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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.

So here in Hebrews, he says, He says, by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice. Well, why did he do that? Because God told him to. Living by faith is doing what God says to do. That’s what he did. We’re looking, verse five. By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death. Was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, He had a testimony. What was His testimony? He pleased God. He pleased God.

You see, just saying, well, I got faith. No, no, no, He pleased God. So you have to ask yourself, it’s what you’re doing and how you’re living. It’s how you think and things that you say and do. And where you go, is that pleasing to God? That’s why you have to study the Word of God to know what pleases God. And when you know what pleases God, then you have an idea of your own responsibility. So then you seek to please the Lord.

See, living your life is not trying to find out how to please yourself. It’s what pleases God. That’s what strips away your pride. Because man, I tell you, every one of us have an area of pride in our life. Everybody. And it’s a difficult thing to deal with. Sometimes I, when the high God is ever gonna use me, because sometimes I get so prideful. And then I realize I can’t think that away. It’s the wrong way to think. I gotta keep my mind focused upon what the Lord wants and what God wants to do and realize how easy it is for God to take you away.

You realize how easy it is for God just to take you out of this world. Sometimes I get real sick, you know? I’ve been there before. I think, man, how close I could have come. I think about certain incidences in my life. Me and Peter was talking about it in the office other day of some of just incidences that can get scary. And how we live, only by the grace of God. And we get to have them find out how many things that could have happened that we weren’t even aware of.

But living by faith means you’ve got to do something. Look what he says here. He had a testimony, he pleased God. And him pleasing God, this is what he He did. It wasn’t, I just got faith. Now, he did something. He lived a certain way. Look what he says there in verse 7, by faith, Noah. Okay. Living by faith produces works. What does it mean when he says by faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet he moved with fear, prepared and art to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is of faith.

He did something. God told him to build an ark. I’m going to let the Lord do it. When God tells us that he wants us to witness, I’m just going to let the Holy Spirit do it. I don’t want flesh to get in the way and if my motive isn’t totally pure I’d be better off if I didn’t do it. When I told my kids to wash the dishes, I don’t even care what the motive is. And I don’t care what moods you’re in, or your attitude, you better get it done.

You work on the attitude, because I’m going to work on you if you don’t do what I told you to do. There’s a God in heaven, yes, he knows our attitudes of what we do. Did you know that God will still use you even with a bad attitude? With a bad attitude God can still use you. He can use you any way you are. You will enjoy it better if you have a good attitude. But you know I can come in here on a Sunday mornings and I can be in a rotten mood.

Bad attitude, but if I make the gospel clear people can still get saved from it, they most certainly can. And if I teach the Bible, somebody might learn something from it and it can change their life. God uses people, but He don’t have perfect people to use. But you will enjoy the Lord and His work. When your attitude is right, when you do it because you want to do it and you love the Lord. I have enjoyed serving the Lord.

That’s why I want to challenge and motivate other people to do it because I hate for them to live their whole life and they don’t get that enjoyment out of their life. But what I want you to see is this. In verse 8, by faith Abraham, he did something. When it says, by faith, it means that he heard what God said, and he did something. He did what it was that God wanted him to do. When he was called to go out into a place, which he should after receive for an inheritance, what’s that word?

Obade. Up there would able, by faith, able, obeyed. In verse 5, by faith, in the obade. In verse 7, by faith Noah obeyed, by faith in verse 8, Abraham obeyed, they obeyed the Lord. Living by faith is obeying God. Faith without the works is dead. You didn’t obey Him. You heard Him. You know the will of God, but you don’t obey. So God says in verse 9, By faith, he sojourned in the land of promise. As in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles or tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

For he looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. That means he looked beyond this life or something else. But you see, he did what God says do. He went where God said go, and he lived in tents like God told him to. And he went a long way from home. And the Bible says, if he knew how to get back, he would have went back. So God took him in such a way he couldn’t find his way back if he wanted to.

And so he says, verse 11, through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was passage, because she judged him faithful who had promised. You see, God promised them a child, and they believed God. They got a child. Can you believe a 90-year-old woman having a baby? And then that’s a scale to death. And verse 12, therefore, spring, there even of one and him as good as dead. So many as the stars of the sky and multitude as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable, these all died in faith.

I mean, they died in obedience. They died serving God. You see, that’s what I want to do. I want to live for the Lord, but when I die, I want to die in faith. I want to die in obedience to God. Wherever it is, and however it may be, you see, you don’t want to just be like a shooting star. It’s bright for a little while and fades away. You want to continue serving the Lord. You want to maintain good works because these are good and profitable under man.

So you want God to use you not just for a little while, but all the days of your life. And then as you get older and older and older, you look back over your life and you can see how God has opened doors for you and did things that you didn’t plan. And you could have never planned it, but you can see how God has worked. And it convinces you that it’s true, that there is a God in heaven and that God does open up doors and that God does close doors.

God is looking for people of faith. And when he talks about moreover, it is required and assured that a man be found faithful. Faithful. That means to do what you believe God wants you to do. The only thing I ever want anybody to do is do what you believe God wants you to do. You know one of the things that I’ve seen is when you take a drive or initiative that you want to live by faith and do something, it’s amazing how God opens doors for you.

I noticed since I’ve been here, Peter showed some desire to want to be used. So I find out a few little ways of how I could use him. I find out he could do a little of this and a little of that. And God has opened up doors, and I believe he has greatly matured because he has been obedient, and he’s been pleasing to the Lord and God has opened up more doors of opportunities. Haven’t you noticed that Jesse over here?

Jesse determined that he wants to serve a Lord. Isn’t it amazing how somebody who wants to serve a Lord God begins to open up doors? Do you know it wasn’t long ago? Jesse couldn’t play the guitar. Jesse couldn’t sing. I don’t guess. His wife says he couldn’t. Now he can stand up here, play the guitar, sing, and he’s doing a good job with the kids in ranch. It’s starting to pick up and getting a few more here and a few more there.

And it would be great if everybody could show up at the same time, you know, like when it starts. But not everybody does. They don’t even do it for church on Sunday mornings. You know, it’s about halfway through. Usually we find out that the majority of them get here right after we take the offer. And have you noticed that? We’re going to trick them. This coming Sunday, we’re going to take the offer and up when I get rid of the preach.

That’ll get them. No, I’m just joking. But anyway, we have the opportunity to serve a Lord. And when you want to do something, it’s like God opens up opportunities for you. And you get to do a little bit more, and a little bit more. And when you’re faithful in those areas, they’ve got to give something else. Faithful there, God to give you something else. So this is why it’s called growing in the Lord. Growing in the Lord is growing in your responsibility.

Growing in the Lord is growing in your faith. Growing in your faith is growing in your obedience. You see, you’re not obedient in every area of your life. And but as you live longer and you learn more, then the Lord gets more and more of your life because you see, I can trust him with this. I can trust him with this. I can trust him with this. And you find out, you know, I can trust the Lord with my whole life, every area of my life.

But that’s because of a growth process in your life. Look down in verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received the promise, but having seen them are far off. That’s faith. They saw them are far off. There’s things that you cannot see with the naked eye. But you can see a far off because you’ve got good vision. And you see what God says, and you believe His promises, and you believe that whenever you get to heaven and at the judgments of the Christ, it’s going to be worth it all.

And when you rule and reign with Christ, it will be worth it all. And you believe that. So you can be patient because God promised, and His promise you believe. And because you believe it, it’s called faith. And so he made the statement here in verse 13, and we’re persuaded of them and embraced them. See, that’s what serving the Lord is, is hearing the Word of God, embracing what God promised. Like it becomes a part of you. You can’t live without it.

And he says, and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. What doesn’t the Bible say in the book of Peter in chapter 2 that we are strangers and pilgrims upon the earth? This is temporary, all temporary. And yet God promised there’s a new heavens and a new earth and He’s going to reward you for what you did on this earth with this little bit of time that we have. Did you realize in comparison to eternity our whole lives is like that?

It’s not very long at all. says it’s coming. They could see a far off. Something I want you to see there in verse 15. And truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. That’s interesting. But now they desire a better country. That is a heavenly where for God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he had prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, when he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.

See, God had made a promise. Abraham believed him. God told him what to do with his son, and he was going to obey. If he had to slay his son, he would have done so. But notice what the scripture says in verse 18. 17, verse 19, accounting that God was able to raise Him up, even from the dead, from whence also He received Him in a figure. He knew He was a type. He knew His Son was a type of God the Father given His only begotten Son on that very same mount which was Mount Moriah.

Abraham saw that, Abraham knew that. Verse 20, by faith Isaac. He did something. What did he do? It says he blessed Jacob and Esau. See what does that mean? He rolled out a will, a testament. He gave them an inheritance of what he believed and he blessed them. And it tells about the blessing that they were going to receive and that’s why they wanted that blessing from the Father. But he not only did something, he was old and he said something.

So it’s not on what you do, it’s what you say. Also there in verse 21, by faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worship, leaning on the upon the top of his staff. That means he had a will and a testament. When he blessed them, it was the fathers blessing upon them, leaving to them a will as though he wrote out a will and says, this goes to you, son, this goes to you, son, and this goes to you, son.

But he believed God was going to bless accordingly because God tells him what to do and what to say. And he did so. But they coveted their father’s blessing. Look what he says there in verse 22, by faith Joseph. Well, what did Joseph do? Living by faith. But what did he do? He says, whenever y’all come out of here, why don’t you take my bones with you.” That’s almost 400 years later. But he knew they’re coming out. They’re coming out of this place of Egypt.

Take my bones with you. That’s faith. He believes something. He’d call them something. When you get there to chapter 11 and verse 23 by faith, Moses, when he was born, was he had three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the King’s commandment. By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God.

These are decisions that he made and decisions he was willing to live with. In verse 26, a steaming the reproach of Christ’s greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward and what he did. Moses did. God’s telling us in chapter 10 to do this very same thing, cast not away the confidence thou hast. He says because it has great recompense of reward. And this is what he’s talking about with Moses here.

As you go down through here and you see all of this, even look up there in verse 30, by faith the walls of Jericho fell down by faith. The walls So everybody just stood there and says, Oh, I believe it’s gonna fall. I believe it’s gonna fall. No, no, no, no, no. God said, I want you to march it around it seven times. Then brought up trumpets. And the walls fell. So they obeyed God. And because they obeyed God, those walls came tumbling down.

See, God told them what to do. And by faith, they do it. If you want to live by faith, you must start reading the book. I know what God wants you to do. Do it. Whatever is it do it. If God tells you in his book as a husband, what kind of a husband you’re supposed to be and how you’re supposed to love your wife and how you’re supposed to treat your wife, what should you do? What should you do?

Do it. If it tells the wife to love her husband, to submit herself with a meek and quiet spirit, I thought I’d throw that in there. What should you do? Do it! thought I’d throw that in her. What should you do? Do it. Yeah, but you don’t know who I’m married to. No, and I’m glad I know. But whatever the word of God tells you to do, yes, do it. There’s a God in heaven that’s keeping the books on how you treat your wife.

She said, really? Yes. Doesn’t he tell us how we’re supposed to love our wives? As the weaker vessel? He said, yeah, right. How you’re supposed to love your wife? The wives are supposed to love your husbands. Submit yourself unto him in all things. So now you’re gone to meddling. You’re doing fine. Now you’re gone to meddling. But this is what living by faith is. Does the Word of God tell you what kind of an example you’re supposed to be to your kids or your grandkids?

Do it. Do it. Because, you see, there’s a God in heaven who’s going to bless you because of it. He’s going to reward you. It’s going to be worth it all. That’s why you do it. If God tells you to be honest on the job, I was told that the reason they don’t want the Ten Commandments on the courthouses is because when it says, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not steal, will the judges and the lawyers and all the government workers feel that that would make it a very hostile work environment.

Here’s I’ll let that alone for a while and move right along. But living by faith means they lived by their works. They did something. Living by faith. We want to make sure that the lost man knows that, you know, faith without works, yes, it’s dead. And that’s not talking about salvation. Well, we settle that. We want that argument. Did you listen to what it says? The just shall live by faith. Faith without works is dead, is written to the Christian, for the Christian to see it, for the Christian to understand, for the Christian to believe that that is a true statement.

And when he tells you and explains to us what living by faith is it’s living in obedience to God. So you want to live by faith? It means living with your confidence and what God says and because you believe it, you do it. And God says He will reward you because of that. Now when you read the rest of this down through here, it’ll lock your socks off. What people did because of their faith. What some of them didn’t do because of their faith.

Now Hebrews chapter 12, once you know that these two verses, these two verses, Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. And the reason these two verses are so important is what are you going to do? Wherefore, seeing we also are encompassed about what’s so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily beset us, let us run with patience to raise that is set before us.” In other words, in view of chapter 11, it is supposed to help us to run our race.

Till lay aside our besetting sin, which is the sin of unbelief, not believing God, not having faith in what he says, not following through not doing the work that he asked us to do. You see, verse one is like, said, okay, then what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? And then he says in verse two, looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despised in the shame set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Now Now because of what he did, you and I are supposed to look to him so that you don’t quit. He didn’t quit. See the very next verse? Where he says, for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your mind and say, well, I quit. Or you don’t bring forth the works. You won’t do what God wants you to do. So if you keep your eyes focused on Jesus and he didn’t quit, why should you quit?

Because see, he looked to the end result of what his work would do. Look at what your work is going to do for the Lord. There will be some people that will be in heaven because they heard the gospel through your lips. There will be people that have been challenged and motivated to serve the Lord because they saw the example of your Christian life and you influenced people. No man’s an island unto himself. Look, consider, yes, endure, and run with patience the race that is set before us.

Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. We began with Him, we end with Him. Look up here. Letting this hand represent you and me and the wallet represents sin. all have sin on us. The Bible says that God loves us, that He hates what we do wrong. And to pay for the sin is eternal separation from God in hell. But God loves us. Wants us to go to heaven, to go to heaven we have to perfect His righteousness.

God and none of us are perfect, none of us are righteous. We’ve all done things wrong. And because we’ve done things wrong, have to pay for it, that separation from God. You see, God loves us and wants us to go to heaven. But nobody is good enough to go. God says, you can’t earn eternal life, you can’t work your way to heaven. He says, there’s none right, just no not one. There’s none that doeth good, not one. So, regardless of how well you try to live, there is none good.

There’s none good to go. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us. He hates our sin because our sin separates us from Him. So Jesus Christ who had no sin did not have sin. to die, but he took all the sin of all the world, paid for it on the cross and came back from the dead and said that if you and I would believe he did it for us, he would put this payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us.

That is a gift. You didn’t earn it, you didn’t work for it, you didn’t buy it, you don’t deserve it. But God loves us that much that he would give us as a free gift everlasting life if we simply believed that when he died, he died for our sins. And he came back from the dead, sent it into heaven. Coming back again one of these days, I hope that you have trusted Christ as your Savior. If you haven’t, you can trust Him right now, right where you are or if you’re watching by internet.

The only thing that you have to do is the only thing you can do. Lord, I believe you did it for me and you trust Him, depend upon Him to take you to heaven. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior and you know you have eternal life and you’re going to heaven when you die. Do you see why it is so important for God’s children to serve the Lord not to get to heaven but because that’s the will of God for our lives.

That’s what God wants us to do. If you don’t you still go to heaven because that’s what he promised. Serving the Lord is one of the greatest adventures of life greatest thing in the world. Let’s pray, shall we? with every head bowed and every eye closed. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, I pray that you will. So I’m going to ask you in just a moment to raise your hand. Raising your hand does not save you. It just lets me know that what I said made sense to you and you said, preacher, that made sense to me and I will trust Christ as my Savior.

And I like to know and I like that prayer for you. So in the quietness of this moment, is there anyone else who says, yes, I will trust Christ. Tonight is my only hope of going to heaven and pray, I’d like for you to pray for me. We just live here in a very quickly and put it right back down. Anyone at all? Anyone at all? If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, your God’s child, do you understand why it’s so important to live by faith?

Living by faith is living in obedience to the word of God. Our Father, we thank you so much for this opportunity that we have to come together to study your word. We just pray for wisdom in all these matters. help us as your children to realize the opportunities that you send our way. Some comes because we have trials and tribulations and some because of decisions that we make, some good, some not. The Father and all these things we trust you to help us to see the error of our ways, confess it to you and Father to help us to make a better decision.

Bless each one ear, bless our families. In Christ and 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 Maine. 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.