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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 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 to speak to you on a subject called Truth. The art of biblical persuasion. You hear a lot of people talk about, you know, God is sovereign, therefore man cannot really have a free will because whatever God wants, God gets. So man really doesn’t have a choice. God just really manipulating all of us so that we in the long run wind up doing exactly what he wants us to do anyway. And so he just makes us think that you’re making your own decisions, but really you’re not really making your decisions.

Whatever will be, will be. No. I want you to know that this week they’ve been having March for Truth. Here they’re on the radio, TV, they’ve been talking about it, it’s on the papers. Marching for Truth. Well, I believe that we ought to have a march for truth, but biblical truth, not fake news for things that are real. Yesterday I looked at this book because you know we have the Old Testament and you have the New Testament and there’s books between the Old Testament and the New Testament and about 400 years of history.

Well those are called the pseudopigrofo books or the homologuum of the books or you can called the Apocryphal books, but they’re all in that spirit of time. And when I was in Bible college in 1964, along with Hank Lindstrom, we knew about some of this stuff. And Dr. Lindstrom taught a course on biblical introduction, where he would go through and he would explain how we got our Bible and the Old Testament, New Testament, the books in the middle. But there are some historical records there, but they’re not in the canon of scripture.

In other they’re not divinely inspired of God, so therefore they’re not in our Bible. Now in the, and I read this yesterday, very deep in the apocryphal book of 1st Ezra, the story of three men, handpicked by the King to compete in a national the original, riddle contest. The riddle was, what is the strongest thing in the world? Now don’t you read ahead.

Don’t let your eyes go below the line that I’m on. That’s the devil. And you don’t want him to persuade you to do something that you shouldn’t do. So, number one, the first contestant smiled as he stood for the king and the overflow gathering, he spoke loudly and confidently, strong wine. He argued, is the strongest fourth known to man, its power can control and confuse the best of men. So there you got it. And the crowd cheered. Number two, the second contestant proudly contended that he had found an even stronger force, the king.

He is far greater than wine. He alone will power among the nations. Kingdoms far and wide bow to his authority. So it’s the king. He’s the strongest. The third contestant addressed the crowd. There is one thing that surpasses the influence of wine and the power of our king. He says, it is truth. Truth is stronger than anything. Truth endures and lasts forever long after the wine dissipates and long after a king’s rule ends. Truth lives on and prevails forever and ever.

So it must be truth. But the Bible says Jesus made the statement, He is truth. Study truth. No truth. So there must be an awful lot of power in truth. Now, the next statement, truth does indeed prevail. It has no expiration date, no time limit, no end at all. It is the only commodity in the universe that’s as fresh today as it was in the beginning and nothing in the future will change. The truth is truth. Therefore, it’s no surprise that Jesus would say to the Father by word is true.

truth. The word of God lasts for how long? It’s truth. The most important thing is truth, knowing the truth. You and I born into this world are going to have to face a decision sooner or later, but is there or is there not a God? Do you want to know the truth? Some people don’t really want to know the truth. They’re afraid of the truth. What if there really is a God and creation is true and that you and I were created by God and you and I are responsible to God.

That was scary to death. What if there really is a heaven? What if there really is a hell? What if it’s true? Or you got to come to the conclusion, well, well, there is no God and Therefore, evolution is true and that we’re all the product of some, you know, on an evolutionary ladder from simple forms of life to more complex forms of life and here we are. We evolved. Is that the truth? It’s amazing that doing this last election, how many people are always wanting to find the truth?

What did he know and when did he know it? You ever hear those phrases? And what about this fake news. If it’s fake news, that means it’s not true. So we want to know the truth. And so far we’ve had a lot of people making a lot of accusations on about a lot of things and we got to have an investigation upon an investigation, upon another investigation, because we want to get to the bottom of this. We want to know the truth.

We demand to know the truth. Do you really think all of this is about really knowing the truth. I really don’t. I don’t think they really want to know the truth at all. I think there’s a lot of people who want to try to manipulate the minds of people and cause them to believe what they want them to believe regardless of the truth, regardless of the facts. Isn’t it true that you and I live at a time when we want to do what we want and justify whatever it is and call it the truth because what is truth?

It all depends on your perspective. If it’s right for you, then that’s truth for you. And if it’s truth for him, that’s fine for him. And everybody just do your own thing. And whatever you believe, that’s fine. Let everybody believe whatever they want to believe. Okay? But is that what God really wants? Everybody just believe whatever you want to believe. And just let every man do that, which is right in his own eyes. Don’t that just sounds so wonderful?

But is that the truth? Or does God give to man truth and expects man to learn and to study truth and to live truth? Is the devil real? Well, what’s the truth? If God is true and God says there is a devil, I got news for you, there is a devil. And because the word of God is true, I believe what the word of God says is truth. And so things that are contrary to what the word of God says, I believe it’s not true.

The word of God is truth. Somewhere along the line, you and I have to be persuaded of whatever we believe. And that’s why the art of persuasion, the art of biblical persuasion, persuading people to believe truth. That’s really the preacher’s job, trying to persuade people to believe the truth. Parents are supposed to try to teach their kids the truth. Even in politics, we’re supposed to be about truth. Justice, you know, it’s the American way. But is everything about the search for truth, Do we really want to know truth?

Now, I got another little statement down here. Martin Luther made this statement, but mine was a little bit different. Martin Luther thought like this. He says, often he says, I study my Bible in the same way I gather apples. First, I shake the whole tree that the ripest may fall. Then I shake each limb. And when I have shaken each limb, I shake every branch and every quig. Then I look under every leaf. In other words, he must be looking for every apple that’s on the tree.

When you come to that conclusion, I don’t see anything wrong with that. When I first trusted Christ as my Savior, I saw this great, big old book. And I did not know the Bible. I didn’t know there was an Old Testament or a New Testament. I didn’t know there were different books in the Bible. I’m 18 years old, living in Christian America. But see, I wasn’t raised in church. I never saw my mom and dad in a church. I never saw them have prayer.

I never saw them read the Bible. I didn’t know anything about God. So you can’t just say, well, everybody knows that. No, no, I didn’t know that. And I find out, lo and behold, there’s a lot of people who didn’t know that. But after I heard the truth of the gospel about I could have eternal life and I’ve become a child of God. I trusted Christ as my Savior and I knew I had eternal life and knew I was going to heaven when I die.

But look at this great big old book. So I approached this book like you would want to go get apples out of a tree. But what I do, I would just, well I am. First of all, I’d just get all the apples that were in reach. you know, whatever was in reach, I’d get those first. And then I would take a vehicle and then hit the truck of the tree and let them more fall. And then I would climb the tree and find the limb that I could shake and get some more and then get out further on the limb and shake the branch.

I never did look underneath the leaves. I’ll think about the time I’ve done all that, I didn’t get all the apples that I wanted. When you come to the Bible, there’s a lot of the Bible you will not reach. But get what is within reach. Learn the truth that you can, because when you go to the Bible to study the Bible, you’re going to study truth. Get all that you can that’s within reach. That’s easy for you to reach, that easy to understand.

learn all the truth that you can. Learn a verse like Ephesians 2, 8, 9. For by grace are you say through faith that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should. That’s a good apple off the tree. And another good apple that I would try to get is 1 John 5, 13. And there’s verses in the Bible that are within reach that would really be good for you and help you to grow in the Lord.

And then later on, you’ll come across lot of the verses, you can’t reach them because you just don’t understand them. A lot of verses, they’re like trying to tackle a gristle. So just leave it go, keep reading the scriptures, and lo and behold, you’d be surprised how much food there is for you to eat. And you begin to eat a little bit more and reach a little bit stronger, and then that one verse that you didn’t understand, well lo and behold, this verse explained it.

And this verse explained that one, and that I can’t explain this one. And it’s a network. And it’s a wonderful, wonderful thing. Because you see, as you study the Bible, you’re studying truth. If you don’t study the truth, you’ll live your whole life as a lie. Your whole life wouldn’t it be a shame to live your whole life as a lie? Because you didn’t know the truth, you could not believe the truth, and you could not live the truth.

And there’s a multitude of people that are just like that. Now, I have here on the bottom part of these notes. We persuade with truth. I got the little dictionary, I got a little things here, and I thought, it might as well just make you some notes. I could just read all of this and you’d not get anything. But you’ll remember it better if you can see it and take it home with you. Persuasion is an umbrella term of influence.

Persuasion can attempt to influence a person’s beliefs. attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviors to induce urge prevail upon successfully, to cause, to believe, to convince. Isn’t that a wonderful, wonderful motive of life? Your power in life is your ability to persuade by your influence on life of somebody else. Because that’s what life is about. your power of influence in someone else’s life. Some people have no power in anybody’s life because they can’t persuade anybody… To their views, either because of their attitude or their way of life.

Maybe nobody wants it. But if you study the truth, it ought to make you stand out like a sore thumb. Because there’s something to this art of persuasion. I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Luke 16. Luke in chapter 16. Luke chapter 16. Now understand. we are to persuade. If whatever will be will be, if God has already determined all the decisions of man, then we don’t have the ability to persuade anybody of anything.

But it is possible that you and I, by reasoning, by the motive, by the way we live, everything about us, can persuade somebody else to make a decision. One of the most powerful things that we have going for us is if we know the truth, the truth. This is why if you don’t study the Bible, you think you know truth. You hope you know truth. But if you don’t live for the Lord after you trust it, Christ is a Savior, you believe a lie.

That’s why you live a lie. Only a person who believes truth, knows truth, understands truth, can live truth. The live the way God wants you to live, to believe the way God wants you to believe. Now here in the book of Luke in chapter 16, there’s a little story. You may have heard this story before, but I want you to see the importance of persuasion. You’ll notice in verse 19, there was a certain rich man with your clothing, purple, and final and fair sumptuously every day.

There came a beggar named Yankee, Elazra, which was laid in his gate full of sores, desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores, came to pass the beggar died, was carried by the angels in Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in hell he lift up his eyes, been in torments, and sieth Abraham afar off and Elazra in his bosom. Two men, one rich one poor.

Is it because the rich man was rich? And that’s why he went to hell. And the poor man was poor and that’s why he went to heaven. No, that’s not the reason. How much they had in this life is not the reason that determined their destination. But he says the rich man died and in hell he lifted up his eyes, been in torment and see if Abraham far off and Lazarus finished his bosom. He cried it to Father Abraham, sin, Lazarus, that he may come and dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame.”

But Abraham said in verse 25, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, likewise, land of evil things, but now he is comforted in thou art tormented. In other words, in this life, if you know Jesus Christ is your Savior, this is the worst it’ll ever get for you because after this it’s heaven. A man who doesn’t trust Christ is Savior, may have everything in the world and is comforted and has everything He needs. All the comforts of home.

But when He dies, it’s hell for eternity. So who wins? Who loses? The man who trusts Christ is Savior always wins. The man who rejects Christ loses. But whatever will be, well wait a minute, does God give us a free will, the ability to choose when Christ is going to all the world and priests the gospel is because they’re within that message is the art of persuasion the power to be able to convince a person to change their mind and trust Christ as their Savior.

Repent means change your mind. Re-consider think differently. If you’re an unbeliever we’re supposed to take that which can help an unbeliever. Change his mind to repent and to reconsider and accept Christ. That is a persuasion. The art of persuading. I’ve had people say, well I’ll never try to persuade anybody against their beliefs. I do. If what they believe is not true, I want them to know the truth and believe the truth because the truth is what’s important. And when a A man dies.

Where he spends eternity is because did he or did he not hear the truth and believe the truth? If a man believes that he can save himself by his good works, is that truth or is that a lie? That’s a lie. To tell a lost man he has to go to church to go to heaven. That’s a lie. To tell a lost man that he has to change the way he’s living in any way, that’s a lie. lie. They’re telling me he has to give money to go to heaven.

That’s a lie. You see, no, that’s the truth. You say, well, it is the truth. It’s free. Christ paid your price so that you can have eternal life and you can go to heaven whenever you die. Most important thing in all the world. Know the truth. Now look what else he says here. And verse 26, and beside all this between us and you, there is a great golf thing. Everything that Jesus says right here, this is not a parable.

What he’s saying is, this is the truth. The Lazarus, well he died. The rich man, well he died. Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom, a place of paradise, but the rich man was in hell. Oh this is the truth. This is life after death. This is the truth. I asked the man one time, I said, where are you going to die? He says, Tennessee. I said, did you understand my question? He said, I understood. He said, I believe that when you die, you just go to the grave and that’s it.

I said, do you know that that’s the truth? How do you know that’s true? Have you died before? He said, of course not. I said, then you don’t know that’s the truth, do you? Are we really interested in truth? Do you really wanna know the truth? Look at this. He says, we cannot go from one to the other. In verse 27, then he said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou would have sent him to my father’s house. So here’s a man in hell, wanting to neighbor him to send Lazarus to his father’s house.

How did he even know anything about how you could maybe keep from coming to this place? He must have known that Lazarus knew something about how to keep from coming to this place. Is it possible that as last of laid there at the gate of the rich man’s palace that he might have occasionally talked to this rich man and the rich man refused to hear, refused to listen, but he knew that he knew something that he doesn’t know. He believed something he doesn’t believe.

This man is in a place that he’s not, he’s in another place in a place of tournament. That’s the truth. Now a person can try to dismiss all of this. I don’t believe in this thing of heaven and hell. Well, I might believe in heaven, but I don’t believe in hell. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. The one who told about heaven, the same one told about hell. Jesus, Jesus, sweet little baby Jesus, everybody worship little sweet little baby, he’s the one who told the story.

It’s not a parable. It means it’s the truth. And if it wasn’t parable, a parable of what? Then reality’s even worse. But he makes this statement. He said, I want to send him to my father’s house. Now why does he want this guy to go to his father? Because he wants him to have it. Here’s something. He says in verse 28, for I have five brothers that he may testify unto them lest they come into this place of Turin.

So he knew that last of new something that could keep his five brothers from coming to this place because the man that’s inhaled don’t want his family there. I’ve had people say, well, if my dad went to hell and I wanna go down there and be with him, oh, that’s great. Your dad really wants you there with him. And what do you think he’s gonna do? Comfort him while he’s down there? Well, we’ll get together near condition to place.

Huh? Did you know the Bible says they’re like wandering stars in the midst of blackness forever? You don’t see each other in hell. There’s no light there, no light, it’s darkness. And he says this, lest they come to this state of mind, no place of torment, it’s a place of torment. Why would Jesus say this unless it’s the truth? Do people really want to know the truth? Now, when I read this years ago, I just happened to believe that he told the truth.

So I didn’t want my mama to go to hell. And I didn’t want my stepdad to go to hell. And I didn’t want my brother to go to hell. And I didn’t want my sister to go. I didn’t want none of my relatives to go to hell. But as far as I knew none of them had ever been witnessed to before. As I know of, I was the only one. The first one of all of our relatives that ever heard about this of how to have eternal life.

And I determined I’m going to witness to as many as I can. And I want as many as I possibly can to Christ. As I know if they’ve all trusted the Lord. My relatives too. But it only took about four years. 40 years. But as far as I know they’re all getting in. Now they’ve gotten some of these we’ve gotten kids and got grandkids. But unless they come, now get this. I need somebody to go and to testify. Look what he says in verse 20, and Abraham said to him, they have Moses and the prophets.

So we know that this is referring back to that period of time because generally you have the law, the Psalms, and the prophets. And those three, this could have been way before of whenever this took place. But there must be something in the scriptures, in the law, and in the prophets of what Moses said, of how they can have and understand how to keep from going to this place. But whatever it was, there has to be something that they would say that others would here and be persuaded, the art of persuasion.

You cannot make people want to know truth. Some people don’t care what the truth is. Leave me alone. If I go to hell, it’s up to me. Don’t preach to me. If I want to hear preaching, I go to church. I heard every bit of this. And a lot of people I had to just leave alone. But it would hurt inside because you just didn’t want people to reject Christ as their Savior. Now note what he says. In verse 30, he said, nay Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

That means they will change their mind. They can be persuaded because they’ll be persuaded if a person comes from the dead. And Jesus says they will not be persuaded, though a person came from the dead. See what he says says they’re in verse 31, he said to them, if they hear not Moses and the prophet, if you don’t believe the truth of what the word of God says, you’re not gonna be persuaded if you saw America. I’ve heard people say, well, if God’s real, I wanna know, show me America.

That’ll really convince them, no, it won’t. If truth won’t convince you, nothing will convince you. Because how do you know that that miracle wasn’t something done by the devil and deceived you? I’ve had people and I’ve visited in the hospitals And I’ve had that little lady laying there in the bed. She hasn’t got much time to live. And I’ll go in here to see her to have prayer with her. And she says, I saw Jesus last night. He appeared to me at the foot of my bed, right?

Where are you standing? Now I could either say, lady, you’re out of your helmet. You had too many onions on your hamburger last night. But I do not believe them. I do not believe, you say, well, I don’t because I don’t believe Jesus does that. And when he comes back, he says the light was shining as far as the east is from the west. And you’ll know, he says, many shall come in my name and say, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And I do not trust the imagination of people. I don’t care how innocent and sincere you may be. I’ve read about it and I’ve heard about little stories where all this kid was, well, he died and he went to heaven and came back and he saw heaven. He did not and he didn’t go. Stop believing all of that stuff. They make movies on all that stuff. They write books on all that stuff. Here’s the truth. Know the truth. Men reserved the last Saturday of the month for the Iron Sharpen’s Iron Men’s Bible Study and Breakfast at Calvary Community Church.

Join us at 730 for a home-cooked breakfast. Then, at 8 a.m., the featured speaker of the month will present a one-hour classroom style Men’s Bible Study in a relaxed atmosphere where questions and dialogue are welcomed. The Scripture tells us that Iron Sharpens Iron, and this men’s Bible study is open to those of all levels, whether new believers or mature Christians. The Iron Sharpens Iron men’s Bible study and breakfast. Don’t miss this monthly opportunity for fellowship and the study of God’s Word.

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. Cotta to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.