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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. 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.

So take your Bible and go back there to the book of Ecclesi dormant. Any Ecclesiastes and look there once again in chapter one, if I lay up treasure in heaven and then I die, who gets it? Now think carefully. If I lay up treasure upon the earth and I die, who gets it? Somebody else does, right? Somebody else has to get it. But if I lay up treasure in heaven and I die, who gets it? Who? I get it.

So see, I gain by lending treasure in heaven. Now, do I want it here or do I want it when I get there? So your time here on earth is to be a very important time. God is going to reward you for your wise decisions, your investments. And so as you live your life and what you do for the Lord, can’t be lost. When he talks about rewards, he says, if you give a cup of cold water unto one of these little ones, only in the name of a disciple, verily I send to you, you shall not lose your reward.

Rewards, once they’re earned, can’t be lost. What you can lose is what you could have earned and didn’t earn. So once you have laid up treasure in heaven, And the reason is because you can’t lose it once it’s laid up. You can lose what you could have because God wants us to receive a full reward. That means that He wants us to serve Him with all our hearts, all our lives. But many of God’s people won’t. And I used to think this way.

I did something good. He got me a reward in heaven. I did something bad. God just took it away. I did something good. I laid it up. I did something bad. I took it away. I thought, hi, in the world am I ever going to win? So I thought, I’ll just do a whole bunch of good things one day, blow my brain tight, get up here and get my reward before I lose them. Now doesn’t that make sense? No, because that would have been bad, not a loss of them anyway.

So God says, you can’t lose your rewards once they’re earned. And the same verse that says that over there in the book of John chapter 6, that where he says, you shall in no wise be cast out. We say that means you’ll never cast, but never can be cast. Well, you never lose your reward, same thing. So it’s a wonderful thing to know. So you look back here and Ecclesiastes, now look in Ecclesiastes chapter two and verse 18. Verse 18 says, Yay, I hated all my labors, which I had taken under the sun, because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

If you labor for that, and that is your heart, And that is your life. And that’s what your life revolved around. And when you die, it’ll belong to somebody else because you can’t take it with you. You can’t use it anymore. It’s gone. But whatever you have laid up for the Lord in heaven, you cannot lose. So as you live your Christian life, do you think that when God says love, not the things of the world, he just doesn’t love you?

He’s just trying to make your life miserable. He doesn’t really care about your happiness because God knows the happiness and the joy you’re going to have because you put the Lord first and that you did not waste your life. Now I’ve lived so far 74 wonderful years. Well almost 74 wonderful years, they weren’t all wonderful but I had a bunch of wonderful years in there. But I do believe that when I get to heaven, God is going to reward me for my service for the Lord.

That’s what He promised. Am I being too boastful when I say that? Or what about Paul when he says, I have fought a good fight. I have kept the faith. Therefore there’s laid up for me a crown of righteousness. And not to me only but for all those who love the Lord. So was Paul being presumptuous and and bragadosh, just whenever he talked about, he served the Lord, and Paul says, I labored more abundantly than they all. Whatever your reason is, and whatever your motive is, you’ve got to love the Lord more than anything instant of the world, or you won’t do it.

Because in the things of this world are going to stop you. The things you see, things you hear, all these things in the world, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, you know that praise, honor, glory are going to stop you from living for the Lord with all your heart. Remember we talked about this morning, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mine, body, soul, and strength. Well that’s that’s pretty good. And we’re supposed to love one another.

The best thing that people need in this life is a good example. They need to trust the Lord and they need a good example. And so whenever you’re helping people don’t worry about whether or not they appreciate Don’t worry about whether or not you get, you know, Pat’s on the back and all the praise and the honor and the glory for all of your dedication because you didn’t do it for people anyway. You did it for the Lord. And you’re gonna wait until you get to heaven and God’s gonna reward you and you know that.

And so you can be patient now. That’s what keeps you from being filled with envy and bitterness and jealousy and hatred and malice and all those nasty things you wanna say about somebody. because anybody who does you wrong and you do them right, check that up again. Kachin, you ever hear of them? Kachin, your land up treasure in heaven, and it will be worth it. So in Ecclesiastes, the joke about, everything just goes in a circle. Look what he says.

In verse three of chapter one, what prophet hath a man of all his labors which he’d take under the sun? It looks like we have a few college kids that were under the sun this weekend. I don’t know if you looked at them, but their faces look like they’re a little red. Either that, they’re very embarrassed about something. But they have been in the sun. Well, it’s nice to get a little sun once in a while. I used to go and I’d get so red.

And I’m talking about in a few days, man, I would turn brown. Anyway, he says here in verse 1, one generation passes away. another generation, comeeth. But the earth abided for how long? Oh, I just say it says it bides forever. But this is as a man under the sun, looking at things from the natural viewpoint. Well, that’s spiritual revelations from the Lord. And then he says here, the sun arises and goes down. Hastings to a place where he rose and in the Lord just one vicious cycle.

It comes up and it goes and it comes back and it comes up and it goes. And he said, that’s the way your life is. You’re born and you live and you die. The next generation born and they live and they die. The next generation and it just keeps on going. Everything is vanity and vexation. In other words, it’s like a great big old curse because if there’s nothing new under the sun, then what can you do? What’s the purpose of life?

Without a purpose in life, then a man only can live for this life if he knows nothing about God. Does it know the Lord? Does it know what God promised? Does it know about the world that come, the age to come, when God is going to do all these wonderful things? If you don’t know that, all you know is what you hear and see in this whole world. And so this is why people make the decisions they do and how they’re so miserable.

We’ve got teenagers all across this world, especially here in America. the lift for. We’ve got college students on campus and so on. They don’t have the slightest bit of education, understanding the difference between a Republican form of government and Democratic form of government that they would even go out and stand and vote for a communist in this country when we are guaranteed a Republican form of government in this country. But they don’t understand it. Because you see, this is all there is.

So you can have all the sex you want, live in your way you want, do whatever you want to do, and the government’s going to take care of us. So vote for the man that’s going to take it away from those people that work and give it to those people that don’t work. And so it’s all about power. And the politicians that will promise you this, it has nothing to do. They don’t care about those babies. They don’t care about about those children.

It’s not about the children. They don’t care about children. Or they wouldn’t be murdered in the womb. They don’t care about those teenagers and they don’t care about those college kids. They don’t care about those college kids. They want power. It’s power to them. It’s the lust of the flesh. It’s for praise. It’s for honor. Look what Bernie Sanders is going to do for me. Bernie Sanders is not going to do anything for anybody. Now if he wants to take his own money, I don’t mind it one bit.

But he has no authority to take mine or yours. I could get sidetracked here. But I won’t. Verse 6 talks about the wind, the wind that goeth toward the south, turneth about unto the north. World’s about continuously everything. The rivers in verse 7 runs into the sea. All these things is, well, he kind of relating it to life itself, how empty life is, because what’s the purpose of all this life? And so he says there in verse 13, and I gave my heart to seek out and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under the heavens.

So you don’t have to try to experiment in this life, trying to figure out how much pleasure you can have doing this or that. You don’t have to worry about spending the life trying to build something, accumulate something, because God allowed one man to have all the wisdom to do everything that he wanted to do and his wisdom remained with him even when he was in rebellion to God because he sought to find out everything about everything. And so he says in verse 1 of chapter 2, I said in my heart, go to now, I will prove thee with myrrh, therefore enjoy pleasure and behold this also is vanity, just to live for pleasure, but it’s temporary.

There is pleasure in sin for a season, but it short lived. Nothing last forever. They used to have a commercial on TV years and years ago about camel cigarette, the smoke that satisfies. What if it satisfies? Why are you going to have another one? You might remember the commercial? It satisfies. But then what do you need another one for? Because evidently it didn’t satisfy for long. And that’s the way it is in life. Do you think just because you go out here and you have sex with somebody and oh, the pleasure, yeah.

How long does it last? Then you’ve got to again and again and again. And then you’ve got to have somebody else. It’s never said God’s way works. Put God first and serve Him with all your heart. Now look what He says in verse 17. He says, therefore I hated life. Why? Because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me, for all is vanity and vexation is spared. In other words, there’s no purpose in it. If you, without God, there’s no purpose to anything.

Because sooner or later, the place of the life, you can’t do everything you always used to do. When you were young, then you get old and you ought to see and read the old man’s chapter in the Bible. You know, please, yes, it’s chapter 12. That’s the old man’s chapter. That’s where most of us ought to go in part for about a week and just read that over about 10 times. You don’t have to describe yourself. It does a pretty good job for you.

Now, some of you have already started turning there. I watched you. I watched you. But in verse four of this chapter two, he said, I made me great works. I built me houses. I planted me vineyards. I made gardens and orchards and I planted trees. Whatever you want to do, Solomon already done it. Whatever it is you dream about and you would like to come, he’s already done it. And he’s telling you at the end of his life how he wasted his life doing all of these things.

And so he says down here in verse 9, so I was great. You want to be great? Yeah, I was great. Increase more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me, even when he did all of these things. And then in verse 20, chapter 2, therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took unto the sun. Whatever it is I wanted to do, I was able to do.

And he tells you, look, you don’t have to do any of this because I’ve already done it. Now let me tell you the consummation of all of this. It’s vanity and vexation of Spirit. It’s like a curse to yourself. You will be so miserable. That’s why there’s so many miserable people in the world. Did you know that the happiest people in the world ought to be Christians? Because of the joy that you’re doing, the things for the Lord, and you know that God is going to reward you when you get to heaven and you can’t lose any of those things.

And you know where you’re going to be. It could happen at any time. So for the joy of the Lord that is said before us, we should endure whatever it is God allows to come into our life. Because we know we can induce it. do anything for a short period of time, and our life is a very short period of time. And God bless the thought. Look there in Ecclesiastes in chapter 3. Chapter 3, I entitled this chapter as years ago, they used to have it on TV.

This goes back a long way. This is your life. You ever heard that? This is your life? Well, what does your life consist of? So you read this and you’ll see what your life consists of. In verse 2, time to be born. You had to be born right. You were born. All of you that were born, let me see your hand. Let me see your hand. All right. I just want to make sure you follow me. So you had to start.

You were born. So there’s a time to be born. A time to die. You’re going to die because you didn’t know that. I’m just telling you, you’re going to die. A time to plan. Time to pluck up that We’re just planning time to kill, time to heal, time to break down, time to balance. A time to weep, time to laugh, time to mourn, time to dance, time to do all of these things. You get out through here and this is, this is your life.

So in this life, if God told you before, He was going to let you be born and you said, well, what do you mean you’re going to let us be born and we’re going to live on this planet someplace and we’re going to live for about 70 years? Well, what are we going to do? Well, you’re gonna be born and you’re gonna die and you’re gonna mourn and you’re gonna laugh and they’re gonna be some joy they’re gonna be a little misery Do I have to be born?

If you knew what life was about before you were born you probably would choose not to be Because I mean describe it describe life Has your life so far been one big happy day? Who said that? Who? Tom! You didn’t see what I was talking about anyway. So all of these things God has placed in His Word, and it can be so disappointing. And you begin to look at life like the world does. For a Christian, we’re supposed to think differently.

Now, without the knowledge of God, without the revelation of God, I want you to look at what He says here. In verse 18, he says, I said in my heart, concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them and that they might see that they themselves are beast. Well, how do you like that? Is this how God sees you? You beast you. I’ve seen some women say that about their husband, you beast. But anyway, look what he says in verse 19.

For that which befall of the sons of men befall of beast. Even one thing befall of them as the one die of soul, die of the other. Yea they all have one breath so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast for all his vanity. Jehovah’s Witnesses love these scriptures because when they want to try to prove their point that there is no hell and so forth and you don’t have a body soul and spirit, you’re just a body, you’re just like an animal.

these are the verses they love to use, which is from a worldly viewpoint. God bless them. And then notice what he says, all go into one place, all are of the dust, all turn to dust again. You’re no different than an animal. So that’s what they’re teaching in our schools. You see when you can’t teach the Bible and you can’t tell them about God, you can’t teach them right and wrong. Well, what do you expect them to act like?

A bunch of animals. And that’s what they do. And there’s no morality, there’s no right and wrong, everything’s a dirty grade, just do whatever you want. And so he says here, when it comes to the natural man looking at life, an animal dies, a man dies, they go back to the dust and that’s the end of it. But it’s not all of it. You see there in the verse 21, who know if the spirit of man that go up upward and the spirit of beast that goes downward into the earth?

So God’s Word tells us how you think when you chase the things of the world, when you want to live for the world, you’d be surprised how that your mind will go. And even though we know that in Romans chapter 1, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. Is it possible that even a Christian knows the Lord? May not give God the glory that He deserves, and next thing you know, they live as though there is no God, and they live their life as an atheist.

They don’t have to pray. It’s just they become as wicked as they can be. Still saved, they’ll go to heaven when they die, but the damage that they do, the emptiness in their life. and all these things that goes on. Now look very quickly over there to the book of Ecclesiastes in chapter 12. So he tells us, as the conclusion of this whole matter, there in verse 13, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments.

This is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or or whether it be evil, when you get right down to it and you know and you understand, there’s a conclusion to this. But he says, serve the Lord in the days of thy youth. Well, where’s he say that? Right there in verse 1 of chapter 12. Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth, because if you don’t do it, why you’re young?

Did you know the chances are you’ll never do it for the rest of your life? Did you know it’s easier to reach little children for the learn than it is adults. It’s easier to reach teenagers than adults. It’s harder to reach the adults because they’re already set in their ways. So, Phesiaasae chapter 11, look down in verse 9, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes, but know this, that for all these things God’s going to bring you into judgment.

You go ahead and you make your decisions, you live the way you want to, you make your, okay, that’s what God said, go ahead. But there’s a day of reckoning coming. And he says, this time is going to come when you’re going to have to give an account of yourself. So there in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, he says, serve the Lord in the days of your youth, but the days come in when you’re going to get old and you won’t be able to do all that you want to do.

And so he says, they’re in verse two, while the son of chapter 12, or the light or the moon to the start, be not darkened. See, when you young, you got good eyesight, you can see so much. But the time will come when you can’t see so good. And then he said in verse three, in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble. And the strong men shall bow themselves. You ever see people as they get older and older, sometimes they get bent over just a little bit, maybe a little bit more.

There was a time when Ray Stanford, he was as tall as I was, was the same. I could wear all of his suits. And he would give me some of his $150 suits, and that was 40 years ago. They were expensive. The church bought him a new suit every six months. And then he says this and and the grinders get it and the grinders cease because they’re a few as you get older your teeth go Those that look out of the windows are darkened.

No, they can’t see anymore So you think he’s describing a house he’s describing that house you and I live in the day will come Yes, while you’re young and you play the fool you waste your life And then he says in verse four and the door shall be shut in the streets when the sound of the grind in his low Oh, son, I can’t hear so good, huh? Hey, hey. Now, you know I got here in age and both years, right?

And some of y’all still, no, I can’t hear you, speak up. And he shall rise up at the voice of the bird and all the daughters of music shall be brought low. And you don’t hear like you used to hear. So there’s so much it goes on. And then in verse seven, then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, And the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it. But unless you learn to put the Lord first and do what God wants you to do, you can waste your life.

You can’t serve both. So when God says love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, it’s because he knows it’s gonna end up and you’re not gonna have all the pleasure you want. You’re not gonna have the joy you want. You’re gonna realize you wasted your life. vanity is a waste. You’ll waste your life. You only get one chance to live life. No reruns, no instant replays, just one trip through life. And you need to be wise and make the right decision why you can.

Look up here. I often share verse 12 of chapter 12 with the college students. See verse 12, where it says, and further by these, my son be admonished of making many books, there is no end, and much studying is a weariness of the flesh. That’s some of their favorite verse in the Bible. Studying is a weirdness. Doesn’t it wear you out? Wouldn’t be so easy if God just cut a hole in the top and poured it in and then cap it.

That’d be so neat. But then we wouldn’t be able to have a college, because everybody’s so smart. This hand represents you and me. The wall of represents him. We all have sin on us God. He loves us. Now he hates our sin, but he loves us. And for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from the Lord in a place called hell. But God loves us, wants us to go to heaven. To go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God.

You know I’ve wondered how many times I have done this illustration. I know it’s been a long time. But I believe that it was right a long time ago. And so over 50 years I still believe it’s right. So if it’s right, I’m going to keep doing it because there might be somebody that will hear and understand the gospel because I did it one more time. And it doesn’t matter how many times the Christians have heard it. I really don’t care.

I know that there might be one person who’s saying, no, I never understood that before. And their eternity depends upon them understanding the gospel. And if it makes Is it clear for them or are they worth it? Are they worth it for you to hear it one more time? And that you have to endure such a hard thing. But to go to heaven we got to be perfect. How many is perfect? None. The Bible says because of sin we can’t get in.

And there’s nothing that we can do. No good works to pay for our sins. So that’s why good works can’t get you to heaven. You need a payment for your sins. This hand represents Jesus Christ, he’s the Lord. God in the flesh came into the world because he loves us. Hates our sin because our sins separates us from the Lord. So Jesus Christ who had no sin did not have to die, but he took our sins, paid for them on the cross, came back from the dead, and said, if we would believe they did it for us, he would put the payment on account, and we go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us.

Let’s pray, shall we? With heads bow knives closed and no one looking around. If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, I pray that you would. If you never trust the Lord, you can do that right now. And if you trust Him right now, God saves you right now. And if you’re watching by internet, if you’ve never trust the Lord, right where you are, I’m glad you don’t have to walk forward from wherever you may be. But right where you are in the quietness of your own mind, you can simply say, Lord, I’m a sinner.

I believe Christ died from me. And I’m going to trust Him as my Savior. It’s my only hope of going to heaven. For in God’s said, if you trust Him, He would save you and give eternal life as a free gift. I pray that you would. Our Father, we thank You so much for all You’ve done for us. We thank You for the free gift of eternal life. We ask Your blessings upon each person here. Thank You for all You do.

And help us to keep reminding ourselves why we do what we do. Love not the things of the world, neither the things that are in the world, but to serve you and look forward to the day when we’ll be with you. And Lord, we know that you will do right by us. She’ll not judge of all the earth, do right. So thank you so much for loving us, for giving us eternal life. And we pray Lord as your children, we would serve you in Christ’s name, amen.

Men, reserve the last Saturday of the month For the Iron Sharpen’s Iron, men’s Bible study and breakfast at Calvary Community Church. Join us at 730 for a home-cooked breakfast. Then at 8am, the featured speaker of the month will present a one-hour classroom style, men’s Bible study, in a relaxed atmosphere where questions and dialogue are welcomed. The scripture tells us that Iron sharpens iron, and this men’s Bible study is open to those of all levels, whether new believers or mature Christians.

The Iron Sharpens Iron Men’s Bible Study and Breakfast. Don’t miss this monthly opportunity for fellowship and the study of God’s Word. 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. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.