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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 air. We just 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.

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 one to put works and what did he call them and that’s why in the Old Testament in the book of Isaiah and 64 and 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, well 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, I wanted to 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 back. Proverbs 14. book of Proverbs in chapter 14. And there’s a verse I want you to see. Believe it or not, talks about a woman. Look in chapter 14 and look in verse 1, verse 1 and verse 2. Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish pluck it 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 seven. And then he says to verse two, he that walketh in his uprightness, feareth 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 bewise. 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 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 3,8th and 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 befores. It’s incredible. I really enjoy doing it, but I built it solid and I also built it up on a rock. Solid rock. That house cannot move or settle in.

It’s on a rock. And so I feel comfortable 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. And take your Bible and turn there to the book of Psalms. and 27, Psalm 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 of God. Listen to what he has to say. You see, 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 cometh by hearing and hearing by the, whoa, 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 gonna fall apart under pressure. Every one of us have pressure. And so we’ve gotta make decisions all the time. And you don’t wanna 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 one. except the Lord bill the house. They labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchmen wakeeth 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 who 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 I was just trying to brag. I said, I have fought more fights than Cassius Clay, some people call him Muhammad Ali, and I fought more fights than Mike Tyson.

Now, they’re supposed to be mean fighters, good fighters, great fighters. I said, they can’t hold to 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 accomplishing 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, except 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 a husband, treat her the way you want to be treated, wife, treat him 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 of a sudden, sow that, sow 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 that you 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 he 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, I’m going to be married 58 years in another week. That’s this week, ain’t it? Is it eight 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 man of yours.

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 a work can you apply that to marriage? Stay harmless, helpless, and the man’s stay wolf.

I used to teach the teenagers this. I’d say now, you know, there’s a thing called puppy love. You know, where you just look at each other and go, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, you know, like a puppy. Now, you know a puppy love can lead to a dog’s life, but it’s real to the 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 he 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. that 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.

So yes, you’ve got those two things right there. And then when two people do get married, What’s the first thing usually that you’ve heard that there’s song of love and marriage love and marriage go together like a A what? Horse and carriage and there’s something but Baby carriage that maybe it’s not in there. That’s it. You remember it You remember that I that’s older than I am so I that’s why But usually after two people get married, some are along the line.

There’s one in the middle, two in the three little Indians, and they start having the fruit. Well, that’s the fruit. But the first thing you need to do is to teach them the difference between the flesh and the spirit. And they know the old nature and the new nature. When should you lead kids to the Lord? When they get to be an adult so they can think they’ll be smarter and wiser. No, while they’re kids, from the days of thy youth, thus known the scriptures when you were a child.

So that’s why it’s better to teach the kids the thing about the flesh and the new birth, and get the kids to know Christ as Savior. And I believe that’s the most important. And they should be able to live with the confidence that they know that they’re going to go to heaven. Now in verse 21, you have two wills. You have the will of man, and you have the will of God. And so they have to learn how to discern between the will of man As it contrasts with the will of God.

And if you do that, they can be smarter and wiser down the road to make the right decisions for their own personal life because one of these days, these kids, they’re just liable to get married and have some kids. And you want to help them all that you possibly can. Now, I’ll say this at this point. There’s times in my life that I wonder whether or not have we ever taught our kids anything at all. And then sometimes you just have to cut it, let it go.

And let God deal with us. and they’ll teach them some things that I failed to teach them. And lo and behold, some of them, they come back around. They don’t even have to say it. They just start picking up some of those traits that you had when they were young and you demonstrated it. And now they’re giving their kids the same advice you used to give them. Don’t you just love it? Have you ever said, I can’t wait for you to get married and have seven kids just like you?

Now you didn’t say that, but you thought it because you know that’ll teach them and you want them to learn you love them the death but Sometimes they just you’re seeing kids that are hard-headed Just playing hard-headed Aren’t you glad you were never like that? Always be patient with people who are now where you once were and you need patience I think about there’s two little boys in this church cute as can be Jan and Lucia, they have two great little boys and they’re little darlings, but one of these days they’re going to be those teenagers and they’re growing up and that’s when they find out what do we know about raising kids.

And they’ll teach you things you never thought about. Like this one dad got boy and he says, all right son, it’s time that we talked about the facts of life. He said, sure, pop. What do you want to know? Well, but in the verse 21, there’s the will of man in contrast with the will of God. And they’re not the same. So you’ve got to teach these things in line. So I see through these very same scriptures, something that I could apply to the verse 24 when it says, therefore, whosoever hears these sayings of mine.

Now, whenever you know the truth and you can discern, you also know there are results because of your decision that you make. And you want kids to understand this. There are consequences for your decisions. And these decisions you make, you’re gonna be making decisions for the rest of your life. And all of these decisions all have consequences. And it can drive you nuts trying to figure out what is the right decision? Sometimes I don’t have a problem making the right decision once I know what the right decision is.

So sometimes it gets difficult because sometimes you can go in a different direction and neither one I’m wrong. Like Lord, what city should I live in? I go to the post office. Oh I got an email from the Lord. They’ll shall move to Tampa, Florida. Coming here was not the easiest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I had trouble trying to decide whether or not to do this, but a few people in the church told me what God’s will was.

Hello, Sandy. You and that other girl, that blonde-headed girl, oh yeah, that one right there. You really got on my case. Yeah, that girl right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you. Very dowdy. And how do you know God doesn’t want you to come. Have you prayed about it? No, I have not prayed about it. You say, why should I pray about it when I don’t have a desire to come? But it’s a strange how, you know, once you kind of decide upon something, it kind of gives you a little peace of mind.

When you believe that this is right and this is what I should do. I still remember there was about two people that didn’t want me to come down here. I’ve been searching for them ever since I’ve been here. So I don’t know every time we have a vote, there’s still the same two people that’s always against something. No. But these scriptures are important because they teach you there are results. And so in verse 24, 22 and 23, there’s those who went in and there’s those who didn’t go in.

And there’s results, consequences. And you’ll be surprised that if you’ll put God first in your life, how God can richly bless your life. So now, let’s look once again because in verse 25, it tells you the range are going to come. The troubles are going to come. pieces. Count it all joy when you fall into diver’s temptation to merge the testings that are going to come. It’s not it, but it’s when, because you’re going to have trouble. You’re going to have sorrow in this life.

And so the reason for studying the Word of God is so that you as an individual can stand strong. And then in your home, you want to guard your marriage as much as possible, and so that you can also teach the children the right thing. Like it’s men and women. They never make it. mentioned the word in their whole marriage for 50-something years. They never mentioned the word divorce. Murder a couple times, but not the word divorce. So you know that.

And I will say this, women as much as possible for as long as possible, stay attractive, stay alluring, stay seductive. Say what? That’s how you got him. I mean, you want to beautify yourself and I’ll tell you that sometimes, sometimes, you may feel like putting on all that makeup was a total waste of time. Like this one lady she walked past is good looking honk. He says, do you ever believe in love at first sight or do I need to come by again?

If it didn’t work the first time, well we can try this again because a girl wants to to be noticed. She wants to look as perdy as she possibly can. But then after you have got that bum, I mean that guy, then it’s like, who cares? You know, stay attractive, stay alluring. And the man, you are once a wolf. Remember, you used to be a wolf. You chased her. Well, keep chasing. Keep trying to win her all the time.

Don’t just take her for granted. I want my wife to think she could never have gotten a better man than what she got. And I believe she wants the same thing this way. And maybe we’ll get another 58 years out of this thing. Who knows? But you need to make sure you never criticize publicly within the body. You never destroy that husband or wife in the ears of somebody else or in their eyes. You always exalt the one you are married to.

Never talk down about your wife or your husband. You honor that man or you honor that wife because it’s not good. It’s not right because if you say anything against your wife or your husband, it’s going to find its way back to them sooner or later. Don’t do it because once he finds out what you’ve been saying about him or about her, it takes its toll in a marriage. I’ve been doing marriage counseling for a long time, and I can tell you there’s some things that can be devastating.

You can put scars upon yourself, and some of those scars will never heal because they never stop picking at it. You gotta stop picking at things. Let things go. And some people can’t let things go. You gotta have to be wise enough to do that. And also I think you need to make provision for your wife in case something happens to you. And you say, well, I do that. Well, because generally it seemed like the women outlived the men.

So if the man is the possibility of him dying, he needs to make sure that his wife is taken care of, because that’s his responsibility. I never thought about that until I was in my 50s. And that’s the truth. Because we were young. We were healthy. And nothing ever goes wrong, goes wrong, goes wrong, goes wrong. And so you think you’re just going to live forever. And one day it came to me. I thought, if I drop dead, where’s my wife live?

I didn’t have a clue. I was living in a parsonage up there at North Side Baptist Church. They got a little parsonage, there’s a nice little place. But how do I know that those people are gonna let my wife stay there if something happens to me? So I finally began to look and I thought, well, I don’t even have a home. I don’t have a piece of land. So I began to try to find me something and finally I paid off a piece of little land And then I didn’t have money to have somebody else build it for me.

So I took five years and I built, I got seconds everywhere I could find, I got logs and so forth and six by sixes and the beams from out of a junkyard. And I put all the stuff together and I built my own house. And when I got it through, I owed nobody anything on my house. But I did it the hard way. I didn’t take out a loan to get it. But I paid through the nose by working half the time day and night to get whatever I wanted.

And so… Not saying, everybody, you can do that. I’m just saying, if you want to do something bad enough, you’ve got to figure out, don’t wait until the last minute. And I know there’s sometimes there’s people who do not take the time to make out a will. And I’ve had to go through some of these things with people who have all these problems because the husband died or the wife died and they took care of nothing. And then everything was lost because lawyers ate it all up in Probechor.

There’s things that you can do. You need to be wise because it’s your home and God’s talking about if a man does not provide for his own, he’s worse than an infidel. And that doesn’t mean just as long as you’re alive, it means when you’re gone, what have you done to secure any kind of peace of mind and provision for that loved one? You just need to think about it and then do what’s right. Anyway, I could go on and on and on, but I hope that you women appreciate what I’ve said because each one of y’all have told me to say this.

I’m joking them, that’s not true. But look up here, this hand represents you and me, the wallet represents sin. We all have sin upon us. God says that he loves us, but he hates what we do wrong. And since everybody sins, everybody is condemned. The wages of sin is death. That means we have to pay and go to a literal fire burn in hell. But God wants to save us from hell. He says, we can go to heaven, but we’ve got to get rid of sin.

We can’t live forever with the Lord in heaven with sin because wouldn’t it be a shame to go to heaven and all of us do up there, what we do down here? Then what’s the difference? But God had a way. This sin represent Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us, hates our sin because our sin separates us from Him. So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die.

So he took all the sin of all the world paid for it on the cross and came back from the dead. So to go to heaven, the only thing we have to do is believe that he did this for us. And when you believe it, he that believeth of me half everlasting life. God gives to you the free gift of everlasting life. It lasts forever. And our sins are all paid. That’s why we can know we’re going to heaven because we know we can’t go to hell.

No reason they go to hell. Why? That’s why Christ died for me. He is my Savior. He paid for my sin so that I wouldn’t have to pay for my sin. And you don’t deserve it, that’s why it’s called grace. Grace is unmerited favor. And therefore, once we have eternal life, we are God’s child, we go to heaven whenever we die. Let’s pray, shall we? With heads bowed, eyes closed, no one looking around. If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, why not write down the quietness of this moment?

Say, Lord, I don’t understand at all, but I believe you’ve done that cross, pay for my sins and I’m gonna trust you as my only hope of going to heaven. If you’ve never done so, would you do it right now? or if you’re watching by internet, or right there on the screen says, yes, I’ll trust Christ as my savior. And if you are trusting Christ as your savior, before we’re already done it, you don’t need to say yes on the screen.

We’re just talking about people who’ve never done so before. But if you’re doing it for the first time, we’d love to know that. Here’s anyone else, before we close in prayer, I say yes, I will trust Christ as my savior. Would you just slip your hand very quickly and put a right down? If you have trusted Christ as your savior, you’re God’s child. And I hope that some of the things I have mentioned from those scriptures will help you to know if you’re a man yet be a man.

If you’re a woman, be a submissive wife and sit the right example for the children and love them and help them to understand as much as you possibly can. You can’t live their lives for them after they get old enough, but try to let them know that you care about them and you love them. Father, we thank you so much for this time together. We ask your blessings upon those who are sick, not doing very well. It’s on that went to, on the trip to Israel and Father are needing to recover, so bless each one of them.

Thank you for this church. Every person here, those that are watching by internet, bless us in Christ name we play. 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. 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. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Leaving that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.