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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 you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Matthew 7, Matthew 7. Now, on the trip over there, they told this crazy little joke. I mean, Louie and what’s his name? Boaz. I mean, they was like a competition, and it was fun to listen to them. Who could outwit the other one? And so I would tell people, I said, you don’t tell Jewish jokes on Jews. let the Jew tell the Jewish jokes. And then you can chime in here and there, but usually you don’t do that.

But anyway, all rules were broken. It was Katie Bar of the Door. Here they come. But anyway, they said that this monk signed up to be, you know, a monk go to this monastery and it will be a seven-year silence, seven-year vow of silence. At the end of seven years, he gets to say two words. So after the end of the first seven years, they brought him in and says, what would you like to talk about? You get two words.

So he says, food’s bad. Seven more years passed, brought him back in, says, what would you like to say, bed’s hardened. Seven more years passed. He says, well, what would you like to say? I quit. He says, well, you ought to quit. All you’ve done is complain since you’ve been here. I like this guy. He laughs at my jokes. So y’all hold back. I like it guys don’t hold it back. But in chapter 7 of the book of Matthew, after he’s talked about a particular subject, he kind of gets into something else.

He says in verse 24, therefore, now there’s something that I’m supposed to understand because of what went before it. In other words, this is true, therefore. And I never really saw what’s the therefore, therefore, because it didn’t seem like it has any continuity. It doesn’t flow together. It’s like two different total subjects. But it says in verse 24, therefore, whosoever here at these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock.

When the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that here at these sands of mine and do with them not shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. And the rangers sent it in the floods, came in the wind, blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

And they came to pass when Jesus had ended these sands, the people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. So Jesus had, yes, he had authority. He spoke in such a way that he could tell some of the best stories. He was a great storyteller. He spoke in parables at times because of a mixed audience. And those who really wanted to know, he could say a parable. And those that wanted to know the truth could understand it.

And those that didn’t really want to know, they couldn’t get it. And so that’s what happens with all of my jokes that I tell. Only those who really want to get it, get it. And those that don’t really want to get them, don’t get them. So it’s only a part of just applying the scriptures to my jokes. But in this little story, almost every little child has learned in Sunday school the little story about the wise men built his house upon a rock and the flood rains came, the floods came, but his house did firm.

And the foolish men built his house upon the sand, see, I’ll remember that. And the winds came, the rains came and it fell down. And there’s a little song that goes with it. I’m not going to sing that. But I want to look at it a little bit more. How can it relate to what’s just been said? Because he says, and great was the fall of it. And there were people who were anticipating going into heaven. And when they found out, when he said, the part for me, I never knew you what that must have felt like when Everything you have known and worked for and lived for comes crashing down to find out that lo and behold, you really were not going to heaven and it’s too late.

Wouldn’t that be a terrible thing? Wouldn’t it be terrible to have come to this church and you’ve heard the same message a thousand times, you’ve seen the illustrations that we use and the clarity of the gospel, and you not really have trusted the Lord as your savior? Is it possible? Is it possible for a person to come to this church and hear it all these years and still never trust the Lord? I believe there’s going to be a lot of people like that.

That we assume they have understood and not really understand and not really know they’re going to heaven. Because you can’t know you’re going to heaven until you know that you cannot go to hell. It’s impossible, you can’t do it. So your security comes because you know that you can’t go to hell. And the only way you can know that you can’t go to hell is that there can be no sin unpaid for. So the value of knowing the truth of the doctrine of salvation is that Christ paid for all sin.

And especially my sin. He paid for my sins. Well, if he paid for them, you don’t have to pay for something twice. But the only thing I have to do is to believe he did it for me. So when I believe that, he gives me eternal life. Now notice in verse 12, I want to back up, and then I want to come through it again. Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them?

For this is the law and the prophets. In other words, we call it that the golden rule do unto others before they do unto you. Do unto others and then split. No, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So however you want people to treat you, you’re supposed to treat them that way. However you want your husband to treat you, we’ll treat him that way. However you want your wife to treat you, we’ll treat her that way.

And you’d be surprising how wonderful it would be if everybody would just remember that. But lo and behold, we don’t. If she hurts me, bam, I’m gonna get her back if it’s the last thing I do. So then he says here in verse 13, enter ye in at the straight gate. Why does the gate, broad as the way that lead up to destruction, many there be which go in their act. And then he talks about the narrow gate, few that be that find it.

Now we know that there’s a way that same with right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of destruction. So there’s a lot of people who reject Jesus Christ as their savior because they believe they can save themselves. They’re lifted up with pride, and so they’re not gonna humble themselves and trust the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. And so there’s many on this road to destruction. In the word, they’re on their way to hell. Many, few in verse 14, because straight as the gate, and narrows the way which leadeth unto life, and that’s eternal life, few there be that find it.

So it looks like there’s more people that are gonna be lost than are gonna be saved. Now I’m not definite on that, but just going by what I understand on these verses, it seems like there’s a few that will actually find the truth because there’s so many people listening to the wrong things. We have a lot of preachers on the radio today and they’re always teaching works for salvation. You’ve got to deserve salvation. Well, nobody can ever deserve salvation.

So they either front load the message or they back load the message. And what it means is you had a turn from your sins to be saved. That’s works for salvation, any way you cut it. That means the lost man can’t get saved the way he is. He has to turn from his sins, stop sinning. Or how many sins do you turn from? How many have you got to stop? So that is not the truth. God can save a man because he is a sinner.

That’s the only qualifications you have to have is you’ve got to be a sinner. They want you to stop your sins so that God can save a saint. Well, there’s none of those to save. Now get this. When he makes the statement here in verse 15, beware of false prophets. How can you tell a false prophet? Well, because a false prophet has a false message and a false message gets wrong results. It gets people to trust in the false message.

And so he gives an illustration here and he talks here in the verse 15, beware of false prophets, we’ve come to you in sheep’s clothing and where they are raving in wolves. You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistle? Even so every good tree bring a fourth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bring a fourth evil fruit. Good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit and a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit.

So it’s either one way or the other. In other words, only a good tree can bring forth good fruit. And a bad tree brings forth bad fruit. So it’s one way or the other. You’re either a good tree or a bad tree. Well, when Jesus Christ came into the world, He says, the ax is laid to the root of the tree. Matthew chapter three. In other words, He’s gonna cut down every tree that bringeth not forth the fruits of righteousness.

And so since no man can bring forth the fruits of righteousness, God says He’s gonna cut down every tree. So, all who sin shall die. So, every man is a bad tree, because every man has a, well, bad fruit. So, the fruit’s not the problem. It only reveals the root. We have a root problem. And the root problem is we are all born with a sinful nature. So God’s gonna cut down all the trees that have a sinful nature.

But how did you get to be a good tree? Jesus was the only good tree. That’s why in the book of Rob Isaiah 53, and he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. Jesus was the tender plant, the good tree, because he was perfect. So Jesus always had fruit, righteous fruit. He never committed one sin. He never had one bad fruit on his tree. All of us have bad fruit. So when you trusted Christ as your Savior, you are now a new tree.

It’s not the old tree reformed or converted. God did nothing for that old man. He just simply gave you a new birth, which was born of God. So if it’s born of God, so my first birth is a bad tree. I got a bad root. I trust the Christ of my Savior, got a new birth and a new root. Came from the seed of the Word of God, which is incorruptible, not possible of creating sin. So my new birth, born of God, cannot sin.

My old birth can’t perform righteousness. Totally opposites, totally against each other. So many people believe that all God did was just try to change this old man over here. If there’s no change, he can’t be saved. Well, that’s because they don’t get it. He didn’t save the old man. He gave you a new man. The new man cannot sin. And because it cannot sin, it cannot die. If he cannot die, how long would it live? Forever and ever and ever.

But when a false teacher teaches people to trust in their works, the only thing they can do is try to clean up this old man, send him to church, get him to pray, get him to give money, support, do all the good things, and if he does all these things, then he might make it someday. So there’s people who put in their trust in their works, but they’re expecting to get to heaven because some not told them and they trust in their works.

So he says here in verse 21, not everyone that saved him, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Now, the will of the Father in John chapter 6, 28 and 29 talks about what shall we do that we might do the works of the Father? He says, believe on him whom he hath sent. The only work that anybody can never say if you want to say that is to believe on Christ.

It means trust him as your Savior. It’s not based upon your performance. Salvation cannot be. The results of a commitment to serve. Salvation is made because of a decision to trust. I made a decision when I was 18 years old to trust Christ to take me to heaven. After that, I decided I wanted to serve the Lord. So I made a decision to commit my life to Christ, but I didn’t do that to be saved. That’s how people get things mixed up.

They got the cart before the horse. Now get this. So he says here in verse 22, many will say to me in that day. Now this many here is the same many that’s over there in verse 13. Many are on the broad way to destruction, but they don’t know it. So many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied as though this is why they should get in. Look what we did. We prophesied in your name.

And he says, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful, what’s the next word? Works, look at the works that we did. So they were trusting in their works to get them in. And Jesus says, the part from me, you workers of iniquity, did you know it’s a sin to go to church and a sin to read your Bible and a sin to do all kind of good deeds? if you’re depending upon that to get you to heaven.

If you’re trusting in your good deeds, your works to get you to heaven, then what you’re trusting is a sinful thing. That’s why God says workers of iniquity, look what they were doing, cast not devils in His name. Didn’t mean any wonderful works and what did He call them? And that’s why in the Old Testament in the book of Isaiah in 64, he says about the workers of iniquity and all we like sheep have gone astray. We’ve turned everyone to his own way.

And all of our righteousness are as filthy rags. So God says, you don’t trust in your works. And so he says in verse 23, and then, while I profess unto them, I never knew you depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Then he gets into this other section. And so I wanted bring out a couple of points to you that you may totally disagree with. It won’t cause me to spend a sleepless night. I’ll still go to bed and sleep just as good.

But because it was talking about building your house, I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Proverbs. Hold your place here. Come in back. Proverbs chapter 14, the book of Proverbs and chapter 14. And there’s a verse I want you to see. Believe it or not, talks about a woman. And look in chapter 14 and look in verse one, verse one and verse two. Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucket that down with her hands.

There is the wise person and then there’s the fool. There’s one who can build and there’s one who destroys. Now that’s the same principle that we find there in the book of Matthew in chapter 7. And then he says to verse 2, he that walketh in his uprightness, fearth the Lord. But he that is perverse in his ways, despise him. So there’s a, you know, a contrast between somebody who is righteous and someone who is not, between someone who fears the Lord and someone who despises the Lord.

So when he says, if you build your house upon the sayings of mine, then you shall be wise. But if you don’t, you’re like building on sand and your house is going to fall apart. So let’s take it back to you as an individual. Not just about salvation and going to heaven. I’m not there yet, but I’m still here. But I do believe that God wants me as an individual to be a strong person. So if I was as an individual and I desire to be strong and I desire to be wise, well, then I’ve got to find out, well, what does God say about things?

So I can discern better if I want to build a house. Now up in Georgia, I built me a house. It’s built like a fortress, I tell you that. I’ve got a big old metal tank underground that’s made out of about 3, 8-inch steel. I mean, it’s solid. And it’s underground and it’s eight foot high, 16 foot long. And I got bunk beds and all kind of stuff in there. I mean, if there’s a hurricane or a tornado, I ought to feel partly safe.

It’s just that I’m so far away if something happens, I won’t be able to get to it. Maybe somebody else will have a good time. I hope they do. But I built all of my walls out of 12 inch block. And then I filled them. And then I built inside of them with two before’s. It’s incredible. I really enjoy doing it. But I built it solid and I also built it upon a rock. Solid rock. That house cannot move or settle.

It’s on a rock. And so I feel comfortable about doing it because I always wanted to build something that I could take a little bit of pride in, you know. So that’s what I’ve done. Take your Bible and turn there to the book of Psalms, 127, Psalms 127. And you’ll notice that it says something here that except the Lord build the house. They labor in vain that build it. So if God is going to build your life, then you got to listen to what He says and let Him tell you how to build your life so you can be a strong person because the winds are going to come and the floods are going to come.

But you want to remain solid. You want to be strong in the Lord. So you listen to what He has to say. The sayings are going to listen to what He has to say. You say, well, I’m trying to, I can’t see God. Well, you don’t have to see Him. All you got to do is hear His voice. Well, where are you going to hear His voice? Faith is coming by hearing and hearing by the, Well, lo and behold, there you are.

So when you read and study the word of God, you listen to what he has to say. And he will warn you about some things that are not right, that are not wise to do. Don’t build your life upon sin because you will not have a strong life. You’re going to fall apart under pressure. Every one of us have pressure. And so we’ve got to make decisions all the time. And you don’t want to be one of those that you’re only as strong if nothing goes wrong.

But if something starts going wrong, you begin to panic and live in fear. So look what he says here in verse 1, except the Lord build the house. They labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchmen wake it but in vain. So God wants us to, as His children, I believe, there’s many who live a destroyed life. Their lives are not what God wants them to be. They’re not strong individuals. I’m talking about in the spiritual sense There’s a lot of people can accumulate money and wealth of all kinds, but that’s not the same as being spiritually strong Because they may not be strong to stay away from the temptation the lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh the pride of life And they fall for those things.

I used to tell people this years ago, and I know they didn’t get it They thought of just how to brag I says I have fought more fights than Cassius Clay, from me we call him Muhammad Ali, and I thought more fights than Mike Tyson. Now they’re supposed to be mean fighters, good fighters, great fighters. I says they can’t hold a candle to my life and I mean every word of that they’re not strong and they wasted their lives.

All they’ve done in accomplish in life is just going around beating up on somebody. Well that’s great. At least I can say how many people are going to be in heaven because of them? Can they still win the battle against the devil? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. How strong are these guys? They’re not strong, physically maybe. But there’s a lot more strength and character that it takes to overcome the things of this world and serve the Lord with all your heart.

That takes a soldier. That takes a strong soldier that doesn’t become entangled with the affairs of this life. So anyway, that’s my view on it. But like he says, accept the Lord, build the house you waste in your time. Now go back there to the book of Matthew in chapter 7. So in Matthew chapter 7, you’ll notice that if I was talking to a husband and a wife, and many times I’m talking to husbands and wives, and sometimes kids, but remember there in verse 12 when he says, as we would say, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

So I would tell a husband, treat her the way you want to be treated, wife, treat them the way you want to be treated. It would solve so many problems. Do you want to be hollowed at, yell at, scream at, no, then don’t do it. So peace, so love. So all the things you want to reap, and if you want to reap peace of mind and patience and all those things, so that, so the things you’re supposed to sow and you’ll reap the things you’re supposed to reap.

But that’s the better way to look at it. Now look in verse 13. So in verse 13, when it talks about these two ways, the broad way, the narrow way. One, the narrow way leads to the good life because, see, after you get married, you should go the Lord’s way and listen to what the Lord has to say. And you’d be surprised how much wiser you will be, how much better your home fellowship and all those things will be if you do what God says to do.

The man is supposed to be the head of the home. And the wife is supposed to submit herself to her husband. But when there’s always the arguments going on like this, something’s wrong spiritually. Somebody’s not right with God. And so it’s better to understand that broad way of thinking like everybody else instead of the way God wants you to think is going to destroy. It can destroy your home, destroy you as a person or you can do what God has to do and if your marriage falls apart you as an individual don’t have to fall apart.

But you’d be surprised at the things that I’ve seen over the years. I asked somebody this the other day and says, what is the biggest cause of divorce? Marriage. Well, wouldn’t you agree with that? Anyway, it’s about 50 percent now. 50% of people who get married don’t make it. You say, well, who gives you the right to say anything? Well, John, I’m going to be married 58 years in another week. That’s this week, ain’t it? This is the eighth this week.

Well, slap my mouth. It is. Time really moves on. Friday, thanks. I appreciate that. I don’t want to forget. Man, that’d be terrible. after what I’m talking about. That’s why you put blinders on a horse and you got to put blinders on that you know so that he keeps his focus and the way it should be. Now you’ll notice in verse 15 down there it talks about two animals, a sheep and a wolf. But I can also apply that to marriage.

You say, how in the world can you apply that to marriage? woman, stay harmless, helpless, and the man’s stay wolf. I used to teach the teenagers this. I say, now, you know, there’s a thing called puppy love. You know, where the, you just look at each other and go, no, like a puppy. Now, you know, puppy love can lead to a dog’s life, But it’s real true to puppy, you know. I know. But you see, and I tell the girls, I said, when he just looks at you like, that’s not too bad.

But what is bad is when it looks at you and goes, you run and don’t look back for 30 years. But the man is supposed to be aggressive. The woman’s supposed to be a sheep. She’s helpless. But we got today, we got the men that are the sheep and the woman is the wolf and she takes control of the whole home. It’s not supposed to be that way. Man is supposed to be the leader of the home and the wife’s supposed to keep her position and when he gets out of control it’s not good.

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That’s 850227 5325. 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. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep in looking up.