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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 Bibleignmenistries.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 very quickly as a brief review to the book of Genesis The book of Genesis in chapter 18. Genesis chapter 18 very quickly, you know that Abraham and Sarah, they were in the tent out there, mining their own business. And there’s two guys that came along, two angels from the Lord. And so Abraham, 99 years old, the Bible says that he, in verse seven, Abraham ran out to the herd, and got him a calf and painted it all up, had it done.

So he’s going to feed them. Then he told them, says, your wife, Sarah, she’s going to have a young one. And the Bible says that she laughed within herself. But he says, I heard her, but I don’t guess you have to laugh out loud for the Lord to know whether you’re laughing or not. But prophecy deals with things that are also going happen in the near future as well as the far future. So there’s things that are near, nears things that are far.

And so says, how in the world are we going to have a youngin when we’re this old? So Abraham found out that God says that is anything too hard for the Lord. They’re in verse 14. Anything too hard for the Lord. And in the time of life, she’s going to have a child, going to have a boy. That’s prophetic. The more you learn about what God says will be done and what will happen, well it kind of builds your confidence that God knows what He’s talking about because He’s accurate.

Hey, how can you argue with that? So the Lord says also I know how Abraham’s going to raise his family. See there in verse 19, for I know him that he will command his children and his household life, he already knew that. So God knows what you and I are going to do. He knows all the possibilities in our life. He knows what would have happened if you’d have done something else. Or if you’d have married this person, or if you’d have never gotten married, God always knows every possibility.

But it doesn’t mean that God makes all these possibilities. He lets you choose. So you make choices. Then He says, I think I’m going to let Abraham know what I’m going to do. Because he was fixing to destroy Sodom and tomorrow. So Abraham intercedes. Abraham said to him, shall not the judge of all the earth do right. So we should understand that when we’re talking about people that will be in hell, people that will be in heaven, shall not the judge of all the earth do right.

Those who have trusted Christ as Savior and they go to heaven, it’ll be right. It’ll be just. Those who do not trust the Lord and they spend eternity separated from God, It will be just. God cannot do wrong. God doesn’t make mistakes. So it’s very important to understand that God has promised certain things to those who don’t trust Him. And He’s also promised things to those who do trust Him. So take very quickly your Bible and look there in the book of Matthew.

The book of Matthew in chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. When we talk about rewards, we know that we’re going to have rewards laid up for us in heaven. And the reason is so that you can’t lose them. Anything you lay up down here, you’re going to lose. This earth is going to be renovated by fire. Everything is going to be destroyed. And so there’s no reason for living for the things of this world because you can’t keep them. You can’t take them to heaven.

So in Matthew chapter six and verse 19, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Well, let me read it again. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rough death corrupt and where thieves break through and steal means you can lose it down here. Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven. And so the reason is because you can’t lose it once you’ve laid it up. And remember that in the book of Matthew in chapter 10, it also makes a statement that whosoever shall give to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of the disciples shall and no wise lose his reward.

Rewards can be lost that you could have earned, but what you’ve laid up, I believe, is laid up and cannot be lost. Otherwise, the only thing you’ll ever get rewarded for is the ones you did right before you died, unless you maintain a whole life and most people never do that. Be great if we did or if we could. But what I want you to see down here is in verse 22. Verse 22 where he says, the light of the body is the eye.

If therefore thy nigh be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. You see what’s that referring to? Very simply, verse 24, when he says, no man can serve two masters. Either you must focus upon the things of God which are in heaven, or you think upon and focus upon the things upon the earth. And he says, to The focus upon the things of God is light.

The focus upon the things of the world is darkness. And that’s why so many people are walking in darkness. The only thing gives you purpose to life and helps you to see and understand. And that is to have an eye that’s focused upon the Lord. So that’s why he says in verse 24, no man can serve two master for either he will hate the one, love the other, he will hold one despite him. You cannot serve both. cannot have an eye for God and an eye for the world, you get mixed up and where will your loyalty lie?

And what will you do? Well, I’ll serve God if everything goes my way. But I’ll serve down here, but if things don’t go good, then I’ll switch over to God. You be surprised sin becomes a trap. It’s a snare upon God’s children. Now, just look over there very quickly in the book of Matthew in chapter 11. Remember Jesus Christ did many things in order to convince people that he was who he claimed to be. But they didn’t always believe it.

So the Bible says he upbraided them. It means he chewed them out. It means he gave them some warnings. And so he says here, and I just want you to get one main thing to hear through these verses, that there is with the Lord there is tolerance. It should be more tolerable. And the reason is because there’s a word that we don’t usually preach on, but it wouldn’t be a bad thing, and that is the word according. According is simply a little word that just simply means that agreeable be it unto you according to your faith, be it unto you according that’s agreeable with your faith equal to your faith that is justice.

God is a just God. And so you’ll see there’s many scriptures that talks about according to your works. It’s referred to the lost man. It’s also referred to the believer according to your work according to your faith. And there’s many other scriptures that use this. But notice what he says here. In verse 21, woe unto the chorazan and unto the besetah, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in tyrants, I know they would have repented long ago in sack cloth and ashes.

God knows what would have happened is something else had have been done, but that wasn’t done. You see you’ve got to face the facts to do what you can with what you know where you are. We always wish we had more truth, more light, to make it easier on us and sometimes you have to do what you can with what you know. Serval, Lord, according to the knowledge you already have, and God can give you some more. But as Christ went around, He was able to do all these miracles.

Not everybody got to see those miracles. I’ve been living for 70 some years. I haven’t seen none of them yet, except the one that He saved me. But I wasn’t there. I didn’t see all those things. Boy, that would have helped me an awful lot. But He says in verse 22, but I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable. tolerable means for a reason. It means it’s going to be, some is going to be more severe than others.

That’s God being just. God knows how much light everyone has. How much truth they’ve been given. And so God is a righteous judge. You have to always know that and believe that. And that will help you also the Christian in your life. Because you’re going to judge things that wasn’t right, that wasn’t fair. And you want to get even sometimes. Put all that stuff aside, that has nothing to do with you serving God. Always remember, God does no wrong.

God will never wrong you. People may, and God may let them, so big deal, suck it up and get on with life. Don’t lay around in wine and pine and moan and groan.” And then look what he says there in verse 22. The last part of verse 22 says, at the day of judgment. That means there is a day, there’s going to be a judgment. Then he also says in verse 23, “…and thou compurnium which are exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell, for if the mighty works which had been done, and thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day.”

Now, God did have a man there, but the man didn’t do the job. He should have witnessed. He couldn’t even reach his own son-in-laws. And he vexed his righteous soul from day in the day. So God had a witness there, so he’s got responsibilities. And you’ll answer for that. But also, people have a built-in responsibility. There’s the Father that’s got responsibility. The Son’s got responsibility. The Holy Spirit’s got responsibility. You and I have got responsibility. So the responsibility is spread around.

And some of us will do what God wants. Some of us won’t. But understanding God knows all the facts in every case concerning every individual and God does no wrong. God doesn’t make any mistakes. Now take your Bible real quick and look over there in the book of Revelation, the book of Revelation. and notice in chapter 20 and verse 12 you’ll notice there’s a verse here telling us about an in-time judgment at the great white throne and I saw the dead small and great stand before God the books were opened now the book was open which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works.

Now the words, He’s telling us, the lost are going to be judged. And the lost are going to be judged according to their works. So you have the lost man is going to be judged according to his works, and you have the Christian, because of the memory verse you just had, is according to your works. So God’s going to judge the lost man according to his works, and God’s going to judge the believer according to their works. But none of the works determine the destination.

According means that what you have done according to what light you had and what you did and what you have accomplished in life, it’s going to be equal to it. In other words, the punishment will be equal to the knowledge it you had or the light that you had. Now you think about this and we’ve mentioned this before. If Adam and Eve once sinned out of the garden. Let’s say they had never believed on the Lord and they went to hell for one sin.

The punishment was according to the sin. The wages of sin, according to the sin, it was equal to the sin and it has to be just. So that eternal separation from God in a literal fire burning hell for all eternity for one sin and God’s eyes is justified. Now that makes it pretty hard to swallow sometimes. But now we don’t know how much one good work will get us. We know what one sin can get us, but he doesn’t tell us what one good deed can get us.

I believe that one good deed will probably be more glorious in comparison to that one sin that got him hell. So you have to learn how to think, to keep you challenged and motivated. Serving the Lord must be worth it. We are reward motivated people and we all want to know, well, what am I going to get out of this? Why should I do this? Look in chapter 20 and verse 13, where he also says in verse 13, according to your works, according to your works.

Look in 22, chapter 22, and look in verse 12. And behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be.” In other words, what you have done and what you get will be right. God cannot, when it comes to works and the rewards and what you’ve earned, it won’t be more than what you deserve or less than what you deserve. It will be exactly what you deserve. We just don’t know what we deserve because of the labor that we put in.

But one day we’ll stand before the Lord. . . . . . . . . . And it will be worth it all. Everything you’ve gone through, all those things, the trials and tests and so you need to know that God has got some things in store for us. That’s why he says, lay up treasure in heaven. Serve the Lord because you and I haven’t got a clue how valuable that’s going to be. Now he will tell us some things but we can’t really place the value on it.

What’s it worth? but it must be worth something. So you look there in your notes where we have the crowns. Now some people there are five crowns, four crowns. I don’t care how many crowns are. I’ve only got one head. But one head, if you want to put four crowns on there, three crowns or whatever, but there are certain things that God mentions of what He’s going to do in our recognition when we get to heaven for what we have done for the Lord.

Look at the first statement here. You may not know all of what is involved in rewards. After 50 years, I still don’t. But go by this. If God says it is worth it, is it worth it? It’ll be worth it. Salvation is free. It does not cost you anything. It costs the Lord, but it doesn’t cost you anything. Getting to heaven, that’s free. Always keep that separate from rewards. Rewards are earned. However, service involves enduring what you may not like.

I do not always enjoy everything that is involved in serving the Lord. There are many things I do not like to do. Now the older I get, the more I love to sleep in, just a little bit longer. I don’t know if y’all noticed that. But I do, in what mind, you know. But I always know I got so many things to do. And so I don’t like to stay in bed too long. So I’m always up and I usually get up pretty early and get going because I, I just don’t like things to pile up on me.

Because there’s just so many things to get done. But understand it is, I do not always enjoy it. There are many things I do not like to do. Your feelings will change. So do not go by your feelings. Well, I feel like serving the Lord today. And then one day, well, I don’t feel like serving the Lord today. But get your feelings. Do it because it’s right. You say, well, I want to do it with the right motive. Doing it because God says so is a good motive.

like me telling training, training to watch the dishes, oh dad, you know I can’t do that. Say why can’t, well, because I don’t have a right motive. I have a bad attitude. My motive isn’t right. I’m gonna work on her attitude. She needs an attitude adjustment. But you try to get to person to where they do what you’re supposed to do. If you can’t discipline yourself, that means somebody else has to. Somebody has to make you do what you’re supposed to do.

But look at number two there. first crown, crown of glory. I want you to look at that one. First Peter chapter 5, first Peter and chapter 5. First Peter chapter 5, and it’s interesting that we’re talking about the apostle Peter. He was always saying and do them things that he shouldn’t do. But the Lord used him, used him in a great mighty way. But notice what he says here. He talks about in verse one, the elders which are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings Christ because he was there.

He saw it. He was upon the amount of transfiguration. He saw all of this. He said, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. He was there when that was mentioned in Matthew chapter 7. He says, feed the flock of God. Doesn’t say fleece feed the flock of God, which is among you, taken the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy and luger, but of a ready mind. Neither has been lords over God’s heritage, but been examples to the flock and when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory, that fadeth not away.

Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves unto the elderly. Ye all of you, be in subject one to another, be clothed with humility for God resisted the proud and given grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, unto the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon him for he cared for you.” More than a lot of stuff in in them verses. I mean, we can read them fast. But when you go back through and you look at each one of those verses and each one of those statements, there’s a lot of stuff in there.

Now look in your notes. This is a crown for humility. This is where God’s the one who knows where you and I stand. God’s the one that knows, see, humility is not a position of the body, it’s a position of your mind. And the position of your mind should be of submission to the the Lord so that you’re dependent upon the Lord. And there’s a thin line between faith and foolishness or a person who’s spiritual and a person who’s just playing cocky.

A cocky person says, I can do anything. And a spiritual person says, I can do anything through Christ. Say the same thing both come across the same way, but one’s bold and. One’s humble. Looks exactly the same almost. Now look what else. In letter B there, everyone wants a glory. Now we’re talking about the king of glory coming back. He’s coming in powering great Lord to the earth one day. And we’re going to rule and reign with the Lord someday.

And remember this, he makes a statement in the book of Romans in chapter eight, where it says the sufferings of this present time are not, we’re not compared with the glory that’s going to be later. So we suffer. Now for now we go through it now, we submit ourselves to the will of God now, and that’s what humility is. Submitting yourself to the will of God. Doing with your life what God wants you to, and if you do, there’s a day coming when you’ll be so glad because God can raise you up and God can exalt you.

Now I don’t know what it’s going to be like in the kingdom. I don’t know if it’s referring to your position of service. It’s got to be something, but whatever it is, whatever I can get, I want it. And I don’t think it’s wrong to want it because God desires to bless us. He wants to give us things, but he says, I got something special for those who work for it. And he wants us to love him. So notice this.

This is very important. When he says, feed the flock of God means to tend to take care of people. It’s taken the oversight thereof. In other words, what you do, and you’ll notice that sometimes you can’t always tell what I’m going to be speaking on, on any given Sunday, unless I’m telling I’m going to teach a book and go through the book. But otherwise, I try to see what do I think that y’all need? When I see the people on Sunday morning, I’m thinking, what do they need?

What do they need? And then I might take them to this pasture over here, say they need to graze here a little bit. And then sometimes I think, well, no, I need to take them over here in this pasture and let them graze over here a little bit. So I’m supposed to learn all the pastures where people can feed. They can’t eat it all at one time. You can’t give it all to them at one time. So you find out, okay, they need a little bit of this and a little bit of this.

Have you ever gone to a buffet? Don’t you love buffets, we can just walk down the line and get all that you want of every kind of thing you can think of. Isn’t that nice? And then you go to another restaurant and they say, oh, we’re serving tonight spaghetti. And then they say, well, how do you, would you like your spaghetti? Well, you get it. Or you can go get some pizza, you know, or whatever. But you find out, well, what do people need?

And then as a pastor, you say, okay, I need to give them this. and I need to give them a little bit. So then you got to warm a little bit and you got to feed them a little bit. So you’re like a shepherd and you’re trying to figure out what to be and you can find out a lot about what people need about what they’re doing or not doing. Their involvement or not involvement tells you an awful lot.

True? People giving or not giving tells you an awful lot about their spirituality. Now I never checked that, but I don’t see anything wrong with a preacher doing it, but I just don’t want to get caught in the trap. I don’t want to treat somebody differently because they do something and somebody else doesn’t. But you’re always trying to find out how to feed God’s people because of what they need to be doing. Some are strong in this area, but not in this area.

Some are strong over here and out here. And that’s why not everybody says, you know, I really got fed this morning, but I’ve I’ve been to say that every Sunday somebody got fed. Somebody learned something. Somebody grew a little bit. So you’re always concerned about that responsibility. Look at letter E, not by constraint, not because, well, I have to. Your peace of mind and joy will come because you want to. Your flock can be your bus route kids, your Sunday school class or such, and you have the same job as a pastor with them.

Can you fulfill the responsibility God has for you without being involved in ministries? You can’t. This is why I want people in order to fulfill their responsibilities, find a ministry, find a place where you can serve, get involved doing something with somebody because that’s how you grow. That’s just how you find out, do I really know anything about the Bible? Or it’s just a lot of knowledge up there, but it’s not working now, it won’t work for me. And so you’re always working on these things.

Letter F, but of already mind, Proper motivation is proper thinking. You will always stay motivated if you think properly. You think right, you will live right. And sometimes there’s nobody else around to motivate you. Now, thank for a moment. I have not had to depend upon anybody to motivate me for 50 years. I haven’t had a pastor. I’ve been the pastor, but I’ve always stayed motivated, always wanting to do something as much as I possibly can, whether it’s to start a church or to do a radio ministry or TV ministry or the internet or whatever we get.

Anything. Whatever the guys come to me and they got a, I think Jesse came about this YouTube thing. Let’s do it. We got something up. Let’s do it. Let’s do it. Let’s do whatever we can do. And don’t stop. not everything is going to grow, but if I don’t work, let’s try this. Well, if I don’t work, let’s try this. Stay motivated. And you’ll find out that it will give you energy. You’ll die on a vine with a lack of energy if you don’t have something that drives you and motivates you, makes you go.

Let her be of already mine. You can control how you think. Be always motivated to do what’s right. Let her cheat God resisted the proud, give us grace unto the humble. Humility is depending on the Lord. Pride is not dependent on the Lord. So you can be made humble or you can be bold at the same time. But sometime it’s hard to distinguish that. Look at page two, page two. And I made this statement just a minute ago because some people can, I can do all things with the confidence in the boldness and so forth.

And I can do all things through Christ. And both can be bold. And y’all have come. Paul talked on being humble, but at the same time, as he’s telling to the Ephesians, he says, I was with you in humility. He humbled himself, became a servant and all those things. And at the same time, he says, pray that I may open my mouth with boldness. Being bold doesn’t mean you’ve been filled with pride. And some people don’t understand that. Now look at the next statement.

And number three, anyone or everyone wants to toot his own horn. Remember I told you this, I got this from Dr. Kurtz-Hudson. So it has to be good. Unless thou toot thy own horn, it will forever remain in the state of untootedness. Maybe that’s not a good statement. You don’t have to toot your own horn. It’s OK if somebody else toot your horn. But the little statement here, it’s not the horn, the two to the horn that makes the train.

See what I have right here? It’s not the horn that pulls the train, number three. God knows and he will reward. Don’t be self-confident or inferior. Now get this, this is a very good statement. The self-confident person compares his best with someone else’s worst. You want to feel good about yourself, compare yourself with somebody that’s not as good as you. But if you feel inferior, that person compares his worst with somebody else’s best and then they’re always down to depressed.

So when you get depressed, good possibilities, you’re comparing either what you’re doing, what you have, or the what you are with somebody else who’s better and you’re depressed. You didn’t get what you want. Therefore, you don’t think as much of yourself because, well, I should have got it. I didn’t get it. God must not love me. Things didn’t work out my way. Be very careful. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold?

Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr. Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man. Every day, we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy. There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of The Gospel Driven Man.

The mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your mailing address. And God bless you and thank you for listening to Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. the trumpet will sound and we will be changed.

Caught up can meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.