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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 prayers 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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

Y’all wanted to know how I got my nickname Yankee. Well, let me tell you. I was born at a very early age. I was only a baby when I was born. But my daddy was a bootlegger, spent most of life in the chain-game run from the law. And he lived in Georgia, and he married my mom when she was 14. He was 31. And so he was all him and my mom there all, Georgia, all rebels, had two girls and they were born in Georgia, they were rebels.

But because my dad was on the run from the law line, he’d run down into Florida and other places. This time he went up there to Pennsylvania. While he was in Pennsylvania, yours truly was born. But when I was born, I was born. He thought I was a little different. I had long, straight, black hair all over my body. I had sideburns, I had hair going down my back. He said, I looked like a little monkey. He said I was the ugliest kid had ever seen in my life, or his life.

And so he was going to put me in a burlap sack, throw me in a river and drown me. People say, well, they didn’t know that wasn’t true. If it is true, that’s exactly what he was going to do. And my mama wouldn’t let him. The doctor always got to the house. I seemed like after the kids were born. All six of us had born at home. and for my mother was. None of us had born in the hospital.

But the doctor came to the house, looked at me, and looked at my dad and says, looks just like his daddy, don’t he? So he cussed. He called me a blankety-blank Yankee. So I got the blankety-blank before I ever got my real name. I don’t go by my first name. I just go by Yankee. But my mama called me Yankee Boy. My daddy called me the other. About six months later, we moved to Georgia. And so I was a Yankee born in Pennsylvania, raised in the South.

I’ve been the most mixed up person I know. I’ve been shot at from both sides. Now you know the rest of the story. That’s how I get it. Take your Bible. Also let me in the book of Matthew, the book of Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. Now when Jesus was here, He was also a prophet. He knew the future. He also knows what would have happened if somebody else had made different decisions. Or what could have brought about different decisions?

He knew what he was doing and he was talking about if what I’m doing here had been done there, they would have responded differently. But you see, that’s not the way it always is. Here in Matthew in chapter 11, look at it, he says in verse 20, there’s just There’s a certain principles that are mentioned here that it’s good to know. And verse 20 says, then began heed to upgrade the cities where most of his mighty works were done because they repented not.

They did not believe. They didn’t believe what he said was true. Repent does not always mean turn from your sins. It means a change of mind means that you think this way, think differently. If you are an unbeliever, you need to repent. That means change your mind and believe. whatever it is that you’re told to do. So if it’s told to trust Christ as Savior, you change your mind and become a person who trusts Christ as Savior. But he says they did not.

And so he began to up-brading them, means to chide them, to mock them, to warn them, to threaten them. Tell them this is what’s going to take place. He says in verse 20, woe unto thee, Corazon, woe unto thee, Beth Seder, forget this now. This is letting you know that he knows everything that can possibly take place. Every option. He said, if the mighty works which were done in you had been done entire inside them, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

In other words, those cities would still be here. But they were a nollie because they have to go according to the light that they have at the time. And so based upon the evidence that they had, the truth that they had, the light that they had, they would not correct the problem. It’s just like Nineveh. Remember, Jonah went to Nineveh and told him, says, God’s gonna destroy Nineveh. Well, the people got right. Well, when the people got right, he didn’t destroy the city.

Made Jonah so mad. Hundred years later, God went in there and totally wiped him out. There was no mercy that time. So God knows the future, but he also knows all the varieties of things that can happen, all the possibilities. So God knows what would have happened if you went that way home instead of going that away. God knows what would have happened if you’d have run that light, if you didn’t run that light. God knows how long you’re gonna live because you ate this and how long you’re not gonna live because you ate this.

God knows all these things, but God doesn’t make you do them. See, this is where predestination becomes fatalistic. When you believe that God predetermined everything that everybody does, no he doesn’t. Otherwise, no man would make any choices because he would be programmed and that’s not the way it is. God gave man the ability to choose. God in his sovereignty chose to give man a free will. And then you make choices and you can enjoy those choices or you can suffer the consequences of those choices.

And you gain some wisdom down the road by learning how to make better choices. And so some people live and learn, some people and never learn. But we’re not robots. We have a will. And God has given to us the freedom to choose. And this is why God is love and God wants to love, but there has to be an object for God to love because God wants that object that He loves to love Him back. So He created man with those two things.

We want to be love and we want to love. This is what causes marriages, usually because I love you. Oh, I love you too. Oh, let’s get married. And so people get married and some, well, I don’t love you anymore. So it’s all based upon, well, my feelings have changed and so on, you know, love is supposed to be love and you can’t make someone love you. God did not want to make us love him. He lets us have the freedom to choose and we make so many sickening decisions that gets us in all kinds of trouble and then somewhere along the line we say, you know, Lord, I need I need some help.

And then because of the goodness of God, he wants you to love him because of what he did for you. So the greatest expression of God’s love was sending his son to pay for our sins because he did something for us. We could not do for ourselves. And that proved how much God loves us. He was willing to let his son die for us. That’s because God loved us. And after you trust Christ’s Savior, does God want us to love Him?

Yes, but it won’t make you love Him. You can accept His free gift of salvation and never love the Lord. You’re not saved because you loved Him. You say because he loved you and he did this for you. So this is why it’s so important. Now look here in Matthew. So he makes the statement in verse 22, but I send you it shall be more tolerable. See those two words? More tolerable means that some people have more truth than others.

Some people have more light, but more understanding. God knows all the facts in every case concerning every individual. And so when God makes a decision and he’s just judge, he can’t make a mistake. God can’t do wrong. See it’s good for us to know this because we know that there is a day coming when at the court of divine justice everything will be made right. Not one person that will go to heaven that shouldn’t be going to heaven and not one person will go to hell that doesn’t deserve to go to hell.

But God allows things to be done according to our decisions. Over and over again you’ll read in the Scriptures where Christ said this, let it be unto you according to your faith. In other words this is going to be according to your faith. What do you believe it will be equal. It’d be justified because this will be equal to this and it’ll be justified. So this is why we have naturally built into us this element of retaliation. So when it hurts you, what do you want to do back?

You want to hurt them back so we make it even. You got to make it just. We often talk about, you know, somebody commits a crime. The punishment should fit the crime. Now you don’t want to take and have the death penalty for somebody who’s going to be in the death penalty. rent a red light. Unless they kill somebody, but they take a life. So the crime should, you know, and the punishment should be just. So this is why we sometimes understand some of our laws because we’re trying to make laws that gives us a civil society.

It’s justice right. Now what we don’t like is when we see somebody skirting the law and not paying what they owe to society. So some people get away with murder down here. Now those other people, they can blink their eye and they get caught on everything. When I was in school, I don’t care what it was. If I decided to do something wrong, I always got caught. I always got caught. Like 10 people walking around always making sure they told my dad everything that I did wrong or make sure my mama know.

And so, and there’s some people can do some wrong and then they never get caught. And I always thought that’s not fair, that’s just not fair. Well, down here in this life things are not going to be fair. It’s not going to be just down here. So you can either accept it or get mad and bitter and let it change your whole attitude of life. But I always know, I don’t have to worry about people who criticize me because there’s a few people that don’t like me, I I don’t know why.

But if they don’t like me, that’s okay. As long as I know God loves me. So I’ll let God’s love for me, pull me through all of those dislikes, because this is stronger. And I don’t have to treat anybody bad for the simple reason. God treat me good. If you do right, just serve the Lord, honor the Lord, and God will take care of all the other. You don’t have to get vengeful and hateful and mean and ugly and gotta do a lot of damage.

But look what else he says here. In verse 23, And thou compernium, which are exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if, if the mighty works which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day. So he knows what would have happened if this had happened. God knows what would have been done if you hadn’t dedicated your life to the Lord. God knows what would have happened if you went to Bible college.

God knows what would have happened if you had taken another job. God knows all these things, but God will allow you to make your own decisions. But there’s consequences. So we always try to make sure you understand that. You can pick whatever sin you wanna commit. And God is free to punish any way he wants. You say, well, I don’t want him to punish me. Okay, then you don’t do this and he won’t do that. And so this is why you and I are alive only by the grace of God because he could take us out of here so easy.

But there’s a thing called grace and mercy. We don’t always get what we deserve because of God’s grace and mercy that you have to also factor into this. But now look what he says in verse four, but I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. More tolerable. It means it’s you’re going to be judged, but it’ll be easy on them that will be upon you because you had more truth, more light.

Every person God has given a certain amount of light to. He says, he lighteth every man that cometh into the world, look at John. So every man born into this world has a certain amount of light. already know there’s a God. Yesterday I was talking to this guy and find out he was 86 years old. I asked him I said, what kind of work did you do before your retirement? He says, oh, I was a teacher. Here’s a teacher that was an atheist.

I wonder if he taught the kids to believe in God. He’s an atheist. He said, because believing in God is so irrational. It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. I said, really. And when I can get him to stop long enough, because he would just kept talk, talk, talk. I have to keep cutting in on it. And I said, well let me ask you this, isn’t it reasonable to assume that we are here and either we have always existed and the earth and the world has always existed or it came into existence.

Now since it’s here, somebody must have made it. Or it always has been. And I says, that’s the little on the illogical side. I says, because it’s got design. And I says there’s certain argument concerning the cause. He says, well, there can’t be a God. He says, because somebody had to create God. I said, well, let me ask you this. If you’re going to intellectually state that there is no God, shouldn’t it be that you would have the ability to know everything there is in the world to know?

Because if there’s anything that you don’t know, it might be the knowledge of God. Hmm, anything like that. I said, also, if you’re going to state, there is no God. Shouldn’t it be that you can prove that you can be everywhere at the same time, because if there’s anywhere that you can’t be, might be where God is? So how can you intellectually state emphatically, there is no God? How do you know there is no God? Where did this idea of God come from?

kids are born. People are religious. All of it, they know there’s a God. They just don’t know who he is. And he says, the world itself is the evidence. God says, the world is my evidence to you that there’s a God. And therefore, I’m going to hold you responsible for this light. The world is light. It’s the reasons. So God gave us some mind to think with so we can reason. The world is here. I didn’t do it. Did you do it?

Somebody did it. So it’s only reasonable to assume. And he says this in the book of Hebrews in chapter 3, every house is building by some man. It’s just natural to assume that if you see a house, it didn’t grow from the earth. built that. And Obama says, you didn’t build that. But God built this world and there is design to it. Now take your Bible and look in the book of Matthew chapter 6. And the reason God is putting this in His Word because it now deals with how you and I choose to live.

When we choose to live the way God wants us to, God says, I’ll bless you here. Reward you when you get to heaven. But remember, now going to heaven is always free. That’s the gift of God. No man earns eternal life. No man works his way to heaven. So in verse 19, it says, Lay not up for yourselves, treasures upon earth, where moth and rutteeth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. Lay not up for yourselves, treasures upon the earth.

Now why? Because everything down here you’re going to lose. If you can have a few things, but you should always understand I’m going to lose all of this because the world’s going to be destroyed. Plus I’m not going to live very long. I think, you know, I’ll soon be going to be 75. And I know that there can’t be many to many years left. Not as many as I’ve already had, But one of the days I’m on die. That’s just the fact of life.

If Christ should carry, I’m going to go and you’re going to put my body in the grave or something. Now that’s not my choice. That’s not the way I want it. But I know according to the Bible, it’s appointed unto every man wants to die. And the reason I don’t believe in carnation, reincarnation, is because it says, and after this, the judgment. And after this, you get born again into this world, and in and again, and again, and again, in the end, no, one time, born into this world.

But we’re going to lay up treasures in heaven, but treasures in heaven must be because of what you do down here. So you see, you don’t serve the Lord to get to heaven. You serve the Lord because you’re laying up treasure in heaven. Going to heaven is free. That’s the gift. God so loved the world, gave His only begotten Son to whosoever believe it than Him. Not work. You don’t do any works to get to heaven. You don’t have to stop something and join something.

You simply accept the payment Christ made, and He gives you eternal life. Then look in verse 20. But in contrast to that, lay up for yourselves, treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust of corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. In other words, you lay it up down here, you can lose it. You lay it up there, you can’t lose it. So God says that He is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of the Lord.

So whenever you labor and you work for the Lord and you lamp treasures and heaven, God says, what’s laid up can’t be lost. You can lose what you could have had. God knows our potential and what we could have done. But you’re only going to get what you work for. And that’s why he says, every man shall receive his own reward according according to his works. It means equal to your rewards are going to be equal to your works.

It’s going to be right. It’s going to be just. No problem. And if you don’t work, no reward. A lot of work, a lot of rewards. This is based upon or according to what you do. Your treasures in heaven. So God will not make you do anything. God is not going to make His children serve Him. He can just make you wish you had Him. I’ve had three children. Well, my wife had them. Those kids born into our family, once we’re in our family, they’re always our kids.

kids. They don’t have to be good to stay our children. I wish they had been. But once you’re in your family, they’re your kids. Good, bad, or indifferent. So when they’re good, they’re mine, and when they’re bad, they’re hers. No. There are kids, but they don’t have to obey me to stay my children. They’re my kids if they obey or disobey. Same thing in God’s family. When you trust Christ, you’re saved. You’re born into God’s family. Now as a child of God, you have a choice.

You can be an obedient child or disobedient child. If you’re an obedient child, God’s going to reward you when you get to heaven. If you’re disobedient, you’re still going to heaven because of what Christ did. But you won’t have the rewards that you could have had. And remember, it will be worth it all. The Bible teaches that. So you serve the Lord now and God will bless you later. get what he says in a couple verses here. Because you have to focus on something.

You got to either focus upon this life and what you want to get or be or do, or you can think about the things of God and you seek that first and then all these other things will be added to you. So you notice what he says here in verse verse 22 verse 22, get this, the light of the body is the eye. In other words, that’s how we see. We go through life, looking through the eye and what we can see in this world.

But now notice, if therefore thine eye be single, pure, thy whole body shall be full of light. You can see, you can see where you’re going, you can understand things, you can see it. But then he says in verse 23, but if thy eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? And then he tells you what he’s talking about. See verse 24 explains this thing with the eye being light or the eye being dark.

What do you focus upon? What do you see? If you look upon the things of this world and you live here, only this, then you’re going to have darkness. And that’s why the Bible says you walk in darkness. And you can’t see. You don’t, you’re walking as a blind man, living like a blind man. But if you take God’s Word to heart, because He says up there in verse 21, where your treasure is, there were your heart be also.

So either your heart is for the things of God or your heart is for the things of the world. And if it’s for the things of the world, God says you can’t please two masters. Either what God wants has the priority or what the world has to offer is your priority. You’ve got to choose. It’s a choice. And some Some people choose this world and they go after it and therefore they’ll do anything they can to get whatever they can.

And then they use people and abuse people instead of honoring God and loving one another. See, but when your eye is single, as he says here, no man can serve two masters. Either who will hate one and love the other. The last part of verse 24, you cannot serve God and mammon. You can’t have both. You have to focus upon, do I want God’s will for my life, or do I want my will for my life? You’re will, you’re walking darkness.

God’s will, you’re walking light. What do you want? Make sense? All of course it does. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. It’s all the bad things that we do. But God says that he loves us. He hates our sin. Because we committed the sin we have to pay for it, and that is eternal separation from God. So since everybody sins, everybody’s in the same boat. We’re all condemned. We’re all guilty. So there’s nothing that a man can do to make himself pure, to make himself perfect.

It’s impossible. But heaven, see heaven is perfect. God is perfect. To live forever with the Lord, you got to be perfect. Well, where you aren’t? So how are we gonna get there? God says, um, your sins won’t let you in. I can’t let you in because of that. Plus, you got a payment to make and that’s eternal separation from God in hell. So we don’t, it don’t look very good for us. God says it’s impossible for a man to save himself.

Christ, does hand represent Christ, God in the flesh. came into the world because He loves us. Now He hates what we do wrong because it separates us from Him. So Jesus Christ took all the sin of all the world, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead. And God said that if we would believe that He did it for us, He would put the payment He made to our account, and we get to go to heaven on what He did.

See, there’s no tricks to that. There’s no gimmicks to it. It’s a gift. It’s totally free. I trust that Christ is my Savior, and God gave me eternal life. When I explained this the other day at the funeral, even with the joke, there was about 10 or 12 at Trustee Christ as Savior. Because you see, there’s power in this message, and when they hear it, and you don’t know where you’re going today, and you hear it for the first time, you mean I can go heaven when I die?

Being that I don’t have to promise anything, stop anything, Just like I am, I can accept Christ as my Savior and He’ll give me eternal life and I get to go to heaven. That’s true. You see, what if I do something wrong tomorrow? You will. It’s paid. What if I do something really bad? It’s paid. Is it what if I do something right before I die? It’s paid. How many of your sins did He pay for? All of them.

They’re all paid. There won’t be one sin for you to pay for. You see, you say you don’t deserve it. I know, nobody deserves it. That’s why it says by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourself, it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast. Best news in all the world. Let’s pray, shall we? Every head down, every eye closed, and no one looking around. Friend, if you’re here this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your savior, would you just talk to the Lord?

See, you don’t make a mistake this way. Only the true and living God can know what you’re thinking. I don’t know what you’re thinking. I can’t read your mind. But I do want you to trust the Lord. I want you to go to heaven when you die. So right now, if what I said made sense, you say, I want to go to heaven. And I believe Christ died on that cross and paid for my sins. And I’m going to trust him right now as my only hope of going to heaven.

Praying God said, if you would believe that he did it for you, He would save you and give eternal life and you get to go to heaven on what Christ did for you. So it heads by nice closes to anyone at all. So yes, preacher, that made sense to me and I’ll trust Christ as my Savior this morning and I’d like you to pray for me. Would you just slip you in a very quickly and put a wrap back down?

The end was all. Just slip it up very quickly and put a wrap back down. Remember there’s no gimmick to it, no tricks over and done with when you make make that decision. Anyone at all? Let’s pray, shall we? Our Father, we thank you so much for all you’ve done for us, but the study of your word, let’s each one in Christ’s name. It’s time to make plans for the summer. Join us for summer camp July 9 through the 13th and fits Gerald, Georgia.

At summer camp, teens ages 13 to 18 will enjoy fun competitions while learning about the Word of God. Over the years, hundreds of kids have been reached with efficiencies at Summer Camp. This is your opportunity I make Summer meaningful and memorable for a teen in your life. The cost of Summer Camp is $150. If you’d like to donate a Summer Camp scholarship, you can do mortgaging 813-884-4328 for more information. Thanks for joining________________________________. 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.