This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

So I want to talk to you about some hindrances to grow. Now we know the Bible tells us we’re supposed to grow in the Lord, right? We’re supposed to grow. God doesn’t want us to stay a little babies all our life. So look there in 1 Peter chapter 2, 1 Peter and chapter 2. The Lord just talked about being born again. Now you hear a lot of people talk about being born again, they ain’t born again. Talk about wanting to go to heaven, but they ain’t going.

So the Bible says you are born by the Word of God. You see there in 1 Peter chapter 1, looking verse 23, being born again. That means you’ve been born once into this world, but that’s not good enough. That won’t get you to heaven. You have to be born again the second time. Well, how can you be born a second time? Well, that’s by faith. That means you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, and He gives you eternal life.

the first time you were born in this world, you got physical life. The next time you get eternal life, it lasts forever. So you get to be born of God, born by the Word of God. See what it says in verse 23, being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. So let’s say for 10 that today you trust Christ as your Savior. If you trust Christ is your Savior today.

When does God promise to give you eternal life? Today, right now. He that believeth on me, hath everlasting life. So if you believe it right now, then He gives you right now immediately, this moment eternal life. Well if it lasts forever, and it’s eternal life, where would you go when you die? So can you know you’re going to heaven before you ever die? Yes. See a lot of people think you have to wait till you die to find out if you were good enough.

Well you don’t have to worry about that because God’s already said you’re not good enough. You’re not. There is none good, no not one. Now why is Jacob, why is this wonderful good-looking preacher up here? why is he going to heaven? So is I being good? No. I’ve been bad. It has nothing to do with whether I’ve been good or bad. This whether or not is God good or bad. So God is good. So what good thing did it do?

He saved me. He gave me eternal life. So when I was born of God, I became his child. So now look what he says here in chapter 2. Once you trust the Lord, He says, no, as His child, there’s some things He doesn’t want you to do, and there are some things He wants you to do. He says in verse one, we’re laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envies and all evil speed. Well, that’s what you learned from your first birth.

So God wants you to learn something better for your second birth. See, I was born into this old world 73 years ago, but then I was born into God’s family 55 years ago. So I have two births. One is the flesh, the one is the spirit. Now my spirit birth, born of God, so it doesn’t sin. If it can’t sin, it can’t die. But my first birth, flesh, is gonna die. So when I do anything wrong, it’s this one.

This one can’t sin. So that’s why you’re going to heaven because you’ve been born again. So which one of my births have been born? Twice. This one over here. This has been born of God. So you have eternal life. So then he says in verse two. Look what he says in verse two now. As new born babes. Now he can be talking to an adult, but if you just trust the Christ as your Savior, you are a new born babe.

You’re a babe in Christ. Just like a little baby. And then notice what he says. The desire, the sincere milk of the word that you may want. So that means if you don’t desire the sincere milk of the word, you’re still a babe, but you may not grow. Are there a lot of babes in the Lord that never mature? They never grow up, but still children of God. See, once you’re a child of God, how long are you as child?

Forever. And once you’re his child, you’re his child forever, and he’ll never cast you out and never lose him. That is the most important thing to remember. God will never cast you out. I’ll pass you out. Now look at the book of Ephesians in chapter 4. The book of Ephesians, turned to your left to the book of Ephesians, General Electric Pepci Cola. You all ever learned that? All right. Now you got it down. Ephesians chapter 4, and look what he says there in verse 14.

There in verse 14 says that we henceforth be no more children. See, you You are born into God’s family, New birth. Now as a child of God, desire, the sincere milk of the word that you may grow, thereby you grow by the word of God. When you don’t study the word, you’re not going to grow spiritually because the word of God is the milk and the meat that you need to sustain you as a Christian and to grow strong.

So that’s why it’s not always good just to give your opinions and attitudes and philosophy But what does the Bible say? Learn the word. Learn what God’s word has to say. So he says in verse 14, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, cared about by every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men cutting craftiness, whereby they lie and wait to deceive. There’s a lot of people who are going to sway you, persuade you, deceive you, and there is air in their doctrine and it will toss you back and forth like a giant windstorm and just toss you around.

But God wants you as a child of God to grow strong in the Lord. So he says, by the last statement here in verse 15, speaking the truth in love, get this, may grow up. So you are born and then you desire the sincere miracle of the Word that you may grow there by. So God wants you to grow up and be a spiritual, mature man. See up here in verse 13, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a, see those two words?

A complete man, a mature man. So you’re going from birth as a child and then into a complete, mature man. So that’s where God wants to take you and that’s where you want to go. Now, having said all of that, and it should be your desire to desire to desire to sincere milk of the word, it should be your desire to want to grow strong in the Lord. But there are things that can happen in your life, little things that can hinder your growth in the Lord.

And sometimes you don’t even think it’s important. Now the other night when John John spoke, he talked about how it’s not the great big You take boulders that causes you to lose your foot in it, so it’s loose little pebbles, and you cause you to slip in the slide. It’s little things that you let go and don’t think it’s that important. But be disciplined in every area of your life. When the Bible talks about in 1 Corinthians 9 about those who want to run or race, those who want to win, it becomes self-discipline in every area, every area.

Because if there’s any any area in your life that you don’t discipline, could be the one that causes you to fall and never grow strong in the Lord. So take your Bible and turn to the book of Song of Solomon. That’s back there in the Old Testament, but the Song of Solomon. And look there in chapter two. Now, we’re not covering some of the things that are in the book of Song of Solomon. Now, Solomon was a pretty wise man.

He learned a lot of things. He did a lot of things he should have done. He had a thousand wives or 700 of them, and a couple hundred of them were concubines, and he kind of messed up his life. And you say, what made him so wise? Well, all those wise women counselors he had. No, I think they did him in. But the man knew a little bit about women and he knew a little bit about love, but also kind of letting you know the little foxes that spoil the vine.

You see, when you’re young, the Bible says about fleeing youthful lust, Timothy, flee youthful lust, because when you’re young, you don’t have control like you are. want to. And you’d be surprised how that you can take two bodies and put them together and it can create heat. It could be bad news and you blow an emotional fuse on, oh, what happened? Yes, you do. Yeah, you do. And so you need to be very careful. And so you don’t let the little foxes, little desires that you don’t have control rob you of the fruits of your life.

And that goes into a lot of deeper stuff than that, but just understand that much. See that in verse 15, take us the foxes, the little foxes, and underline those three little words, spoil the vine. They spoil the vine because they steal the tender grapes. You see, something you’re not mature enough in yet, and God has some things He wants to teach you and you need to mature in the Lord. And if you’ll do what God says, do you’ll learn how to handle all the passions that you have in the soul body of ours.

Now, look in Proverbs chapter 6, Proverbs chapter 6. Just go back to your left there. Solomon was used with the Lord to write quite a few things that were pretty important. But in the book of Proverbs in chapter 6, look what he says in verse 4. Now, there’s nothing wrong in getting sleep. God requires us. He’s designed our bodies. We need to get the rest that we need. But these scriptures here is talking about just getting some sleep. It’s talking about those who love sleep more than you love work.

And so you don’t get up and go to work and you don’t plan and you don’t prepare and you become a slugger. It means a lazy, good for nothing individual. Now, I’m glad there’s nobody like that here. So that way nobody will ever think that I’m talking about somebody here because everybody here, loves to work and go and do and you plan and prepare. But notice what it says in verse 4, give not sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine eyelids.

Deliver thyself as they roll from the hand of the hunter. In other words, if you don’t watch what you’re doing, the deer’s going to get shot. The deer better stay awake, stay on guard. And then when it makes a statement As a bird from the hand of the Father, you don’t watch what you’re doing, you’re gonna get snared. And sleep can snare you. It means that you put off doing the things that you’re supposed to. It means you become lazy, like today’s ago, with an I don’t care attitude.

Just do what you tend to get by and. There’s no drive, no momentum, no enthusiasm, no excitement in your life. So he says here in verse six, go to the ant. Thou sluggered, consider her ways and be wise, which having no guide over Sierra ruler provided her meat in the summer and gathered her food in the harvest. In other words, learn to work while your young, established good principles in your life. These little things can hinder your growth as a Christian because you don’t have your priorities right.

You don’t think about the things that you should be thinking about. If you want to become a strong Christian, you got to do what will make you a strong Christian. So you get into the Word and you practice what you hear, what you’re taught, learn how to speak what God wants you to, how to go to the places God wants you to. You weigh in everything, learning discernment. It is so important. So he says here in verse nine, how long will thou sleep, O slugger?

When will thou rise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep means more than what you need, a little slumber, a little folding up the hands to sleep. And guess what’s coming your way? Poverty, poverty’s on its way. And it didn’t have to be that way, but a lot of people don’t have anything because they don’t work hard and save right and spend right and do right, decisions are important. A little decision, little things like that, they can make a difference.

Now look in Ecclesiastes, the book of Ecclesiastes. In the book of Ecclesiastes, it’s an interesting little portion that he has here. And he makes a statement, and Ecclesiastes in chapter 10, And I remember when I was at Florida Bible College, this student was there. He wrote a song. Remember Bill Butterworth? Deadflies in the ointment. Who in the world could ever think of writing a song about deadflies in the ointment makes it really stink. But he did. He wrote the song.

See there in verse 1, your Christian life, now in the book of Ephesians it talks about having your garments that are without spot. It also talks about not being once named among the saints. In other words, keeping your life, keeping your testimony clean. Remember I held up a piece of paper and I had one little black spot on it. Say, what do you see up here? Everybody saw that black spot. But look how much white there was. Nobody says, I see white.

No, they saw that black spot. And that’s the way it is with your life. It won’t matter how much good you do, You’ve got something, a black spot in your life. You’ve got a spot on your garment. There’s something that’s not clean. And it can ruin your whole testimony. One simple little bitty thing. So as a child of God, there’s hindrances to grow. Think that will keep you from growing strong as you ought to grow. So he says here in verse one, dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to sin forth a stinking saver.

In other words, if you’re gonna put some sweet-smelling stuff on you and you open it up and there’s dead flies in there. But you just go ahead and take the dead flies and just melt them all over you. You know, sweet-smelling perfume. What you want dead flies in the ointment makes it really stink. But now, here he makes his statement, so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor. In other words, you want the reputation that you’re a wise person.

You know, you can be just foolish and stupid in just a couple areas and you’ll get a reputation that’s been just a jokester, just a funny person. And people not take you seriously. How do you want people to see you or take you? What kind of an image do you want to have? Sometimes I get ready to come to the church and Betty said, Yankee, you got to wear your tie. I don’t want to wear a tie. You got to get your image.

I hate the image. And whenever I get to heaven, if that guy from Thailand is there, I’m going to choke him with one of his ties. You know, that’s where they make ties over that country called Thailand. You didn’t know that. You just take around here. You’re doing all kinds of things. But now look in number four, there are a little 11, a little 11. And this is important. You’ve got to see this. Turn all the way over there to the book of Galatians.

The book of Galatians. See, there were some people that the Apostle Paul had led to Christ. He had given to them the pure gospel that a man is saved by grace alone without works. Then some legalistic Judaizers who come down from Jerusalem came down to the church there in Antioch and split Paul’s church. Church splitters. of the ones that came down there and helped split his church with a guy by the name of Peter, because he was been a hypocrite.

And he was given the credence to those illegalistic Judaizers that come down to spy out their liberty that they had in Christ. And next thing you know, they got people that are thinking you’ve got to keep the law to be saved. You’ve got to do good works. And God says, by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves. No man can save himself. It’s not of yourself. See, most people even to this day think that you have to be good to go to heaven.

And if you’re bad, you’re going to hell. They don’t get it. Everybody’s bad. Nobody’s good but God. You You might think you’re better than somebody else, but compare yourself to God. Now how you’re doing? Well I’m not perfect. That’s the problem. You have to be perfect to go to heaven and to go to a perfect place and nobody’s perfect. So God says you need a Savior to save you, to pay for your sins. So when you trust Him as Savior, God gives you eternal life.

You get to go to heaven whenever you die. Best news in the world. So He makes a statement here in the book of Galatians. He said, who did hinder you? Who did hinder you? I remember, about 2012, I was invited to speak at the Florida Bible College reunion. The theme was finishing well. So I preached a sermon on finishing well. See, some people can’t finish well because they haven’t started yet. You got to start, maintain and finish well. Now don’t you want to finish your course with joy, don’t you want to finish well?

Well there’s little things, little things that can hinder you in running your race. So he says here in verse 7, ye did run well. You did, but you’re not running well anymore. You did, but not now. Look what he says. Who did, and you ought to underline it. hinder you. Who hindered you? And sometimes you’re running along and you’re running your race, you’re serving the Lord, you’re giving it all to God. And then you just get tired and weary and well doing and I quit.

Now, it doesn’t affect your salvation. You’re still going to heaven because you don’t have to run the race to go to heaven. You’re going to heaven because of what Christ did for you. But now as a Christian, God wants us to grow in the Lord, become strong and run the race. But he says, somebody did something to you. Look what he says here. Who did hinder you that you should not, and here’s the problem, obey the truth. Did you know that every child of God would serve the Lord if they would obey the truth?

The only reason you don’t serve the Lord with all your heart is because you’re not obeying the truth. You’re believing a lie. So he says, where did this persuasion come from? Who persuaded you? So wrong persuasion can hinder your walk with the Lord. Somebody persuading you, convincing you of something that’s not true. And so that’s why he says here in verse eight, this persuasion come if not of him that called you. That didn’t come from God. Because God is not going to do anything in your life to keep you from growing strong in the Lord, walking with him, serving him.

So anything that hinders your growth in the Lord didn’t come from God. Wouldn’t you agree with that? Why would God hinder you from growing? He ain’t. And so So he makes a statement here in verse 9, a little leaven, a little persuasion, a little sin, little things, leaventh the whole lump. In other words, a little sin tolerated in your life, can ruin your whole life, totally ruin it. And you can be a child of God, you’re going to heaven when you die, but you’re never going to grow and become spiritually strong.

And that’s why you have to be very, very careful. Now I want you to see this. Look there in the book of I Corinthians in chapter 5. I Corinthians in chapter 5. Chapter 5 talks about a person that was in the church that wasn’t doing right. They were living in sin, committing adultery. It was wrong. And the people should have been shameful of it. It’s like having the day, you know, everybody’s supposed to accept the homosexual lifestyle. Because that’s not wrong anymore and to say something about it means that you need to go to sensitivity training.

It means that you’re the one with the problem. Because it’s acceptable now. Well, it’s not acceptable with God. It’s still sin and it’s still wrong. You can’t make it right. So he says here in verse 6, your glory is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven, leaven of the whole lump. That’s the same thing we just read over there. It’s going to hinder you. It’ll hinder the church. It can hinder ruin a lot. So he makes a statement here in verse 7, purge out there for the old leaven that you may be a new lump as ye are unleavened.

sees you as a piece of unleavened bread. It means no yeast, no sin. See, your new birth doesn’t have any sin. So God wants you to keep the feast of unleavened bread. In other words, for the rest of your life, you’re supposed to live as though it’s a continual Passover. My life is called continual sacrifice unto the Lord. And And there’s no sin in my offering. My body belongs to the Lord. I need to keep it pure. I keep it clean and dedicated to the Lord.”

And so he says there in verse 8, therefore let us keep the feast, not with O’leven, neither would the leaven of malice and wickedness. That’s the very same thing you found over there in the book of 1 Peter in chapter 2 where it says, Cast out, Levin. Cast out the malice. And desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow there by. It means don’t let that first birth, that all sinful nature control your life. Don’t let a little leaven ruin the whole lump.

Ruin your whole life. Be careful. And so he says in the last part of verse eight, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, serve the Lord in sincerity. Serve the Lord in truth. And you’ll be surprised how much better your whole life is going to be. Now, look there in your notes. In your notes there in Matthew under number five, a little faith. Now, there’s times when we often say, it’s not the size of your faith, it’s the object of your faith.

You see, you can put a lot of faith in that church pew to take you to heaven. Oh, I know I’m going to heaven because this church pew, I’m trusting this church pew to take me to heaven. Well, one, you’re nuts. That church pew can’t save itself. How’s he going to save you? But if you put a little faith in the Lord, you can go to heaven. But great faith in the Lord can bring heaven to the soul. Little faith, take the soul to heaven.

Great faith can bring heaven to the soul. So the Bible talks about this little faith and great faith. One time he talked about his Romans and Jerry, he says, such great faith I have not found in Israel. Somebody who believed the Lord in his authority, you don’t have to come into my roof. I’m a man under authority. I say to these servants do this and they do it. He said, just speak the word. And he knew all that Jesus had to just speak the word and it will be done.

And Jesus marveled over his great faith. But then there was a time when one of his own apostles saw Jesus walking on the water. And he says, can I walk on the water? He wanted to get out of the boat and walk on the water. You ever want to do that? Did you know that I can literally walk on water? I told the people up there in Minnesota, I’ll be back in the dead of wintertime and I’ll walk on water.

Those lakes up there, they freeze solid. I’m going to walk on the water because I didn’t. Well, anyway, I wouldn’t try that in the middle of the summertime. But I would love to be able to walk on water. But Peter gets out of the boat and he walks on the water. And then he took his eyes off the Lord and he saw the waves and how boaster they were and he got scared. And what happened when he took his eyes off the Lord?

Started sinking. Well, see, that’s the way the Christian life is. God wants you to learn how to walk on the water. I was talking to the college kids in class this morning. How that when you walk on the water, it’s trackless and it’s traceless because you can’t see somebody else’s footprints. You gotta learn how to walk with the Lord on the sea. And trust the Lord to hold you up, live in my faith. Your confidence is in the Lord.

It’s not upon your sight, upon what you see, but you got confidence in what God says you can trust him and he will come through. And it’s great when you learn to live like that. 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.

book The Gospel Driven Man covers all those topics and we want all new listeners of Bible line 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. the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.