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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 message will be a blessing to you and your family.

You can see what has happened in the last 40 years in our country since the Bible was Bible was kicked out of the schools and prayer out of the schools and abortion made legal and all these things. It is really taking our country downhill. And mainly because we rejected God, we reject the Bible, we reject the Ten Commandments or anything it has to do with law. And so the Bible says the law is good if it’s used lawfully. But to use the law as a means by which to get to heaven, then that’s an unlawful thing.

The Bible says the law is not made for a good man, the law is not made for righteous man, the law is made for those who break the law, so that they will understand what the penalty is for breaking the law. They understand what the requirements are for righteousness. And I believe in our country they should know what is right and what is wrong. why some opposed the Ten Commandments. And you’ll see this has been done all over, but I want you to know really what it says.

Christ did not come to destroy the law. He came to fulfill the law. So keep that in mind. The Ten Commandments contains the essence of God’s moral law, which is embedded in man’s conscience to give him a sense of justice realization that he is not perfect and falls short of what he ought to be. So this is one of the reasons that a lot of people do not want the hanging of the law around because many kids in school, many teachers in school, many in the universities are living immoral lives.

Why live an immoral life and want to hang the moral laws upon a wall? They don’t because it’s a rebuke to those. It’s just like if you want to live in sin, you don’t want to go to church. Because see, going to church should be because you want to live a righteous life. You want to learn what is right and be around people that are seeking to do that which is right so you can get strength and encouragement from them.

So it’s a good thing. But there’s nothing wrong with the law. If we say that you cannot legislate morality, well the 10 commandments is God’s moral law at is morality. It’s what’s right. So what are people going to legislate in morality? Well, this is where we’re slowly getting to in our country is they’re legislating in morality, making immoral acts legal, making it lawful, making it moral, and then making a law for those that don’t agree with it. They’re the one that commits the crime because if you don’t agree with their lifestyle and say anything against it, you’re the one that’s wrong.

This is where it’s coming to. About 3,500 years ago at Mount Sinai, God gave to Israel through most of the Ten Commandments. Many people today do not know that the Ten Commandments are a very important part in Scripture, Exodus 20, and the Christian faith. Believe it or not. Though the law was given to control the flesh passions of man, once a man trusts Christ’s Savior, he’s no longer as seen by God in the flesh so he’s no longer under the law.

The law was to control the first birth, the flesh, the lost man. And once a man trusts Christ, the Savior, the Bible says, we’re no longer under the law, but we’re under the law of love. Therefore, if we love God, then we will fulfill everything the law says. So the greatest power is the law of love because love has its own set of laws. But you can try to keep the 10 commandments and have no love whatsoever, and therefore you cannot keep it.

Because of the imperfections of man commandments one through four deal with man’s relationship to God. These are basic and affect all other relationship. In other words, the first thing in a person’s life is to make sure things are right between you and God. And then this will take care of itself. But you see if things are not right between you and God. Then this won’t matter. This is where you have all your troubles. I swear I believe that almost all of people’s problems.

is because they’re not right with God. The problem that a man and a wife have in their relationship because one of them is not right with God. Because if you’re right with God, you can solve everything. If in a church, if everybody’s right with God, all this takes care of itself between one another. But if it cannot be, it’s because somebody’s not right with God. Same thing in our country. So these relationships are very important, Mainly our relationship to God and then our relationship to one another.

Thou shalt have no other God before me. The Lord Jehovah is the only God. He never permits any rivalry for we are His creation. Along to Him there is no other God. He is the only God. And this is mentioned throughout the book of Isaiah very, very strongly over and over again. There is no other God beside me. He says He will not share His glory with another. There is no other God. There’s only one true and living God.

The true God has a son. You should have your faith firmly planted in the Word of God. Number one, some imagine that there are other gods and worship cows or other animals or a particular river or tree or so forth. In the other, a lot of this has been done. They got thousands of God. Cows can walk the streets and they can’t kill this animal that man. You step on that bug that could be ant-losey. so you just can’t do a lot of those things.

They worship stuff that are not true. Some worship the earth. Others look to the stars or to the horoscope for guidance. It’s a shame for a Christian to read their horoscope in the newspapers every day. You stop that trash, that’s junk. Don’t even start it. A few worship the mind or man’s intelligent. Many worship many other things like cars, boats, and clothes, bank account, positions, entertainment, popular accomplishment. All these things, if you put in between you and God, then God says, that’s idolatry.

Anything comes between you and God becomes your God. The second commandment, thou shalt not make under the any graven image. God is the Spirit, therefore it is blasphemy to seek to confine him to objects or things. By bowing or praying to statutes, images, crucifixes and so forth. Their idol, now get this you, this is in the book of Psalms, their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths but they speak not eyes, have they but they see not.

They have ears but they hear not. Noses have they but they smell not. They have hands but they handle not feet have they but they walk not neither speak they through their throat, they that make them are like unto them so as everyone that trusts us in them. Should you worship little statues and say these little statues represent something between you and God to them? No, that’s heresy. Leave that junk alone. But I think you have to be very careful that you don’t find yourself thinking that some little statue that you can pray to or put them on the dash of your card, is anybody who got a religion that they can do that and know this little thing is going to protect them.

You’re right. It won’t. Third commandment thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. You remember I told you that I thought Jesus Christ was a cuss word. I did not know that was God’s name. I didn’t know it was a reference to the holiest person that’s ever been born into this world. I did not know that. I thought Jesus Christ was a cuss word and that’s because all I ever heard was Jesus Christ being used in slang or asking God to damn either people or items or objects or anything.

There’s always asking God to send something to hell. I don’t believe that it’s right. I believe that it’s wrong. The Bible says let not filthy communication proceed out of thy mouth. No filthy communication proceed out of thy mouth. That’s why it’s not good to tell dirty jokes. To say things that you ought not say, always guard in your tongue. But God is holy, therefore reverence must caeterize all speech using his name. The words in vain means idle, nothing meant by it or irreverent.

Some bent their frustration or anger by using God’s name, then defended by sin. Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it. That is the purpose of this command. Everything you say should something be meant by it. The things that you think something is meant by it. Everything means something. Be careful. God’s name should only be spoken or written in a meaningful, respectful manner. The Lord’s example prayer begins, our Father which art in heaven, and I call it the Lord’s example prayer, it’s not the Lord’s prayer.

The Lord never prayed this prayer. It was an example given to us by which we could learn. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. To hallowed God’s name means to reverence and to make his name special. Jesus Christ should be very, very special to you. I am very offended when people take his name and use it as profanity and curse. I’ve stopped quite a few people who are let them know that I did not appreciate that.

And wondered whether or not I was going to get punched for it, but I have been known to let my views be known. The fourth commandment, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The Sabbath day is a Saturday. It was a day that God rested from the work that He had done. He made the heavens and the earth six days rested on the seventh day. This is the only commandment that you do not find in the New Testament that tells us to keep.

That was to Israel. He given to them as a command in the Book of Exodus in chapter 20. else out of the other nine are in the New Testament given by Christ or in the Epistle telling us that we need to do those things and understand those things. But there is none about the Sabbath. It’s the only one. But he says to them, because God created all things, ancient people no doubt knew that the seventh day was to be holy.

Israel also knew that manna did not appear the seventh day. At Sinai, God commanded Israel to keep the Sabbath day holy by resting from unnecessary work. The only thing I was supposed to do that day was not supposed to work. It wasn’t a day of worship. You say you’re not supposed to worship on the Sabbath. Well, I didn’t say worship or you’re supposed to worship the Sabbath. No, you didn’t do no work on the Sabbath. It’s the only thing you did not work, but I’m glad that we’re not under the Sabbath law anymore.

The Fifth Commandment, honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. This means the honor that I fought them by Mother as long as you are at home. You think it means for the rest of your life? I believe you should always honor your mother and father. That means that you don’t always necessarily do what they want you to do but you do what they would be honored by you doing right.

You honor your parents by doing right under all circumstances and I believe even though my mother and I was dead my dad’s dead. I still should honor my parents by how I either think or remember them or use them in illustrations or whatever but never for shame or to put down to low rate or anything like that about your parents. Our first relationship is with our parents. To honor means the child obeying his parents with a respectful attitude. When a child grows up and does not obey his parents, he usually has problem with others and especially those in authority.

Adults are to continue to honor their parents by showing respect and concern for their welfare. See, there is a great movement on today in secular humanism to do away with all of these laws because they don’t want to do this. They want to be able to, if they want to, abort the children, murder babies, or to have euthanasia to do away with their parents. So laws will be passed. We can do away with them and we can do away with them.

Just think if they would just eliminate all the people in all the nursing bones. Just let them all die. Give them a shot. There’s people that want to do this. I believe it’s wrong. But that is what is coming. The other thing here. This command includes a promise that by days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God give us thee. It is repeated in Ephesians chapter 6, honor thy father and mother. that’s not done away with just because you know that was under the law.

Well this is repeated in Ephesians. You’re still the honor thy father, that it may be well where they refer to the exactly the same promise, the same scripture to the law, but this is not for salvation and the law is good if you use it lawfully. This promise includes things going well for them in life. Many things will happen better for you because of the way you treat your parents and your grandparents. 6. Commement thou shalt not kill. This short command teaches the sanctity of human life.

Because man was created in God’s image. Every human soul has word, has value. We talk about the value of human life. Human rights is because we’re actually taught from the Bible that every person has the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to pursue happiness. As long as it doesn’t violate the rights of somebody else, a person should be free. We see there’s a multitude of countries around this world that do not believe that. Their goal is to take away your right.

I believe we have a responsibility to defend those rights. We are not murders because we defend ourselves against those who are trying to take our life. Israel’s law was he that smiteth a man so that he die shall be surely put to death. When murder shall surely be put to death, is repeated three times in Numbers 35. Israel’s law commanded capital punishment, and history proves it to be a strong deterrent to murder. If you take somebody’s life, premeditated murder, and then by government they take your life, you can’t tell me that’s not a deterrent to crime because you’ll never do it again.

If you listen to the news and you hear about these people who are serial killers, multiple A person that have died because of somebody killing not just one person but a malded of people. And then when we catch them we let them go to prison and we keep them bearing them room and board for the rest of their life and take care of their medical care and all that for the rest of their life. We reward them. We don’t punish them.

It’s better to do it God’s way. When someone accidentally or unintentionally kills another person that is manslaughter and And to kill someone in self-defense or in defense of other people such as war is not murder. The Old Testament relates many wars that Israel fought to protect the nation from enemies. That’s different. Seventh commandment thou shalt not commit adultery. This commandment emphasizes the sanctity of marriage and the home. Adultery is always a terrible home breaker. What a man and wife is married, adultery destroys the home more than any other single thing there is.

Those are the money or power or whatever you want to call it, but adultery. Between one or the other is what destroys the home. It is sinful, it is wicked, and people need to guard themselves. But who so committed adultery with a woman lacketh understanding? He that doeth it destroyed his own soul. Talking about you, destroy your life because you’ve lost the purpose of your life because of how the marriage is supposed to be the picture of a man’s salvation, that a man and woman together for the rest of their life is a picture of when you trusted Christ as your Savior that you’re joined together with the Lord for eternity and is never to be severed.

But lo and behold, because of a sinful nature, because people have a hard heart and they refuse to do things God’s way, yes, there’s always the consulate, but then And whenever there is, there are consequences on top of consequences and it plants within it the seed of destruction and it’s not wise. But Jesus said, who’s to ever look at on a woman to lust after her have committed adultery with her already in his heart? By this Jesus said adultery can begin when the eye stimulates the desire.

Proverbs 7 and 10 says, speaks of the attire, the apparel of a harlot. And let me just give you this one on this. Many young girls or innocent women do not realize that immodest attire such as suggestive, revealing, provocative or vulgar clothing can tempt the opposite sex to adultery, sexual improprieties or even rape. Now I’m not saying they’re all totally ignorant, but a lot of them I think are. The Eighth Commandment Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not steal, emphasize the sanctity of personal property.

You see, if you don’t steal, that means that I’m not allowed to steal from you through government, either. People’s property belongs to them. Much of what is going on in our country today is thievery. It’s called illegal plunder. It means the politicians by a stroke of the pen, by voting, can take your money from you and give it to somebody else. That’s stealing. Nobody ever gave our government the authority to take our money from us and use it for unlawful means.

And much of the things that are done in our country are just that. Most of the giveaway programs and so forth. It means the people who work take care of the people that don’t work, not wise. Our Constitution doesn’t state that, it’s not in there anywhere. I didn’t read through the Constitution. I hadn’t studied the Constitution. I’ve taught the Constitution. It’s not there. So, what did I get all of this here from? Because of the ignorance of the common man he doesn’t know.

This is why they don’t want our kids today to be totally educated, because you cannot enslave educated, thinking, reasoning people. You can only do it to people who are not knowledgeable. That’s why people who do not know the truth of the gospel can be enslaved and a false gospel. That’s why the majority of churches are not clear on the gospel. They don’t have the truth, the purity of the gospel. People become enslaved to religion and never really trust Christ as their Savior and they think that what they’re doing is going to get them to heaven and that won’t save them.

The ninth commandment thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor, emphasizes the sanctity of another person’s reputation. Do you believe that you have the right to destroy another person’s reputation without cause? That’s a shameful, wicked thing to do, because you’re trying to destroy somebody else’s character. But a person’s character is what they are in the dark, their reputation is what they are in the light. God commands us to speak the truth in all matters. To bear false witness is more inclusive than just lying.

For bear false witness includes various types of deception, whether or without words been spoken. Because then you’re not just saying a lie. But whenever you say something deceptive about somebody else is not that you just told a lie, you’re trying to destroy somebody else in the process. And then you’re planting seeds in somebody else that will spread that gossip to somebody else and somebody else says a lot of difference. So God says put away the line, speak every man truth with his neighbor.

Ananias and Sephara lied about money they gave to the church. When asked separately about the amount they each lied, that day Ananias dropped dead later his wife. The church quickly learned that God judges those who lie. Does God know when we lie? And even though we lie, don’t correct it, There’s a God in heaven that’s still going to judge you because you did not correct the lie. We often think, well it’s really bad if you wait here and kill somebody.

Yeah, and if you rob a bank, but sometimes we don’t think twice before we spread dirt on somebody or try to ruin somebody’s character, their testimony, or so in seeds of discord. And don’t even think of the fall off the consequences of it. And it needs to be looked at very carefully. Be careful how you use your tongue because God will judge you accordingly. The 10th commandment, Thou shalt not covet, emphasizes the sanctity of the human heart for God.

God wants our hearts to be contented and satisfied with Him. When we want anything so badly that it disturbs our inner peace, we violate the command, Thou shalt not covet. It’s in God’s hands, just forget it, and go on. and see if God will bless us because we seek to do what’s right and on down the road, maybe God will give us all back. But things are in God’s hands and learn how to trust Him. It doesn’t mean you get everything you want.

Sometimes you want things that are good. You can desire the right things for the right reasons. But you have to wait. Sometimes God leads us by the supply of something or the withholding of something. Some consider coveting to be merely wanting something or someone that belongs to a friend or a neighbor, but it could be an item in a store, a catalog or on the internet. Jesus said, beware of covetousness, for a man’s life consists of not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.

The way to victory over coveting is to let God control what we want. It’s what you want, things that you believe that God would want you to have. And then if that is true, then trust the Lord to give it to you in God’s time. The 10 commandments reveal God’s perfect character and man’s faulty character. It shows you how sinful man is because we break the law. When he says, I shall love the Lord thy God with all thy hard mind, body, soul and strength.

We don’t love God that much. We don’t love God only, but the Bible says that we should. But one, they convince us that we are sinners, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law lets us know we’ve come short of God’s perfection. So we understand the purpose of the law. Should we do away with that? No. Whenever I talk to a lost man, I’m always using the law. The law requires us, we have to be perfect to go to heaven.

The Bible says so. And because we haven’t, we’ve broken God’s law and the wages of sin is death. Well, that’s the law. That’s the law. So I use the law with the lost man to show him what God said. And then I use Christ to show them that he’s the only way to be saved. So the law leads a man to Christ that he might be justified by faith. The law brings conviction to the soul and creates a need to be forgiven.

For that reason, some people oppose the tent commandments been posted on walls or graven in public places. Why because the Ten Commandments makes a person painfully aware of his failure to be what he ought to be? And therefore he senses in his heart a deep need that he cannot meet. Because if a person is realistic to himself… He knows that there’s a requirement that he comes short of and he feels like totally frustration. He can’t meet it. So why even try?

And if they only knew that there’s a way, but they don’t know that. But just because of what it brings to the mind of a man doesn’t mean that you do away with the law. No, you give them with a solution, the answer. Wherefore the law was our school master to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. No one is saved by keeping the law or by doing good work. But does that make the law bad, evil?

No, the law is good. There’s nothing wrong with the law. We don’t use the law in order to save ourselves, but the things that are mentioned in the law, the Bible says, if a man loves one another, you fulfill the law between you and your brother. If you love God, a love will take care of itself between you and God. The Ten Commandments have never rescued a perishing soul, nor started a person on the road to heaven, but they hold up a standard of perfection for us to measure ourselves by.

This is how we know we have come short of the perfection of God’s short of God’s glory because of the righteous demands of the law. And when the person sees himself guilty before a holy God, and hears that Christ paid for his sins at Calvary, he is often ready to accept Jesus Christ as a Savior for forgiveness and an eternal home in heaven. So I used the law to explain to a person their need. Jesus summarized the last five commandments as thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

The apostle Paul wrote New Testament believers, thou shalt not commit a adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this say and namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as as thyself. That’s in Romans 13, not the Old Testament. And that’s those laws that we just talked about. So when Christ came to fulfill the law, the problem with the law was that with us is not the law, it was the weakness of man to keep it.

But when we love one another as we should, we shouldn’t want to kill somebody. If we love the way we should, we won’t want to steal from them. If we really love them, we wouldn’t want them to commit adultery because that would bring the chasing of God upon them and upon us. Why would you want God’s chasing upon somebody or upon yourself? So it’s better to do what God says. You have to guard your testimony at all times and put in the Lord first.

I hope that helps you to have a little bit better understanding of the law. It’s not a bad thing. And God not a big old bad bloodthirsty God up there in the Old Testament trying to get everybody. God got up this morning on the right side of the bed and he’s looking over the banners of heaven and says, I got something good for you today. And we always think he’s got it in for us. God ain’t got it in for us.

God is a good God. He’s a wonderful God. He’s a loving God. 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 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.