I do because I want to. Nobody can make you love God. No one can really make you dedicate your life to the Lord. You can live however you want to and He still loves you. But wouldn’t it be a shame to live your life and Never have people that you’ve won the Christ because you’re so caught up in yourself You didn’t have time to talk to people about the Lord.

This is why this is so very very important Let’s pray showing every headbound every I close no one looking around If you hear this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior. I’m not gonna try to embarrass you I’m not gonna have you stand up or come forward I’m not gonna do anything to you I’m not going to take your picture. I’m not going to ask you to sign a card to do anything. I just want you to trust Christ as your Savior.

And friend, if you will trust Christ right now as your only hope of going to heaven, he said he would give you a free gift of eternal life. If you’ve never done that, won’t you do it right now? Doesn’t it make sense? There’s no tricks to it, no gimmicks. We’re not asking to join the church. We’re not asking to give any money. We’re just saying, will you believe what Christ did? He did it for you, that he paid for your sins.

And the reason you won’t be able to go to hell is because you won’t have any sins to pay for it. You said, that doesn’t sound right. I know. That’s called grace. We don’t deserve it. So I am going to ask you in just a moment to raise your hand. Raising your hand doesn’t save you. It just lets me know that what I said made sense to you. And I like to enclose you in my prayer for today. So is there anyone that also, yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior today.

That made sense to me. I want to know that I’m going to heaven and I’d like you to pray for me. Would you just slip your hand very quickly and put it right back down? Is anyone at all? Anyone at all? Yes, God bless you. Anyone else? Anyone else? It’s very quickly just slip it up. Yes, God bless you. Appreciate that. Anyone else? It’s a decision that only you need to make between you and the Lord. Our Father, we are thankful so much for those who indicate by an uplifting hand that they would trust your Savior.

They’re believing that when they do so, they become your child for all eternity. that you’ll never cast us out, never lose us. And Father, we look forward to the day that you’ll come back again. And Father, we ask Your blesses now upon this moment that we as Your children seek to understand that we are to examine our own lives and Father partake of the Lord’s Supper. Remember in what He did, looking forward to the day when He comes again.

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. 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 in looking up.