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.

I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of, of what’s a good book. Look in the book of Psalms. Book of Psalms, 78 Psalms. I’ve been here many times before and so I have brought you along with me. There’s a few things I want to share with you because there’s things I don’t want you to forget. It is so easy to forget. And one of the things that I want us to do is remember in all by getting, he says, get wisdom and all by getting, get understanding and proverbs.

But in all by getting, get seeds, you’re going to spend the rest of your life sowing seeds. So get some seeds, gather all the seeds you can. Now, when I’m talking about gathering the seeds so you can sow, what What seeds do you think I’m talking about? Seeds from the Word of God, the good seed, the Word of God. So you’re gathering seeds so that you can be able to get done what needs to be done. So not everybody totally understands everything in the Bible, but you get a little here and a little there.

You grow a little bit. So here in Psalm 78, I want to kind of refresh your memory on some things that we’ve looked at before, but some things that you don’t want to forget because one of the things that happens with Christians is we forget the things that we’ve already gone through. We forget sometimes the successful past experiences that you’ve had. Sometimes you forget about the, well, successes you’ve had and sometimes you forget about failures where you learn some of your greatest lessons because we still got tomorrow to live.

If God doesn’t come back today, we’re going to have to face tomorrow. If you don’t come back that day, we’re going to have to face the next day. So here in the book of Psalms in 78, he says in verse one, oh give ear, oh my people, to my law inclined your ears to the word of my mouth. The words of my my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us.

And as we’ve said before, this is things that you’ve learned in the past. And then he also says, in verse four, he says, and will not hide them from their children, show into the generation to come the future, the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he have done. Now I don’t mind reading about all the wonderful stories in the Bible, you know, all those stories about like David and Goliath, you know, Daniel in the lion’s den, how God miraculously did things.

But I always want to have Lord, what are you going to do for me? I want something too. I want my own stories. So over the last 56 years, I’ve gathered a few little stories along the way. Few little experiences, you know, some salt and pepper to put on my eggs. Otherwise life is so bland, so empty. Unless you’re serving the Lord, you don’t want to be bored. And then he makes a statement in verse five, where he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers and you ought are underline this if you haven’t done so that they should make them known to their children.

Now you can’t teach what you don’t know. You don’t know that maybe one of these days, some of these young guys, they’re gonna get married, and they’re gonna have five, ten kids or so, maybe fifteen. And they’re gonna build a work the hard way. But they’re gonna have children and you’re supposed to teach the children. Well, you can’t teach them what you don’t know. This is one of the faults that I had. I got married and had kids before I even, I didn’t know anything about the Bible.

I started late in life learning truth. So much that I did not know. And I think as I look back up on it now, man, I could have done such a better job if I’d have just known more. I was so ignorant. But you know what was worse than that? What’s worse than being ignorant is not knowing that you’re that ignorant. I didn’t know I was that ignorant. Now I know how really ignorant I was. Now a lot of times Christians, they never learn.

You’re supposed to listen and learn and some people listen and never learn. And so that they should make them known to their children. So this is why we’re gathering seeds. You’re gathering seeds so you can teach for the Word of God. Now you’ll find that in the Bible, there’s many stories about sowing, sowing, sowing. And so we know that the harvest is great. The labors are few. the Lord’s looking for somebody to do some reaping. And the reasons, somebody got to do some sewing.

Now notice what he says here in verse 6, that the generation to come in the future, generation to come, might know them even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children, on and on and on and on it goes. We’re supposed to keep passing down to the next generation. The Lord says when one generation One generation totally forgets God. It’s unto the third and the fourth generation. I mean, that’s how bad it can be and how long it can take before somebody breaks through and comes back to the Lord and there’s another generation.

But you see, if you teach your children, they generally are not as strong as the ones that had to fight for what they believe. They’re just a little bit weaker. Then they get married and have kids and then they’re just a little bit weaker. And then they have kids and they’re just a little bit weaker. Because each generation goes down, down, down. It takes a constant effort to be strong in the Lord. Nobody can be strong for you. So you may know what you know.

But what about the next generation? How strong will they be? How much will they know? How much will they understand? There’s so many times in my Christian life I’ve thought about, well you ain’t get, look at all the people out there serving the Lord. You don’t have to. I mean, who’s going to miss one little old person? If I don’t do it, somebody else will. And how many times I’ve come so close to just eliminating myself, taking myself out of the race because, you know, after a while, you get slapped around and you get people that you know and you love and you can give them your whole life and work so hard to help people and then they can stab me in the back and not blink an eye.

you square in the face and lie to you, start rumors about you, say all kind of evil things against you and you think, is that worth it? I mean, that’s the shame, but it can happen to you. And it hurts more from the very people that you love the most. You’d be surprised over the years of the people that I led to the Lord and taught them the Word of God, but you have to teach them enough to rebel against you.

You have to teach a person enough that they’ll know how to rebel against you, challenge you. Because now they think they know enough, or they know more. And so the student becomes wiser than the teacher. And you’d be surprised all of a sudden the teacher that they had in respect. Now they become so knowledgeable and so smart. Now they know more than he does. And then they begin to. And the destruction begins and it can break your heart. You remember what I’m telling you that day will come and you have to serve the Lord as though you have never been hurt.

Otherwise your hurt will turn to bitterness and your bitterness becomes a root that springs up and many become defiled. Notice what he says here in verse seven that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God. So And we’re always trying to cause people to remember who they are, what they’re here for, who they’re supposed to be serving. You read the book of Peter and he’s talking about, I stir up your remembrance, always stern up your remembrance because people easily forget.

And so he says here that they will be not in verse 8 as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their heart arrived and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. You see, you got to always not just know what’s right, but the desire to want to do what’s right. And so he says here, and I want you to look there, in verse 9, otherwise you’ll be like Ephraim, whose spirit was not steadfast, and they wanted to be on the other side of the river and turn back in the day of battle.

They wouldn’t want to commit themselves. There’s always people who in the heat of the battle blow it. You can’t trust them. It’s kind of like a person that you have to depend upon is like a person who has to run a race and you got a sprained ankle. He limps. I told somebody the other day I said, I broke my nose and I run with a limp. They thought that was funny, but I didn’t get an Olympic medal for it, but no deal with it.

And verse 11, and forget his word. For God his word, do you forget the things and think about this? Here’s the nation of Israel. And when you consider what great things God have done for the nation of Israel and they may forget about it, how in the world could they forget when they stood at the Red see and Charles on Heston said stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Or might have been Moses that said that. And the waters parted and stood upon the sides and the people walked through on dry ground.

Look what he says in verse 13, he divided the sea, caused them to pass through and he made the waters to stand up as a he. If they saw that and no God had to do that, look what God did. And they saw this and then they forgot about how great God was. I don’t know if I’d have been there and saw that. How could you ever forget what God can do? If He could do that, He could do anything.

Our God is great. Our God is God. And then notice what He said to verse 40. And in the daytime also He led them with a cloud. Wait a minute, in the daytime, a cloud in the desert, In the wilderness, to give them nice shade, how would you like that? Many a time, you won’t believe this. I’ve left Colorado with a couple buses, and we’ve had to drive all the way from Colorado, all the way down to Hollywood, Florida.

And it seems like all of a sudden there’s a cloud over our buses in the hot summer time. Because we had nowhere to condition. All the wonders would be down. And I’d be driving at buses fast as it would go. I kept thinking, I’m going to blow a motor. But I never blew a motor. And we drove all the way. And there’s like clouds that would follow us. There were some clouds in where? But there was like clouds that stayed above our bus.

All the way down. And I thought, I know who’s doing that. Now you may not have thought so. Now I didn’t see God. I didn’t look at, hey, God. How you doing? Good to see you this morning. But I saw the cloud in the daytime and would be no clouds nowhere else. I would think God’s doing this. And we would drive for 48 hours in a bus with those kids.

It’s a wonder we never had serious accidents or something. But I believe God watched over. I believe for many times when I sat there and I’d drive and I would get so sleepy. But after a while, you can fight it long enough. And after a while, I couldn’t go to sleep if I tried. And I could stay awake for two straight days and drive those kids all the way to the kids, never fall asleep, never fell asleep. I did act like I have to be kids down there.

But now notice. And also, and all the night were the light of fire. I mean, miraculously things. But God did these things for them, and later on they forgot about it. and would forsake the God that can do all of those things. Now, as you think about your life, are there things that you have worried about that you’ve seen God solve? And things you worried about, you just know, how in the world are you gonna get out of it and God worked out of way?

That’s why I am not always governed by money. Otherwise, I would have never attempted anything in my life because I’ve never had it to start with, to do anything. But I always believe that what I’m doing is so right. I’m going to trust the Lord and watch and see what he’s going to do. So that’s a dangerous way to go. I know that. So you got to watch how far out in the water you go. And sometime I thought, Lord, if I sink.

People are going to think, you couldn’t take care of me, because I’m going to tell people I’m trusting you. And if you let me down, you know, try to put the guilt on God. God says, oh, I better not let Yankee down. He’ll tell everybody. So he says in verse 15, he claimed the rocks and the wilderness. He divided them, gave them drink. As out of the great depths. I mean, here they are out there and he could give them water.

They didn’t know where the water was coming from. There’s times in the ministry, you don’t know where things are coming. You don’t know where people are coming from. You don’t know where the money’s going tonatureconservancy You don’t know where anything’s going to come from. So we could worry, fret, be afraid, hold back, or you trust the Lord and say, well, now how is God going to get me out of this? I would venture to say that some of these kids came to Bible College wondering, I don’t have a clue how I’m going to pay my bill.

I’ll bet you some of them probably thought something like that. I don’t know if I’m going to make it. I don’t know. And there’s parents probably back home says, I don’t know either. What are you going to do when you get out of the Bible college? Be a Bible? If you can be a Bible and you just go around and sow the seeds, just keep sowing seeds. Because all your life, that’s what you’re going to do. For the next 40, 50 years, you can be sowing seeds.

So gather up all the seeds you can. Otherwise, you’ll start running out. You see, you can’t take out of the bag, But you don’t put in the bag. Ray Stanford always said, be careful when you go to grocery store. Because when you get home, you can only take out of the bag what you put in the bag at the grocery store. So while you hear you keep putting into the bag, so you got a whole bunch when you leave, you’ve got enough to last you for a while.

And you can keep sowing the seed. But you got to keep putting some more seed. You got to keep remembering. Always keep remembering. Louis said in verse 16, he brought streams also out of the rock, caused water to run down like rivers. I mean, with 2 million people out there, thirsty people, cattle and all that, they had to have a lot of water, make a river, all of a sudden, come out of a rock in the middle of a desert.

They saw that. Wouldn’t you have believed that, you know, this God is for real? I’ll never forget this. Have you ever made promises when you were down? You ever get sick, get in the hospital and say, Lord, if you get me out of this, I promise that I’ll and what was it to finish it with? Made even, you know, some commitments to the Lord. And then after it’s all over with, you forget all about that. How many times I’ve been to the hospitals with people and they say, preach it, pray for me.

When I get out, you can count on me, I’ll be at church. I’m still waiting for them. So soon as they got up, they don’t need God. Now it’s time like the guy that had a leaky roof. Well, when it’s raining, you can’t fix it. When it’s dry, it doesn’t leak. So they just never get to fixed. So no to what else he says. In verse 17, and they send yet more against him by provoking the most high in the wilderness.

And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. Do you desire something more than the will of God? Think about it. Shouldn’t we be satisfied doing what God wants us to do with our life? Do you desire more than that? Do you desire more than the will of God? You know that might make God jealous. Do you know here’s the Lord right here? See there’s Lord, the Lord’s saying right here. And here’s you, oh, you stand right here.

Anything you try to put between you and God, because God’s a jealous God, God can take that away. You never wanna put something between you and God. As though you want it more, desire it more, and love it more, and it can be things, it can be people, it can be power, aren’t paying glory, I don’t know anything. Don’t put anything between you and God. On the ship I met this year, one little lady, her name was Joy, Joy, J-O-Y, Jesus and you with nothing between.

And that’s the way it ought to be. I told her that by the way. Now notice what he says here in verse 19, because now they want in more. So in verse 19, eight, they speak against God. Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Can God, that’s a doubt. Did you know that it provokes God when you question God or his provision? Or how God’s going to do the God because you by effect, you can’t see how God is going to do something.

You just can’t see it. You don’t have to. So he says here, Behold, he smoked the rock, the water’s gushed out, the streams overflowed. Can you give bread also? Can you provide flesh for his people? Yes, God can do all of that. So, but what was God upset? Well, down in verse 22 says, because they believe not in God and trusted not in his salvation, or that God can deliver them from whatever is going to go happen. It’s not always salvation from hell.

But the things that you need and you want God to deliver you from, you’ve got to trust the Lord. And so then he says here in verse 23, though he had commanded the clouds from above, open the doors of heaven, rained down men upon them to eat and given them the corn of heaven, they had what they needed. God provided what they needed, but then it says they wanted more, more. They said, we want some meat to eat. And so in verse 26, He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens and by His power He brought in the south wind.

He reigned flesh also upon them as dust as feathered fowls, like as the sand of the sea, and let it fall in the mist of their camp round about their habitation, and they did eat, and they were well filled, where he gave them their own desire. They gave them their own desire. They wanted something more than what God had provided. And you can be surprised how it can promote God. Be content with the way God provides for you. But make sure that God is provided for you.

You’ve got to do some things that are right that brings the blessings of God upon you. And if you rebel against the Lord, God is not going to bless this obedience. Notice what else you said. In verse 30, they were not estranged from their lusts, but while their meat was yet in their mouth, the wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest of them because God can show you, I can do this, but it’s not what I want to do.

And the very thing you can sometimes desire, other than what God wants, can be a lead to destruction. it can destroy you. You better learn there’s nothing better and greater than having God’s will for my life and accepting that. And don’t try to exalt yourself. Just take life as it comes. You’ll notice as Jesus went about, he says, he went about just doing good. There’s some times that I, you know, about four years ago, maybe five years ago, I went on this cruise and I didn’t know how how it was going to happen.

But lo and behold, I was just witnessing one here and then I witnessed the one there. Next thing you know, I had a whole bunch of them that trust the Lord. And one guy, because I was trying to figure out I’d like to have a Bible study with these guys. And one guy that was watching what I was doing with this other person and they trust the Lord, he’d come up to me and I thought he was going to really chew me out or chew her up or because he was over her.

And he says, would you like to teach a Bible study? I’ve been wanting to know who the guy was. You should several people, several thousand people on a ship. How am I going to find the right, I didn’t know he was. He comes up to me. And next thing you know, I’m doing a Bible study for about 25, 30 of them on a thing was a Friday night at 12 o’clock midnight. So that’s when they got off work. I was really tired.

I wanted to go to bed, but I wasn’t missing this Bible study for nothing. And I got a picture of it on my wall in there. But I didn’t make it happen. I let it happen. But God gave me the desire that I had. I had a desire, but it’s nothing wrong in having the desires where you can do more for the Lord. If it’s when it begins to lead away from the things of God is where you have to really be careful.

Notice what he says there in verse 32. For all this they sin still, and believe not for his wonderful works. Therefore, in verse 33, you ought to underline your Bible because this is a very important verse. So like a warning verse, therefore their days did he consume in vanity and their years in trouble. Well, they lived, they lived, but because their heart was not right with God. And remember, he had said all of those over a certain age, over 20 years of old, they were going to die in the wilderness and never entered into the Promised Land.

So for 40 years, these people were dying off. And this is amazing that Joshua and Caleb, two of the one the spies that had gone into the land, just happened to live and they didn’t die. Do you believe that death in life is in the hands of God and that God can preserve a person’s life and God can take another person’s life? Though it looks just like it’s a natural thing. Oh, they just died, they just died, they just died.

And so God can do this. He did this. And because of the rebellion to the Lord, They consumed their years and vat it for nothing, for nothing. And that’s what can happen to a person. So why are you living? And all the experiences go through good, better and different, gather some seeds. These are experiences that you can go through and you can use them later. It makes you more wealthy. It’s like a guy like Donald Trump has gotten wealthy because of all the dealings that he’s made.

As you go through life, I would like to state this. Donald Trump, even if he’s $10 billion, he’s not as rich as I am. He’s notdinand as rich as I am. He’s not as rich as some of you are. If you know the Lord and he doesn’t, you’re richer, right? And if you serve the Lord in the lay of treasure in heaven, you’re richer, right? So if you serve the Lord, you’re laying up treasure in heaven and you’re gaining a wealth of knowledge.

And by the experiences you go through, you learn the lessons from them that most people go through the same things and never learn what it is that goes through. wanted them to learn. They just had troubles and probably complained about all the troubles instead of just trusting the Lord. Anyway, in verse 34, when he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and inquired early after God, and they remembered that God was their rock, but that wasn’t the end of it.

They flattered him, but in their heart they were far from him. Jesus says the same thing in the book of Matthew in chapter 23. Also you’ll notice here in verse 37, for their heart was not right with him. If there’s anything that God knows, He knows if your heart is right with him. Now people can see the things you say and do and can be impressed, but we really don’t know your heart. We don’t know whether or not you’re just full in this, they sieving us, because we’re acceptable to them.

Be overwhelmed by your faithfulness and steadfastness. Bible quoted, and yet your heart not be right with God. But God knows. Always remember that. Now look in verse 39, for he remembered God. He remembers that they are but flesh. A when that passes away and come if not again. That’s how we know that reincarnation is not true. See what it says? A when that passes away, cometh not again. You’re not coming back into this life as an animal, a bird, as a flea or a tick, a bug.

And I’m sorry about all those people that believe that, but that’s not the way it is. He says in verse 14, how often did they provoke him in the the wilderness and grieve him in the desert. After all God had done, they provoked him to anger. Do you believe that it’s possible for a child of God to provoke God to anger? Can God be grieved with you? Can you say and do something that grieved the heart of God? Can you grieve the Holy Spirit?

Is it possible? I think so. And then he says here in verse 41, Yea, they turned back and pimped God and limited the holy one of Israel. They remembered not his hand. All the things that God had done, they rebelled against the Lord. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, 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 Mail. 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.