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

When you get to heaven, God is going to reward you according to your work. is my whole life so far, say, good 55 years I’ve been a certain of the Lord. Lord, 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? just laid up and maybe the Lord’s gonna 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 You said the biblical revelation in chapter one, the eyes of the Lord like fire. And the fire of judgment when Christ looks at what we have. See, we sometimes look at what we’re doing to, doing a pretty good job, I guess.

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’s 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 judgment see the 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 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 five, 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, you know, out of here, the gospel, Who is worthy and who’s not worthy? You see how I can have a little, you know, it’s like 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.

Cause 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 except 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. I don’t know why.

And he that loveth not son or daughter, more than me is not worthy of me. And he that take if not his 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 that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

What it 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, in weather like it’s been a little bit colder, of course.

And the snow was coming down and I was in three port of 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 says, 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 gonna 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, oh, 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 this? Your life, what I wanted you to do. I said, Lord, 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. 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 dad. 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 a 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 the Savior. But to serve the 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 bum. And they were right on everything they said. But anyway, when you understand, 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 going to judge you by the work you did, are you going to have any fish in your little tank? I mean, the people that you made a different, 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 going to 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 going to 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, like you can turn over something with, and I said, he’s in there playing in 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 they’re 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 encompass 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. And all the price that we paid and all the things that we went through, and a lot of the people that had mocked and made fun and joked, and there’s a price to me.

Some people can’t pay that price, and they’ll never be used by God. It’s not that they couldn’t be, they chose that they are not willing to pay the price of service. You see, discipleship will cost you everything. You read the last part of Luke chapter 14. He says, and they could not finish because they didn’t count the cost. Aren’t you glad salvation going to heaven is free? And that Jesus paid the price, he paid the whole cost, and I don’t have to worry about that.

But when it comes to living my life, if I’ve got a pulse, I got a purpose. And I want to serve the purpose that God has for me. And notice what he says down through, I want you to see that, look there in verse 41. He that receives a prophet, the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet’s, what’s the word? Reward. And then he that receives with the righteous man, and the name of a righteous man shall receive a reward.

And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones, a cup of cold water, only in the name of a disciple. As a disciple, not to be saved, barely as any of you he shall in no wise lose his reward. Reward once earned can never be lost. You can lose what you could have had, didn’t lay up. But God wants us to receive it forward to ensure the Lord with all your heart, all the days of your life.

You must come to the place, I love the Lord supremely, more than this world, more than anything else in the world, the things that are in this world. And God, I says, if you love the world, then the love of the Father is not in you. And that’s in the book of 1 John. Now, let’s close with this over here. I want you to look at it real quick with me. Open the book of Revelation, chapter 22. Revelation chapter 22.

When I would read this, it’s interesting. And I have to admit I didn’t understand all what it means and I might have a little yank-yology here. But notice what it says there in verse 11. Chapter 22 of Revelation verse 11. He that is, now we’re at the end of time. This is after the great white throne judgment and then he’s going to tell you how it’s going to be and then he’s going to come back and give you a charge.

Tell you, this is what I want you to do. In verse 11, he that is unjust, let him be unjust still. That means for all eternity. And he that is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy still. In other words, when you die, you’re either saved or lost. You’re either righteous or you’re not. And it’s going to be that way forever. So you must make the decision to trust Christ as your savior before you die, because once you die, that’s the way it’s going to be.

And then on top of that, he says in verse 12, “‘Behold, I come quickly, and my reward will be “‘to give every man according as his work shall be. “‘While I’m in this world, I am doing, “‘I believe, the work of the Lord. “‘When I get to heaven, God’s gonna reward me “‘for whatever this work was.’ Now even if I gave somebody a cup of cold water in the name of the Lord. I get a reward. How many? I don’t know.

I don’t really care. I made up my mind years ago. I’ll serve the Lord if I never get another blessing or if I never get a reward. Because my motivation is not what’s ahead of me. It’s what’s behind me. Because the love of Christ constraineth me because that’s just that if he died for all that he did, then he died for me and he gave me eternal life. And I’m going to serve the Lord because of what he hath done.

Not because of what he’s going to do. That way I have a lot of motivation that should sustain me all through my life. And it’ll bless your little peeping heart. And then he says here in verse 16, after saying all of that, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify and need these things in the churches. I am the root in the offspring of David and the bride and morning star. And then now notice in the next verse this challenge of a invitation.

After going through this whole thing and then telling them look the church is it said in verse 17 the spirit and the bride say come come let him that hearth say come let him that is a thirst and whosoever will take the water of life. What’s the price? Freely. It’s an invitation. All these things are true. There is going to be a great white-throat judgment. There is going to be a literal fire burning hell. There is a literal holy city.

Remember John says, and I John saw the holy city coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. I believe they saw the holy city where we’re going to live. And if these things are true, he says, don’t add to it. Don’t take away from it. There’s a lot of plays that are mentioned in the book of Revelation. And he makes this statement in verse 18. For I testify to every man that here, if the words of this prophecy of this book, if any man shall add, verse 18 you don’t add to it verse 19 you don’t take away from it and he says if you do he says there’s consequences you’re going to get the results of your rejection so we’re supposed to say come we’re supposed to give the gospel this is the perfect the Holy Spirit lives within us there’s the church and this is what

we do we give invitations we’re inviting people look this is where we’re going and we want you to go with us. I’m going to heaven when I die and I want you to go. Remember if you ever see my little four minute video that I did, friend, God loves you and so do I. I want people to have eternal life. I want them to go to heaven when they die. And then he says here in the last part of verse 19, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city.

And from those things which are written in this book, I don’t believe once you’re saved, you’re ever losing thing. As far as your salvation goes, you can’t do that. But I do believe that the lost man, they’re given the opportunity, the invitation to come. And if you reject it, you add works to it, you take away from it, God doesn’t say it, He doesn’t mean, and you’re going to lose your opportunity because, see, once you’re dead, the opportunity is over.

There’s a great white-thrown judgment, but whosoever name was not found and written in the Lamb’s book of life were cast into the lake of fire. It’s all over. There’s no hope. No chance. Your opportunity now to get your name written in the land of the land of the land of the land of the land of the land, to be able to go into the holy city. Your opportunity is now. But that portion, that opportunity is gonna be gone from you.

This is why we take advantage of the opportunities that God’s given to us because life is short. One of these days, some of us old fellas gonna be, we’re gonna be clocking out of here. I mean, you get some of these old guys. There’s two of them sitting right on the front row right there. And back there. Al is only 89 now? 89. And one of these days, we’re not going to be here. I keep thinking about all these FBC alumni that are getting older.

But we’ve got to have some people trained before we get out of here. Because keep doing what we’ve been doing. If I was to die and he was to die, he died, he died. We got to have some of these young colleagues and give them a dipper. Tell them to get in there and get some of those fish out get some of that fish and get some of that fish. I don’t want to just swim around with everybody and have a nice happy time and influence and enjoy my life.

Splash, splash, like a little kid in a sandbox. No, no, no. Anyway, I get carried away sometimes. Look up here. This hand represent you and me, the wallet represents sin. The only thing Jesse did wrong this morning is he said, let this hand represent you and me. Y’all caught that. See, it won’t work out of way. This is you and me while it is sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us, but He hates our sin. And for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from the Lord.

And that’s in a literal fire burning hell. So God loves us, wants us to go to heaven. But to go to heaven, we have to be perfect, no sin. And none of us are perfect. None of us are righteous. In other words, none of us are good enough. So the Bible says you cannot save yourself. You are in debt. And there’s a debt payment we have to make. And so the Bible says, good works will not pay for your sins.

We need a payment. This end represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God. and the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us. He hates our sin because our sin separates us from him. So Jesus tries who had no sin didn’t have to die. So he took all the sin of all the world upon himself and paid for it, came back from the dead. And God said that if we would believe he did it for us, he’d put this payment to our account.

And I have a payment for all my sins. Now the reason I say this, you can’t know you’re going to heaven until you know you cannot go to hell. And the reason that I cannot go to hell is I don’t have any sins to pay for. How many of my sins did he pay for? All of them. So that’s why I can’t go to hell today. And I can’t go to tomorrow. I can never go. Why? I don’t have any sins to pay for.

Christ died for my sins. So only reason anybody in this room is going to heaven. Nobody is in this room going to heaven because you came to church, because you promised to live a good life, because you turned from some of your sins. The only reason you’ll go to Heaven is because cries paid for your sins and you accepted it. You believed it. And when you believe it, He gives you as a free gift what kind of life? Temporary life.

Temporary life. Everlasting life. Eternal life. And if it’s eternal life, how long would it last? That’s a hard question. It lasts forever. And if it lasts forever, and all your sins are paid, where are you going to go and you die? Heaven. So can you know you’re going to Heaven before you die? But whenever you die, if you’re unjust, you’ll be You’ll be unjust still. You’re righteous. You’ll be righteous for eternity. Best decision anybody can ever make is a trust Christ as their Savior.

If you’re watching by internet, and I hope that you are, I pray that if what we’ve said may sense that you will accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, and right on the screen, it says, yes, I’ll trust the Lord. If you believe it, we’d love to know it. Let’s pray, shall we? Hit the bow in nice clothes, no one looking around. With your head bow and nice clothes, is there anyone at all here tonight? You may have heard about this all your life, but have you really?

I mean really, have you trusted Christ as your Savior. God does love you and He did pay for your sins, but you must believe He did it for you. You must accept what He’s done for you. You cannot earn eternal life. Don’t trust in your works. Don’t trust in this church. Don’t trust this preacher. only the true and living God. And if you’ll trust Him as your Savior, God will save you and give you eternal life and you can know that you’re going to heaven.

With His bow nice clothes, is there anyone at all safe preacher? That made sense to me. And I will accept Christ right now as my Savior. And I’d like for you to pray for me. Would you just slip it up very quickly, paravic down, then what at all? If you’ve already trusted the Lord, you never have to do it again. But if you’ve never done it, now’s a good time to do so. Then And we’ll all be for we close.

Our Father, we thank You again for Your blessings. Thank You for this time together. We ask Your blessings upon the College and thank You, Lord, for the teachers that have committed themselves to be there for these kids to teach them and to help them, help them to learn how to develop good tools, good dippers, why we can catch more fish and have us to love each other and work together. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen. This is your invitation to join us for our third Sunday dinner held in the Florida Bible College of Tampa building on the Calvary Community Church Campus.

The dinner is a family-style, covered dish dinner and a great way to showcase your favorite dish and pick up new recipes. Each month you have the opportunity to invite your family and friends to join us for our Sunday morning service at 1030 and then stay for our third Sunday dinner immediately following at Calvary Community Church, where you’ll be fed spiritually and physically. 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. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.