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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 talk about a little subject that all of you are aware of. So take your Bible and turn it to the book of 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians. And I want you to see a verse with me. They’re in chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. When God created man, God said, it’s not good for man to be alone. So He created a woman. And I don’t know if that solved the problem or not, but some cases I guess it has.

There’s some people that can’t live with them and there’s some who can’t live without them. But one thing the Bible says that we were made in the image of God, now other not because we can think and reason, have a will and all those things, or because we’re a Trinity just like the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so we have here in verse 23, and the very God of peace sanctify you holy, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, if it was automatic, we wouldn’t have to worry about it. The perseverance of the saints was true. We wouldn’t have to be concerned about it. But evidently it’s not. But there’s one thing that once we trust Christ to save you, He does the preserving not us. And it does talk about our bodies. And when we talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that’s what you talk about, His body. So I want you to take your Bible and turn with me to the book of 2 Corinthians in chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

And we’ve looked at this before, but I want to look at it just a little bit different tonight because I want to tie it in with another chapter. would think, well, this must be the body chapter. First Corinthians 15, we say, that’s the resurrection chapter. So this must be the body chapter. Well, I think there’s a lot more here than just the body, but I do believe there is a body chapter in the Bible that we’ll take a look at.

Because you know, without this body, we can’t stay here on planet Earth. Our bodies is our little spacesuit that we live on this spaceship that we’re on, the Earth. But these bodies, and this is what’s strange. We have a body, soul and spirit. Your body is this house that you live in. Now, isn’t it strange that we can be here all these years? And so far you haven’t seen me.

And I’ve never seen you. I see your body. That’s just your house. But you live inside of the house and you haven’t come out of your house yet. Now, I haven’t come out of my house yet. I wonder what we look like as a spirit being. Wouldn’t it be interesting? And so, you know, you say, I’ve been married for 50 years and I’ve never seen my wife, never seen my husband. You see, it’s just like driving up down highway and you see all these houses, but if you don’t see the people that live in the houses, but the house is what you live in.

And so as long as we live here in this world, in these bodies, this is what makes us our bodies world conscious. We’re conscious that we are living in where we can touch and feel and see and hear and smell and all those things and taste. Those are the senses of the body and that’s what we need to be world conscious. Your soul, that’s well that’s you. That’s what makes yourself conscious. You’re conscious of yourself. You know that you are alive.

And you know that you are here, you are a being, you’re something, you’re somebody. Your spirit of what makes you God conscious. And so we have a spirit, so we’re conscious that there is a God. Now we’re born in the world where spirits really dead means you’re severed from God, but that doesn’t mean you don’t believe that there is a God. It’s just that you don’t know God. It’s like having a telephone, but there are no wires. Or a cell phone, but the battery’s dead, no connection.

And so we have a body, soul spirit. Now, when we talk about this body that we live in, look what God says in chapter 5 and verse 1, for we know. We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle word is solved, I wonder what that means. Well, let’s talk about when this earthly house of this tabernacle, this body is dead, what then? Well, you have to move out. See, some people believe that you’re just just, you know, call soul sleep.

You’re just in the body, but you’re asleep, and it’s in the grave, and you just stay there until the resurrection is someday. But the Bible doesn’t teach that, so we don’t believe that. The mind is able to think of many things, but you go about what the book says, and it says, okay, that isn’t true, and that isn’t true. We use the Bible as our source of authority. He says, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

So God does have another body that we’re going to get. No, whether or not you get an immediately when you get to heaven or it’s gonna be, as far as we’re concerned, we get our new body and our body that’s in the grave is gonna come out. So let’s just pretend here’s Warren, somebody take Warren. Somebody took Warren. But Warren, unless they pretend he knows he dies. He dies right now, just dies right now. Now we’ll cry and we’ll, you know, two or three minutes.

Then we gotta get on with life. But Warren, death is not the annihilation of the person. A death is separation. So when his soul and spirit leaves his body, his body is dead, it’s without life. And so he gets to be with the Lord because the Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Where does he say that? Well, right here in this verse eight, looking in verse eight. And he says, we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, present with the Lord.

So we’re going to be outside of this body. Now, earlier he had talked about in chapter 12, he said, I know a man in Christ above 14 years ago whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, but such a woman was caught up into the third heaven. Well, there’s in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. But he was caught up in the paradise. So you can be in the body and you can be out of the body.

Now Jehovah’s witnesses do not teach that, they don’t believe that. But the Bible says that and you have a body, soul and spirit. So you can be you and not be in the body, but you need the body to live in this world. But God says that these bodies one day will be changed, will have a new body. And so He says here that we are going to get this brand new body. You see your soul and spirit will last forever, your body is not going to last for long.

It’s kind of like you got an expiration date on it. Yours is next week. But the bodies are not going to last forever. It’s going to be cut off and you’re going to die. It means you’re going to leave your body. Be separated from the body. Now we call that a sleep when the body, not just when you go to bed at night and you go to sleep. But whenever you sleep, and that means a permanent rest, a long time rest in the body.

You’re absent from the body, present with the Lord, if you know the Lord. So anyway, there’s some wonderful verses down through here and explained a lot of this. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of 1 Corinthians 15. When we talked about the resurrection of Christ, you’d be surprised how many verses have reference to the body. You see, when Jesus Christ was here, he looked like anybody else. I mean, he didn’t have appointed head, he didn’t have wings, he looked like a normal man and he could mingle with the crowd and they couldn’t even recognize him.

That he was different, by the way he looked, you know, or he floated above the earth everywhere he went. No, he was a man. He was in a body, a physical body, but he didn’t have a sinful body. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, but he didn’t have sinful flesh. He didn’t have the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. He didn’t have that battle. He didn’t have a sinful nature.

But Jesus Christ, when he was here, if he looked like anybody else, what’s he going to do to convince somebody that is God. I mean, let’s say for example, if a man was to walk up to you and says, I’m God, would you believe him? I wouldn’t either. I wouldn’t believe him. What has he he done to convince us that he is God. Lately. All right. Has he ever? Has he walked on water? Anybody seen that? Has anybody seen him perform in America’s lately?

You see, just because we live in this body, and even though Jesus Christ was here in a body, there’s things that he did to convince them that he was the Messiah. Besides of where he was born and what nation and what tribe and what family and and what city and all those things. Yes, there’s a prophecy fulfilled and he fulfilled those prophecies. But you see, there’s a lot of things that happened. But one of the greatest things, they came to him and they asked him, says, you know, give us a sign.

And so in chapter 12, the book of Matthew, he says, an evil and a daughter’s generation, seeketh after a sign, but there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For his Jonah was three days and three nights in the well’s belly, even so shall the son of maybe three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. In other words, he’s going to die. He’s going to come back from the dead.

That will be the greatest proof that he was who he claimed to be. So Jesus Christ was God. But the people only saw a body, a body. And so he says a body has now prepared me. So he was here for a particular reason. Now whenever he gives the gospel in the first part of the 15th chapter, he goes down here in verse verse three and says, for I delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins.

When He died for our sins, what happened to His body? He died. The body was dead. So as you go through the 15th chapter, you’ll be surprised how many references are to the results of what happened to the body. And that’s what He says and verse 4, and that he was buriedryu what was buried? The soul and the spirit wasn’t in the body. Jesus Christ was not in the tomb, he was not in that cave, he was not in those wrappings, his body was there.

But remember when he was on the cross he told the thief on the cross, today shall thou be with me in paradise. So Jesus wasn’t there in the body. He was at a place called Paradise. And so the Bible makes it clear that, yes, that’s where the body was. So when he was buried, it was the body that was buried. When he says he rose again, that means the body was dead without life. And now it lives again. It has life again.

So Christ came back from the dead. It was, they saw the body. They saw the body without the body. How could you prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ? So the same body that hung on the cross has to be the same body that was buried and the same body that came back again from the dead. Notice what he says in verse 5, and that he was what was seen? The body, the soul of the Spirit. The body, they had to see the body.

And so they saw the body. He was seen of Sivas, then of the 12. What do you think the 12 saw? They saw the body. And in verse six, after that, he was seen of above 500 brethren at one time. But what did they see? A body. They saw the body. He says, of whom the greater part remained unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. Some of them that saw it are now at this time when this was written are now dead.

They are asleep. They are asleep. Now what is asleep? Their bodies are asleep. Absent from that body, they are present with the Lord. Look what he says in verse seven. After that, he was seen of James. What was seen of James? The body, the body that was crucified and buried. He saw, he saw the body of Jesus Christ, then of all the apostles. Last of all, he was seen of me also as one not born out of due time.

So he saw the body of Jesus Christ. Now all these things are important because it has to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If there is no body there can be no resurrection so it was the body that came back. But you’d be surprised as you go through here of all the various verses that talked about this body of Jesus Christ. For example, look in verse 12. Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead What rose from the dead?

The body. So as you go through, you’ve got to keep the body in mind. So yes, it’s the resurrection chapter, but it’s the body that we’ve got to focus upon because that’s the proof that Jesus Christ was who he claimed to be because other than that, he looked just like a regular man. Jesus wasn’t the only man that probably has been scourged. He was not the only one that’s been nailed to a cross. Remember, there was two other ones nailed to a cross.

All three of them died. No difference except one died two sin, one died in sin, and one died four sin. So yes, they all died. But there’s something different about one of them. And what was the main difference of one of them. He came back from the dead. The other two, their bodies were still in the grave. They didn’t come back from the dead as far as we know at that time. Look what he says in verse 13, but if there be no resurrection of the dead, then his Christ not risen means his body did not come back from the dead.

And verse 14, And if Christ be not risen, that’s the body, the body. Now look what he says in verse 15, where he says, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ. What did he raise up? The body. Now when the body came back from the dead, the Bible says that Christ was quickened by the Spirit. Where does it say that? Christ was quickened by the Spirit. All right, it’s in Peter. Look at the scripture. You need to see this because it’s good.

Chapter three, verse 18. All right? Just look over there at this verse real quick. In verse Peter chapter three, look in verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins. Now since Christ has died, has there been a lot of people since Christ has died that have committed a lot of sins, how long ago has that been? 2,000 years. And how many times has he died once? So he must have paid for all of the sins that very first time, it was the only time.

Now get the less part of the verse. hath once suffered for the just for the unjust, the just that was him, the unjust that was us. So there’s substitution, the just for the unjust, now get the rest part of the verse, that he might bring us to God. Now why did he do everything he did? That he might bring us to God. And then the next part of it, being put to death in the what? That’s the body, quickened by the spirit.

So the Holy Spirit quickened his body made it alive. Now the same thing is found in the book of Romans in chapter eight when he says, by the Holy Spirit that dwells in us will quicken our mortal bodies. The Holy Spirit’s going to do that. See, every one of us have the Holy Spirit limited within us. And in one of these days, you’ve got to quicken our bodies. But you see, in the Ephesians in chapter two, he says that you were dead in trespasses and sin means you were separated from God because of sin.

had quickened us, made us alive. And so your spirit is now alive with the Lord and your soul has been saved, wash, quiet as snow, but your body has not yet been touched. Your body is the one that you got when you were born into this world and it’s gonna keep on getting older and it’s gonna die one day. God didn’t do anything for the body. You’re just living in that body until you get your new one. Now, I used to ask people, I said, How many want your new body?

Everybody raise their hand. I said, now you have to die to get it. Well, I could wait a little while longer. Now we want to get this new body, right? I mean a super body. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Look in the mirror and not lose any more hair? I have wondered if I’m gonna get a forehead of hair back out. You don’t have to worry about it. But our brother Steve back there, He might just have a four-header hair too.

Have you ever had a four-header hair? When he was born, heavy. Anyway, you’re quickened by the Spirit. Now go back to the book of 1 Corinthians and notice. You’ll notice in verse 16, for if the dead rise not, what doesn’t rise? Well, that’s the body. Then is Christ not raised? What? That’s the body. And if Christ be not raised, that means nobody. Your faith is in vain. You’re yet in your sins. So then He makes the statement that in verse 20, but now is Christ risen from the dead.

How do we know He rose from the dead? He produced a body. That’s what everybody saw. That was what they were witnesses of. They saw the body. Now notice this. He says they’re in the last part of verse 21. He says, by man came also the resurrection of the dead And he’s talking about, yes, Christ was the first fruit to come back again from the dead under God’s own power. You see man can’t do this. We die, we stay dead unless God does something, intervenes.

And even the people that were alive when Christ was here and he raised something from the dead, they had to die again. But now notice. verse 22, for as in Adam all die, what dies to all the people who live in these physical bodies born into this world, you’re going to die. But in Christ all shall be made alive. So God is going to take all of those who trust in Christ and going to give you a new body that will not die.

It means you’ll never be separated from that body. You’ll always have a glorified body. The Bible calls it a spirit body, not a spiritual body, but a spirit body. Or I should say a spiritual body, not a spirit body. You’re going to get this new body. And that’s mentioned later on in this chapter. Now look there in verse 26. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, death of the body. You see that’s the last thing we’re waiting on.

That’s the only thing is keeping you here is you’re still alive. If you die, you can’t stay here. Now the moment you die, which could be at any moment, absent from the body, present with the Lord, I used to think that I would be still in my body, you know, laying in the grave and all of a all of a sudden, he comes to worms. And you’re laying there. And they start eating up your body. Wouldn’t there be a terrible way to go?

Aren’t you glad you’re not gonna be in that body while it’s in that casket? And you’re alive, but the body’s dead. I can imagine all kinds of things that I don’t like. I’m so glad that God explains it. In his word, I’m not there. I’m not there. This is the only thing that scares me about being cremated. My wife wants to cremate me. I want to make sure that I’m not in using my body. I said, I’m totally done with it.

Wouldn’t it be a shame to get ready to put you into the fire? Honey, I’m still here. I just can’t move. Don’t do the honey don’t. I’m like, oh, that’s warm. I was, and I’ll tell you this, because it’s the truth. I was sitting with my sister, Annette. And it was dying. She’s in the hospital. I’ve already done sit for about a week, and I’m so tired. And that’s where, you know, going to the hospital and sitting and waiting so I can wear you out.

Well, I was worn out. But Annette was already in the coma. She was gone. We’re just waiting for the moment and she’s gonna be taken out of here. So I told everybody, I’ll sit with her tonight. So I’m sitting up against the wall and behind me. There’s a television up there and Annette’s in the bed and they had the frames up on the side of her and so forth. So I’m sitting there. So I fell asleep. Now, Net, she hasn’t done anything, said anything, said no response or anything like that.

So I fell asleep. And while I’m sleeping, I heard, Yankee, Yankee. I was scared over my eyes. Because I knew nobody was in that room, but me and Net. And she says, Yankee, I opened my eyes and you wouldn’t believe it. There’s Net, she had set up in bed. She’s looking forward at me. And her mind is as clear as a bell. She’s looking right at me. And she says, Yinky! Us is met. She says, Get me out of here.

All right. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you. All right because we are going to bring you in in here. Okay. Okay. So let’s go ahead and put the call on this device. There we go. That’s all right. That’s all right. Okay. Okay. All right. Now, the last thing that you did it is close the doors. That’s all right. All right. I says, Ned, I can’t do that. Get these things down and get me out of here.

Now, I says, Ned, I can’t do that. I had hated to say, you’re dying. She says, get me out of here. I says, why? She says, because the place is on fire. And I thought, oh, my stars. And I thought I led her to the Lord. And these are her dying comments. And she sees fire. Now, this is the last thing I wanted to hear. There’s fire. The place is on fire. I says, net. There is no fire. She says, yes, there is.

I said, where? She says right there. And she pointed to the TV and the TV had a fire on, they had a fire alarm. They were smoking fire all over the place. I says, net, that’s on TV. And I walked over and I comforted them later back down. She went back to sleep. We took her to our house and a couple a couple of days later, she passed away, scared me to death. And I don’t even believe in Haines.

But you know that can give you a go to bed. You ever think there was ghost? You ever have somebody scare you with the boogeyman? Now remember, there’s some things that are not true. When you die, you don’t stay around here as a ghost. And you’ll have some people talk about their houses haunted and people that used to live here and their ghosts are still here. Now, devils can accomplish an awful lot and deceive a lot and then talk a lot, but when you leave your body, you’re gone.

Nobody can bring you back. You have this body that you live. So in verse 35, but some say, how are the dead raised up? Talking about what bodies will they have when you come back? With what body do they come? He says, the one that your plant is not necessarily the one that you get back. Some people’s bodies are cremated. And some people are eaten up by alligators. Some missionaries have been eaten up by cannibals. Wouldn’t you like me eating by cannibals?

Wouldn’t it be one of them? I mean, how would you feel if there you are and they put you in a pot and they slowly turn up the water and they put the fire on there and it’s getting warmer and warmer and more? yourself in something like that thinking, now how much of this can I take? Would you ask the Lord, take me on that hot water, that’s what, and water starts to bubbling? Isn’t it terrible to think about how you could, how many ways there are to die?

Now I’ve always thought about when I die, I’m going to die by drowning. I don’t know why it’s just that I’ve had so many incidents where I’ve been underwater and I didn’t think I’d ever get back up. So even to this day I never take a I’m lying, I’m lying, I’m lying, I’m lying. It’s only a sponge bath. Nobody wants to die because there’s so many ways that you can die and be in pain. Nobody wants to go through the pain.

But we really don’t know how we’re going to die. We just know that if the Lord carries, we’re going to. But the Bible says we are not to fear, not to be afraid. Don’t worry about it. There’s a song that they wrote called Dying Grace, a grace I’ve not needed before. Another word God has given you grace to face a lot of things in life, but there’s a grace that you never needed before, and God can give you grace at that time.

Men, reserve 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 AM, 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. Taught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, Just keep in looking up.