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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 mentioned this morning I was going to speak tonight on yankiology and Bob Brooks says, You mean part three? So thanks Bob. I know he’s not here tonight. He said, I haven’t heard jankyology before. But I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Luke, the Gospel of Luke. I enjoy reading and studying, trying to figure out now, what does that mean? What does that mean? And I know that there is a, you know, a primary meaning and then there’s others that we might use application wise.

And in the book of Luke in chapter 14, there is a parable here used of a great supper. And I had a question about this thing. Here’s a man who makes a big supper and I thought, did he set the table for more people than what was coming? Now of course if you were a Calvinist, why would you set the table for more people than you knew was coming? Because you’re the one that determined how many was coming. At the Mary’s supper of the Lamb, are they going to be empty spots?

God was counting on everybody showing up because He paid for everybody’s sin. So why not set a table for everybody? And then you’re discouraged or let down because, well, not everybody showed up. Anyway, I love interesting thoughts. And here in the book of Luke in chapter 14, learning how to look at the Scripture and seeing what can I pull out of this thing, as you know, he goes down to verse 16, he says, a certain man made a great supper and bathed many.

sin is serving at supper time to say to them that we’re been coming and for all things are ready and everything’s ready and they all with one consent begin to make excuse. The first said unto him I have bought a piece of ground and I must need to go and see it. I pray they had me excused. Now of course you would think that most people you buy a piece of ground you’re gonna see it before you buy it.

That might be a lie. But anyway and another said I have bought five yoke of and then I go to test them. Well, I pray they have me excused. Well, when would you test the ox? Before you buy them or after you buy them? Well, I think that’s another lie. Then he says, another one says, I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come. Now he finally told the truth.

At least somebody told the truth. He said, I can’t come, I just got married. Oh well, we’re moving right along. So that servant came and showed his lord these things. Then the mass of the house being angry said to the servants, go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in the hood of the poor and the maim, the halt and the blind. The servant says, Lord, it is done as thou have commended, yet there is room.

Why is there more room than people that are coming? Did he plan on and expect more people to come to the supper? Sometimes I wondered, no, there’s a place called heaven. There’s a holy city. It’s loaded with mansions, all these rooms, as it says in the Book of Rod, John chapter 14. Now, did he make more rooms than they’re gonna be people? Or are they gonna be leftovers? Or is he already determined the right amount of rooms for the right amount of people that’s coming?

Now, I’m not Calvinist. And I believe that there’s a good possibility. When Christ died, he died for everybody and he expects everybody to hear the gospel, to believe the gospel. And there’s some people who will not be there. But it’s not because they weren’t invited. I don’t think it’s not because God didn’t want him to be there. God wants us to trust him. He says, not willing to eat, he should perish. So anyway, when I read the Scriptures, I’m always thinking along this line, you know, what could this mean?

And what about this? And there’s another statement down here that makes this statement. In verse 22, when he says, And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hath committed, and yet there is room. We still have room for more. And he says, my house, I want my house to be filled. Now, as you read this, does God expect more than probably what’s going to show up? Now, God knows the future, but I was talking to the kids the other day and…

It was like a chapel. And I mentioned that you want to see what kind of a big impact we made if I had a big old bucket of water here and put my fist in there and I pulled it out. See how big to hold you left. Now, with some people, see, we’re in this world and we’re in this world for a reason. We’re supposed to, here’s all these people in the world and we’re supposed to be getting people from here to heaven.

That’s our main reason. We’re just trying to get people from here. into heaven. Now some people want to influence others so they can just store all around and there may be all kinds of different abilities they have and talents that they have and they swim all around and they’re with all the people and they can you know friends and buddy buddy and all that but they never get anybody there and so my job is as I can see myself is trying to reach into this bucket and put them in this bucket over here that got for heaven this is heaven and here’s a bucket and then this is hell.

This is where they’re going. So I wanna snatch them out of the fire and I want them to go to heaven. So my job is going into the world. I’m not out of the world, but I’m in the world. But I’m trying to get these people into this bucket over here so that when my life is over, I don’t want it to be, I stuck my hand into the fish, into the water, but when I pulled it out, I made no effect.

Or you influence people, but is there anybody from this bucket in this bucket. When you get to heaven, God’s gonna judge you according to the work that you did for him. So I want something to amount for a hundred years after I’m dead. And the only thing I can see out of this world that’s of any value is gonna be the people that we reach for the Lord. So we work together to get this done. Now I want you to take and look at another issue with me.

Look in Matthew chapter six. Matthew chapter six. Now each one of these little four things that I want to give to you are messages that I could bring in more detail, but I just want to kind of puppy things into your mind that you can look at and read and study later on. Now, I want you to notice in verse 19 of Matthew chapter six, he says, lay not up for yourselves treasures of on earth, where moth and rough, the corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

We’re neither moth nor ruff nor sincarop, and where if they do not break through nor steal. Now the reason for not laying it up here, because you’ve laid up here in the world, you can lose it. But if you’ve laid up in heaven, look, and you can’t lose it. So now these treasures, I’m supposed to be laying up treasure in heaven. How do I lay up treasure in heaven? Do I do it before I die or after I die?

Do I take him with me when I die? Is it the good works that I do for the Lord? And you’ll notice he talked down here about having a single eye, having an eye for the things of God or you can have an eye for the things of the world. An eye for the things of the world? He says you go blind, you can’t see, you can’t see far off. Every Christian needs a long range vision. So he says in verse 22, the light of the body is the eye.

If therefore, thy might be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. And if I be evil, my whole body shall be full of darkness.” In other words, either you see into eternity and you have a long-range vision and you can see what God is talking about down the road, in eternity. And so you work toward that end because everything in this world is gonna end. And so he says in verse 24, “‘No man can serve two masters.”

I remember Ray Stanford said, “‘That’s why a man should only have one wife.'” For either he will hate the one, love the other, else he will hold to the one in despise of the, you can’t serve God and them, and you can’t do both. You have to kind of, if you’re gonna be a servant of the Lord, you need to make up your mind, which way are you going to go? So my question is this, when he talks about laying up treasures in heaven, I wanna put a cog in the wheel.

I want you to look over there in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter three, 1 Corinthians and chapter Three. Now, chapter three does give us an idea that he says, every man is going to receive his reward according to his own labor, according to his works. Now salvation, going to heaven, remember that’s always free. That’s a gift. I’m going to heaven because of what Christ did for me. I don’t earn it, Don’t work for it. Salvation is the gift of God.

It is not by works. But after I was saved 57 and a half years ago, I decided I wanted to serve the Lord. Now I’m going to heaven, whether I serve the Lord or not. And I often say this, but people misunderstand. After I trust the Christ as my Savior, I understood that I can live as I please and get away with it. Not exactly. I can live as I please. And if I live to please the Lord, God’s going to bless me.

And if I live to please Yankee Arnold and do whatever I want to do, and not what God wants, I know my heavenly Father’s going to chase in me. So I can do whatever I please. So I chose to please the Lord. I chose to go to church and to study the Bible and to witness and to pray and do all those things. Now there’s nothing wrong with that, is it? There’s nothing wrong with me doing all these things, is it?

That’s not bad, is it? So then I chose to live as I please. I chose to please God. Now some people do not live to please God. they choose the place themselves, but there is a price to pay. This obedience has a strong price tag to it. And so he makes a statement here in verse 12. I want you to see this. First Corinthians chapter three, verse 12. Now if any man build upon this foundation, this is after you trusted Christ, gold silver precious stones, wood, hay stubble, every man’s work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire.

And the fires shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. So it’s not the quantity, it’s the quality. It’s not how much have you done. It’s what did you do that was genuine in your labor for the Lord? So I wonder when I read this, why over there in Matthew, he keeps talking about laying up treasures in heaven, plural. And over here in the book of Corinthians, It talks about when you stand at the judgment city of Christ, he keeps saying the word work, work, work, and work is not plural.

See what he says there in verse 13, every man’s work shall be made manifest, and every man’s work in the last part of verse 13, verse 14, if any man’s work abide their bond, if any man’s work shall be burned, there is the singular word work. Now, is it that as my life has been given to the Lord, like say for example, we hire Peter Mott over here. He’s got a job to do and at the end of the week, we pay him for his work.

And we don’t usually break it down every little bit. He’s or the same thing with Jesse back there or even with myself. We do a work and then that’s what we get paid for doing a work. But it’s a total thing. Okay, we gave him five dollars for walking from there, back to there, we had to figure all this out. And then he walked up here, we had to pay him for that. Have no time carrying charge, all the way.

No. When you get to heaven, God is gonna reward you according to your work. Is my whole life so far, say, good 55 years, I’ve been certain of the Lord. All right, is that my work that I did for the Lord? So my question is this. and you’re gonna solve it. How did haywood and stubble get at the judgments of the Christ? If I’m at the judgments of the Christ and God’s gonna reward me for what I’ve done, but the haywood and stubble is gonna be burned up.

Would you agree to that? It’s gonna be burned. All right, how did it get there? How did this haywood and stubble that is no good ever get there when I lay up treasures in heaven? Did I believe at one time that these good works that I was doing and the multitude and the magnitude of them, these wonderful great things that I have done for the Lord is treasure that’s laid up? And maybe the Lord’s going to one day let us see those you did in pride, those you did without love.

Is it possible that you and I can do things for the Lord but for the wrong motive? And God is going to judge our works. And the fire I believe is things being looked at through the eyes of the Lord. When you said in the book of Revelation in chapter 1, the eyes of the Lord like fire. And the fire of judgment, when Christ looked at what we have done. See we sometimes look at what we’re doing to, doing a pretty good job I is, I is.

Isn’t it possible that even today, did y’all hear me say anything any kind words about Peter singing this morning? I did, didn’t I? Did anybody hear me compliment Jesse Martinez on his sermon this morning? Did you know by the time we got through and all those people went out that door? Jesse probably wasn’t able to get his head in the car. Man, was I great today? Now, I don’t believe they did that. But it’s possible that you and I can do things and not for the right reasons.

We can be in the right place. You can be in the church tonight and say, well, I hope the Lord is in the right place. taken note of this. Here I am in all my godliness. And if you can do things just to be seen of men, God’s Word says you have received your reward. And there’s things that maybe God’s going to reveal to us, but I don’t know the full extent of why was there a haywooden stubble at the Judgement Sea of Christ, and why would it be burned up?

How did it get there in the first place? I don’t know if it’s just wasted time that I did not produce anything. I don’t know, but I think God is going to explain all of it and figure it all out. I just think between now and then, I don’t sometimes even worry about my motives because I can deceive myself. I’m just going to go ahead and do what I believe God wants me to do with all my heart and then trust the Lord for the rest of it.

Otherwise, you can go a little bit on the crazy side, trying to figure and explain it all out, but maybe it’ll give you something to think about. Other thing I want you to see is this. Look in, let’s see. Yeah, Matthew, chapter 10. Matthew and chapter 10. There’s a couple of verses that are mentioned here that it did bother me for a while. And I’m not sure I got it all figured out yet. But in Matthew chapter 10, I saw the word mentioned a number of times here.

And I gave to the college kids the other day, a simple little outline of the book of Matthew. But I started off with Matthew in chapter 9 and verse 36 where you have the word. And when he saw the multitude, he was moved with See that word compassion? And then he was getting labors for the vineyard. And so he says there in chapter 10 when he had called unto him his disciples and he gave them power to do what he wanted them to do.

There’s the word called. So there’s a sense of having compassion and to be called of the Lord to do a particular job. And then he says in verse 5, commanded them. And then you’ll notice that there is the concern about who is worthy to hear this message. You see, in verse 10, and into whatsoever city or town you shall enter, inquire who is worthy, worthy? In verse 13. And if the house be worthy.” I thought, worthy. Let your peace come upon it, but if they’d be not worthy, well, wait a minute.

I thought everybody’s out of here at the gospel, who is worthy and who’s not worthy? You see how I can have a little, you know, if I eat a steak and I got a piece of gristle and you get it caught in my throat and I can’t swallow. Now either I can go over here and get a verse, and I go over here and get a verse. I got my knife in fort and I go back and I try to cut it in a little bit of pieces and then try to eat it.

Because then you can swallow it, see if you can cut it down a little bit. And so scripture teaches scripture. But I was curious about this worthiness, worthiness, worthiness. And so he explained a little bit when he made the state there in chapter 10 and verse 14, and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words. Those are ones that are not worthy. They didn’t hear your words. They didn’t listen. They didn’t believe. They didn’t accept. Later on you’ll find scripture talks about he that received if you receive with me and he that received with me received with him that sent me.

So it’s a matter of those who have heard the word they accept the gospel or they rejected. And so the ones that are saved are those who received the word. Now look there also in chapter 10 and look what he says in verse 37. in Matthew chapter 10 verse 37. It says, He that loveth father or mother, more than me is not worthy of me. That’s why. And He that loveth not son or daughter, more than me is not worthy of me.

And He that take if not is cross and followeth at me is not worthy of me. I thought, wait a minute. Some of this doesn’t make sense to me. I thought salvation is free. What’s this year about not being worthy? So as I begin to know, the clarity of the gospel is this, it’s always free. You don’t earn it. You don’t have to deserve it. And all I had to do is be a sinner and believe that when Christ died, He paid for my sins.

So I accept Him as my Savior. I have eternal life. Now I know I’m going to heaven when I die. Now that’s good news. That’s explained. So when you come to service, we know that Salvation was free, but discipleship, serving the Lord will cost you. And so he makes a statement here in verse 37. He said, loveth, father, or mother, more than me, is not worthy of me. What he means is you cannot or will not pay the price to follow the Lord.

When I decided to follow the Lord, I could not consider my wife, I could not consider my kids, I could not consider my job. I could not consider my health. I didn’t consider. I said, if I don’t serve the Lord, I don’t have a reason for living. And I was at the place a low point in my life. When I laid out there on the snow, and whether like it’s been a little bit colder, of course. And the snow was coming down and I was in Shreveport, Louisiana, and I’m laying out there on the ground, and I had a pea coat, and I had a blanket, and I’m laying there, and snow is falling on me.

And I told the Lord, I said, Lord, there’s nothing wrong with my job. And there’s nothing wrong with my wife. There’s nothing wrong with my two kids. I says, there’s something wrong with me. And Lord, I said, I know that one of these days I’m going to stand at the Jeb and Sid of Christ. But Lord, don’t you dare. And I would not suggest you do this. I did this, so I was foolish. I was ignorant. I said, Lord, don’t you dare point your finger at me and say, Yankee, why didn’t you do with your life what I wanted you to do?

I said, well, I don’t know what to do. I said, I don’t know anybody who wants to serve you more than I do, and I don’t know what to do. And I didn’t even know there were Bible colleges. I didn’t have anybody trying to challenge me to do anything. I just thought there was something on the inside of me that was eating at me. And I wanted to serve the Lord, and I wanted to do that more than anything else in the world.

And I didn’t eat for three days, but I had never heard about fasting. I didn’t know that was in the Bible. All I knew is I’d just soon die. If I can’t find what God has for me, I just soon die. And I was only 22 years old. That’s a young time to die. But I knew I had eternal life. I knew I was going to have my life. That wasn’t even an issue. It was this purpose in life.

What am I living for? And I had to have something. And he makes a statement here, he that love of father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. In other words, my cost, what is this cost that I have to pay? This cost to serve the Lord with all your heart is supreme love for Jesus Christ. Love Him more than anything else in the world. Because if you love something else more or things more, that’s gonna keep you from serving God the way that you ought to, the way that you really want to.

Because you’re gonna have something restraining you, holding you back. But love is a powerful motivator. And then he makes a statement here. He says, you’re not worthy of me. It means that you can’t pay the price. See, there’s a lot of God’s people. They’ve trusted Christ as Savior. But to serve a Lord, they can’t pay the price. They’re not worthy. I mean, they’re not worthy to pay that price. They can’t afford it. It’s like having this jewel over here, this daughter that’s a jewel.

And here comes this here gorilla that wants to marry this jewel. And you think he’s not worthy you can’t afford this This is more than you you got to pay and that’s about the way it was when I asked Betty’s dad if I could marry Betty And he says no He says you don’t have a job. You don’t have any money You don’t have a place to live and her mother says then you’re a bomb and They were right on everything they said But anyway When you understand, look what he says in verse 38, and this is about service.

This is not about how to go to heaven. This is talking about service. What is it in this life that will keep you from being what God wants you to be? This plain fear, the love of the world, is it money? When life is all over and God’s gonna judge you by the work you did, are you gonna have any fish in your little tank? I mean the people that you made a difference, I expect there to be some people that…

Because I was here in this world that heard the gospel through my lips or flew my efforts that I’m gonna see when I get to heaven. And ye are my crown of rejoicing. The people you reach for the Lord, when you get to heaven, that’s probably gonna be your reward. And when you talk about living and having an abundant life, a fruitful life. Yes, I used the illustration about John John. He had a little paddle. You know what you can turn over something with?

I said, he’s in there planting the water. I want a dipper. And so our ranch ministry is a dipper. We’re reaching into this world and trying to get some fish. And we got a wana and we’re reaching into this bucket, trying to get some fish. And we got the radio ministry and we’re trying to get some fish. I want a dipper. I don’t want a fork. I want to have a tool that I can use. Then that’s what we’re trying to teach the kids in the college, how to develop tools in their life by which they can make a difference.

Not that you’re, I was there and I influenced people, but did you get anybody out of the world and into the next world? And to live your whole life and realize, what a loss. And he says in this verse, He that take if not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy. In other words, you can’t pay the price because you can’t carry the cross. You don’t have the burden and you don’t die daily. You don’t have what it takes.

You’re not man enough to do the job. And it’s not because God doesn’t want labors. This is in the same chapter where he talks about he commanded him what to do, but he says also in three places in the same chapter fear not them because of what they say, fear not them because of what they do and fear you not because you are considered of no value. You have no value. God says you are valuable in his hands and God can use him but you have to prepare yourself to be used by the Lord.

And so notice what he says because this is about service. And he says there in verse 39, he that findeth his life shall lose it and he that loses his life. For my sake shall find it. All right, here’s this bucket. You can play all you want to in this world. You can accomplish a lot of things, influence a lot of people. You can come and you’re gonna die.

But it says, if you’ll lose your life, I didn’t get to do whatever I wanted to do. I did what God wanted to do. And so therefore I saved my life, and there’s the fruit of it. It’s worth serving the Lord. But majority of people cannot pay the price. There was a price that I had to pay by taking my wife and two kids and going to Bible college. On the way down to Florida Bible college in 1964, I ran out of money in Orlando, Florida.

My brother gave me $40 to make it on down to Florida. And I didn’t even have a job when I was on my way. And I was already out of money. I hadn’t even got there. See, I had no bridges to get back. There was nothing to go back to. Because see that, I didn’t want to go back. There was nothing back there. And it forced me to keep moving ahead, keep moving ahead. Are you a new listener to Bibleline?

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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 4081 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.