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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 gave you just a couple little thoughts to look at while we talk here tonight. And call this the perplexing paradoxes in the scriptures. And these are a few things I think would help you to realize. Not everything is maybe said the way we would say it if we were going to write the Bible. And so just like when you studied the book of Proverbs, Pro and Verbalman, it’s like there’s more than meets the eye. In other words, when you first read it, it’s more to it.

And so you’re trying to figure out what the word of God has to say, but I do want us to take our Bible first of all and turn to the book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians and chapter 2, 1 Corinthians and chapter 2. We know the Bible tells us many things that are for His children and that we can know and understand that can help us in our spiritual walk with the Lord. So he says in verse nine, but as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him.

Now there’s a lot of things God has prepared. There’s a lot of things we can read and some things we can understand, but there is like a special blessing for those who love the Lord. And I’ll show you a verse that says that in just a moment. But just like we often say that our favorite verses Romans 828, to those who are called according to his promise, but right before I said that love him, all things work together for good to them that love God.

And so some people love God, some people don’t love God. Now I’m glad that we don’t have to love God to go to heaven, but we should love him because he loved us first. And so this is what God wants us to do. But he says he had to reveal things unto us in verse 10 and go on down through here, kind of let you see that if we had the Spirit of God living within us, then the Holy Spirit of God can teach us things about God.

So He has given to us the Holy Spirit so that we can know the things that nobody else can know unless you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you. They become words on paper but you don’t really know the spiritual meaning of it and what it can do for you. So it’s a matter of trusting Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit in dwells you, and then there’s saying God wants to teach us. So we have the author of the Word of God living inside of us to teach us his word.

He wrote it, he ought to know what it says. So he says here that in verse 12, now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God. That we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. So there’s a lot of things that God has freely put down in His Word and we can know them. But now He says the natural man. Now the natural man is the lost man, the man that does not have the Holy Spirit living within him.

So you see there in verse 14, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. For their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because these things are spiritually discerned and without the Holy Spirit to discern it, you don’t get it. There’s a lot of people that are lost and they can go through the Bible and quote verses and all the rest of it and look how many cannot get salvation clear. I am amazed all the time how many people and they know the Hebrew, they know the Greek, they even know English and they cannot fathom the idea salvation is really free.

They’ve got to add something to it. They do. Don, look what he says in verse 13, which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teach it, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual means. Now, I want you to look at one other verse here, because this verse says that those who know Christ is saved and are spiritually minded, he says you can discern things that the carnal minded Christian cannot discern. In verse 15, but he that is spiritual, judge it or can discern.

all things that he himself is judged of no man because the carnal man and the lost man cannot discern a spiritual man. A spiritual man can discern the others, but there are things that you will see and understand. Then he says here in verse 1 of chapter 3, and I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it.

Yet now are you able, neither yet. For you are yet carnal. In other words, you’re like a lost man. You’re fleshly minded. You’re not minding the spirit. So in your notes here, I have, this will be foolish thinking for a lost man and also a carnal Christian. Because a carnal Christian is a, he’s saved, but he’s, he lived like a lost man. He thinks like a lost man. until you begin to think the way God wants you to think.

And so your discernment is not as sharp, it’s not as keen. You don’t always see and understand things. So the first thing we’ve mentioned here, look at the word I have here in the bold, the words in the bold, it texts. Neither can a carnal Christian fully understand them because they will lack spiritual understanding. When you are carnally minded, God’s way will seem foolish. God’s way to the lost man seems foolish, and God’s way to the carnal Christian all also seem foolish.

Now in your own mind, you’ll use your own judgment and of course, you know how smart you are. And so you don’t see and understand it as much. Now these verses we have looked at in before, I think the last two or three times that I have taught, I have referred to these verses and there’s a reason. Well we have the word, remember, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. So evidently there has to be wicked and there has to be unrighteous men.

And the way they live or the way you think. So we have ways and we have thoughts. But he makes his statement, let them return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God and He will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways, my ways, sayeth the Lord. This is why you and I will not always see eye to eye on everything because sometimes you’ll see the scriptures and you’ll look at it one way and somebody else can look at the scripture and look at it a totally different way.

So you try to cut people a little slack. Not everybody sees eye to eye on everything. We have, I think, some good good men on our board, but we don’t probably see everything eye to eye. We’re close to mostly, I don’t know anything I’ve had we’ve had disagreement on, but if we have a board meeting and something comes up and three’s for it and two’s against it. Well, let’s just table that until we’re more unity in our minds because no sense split in our board, right?

So we don’t we’ll just table that we don’t need to that’s not must not be that important because some things you just don’t have to worry about. But now look at the next statement. Number one, if we desire to conquer, we must surrender. If we want to conquer, you have to, now that’s a paradox. That don’t seem like the way you got to fight harder. Well, with the Lord though, it’s a little bit different. With the Lord you’ll always win and without the Lord you’re going to lose.

So if you want to win, you’ll have to surrender to the one that can make you win. And that’s the Lord. Now, I have a songbook up here. Years ago, when I was at Northside Baptist Church, they got through with the singing. I think it might have been a Wednesday night, Sunday night, but I know it was in the evening service. And Dr. Virgil Edwards was speaking, and I don’t remember his sermon, but I do remember the song they closed with.

It was the first time I ever heard the song. Take my life and let it be. In other words, if you want to serve the Lord and when I heard them sing that song that night, I was sitting right back here about where Louie is at and I just teared up. I just cried. You see, I had trusted Christ as my Savior, but I didn’t know a lot about serving the Lord. I didn’t know anything about Bible colleges and things like that.

I never looked at myself as somebody that might wind up going and be a preacher. I was just a kid who trusted the Lord. I know I’m going to have him when I die. And I wanted to do something for the Lord so bad as about to die. But I didn’t know what you did. I didn’t know what to do. And I didn’t have anybody really guiding me that close. It’s at my father-in-law. And he wasn’t there all the time, but he got me going to North Side Baptist Church.

And so they had everybody stand. And so when everybody stood, they sung this song, take my life. and let it be. And I think a lot of Christians just saying, take my life and let me be. Just let me leave me alone. But I want you just to follow me. Number one, take my life and let it be. Consecrated Lord to thee. Take my moments and my days and let them flow in ceaseless praise. Let me not, I love that.

Number two, Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee. Number three, take my voice and let me sing always only for my King. Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from thee. Number four, take my silver and my gold, not a might what I withhold. Take my intellect and use every power as thou shalt choose. Number five, take my will and make it thine.

It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, besieging it thine on. It shall be thy royal throne. I like that. I don’t like it for putting it in for salvation, but after you’re saved, I didn’t see any problem with it. Take my love, my Lord I pour at thy feet, its treasure store. Take myself and I will be ever only off of thee. I knew nothing about dedications. I never heard a dedication sermon, not until I heard the Jim Tensions story at camp at Boca Raton in 1964.

But I heard this song and I wanted to at that moment as I stood there and I cried, I said, Lord, whatever I am you can have. However you can use me, you can use me. See, at that time, see, I’d already been out of school. I finished the seventh, what grade was it anyway I finished? No, it doesn’t matter, I never finished school. Well, I finished the tenth grade, I know that. Been to have just three years of my life there.

Not really. But I wanted to do something for the Lord, but had no clue what it might be. So I, in my own mind, I told the Lord, I want to do what this song says. And I don’t know if anybody else and not had nothing to do with anybody else, It’s just in my mind standing there as a last invitation song, and that’s meant unlawfully. Songs can have a great impact in your life. And there’s certain songs that men, I just love them.

And we have a lot of good songs. I remember listening to Dr. Lee Robertson at the close of a service, and he had thousands of people there in Tennessee’s Temple School with big and Highland Park Baptist Church. And a lot of times at the end of a service, he’d say, oh, let’s all stand, And it was saying, he had a powerful voice, his scene, Lord, lace him soul upon my heart. That song we sing. That’s why I first heard it.

Now it was in 1964 at the Highland Park Baptist Church, Lord, lace him soul upon my heart. And when that soul to thee. But anyway, go back here at your notes. I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. That is a presentation that you make to the Lord. Lord, this body that I have belongs to you. We covered verses the other night about how that we’ve been bought with the price.

We belong to the Lord. So we wanna surrender it. So you present your body, in other words, some people they put their, well, here’s the altar right down here. So they come down and they put their cells on the altar. on the altar and then they get up off the offer and go home. They come back and they put on the altar and then they get up and go back home. Now, it should be a living sacrifice that belongs to the Lord every day of our lives.

We should sacrifice whatever it is God wants, let Him have your life, let Him do whatever He wants to. Don’t fight a God. You resist God, you fight God, you lose. What’s the advantage? What’s the purpose? And you’d be surprised what God can do with a person, but sometimes people have a strong, stubborn will and will not submit themselves to the Lord. And then the next verse, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

And I talked at the last meeting that we had about surrendering your body, surrendering your mind, surrendering your will. and those things are important. I put this little illustration in here because I heard it one time. Some guy was preaching and he used this illustration about, you know, depending on God, dependent on God. And it’s so often that we say those words, I’m dependent on God. He says, daddy came out the backyard. He saw his son trying to move his gray, big old rock.

And he got down and he would push it, and the rock couldn’t push it. He got his hand underneath it. He tried to lift it. He couldn’t lift it. He got his back on to it and just feet out there, and he would do anything he could, put all of his power and he could not move that rock. He looked up his dead. He said, I tried everything, everything. And I can’t move this rock. I quit. And he got mad and started going in the house.

And the daddy says, come back here. He says, you haven’t tried everything. I did, Dad. I did. He says, no, you didn’t. You tried all that you could do, but that’s not all that can be done. He says, you didn’t ask me. You’d be surprised how many times we’re trying to solve our problems and all of anything else. And God’s sitting up and saying, well, are you gonna ask me or not? Are you gonna ask me to help do anything?

And some God sometimes just lets you handle it. But God says, would you let me handle that? So the dad says, so that stick over there, he said, get that stick. He says, see that smaller rock over there? You can lift that one, go get that rock. He said, now put it right up here next to the other rock. Or now take that stick and put it right down in there like that. He said, now get back on his end here.

Now, hold on to that stick. And he put a little weight and moved the rock. It was easy. He just didn’t know what to do. There’s things that’ll come in our life, and we don’t know what to do. Trust the Lord. Go to the Lord. Lord, I need help. Like David says, help me speakily. Like I need it right away. Look at the next statement. Therefore, if thou an enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink, for in so doing thou shall he coals of firing his head.

Be not, and here’s an important verse, be not overcome of evil, underlined the last part of this. But overcome evil with what? With good. Everywhere Jesus went, Jesus went about doing good. Whatever it is, it ought to be good. Try to do good by everything and everybody you possibly can. Try to do the right thing. And that’s in Romans chapter 12 and there’s 21. Number two there, if we desire to live, we must die. But we’re talking about living a certain way, for a certain individual.

And I want you to take your Bible, look in the book of Romans in chapter eight. The book of Romans in chapter eight. And Romans in chapter eight, there’s an interesting little statement here. In view of what we’ve already covered about the lost man and the Christian that’s carnal-minded. Here in the book of Romans in chapter eight, look in verse five, for they that are after this flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit, for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

So a Christian, see, can be spiritually-minded because he got the new birth. He can also be carnally minded or fleshly minded because he has an old nature. But he says that the carnal mind, the fleshly mind cannot please God. Now look what he says there in verse seven. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. God doesn’t want us to remain babes in the Lord. So he wants us to study his word so that we can grow mature and learn how to discern and try to make the wise decisions that we should.

But if you don’t, you’ll be fleshly minded. And so to be spiritually minded means you mind the spirit. To be fleshly minded means you mind the flesh. And you have these two dynamic, powerful drives inside of you. So he says in verse 8, so then they that are in the flesh can not please God. So we often say that when you trust Christ to save you, you are in the Spirit. That’s your position. If you’re lost, then you can end the flesh.

That’s how you were. But when you’re a Christian… And you’re walking after the flesh, then you’re living like a lost man, and the man in the flesh cannot please God. But you need to know this and understand it because this is a battle, you don’t fight it one day of your life. This is a battle that will face you every day of your life. If you live to be as old as me, you’re still going to have that battle that you’ve got to face.

You’ve got to fight it. And so he says here in verse nine, but ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he’s not of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Now you have a choice. You’re living in a body and God wants to borrow the body temporarily, you know, for the rest of your life.

Time men up for the moment. He wants to use your body and you’re living inside of it. And you can use it to bring forth the flesh, desires, or the spiritual desires. One is life and one is death. One draws you closer to the Lord and the other one separates you, death separation and divides you and it causes you to waste or lose your life. So he says down here in verse 13, for if ye live after the flesh, you shall die.

But if ye through the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. So the key to living is dying to the flesh. And that’s a difficult thing to do. That’s so easy to preach. I just crucified the flesh. All the flesh being crucified. That’s so, so easy to say. Now, live for the Lord. Now, that’s a little bit more difficult. But once you learn what God means, it becomes easier. It’s just like you get in a habit of doing what’s right.

But you never want to lose that sensitivity that you have between you and the Lord, where your conscience is that I want to please the Lord. And this is why you’ll find out there’s things that will prick your mind. It means that if your heart can dim you, you do something, your heart condemns you, That’s because it made you feel guilty, because what you did wrong. So you wanna correct that. So everybody has a conscience. And I got a sermon I’m gonna be bringing on that here, but that’s down the road.

And I think it’ll be good for you. But now this verse is so important because you’re talking about you can live or you can die. It means that your life is a fleshly life or you have a spiritual, godly life. But it’s a decision that you can make. And it’s a battle that you have to watch all the time, because some people just want to walk out the line and see how close they can get to the age without going over.

Well, may not be the best decision. There is a good verse. But look at this old statement I wrote here. “‘Live each day as though you have already lost everything “‘of any value in this world. “‘And you put all of your value, “‘your treasures is on the other side.'” So whatever I have in this world, If I lose it all, the greatest thing I’ve ever had is the Lord and I can’t lose Him. I can lose everything else in the world.

I can lose my wife and I can lose my kids and I can lose my job and I can lose my health. I can lose everything. But you don’t want to lose that walk that you have with the Lord because nobody can take that from you. You’re the one that’s in charge of that. So keep that in mind. The next statement, sacrifice everything every day. This day belongs to the Lord. whatever I have is all yours. You can do whatever you want.

You can give me, you can take. Blessed be the name of the Lord. But look at this statement. This is what Paul says is Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20. I am crucified with Christ. It means I died. Nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ lived in me and the life which I now live in the flesh means living in the body. He’s not talking about living in sinful lust and so forth. Living in his body. I live by the faith of the Son of God who love me.

You think that’s important? Who loved me? It’ll be one of the strongest motivations of your life because if you love the Lord, that is the key for overcoming the love of the whole world and anything else. But if you lose your first love, you lose that love for the Lord, you have nothing to restrain you because you’re willing to do whatever it because of love. In the book of Revelation in chapter 3, to the church at Ephesus, he says, you’re doing a wonderful job, but I have somewhat against you.

Thou has left thy first love. In other words, you don’t love me like you used to. You think God wants us to love him? That’s what he talks about over and over and over again in his word. Now look at number three. If we desire to save our life, we must lose our life. He that find that his life shall lose it. And he that loses his life, get these words for my sake shall find it. There is no other way to save your life.

We sacrifice our rights to live our life in order to live his life. If you want to live the Christian life, you have to be a Christian. of upliving your life. You’re accepting his life for yours. That’s a pretty good trade. Don’t we think it’s a pretty good deal whenever we say Christ took all of my sins and paid for them and gave me eternal life. What a trade. Look what He got. Look what I got. Well when it comes to the Christian life God says look I want you to give up your life and let me live my life through you so that you belong to the Lord.

And God will bless you for doing so. But look in 2 Corinthians in chapter 5, 2 Corinthians in chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 14, I believe is a tremendous motivating verse because to the greatest motivations that we have in life is love and fear, love and fear. But love is powerful because if you love the Lord with all your heart. Why do you think that the commandments is about loving the Lord with all your heart and loving one another because of what it can do for you?

All the law is fulfilled in what? One word. What is that one word? That word is love. And you have to love the Lord enough that you’ll do whatever God wants you to do. Now notice what he says here in verse 14, the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judged that if one died for all, then all were dead. And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth mean from not one live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again.

That’s what God wants us to do. Now, I could go all the way down to verse 3, but I want you to look at another verse with me. Look in the book of John chapter 14, the gospel of John, chapter 14. The gospel of John and chapter 14, now these verses are not written down in your notes, but if you want to write them down there would be nothing good thing to do. But look what he says here in verse 21, he that hath my commandments and keep of them, he it is that loveth me.

And he that loveth me shall be loved of my father. And I will love him and manifest myself to him. In other words, I believe that there’s like a special love for those who love the Lord. Now God loves everybody, but there are some who are going to manifest that love toward the Lord. And he said, I will manifest myself to you. In other words, I will reveal things to you or teach you and draw you closer than the person who doesn’t love me.

Does God so love the world? Yes. But not everybody loves him. But he said, if you’ll love me, he says him with my father on earth. And if you love me, he says, this is what I want you to do. But if you don’t love the Lord, it’s just like having a kid. But if the kids don’t love you anymore, it’s hard for them to obey you. But if they love you, then that’s a piece a cake. Love can make it easy.

Love makes it wonderful. But if that’s not, then they become very, very bayous. So I think this verse is a very good verse to keep it in mind. Don’t miss out on all the fun. Join Pastor Jesse and Kyla Martinez on Thursday nights from 7 to 9 p.m. for Tampa Youth Ranch and Calvary Community Church. Tampa Youth Ranch is a great mix of live music, games, Bible study, food and fun where teens 13 to 18 get to know God and the Bible with their friends.

Check it out online at tampayouthranch.org and see the cool pictures from past activities and all the fun you’ve been missing. No right? No problem. Call 813-334-4655 today for information on getting a ride to Tampa Youth Ranch. Thanks for joining us on Bible Eye. 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.