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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 air. 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.

Well tonight, it’s gonna be a little interesting, I hope. And I want to talk to you about a simple little subject, bound and loose, because of where we’ve been studying the book of Romans in chapter 7, bound and loose. And there’s some interesting scripture that kind of seemed a little on the controversial side. They’re not the easiest verses to explain. And so we’re going to take a look at some of them. We’re turning your Bible to the book of Genesis.

The book of Genesis. We might as well start at the first book in the Bible. Genesis and chapter two. Genesis chapter two. You know God created Adam. Adam named all the animals. But it says there was no help meet for him. So the Lord caused a deep sleep to come upon Adam and the Lord took one of his ribs and made a woman. And this little boy heard this story and he says, Ma, quick. She ran into it and said, he was wrong with him.

I have a pain in my side. I think God’s going to make me a wife. But now you won’t believe this, but down at Florida Bible College years ago, So Seymour told us this in class that he had a student that came to see him and she was very, very concerned. And she says, the doctor Seymour, I think I’m pregnant. And she was one of the sharp students. He says, what? I think I’m pregnant. Well he didn’t know how far to go into this.

So he says, well, what happened? You know what happened? What happened? He says, this boy, he kissed me. And he was so relieved to be able to tell her that she’s okay. Some people just never understand some of these things because they’re really sheltered. Betty has oftentimes told me, he said, Yankee, you live a sheltered life. that there’s so much out there that I don’t know what’s going on. And I guess I am kind of sheltered because ever since I trust the Lord, I’ve just been in my own world just doing what I do.

And I guess there’s a lot of things going on that I don’t pay much attention to. But notice this, in the very beginning God said this. And in verse 22, and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman, brought her unto the man. Isn’t that wonderful? we wait till the woman is brought to the man, well, sometimes the women are looking and the men are looking to him because it says he that find it a good wife, find it a good thing.

So it’s a good thing and he finds it heard. So anyway, in verse 23, an Adam said, this is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall he leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh. The word that I want you to think about here is this one word, cleave. It’s kind of like two being glued together.

They’re becoming like one person, where after a while you should be able to know how the other one thinks and acts and so much about the person. And you’re kind of like glued together and that’s why the Lord says in what God joined together, let not man put us under. So man is not supposed to divide that which God, put together. Now, turn in your Bible to the book of Matthew in chapter 19, because just really believe it or not has to do with the law.

And may not seem like at first, but I think you’ll sit in just a minute in the book of Matthew in chapter 19. Notice in verse five, down in verse five, he says, and said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife. Now there’s the same thing that we read back there in the book of Genesis. So Jesus refers back to the way it was in the beginning. Then he says this, and they shall to be one flesh.

Wherefore they are no more twain or two but one flesh. What therefore get this, God hath joined together. Let not man put us under or divide it. But that word cleave in verse five, let you know what it means when it’s down there in verse six, what God hath joined together. So it’s two people who come together as God sees them as one person. So one body only needs one head and that’s why if it has two heads it’s a freak.

So only people have one head and the head of the body is Christ’s concern of the church but the man is the head of the home or supposed to be. Now and everything is not always unique and perfect so because of sin everything gets messed up, but it’s still God’s ideal the way God designed it. Now in Matthew chapter 16, now what you look there, Matthew chapter 16, the question came up as Jesus was talking with his disciples. In verse 13 Matthew chapter 16 he says, When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?

Now, that’s like asking somebody who’s buried in grants tomb or when was the war of 1812. Because He just gave them the answer. Who do they say that I am? The Son of Man. And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist and Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them, but whom say ye that I am? Who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou Simon, barjona, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven, and I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build it in my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Now, it’s difficult sometimes trying to explain what some of these things mean, but in verse 18 when he says, thou art Peter, which is a pebble, but upon this rock, the statement that he had made, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, that is what he’s going to build his church upon.

He’s not building the church upon Peter. That was not the promise. So Peter was not the first pope. He even had a mother-in-law. So we’re assuming he had a wife. And the Bible says he had a wife because Jesus had to heal his wife. So did the Lord make promises only to Peter that he had a certain miraculous power to do something that nobody else ever did. So you look there in the very next verse, in verse 19. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loose in heaven. So it looks like that Peter has the keys of the kingdom to decide who gets to go to heaven and who doesn’t get to go to heaven? Who is bound and who is not bound? So this is where you have some of the Catholics who believe that their priests have the power to forgive sins. And this is why you confess your sins to the priests.

And he can take them away or give you some various things to do, but it’s a very powerful verse. And it’s not the easiest thing in the world to really to explain. But when he says here, whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever is loose on earth is loose in heaven. So what do you think he’s talking about? Now understand this. God told this just to Peter. But later on it wasn’t just to Peter. Peter believed what Jesus said about who he was.

And upon this truth he’s going to build his church. So the key is to getting people to believe that message that thou art the Christ, the Son, the living God. And the word Christ means the Lamb that was going to pay for the sins and come back from the dead. So it has more in its meaning of the name and what it stood for. That’s why he didn’t believe it in that name because you knew what the name meant.

So God will abide, I believe, by the decisions in heaven that man makes upon the earth. Now if I trust Christ as my Savior down here, will God abide by my decision in heaven? If I reject Christ down here, God will abide by that decision that I made. So man can make a decision that will stand good for….” So the key thing is, is to trust Christ’s Savior here, while I can, because that’s what God’s going to go by for all eternity.

Either I’m saved or I’m lost. As the tree falls, so shall it lay. If you’re righteous because you trusted the Lord when you die, then you’re righteous for eternity. And if you’re not, then you’re wicked for all eternity. You’re either saved or you’re lost, but what does it mean when he talks about being loosed and not loosed and all that? Look at another scripture with me. I want you to see this real quick. Look there in Matthew chapter 18.

In Matthew chapter 18 when he talks about you’ll notice something else it’s in the same line of thinking. Look in verse 15, Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against the sin against you, go and tell him his fall between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou have gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or more witnesses, every word may be established.

And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he neglect to hear the church. Let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” So this wasn’t something said only to the Epider. This is also something to people that will even be in the church and the church hadn’t been started yet.

So it’s not just something he gave to Peter without giving to somebody else. else. But it means if somebody sends against me, I have the power to forgive them for sending against me. If I send them against somebody else, they have the power to forgive me. And so me forgiving and so forth is a good thing to do. So he says to do this, and as you’re going to have to hear, you’ll see some more interesting things. Now look in John in chapter 20, the gospel of John and chapter 20.

At the end of the book of John, Jesus has come back from the dead, paid for sins. And then you’ll notice here in John chapter 20, look in verse 19. In verse 19, page 11, 44, he says, then the same day at evening, then the first day of the week. So if it’s at evening, first day of the week, it’s okay to have a church service on Sunday night, wouldn’t you think?

What would day would that be? Sunday night. Well, oh, here we are. So we’re spiritual so far. He says, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them, peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed them to them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said, Jesus to them again, peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said unto them, receive ye the holy ghost. Whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained. Now remember, the first time we read about this was in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 19, when he was talking to Peter. And then we also read, and in chapter 18 of the book of Matthew, he was talking about the people who could do this.

Now he’s over here telling his disciples that you can do this. He must have given us some kind of super power. Well, I think it’s leading into a great explanation. What did he tell the disciples to do? Go unto all the world and preach what? The gospel. And when you preach the gospel, as he says in the last part, and I want you to see this, look there in Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. You’ll notice what he says here in verse 46.

Luke 24, 46 says, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoove Christ to suffer, to rise from the dead the third day, that repentance and get this remission of sins.” Remission of sins. Well, that’s what these other scriptures have been talking about. Remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. So then he must be giving to the apostles the right to go and preach the gospel and through the gospel people could have their sins taken away.

Now he paid for the sins of the world but I don’t believe the payment is put to your account until you believe that he did it. I had one man tell me not Long ago, he says, all the sins of the world have already been all forgiven. No, I don’t think he’s all been forgiven. They’ve been paid. But people have not yet been forgiven until they accept his forgiveness by accepting the payment he made for them. But anyway, it says here, and ye are witnesses of these things.

So they were commanded to go into all the world, and they’re going to have a certain power authority to do that. He says, all power is given unto me. And therefore, He says, I’m commanding you, and then you are to command those that you have explained the gospel to Matthew 28. Now, if this is all true, and I believe that it is, Take your Bible now and turn to the book of Acts in chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. And look in verse 43.

Verse 43. Let’s just start first of all in verse 42. Because it kind of ties in with the book of Luke in chapter 24 where he made the statement he had commanded him. So he says in verse 42, and he commanded us to preach unto the people to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to the judge of the quick and the dead. To him give this all the prophets witnessed that through his name whosoever believe it in him shall receive remission of sins.

Now it’s not so whoever the man is the man does not forgive the sins the priest does not forgive the sin the preacher doesn’t forgive the sin it’s whosoever believe it in Him, He will forgive their sins. But you and I have been given the gospel message, and we have the right, the right, the authority to tell a lost man that if you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, your sins are forgiven and God gives to you eternal life.

Is that true or not? So, every one of us has the ability through the gospel to explain the gospel to a lost man and we can tell a lost man. When you trust Christ as your Savior, all your sins are forgiven and you have the free gift of every lasting life and you can go to heaven when you die and you can know it. Now, am I telling it because I saved him or because I forgave him or because I preached the gospel.

This is what he’s talking about us doing. I believe this is what he’s talking about when he told Peter and when he talked about his disciples. And then they were commended to tell the other one. So the reason that we can tell somebody, look, if you trust Christ as your Savior, you can know that you’re going to heaven. Now, where did I get the right to tell that? From the book. I can tell that little boy that raised his hand this morning that God has forgiven you and you have eternal life and you’re going to heaven when you die.

If you believe that what Christ did, He did it for you. Until that little lady that trusts the Lord back there this morning, if you trust the Christ as your Savior, the Bible says that payment that Christ may He put it to your account. Now I’m only telling them what the Lord did, but do you realize the opportunity that God has given to us to be able to go into all the world and the thing that by the way of God is given to us, to be able to go into all the world?

And the thing that bothers people is this thing about sin because of the guilt that it brings. And although wickedness that it brings, and you and I are the only hope the people in this world. God has left us here and we are their only hope. If we don’t explain the gospel and make it clear. Now we had someone that trusts the Lord earlier this morning and we had about five that must have got happy on a… Did you see that?

Seven times? They must have trust the Lord. I don’t know if the whole family was watching or he just got, you know, it was nervous. But whether or not they were trying to figure it out, I don’t know. But we have somebody who trusts the Lord from all over just about every day, every day. And so we thank the Lord for that. Now take your Bible and go to the book of John in chapter 8, the Gospel of John and chapter 8, because he talks about in the book of Acts that we looked at while we go in chapter 10 of that preach, the forgiveness of sin, whosoever believe it.

So when you believe, the reason he can forgive you is because he’s already paid for your sins. If he hadn’t paid for your sins, he can’t forgive you. he can forgive you because he paid for them. Now, here in John chapter 8, there’s something else that’s interesting here. Look what he says in verse 21, in verse 21, he says, then said, Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me and shall die in your sins.

Whether I go, you cannot come. Then said the Jews, will he kill himself? Because he said, whether I go, you cannot come. And he said to them, ye are from beneath, I am from above. Ye are of this world, I am not of this world. I said, therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins, for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. Now does that look like they’ve already been forgiven of all their sins?

I don’t think so. But is he that believe it? And if you will not believe you will die in your sins. Not that you’re like paying for your sin because the payments already been made but you would not accept the forgiveness of God. You wouldn’t accept that payment he made on the cross for you. But you and I have been given the opportunity that when we talk to somebody, the represent God all Almighty and tell them the person, do you want to go to heaven?

Yes, I do. I listen to this. Give them the gospel. They believe it. You have the authority from God. You can tell them God has forgiven them of all their sins and that payment Christ made has been put to their account and they can know that they have eternal life and know that they’re going to heaven when they die. Now you didn’t do anything except explain the gospel message. But the Bible says, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power.

It’s the power. And you explaining it, there is power in that message. There is no other message that can do this. This is what makes it so wonderful. This is why the devil will do anything possible to keep us from reaching people for the Lord. Or to thank something else more important. But you see a lot of these scriptures you don’t really understand them until you’re clear on the gospel. When you understand the truth, the clarity of the gospel, that clear gospel is what gives you good focus and you can go back and understand a lot of these scriptures but because a lot of people are not clear on the gospel, therefore they mess up all of these verses and try to make them say something they don’t really say.

Now look in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, 1 Corinthians and chapter 7. You see when it was talking there in the book of Matthew and it’s all about bound, loose, bound, loose. Here in And 1 Corinthians in chapter 7, talking a little bit about marriage and so on. But then he says up there in verse 2, this is in chapter 7. Two and three, nevertheless to avoid for an occasion to let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband.

Let the husband render unto the wife, do benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband. And he goes on down to it and he says some interesting things and so forth, but it’s talking about marriage. And there’s nothing wrong with a man and a woman getting married. But then you find out What about if you don’t want to be married anymore looking in verse 10 Onto the married I say I command yet not I but the Lord Let not the wife depart from her husband But and if she depart let her remain unmarried or be reconciled no back to her husband Let not the husband put away or separated from his wife But the rest be kind not the Lord.

It means that what he had just said was in the Old Testament and now he says this is something new that he is writing But it’s never been done before but he’s still writing by inspiration And so he says some more things down through here about this being bound and not being bound so look there at this verse and first Corinthians in chapter 7, look in verse 20, let’s just start there in verse 25. Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord.

Yet I give my judgment as one that obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. And I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress. In other words, they were living in hard time, people being killed, and people taking suffering greatly because of the persecution against believers and so forth. But he says, for the present distress, I say, that is good for a man to be so. It doesn’t be like him, not to have a worry about a wife.

Because if you’ve got to worry about a wife, it can take more pressure. But he says this. He says in verse 20, that our bound unto a wife seek not to be loosed. Bound loosed. are thou loosed from a wife, seek not a wife?” But that’s not forever. That was because of the present situation. When times were better, then it’s a little bit different. But he does say, but if you marry, you haven’t sinned, and if a virgin marries, she hasn’t sinned, nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh.

But I spare you in other words, because of the way things are in life and so forth, it may be a lot more difficult. There it could be better times down the road. Sometimes it’s just not maybe the best time to get married. But he’s talking about being bound and being loose. The Bible talks about it in the Old Testament, being cleaved, glued to one another, and what God joined in, don’t be separated from it. 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 4081 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.