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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. 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 message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Alright, you know you ought to stay healthy, right? Everybody want to be healthy? Live long, have a happy life, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, eat your greens. Eat your greens. And lettuce is your greens. And if you will eat your greens, you’ll stay healthier. So these verses are to help you and I to stay spiritually healthy. So take your Bible and look at these verses. The book of Hebrews in chapter 4, and notice there in verse 1. And verse one, let us is two believers.

When you see lettuce, lettuce, lettuce, lettuce, it’s two believers. So as you go through the book, it just boils it down. You don’t have to worry about how we talk about how to get saved. And so many people when they don’t see certain key words, they lose it. So he says, let us therefore fear what? Hell, no. less a promise being left us of entering into his rest. Any of you should seem become short of it. It’s kind of like in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 10 when he makes a statement about how that under Moses they all came out of Egypt and they all was under the cloud.

They all was in the wilderness and they all drank the same spiritual drink, but God was not pleased with some of them. Not all of them, but there were some of them who just would not keep quiet. They murmured, complained, sent snakes among them. Many people died, so those those things that was in there. Now I want you to write down beside that Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 1, a good scripture reference and looked at in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 12.

Look in Deuteronomy chapter 12. Back there in the Old Testament, 5th book in, the book of Deuteronomy chapter 12, three little verses I want you to look at and if you’ll write them down in your notes because they’re good verses. Look there in verse 8, in verse 8 this is on page 230 in your old scope of your reference Bible. You’ll notice in verse 8 he says, ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day.

And what is it? Every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. See, that was something God says not to do. And so living by faith is not doing what’s right in your eyes, but doing what’s right in God’s eyes. See, over there in verse 25, thou shalt not eat of it that it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is, and you ought to line, this part of the verse, that which is right in the sight of the Lord.

is there a difference? Yes, there’s a difference. And so some people will believe what God says and there’s some people who will not believe what God says. Now in the same chapter, look in verse 25 again, at verse 25 talking about this idea of looking to see what God has to say and obey them. Now I want you to go back here to verse 9. We read verse 8, but look in verse 9, for ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you.

This rest is getting into the prompt you haven’t got there yet. You maybe have gotten out of Egypt, you’re in the wilderness but you haven’t yet got to the Promised Land. Now the Promised Land, many people saw this make that heaven but it’s not heaven, that’s just a victorious Christian life. I believe it’s more has to do with that. Heaven is heaven and you and I learning how to take God in his word, you can spend the whole Christian life in a wilderness or you can go on to maturity.

And I believe this is what it’s a reference toward. Look there in Hebrews in chapter 10. You’re right there in Hebrews, but look in chapter 10. Hebrews, chapter 10, look in verse 22. And verse 22 says, let us draw near where they true heart in, and these four words, full assurance of faith, full assurance of faith. Because to enter into the rest means you can really trust the Lord. You understand salvation and your content, your satisfied. You don’t have to worry about that.

Now we’re talking about the Christian life, things to do, but it’s focusing upon that which is down the road, the future. Faith in that which God promised. Now he refers to many of the Old Testament saints and they have not yet, or they didn’t at that time, see the fulfillment of the promises because what God promised lies beyond this life. And so that’s why there’s scriptures that talks about they have not been fulfilled. Some of the promises they didn’t happen in their lifetime.

Now go back to verse 11, Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 11. And verse 11 it says, let us labor therefore to enter into that rest. This is where your greatest work will be. Study in the word of God is not all that fun. Learning to be disciplined is not all that fun. cutting out things out of your life that is a problem or a hindrance laying aside every sin that so easily beset us is not the easiest thing in the world to do, the sin of unbelief.

So but setting those things aside and keep going, you’re running a race and accomplish the thing that God wants for us. This is what he’s talking about, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. But we’re talking to people. We’re not talking about how to be saved. We’re talking about how to go on. And so in your Christian life, it’s taking God at his word, living by faith. So when you get to chapter 11, you have a whole chapter that deals with living by faith.

Now, live like you believe the promises. Seek those things out. Look in verse 14. Verse 14 says, seeing then that we have a great high high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God led us. That’s believers who fath our profession. In other words, you have trusted Christ’s Savior, you know you have eternal life and there’s things that God wants you to do in your life. You and I are to live our lives believing that not only has Christ died and paid for our sins and come back from the dead, but he’s still alive.

And we still have a high priest in the heavens and he wants us to come to him. Live like it. Live like the Lord is alive. Not that he’s dead or he took a vacation somewhere and he’s off this throne. No, he is doing the work now of a high priest. He’s interceding for you. And that’s why you can go to him, as he says in verse 16, boldly to the throne of grace. Now later you’ll see that there’s a reason for it being called the throne of grace.

And the reason is is so that you might serve the Lord with fear. That’s mentioned down here and I might as well go ahead and let you look at that. Look in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 28. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 28. Now the whole book is like we’re together. It’s all connected and so one verse will help explain another verse. In the book of Hebrews teaches the book of Hebrews. But in verse 28, wherefore we receive in a kingdom which cannot be moved.

Let us have grace. When he calls back coming to the throne of grace, there’s a reason whereby in underlying this, we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. That’s why you go to the throne of grace. Not to get my new pink Cadillac, not to get my million dollars in the mail, it’s that I can have the strength and the grace that I need to serve God and reverence Him as I ought to acceptably according to His will that He can accept our works.

So when you put it all together you see it just kind of all of it flows together it’s a tremendous book. Now there’s two things that I circled here in Hebrews 4 16 in your notes. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need is because you’re serving God. You’re doing what God wants you to do. Then that ties into Hebrews in chapter 12 verse 28.

Look in the next one, Hebrews chapter six and verse one right there in your notes. He says this, therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us believers go on unto perfection or maturity. You see, God wants to complete the work that He has already begun in you. Now your salvation is total. There’s no problem with that. But now God wants you to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So God wants you to grow.

He wants us to mature. And the reason we, He said we can go on is because you don’t have to lay again the foundation of salvation. And that’s why He talks about from repentance from dead worship. You wanna know what does repent mean? It means you don’t trust in dead works. You don’t trust in the works of the flesh. So you trust Christ as your Savior. You see there in that verse? Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works.

Repent means to change your mind. Dead works of the flesh cannot give life. Life must come from life and exist on previous life. And the flesh cannot produce spiritual life impossible. So now that you’re saved, let us go on to maturity. And that’s what I believe God wants us to do. Now take your Bible turn to Hebrews in chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Isn’t it easy when I give you all the notes and we can just flow right there?

Ain’t that nice? And so while some of y’all are sleeping, you can read these later, you know that? You know that right? Dan’s already gone and had a nap. But in Hebrews in chapter 10, look there in verse 22. Now this is why we say that you gotta eat your greens. Let us, let us, let us, let us. And lettuce is good for you. Oh, that’s what I was told. I don’t know if it has a lot of nutritional values, but I don’t really eat that much lettuce.

One time I got all these, you know, seeds, I was gonna plant a garden and I had all kind of them. So I put them in a big old pot, stirred them all up. Now, when I went out there, not just throw them all over the garden. But he said, what are you doing? I said, I want a tall salad. Oh, well, well, move right along here. Verse 22, let us draw near where they true heart and full assurance of faith.

Because he, God doesn’t want us questioning and doubting what he promised us. And many of the things that he’s promised us, not all of them are going to be fulfilled in this life. But we live now believing that what he has promised, he’s going to do. Hold your place right there. And look in chapter 11. And look what he says here in verse nine. Look in verse 9 of chapter 11. By faith, talking about Abraham, he sojourned in a land of what?

Promise as in a strange country, growled in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. No, it’s the word promise, promise. The promise is used throughout these book of Hebrew. In verse 10, for he looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. Now, was he really looking for that while he was here? But the only thing is, he never saw it. He never found this city. But look what else he says, through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised.

See, faith is taking God at his word and believing that God will keep his word. believe in his promise. See, there’s a lot of people who missed out in life and probably going to miss out in our time in which we live because they do not believe that God will do what he promised he will do. And so because of fear and not moving ahead and seeing what God could do with them are going to forfeit so much. So then he says this down in verse 13, these all died in faith.

In other words, believing, not having received the promises, but having seen them are far off or the evidence of their faith. They saw with the eye of faith that which lies even beyond death. And having seen them are far off and were persuaded of them. Well, that’s definition of faith. It’s fulfillment. And then he says, and embraced them, confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, for they that say such thing declare plainly that they seek a country.”

Now get this. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to every turn. But now they desire a better country. So whenever you’re reading the book of Hebrews, you’ll find it’s always talking about better, better, better, better, better. I’m just going to start. And in comparison, in contrast. He says, that is heavenly. That means beyond this life. You and I, if we really have our confidence in our faith in the Lord and we can believe the Lord, then we should live our life now as though it’s real.

And we’re going to get it. And there’s no question. There’s no doubt. You’ve got full confidence. And lo and behold, you may not get everything yet in this life. Does that mean God doesn’t keep his promise? Because you didn’t get it in this life? You’re going to get it. keep trusting him and keep working toward that. Then he says it. But now that he’s our better, that is a heavenly where for God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city.

And so Abraham believed that and look beyond this life. Look at a couple of other verses down here since we’re right here. You see there in verse 39 and these all haven’t obtained a good report through faith on the line that last part, received not the promise. It didn’t happen in their lifetime. But here you have all these people that lived and they did all these things by faith because they believed it will be worth it. And God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek to please him.

And Moses says that he esteemed the reproach of Christ’s greater riches than the treasures in in Egypt because it was looking beyond this life. The rewards, look that’s what he says in verse 25. See there in chapter 11, talking about Moses, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. This is a period of time that we live here. Estiming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.

And that’s why he did what he did. because he was looking beyond this life. You and I have got promised us that they’re gonna be a judgment city of Christ, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. Therefore I believe that that is a reality. And we ought to live like it’s a reality because according to the word, it is a reality and it’s going to take place. Now, go back here to Hebrews in chapter 10.

And look in verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith. means live now, the way you should live, because our Savior is alive now. And He can give you all the strength and the grace to live and to serve Him the way you should, so that you don’t have any excuses for not being found faithful. There is no reason. You have all that you need, but then you have to apply. So that’s why He’s talking about endure.

And He refers to Himself in chapter 12, and endure hardness as a good soldier, as he says in Timothy, but Christ endured the cross and for the joy that was set before him. So these are some good verses, looking verse 24. And let us consider one another. Now this word consider, it’s mentioned several times. It’s mentioned also in the book of Hebrews in chapter two and verse one. And he’s talking about in chapter 12 about consider him, Christ. Now he’s talking about consider one another.

You see in verse 24, let us consider one another to provoke unto anger and bitterness and strife. Do everything we can to block people’s way of being successful and pull them down if we can and walk all over them. See, that’s what I said. Provoke unto love and to good works. See, you don’t do good works to be saved, but it is talking about you and I as a chalagad doing these good things because it would be a blessing, not only to you because you’re gonna reward you and you’ll get to go to heaven and get all those rewards once you get there.

But now look what he says there in verse 35. The reason for having this confidence, and I mentioned this to you before, rewards are a result of work. And work is a result of confidence and confidence is a result of faith. And faith is a result of believing what God said. See how it all flows together. So he says in verse three, cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of rewards. If it’s rewards, it cannot be salvation, right?

Cause rewards always have to deal with service. So we’re talking about you and I serving the Lord the way that we should. Now in chapter 12, look there in verse one. Hebrews chapter 12 verse one, wherefore seeing we also were encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, which I believe is a reference to the Old Testament saints mentioned there in chapter 11, because they put God in his word and look what God did for them. Now, you’ll also notice as you read chapter 11, there’s none of the sins or the failures of these godly people mentioned in chapter 11.

Did David mess up? That’s not recorded here, not in chapter 11. Ain’t that true? Doesn’t the Bible teach about love covers a multitude of sin? Which one of us have never failed in our life? And so do we say, nobody can serve the Lord unless you have got a clean life all your way. You never messed up. Then there wouldn’t be anybody left for God to use. God doesn’t use perfect people. Why? There are none. All he got is us and we have an old sinful nature.

Now anyway, this is mentioned here. I like it. I think it’s very good. when he makes the statement in chapter 12 verse 1, let us lay aside every sin which does so easily beset us. And most of everybody’s got the same sin of unbelief. You cannot grow into maturity if you don’t take God at his word and trust the Lord in your life. So you and I are commanded by God to go toward maturity, go ahead and keep running our race and lay aside this one thing that keeps all of us from achieving our spiritual growth in the Lord.

But anyway, Hebrews 12 and verse 28, we’ve read that, but now chapter 13 verse 13, let us go forth, therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. In other words, his consequences. There’s a price to pay. Have you ever picked up a cat by the nap of the neck? And it’s okay, right? But what happens if you grab the cat by the tail? Is it any different? Anything else different? If you have never been clawed by a cat, try it one time.

Or if you want to tickle his tummy. Now you can do it to a dog, but you try that with a cat. Now, when you dedicate your life to the Lord and you want to serve the Lord, the Lord is asking us to just grab a tiger by the tail. Because this world is going to fight back. the devil is going to fight. And there’s people in the delt like what we are doing for the Lord. And so you’re going to get clawed, you’re going to get hurt, but you don’t let that stop you.

Like Paul says, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. In other words, he had been whooped, he had scars. That’s the result of grabbing this tiger by the tail and well, it’s not going to kill you, but you sure are going to get marked up. And as you serve the Lord and go through life, you’re gonna get hurt. You’re gonna get scarred. You’re gonna have a lot of things happening in your life that you’re not gonna like.

But let’s go on outside to camp where it’s rough out there. And God says, in this world, you’re gonna suffer persecution and you’re gonna get messed up. You’re gonna get scarred. But now look at the next statement. In Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 15 said, by Him, therefore, let us offer, and here’s two things I want you to see. Sacrifice and praise, and the fruit of our lips giving thanks. You see, as you grow and mature in the Lord, it won’t matter what happens.

People, circumstances, you’ll learn how to give the sacrifice of praise. And as He says, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. In other words, those two things are the results of your faith in the Lord. So when you put your faith in the Lord, you’re looking down the road and know how many opportunities God’s given to us. And so because of that, yes. He says, continually. See that word continually, you ought to underline it or draw marks to it, circle it, whatever.

This is something God wants you to do all the time. Keep, keep, because of your faith in the Lord And it may come that these promises of fulfillment may be after you have left this world. But God’s word is true and you live that way. Believing that God is gonna do what God says He’s gonna do and that it will be worth it all. You agree with that? You believe that? Then I expect you to be found faithful and serve the Lord with all your heart.

Full assurance of faith. So you’re gonna eat your greens? You better eat your greens. You do this and help you to stay healthy, not wealthy, later and wise. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us. Now he hates our sin, but he does love us. Aren’t you glad God loves you? You know it’s a shame that we can preach. I don’t care how many things you’ve done wrong. How wicked you have lived.

When you trust Christ as your Savior, He forgives you of everything you have ever done. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. And then what we teach. But that’s just to the loss. Once you get saved, man, it’s all over now. He will never forgive you now, and people cannot forgive a believer, but we can forgive all the lost people everything you’ve ever done. It’s amazing how we can treat God’s people. And when they mess up, we’ll hang it over their head for the rest of their life because we’re not tenderhearted and we don’t forgive one another.

We wrong each other. Husbands wrong wives, and wives wrong- I didn’t need kids and all that. And we don’t always do each other right. And sometimes somebody can do you right, and you thought it was wrong, and you still treat them as though they did you wrong. And they might have done you right. That’s another sermon. You and I, sin, were condemned to a literal fire burning hell, and we need to be saved from hell. To go to heaven, you have to be perfect as righteous as God, and you can’t get there until you can’t go there.

This hand represents Jesus Christ, he’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into this world because he loves us, hates our sin because our sin separates us from him. So Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die. Well, he took all of our sins, paid for the only cross and came back from the dead. And said, if we would believe he did it for us, he’d put this payment to our account, we get to go to heaven on what he did for us.

That salvation, that’s free, because he paid for that. We’re going to heaven because of the work of Christ. Rewards in heaven is because the work we did for Christ. A lot of difference. Let’s pray, shall we? With his bow and knife clothes and no one looking around, if you have never trusted Christ as your savior, right where you are. You don’t have to come forward, you don’t have to sign a card, you don’t have to promise anything or stop anything.

All God wants you to do is believe. Would you believe that he loves you and paid for your sins? And by trusting him, he gives you as a free gift everlasting life. Now that’s what you do to have eternal life and to go to heaven. But now that you are saved, God wants you to learn, to listen, to grow, to put your confidence and your faith in the Lord. It ain’t over yet. God has so much more. He has filled his word with divine promises and he wants us to believe him.

And therefore, as you serve the Lord, you’re going to need a little extra grace along the way, the strength, the power, the desire to do the will of God. And if you go to the throne of grace, he’s alive today. And he’s ready to give to you whatever you need to help in time of need. That’s what he wants to do. Our Father, we thank you again for your blessings. Thank you for each one here. And Father, we pray for those that are watching by internet if they’ve never trust you to save you, they would do so now.

By believing that when you died on that cross, you died for them. And that you’ll give them eternal life as a free gift. after blessings upon each one year now. Bless us in Christ and then we pray. Amen. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free, 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. 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. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30, and at six o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, 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 and just keep looking up.