Bibleline Radio Show – 2019-07-30 – Matt 18 – All Out Hunt For One Lost Sheep Pt.2


Transcription:

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

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

Look in Mark 9. Mark in chapter 9. a lot of similarities, but just a little bit different, just a little different. And you’ll notice in verse 33, Mark chapter 9 verse 33, and he came to Capernaum and been in the house, he asked him, what was it that ye disputed among yourselves, by the way? Now, Jesus already knew because it says that he knew what they were thinking, but it still asked the question. But they held their peace. For by the way, they had disputed among themselves on who should be the greatest.

He sat down and called the 12 and said unto them, if any man desired to be first, the same shall be last. And servant of all. Now you’ll find the phrase mentioned several times. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. If you want to be first there, you need to be last here. He said, what does that mean? serve now. You humble yourself now and you serve not to be served to minister but not to be ministered to.

In other words, you’re here to reach as many as a servant and you serve as many people as you possibly can. So you’ll be last now because you’re going to put others first. But when you get to heaven, God’s going to put you first. I mean, that’s what he’s talking about. Now, go back there to the book of Matthew chapter 18, because here we are. We’re going to take a whole week and go up into Georgia camp and we’re going to serve because we know that that’s what God wants us to do.

And so we have got to realize that there’s a few things to look at and I wrote down a couple little items. Don’t offend God by rejecting Christ because that’s one of the most offensive things anybody can ever do. Is because he went to the cross, he died, paid for your sins, came back from the dead and offered you eternal life and then for you to reject it. That’s offensive. And so So there’s a price to pay for people who offend.

So the Bible talks about you and I who have the gospel, we’re supposed to take the gospel to somebody and if we don’t do it, then we offend God. We’re offending God by not caring enough about that precious message to get it to somebody else. And then those people who don’t receive us are rejecting the one that they were supposed to because some people won’t know, they won’t hear. And this whole thing is tied about God’s not willing that any should perish, not even one person.

I have a picture that I’m going to show you on Sunday night and it’ll break your heart. I mean literally it’ll break your heart. I wish I had it tonight, I use it but I got to pace things. But I notice, I want you to take a Bible. Look in Numbers chapter 6. Numbers chapter 6. Hold your place where you are. chapter 6. I usually have times I’ve read this even funerals and I’ve read it at weddings especially when I have joined two people together in Holy Dead Lot, wedlot and so I will say this is something that’s really good for you and how you should treat one another but if you read these verses look at it not only as about the Lord, but you.

Doing this for someone else. See you in verse 23. Speak unto Aaron and unto his son, sayin’ on this wise, ye shall bless the children of Israel. Sayin’ unto them. Now you and I, we want to be a blessing. We want to be a blessing to those kids, those teenagers that are coming to camp. And we also want to have a ministry with the college kids that are coming to the counselors. We want to have a ministry to all the workers, to the staff, all those people.

They’re just as important as those kids. Even though they’re just as important as those kids. doing some of the serving, but they also need encouragement and the blessings of serving the Lord. Now get what he says here. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. They shall put my name upon the children of Israel and I will bless them.

Now you and I, because we know this. When we say, the Lord bless thee. Well, people that don’t know the Lord needs to know the Lord. And we talk about bless thee, you know, God blesses obedience. So we want to teach them not only how to go to heaven, but we want to teach them how to serve the Lord, how to please the Lord. Because I want God to bless them. I want God to bless my children. I want God to bless my grandkids.

But because I want that, I got us how to do whatever I can to get them to be blessed by the Lord. But anyway, he makes a statement, the Lord make his face shine upon thee. That’s what we’re supposed to do to the children because see, we’re doing it in his stead. We’re doing it for the Lord. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee. You’d be surprised that the attitude that parents have by the way, they serve the Lord and whether they’re always down and complaining and whining and moaning and groaning the impact that takes upon the children.

So if you learn this, And then you look at it as though, this is how I’m supposed to treat God’s children, because he says, as you have received them, received them, he says, like you did me. You’re receiving me. Is there words, treat the children whom God loves so much as though they were the Lord? How would you treat them then? If the other person that we work with all the time, see, I have to look at Peter over here, as though he’s the Lord.

I’ll look at Jesse, he’s the Lord. I’ll look at y’all, y’all of the Lord. Now how would I treat you differently than I would treat the Lord? If I look at you, you are God’s child and you’re special and precious in God’s eyes. So I need to know and keep in my mind, how should I treat you? Because the way I treat you is the way I’m treating Christ. And that’s why he even says in 1 Corinthians, He said, even when you sin against another, he says you sin so against Christ.

In chapter six, I first Corinthians. Go back there to the book of Matthew. Back to Matthew. Well, while we’re right there in Matthew, look in chapter 20, it’s only a couple of pages over. Matthew chapter 20, and look in verse 20. Matthew chapter 20, and verse 20. Where he says in verse 20, then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children, of their sons worship in Him and desire a certain thing of Him. He said unto her, what willth I?

She said unto Him, grant that these my two sons may sit, one on the right hand and the other one on the left in thy kingdom. Now this is what really started the whole thing rolling, was mama. Mama getting into the picture. Because mama said, these are my two boys. You know, they’re special. You know, they’re better than all those other voice. But Jesus answered and says, you know not what you asked. Because she wanted one hand and one hand and one hand and the other hand.

Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of? And do you baptize with the baptism that I am baptized? And they said, we are able. And what did they do when Christ was crucified? Not what they do was run and hide. And He said to them, you shall drink indeed of my cup. And be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. Oh, words you’re gonna get it. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give.

But it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. And when the 10 heard it, uh-oh,q they were moved with indignation against the two brothers. So here you got 10 against two. Now how did it start? Mama. But Jesus called them unto him and says, ye know that the princes of the Gentile exercised dominion over them and that they which are great exercise authority upon them. And see, some people want positions of power just so they can be somebody great.

It’s better to do the work without the title than to have the title and not do the work. And so if you want to be great according to the Lord, you have to be a servant. It’s not trying to find out how many people cannot get to worship me. No, how many people can you serve? So you want to reach as many people, serve as many people. And that’s why some of God’s people that don’t want to get involved in the ministry, they’re robbing themselves.

They’re robbing themselves. Because, see, God wants you to humble yourself and serve, meet the needs of other people. to be a blessing to other people. And some people just want to bless me, bless me, make me happy, make me happy. Happy, happy being. The whole world revolves around me and they don’t get it. And because they don’t get involved and don’t serve, it’s costing them because it’s going to cost them positions later on. It costs them blessings and rewards when they get to heaven.

And to be able to be used now, the peace, the love, the joy that has because you fulfill in the will of God for your life. Man, I don’t see how in the world you can miss on this. This is great stuff. Look in verse 26, but it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you. Let him be your what? Your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you. Let him be your servant, even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.

So you see, certain the Lord is humbling yourself and being last. In other words, trying to help others succeed. Your whole job, see, my biggest job is I want Peter and motto to succeed. I want Jesse to succeed. I want this guy sitting down here warned to succeed. I want every person to succeed. I want the women to succeed. I want the kids to come direct. I want them to succeed. Because that’s what our job is, is trying to help them be successful in their Christian life.

It’s not using people to get to the top. It’s not walking on people’s back. It’s not misusing people. It’s humbling yourself. Try to figure out how can I help those people serve God in a greater way. So that means you’ve got to watch your own personal testimony. You have to watch how you talk to people, how you treat people. Otherwise you can just treat them like dirt because in your mind you don’t matter because you’re over them and I’m superior.

Now, that’s not the way to think. Now people can accuse you of it. I’ve been accused of everything under the Son of the hand. But now notice when he says here in verse five, and who so shall receive one such little one in my name receiveth me. So we’re supposed to take the gospel to every little child. And whenever they receive the message that you have brought, it’s like you brought them to the Lord. And he says, you’re getting people to receive the Lord.

That’s what this whole thing’s about. It’s all about so when it’s always has been. Now notice what he says, and he gets into something about being thrown into the sea and things like that offends you. And everybody gets offended by something, but whoa, when you offend two things. And that is those that are saved, those that are lost. You don’t want to offend either one, because it’s so easy to offend people. Now, to be great, you serve them. Let me just jump down to the verse 10, where it says, take heed that you despise not one of these little ones.

Now, whether or not it’s talking about real little bitty children or people who have become as little children in their faith in a trusted Christ of Savior, and in God’s eyes, they’re little ones. So regardless of which way you want to go, you’ll find out that there is a point of which we’re supposed to when people and train people. You see, it is a sin not to reach children or to train them. So we become offensive when we don’t try to reach them.

And then we are offensive because we don’t try to train them. So it’s like one thing to when people to Christ. It’s one thing to give them to trust the Lord. It’s another thing. There’s so much they don’t know. And if we don’t tell them who’s going to tell them, that’s the purpose of camp. So we can get them separated, get em isolated, and plant as much seeds as we can. And we want them to learn as much scriptures as we can.

Because after the whole thing is over with, all the sports activities, all the notes and the jokes and the quotes, all that stuff. It’s the word of God, that’s the power. So you want to plant seeds in their mind. And it may not grow right now. May it grow later. What was interesting, I had this man and woman up there in Grace Conference. We walked up to me and says, can we take a picture with you? I says, can I ask who you are?

Says, well, we were driving through Michigan. Late at night. It was dark. Trees on both sides, lonely road. And we turned on the radio and we heard you on the radio. And it brought such comfort to them, such peace to them, listening to my sermon. I’m not on in Michigan unless somebody else is putting me on in Michigan. I was at Colorado and I was out there with Jack and not Jack, but Erleen and some of the kids. And one of them told me, he says, I was going through this one state and he says, I heard you on the radio.

It was another state and I’m not on in that. All I know is I’m on in Florida and I’m on in Colorado. But there’s people in other states that are listening to our radio broadcast. I don’t know how. All I know is that they’re doing it. So I just say praise the Lord. And the guy that’s out there in Colorado, he was so thrilled that when he went up there and he heard those people talk about their listening to the radio broadcast because he’s the one that’s funding it.

And he said, man, it is worth it. Boy, it is worth it. It is worth it. And he was thrilled to death. And I couldn’t believe he has a ministry or a little job, a thing he created, and he was working it. And then he would go out, he’s 67 years old, and he works mowing lawns and taking care of lawn, does yard work, so that he can make money, so he can keep us on the radio. And that’s what that guy’s doing.

And if he didn’t do that, we wouldn’t be on in Colorado. And there’s an awful lot of people that would not be here in the gospel because we wouldn’t be able to support it. So am I thankful? Yes. Somebody is going to be richly blessed when they get to heaven because of some sacrifices they’ve made in order to get the gospel done. Look what he says down here in verse 10 again. He says, take heed that you despise not one of these little ones.

Whether they’re saved or need to be saved. the end because doesn’t somewhere in the Bible it says Paul made the statement I am deader both to the Jews and to the Gentiles the Greeks and the barbarians in other words he owes them something if I’m a debtor means I’m in debt I owe somebody something so he owes the gospel because that’s why he says in verse 16 I’m not ashamed of the gospel and that’s what he owes he wants to pay his debt.

It’s offensive to the person that we owe and we don’t pay it. So God allows us to be able to go through the world and plant seeds and try to win as many as we possibly can. So it’s offensive. Now he says in verse 11, for the Son of Man is to come to save and that which was lost. How thank you, if a man have a hundred sheep, one of them be gone astray. Does he not leave the 99 and go it into the mountains and seeketh that which has gone astray.

Now the part that I like about this, and I don’t think the Calvinists really get it. Well they think God just chose a few out of many. I believe God was concerned not with the 99, but the whole hundred. He wanted every last one of them. And so He makes His statement in verse 13, and if so be that He find it. Verily I say unto you, He rejoices more of that sheep than of the 99 which went not astray.

Even so, as you look at that illustration of a shepherd with sheep, even though he’s not the will of your father, which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. I thought, how can they perish if he’s already chosen them to be saved? And if he didn’t choose to be saved, but they can’t get saved anyway. But this contradicts that teaching. This says, he’s not willing that any should perish, not even one. And so that’s why we should try to reach as many as we possibly can.

But the labors are few. So we know that if we can win some to the Lord and get a few people to go to camp and dedicate their lives to the Lord, we’ll know what’s going to happen to those kids that come. So it doesn’t matter how many. I’ve had camps where I’ve had several hundreds of kids. But that doesn’t mean that God, I had a lot, I was going to get a lot done. I would rather have a camp and have five Greg Steers and do something from the Lord than have a thousand of them that never accomplish anything, never do anything, fallen in love with themselves.

But with a few, you may get a few more to serve the Lord. So you take whatever you’ve got and try to do a job with them. And I just praise the Lord that we got an opportunity. So you pray for camp, for safety for camp, the speakers at camp, the kids that’ll come. And even at the last minute, we can get some more kids to come to camp. I’m greedy. I want all I can get. Even the last one, I want them all to come, all to hear.

What was interesting, I’ll show you this. We had some tracks that we got from Grace Conference from the Church of the Ministry. Bitty ordered them on the Israeli track on my new Jewish friend and I thought these were great. So when I got over there I walked up to this one lady and it was then one of the restaurants, you know, and everybody’s eating. And she was over there kind of like by herself. So I walked over to her and I says, Man, can I ask you a question?

She said, sure. When I do that, I don’t want them to smile. I smile. Can I ask you a question? Not exaggerated that much. And she says, yes. And I says, are you Jewish? I’ll figure, we’re in Israel. This is a Jewish place. And it might be that I’ll hit this right. She says, yes, I am. I says, you don’t know me, do you? And she says, no. I don’t know you either. I says, so we don’t know each other, right?

She says, no. I says, since we don’t know each other, we can’t be enemies. I said, we must be friends. I says, and I got something for my new Jewish friend. Can I give you a ticket? She said, yes. I gave you my new Jewish friend. So she took it, and it was very good. It worked out very good. So we went to another place, and there was this guy standing behind the counter. I walked up to him. And I says, you don’t know me, do you?

He said, no. I says, I don’t know you either. And I says, we’re not enemies, so we must be friends, right? I said, I don’t know. I said, I want to give you something. And I pulled it out, my new Jewish friend. He looked at me and he kind of smiled. He says, I’m Muslim. I said, if this was good enough for a Jew, it’s good enough for a Muslim, right? He said, yeah, he took it. I kind of work on that just a little bit.

Just a few things are not as smooth. Anyway, I was walking down this path and there was about five or six Jewish boys on the side and they had their wrong curls, you know, and they had their little talk of top hat. Someone didn’t have any. And I walked up to them and I just, because we’re going to the bus, we had to get down to the bus and fix and leave. And so I was passing by and talking to them, I thought I can give them one of these Jewish tracks.

I said, can I ask you a question? They just talked, let me tell you, sure. I says, how are you going to recognize your Messiah? And they look at each other and says, I don’t know. I said, you do believe the Messiah is coming, right? Well, yeah, yeah. I said, well, how are you gonna recognize them? I don’t know. I said, can I take just a minute and show you how you can recognize your Messiah? And he asked, yeah, there was a nice relationship.

So I went through a whole bunch of scriptures, but when I told him about Daniel chapter nine, how that the temple had to be rebuilt, The Messiah will come, be cut off, and the temple destroyed. I says, the temple’s been destroyed, isn’t it? Yeah? Messiah had to already come, right? And then they blew the horn and they had to go to the bus. And so anyway, they started walking away, but I gave them one of my tracks and so forth.

So anyway, it’s interesting. You just plant seeds, you don’t know what’s gonna grow. Maybe they’ll be caught at 144,000. They might be in. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The Wall of Represents Sin. The Bible says we all have sin on us. This represents the world, everybody. All have sinned and comes short of God’s perfection. Nobody’s qualified to get to heaven. We’re all in the same boat. And God says to go to heaven, we’d have to be perfect as righteous as God and nobody’s perfect.

We’ve all sinned and come short of God’s perfection. God says, you can’t earn your way to heaven. It’s not by anything that you do. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord, God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us. He hates our sin because our sin separates us from God. So what Christ did for one person, He did for all. He took all the sin of all the world and paid for it. Came back from the dead.

And God from the very beginning had already done planned salvation for man. And he said that he has already determined before any man was born, before he did any good or before he did any bad, he’s going to save all of those that will believe that Christ did it for them. And if you’ll believe he did it for you, God has already given his word. See, when I trusted Christ as my Savior, when I was 18 years old, God had to save me.

He promised. He has to keep his word. And he says that he’ll never cast me out and never lose me. I’m going to heaven because of what Christ did for me. Nothing else. Nothing else. So telling people the truth, good thing or bad thing. You see, most preachers think they can’t hold their people if they tell them the truth. So to let them live in fear, you’ve got to live the life. You’ve got to go to church. You’ve got to give you money.

Because what is most preachers? They want the members and they want the money. They don’t care anything about the soul. You’re not here to impress me, and I’m not here to impress you. I’m here to teach the truth. Well, the people like it, they don’t like it. Christ did it all. Paid for all of our sins for everybody in the world. And He says, preach the gospel to every creature, because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son He got in Son that whosoever, whosoever, believe it in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

That’s pretty shall we? Every head bowed and every eye closed, no one looking around. If you hear this morning, maybe you’ve heard all of this, but you never understood. Maybe you’ve never really trusted Christ as your Savior. Would you trust Him and Him alone? Don’t trust in your life. And look at your life and say, well, I know I’m saved because I go to church or I do this and I do that. That’s not the reason. That’s not the evidence that you’re saved.

A lost man can do all of those things. Would you trust him and him alone? Would you believe he died because he loved you? And if you’ll trust him as your savior, he would give you eternal life. Would you believe that? I’m going to ask in just a moment for a raise a hand. Raising your hand doesn’t save you. I’m not going to have you forward. I’m not going to embarrass you. And while I go, I ask for people to raise their hand if they trust the Christ as Savior.

Well, maybe you couldn’t honestly do that, but I want to give you the chance. You see, it is your decision. It’s an important decision. Determines your destination. So when the quietness of this moment, just between you and the Lord, would you just say to the Lord, I don’t understand at all. But I believe Christ died and paid for my sins. And right now, I will trust Jesus Christ as my only hope of going to heaven and preach I’d like for you to pray for me.

So would you just slip you in a very quickly but right back down to Zingodal? Zingodal, yes that made sense to me. I want to be certain I’m going to heaven and I’ll trust Christ as my Savior right now. Zingodal, if you trust the Christ as your Savior, your God’s child, be aware of the teachings of Calvinism. It’s subtle sometimes, but it’s dead need. Father, we thank you so much for this opportunity to teach a word and help us to have a greater respect for the payment you made.

You see, it was bigger than most people think. It covered more people than most people think. Your grace has been extended to more people than most people think. Because Father, you do say by grace, whosoever calls, whoever believes, you thank you for I see a person here and I see a person here. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr.

Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy. There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of the Gospel Driven Man.

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

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.