This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

When you stop and think about it, what other kind of experiences can you have that people on earth can’t experience? What are the problems that you can face that nobody on earth can face that same thing? There isn’t anything. Now, get what else you say. But God is, look at the fact, there are no temptation taking you but such as this common demand. God is faithful. Now, you ought to underline that in your Bible. God is faithful. do you know?

You see it’s one thing to read it and have the book learning but there’s another thing called the School of Hard Knocks that makes it real because you experienced it and now you really know it because you’ve watched God deliver you. Now how does God deliver you? Remember this, well whether it’s the afflictions or whether it’s the temptation God says in the part of the verse. Look at it. Who will not suffer you or permit you to be tempted above that you’re able, above that you’re able.

That means that you can endure it. You may not enjoy it, but you can endure it. And not only that you can endure it, but also this. He says, but will with the tempted with, something comes along with a temptation. Something comes with it. what comes with it or the inflator, what comes with it? A way of escape. Now you may not take the way of escape. There is a way out. There is strength available. There’s grace that God calls it the throne of grace, the help and time of need.

Now if you don’t ask for that grace, then you don’t get it. Because God says, He knows what you have need of before you ask. But if you don’t ask, you’re not going to get it. He knows what you have need of in advance. But He says, call upon me, come to me, depend upon me, trust me. Seek the way I’m. That’s why He says in the book of Matthew chapter 7 and 7, seek and ye shall, what? Find, knock and it shall be open unto you.

Ask and ye shall, well what if you don’t do that? Let’s see, you don’t get the benefits of it. When it says, there is a, as he says here, but will with the temptation, I mean, make a way of escape. But if you don’t trust the Lord because God is faithful and you depend upon that God who is faithful, now you may not find a way for yourself. You may not have the strength, you may not have the courage or the boldness that whatever’s coming down the road and therefore you give up, you quit.

But it’s because you didn’t trust God. You didn’t walk with Him. You didn’t let God open up the door. So you miss out. make a way to escape and look at the last part of that verse that you may be able to what? It doesn’t mean that you’re totally delivered from the thing, it’s that God gives you the grace to bear. That’s your escape. You didn’t have to do it, but you can bear it. And so there’s a lot of things in life we may not like, but I found out a long time ago, the Christian life is not doing all the things that I like to do.

It’s doing the things that I have to do. And sometimes the things that I have to do are not the things that I want to do. And I have to go through. How many of you think I was looking forward to the surgery? Man, I just couldn’t wait. I wanted it so bad. Well after I had a neck issue for a while, I did want it, but I didn’t know all the consequences. If I had known all the consequences, I might not have done it.

And then I might have played a game of golf and been dead, a parableite. I don’t know. But there is a way that God has in His Word. Now, in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 7, I know you’ve got the Bible memorized. But it talks about, you know, how the trial of your faith, been much more precious than gold, that tried with fire, may be found on the praise, honor, and glory. At the appearance of Jesus Christ, your faith is on trial.

And so do you really love the Lord as much as you think. Do you really trust Him? Well it’s these afflictions and trials that we go through, the temptations we go through where you get a chance to prove it. And so you want to be found faithful. Take your Bible and look in the book of Psalms 116, Psalms You’re back there in your Old Testament, Psalms 116. A lot of times I get opportunities to do funeral services. And I know people are brokenhearted, and so I like to sometimes give them a verse that might help them.

And Psalms in chapter 116, notice what he says here in this verse, it’s a precious verse, look in verse 15. And if his verse isn’t underlined, what should you do? Underline it. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the never dying of his saints. Is the death of his saints. Now what’s the last thing we wanna do in this world? We don’t wanna die. We just don’t want to. That’s why we’re all excited about the rapture. One of the advantages that we want, rapture is because we don’t want to die.

True? It doesn’t matter that millions and billions of people have already lived and died, we don’t want to be one of them. That’s one experience in life that we don’t want to have to go through. We’d rather the rapture take place. But because we don’t want to physically die, that means we won’t. No, God may allow us to die, but will He deliver us from death. The pain of death, the sting of death, we’re going to die one day, but can God deliver us?

Yes, He can. Now in this verse, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. It’s a precious thing. It’s a wonderful thing. Not for us, but it is for the Lord. Because this is what God’s been working for. All All these thousands of years is the way, the plan of salvation, getting us out of this old world and getting us into a new world. That day is coming. Now take your Bible looking Psalm 71.

Psalm 71, Psalm 71, this kind of relates to me a little bit more. I kind of feel like this at times. Remember I told you the other night we were going to start the silver cloud youth ranch. Don’t you think that’s a good idea? You got to have gray hair to go to it. If you don’t have any gray in your hair, you can’t come. Now you can’t die gray. So just whenever I grew this, I had to die gray so I’d look older.

I mean, believe that, raise your right hand. If I raised your left hand, I can’t believe you all did that. All right, here in the 71st Psalm, I want you to look there in verse 17. Verse 17, O God, thou hast taught me from my youth. That’s a good place to start, isn’t it? From my youth. Here, the two have I declared thy wondrous work. So as you have learned things from God, teach things you’ve learned from God. A from youth means you didn’t learn it all at one time.

You have grown in your knowledge of the Lord. And as you learn and you grow, you become wiser. And so now in verse 18, if you don’t have verse 18 underlying in your Bible, what should you do? Well, you should underline it. Why? Because I underline it in my Bible. Don’t you want to be like the preacher? He underlined in his Bible. In verse 18, now also when I am old and grayheaded, I’ve still got a few black hairs on my head so I’m not totally gray headed yet.

When I am old and grayheaded, oh God, forsake me not. Now we know that he never will. Because he promised that he wouldn’t. He’d never leave us and never forsake us. Then he says, until I have showed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to everyone that is to come. You see, the older we get from the days that we were young and all the things we’ve learned in between, I want to teach those things to the next generation.

That’s the one of the reasons why I like having a Bible college. I want to teach kids what I’ve learned. I want them to know what I know. I want them to be able to accomplish in their life some of the things that I’ve ever had. The Lord’s accomplished through my life. And God has made a difference in my life. It’s real to me. And I don’t want people just thinking, But serve the Lord is such a boring life.

It’s such a non-eventful. I mean, it’s a boring life. I think it’s the most exciting thing anybody can never do with their life. It has kept me motivated every day. I very seldom have a down day where I’m just so down in the stories. Now, I might get that way tomorrow. It may happen tomorrow morning. Right now, I’m so excited about serving the Lord. I can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen the next day. Can’t wait to go to bed so I can hurry and get up.

Cause I wanna know what’s gonna happen that day. Then I wonder what’s gonna happen the next day. I’m looking forward to this Saturday. I don’t know everything is gonna happen, but I get a chance to preach. Jess is gonna get a chance to preach. And we don’t know, you know, what’s gonna be the results of it? But we may affect some people’s lives that could be changed from around the world. Cause that little little camera or been shooting it everywhere.

But now notice the rest of this. He said, I’ve shown thy strength under this generation and thy power to everyone that is to come. So we’re trying to do what we can to reach the next generation. It’s like camp and all those things are so very important. Now look in Psalms 49. Psalms 49, so on the left hand, paid right in column, in and post-CO through reference Bible. But there’s a verse there that I wanted you to see. Look in verse 15.

Now I would underline verse 15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me. I will be delivered from the power of the grave, though there is a grave. But the grave may get my body, but the grave will not get me. So I never have to be afraid of the grave. Why? Because I will never go to the grave. I’m not in the grave. Because what God has done is delivered me from the grave by his power.

Now I want you to take your Bible and turn to the 90th Psalm. The 90th Psalm is a tremendous psalm. I use it often, but I think you need to look on down the road to the time when life is all over, because that day is coming. But until then, God can deliver us from the devil. He can deliver me from hell. He can deliver me from the power of the old sinful nature. He can deliver me from all the trials and tribulations and temptations that are in the world because he always makes a way of escape.

Sometimes I haven’t always found him. Sometimes I wish I had found the way a little bit sooner. But now we’re closing in on the end of our life and here in the 90th Psalm. One day, this is what the Lord is going to do. He says in verse 3, thou turneth man to destruction and sayeth, return. Times up. It’s all over, your race is over. Return ye children of men for a thousand years in thy sight or but is yesterday.

When in this past and as they watch in the night, think about that. A thousand years in thy sight is only one day with the Lord. Did you ever think about that whenever we die and we get to heaven? And even a hundred years later, somebody else dies and they go to heaven. We all get to heaven on the same day because there’s no night there. We all get to heaven the same day. I think that’s awesome when you think about it.

Look at another thing here. He says, or ever thou hath formed the earth or the world, even from the everlasting to everlasting, thou art God, from eternity past to eternity future. And then he says here, this is something important for us. Concerning people, they in verse 5, thou curious them away as with the flood. They are as a sleep. In the morning they are like 1899 grass, which grew up that, isn’t interested in watching little babies. When they’re born, to me they all look like a bunch of little geronimos, you know, little Indians, little little babies here.

And it don’t matter what that baby looks like, it looks like when that mama looks at it, my baby, my baby, birdie baby, goo-coo and all that. You want to see a grown man make a full life himself, put a baby in his hands. And you’re like a nut. Goo-goo-ga-ga. And the kids, doo-doo. But babies is what God uses to make a man out of or a woman out of. And without that little baby, he can’t make a man or a woman.

That’s where they come from. And so the day will come when they start to grow and they look like pretty little flowers. And you know that they’re gonna get older and they get beautiful. Now the men, they get old and you know, follow it. The woman, she just stays young and pretty all her life. You better remember that.

She never gets old. Men get old. There are stages that a man goes through, you know, and baby and childhood and teenagers and young men, middle-aged and old-man, dead men. But a woman, baby, pretty little girl, pretty teenager, pretty adult girl, young lady, young lady, young lady, young lady, young lady, young lady. She stays a young lady all her life. So those are some things we’re supposed to remember. But now notice the grass grow up. In the morning it floors it grow up, and the evening is cut down and wither it home.

You’d have to say that. But we are consumed by the anger and by the wrath or we troubled. Thou have said our iniquities before the, our secret sins and the light of thy countenance. Does God see everything? The sees the results of sin that’s in these old bodies hours. And then he says here in verse 7, for we are consumed by that anger and by thy wrath are we troubled. Now I said our iniquities before the our secret sins and the light of thy countenance, for all our days, all our days are passed away in thy wrath.

We spend our years as a tale that is told. In other words, you ever hear somebody tell a story that could have taken years to tell or to live? I’ve had experiences in my life and somebody tell me a little bit about your life. And man, I can tell some stories that took years to live, but a moment to tell. And how short our lives are. And sometimes it can be boiled down. Not very long. Not very long. Then look what he says here.

in verse 10, the days of our years are three score years and 10. I want to know how many of that is. How many is that? Seventy. Seventy, you got it down? Seventy. And if by strength, they’d be four score years. I mean, is that? Huh? 80 years. 80 years. Do you know that’s only a little over two years away? Ooh. You know, I didn’t think, I thought 70 was old until I got 69. And now look at the last part of that.

Yet is there strength, labor, and sorrow for it is soon cut off and sooner or later you’re still gonna die and we fly away. You see that’s leaving this body we don’t like. I was thinking the other day because it was Mother’s Day and my mother, I had a privilege of leading her to the Lord and my mom was gone. And a lot of people, their mothers are gone. And so it’s something we don’t… Light, we’d rather not even dwell about it, but I know where my mama is, and I believe she’s up there waiting to see me.

And I believe she’s going to say, Yankee, thank you for telling me about Jesus. My two sisters are up there, and I think they’re going to say, Yankee, thank you for telling me about the Lord. Because I went through a lot of murder trying to get them to trust the Lord. My mom used to get up and walk out of the house when I come to see her. I mean, get up and walk out. And I’m trying, and my father-in-law, or my stepdad, when they told me, he says, Yankee, why don’t you stop preaching to me?

If we want to hear preaching, we’ll go to church. They didn’t want me to talk about the Lord around them at all. That broke my heart. I got, I cried. But finally, I let them all for the Lord. The day came, I had to be patient. Five years from my mom. And I was sitting there with my sister in a mobile home, in a trailer, and she was not quite drunk, but she was close. And she had a six-pack there, and I came down from Colorado, and I went to go see my sister Liz.

I just knew Liz, he hadn’t trusted the Lord. And so I talked to Liz, and she said to her at that table, and she says, you talk to him as long as I drink, but whenever I finish drinking, you’ve got to open the next one because she might not be able to open it. I said, I’ll do it, Liz. First time and only time I’ve ever opened a can for somebody to drink. But I was talking to Liz and I didn’t want to let this go.

If that was the only thing I got to do, I’m gonna do it. And so I talked to Liz and she ran out of drink. I could talk, she’d drink. She finished that one. I gave her another one. I gave her two or three. And by the while, she was kind of happy. But finally she looked at me and she says, now let me see if I got this right. You mean all I gotta do is accept Christ as my Savior.

I can believe in Lord. And God will save me, give me eternal life and I can know I’m going to heaven. I said, yes, Liz, that’s all you gotta do. That’s what I’ll do. And I thought of Ray Stanford, he did almost the same thing. And that girl, I can’t believe it. I was preaching a little old white Methodist church up there in hot new woods. And I was getting ready to preach that night, but I’m waiting for some of the more people to show up.

And Lomi Ho here stood Lizzy at the door. She walked straight up to me, looked at me right in the eye and she says, guess what? I said, what Lizzy? I quit drinking. I says, Lizzy, I am so proud of you. I says, when did you quit now? But she never took another drink. Smoked like a fiend, but she never took another drink. I says, Lizzy, I’d rather you smoke here than smoke later. But there’s a pun there. Then he says in verse 11, who knoweth the power of thine anger?

Even according to thy fear so is thy wrath. God hates sin. God hates the sin. And we have all sin, in verse eight, see it’s kind of like the middle verse. We have all sinned against God. And our lives with all the troubles that we have because of sin. And God shows his wrath against sin. But God can deliver us from this all sinful nature. He’s gonna deliver us from this whole body that we have and we’re going to fly away.

That’s why that song comes. Some glad morning when this life is all right. What? Fly away. We’re going to fly away. So because that is true, look at verse 12, so teach us to number our days that we may They apply our hearts under wisdom. So you only got so much time to live. But the surety of being born into this world and because there’s sin in this world and we’re gonna die one day. Every time we have a funeral and should wake us up, truth that we should number our days, how much time do y’all think I got left and apply our hearts under wisdom?

I should be wiser with the time I’ve gotten left than all the years that I had before. Shouldn’t we get wiser as we grow older? We should mature in the Lord. And I think this is what David was talking about from my youth. Now I’m old, but I wanna teach the younger generation the things that I’ve learned. And notice what he says here. O satisfy in verse 14, us early with thy mercy that we may rejoice and be glad, and you ought to underline these three little words.

All our days. Be glad you did what you could with the days God gave you, remembering and understanding that every day I live is one less day I’ve got. And you want to be wise and do what God wants you to do with your life. Look up here. If you’re watching by internet tonight, I want to know that letting this hand represent you and me. The Bible says that God loves us, but he hates our sins. If the wallet could represent sin, all the bad things that we’ve done, everybody sins, and everybody is going to die.

But God can deliver us. The body may go to the grave, but God can deliver me from the grave and receive me. So he’s made a few promises to us. We can’t save ourselves, but we are going to die. And so therefore we need a Savior. This hand represents Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. He He came into this world because, well, He loves us. He hates our sin because our sin separates us from the Lord. So Jesus Christ who had no sin did not have to die, but because He loved us, He had to remove that which separates us from them.

So He took all the sin of all the world, paid for it on the cross and came back from the dead. And the only thing He wanted you and me to do The only thing we can do is will we believe He did it for us. Now 58 years ago, I believe Christ did this for me, so He put this payment to my account. And I’m going to heaven because you see, I don’t have any sins to pay for.

He paid for my sins. Well He only did it once. He paid for all of them. So even 10 years from now or 20 years from now, I’m still going to go to heaven. Why? for all those sins to. He paid for all of my sins and all I had to do is believe that He did it for me. Let’s pray, shall we? His bound eyes closed, no one looking around. When I write down the quietness of this moment, if you’re struggling with some trials and tribulations, I hope that’s perhaps something that I said may have helped you to realize that you can trust the Lord.

Don’t talk about all the days that you trust the Lord in the years past. Are you still doing it? How you had victory over certain things but you don’t have victory anymore. Your God doesn’t change. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. And He can deliver you because He’s going to walk you through it. You can stay close to the Lord and you’ll be able to bear it. But if you’re watching by internet, if you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, what would you right now?

Would you accept the payment Christ made over the cross for you? And if you do so, God said He would save you and give you eternal life. Father, we thank you so much for this time together. We ask Your blessings upon You, the person here. Christ, name we pray. 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 813-884-4328.

That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you’re 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 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

I want you to take your Bible in turn with me to the book of Psalms. The book of Psalms, the 105th Psalm. Now we’ll kind of go in our few little places here, but we need to know that when we trusted Christ as our Savior, the Lord, well, He delivered us from hell. But once He delivered you from hell, you became His child. still living on planet Earth. You haven’t been taken home yet. But has God promised to still deliver us from things that are in the world?

So we have been delivered but we are being delivered and one day we will literally be delivered from the whole world itself when the Lord comes back and takes us out of here. So they’re in the book of Psalms 105. I want you look there in verse 17. Now we know that in verse 16 he had called for a famine upon the land. He break the whole staff of bread. In other words, he knew that there was a famine coming when Jacob and his sons were not down in Egypt.

But God did it and God brought it, before he did, he already sent Joseph down into Egypt. So God works in a strange and mysterious way. You’d be surprised how God at this point is already working in your life to deliver you from something that’s down the road. Did you know that sometimes God may take a young child or a teenager because God knows that he may be saving him from something down the road, that’s worse. We don’t have all the insights.

We don’t know everything. Then he says here in verse 17, he sent a man before them, even Joseph who was sold for a servant, what God did that. And then he says, whose feet they hurt with fetters, he was laid in irons, well, God had that done. See, God allowed people to do what they did, but God was setting it all up. And then he says in verse 19, until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him.

The word of the Lord tried him. Now he didn’t maybe see God, he didn’t hear the word, but the Lord was trying Joseph and getting him ready for a moment. see God was going to deliver Israel from Egypt, but first of all he had to deliver them from a famine. And he had them go down and 400 years later he delivered them again and he brought them out of Egypt. And then he had to deliver them from hunger. He had to deliver them from thirst and all the provision that they needed, whether it was a light or the fire, God provided.

And so God kept delivering them. Now in the book of Galatians in chapter one, it talks about how that God wanted to send his son Jesus to deliver us from our sins. Well, how does he deliver us from our sins. Well, He delivered us from our sins by delivering us from the sinful nature. You see, the sins we commit is because of the sinful nature we have. So what God did is give us a new nature, the new birth.

And one day when we leave this world, Well, the old man, the old nature is going to be gone and we have been watched as wide as snow. We’re going to be in the presence of the Lord and we won’t have that old sinful nature. But until then are there still things in our life that God is going to deliver us from? Now, let me give you a little statement I wrote down. Our conflicts may come before we seek the way out of the conflict.

Before we seek deliverance, you won’t seek deliverance until you have conflict. And so there is conflict that happens in our life. Now, another little statement that I have here is, getting saved doesn’t straighten everything out in your life. I’ll let people promise you, you trust Christ as Savior and He’ll straighten everything out in your life. Well, maybe yes and maybe no. With most people it gets worse because now you’re struggling because you don’t know how to walk with God and you don’t feel comfortable on either side.

You don’t feel comfortable rebelling against God because it works from your constant, you feel so guilty. And then you try to take and live for the world and you feel guilty because you’re doing that. Then you don’t know how to please God because you don’t know how to walk with God. And sometime it seemed like everything is just jumps all over you with both feet and really can tear you up. So in the book of John in chapter four, I want you to look there real quick.

We’re gonna be coming back here to the book of Psalms. So you can kind of mark it if you want to. But in the book of 1 John and chapter 4, there’s two things that are mentioned here. And these things are motivational because we are emotional people. We sometimes run on emotions. You know, if we don’t wanna do something, our emotion can be low and we don’t wanna do it. But if our emotions are high and we want to do it, I want you to get up at three o’clock in the morning.

Well, I don’t want to. We’re gonna go fishing. Oh, that’s different. Sometimes, well, maybe four o’clock. Well, if you want, if Jesse will move it up to eight o’clock. Okay, not, not better. In 1 John, in chapter four, look down here in verse 18. There is no fear in love. There’s no fear in love. And that’s why we’re always being tested by things that can produce fear. Your testing of your love will be revealed by how you can stand in the face of fear.

And remember, faith is born generally in despair when you don’t have another way out and you don’t know what to do. Well, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Well, that’s where God’s been trying to get you for a long time, so that you can just trust Him and Him alone. And so He makes the statement, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. If you really believe God watches over you and God loves you and nothing’s going to happen to you that God does not already approve because you walk with Him, why are you so afraid?

I mean, your children should not live in fear. If they know they’re doing right and obeying mommy and daddy, they should not be afraid of mommy and daddy. It should only be afraid that they are not walking right. But if they’re obeying, then that should be okay. So when he makes the statement, but perfect love casts off here, because fear has what? Torment. And what can do away with the torment that’s in a Christian’s life? Because we can be tormented by many things.

Love covers that. And if you don’t love, then the fear of everything going wrong, or things that you can’t handle or can’t take care of, it’s going to bother you. Now take your Bible and go back to the book of Psalms. The book of Psalms in chapter 34, Psalms 34. It’s just a little verse, in a little chapter, but it kinda says quite a bit. But here in the 34th Psalm, look there in verse 18 and 19. Verse 18, the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.

You got a broken heart? God says He’s close by. He didn’t left, you haven’t forsaken. Nobody knows how I feel. God does. And then notice it. And save as such as be of a contrite spirit. Now, you can cross that with Psalms 51 and verse 17 because that deals with David and his prayer that he had because of what he was going through. Now, look in verse 19. If you don’t have verse 19 underlying in your Bible, I would underline this verse.

It’s a good verse to underline. Many are the afflictions of the wicked. How did you read it? The righteous. See, when you’re doing right, well, it’s supposed to be a better roses. Nothing’s supposed to go wrong because I’m doing right. No, many, many, not few. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. But, now, notice the last part of the verse. But the Lord delivered him out of them all. First comes the affliction. God can’t deliver you from the afflictions until you have the affliction.

And He can deliver you out of them all when you walk with Him and trust Him. But if you don’t, then you will not be delivered out of all of your afflictions. So there’s a verse that I’ll show you in just a moment. Oh, I don’t need to wait. Go ahead and go there. First Corinthians in chapter 10. and not look at this verse 13. First Corinthians, they’re in the New Testament, first Corinthians in chapter 10. And look what it says in verse 13, because there are some things God will not save you from, from having or to experience.

He’s not going to keep you from having temptations. He’s not going to keep you from having afflictions, but He can deliver you from them all. But you’re going to have them and they’re going to be experiences that you go through that you can’t get exempt from because those are the things that that God uses to test you with, to try you, to make you stronger. But look what He says in verse 13, there have no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.

Yours is not different. Yours is indifferent. Nobody knows what I’m going through. No, just about seven, eight billion people on planet Earth, we all face pretty much the same things, right? When you stop and think about it, what other kind of experiences can you have that people on Earth can’t experience? What are the problems that you can face that nobody on Earth can face that same thing? There isn’t anything. Now, give me what else you say. But God is Look at the way.

There have no temptation taking you, but such is this common dimension. God is faithful. Now, you ought to underline that in your Bible. God is faithful. How do you know? You see, it’s one thing to read it and have the book learning, but there’s another thing called the School of Hard Knocks that makes it real because you experienced it. And now you really know it. because you’ve watched God deliver you. Now how does God deliver you? Remember this, well, whether it’s the afflictions or whether it’s the temptation, God says in the part of the verse, look at it.

Who will not suffer you or permit you to be tempted above that you’re able, above that you’re able. That means that you can endure it. You may not enjoy it, but you can endure it. And not only that you can endure it, but also this. He says, but will with the tempted with, something comes along with a temptation. Something comes with it, what comes with it. Or the afflict, what comes with it? A way of escape.

Now, you may not take the way of escape. There is a way out. There is strength available. There’s grace that God calls it the throne of grace. The help and time of need. Now, if you don’t ask for that grace, then you don’t get it. Because God says he knows what you have need of before you ask. But if you don’t ask, you’re not going to get it. He knows what you have need of in advance. but it says, call upon me, come to me, depend upon me, trust me.

Seek the way I not why he says in the book of Matthew chapter 7, seek and ye shall. What? Find. Knock and it shall be open unto you. Ask and you shall… Well, what if you don’t do that? Let’s see, you don’t get the benefits of it. When it says, there is a, as he says here, but will with the temptation, I mean, make a way of escape. But if you don’t trust the Lord because God is faithful and you depend upon that God who is faithful, Now you may not find a way for yourself.

You may not have the strength. You may not have the courage or the boldness that whatever’s coming down the road and therefore you give up, you quit. But it’s because you didn’t trust God. You didn’t walk with Him. You didn’t let God open up the door. So you miss out. Make a way to escape and look to the last part of that verse that you may be able to what? It doesn’t mean that you’re totally delivered delivered from the thing is that God gives you the grace to bear it.

That’s your escape. You didn’t have to do it but you can bear it. And so there’s a lot of things in life we may not like but I found that a long time ago the Christian life is not doing all the things that I like to do. It’s doing the things that I have to do and sometimes the things that I have to do are not the things that I want to do. And I have to go through. How many of you think I was looking forward to the surgery?

Man, I just couldn’t wait. I wanted it so bad. Well, after I had a neck issue for a while, I did want it, but I didn’t know all the consequences. If I had known all the consequences, I might not have done it. And then I might have played a game of golf and been dead or paralyzed. I don’t know. But there is a way that God has in his word. Now in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 7, I know you’ve got the Bible memorized, but it talks about how the trial of your faith been much more precious than gold that tried with fire, may be found on the praise, honor, and glory at the appearance of Jesus Christ.

faith is on trial. And so do you really love the Lord as much as you think. Do you really trust Him? Well it’s these afflictions and trials that we go through, the temptations we go through where you get a chance to prove it. And so you want to be found faithful. Take your Bible and look in the book of Psalms 116, Psalms 116, you’re back there in your Testament Psalms 1 16. A lot of times I get opportunities to do funeral services.

And I know people are brokenhearted and so I like to sometimes give them a verse that might help them. And Psalms in chapter 1 16, notice what he says here in this verse, it’s a precious verse, look in verse 15. And if this verse isn’t underline what should you do? Underline it. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the never dying of his saints. Is the death of his saints. Now what’s the last thing we want to do in this world?

We don’t want to die. We just don’t want to. That’s why we’re all excited about the rapture. One of the advantages that we want the rapture is because we don’t want to die. True? It doesn’t matter that millions and billions of people have already lived and died, we don’t want to be one of them. That’s one experience in life that we don’t want to have to go through. We’d rather the rapture take place. But because we don’t want physically die, that means we won’t.

Now God may allow us to die, but will He deliver us from death? The pain of death, the sting of death, we’re going to die one day, but can God deliver us? Yes, He can. Now in this verse, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. It’s a precious thing. It’s a wonderful thing. Not for us, but it is for the Lord. Because this is what God’s been working for, all these thousands of years is the way, the plan of salvation, getting us out of this all world and getting us into a new world.

That day is coming. Now take your Bible and look in Psalm 71. Psalm 71. So I’m 71, but this kind of relates to me a little bit more. I kind of feel like this at times. Remember I told you the other night we were going to start the Silver Cloud youth ranch? Don’t you think that’s a good idea? You’ve got to have gray hair to go to it. If you don’t have any gray in your hair, you can’t come.

Now you can’t die gray. So just whenever I grew this, I had to die gray so I’d look older. I mean, believe that, raise your right hand. If I raised your left hand, I can’t believe y’all did that. All right, here in the 71st Psalm, I want you to look there in verse 17. Verse 17, O God, thou has taught me from my youth. That’s a good place to start, isn’t it? From my youth. Here, to have I declared thy wondrous work.

So as you have learned things from God, teach things you’ve learned from God. From, it means you didn’t learn it all at one time. You have grown in your knowledge of the Lord. And as you learn and you grow, you become wiser. And so now in verse 18, if you don’t have verse 18 in the line in your Bible, what should you do? Well, you should underline it. Why? Because I underlined it in my Bible. Don’t you want to be like the preacher?

He underlined in his Bible. In verse 18, now also when I am old and grayheaded, I’ve still got a few black hairs on my head, so I’m not totally grayheaded yet. When I am old and grayheaded, oh God forsake me not. Now we know that he never will, because he promised that he wouldn’t. He never leave us and never forsake us. Then he says, until I have showed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to everyone that is to come.

You see, the older we get from the days that we were young and all the things we’ve learned in between, we wanna teach those things to the next generation. That’s the one of the reasons why I like having a Bible college. I want to teach kids what I’ve learned. I want them to know what I know. I want them to be able to accomplish in their life some of the things that I’ve ever had the Lord’s accomplished through my life.

And God has made a difference in my life. It’s real to me. And I don’t want people just thinking, serve the Lord in such a boring life. It’s such a non-eventful. I mean, it’s a boring life. I think it’s the most exciting thing anybody can never do with their life. It has kept me motivated every day. I very seldom have a down day where I’m just so down in the scurries. No, I might get that way tomorrow. It may happen tomorrow morning.

Right now I’m so excited about serving the Lord. I can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen the next day. Can’t wait to go to bed so I can hurry and get up because I wanna know what’s gonna happen that day. Then I wonder what’s gonna happen the next day. I’m looking forward to this Saturday. I don’t know everything is going to happen, but I get a chance to preach. Jess is going to get a chance to preach. And we don’t know, you know, what’s going to be the results of it, but we may affect some people’s lives that could be changed from around the world.

Because that little little camera has been shooting everywhere. But now notice the rest of this. He said, I’ve shown thy strength under this generation and thy power to everyone that is to come. So we’re trying to do what we can to reach the next generation. It’s like camp and all those things are so very important. Now, look in Psalms 49.

Psalms 49. So on the left hand, paid right hand column in and hosco for reference Bible. But there’s a verse there that I wanted you to see. Look in verse 15. Now, I would underline verse 15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me. I will be delivered from the power of the grave, though there is a grave. But the grave may get my body, but the grave will not get me.

So I never have to be afraid of the grave. Why? Because I will never go to the grave. I’m not in the grave because what God has done is delivered me from the grave by His power. Now, I want you to take your Bible and turn to the 90th Psalm. The 90th Psalm is a tremendous Psalm. I use it often. But I think you need to look on down the road to the time when life is all over, because that day is coming.

But until then, God can deliver us from the devil. He can deliver me from hell. He can deliver me from the power of the old sinful nature. He can deliver me from all the trials and tribulations and temptations are in the world, because he always makes a way of escape. Sometimes I haven’t always found them. Sometimes I wish I’d have found the way a little bit sooner. But now we’re closing in on the end of our life. And here in the 90th Psalm, one day, this is what the Lord’s going to do.

He says in verse three, Thou turneth man to destruction and sayeth, return. Times up. It’s all over your race is over. return ye children of men for a thousand years in thy sight or but his yesterday. When in his past and as they watch in the night, think about that. A thousand years in thy sight is only one day with the Lord. Did you ever think about that whenever we die and we get to heaven? And even a hundred years later somebody else dies and they go to heaven.

We all get to heaven on the same day because there’s no night there. We all get to heaven the same day. I think that’s awesome when you think about it. Look at another thing here. He says, or ever thou have formed the earth or the world, even from the everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. From eternity past to eternity future. And then he says here, this is something important for us. Concerning people, they in verse five, thou carryest them away is with the flood.

They are as a sleep. In the morning they are like grass, which grew up up. Isn’t it interesting watching little babies when they’re born, to me they all look like a bunch of little geronimos, you know, little Indians, little like little babies here. And it don’t matter what that babyFU looks like, baby looks like when that mama looks at it, my baby, my baby, perdy baby, goo-coo and all that. You want to see a grown man make a full life himself, put a baby in his hands.

And you’re like a nut. Goo-goo-ga-ga. And the kids, doo-doo-doo. But babies is what God uses to make a man out of or a woman out of. And without that little baby, he can’t make a man or a woman. That’s where they come from. And so the day will come when they start to grow and they look like pretty little flowers. 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 813-884-4814 4328. That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you’re 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 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

There has been quite a bit of stir lately concerning the teaching of creation in the schools. You know a few years back there was quite a stir because they wanted to teach evolution in the schools. You see in our country all our schools taught creation. All our schools used the Bibles. our school had pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States. We had teachers that would teach the kids right from wrong and were not afraid to say that’s wrong and that’s right.

But today we have higher education. We have a few intellects that don’t think that’s the way to teach anymore. I want you to turn into Bible to 1 Corinthians in chapter 15 and notice they’re in verse 12 you and I claim to believe that the Bible is true You and I claim to believe that Jesus Christ is real that he is really the son of God We say we really believe that we say that we believe that there is a real literal heaven and hell We say we believe that because Christ taught that the Bible teaches that We’re supposed to believe what the Bible says.

You see, if you believe in God, you can believe in creation without any trouble at all. Because you can believe that in the beginning God created the world. But if you don’t believe in God, you can’t believe in creation. True, think about it. So if I don’t believe in God, well I can’t believe in creation. So I have to believe that the world got here another way. Okay, the world is here. Either somebody made it or it made itself.

Ah, that’s what it is. The world had to make itself. We Christians believe that in the beginning God created it. But that’s so unscientific because we can’t prove it. Why? Have you ever seen God? Ah, see there? Yours is all by faith. But the evolutionists, they believe that in the beginning there was nothing. And then something created something and brought a hearing, there we are. How do they know that’s what happened? That’s their faith, that’s their belief. But that’s scientific.

Can they prove that that’s how it happened? No? Well, what are the facts? There are none. The evolutionists has no facts whatsoever. The evolutionists cannot prove scientifically that evolution ever took place. There is none, but that’s scientific. And we believe the Bible, that’s faith. Well, what’s theirs? Okay, so I put my faith in God. Who did you put your faith in? Who wrote your textbooks? They got theirs from Darwin. Listen to this. Evolution, which is transmutation of species, has never been proven.

The reason for this is very simple, it’s never happened. Evolution is no more than the imaginations of men who deny the Word of God and so are desperately struggling for some explanation of the origin of life because the world is here. If I don’t believe in God, I’ve got to have an explanation how did the world get here? So they’re trying to cram their religious beliefs down the minds and the throats of the kids that go to our schools and in our universities.

This is what Charles Darwin said in a book that he wrote my life in letters way after he had wrote his Darwin book on evolution. And on page 210 this is what he said. He says not one change of species into another is on record. We cannot prove that a single species has ever been changed into another. Charles Darwin said that. Says there is no proof. There is none, but people have taken that little thought and Have permeated the mind and sewn the seeds and now we’re refunding the consequences in the little drawing that I gave you.

I want you to look at it. I put this together about 15 years ago. I Drew it and then I had my artist that was in our school draw it for me and you’ll notice there on the left Word has in the little schoolhouse the word secular humanism secular humanism secular means without God that’s why they call it you know you go to a secular school means you go to a school that don’t teach about God that’s a secular who I believe everything is sacred to me everything I do is sacred the absence of Christianity doesn’t mean the absence of religion.

Everything is taught according to somebody’s belief. Secular humanism is the belief that man is the epitome of all knowledge. That man is the measure of all things. Man himself becomes his own God. Why? Because there is no God. because they believe that if there is no God, how did we get here? And so by the process of perhaps some four gases that come together and spontaneous combust them. And lo and behold, the Big Bang Theory and there’s the blob of protoplasm floating around in the ooze of the Nile.

And life who came from non-life? Oh wait a minute. You see if it’s scientific, that can’t happen. Why? Because life, the law of biogenesis, states that life must come from life and and exist on previous life. That’s the scientific fact. All life comes from life and has to exist on life in order to live. That’s the scientific fact. So is these four gases, is it life? No. Then how can it ever give birth to life? It can’t. It’s unscientific.

How did you get from non-life to life? And then you have a little one cell amoeba, one cell protozoan that’s supposed to grow and produce everything that we have today. I’m supposed to believe that I as the highest form of this evolutionary process on this evolutionary ladder man with his brain can’t produce the one cell amoeba. But I’m supposed to believe that the one cell amoeba without a brain produced me. It’s smarter than I am, but because I can’t make it, but it could make me.

I can’t produce the world, but I’m supposed to believe the world made me. Can you do it? Have you ever seen evolution take place? You never have. There is no scientific facts for evolution. And yet it permeates our society. You say, well, it doesn’t make any difference, just because they teach a little evolution in our school. Oh, no. That is the religion of the atheist that’s taken over our institutions. And that’s why you’ve noticed a secular humanism. That’s the root.

Now look at the fruit. Have you ever wondered where these things come from? And you’re going up through there and you’ll see things about the ERA. That was where the women trying to get theirs years ago. It destroys the family. The drug abuse, the God is dead. The theory of evolution, anti-God, anti-American, anti-Bible, anti-Christ, abortion, pornography, almost sexual, the gay rights movement, the right to suicide, death education, and the end of legal marriages and ban them prayer in the schools in a new world order in euthanasia.

All these things are the fruits of a bad root. And that’s why these things are permeating our society because we let a little seed somebody So some tears among the minds of our young kids, and now those kids are adults, and adults don’t know right from wrong. Adults have no character and no integrity, and they’re in place of leadership or heaching the kids. They’re filth and they’re trash, and they’re secular, humanistic, religion to the minds of those that don’t believe that at all.

Let’s pretend for a moment. Here’s a little Johnny. I believe in creation. And here’s a man over here. He’s an atheist. He doesn’t believe in creation. He doesn’t believe in God. He believes everything I don’t believe. And you have a little child. If I get your child, I’m going to try to teach your child what I believe. If that man gets your child, he’s going to try to teach your child what he believes. Don’t you think that you as the parent ought to have a choice and who gets to teach your child?

But they’re trying to force it by the legislation of the pen and force you to put your kids in a school to be taught by a person that will destroy your child, to destroy your home and destroy our country. Because there’s enemies who have come in while we were sleeping and taken over our country. And I don’t like it. I want you to notice here in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, I’ll say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead.

In other words, some believe it and some didn’t believe. In other words, some say that there is a God, and some say there is no God. Some say there is a resurrection. Some say there is no resurrection. Wait a minute. If we say that we believe it, should not we be able to preserve that teaching in our generation and our children? Yes. Well what right do somebody else have destroyed what I’m trying to teach? You’ll notice over there in the other drawing where it has American Christian.

This is the Christian faith, the Christian faith. When you take the principles of Christianity and you mix them together with civil liberties, you can produce a country like the United States of America. Remember this, there are nations that have been built by the religious beliefs of its people. There’s countries that atheists have built and they have a communistic type government because that’s what an atheist wants. There are countries that Muslims have built. There’s countries that Catholicism has built. But America is a country that was built upon the principles of Christianity.

Let me read something to you. The proposition that the United States of America or a Christian and Protestant nation is not so much the assertion of a principle as the statement of a fact. That fact is not simply that the great majority of the people are Christians and Protestants, but that the organic light, the institution, the laws and the official actions of the government, whether that action be legislative, judicial or executive is and of right should be, and In fact, must be in accordance with the principles of Protestant Christianity.

This is a Christian and Protestant nation in the sense stated in virtue of a universal and necessary law. If you plan an acorn, you get an oak. If you plan a cedar, you get a cedar. If a country settled by pagans or Mohammedans develops into a pagan or Mohammedan community, by the same law if a country be taken possession of and settled by Protestant Christian, that nation which they came to constitute must be part of it and Christian. It is in accordance with analogy if a man goes to China, he expects to find the government administered according to the religion of the country.

If he goes to Turkey, he expects to find the Quran supreme in regulating all public action. If he goes to a Protestant country, he has no right to complain. Should he find the Bible in the ascendancy and asserting its benign influence of not only on the people but also on the government. Our rights in this country is that Christians can influence government. They always talking about, well, you know the separation of church and state. Don’t forget the separation of church and state.

You don’t find it anywhere in the Constitution. It’s not there. That’s what people want to use in order to get Christianity out of the influence of government because there’s atheists that want to overtake our country. We don’t have to worry about somebody coming in with some guns and bullets and tanks and bazookas and all the rest of it and and Star Wars type. Oh, we got do we got the enemy among us That are destroying our homes and the showing our young people and destroying our government It’s been taken over from the inside.

We don’t have to worry about it from the outside If any other religion takes over America, it will be her downfall Evolutionary teaching is nothing but the religion of theFlorianist and they got into the school remember It used to be Christianity was taught in the school. The Bible was in the school. They came in and got that out and don’t want it back in. And so what do we do about that? Let me mention this to you. The University of Georgia, one of the oldest universities in this land, started around the same time as the founder of our country and believe it or not, it was for the purpose of training men and women, and the principles of Christianity.

And there are articles of incorporation. Every person on the board of directors for the University of Georgia must be a Christian and profess the Christian faith. And the reason is so that they would permeate that institution and make sure that everybody who goes there is permeated in the philosophies of Christianity. University of Georgia. I dare you to find out if all of them profess Christianity. If they don’t, they ought to resign their jobs. Because if they don’t, they are traders to that institution that was founded for the very purpose of trading young and men and women about truth and character.

But they won’t do that. Because while good men slept, the enemy sowed some tears. And now the results are coming. And we don’t like the results. But unless Christianity takes and fights back, we all lose this country and you know what a country will be like when it’s run by atheist? Check communism. America is the greatest nation on the earth. And the reason is, is because it’s the only nation that was founded upon Christian principles. Other nations were founded upon their religion.

This nation was to be different according to the teachings of this book. And yes, this was a Christian nation founded upon Christian principles, and we had God and the Bible taught to all of the kids because it’s truth and it’s right. Why now do we think that evolution is so scientific? Evolution is not scientific. Evolution is not truth. They’ll tell you that look, this form of life that we know today came from a common ancestor on down the line and that there’s animals that they have common ancestors.

They used to teach that man came from an ape, but they couldn’t ever find him in the link. So they said that the link is missing. And they talked about the Crobe man young, the Heidelberg man, the Pitt, the Cantonese, the reckless man, the nostril, Pitt, the kind man, all these different bones that they found? That proves evolution. No, it doesn’t prove it’s a bone.

We can disagree with the interpretation of those bones. If evolution is true, why don’t they produce the facts? If we came from some common insertion, we came from some ape, where’s the bones? Where’s the half man and half ape? There are none between non-life and life. Where’s the leap between non-life and and plant life, and plant life, and animal life, and animal life, and human life. There is no link. The link is missing. The whole stupid chain is gone.

There is no missing link. Who or what is responsible for the first piece of matter? Art matter is here. They say, mind over matter. You don’t mind, I know matter. Matter is here. Where did it come from? Who made it? Did you make it? Do you know anybody that did? If it wasn’t God, then it’d be by faith, believing something. I was in a school one time and I brought my Bible in there in the man’s door. Hey, oh, oh, oh, is that?

No Bible, no Bible in the school. I says, pardon me. I says, you asked me to come and speak. And I’m here and I’m gonna speak and I’m gonna use my evidences that I’ve got. He said, but we don’t want religion in the school. I says, why don’t you sit down and shut up? I says, all of your books that you have is your religion. That’s your beliefs. That’s your faith written by men. He said, well, the Bible was written by masters.

So was yours. I said, yeah, but I got all these books by all the different men. I said, I got 66 books written by different ones. I said, if you can use yours, I can use mine. Yours is faith. So is mine. OK, we’ll take and go with that. See who has the best answers. And before it was over with the kids were in there just. Yeah, it was a riot. Jeremiah 10 12 says that God created the earth out of his power.

That’s where matter came from. God created it, made it. And I believe what the Bible teaches. The second law of thermodynamics teaches that everything is running down. Nothing gets better and better and better. But according to evolutionary teaching, things had to start from chaos and get better and better and better and better and better. That’s unscientific. The second law of thermodynamics is a scientific law. It’s impossible for evolution to happen. Nothing can produce something better than what it is.

You can’t produce anything better than what you are. It’s not the survival of the fittest. It’s the arrival of the fittest. How did you get here? How did it get so good? God says it fell and evolution is just getting better. So they’re talking about on a collision course. I’ll take the Bible any day. Have you ever seen a dog have a monkey? You ever worry about your cats having chickens? No, because of the fixity of the species. You see, a dog has 22 crumb of songs, and a monkey has 54.

You don’t have to ever worry about it. Dogs are always going to have pups. Go in there and load off your mind. But I’m supposed to believe that I got here by the process of evolution. There was something less than a human down the road that I came from. My ancestors may have swung by the neck, but they didn’t swing by the tail. Man has 46 chromosomes. This chromosome count is a steady factor and this determines what is called the fixity of the species and it will not change.

Dogs always give birth to dogs and people always give birth to people. The Bible says throughout the Scriptures and it reproduced after its own kind, after its own kind, after its own kind, and that’s a scientific fact. Evolution breaks every scientific fact known to man. And I challenge and I dare any evolution to prove anything about their evolution or teaching with some facts. Have you ever heard of them talk about, well, haven’t you heard about the evolution of the automobile, the evolution of the telephone?

It did not evolve. means that something happens without any outside interference working upon it and causing it to take place. Evolution is random chance. Evolution is little microorganism, reproducing into complex forms of life that’s never taken place, never taken place. A telephone was made, yeah, but somebody made that telephone. A man with a mind, a man with a brain designed that telephone, that’s why that telephone works. And that telephone by itself did not evolve and become a beautiful telephone today.

And now this digital has a picture on it and has all that stuff in it. An answering machine, a fax machine. It didn’t evolve into that. It developed by an intelligent person outside of it making it work. But you’ll hear him talk about, well, the evolution of the car. The car didn’t evolve. They didn’t do anything by itself. There was an intelligent behind him. But you see, I believe in God. Because I believe in the beginning God created, I believe God can do anything he wants to do.

And I got a good answer. and that’s scientific. It’s scientific to think and to believe that somebody made this world. It’s dominatiotic for any intellectual man to think that it produced itself. Have you ever seen something come from nothing? Have you ever seen it? Why should you start thinking that now? The world’s here. You come from nothing? Who made the first matter? Where did the first sex come from. That’s a good one. Study about the sex life of the amoeba.

How to split up and see happy at the same time. Somewhere along the line some blob had to look at the other blobs and look let’s stop this reproduction business like this. Oh why don’t you become a male and I become a female. How stupid some people must be. It touches my imagination to think that somebody think I suppose I’ll believe that slop. That’s trash. That somebody’s believed because they refuse to believe what God says and professing themselves to be wise, they become what?

Fools! You want to know truth, get in this book, believe this book and you’ll learn what truth is all about. Looking Colossians in chapter 2. Colossians in chapter 2, now look in verse 8, in the book of Colossians in chapter 2 and verse 8 says, be where lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. He says, be careful of anybody who has any philosophy that want to drag you away from the principles of Christianity.

In the book of 1 Timothy it talks about in this false science, science falsely so-called. They call it scientists, not science. You want to know how things begin? I got somebody who claims to have been in the beginning and knows exactly how the first man arrived. I know where all the animals came from. I know how the world got here. I know because I have a witness who was there and he testified and he says, you don’t only have to take my word, I’ll give you some prophecies and I’ll tell you what will happen in advance.

I’ll give you all the answers in man pre-written history one-fourth of the Bible so that whenever we read what he says about this you know that might be true because you know he said this and it’s true he said this and it’s true he said this and it’s true he said this is gonna happen and it’s true and everything happened just like he said we haven’t found him wrong in anything yet all right who’s the witness for the evolutionists dead men’s bones dead men’s bones and their bones are always suited for the individual and the life in which they find them and there’s no such thing as half in the media.

Where’s this half-monkey and half-man? Where’s all these in betweens? There are no in-betweens. We’re here today. Why is an evolutionist going on today? They say it will have happened so slowly. You can’t see it happening. How do you know it did? How do you know it happened? Because if you have enough time, anything is possible. That’s their scientific fact. If you have enough time, that’s why scientists need billions and billions of years. Have you ever watched TV sometime, National Geographic, and billions of years ago this volcano?

You’ve been billions of years ago. And they can throw four billion dollars in the water. 20 billion, you don’t mean nothing. It’s kind of like government, $4 billion, $20 billion. You don’t mean nothing. And you and I, as Christians, ought to stand for what we believe is true and not be ashamed that we believe the Bible. Not be ashamed I’m a Christian. I’m not ashamed I believe in God. And I won’t bow to no man. Or no university college president.

I’ll get who they may be. How many degrees they may have? They may sound intelligent, but if you don’t know God, you’re a fool. Because that’s what God says. Look up here just a moment. Let it in the hand represent you and me. This wallet represents sin. We all have sin on it, but God loves us. You see, if you don’t believe in God, you can’t believe none of this. You can’t believe none of this if you don’t believe in God.

You see, if you’re an atheist, then you don’t believe you got sin. That’s just, you’re just a product of your environment. I shot like a dog, you don’t blame a dog for acting like a dog. He has no personal responsibility. Well, that’s what they’re doing with people. You’re just an animal. You see, if there’s no God, you’re only an animal. Well, if you’re nothing but an animal, then treat you like an animal. You’re just an animal. How are they, you don’t try to teach a dog morals?

Well, if a man’s only an animal, why teach a man morals? That’s why they don’t want to teach it in the schools. Don’t you understand? people don’t understand what they’re doing. They think they’re animals. So they treat them like animal, they educate them like animals. That’s why they don’t try to teach you how to think, they teach you what to think. So you can’t think for yourself, you can’t reason because if you could reason you wouldn’t believe that stuff.

But God says it. We’re humans. We have a spirit inside of it and God loves us and he hates our sin and it is sin and God says to go to heaven we have to be perfect is righteous as God and we’re not perfect. If there really is a heaven and there really is a hell that a man will spend eternity in. God says you cannot save yourself. That’s why you need a Savior. This man represents Jesus Christ. God in the flesh, Christ took our sins, paid for them on the cross, came back from the dead, said if we’ll believe that He paid for our sins, He’d put that payment card count and we’d go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us.

That is a gift. That’s free. God loves us and wants us to have eternal life. That’s more important than anything else in this world. Let’s pray, shall we? 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, Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing 813-884-4328.

That’s 813-884-4328. 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’re 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 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328 or you can donate on the home page at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

There are three things that I believe are sources of our testing or I could say that causes us to fall because you’re going to be tempted by these three things. One is the devil and two is you’re going to be tested by the world and then of course you’ve got the flesh. So you’ve got these three enemies of yours and they’re always working on you and every one of them can become temptations, trials, and tribulations. You’re going to have these things.

Now, I want you to take your Bible and look there in the book while we’re right here. First Peter chapter 5, looking first Peter chapter 5. When we talk about the devil, and as you read the fifth chapter, you’re talking about some people who have some knowledge of the word of God. And he’s talking about being in verse 3 about being examples of the flock. Well examples are those who have been walking with the Lord and know how to walk with the Lord for others to follow them and talks about us following those that are elders in verse 5 likewise you youngest submit yourself unto the elders so there’s two groups of people the young and the old those who know the Lord walk with the Lord and talks about those that are lifted up with pride and how that we’re supposed to cast all of our cares upon the

Lord. So you’re going to have problems in life and as you have these problems in life you’re supposed to submit yourself to the Lord, cast your cares upon the Lord. So when it talked on here about the devil look there in verse 8, be sober be vigilant because you’re adversary, and if you don’t have this underlined in your Bible or Marta, I would do so. The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, and he devours the proud of heart.

He devours those that are not humble and dependent upon God. One of the dangers of God’s people after a while is they get lifted up with pride because I know so much. I am so strong. and there’s scriptures that deals with this. And God can allow the devil to tie you up, because remember the devil gets you by as according to this. He devours you with the cares of this world. That’s why he says up in verse 7, casting all your cares upon him for he careth for you.

But then the devil comes along and he wants to devour you with all these cares of the world and get you worrying about the things of life. And so you have to be careful, but you can withstand the devil in verse 9, whom resists steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brother that are in the world. So it’s not just you. Many of God’s children have become entangled with the affairs of this life that they cannot please him who has called him to be a soldier.

looking first John chapter 2, first John in chapter 2, just a couple of pages to your right, first John chapter 2, and you’ll find out that these three sources of temptation, and here’s one of them, and how many of God’s children are going to be And verse 15, love not the world. Why? Because if you love the world, he says the love of the Father is not in you. In other words, you can’t love both. You can’t love God and then love the world at the same time.

Now, the word world is not referring to just people. But the things of the world, this life, where you don’t think about eternal things, you only think about temporary things. things. So he says, love not the world, need to the things that are in the world, things. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world.

And this world is going to pass away along with all the lusts and desires and wouldn’t it be a shame to live for something that’s going to pass away and never be rewarded for it. To waste your life is to waste your life upon the lust of the world that’s going to pass away and the things you acquired with all of them. And so there is this damage that can be done and cause a Christian to fall, even the strongest of Christians.

This is not just talking about we’re just those weak Christians out there. This is also a warning to those who think they have arrived and achieved great superiority over those weaklands in the flesh, and it would never happen to us, and we can’t do this or that. Beware, pride cometh before a fall. And I believe that’s what Peter is talking about. But anyway, take your Bible and turn to Colossians in chapter 2. The book of Colossians in chapter 2.

Colossians chapter 2 and look in verse 8. This is a good verse and the reason for this verse is because he’s talking to them about as you have therefore received Christ so walked you in him. That’s mentioned in verse 6. You received Him by faith. So how are you supposed to walk by faith? You took God’s word on what He said how to get to heaven. Now take God’s word on how you’re to live the Christian life. And in verse 7 concerning you and I, growing in the Lord, He says, rooted, built up in Him, established in the faith.

Don’t sound like we’re talking about a bunch of weak Christians. Those are rooted and grounded as you have been taught and abounding therein with Thanksgiving. You have arrived. Now look at the next verse. Beware lest any man spoil you. It’s just like whenever the enemy would take whoever they were warned against and they would spoil them means they take everything of value away from them. There are those who want to spoil you. In other words, taking from you, that which is of value to ruin your testimony, to destroy your character, to render your life useless before God, because there’s those who would love to see you fall flat on your face.

I honestly believe there’s a lot of people who would love to see me totally mess up. they would feel so relieved because anybody who wants to serve the Lord and is serving the Lord is a rebuke to those who will not serve the Lord and therefore if more people would not serve the Lord then they don’t look so bad and so there are those who go around and they’re only job in the Christian life it seems like is blowing out somebody else’s candle see if I blow your candle mind shines brighter.

No it doesn’t. You start a win and it reaps a whirlwind and you destroy your own testimony, your own character. But now I want you to look at something else. Look here in Colossians in chapter 3 and Jesse has covered many of these scriptures and so there’s no reason to cover a lot of them but I do want to read something to you. Unlike a license or permission to sin. A true understanding of the application of God’s grace really results in a holy life.

In other words, for a man to live by grace, holiness will be the result. godliness will be the result. No man who is living by grace permits a license to sin. They’re not compatible. They do not go together. You cannot use, well, we’re just living by grace. We can do anything that we want to do, live however we want. That is not the purpose of grace, and that is not what grace does. Grace, you’re loved for the Lord because of what is done for you is what motivates the person out of a nice warm, receptive heart to want to please his heavenly Father.

But a holy life denies ungodliness and worldly lust. You may have the worldly lust. You have that sinful nature living within. But the battle is not fulfilling those desires. So that means that it’s just not a matter of going through life, trying not to fulfill the lust of the flesh, but the desires of the Spirit. Where it says in the book of James, the whole Spirit lusteth. In other words, he desires you and I to serve God more than the desires of the flesh to fulfill the lust of the flesh.

You see, there’s two different desires here. So you and I, the closer we get to God, the more the Holy Spirit those desires can grow and become strong enough to overcome the desires of the flesh. And if that doesn’t grow, then the desires of the flesh are so strong they destroy God’s children. But it involves an ongoing, ongoing walk in faith in Christ through the Word of God and humble service to others in love while looking for that blessed hope of Jesus Christ’s imminent return.

So while we’re waiting for Him to come back, you and I have a responsibility to live a holy Godly life. Now in the book of Peter, he talks about chapter one, be holy for what? Be holy for, I am what? I am holy. So it’s not so that we can have a license to do wickedness, it’s the freedom to do godly, to live holy life. And so that’s what we strive for. And a scripture I wanted you to look at Galatians in chapter 5.

Now many of these scriptures we’ve looked at, you know, time and time again, but in the book of Galatians in chapter 5, you’ll notice they’re in verse 16. Verse 16, this I say then, walk in the Spirit. Now only a believer has this choice. A lost man can only walk into flesh, but a saved man has two births, two natures, and he can either walk with the Lord or he can walk into flesh. But the key of not walking into flesh is to walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

You still have them. We all still want to do wrong regardless of how sincere we may to be in that we want to live a perfect life and we know we can’t, but we know that we can walk with God. And then He describes the difference between the flesh and the spirit. Verse 17 down to verse 21 gives you a good description of what it means to walk into flesh and what you can expect to be the results. And so He says here in verse 19, now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these?

adultery that’s been walking in the flesh. Fornication, uncleanness, less seriousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variants, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envious murders, drunkenly and reveling, such like all this is the result of walking in the flesh. But look at the last part of that verse, on the which I tell you before as I’ve told you in time path, they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. This is the flesh that’s your first birth will not inherit the kingdom of God.

That’s why Jesus told the negative, you must be born again. So when you trust in Christ as your Savior, it is your new birth that inherit the kingdom of God. It’s your new birth that inherits eternal life. The first birth does not and can not. So it’s of the flesh that you walk in the flesh. Now in verse 22, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, lung, suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, and so forth. This is the good stuff.

So if the Holy Spirit lives within me and the Holy Spirit lives within you, then if the Holy Spirit is Living through us, then we should be manifesting love through us, and peace through us, and joy through us, and long suffering through us. That’s how the Lord is doing this through you. Now, if the Holy Spirit doesn’t have control of you, you’re not going to manifest these characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit. But if you are and you’re close to the Lord and the Lord is freely working through your life, then you’re going to demonstrate these results.

If you’re walking in the flesh, you’re going to produce the works of the flesh. I hope you see that. You can understand that. But in chapter 6 and verse 1, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, that means he’s walking in the flesh. Ye which are spiritual, that’s those who are walking in the Spirit. So who’s supposed to restore who? The one that’s walking in the Spirit. The help, the guide that’s walking in the flesh. Restore such a one in the Spirit of what?

Maintenance, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Tempted to fall. You see, anybody can fall at any given time. That’s why you always have to try to stay close to the Lord. Keep doing the right thing with the right people. Don’t trust yourself. Don’t trust that old sinful nature that you have. And I know that y’all don’t, but I want you to take your Bible and I turn to the book of James in chapter one. The book of James and chapter one, James chapter one, and look down in verse 13.

You have some scriptures here that’s telling us that we’re going to be tempted, but before you ever get to these verses, He tells us, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations or different testings. Because if there’s anything that you don’t know, let him ask of God and God will give you what you need to know. So it’s a way of us learning. God will allow us to be tested, not like the lion’s zone. Just forget about the lions.

But you’ll notice, he says they’re in verse 12, like in verse 12, you have this as a required course. You have no options. You can’t get out of it unless God just takes you out of this word. But as long as you’re in this world, you’re going to have to face the trials, the difficulties, these various tests. You see there in verse 12, blessed or happy is the man that hates temptations. No, he endures the temptation. For when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

See, loving him is the motive of why we do what we do. Loving him is what gives you the strength and the power that you need. But you see, whenever you lose your love for the Lord, you’ve lost your motivation to withstand the pressures of life or the temptations of life or the lusts of the flesh. And so that’s why you’ve got to guard more than anything else in the world is your love for the Lord. And that’s why you go all the way back to book of 1 John in chapter 2.

Now get what else he says here. And verse 13, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. I wouldn’t have failed if God hadn’t attempted me to do this wrong deed. God doesn’t tempt anybody to do wrong. God can allow the devil to tempt you and God can give him permission to tempt you just like he did with Job in the Old Testament But God doesn’t tempt any man to sin so you can’t blame God God can use it as testing but you’ll notice that with the temptation Just like he says there in verse two and three of the first chapter there Let him ask of God see there is a way out that you may be able to bear it, you don’t have to fall.

Falling is a choice. It is a deliberate decision and sometimes it can be brought about because of the lack of knowledge, ignorance. When God says to study God’s word add to your faith so that you don’t fall and if you don’t do that you’re asking to fall because God warns And so he says here, let no man say when he is tempted, because it is a required course. You ought to take in circle the word when, it’s coming. I am tempted to have got, for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempted he any man.

Now in the Old Testament, it’ll talk about God created evil. In other words, God created the results of sin, but he didn’t create the sin. But the results of sin, God did. In other words, you may choose to rebel against the Lord, but God is the one that determines the consequences of your decision. Some people, God may take home before their time, just like when we talk about the Lord’s Supper. Many are sick, some are weak, and some are dead.

So not the same thing for every individual. Some, sick, some weak, some dead. And so God is free to determine, What punishment he wants to bring, he may take one person home and leave another person here till he’s a hundred. What’s that to you? You’re supposed to know that if I play around, God is free to do anything he wants with me. But you also know that if I serve the Lord, God is still free to do anything he wants with me.

But whatever it is, it won’t be because of rebellion. Then I can count on a blessing that God is using something in my life that can help me to be stronger. So he says, every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own wife. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, of his own lust and enticed. Every man has a sinful nature within him. Remember I’ve said, here’s a cat, here’s a mouse trap. And it’s cat that wants to mouse.

Well, I got to have something inside that wants to, what causes this cat to want to eat this mousie? It’s just something that’s inside, it’s the nature of it. Well, what causes this mouse to want to eat the cheese? There’s something inside the mouse that says, not like cheese, and he can get trapped. Well, see, inside of you and I is an owe sinful nature, and the devil can use those desires that we have to lead us astray. All we like sheep have gone astray until you get saved.

Then you don’t go astray anymore. Or is there something still on the inside of us that loves the world, that loves the lust of the flesh, the pride of life? We’re still going to face those battles as we go through life. But to be tempted is not sin. His arms are so tempted that that’s not sin. That’s because you have a sinful nature. That’s natural.

Because then he says in verse 15, then when lost half conceived, it bring forth sin and sin when it is finished, bring forth death. And notice verse 16, this is written to the saved or to the lost men. Who, the saved men, do not err my beloved lost men? No, it’s not written to the lost man. Let us close with these verses. Look there in the book of Titus. The book of Titus in chapter 2. Titus chapter 2 and verse 11 through 14.

God’s word tells us how God wants us to be. You see in verse 11, where it says, by the grace of God that have to appear to all men, bring salvation to all men. Now not all men accept it, not all men believe it, but salvation is brought to us by the grace of God. Now look what the grace of God, because of the way we were, God saved us to the way we were, forgave us the way we were, because He loved us, let that grace teach us.

And verse 12, so people can’t say that grace teaches me to live in sin. It does not, look at this verse, teaching us that denying ungodliness. See, grace teaches you to deny ungodliness. Grace teaches you to deny the world he lost. And grace teaches us that we should live how soberly sound mind, righteously, godly, when? When? This present world where we are today, tomorrow. And so anybody who says, Yankee just trying to get people to live in sin, then they didn’t listen to my sermon.

and it’s not a knock on grace to tell people that after you trust Christ as Savior, it is the will of God that His children who have been saved by grace should become trophies of God’s grace. And then He says in verse 13, looking, so we’re to live in this present world looking for the blessed tribulation period.

That’s what it said. You’d be surprised how many people want to straighten me out on the Rapture. But anyway, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Now get this, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people. Look at the next words. Zealous of bad deeds, zealous of a sinful life.

The Word of God is simple and clear, and you don’t have to read between the lines. The Word of God is clear. Look up here, this end represent you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. But praise the Lord, and God loves us. Now he hates our sin, but here you see our sins condemn us. He didn’t believe it on him is not condemned, but he didn’t believe it not is condemned when? Already. And he didn’t believe it on the Son half life and he didn’t believe it not the Son half not life and the wrath of God abided upon him.

So we’re all sinned and we’re under the wrath of God. But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven and to go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God and none of us are. We’ve all come short of God’s perfection. represent Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us, hates our sin, because it separates us from Him. So Jesus Christ took all the sin of all the world, paid for it on the cross.

Now that was by grace. We couldn’t make Him do that. Love made Him do that. And because He did pay for all of our sins, He came back from the dead and said, if you and I, if we would believe He did it for us, He’d put the payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did. I’m going to have a not because of what good things I’ve done, but because of what Christ did for me.

And after you trust Christ as your Savior, is it the will of God that God’s children who have been saved by grace that God wants them to grow in grace, to learn more of the Word of God, so that they’re not tossed to and and fro by every wind of doctrine. I believe so. Let’s pray, shall we? There ever hit bow in every act of clothes and no one looking around. If you’re here tonight or watching by internet, understand that yes, God, He does love you.

If you’ve already trusted Christ to just save you, understand it is the will of God that you live a good life, a godly life, not to get to heaven because it is the will of God that you do so. But if you never trust the Lord, God on the screen says, yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior. I appreciate it if you would. Let us know, because we wanna rejoice with you. Our Father, we thank you again for this time together.

Thank you for all you do for us. And Father, we do pray especially for some that are facing surgery. And Lord, there’s others that are having some difficulty and looking at things that they want your will to be done in their life. And Father, we do pray for them. and Father, maybe a lot of others that we don’t know about, but you do. We do pray that you’d watch over Trent and his new wife and guide them and help meet their needs and help them to do right.

I love you and walk with you. In Christ’s name 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 813-884-4328. That’s 813-884-4328. 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’re 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 broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, and the today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Anyway, I want you to take your Bible and turn with me to the book of Romans in chapter 3, the book of Romans, chapter 3. One of the things that you’ll have happen when you talk to people about the Lord is that they really understand what you said about salvation being by grace, and they’ve got to never cast you out and never lose you. I’ll usually ask the question along this line, you mean to tell me, I can go out here and live like the devil and still go to heaven when I die.

Seems like that’s the next thing that will follow something along that line. They’ll even go so far, you mean I can go kill somebody? I don’t know if I had somebody in mind, but they’re always trying to prove that what you just said isn’t the truth. Because if what you said is true, then the other part has to be true. But if I can’t, then you’re lying about what you’re saying because everybody knows to potential of the human nature that if you can do wrong, you will do wrong.

So here in the book of Romans in chapter 3, look in verse 8, as Paul going down through here and explaining some things, because when you teach that, yes salvation is by grace, then somebody’s going to say this and they’re going to slander you. You’re those people that believe in it, easy-believism. You’re the ones that gives people a license to sin. You ought to see how many times I’ve been accused of that on Facebook and the YouTube. But it says, and not rather as we be slanderously reported and it’s on a firm that we say, they swear to it that that’s what we’re teaching, easy-believism, easy-live-ism.

Do whatever you want. You’ve got a license to sin. So have a ball. Go for it. Let us do evil that good may come because the more sins you commit, the more grace covers it. So if you want more grace, do more sin and make sense, don’t it? But when you read chapter 6, shall we we continue in sin that grace may abound. That wasn’t the point of what Paul was preaching or that God was condoning because he saved us by grace.

So a lot of people they use grace as a license to live in sin, licensed permission to do the wrong, to do the evil. A good definition of this license as used in a wrong way, it’s like giving yourself permission. God gave me permission to live any way I please and no consequences. It is a wrong perspective and practice which perverts the grace of God in falsely assuming that God’s grace and freedom from the law is a license to sin.

I’ve been accused of that for about 55 years. I don’t know anybody who wants people to live a more godly life than what I do. I want them to serve the Lord. I want them to live a godly life. I want them to be like the Lord. Because the teachings in the Bible is after we’ve trusted Christ as our Savior to go toward holiness, godliness. And I believe that’s what the Word of God teaches. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Second Peter.

Peter. And there’s a portion of Scripture that’s mentioned here that after we have trusted Christ as our Savior, we’re supposed to grow in the Lord. You know, learn more, behave better. We don’t do better so we can get saved. We get saved so we can do better. But here in verse five and beside this giving all diligence, add to your faith. Now after you trust the Lord, God wants us to add to our faith. And He mentions a bunch of very good characteristics that will help every Christian to walk with the Lord.

And he says, if you will do this, if you will do this. See there in verse eight, if these things be in you and abound, they make you to abound. They make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the more you learn about the Lord and grow in the Lord, then you’re adding to your faith to be strong enough that you don’t have to fall by every wind of doctrine that comes along.

And that’s why he says, because a Christian doesn’t grow, can become blind. In other words, they can’t see. And that’s why you see a lot of people that says, well, I don’t see anything wrong with this. I don’t see anything wrong with that. I don’t see anything wrong. And that’s the truth that they don’t see, because they don’t a sern. So he says here in verse 9 that he may, that lack of these things that blind cannot see a far out.

Now we’re talking about a believer, not a lost man. Can lost people be blind? Yes. Can it, is it possible for lost people not to have a vision? They can’t see down the road. They can’t see the consequences of their bad decisions. Therefore he said in verse 10, Wherefore the rather brethren, something contrary to that brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if you do these things you shall never what? You won’t fall. So the reason for growing in the Lord is to keep you from falling and the more mature you become, the less the possibilities of you falling.

You’ll learn how to discern things. You learn the ways of the devil and how he works. You’ll learn a little bit more about how the world works and you’ll learn about trials and tribulations and testings. And everybody has got to go through testings. The trial of your faith is a testing. Over in Africa, there was this missionary and he’d like to get off from, you know, the run to people and get out by himself and sit along the river bank and just have his morning devotion and just read.

Well, he did it this morning and he was sitting there reading and it was such a beautiful day. And all of a sudden while he’s sitting there reading, this great big old lion walks right up beside of him and lays down right beside him. And he sees this big old lion. So he didn’t know what to do. He says, maybe God’s testing me. So he just read some more and it wasn’t long before another line came up and laid down right beside him on the left side He said that’s it.

God is really testing me So he just opened up his Bible and just really read it didn’t bother him didn’t pay any attention and in just a few moments both the lions devoured him and The moral of the story is don’t read between the lions Now when you come to the Bible, don’t spend all your time reading between the lines. You want to read what does he really say? Because these are some of the things that can help you in your Christian walk.

And so he’s talking about your knowledge that you have and that’s why he says in verse 12, wherefore I will not be negligence to put you always in remembrance of these things. So there’s some knowledge that He wants Him to have. Now you get into chapter 2 and you’ll find out that there’s some other things God has mentioned here. And I want you to notice that hearing the book of 2 Peter in chapter 2, if the Christian doesn’t listen, doesn’t learn, he’s going to fall and because of that is going to bring chastisement to himself.

Plus he’s not going to be effective. And there’s a few things that’s mentioned that you really don’t want a believer to have to go through. And you can see it in the the lives of individuals that you see that have come to know the Lord and then they have habits in their life that they don’t either correct. And so instead of growing, they become worse than they were before. So here in 2 Peter in chapter 2, I want you to know just what he says here in verse 19, for they, the false teachers, promised them the new believers, liberty.

They themselves are the servants of corruption. You see, lost people can’t win people to Christ. They thrive off of people who already have been reached by somebody else. That’s why there’s sometimes there’s churches who can’t grow because they don’t win anybody to the Lord, so they have to rob them from somebody else’s goldfish bowl. And so when you’re talking about that, he says here, for of whom a man is overcome means he’s made worse of the same as he brought in bondage.

Now we’re talking about in the first chapter, about adding to your faith so that you will be fruitful and abound and not fall. And these is some of the reasons why you have to grow in the Lord because if you don’t, you are going to fall. And then he makes a statement here in the last part of verse 20. They fall asleep are again entangled again, or the new believers, and overcome the ladder in his worst with them than the beginning.

For it had been better for them, not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn again the Holy Commandments delivered unto them. When a person has learned some things after they’ve trusted the Lord, grown in the Lord, and they know the way of righteousness, So they’re not ignorant to turn from what they know. But now there aren’t new believers that have not that knowledge. And so that’s why you try to teach and train a new believer because see they’re in 2 Peter in chapter three.

Look what he says in verse 17. Yee therefore beloved, seeing you know these things. things. See, there’s new believers that don’t know because, you know, seeing Peter in chapter 2 when he talks about, therefore as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may what? Grow thereby. So there’s patience with those who have not yet learned, but there are those who already know the truth and then will drift from that truth. And because they know what’s right and refuse to do what’s right.

They’re going to be worse than they were before because now they have the knowledge of knowing what they’re doing is wrong and know how to correct it and refuse to do so. And walk in rebellion. So he says here in verse 17, you therefore beloved seeing you know these things before. Be where lest you also be in let away with the era of the wicked and here’s those words and why there’s such a warning here in the book of 2nd Peter.

fall from your own steadfastness. So you had steadfastness, you’re doing good, you’re moving along, you’re learning, you’re adding to your faith, but beware of those false teachers because when they get through with you, they’re going to make you worse than you were before. Because now you have the guilt of knowing the right way and you refuse to go the right way and you’re listening to all this error. But it says, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So that’s what God wants us to do. Now look back there in chapter 2 and verse 21. In verse 21, I do believe that this is talking to the saved person and not to the lost man. This is what the false teachers can do to a believer. When a believer does not grow in grace and stay according to their steadfastness and little by little, they fall from their steadfastness. You don’t lose salvation, you can never lose that, for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness.

In other words, you learn the truth, you knew the truth, you grew, and then turn away from it. Not talking about new believers, I don’t believe, but he says that after they have known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them. And that’s why he says in verse 22. But it has happened to them, according to the true Proverbs, the dog has returned to his own vomit again. This is how it looks in God’s In God’s idleness is why he talks about Luke, Warren Christians in the book of Revelation in chapter three.

And he says, and the sow that was washed to our wallow and the mar. Things that have been corrected, but uncorrected. You see, it’s one thing to start off certain Lord. It’s another thing to maintain your walk with the Lord. Now, there are three things that I believe are sources of our testing or I could say that causes us to fall. because you’re gonna be tempted by these three things. One is the devil, and two is you’re gonna be tested by the world, and then of course, you’ve got the flesh.

So you’ve got these three enemies of yours, and they’re always working on you. And every one of them can become temptations, trials, tribulations, you’re going to have these things. Now, I want you to take your Bible and look there in the book while we’re right here. First Peter chapter five, looking first Peter chapter five. When we talk about the devil, and as you read the fifth chapter, you’re talking about some people who have some knowledge of the Lord of God.

And he’s talking about being in verse three, about being examples of the flock. Well examples are those who have been walking with the Lord and know how to walk with the Lord, for others to follow them. and talks about us following those that are elders in verse five. Likewise, you young, you submit yourself unto the elders. So there’s two groups of people, the young and the old, those who know the Lord, walk with the Lord, and talks about those that are lifted up with pride and how that we’re supposed to cast all of our cares upon the Lord.

So you’re going to have problems in life. And as you have these problems in life, you’re supposed to submit yourself to the Lord, cast your cares upon the Lord. So when it talked on here about the devil, look there in verse eight, be sober, be vigilant because you’re adversary. And if you don’t have this underlined in your Bible or Mart, I would do so. The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour and he devours the proud of heart.

He devours those that are not humble and dependent upon God. One of the dangers of God’s people after a while is they get lifted up with pride because I know so much. I’m so strong and there’s scriptures that deals with this and God can allow the devil to tie you up because, remember, the devil gets you by as according to this. He devours you with the cares of this world. That’s why he says up in verse 7, “…casting all your cares upon him, for he careth for you.

But then the devil comes along and he wants to devour you with all these cares of the world, and get you worrying about the things of life.” And so you have to be careful, but you can withstand the devil in verse 9, whom resist steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brother that are in the world. So it’s not just you. Many of God’s children have become entangled with the affairs of this life that they cannot please him who has called him to be a soldier.

Now looking in first John chapter 2, first John in chapter 2, just a couple of pages to your right. First John chapter two, and you’ll find out that these three sources of temptation, and here’s one of them, and how many of God’s children are going to be tempted, tested. In verse 15, love not the world. Why? Because if you love the world, he says the love of the Father is not in you. In other words, like you can’t love both.

You can’t love God and then love the world at the same time. Now the word world is not referring to just people, but the things of the world, this life, where you don’t think about eternal things, you only think about temporary things. So he says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, things. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.

And this world is going to pass away along with all the lusts and desires and wouldn’t it be a shame to live for something that’s going to pass away and never be rewarded for it? to waste your life is to waste your life upon the lust of the world that’s going to pass away and the things you acquired with all of them. And so there is this damage that can be done and cause a Christian to fall, even the strongest of Christians.

This is not just talking about we’re just those weak Christians out there. This is also a warning to those who think they have arrived and achieved great superiority over those weaklands in the flesh, and it would never happen to us. And we can’t do this or that. Beware. Pride, cometh before a fall. And I believe that’s what Peter is talking about. But anyway, take your Bible and turn to Colossians in chapter 2. The book of Colossians in chapter 2.

Colossians chapter 2 and look in verse 8. This is a good verse and the reason for this verse is because he’s talking to them about as you have therefore we receive Christ so walk you in him. That’s mentioned in verse 6. You received him by faith. So how are you supposed to walk by faith? You took God’s word on what He said how to get to heaven. Now take God’s word on how you’re to live the Christian life. And in verse 7 concerning you and I, growing in the Lord, He says, rooted, built up in Him, established in the faith.

Don’t sound like we’re talking about a bunch of weak Christians. Those are rooted and grounded as you have been taught and abounding therein with thanksgiving. You have arrived. Now look at the next verse. Beware lest any man spoil you. It’s just like whenever the enemy would take, whoever they were warned against, and they would spoil them, means they take everything of value away from them. There are those who want to spoil you. In other words, taking from you, that which is of value, to ruin your testimony, to destroy your character, to render your life useless before God, because there’s those who would love to see you fall flat on your face.

I honestly believe there’s a lot of people who would love to see me totally mess up. They would feel so relieved because anybody who wants to serve the Lord and is serving the Lord is a rebuke to those who will not serve the Lord. And therefore if more people would not serve the Lord then they don’t look so bad. And so there are those who go around and their only job in the Christian life it seems like is blowing out somebody else’s candle.

See, if I blow your candle, I mine shines brighter. No, it doesn’t. You start a win and it reaps, a whirlwind, and you destroy your own testimony, your own character. But now, I want you to look at something else. Look here in Colossians in chapter three. And Jesse has covered many of these scriptures, and so there’s no reason to cover a lot of them, but I do want to read something to you. Unlike a license or permission to sin, a true understanding of the application of God’s grace really results in a holy life.

In other words, for a man to live by grace, holiness will be the result. Godliness will be the result. No man who is living by grace permits a license to sin. They’re not compatible. They do not go together. You cannot use, well, we’re just living by grace. We can do anything that we want to do, live however we want. That is not the purpose of grace, and that is not what grace does. Grace, your love for the Lord because of what is done for you is what motivates the person out of a nice warm, receptive heart to want to please his Heavenly Father.

But a holy life denies ungodliness and worldly lust. You may have the worldly lust. You have that sinful nature living within. But the battle is not fulfilling those desires. So that means that it’s just not a matter of going through life, try and not to fulfill the lust of the flesh, but the desires of the Spirit. Where it says in the book of James, the Holy Spirit lusteth. In other words, he desires you and I to serve God more than the desires of the flesh to fulfill the lust of the flesh.

You see, there’s two different desires here. So you and I, the closer we get to God, the more the Holy Spirit, those desires can grow and become strong enough to overcome the desires of the flesh. And if that doesn’t grow, then the desires of the flesh are so strong they destroy God’s children. But it involves an ongoing, ongoing walk in faith in Christ through the Word of God and humble service to others in love while looking for that blessed hope of Jesus Christ’s imminent return.

So while we’re waiting for Him to come back, You and I have a responsibility to live a holy, godly life. Now in the book of Peter, he talks about chapter 1, be holy for what? Be holy for I am what? I am holy. So it’s not so that we can have a license to do wickedness, it’s the freedom to do godly, to live holy life. And so that’s what we strive for. And a scripture I wanted you to look at is Galatians in chapter 5.

Now many of these scriptures we’ve looked at, you know, time and time again. But in the book of Galatians in chapter 5, you’ll notice they’re in verse verse 16, verse 16, this I say then, walk in the spirit. Now only a believer has this choice. A lost man can only walk into flesh. But a saved man has two births, two natures, and he can either walk with the Lord, or he can walk into flesh. But the key of not walking into flesh is to walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

You still have them. We all still wanna do wrong, regardless of how sincere we may to be in that we wanna live a perfect life and we know we can’t, but we know that we can walk with God. And then he describes the difference between the flesh and the spirit. Verse 17 down to verse 21 gives you a good description of what it means to walk into flesh and what you’re gonna expect to be the result. 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 813-884-4328. That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you’re 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 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friends, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believe in that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

Now, there’s a lot of people that can watch what somebody says, and then they have to have their experts, their commentators tell you what they really meant to say because you weren’t able to discern what they really meant. I think that I said that right. And so you have people who are trying to represent and hitting it from a different view, but And it all depends on whether or not what he said, really what you thought he meant. And so they’re trying to explain to us.

And they have all these experts. You ever wonder whether those experts on all these panels come from? They’re everywhere. And so far not a person has called me up and asked me my opinion. As smart as I am, I ought to be invited on every talk show. But so far nothing. Therefore, I must not know anything because I’m not an expert on anything. But I believe I’m an expert in the art of so winning. That was the name of my first book that I ever wrote called The Art of So winning.

And that was the name of it. Now I call it the Gospel-driven man book. But it was the book that I taught it for the Bible, the art of so winning. I think that it’s an art. It’s something learning how to win persuade someone to put their trust in Jesus Christ. How to open up the conversation and how to bring them to a close. How to get them to sign on the dotted line. And how to do all of that is an art.

Now some people say you’ve got the gift. No, it’s an art you can develop. And if you’ll understand that when it comes to salvation, there’s a lot of people who are trying to speak for God. God God said in his word, by grace are you saved through faith, but we’ve got a lot of those expert commentators that try to tell us what God really meant to say. Where God says it is the gift of God, no, no, no, well, well, well, he really meant to say you have to earn it.

When God said it’s not of your self, well, this is what he meant. And then they try to make a deal with the people that are listening to him. But if you want to go to heaven when you die, this is what you have to do. And what they tell you to do is that you’ve got to be good enough and earn it. And so there’s a lot of people that are making that deal. So they go to church because they’re under the impression, if I do this, I’ll get this.

But see, that’s not the deal God made. So they’re wasting their life trying to fulfill this dream of this deal that they haven’t got. And if I give money and if I go to church, if I live a good life, don’t beat my wife more than once a week, they think that all these good things that they’re doing, they made a wrong deal with the wrong person because that’s not what God said. Some Christ came into the world, died on the cross, paid for all the sins of the world, and all that you and I have to do is believe He did it for us.

He said that if you’ll believe it, this is the deal. If you’ll believe that I did that for you, I’ll put that payment to your account and give eternal life as a free gift and you don’t have to earn it. And I can close on it today. You won’t want to get something you want to close today. That was the best deal I’ve ever heard. It’s a deal that wouldn’t cost me anything. And all I had to do was believe on Jesus Christ and look what I would get.

And all the people that are chasing a dream that can never be fulfilled. They made the wrong deal with the wrong person. The devil himself and they’re trying to get something to God says can never happen. For by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourself, it is the gift of God not of works, lest any man should boast. But we have experts, preachers all across the country trying to tell you, well, that’s not really what he meant.

He meant you got to stop being bad and you got to start being good. And both of those are works for salvation. It is the gift of God. And when it comes to the Christian life, there’s people who don’t understand how serious God is about this. He wants us to dedicate our life to Him and to serve Him with all our heart. And God said, if you’ll do what I actually do, He said, I’m going to do some things for you.

Take your Bible, turn to 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, and chapter 16. My father-in-law showed me this verse. I didn’t know this verse was in the Bible. I had no clue what the book was talking about. I didn’t even know what the chapter was talking about, but I saw a part of a verse and it burned into my mind and I want you to see this verse. Second Chronicles chapter 16 and verse 9. See we all have a reason why we do what we do, but in verse 9 it says, for the eyes of Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong into behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

And my father-in-law told me, he says, the world has never seen what God can do with one man that’s totally yielded to him. And I said to your thinking, I want to be that man. The world has never seen I want to be that man. Now, you may not think, well, you’ll never be that man. You ought to see what God had when started with me. I mean, when you understand it and realize my testimony and where I came from and what I’ve been through, my testimony today is a living miracle that this book is true.

I have tried to apply the principle that are found in this book and I’ve lived long enough to see that what God says, it is true. I’ve watched people deny its truth, go against God, resist the Lord, and I’ve watched God whoop them and whoop them and whoop them. And I’ve also seen people that have put God to the test and they’ve trusted him and they followed him faithfully and I’ve watched and seen the results down the road of how God is blessed.

It’s, you can almost live by sight instead of just by faith because you can see what God is doing. But God’s word is true and I love that part of the verse. I don’t care about the verse before, I don’t care about the verse afterwards. I don’t even go about where it’s found it, but I marked it in my Bible because that meant a lot to me. The eyes of a Lord are running two-inch rotator. The whole are looking for Yankee.

Want to know what he served me? And I said, I’ll make a God a deal. Lord, I’ll serve you. I don’t care what happens. I don’t care how bad things are. I don’t care what you have to take out of my life. I says, don’t hold back anything. You are free to do anything in my life you want to do. Good battery, it doesn’t matter. Take everything I’ve got away from me. They sung that song last night, Jesse did, for whatever it takes from my will to break.

I mean, that’s an awesome song. He ought to come up here and sing it again. But that is an awesome song. God has been so good. Now take your Bible and turn to another verse with me. Look in Psalms Psalms 37, Psalms 37, Psalms 37. And look there in verse four, verse four and verse five. When I saw those verses years ago, I thought, this is awesome. I’m sitting here thinking and I forget all about, you know what anybody else is saying?

And I’ll think about a phrase. You notice in verse four, delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. That seems like God wants to make a deal. God says, hey, I’ll make you a deal. You delight in doing whatever I want, and you shall have the desires of your heart. In other words, if what you want is to serve the Lord, God’s all for that. And if you’ll take and dedicate your life to the Lord, it’s amazing how that the Lord Himself can give you desires that could be fulfilled because He’s the one who gave you the desire.

The light thyself and the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Well, if I saw that verse 50 years ago, and at 50 years later, I should be able to look back over my life and say, did he keep his word? Did he do what he promised? So I can say 50 years later, God kept his word. I delighted to do whatever God wanted me to do. And I have lived long enough to see. I’ve gotten the desires of my heart.

God has blessed my life. And I may die tomorrow, but I have enjoyed my life with the Lord. You don’t know how long you’ve got, but I can tell you this, I believe that God’s word is true and God means what He says. And the art of the deal, when it comes to salvation, it’s totally free. Requires nothing of you except your faith, where you believe He did it for you. When he comes to the Christian life, God says, I want you to give me your all.

Serve me with all your heart. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, body, soul, and strength. Not to get to heaven, but because I want whatever it is God wants me. I want to accomplish whatever God wants me to come. I want to do with my life what God wants. Is it worth it? He made a deal. Every child of God, he says, if you’ll serve me, him will my Father honor. God wants us to be found faithful.

And if you will, God says, he’ll bless your life here. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. And when you get to heaven, God’s gonna reward every man according to his own labor, but God doesn’t make you labor. God doesn’t make you serve him, but it’s the art of the deal. Really understanding the deal. I can’t see why anybody would pass up such a deal as this. Dr. Stanford used to always make a statement.

He says, when that man explained the gospel to me, clip, never follow her. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. Think of the word, an offer I couldn’t refuse. In other words, it was such a great bargain, such a great deal. I can’t turn it down. What? It’s free. So he accepted Christ as his Savior. Do you know there’s an awful lot of people in this world and they’re going to be in heaven because they’re so glad that Dr.

Stanford didn’t turn down that deal. And to make up your mind, I’m gonna serve the Lord. You realize you’re serving the Lord is revealed by the art of the deal. Do you really understand that there’s nothing that the devil can offer you? There’s nothing that the world can offer you that is better, superior in any way over what God says if you’ll serve me. You may lose a lot in this life, But you’re gonna, you ought to see your retirement plan.

You ought to see what I’m not waiting for you. And if you believe it, it’s amazing what God will do. Now, very quickly as we’re moving along here, I don’t know if I’ll finish all of this, but I’m gonna do my dead level best. Turn your Bible to First Thessalonians in chapter two. First Thessalonians in chapter two. And look in verse four. You don’t have verse four and your Bible underlined you. you probably not saved. No, but you ought to underline it.

Aren’t you glad you’re saved by grace? Now look at verse 4, this is on page 12, 68, but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak not as pleasing men, but God, which try to do you think it pleases God for you and I to preach the gospel that he has entrusted to us. You think so? Then that’s one of the reasons. You say, well, you’re supposed to because you’re the preacher.

No, I’m preaching because I believe that and because I did that. You see, what this verse is talking about, this is something every child of God ought to do. God’s children, all of God’s children, you’ve been put and trust with the gospel. So you speak, not as pleasing men, but God. It pleases God that you will be found faithful to do what God wants you to do. Now take your Bible and look in 2 Corinthians in chapter 5. 2 Corinthians in chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, and look in verse 11, a verse 11.

The verse right before it tells us that we know we’re all going to stand before the the judgment seat of Christ. Every one of us, all of God’s children, it means we’re going to have to give an account someday. So then he says in verse 11, knowing therefore the tear of the Lord, we go to on the line, those three words. What do we do? We persuade men. So winning is persuading people to put their trust in Jesus Christ.

Even Felix said to Paul, he said, almost thou persuaded me. Almost you persuaded me. You ever heard that song almost persuaded, almost persuaded. You could be almost persuaded, but eternally lost. And some people are planning on doing it down the road, trusting the Lord. Do it now. It’s so important. Also look at it in verse 14. Verse 14 says, for the love of Christ constraineth. In other words, this is your move. Constrange you, motivate you because we thus judge.

In other words, because this is how you think it. You’re supposed to judge this in your mind. This is so that you understand the deal. You can’t judge something because if you don’t understand the art of the deal, what God promised, what God wants. So he says, because we thus, we judge that if one died for all, then we’re all dead. And that he died for all, that get this, they which live. He died on the cross, paid through the sins of everybody, but they which live, those who do trust them, those who have eternal life, is what he says, should not henceforth.

That means from now on, live unto what? From now on, you’re not to live for yourself. You may, your salvation isn’t dependent upon who you live for. But the love of God can strain at us. In other words, I should learn to love the Lord because I know that God loves me and love should respond to love. It’s the love of God that helps to restrain your life to keep she from doing things because that hurts my father. That hurts my father.

I can’t do that because that hurts my father. I don’t want to do anything that changed my father or hurt my father. I just don’t want to do that. So it’s a restraining force in your life. If you don’t love the Lord, then you don’t care if you hurt Him. You don’t care if you violate His principles. You don’t care if you waste your life. But loving the Lord is the only thing that holds you on course. Betty and I have been married 56 and a half years.

June will be 57 years. Now that’s a long time, but one of the things that constrains me to do right be a good husband, a good father, is because I love my wife. But if you take away the love, there’s nothing to hold you on course. Truth is supposed to constrain us, to do the things that are right. So notice what he says. He says in verse, last part of verse 15, unto him which died for them and rose again.

You should live for the one who died for you. Who died for you? Well the Lord. So why should I serve him? Look God will make a deal with you. You put him first. You serve the Lord and you’ll be surprised at all the good things that God can do in your life and how he can blessed, watch over you and how he can move you here and move you there and all things that happens to you. But he’ll do it because of his honor and his glory because God wants to be able to use you freely.

God doesn’t want to chase on us, he wants to bless us. But if we refuse to obey the Lord our heavenly Father because he loves us won’t let us go. He’s got to chase him and discipline. That’s why I said that there’s no problem that any teenager has that 30 or 40 years can’t correct. And he’ll bring all these angel men. Take your Bible down, turn up to the book of John, the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John, and look in chapter 12, John chapter 12.

Remember the scripture, tell us in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 4 and verse 2, he says, Moreover, is required in a steward that a man be found hateful. If you’re faithful, you are successful, because God will reward you for your faithfulness, not the results of your faithfulness. Be found faithful and God will use you. God will bless you. Now, notice what he says in John chapter 12 and notice he’s talking here in verse 25, what he says, he that loveth his life shall what?

lose it. If you’ll give up your life for the Lord, you’ll save it. Majority of Christ said, I don’t think really understand the depth of this truth. Get what else he says. He that hated his life in this world shall keep it under life eternal. Understand him that your love for the Lord should be so strong that your love for everything else seemed like hate. And then notice what he verse 26, you ought to lie in verse 26, if any man served me, now this is not for salvation, salvation is always free, but if you will serve me, look at the deal he makes.

If any man served me, let him follow me and where I am, there shall also my servant be, if any man served me, him will my father what? There’s a deal. I want the Lord to honor man. I want to honor him. I want God to praise Me. Therefore I have to praise Him. You see, you reap what you sow. You want love so love. You want joy so joy. You’d be surprised the difference it can make in your life of what God says in His Word.

You shall reap what you sow. You sow to the Spirit. You shall love the Spirit reap the things of the Spirit of God. You’ll have such wonderful life and joy and peace that God has promised to those who put him first. It’s right there in the book. If any man will serve me. I want to close with this thought. Years and years ago, after I had trusted Christ as my Savior, I came to understand a little bit better of the value of a decision that I made.

You see, sometimes we make decisions and we don’t know how valuable it is or how terrible it is. Have you ever bought something at a flea market and you got home and it didn’t work? But you thought it worked, but it didn’t work. I’m going to tell you it back. They’re gone. And you’ve lost money. You ever bought something, even a piece of land. And then because, well, it got a lot of time. So you sold it. And later on, that same piece of property is worth thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars today.

You thought, if I’d have only hell on to it. But I didn’t know. You realize how valuable some of those silver quarters would be worth. If you’d have got all that paper money that we had back then, it was backed by silver certificate and you just got that silver or got that gold, how much gold valuable it is today. But sometimes we don’t know but we made deals. Have you ever gotten married and thought this was the best deal I’ve ever made?

And then, and then the war began and you have you ever questioned whether or not, boy if I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t make that mistake again. So some of us, I shouldn’t say us, it’s not me. Some have to live with your mistakes. And you realize it? Man, I should have thought this thing through a little bit more. I’ll be honest. I did not take seriously marriage. I didn’t understand the value of what I was getting.

I didn’t understand it at all. I was a dumb, stupid teenager. Didn’t think about anybody except myself. and whatever I wanted. When I saw Betty, that’s the one I wanted. And so I went after Betty. I met with her boyfriend that she had and I took care of that. You said, what did you do? I threatened his life. That’s all. Nothing serious. Because I knew he would be between back to us. And anyway, I went after Betty. Not even asked her dad, Can I marry her?”

And he said, no. I says, why? He says, because you don’t have a job, you don’t have any money, you don’t have a place to live. And her mother says, and you’re a hudlem. And everything they said was the truth. But I didn’t care. I’m going to get to that girl. And now I didn’t understand that what I had was so valuable. She was just another teenager, but there was something about her. And after she married me and her dad lay me to the Lord, I began to slowly realize, I got myself a jewel.

I don’t deserve this. And to realize that 56 years later, I’ve never met a woman that I thought was better than what my wife is. What a deal. And the thing is, I didn’t pay anything to get her. She bought me for five bucks. And I thought, I just, you call it grace, it is grace. I don’t deserve such a wonderful, but that’s the grace of God has been good and has blessed. And I thank the Lord for my children, my grandkids.

I thank the Lord for this ministry. I don’t see how God has so blessed, I think it’s all because God knows in my heart, I love him, I love him. And the Bible says, is God is seeking those will love him and I love the Lord and I love the Lord more than anything else in this whole world and I want to please him. So I’ll try to be a good dad, I’ll try to be a good husband, I’ll try to be a good preacher.

But your secondary, I love him more. Now if I ever stop loving the Lord I lose everything. I want to gain I want to win this art of the, I want to make the best deal I possibly can. You hear Trump talking about, he wants to renew these deals and so forth like that. I’ve made the best deal in the world. And I don’t have any regrets that I trust in Christ as my Savior. And I don’t have any regrets about serving the Lord.

I’m just thankful that somebody explained some things to me and that explained a few verses to me and I saw those verses and I will think about that. Man, I don’t want to blow this. I’ve only got one last. life to live. I never thought I’d live this long and that’s the truth. I thought somebody would have done me in by now. Look up here very quickly. This is you and me. This is sin. Everybody has sinned. God loves all of us.

He hates our sin, but He loves us. And for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in a place called hell. But God wants us to go to heaven and because heaven is a perfect place, we’re not. Because of sin we can’t get So God says you have to be perfect and none of us are perfect. God says you cannot earn eternal life, you can’t work your way to heaven. It’s by grace, it’s not by your works.

So no man can earn eternal life. This hand represents Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. He came into this world because, well, He loves us, but He hates our sin, because our sin separates us from Him. So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die, but because He loved us, He took all of the sins of all the world, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead. He said, if we believe that he did it for us, he’d put this payment to our account.

Remember this, it’s so simple. Why did Christ die for us? He died to pay for our sins. Why? So that we wouldn’t have to. And then he came back from the dead and says, the only thing you have to do is believe I did that for you. That’s doable. You can do that, is where you believe that. And so when you believe it, he puts this payment to your account. You go to heaven on what he did. Why? Because he, this payment was for all of your sins.

The reason you can’t know you’re going to heaven till you know you can’t go to hell. And I can’t go to hell. Why? Because I don’t have any sins to pay for. He paid for how many of my sins? Christ died for my sins. And I’m going to heaven because he wants me to do just believe me to. Why should I pass that up? There’s no trace to it, no gimmicks. A man has to be a fool to turn down a free gift like that.

Wouldn’t you say? Let’s pray, show him. Every head bowed and every eye closed. No one looking around. If you hear this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior. Would you trust Him right now? Just say something simple like this, Lord, I know I’m a sinner and I believe Christ died, that He paid for my sins. And I’m gonna trust Him right now as my Savior. Bring God’s that if you’ll trust Him right now, He’ll save you right now and give you eternal life right now.

And when you get up to lead, you can say, I know I’m going to heaven because Christ died for me. He paid for my sins. Would you do that? I’m not gonna have you forward. But right where you’re sitting, He said preach that that made sense to me. And I wanna know that I’m going to heaven. And I’ll life you to pray for more. Just slip your hand very quickly, They’re right back down. Anyone at all, they have one at all.

If you’ve already trusted Christ as Savior, you that are watching by internet, right on the screen says, yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior. If you will do so, we’d love to hear from you. Just let us know that someone trusts the Lord. Our Father, we thank you again for your blessings. Thank you for all you’ve done for us. Thank you for this time together, for all the goodness you’ve done for us, and help each one to understand my heart where I’m coming from and why I want the best for them in Christ’s name and 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 813-884-4328. That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you’re 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 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

live today and every day. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

I want to talk to you about a little issue. You’ve heard Don Trump wrote a book years ago called The Art of the Deal, and it was about always trying to figure out a way to win, persuading people to your point of view. Well, it’s got his work cut out for him. But I do like the title, The Art of the Deal. In other words, it’s about winning. I like to win. And I realize that we only get one chance in life to go through it.

No reruns, no instant replays, you get one shot at it. So this life is something that I want to win. There’s things that God talks about in his word and I found that the word win, believe it or not, was only mentioned in the Scriptures twice. One in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament, the word when, only mentioned that many times, two times. Winneth, I thought I’ll try Winneth, it’s used one time. So there’s not a lot of verses that talks about winning, but the whole Bible is about winning.

And so the Lord has left it for us to read, study, and find out those who want to win in life. Now there’s a lot of things you can strive for, but God says you can gain the whole world and lose. You can lose your whole life because you didn’t win the best thing. So the art of the deal is finding out what does God say about success, about winning? And we want to win. I do. And so it determines what you do with your life.

So I wanted to listen to somebody who wins, and so that’s the Lord. He knows all about how to win. Because he says, is the devil, there’s the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. There’s people in this world, there’s fallen angels, there’s all kind of things going on. Everything’s striving to make you a failure. to see that you ruin your life, waste your life so that you’re not a success in God’s eyes.

See, if you’re not a success in God’s eyes, you’re a failure. You didn’t win. I want to win. So I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Philippians in chapter 3, the book of Philippians, chapter 3. There’s a verse there that I want you to look at. Paul just explained who he was, who he thought he was. Like saying, do you know who I am? Do you know what I’ve done? Well, he says, look who I am.

He’s an amped somebody. So in verse 7 he makes a statement, circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, the Hebrews of the Hebrews, touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness of the which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, those I kind of lost for Christ. In other words, it really doesn’t matter who he was and what he had done. There’s something better.

Some people would have been satisfied just because, hey, he finally made it to the rank of being a Pharisee, or he was a Sadducee. There’s so many things and causes in life that we can spend our life doing. I’ve had people trying to get me involved in a thousand causes but I think I have already got the best cause. People are lost, people are going to hell. And I don’t want to live for any other reason. I think I’ve already found out what is the greatest cause of all.

I can get in, there’s a lot of different reasons. A lot of things that people can involve. That’s fine. But as for me, I’ve made up my mind years ago. I’ve only got one reason for me to live in. And that is that I want to try to figure out a way to try to win as many people to Christ as I possibly can. So when my life is over and all of the other things have faded away, the people that I have reached for the Lord.

can never be undone. They can never be lost. I gained. I want to get to heaven and see people that have reached that pinnacle of faith where they put their trust in the Lord and they’re in heaven because you passed this way. And so therefore there’s a lot of things you can do in life, but then finding the priority that is important. So he makes the statement in verse 7, but what things were going to be those I kind of lost for Christ and then look in verse 8.

Yay, doubtless, and I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them, but done that I may win Christ to have not just salvation, but to have something worth living for that God says is worth living for. So if you gain the whole world and you lose the purpose that God had for your life then you’ll have loss not gain.

It means you didn’t win. So I want to take you and have you look with me in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 11. Proverbs chapter 11 and you’ll notice there’s a verse there that’s It’s a verse worthy of being underlined and to memorize. It’s an awesome verse. But notice, now years ago, I would read these simple little verses. They didn’t seem to be so deep. I wanted some verses I could understand. I overlooked a lot of books and chapters, but I would find little things that I could understand.

And if I could understand it, market, memorize it, then maybe that’ll hold me on course for the rest of my life. See, I wanna have a simple life. I don’t want my life being complicated. I don’t want it to be a multitude of decisions. Just I made up my mind to trust Christ, and I made up my mind, I’m gonna serve the Lord. And so I make all my decisions based upon is this helping me to serve the Lord?

Or is it hurting my testimony? Is it hurting my reputation? hurting my character is it hurting or is it helping. So look what he says in verse 30. Verse 30, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that when his souls is what? Is wise. So I just took it from that verse, he that when his souls is wise. Well I don’t want to be a fool. I want to be wise. He that when his souls is wise.

I want to be wise. So what must I do? When souls. And so it didn’t matter what price I had to pay when souls. Just do it. Honor God’s Word. So the seed and you’ll be surprised at what will grow. Put your confidence in what God’s Word says and it will work. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Joshua, the book Joshua, and these are some of the verses that has helped channel me to where I believe I am today.

I didn’t just all thematically one day show up and I’m 75 years old and I’ve never done anything before in my life and I just happened to be the pastor of this church. There’s a progress. There’s decisions that were made. A lot of decisions that had been made. I’m thankful that I’ve lived this long. God’s been good to me and I don’t know how much longer I’ve got, but I’ve already told everybody that I wanted y’all to come to my hundredth birthday.

So reserve that so that you can try to make that. Look in verse five. Look in verse five. Chapter one. Chapter one of course. I thought y’all could read my mind. Joshua chapter one paid 259 in an old Schofield reference Bible or church Bible. Verse 5 says, there shall not any man be able to stand before the all the days of thy life. Isn’t that a good verse? Just think about what that verse says. That’s a promise. You see, God made a deal.

He made a deal with Joshua. He says, this is what I will do. This is what I want you to do. And if you will do what I say, do this is what you can have. The art of the deal. Finding out what’s the deal. What do you want me to do? What are you going to do if I do? And what are you going to do if I don’t? I want to know, Lord, is it going to be worth it?

Is serving you worth it? I only got this one life and I think about what do I want? What do I want to do? What do I want to be? Where do I want to go? Look at all the things that a man can choose to live for in this world. Look at all the different kinds of jobs there are, the things you can be. But Lord, I only want to do what you want me to do. I want to know what is the art of the deal.

and look what he says. In verse 5 the last part of it says, so I will be with thee, I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong of a good courage, for unto this people shall thou devy according inheritance to land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Moses is off the scene and God has brought along Joshua. And now God is said as I was with Moses I will be with you. And then he tells him what I want you to, he said, be strong and very courageous.

And verse 7, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded them, turn not from it to the right hand or to the left. In other words, I don’t want to get sidetracked. I want to have blinders on. That there’s nothing else in this world that so interests me that I’m willing to give up this cause that God has. There isn’t anything in this world worth living for if it contrary to the will of God.

So you find out what does God want? And the art of the deal is understanding clearly what God wants. And then sin is that what I want to do with my life? Why should I do this? Or why should I do that? And think things through. What is the will of God for my life? And then notice what he says here in verse 8. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou may as observed to do according to all that is written therein.

For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have, what’s those two words? Good success. You see success is being what God wants you to be. Success is doing what God wants you to do. So God wants you and I to be found fateful because if you’re faithful to do what God wants, you will be successful. I want to have a successful life. You want to have a successful life. But some people’s success is different than others.

You want to be a success in business. You want to be successful getting a wife or some kids and your money you make and where you live. Those are nice. But what about what God wants? Always be asking, what does God want me to do with my life? And then notice what he says in verse 9, have not I commanded thee, be strong, be of good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, get death, for the Lord thy God is with thee.

And that is a great comforting thought to know that a man can trust Christ as Savior and live 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years and no God is with me. He said, He’d never leave me and He’d never forsake me. Is that true or not? So you know that you and the Lord make a majority and whatever the will of God is, me and God is a majority. If I long as I do, what did you know between me and God we know everything there is to be known?

Between me and God we can do anything but without the Lord you can do. nothing. But with the Lord, you’d be surprised what you can do. Trust the Lord. Obey what He has for you. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Daniel, the book of Daniel. Daniel and chapter 12. Daniel chapter 12, I want you to see this. This is simply a couple verses that really made an impact in the early formation of my life. Why did I want to do what God’s Word says?

In chapter 12, look during verse 1. In verse 1, He says, and at that time shall Michael stand up the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation to the same time, and at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book. This is referring to the tribulation period that is yet ahead Calories. So God enabled Daniel to write prophecy.

Daniel did not always understand what he wrote. God told him to seal up the book until the time of the end. But there’s something that is understandable, something that is revealed here, something that does help us look there in verse 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall await some some do everlasting life, some do shame and everlasting contempt. Now get the difference. Some everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Which one do you want?

It’s a clear. It’s right there. It’s clear. And then notice what else he says in verse 3. And they, that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for how long. I want something that’s going to last. I don’t know waste my life, but God made a deal. If I would serve him, he says that you will, if you’ll turn many to righteousness, shine as the brightness of the firmament for ever and ever and ever.

You see, I don’t have to understand everything. But I know enough. I know that I am a sinner, saved by grace. I don’t deserve that. But the reason that I trusted Christ is my Savior because God made a deal. Now you stop and think. I’ll learn a little bit more by watching what’s been going on in this last election. And understand a little bit more about the office of the executor branch of the government and the legislative and the judicial.

But they have a guy that comes out just about every day, the press secretary that comes out and tells you what the president said or what he really meant. And he answers all these questions. And all these people asking questions, and he says and represents the president of the United States. Now, there’s a lot of people that can watch what somebody says. And then they have to have their experts, their commentators tell you what they really meant to say because you weren’t able to discern what they really meant.

I think that I said that right. And so you have people who are trying to represent and hitting it from a different view, but it all depends on whether or not what he say, really what you thought he meant. And so they’re trying to explain to us and they have all these experts. You ever wonder whether those experts on all these panels come from? They’re everywhere and So far not a person has called me up and asked me my opinion as smart as I am I ought to be invited on every talk show but so far nothing Therefore I must not know anything because I’m not an expert on me, but I believe I’m an expert in the art of so winning.

That was the name of my first book that I ever wrote called the art of so winning. And that was the name of it. Now I call it the gospel-driven man book. But it was the book that I taught it for the Bible, the art of so winning. Because I think that it’s an art. It’s something learning how to win, persuade someone to put their trust in Jesus Christ. How to open up the conversation and how to bring them to a close, how to get them to sign on the dotted line, and how to do all of that, it’s an art.

Now some people say you’ve got the gift. No, it’s an art you can develop. And if you’ll understand that when it comes to salvation, there’s a lot of people who are trying to speak for God. God said in his word, by grace are you saved through faith, but we’ve got a lot of those expert commentators to try to tell us what God really meant to say. Where God says it is the gift of God, no, no, no, well, well.

He really meant to say you have to earn it. When God said it’s not of yourself, well, this is what he meant. And then they try to make a deal with the people that are listening to him. That if you want to go to heaven when you die, this is what you have to do. And what they tell you to do is that you’ve got to be good enough and earn it. And so there’s a lot of people that are making that deal.

So they go to church because they’re under the impression, if I do this, I’ll get this. But, see, that’s not the deal God made. So they’re wasting their life trying to fulfill this dream of this deal that they haven’t got. And if I give money, and if I go to church, if I live a good life, don’t beat my wife more than once a week. They think that all these good things that they’re doing, but see, they made a wrong deal with the wrong person because that’s not what God said.

So Christ came into the world, died on the cross, paid for all the sins of the world, and all that you and I have to do is believe He did it for us. He said that if you’ll believe it, this is the deal. If you’ll believe that I did that for you, I’ll put that payment to your account and give you eternal life as a free gift and you don’t have to earn it. And I can close on it today.

You want to get something you want to close today. was the best deal I’ve ever heard. It’s a deal that wouldn’t cost me anything. And all I had to do is believe on Jesus Christ and look what I would get. And all the people that are chasing a dream that can never be fulfilled, they made the wrong deal with the wrong person, the devil himself. And they’re trying to get something that God says can never happen. For by grace are you saved through that not of yourself, it is the gift of God not of works, unless any man should vote.

But we have experts, preachers all across the country trying to tell you, well, that’s not really what he meant. He meant you gotta stop being bad, and you gotta start being good. And both of those are works for salvation. It is the gift of God. And when it comes to the Christian life, there’s people who don’t understand How serious God is about this. He wants us to dedicate our life to Him and to serve Him with all our heart.

And God said, if you’ll do what I asked you to do, He said, I’m gonna do some things for you. Take your Bible, turn to second chronicles, second chronicles, and chapter 16. My father-in-law showed me this verse. I didn’t know this verse was in the Bible. I had no clue what the book was talking about. I didn’t even know what the chapter was talking about, but I saw a part of a verse and it burned into my mind. And I want you to see this verse.

Second Chronicles chapter 16 and verse nine. See, we all have a reason why we do what we do. But in verse nine, it says, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. And my father-in-law told me, he says, the world has never seen what God can do with one man that’s totally yielded to him. And I said to your thinking, I want to be that man.

The world has never seen I want to be that man. Now, you may not think, well, you’ll never be that man. You ought to see what God had when He started with me. I mean, when you understand and realize my testimony and where I came from and what I’ve been through, my testimony today is a living miracle that this book is true. I have tried to apply the principle that are found in this book and I’ve lived long enough to see that what God says it is true.

I’ve watched people deny its truth, go against God, resist the Lord, and I’ve watched God whoop them and whoop them and whoop them. And I’ve also seen people that have put God to the test and they’ve trusted Him. And they followed Him faithfully and I’ve watched and seen the results down the road of how God is blessed. It’s, you can almost live by sight, instead of just by faith. Because you can see what God is doing. But God’s Word is not love that part of the verse.

I don’t care about the verse before, I don’t care about the verse afterwards. I don’t even care about where it’s found, but I marked it in my Bible because that meant a lot to me. The eyes of a Lord are running to and fro taught the whole are looking for Yankee. Want to know what He served me? And I said, I’ll make a God a deal. Lord, I’ll serve you. I don’t care what happens. I don’t care how bad things are.

I don’t care what you have to take out of my life. I says, don’t hold back anything. You are free to do anything in my life you want to do. Good battery, it doesn’t matter. Take everything I’ve got away from me. They sung that song last night, Jesse did, for whatever it takes from my will to break. I mean that’s an awesome song. He ought to come up here and sing it again, but that is an awesome song. God has been so good.

Now take your Bible and turn to another verse with me. Look in Psalms 37, Psalms 37, Psalms 37. And look there in verse four, verse four and verse five. When I saw those verses years ago, I thought this is awesome. I’m sitting here thinking and I forget all about, you know, what anybody else is saying And I’ll think about a phrase. You notice in verse four, delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

That seems like God wants to make a deal. Like God said, hey, I’ll make a deal. You delight in doing whatever I want, and you shall have the desires of your heart. In other words, if what you want is to serve the Lord, God’s all for that. And if you’ll take and dedicate your life to the Lord, It’s amazing how that the Lord Himself can give you desires that can be fulfilled because He’s the one who gave you the desire.

The light thyself and the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Well, if I saw that verse 50 years ago and at 50 years later, I should be able to look back over my life and say, did He keep His word? Did He do what He promised? So I can say 50 years later, God kept His word. I delighted to do whatever God wanted me to do, and I have lived long enough to see. I’ve gotten the desires of my heart.

God has blessed my life. And I may die tomorrow, but I have enjoyed my life with the Lord. You don’t know how long you’ve got, but I can tell you this, I believe that God’s Word is true and God means what He says. the art of the deal. When it comes to salvation, it’s totally free. Requires nothing if you accept your faith. Well you believe he did it for you. When he comes to the Christian life, God says, I want you to give me your all.

Serve me with all your heart. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, body, soul, and strength. Not to get to heaven, but because I want whatever it is God wants I want to accomplish whatever God wants me to come. I want to do with my life what God wants. Is it worth it? He made a deal. Every child of God, he says, if you’ll serve me, him will my Father honor. God wants us to be found faithful.

And if you will, God says he’ll bless your life here. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. And when you get to heaven, God’s going to reward every man according to his own labor. But God doesn’t make you labor. God doesn’t make you serve him. But it’s the art of the deal really understanding the deal. I can’t see why anybody would pass up such a deal as this 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 813 884-4328. That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the radio broadcast link. If you’re 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 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bible line to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

What would you know if God hadn’t revealed it? What would you know if God hadn’t told you? There are some things that if God had not told us we’d be in the dark You could not have fought this up on your own Like it is in the Bible the natural mind could not think such holy stuff Man’s mind who writes men’s books and men’s movies and things like that most of them all are on love sex money power stuff like that.

But God’s Word is on pureness and holiness, godliness. You wouldn’t know there was a heaven if the Bible didn’t tell us. You wouldn’t know there’s a hell if the Bible didn’t tell us. You would never have come up with the idea of a man being born into this world without a human father by a miraculous way that God is going to take and by the power of the Holy Spirit place the seed within the womb of Mary and she has a baby and without a man.

Adam, see he was made without a mother and father. Eve didn’t have a mother and father but she was made from a rib. Every once in a while you know my wife, she counts my ribs. I want to make sure there’s not another woman in my life. First Timothy chapter 3, look there in verse 16. It says in verse 16 and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. There is a lot of arguments about whether or not this ever really took place.

This is talking about the incarnation. You’re talking about God coming into the world and being born in a human form as a a baby and living a totally perfect life, totally without fault or mistakes. And growing up to be a man of about 30 years old and having a ministry, a man could not have just designed something like this in his mind because you don’t think like this. A perfect individual and it was God who came out of a man didn’t design this because it would have been a little impossible to have come up with all the ways the Bible was written.

talking about a book that’s been written over 1600 years by between 35 to 40 different writers living at different periods of time never meeting the other writers and yet all of it all put together talks about one person and each one revealing different things that is a miracle. No other book has ever been written like this book. Great is the mystery of godliness, the mystery of God the mystery is not a you know this is a murder mystery you know what a question I’m figure out who did it the butler this is different a mystery in the Bible is a truth that was hidden in times past but now revealed for the first time so when you see this word mystery like that it means here is a truth that is being revealed for the first time so that people can understand this awesome thing and he says great is this story this mystery about

how God taken upon flesh and been born as a child, that’s an awesome story. But if the Bible didn’t tell us, we would not know it. It makes a statement in the book of Corinthians in chapter 2. He says, if the princes of this world were so smart, so wise, why then did they crucify the Lord of glory? If they were wise, if they were smart, you see, if the The people of the world today were so smart, why don’t they trust Christ as their Savior, if they’re so smart?

And why do the people in our universities and colleges… They study all these things and the foundation of them is a lie. Every person who believes in evolution believes a lie. So lie. The whole thing is based on a lie because the alternative to evolution is creation. If you don’t believe in a God, you can’t believe in creation. So the alternative is you have to believe in evolution. So evolution is the religion of an atheist. It’s what an atheist believes.

But a Christian shouldn’t believe in evolution. Difficult for an atheist to believe in creation by a creator. Not only was the mystery of what happened to Jesus being born, but it also said justified in the spirit, seeing of angels, priests unto the Gentiles believed on in the world, and received up into glory. In other words, He came from heaven and to the world, left the world, and went back up into heaven. Now that, some story, in just that itself, what an awesome story.

Now take your Bible and look there in the book of Colossians in chapter one, the book of Colossians and chapter one. And look there in verse 27. Verse 27, you would not figure this out if God had not revealed it. You wouldn’t have known it. So there’s things that God says, the secret thing belonged on to the Lord. So what we do know is because God has seen fit to reveal them to us. So God has seen fit to reveal a new truth to us that people in the Old Testament never knew, never heard.

And that was in the Old Testament, even the Holy Spirit would come upon an individual to do a particular job and then would leave. And could give him tremendous power. Samson, the strongest man in the world, was strong, not because of his hair, He was strong because of the Lord. The Bible says that when He lost His strength, it says He wished not that the Spirit was no longer on Him. So the Holy Spirit could come upon an individual and do mighty things to an individual.

Could reveal things to them, speak through the individual. But when the Holy Spirit had done its job through that person, then the Holy Spirit would leave. That’s why David says, I prayed that thou pay not thy Holy Spirit from me. You and I don’t pray a prayer like that. He said, well, why not? Because see, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and I, he doesn’t come upon us, he comes within you. You and I have the Holy Spirit living within us, inside of us.

And he promised he’ll never leave you and never forsake you. But see, if the Lord’s Word didn’t tell us that you wouldn’t know that because you can’t feel a spirit. Is he, ah, no, I’m saying why because I can feel the Spirit moving around inside of me. You don’t feel that. Now there’s time when you have experiences of joy, and you can even bubble over, and you can shout and praise God, and that’s the overflow of some knowledge that you have, because of what God’s done for you, and you can have tremendous joy.

But the field of spirit that you can’t do. But I understand what people are talking about, but I want you to know that the truth of the scriptures is that the Holy Spirit dwells every believer. Now look at verse 27, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is not here’s the truth Christ in you the hope of glory. The glory is perfection and that’s why when you saw the Chicana glory you saw the perfection of God.

When it talks about going to heaven and heaven is a perfect place and we have all come short of his glory for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, the perfection of God. We sin, He’s perfect. We’ve come short of perfection. Now God says this joy or hope of glory, a joyful anticipation of this perfection. We didn’t know about it. You didn’t know that you could be made perfect here and now by simply trusting Christ as your Savior.

You would not know that if God had not revealed that. So God put it in His Word so that you and I can know I can be perfect simply by accepting Christ as my Savior. And not only that, Christ in you, Christ in me. When God gave me His righteousness, He gave me Christ. Well, the Bible says that what He did was He took my sins upon Him, paid for my sins, so my sins are paid. My sins are paid, but I don’t have any righteousness.

So God gave me his right. Now he can’t give me his righteousness till he takes my sins, but he took my sin. So when I accept him as my Savior, God said, and I believe he did it for me, he gives me his what? His righteousness. So I have his righteousness. The righteousness of God is really Christ. Cause you can’t separate the righteousness of God from God. It is God. So I have his right to say that I have Christ.

In me, the hope of glory. So to know that as a child of God, not only has He saved me, but He gave me His righteousness or His Son to be in me. Now we have scripture that says that Christ is in me. There’s other verses talk about God is in you. Another verse that says, no you not that the Holy Spirit whereby you’re sealed until the day of redemption is within you. you, and He is our hope, the Holy Spirit, lives on your side of your body, and that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

So would you call Him God? Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, I have God in me. So I am a temple of the living God. So when I’m in church, I know God is here. I brought Him. When I leave, God is with me. When I go to the restaurant and eat, He is with me. Everywhere I go, and He says, He’ll never leave me and never forsake me. I have God always with me. I am always in the presence of God.

And you need to understand that and you can live a little bit better when you understand that He doesn’t go on a vacation. You can’t leave Him. He’s with you. And everywhere you go, He is inside of you. He says they’re in verse 25. He says, we’re up, I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God. A dispensation is a period of time in which God deals with an individual or groups of people regarding a certain responsibility and the consequences if you fail that responsibility.

So the Bible is broken down into different dispensations because of how God deals with people at different times. God is now not dealing with the nation of Israel, He’s dealing with us, the church. The day will come, He’ll deal with Israel again. It’s called God has designed the ages, the different periods of time. In verse 25, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you to fulfill the Word of God. In other words, the reason that I teach you the Bible is so that you can fulfill the will of God.

Then in verse 26, even specifically the mystery which hath been hid from ages different periods of time and from generations, but now is made manifest to a saint. So there’s things that people did not know before, but now can be known. And the truth is now revealed for the first time. Christ is in you. God is in me. And He’ll never leave you and never forsake you. So how long is the Holy Spirit going to be within you? Do you have to pray for the Holy Spirit to receive the Holy Spirit?

No. That’s why there’s no verse in the Bible that commands you to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. Because you don’t have to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. You already have been. The day you trust in Christ as your Savior, the Bible says Jesus Christ baptizes you into His body by the Holy Spirit. Done at that very moment. The very moment you believed it. You said, well, I didn’t feel anything. Of course not. It’s a spiritual thing about the Holy Spirit of God.

So these scriptures are given because these things, you would not know, you couldn’t find it out on your own because these are truths that God has revealed to us. Take your Bible, look in Ephesians chapter three. Ephesians chapter three, look in verse two. If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me toward you, Here’s talking about the dispensation of the grace of God. You see, when Christ was here, John the Baptist came on the same preaching, the baptism of repentance, and the gospel of the kingdom.

The kingdom of heaven is upon you. Oh, that’s not what we preach today. We don’t preach that. We preach the dispensation of the grace of God. In other words, you’re saying, we’re not trying to set up a kingdom upon the earth. That was when Jesus was here, and John the Baptist was here, They were going to preach the kingdoms going to be set up. Why? Because the king was here. That’s why he called his cabinet. That’s why you find the things in the book of Matthew about how they’re going to roll in rain in the kingdom.

He had everything he needed. The only thing is they rejected the king. So it was postponed. So now God is dealing with us as a different group of people, different unit, different time. And there’s certain responsibilities that God’s given to us. We’re not trying to bring in a kingdom. We’re not trying to bring this, make this world a utopia or a better place to go to hell from. God is they going to all the world and install Senator Shores and all the work, no, no, no.

They’re going to all the world and preach the gospel. He says, right now, doing this part of time, he’s doing one main thing. He’s calling out from among the Jews and the Gentiles. A people for his name. In other words, individual believers, all over the world of every nation, everyone who trusts Christ as Savior, are all going to form a different body of believers called a church. They’ll become the bride, and we are going to be the bride to Christ.

In other words, God has a son, and the son, angel wife, but she is a man. She needs to be perfect and there’s nobody perfect for Him to marry. So God is giving us a new birth without a sinful nature so that we’ll be perfect, so that He’ll have a perfect bride for His perfect Son. Now you get it? That’s what God’s doing. So we’re not trying to save the world. Can’t save the world. It’s not going to get better and better.

It’s going to get worse and worse. There’s not going to be peace in the Middle East until Christ comes. But I know what it says here in verse five, looking verse five, which in other ages was not made known. In other words, these are truths that was not known. They didn’t know this. The Old Testament says he’s never heard anything like this. They were never told this stuff. God revealed these truths to the apostle Paul concerning the church. That’s us.

It’s a mystery, a truth that’s finally revealed, but nobody knew about before. But God knew about it. There are hints about it in the Old Testament, but the real kernel of the truth was never revealed. So he says here in verse five, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. So it’s being revealed, something new. What is this something new? That’s talking about him. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. Fellow heirs, fellow heirs with who?

Did you? So God’s going to take a Gentile and God’s going to take a Jew, put them together. Make something totally new. You see, God in the Old Testament dealt with the nation of Israel, not the Gentiles. God wanted the nation of Israel to be a light to the Gentiles. But they rejected the light. So God says, I’ll take those Jews and those Gentiles who will believe on me and I’ll put them together and form a church. So the Bible says that he broke down the middle wall of partition between the Jew and the Gentile, not only that wall, but here’s the holy of holies.

And in that holy of holy was the ark. And there was this great big veil and nobody could go into that holy of holy except the high priest once a year with an offering for himself and for the sins of the people. He said, how do you know if he accepted him? If he come out alive, God accepted it. I’ll be like that. And God says that this wall, this veil, that nobody could come into the holy of holies except that high priest.

It means that people didn’t have access to God except through those priests. So God said, I’m going to make something totally new and different. When Christ came, His body which housed God was a type of the veil that housed the presence of God inside the veil, the arc of the covenant. So the Bible says that when Christ was on the cross and when He died, that the veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom. And when the veil was rent from top to bottom, it opened up the way for you and I to have access to God because of the veil that was torn, because of the death of Jesus Christ, you and I can go straight to the Father because of Jesus.

He makes this statement here, verse 6, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs with the Jews of the same body. And partakers of his promising Christ by the gospel, where of I am a minister, Verse eight unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the Unsearchable riches of Christ unsearchable riches are these truths That were hidden in times past but now reveal for the first time and this is rich Knowledge this is the greatest knowledge in all the world to know these things that were hidden in times past But now revealed and you and I can know them and many of God’s people don’t know it don’t understand it They don’t understand what’s going on in this world and it affects how you live What you’re looking forward to.

Look what he says there in chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2 and look in verse 14. For he refers to Christ. His power is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, have an abolished in his flesh the emity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances for to make in himself of two one new man making peace, and that he hath reconciled both unto God in one body by the cross, have enslaved the emity thereby, and came and preached peace to you who were far off Gentiles, and to them that were nigh Jews, For through Him we both Jews and Gentiles have access by one Spirit unto who?

Under the Father. In other words, what Christ did, He opened up the way where the individual believing Jew and the individual believing Gentile both are saved exactly the same way by faith alone. And can I access unto the Father by the Holy Spirit that lives within us? So you see, we have advantages that they never had in the Old Testament. We know things that they never knew. You and I are rich indeed. And yet these are things that you and I would not know if it had to be.

See, this is why there’s a church. A church is called out people from the world. You form a body of believers. And as a matter of whether you’re red, yellow, pink, white, polka dot, pinstripe, zip face, it don’t matter. You regardless of how tall or short or good looking or ugly, if you believe on Jesus Christ, anybody in the whole world, God says he’s not a respecter for him can become part of his body. Because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

The message is for everybody. And look in verse 9. Verse 9 says, and to make all men see. Because all men don’t see but we still work at it. We try. All men see what is the fellowship of the mystery from which the beginning of the world have been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church, the Manifold Wisdom of God.

God wants the church to know the Manifold Wisdom of God to understand these things. Do you know the biggest way to solve peace in the Middle East is get the Jews to trust Christ as Savior and get the Arabs to trust Christ as Savior and if both of them trust Christ as Savior they got one God, one belief and I have peace. They happen all the way Looking verse 11 according to the and you are to underline this in your Bible Everything that’s happening in the world Everything that’s happening in your life Day by day everything happens Is according to the eternal purpose of God?

We have a certain quality of life that we’d love to enjoy spite of all of that God in heaven has an eternal purpose too. And His purpose and your purpose for living make clash and when they clash something has to give. It’s your will against His will and anytime you see that you conflict with God you should always surrender, always submit to the will of God. And the more you know about the Word of God and the will of God, bring yourself in harmony with God and you’ll have more peace and joy and happiness.

And you will believe that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord, to those who’ll call according to His purpose. Not your purpose, His purpose. And you know that and you’ll believe that. First Corinthians turned to you left just a few pages. Truths that have not been known. So you can’t understand the new without the old or the old without the new. You need them both. Verse 51, Behold I show you a mystery. This means a truth that has been hidden in times past will now be revealed for the first time.

This has never been revealed before. That’s why when you read Matthew where it says one was taken and one was left. One was taken and one was left. That’s not talking about the rapture. Why? That truth hadn’t been revealed yet. Those scriptures is talking about when Christ comes to the earth and one taken, they’re taken to the battle of Armageddon, has nothing to do with Rapture. Now there’s types in the Old Testament where Enoch was and Enoch was not.

He was gone before the flood upon the earth. You say, well that’s a type before the tribulation period. And that’s what the Rapture, who would have ever for the lead. That there will be a generation of people living that will never physically ever die. If it hadn’t have been revealed in the Bible, nobody would have come up with it. You wouldn’t have come up with it. It shows a manifold wisdom of God. That God was going to have his son come back in the air, not to the air, in the air, and then all those people all over the world.

Whoever they may be, wherever they may be, obedient, disobedient. Ready or not, here I come. And all of a sudden to be changed in a moment, the twinkling of an eye and caught up to meet the Lord. in the air. That truth had never been revealed before. And God revealed it to the apostle Paul. And look what he says, Behold I show you a mystery, we shall not all be asleep, but we shall all be chained in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.

How fast is that? How fast can you twinkle? You ever stood outside and twinkled? Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like diamond in the sky. You ever sung that little song? Twinkle twinkle. I don’t know how fast a twinkle is, but I can tell you this, it’s like that. It means that you disappear here and you appear there. And it makes this statement that he’s coming back and he says this corruptible must put on incorruption and the mortal must put on immortality.

Mortal means those who are living and subject to death but will not die. So there’s a generation of people living that will never physically ever die. But see, if the Bible hadn’t revealed it, you wouldn’t know about it. Why does God want you to know this? Why would God want you to know that you may not physically die? Who’s it referring to? How long down the line? People have been waiting for this thing to happen in their lifetime for 2,000 years.

We don’t know when it’s going to happen. But everybody lives with the idea that it could happen soon. It might be me. It might be after I’m dead. But whenever the rapture takes place, there will be people who’ll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Look up here. This hand represent you and me and the wall of represent sin. We all have sin on us. Now God says He loves us.

You and I have sinned against God. We do things wrong. God knows every one of them. Know how many. There’s a whole bunch. Things you forgot about God still knows. But God says He loves us. He hates your sin. And the Bible says to pay for that sin is eternal separation from the Lord in a place called hell. Now God loves us and wants us to go to heaven and go to heaven. We have to be perfect because righteous is God and none of us are perfect.

None of us are righteous. We’re all sinners. And God says to pay for the sin is eternal separation from the Lord. This sin represents Jesus Christ. He’s God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us. Man cannot save himself. He can be saved, but he cannot save himself. He can even help himself to be saved. All he has to do is believe that when Christ took his sins, he paid for them on the cross. Came back from the dead.

God says if we would believe he did it for us, he would take and save us. Put this payment to our account and our sins are paid. He would give us his righteousness. We would go to heaven on what he did for us. So when God sees me, he sees the righteousness of Christ. Christ, I go there on His, not mine. So when Christ came and lived a perfect life, obeyed the law, did everything perfect. He defeated the devil, he defeated sin, he defeated the world, he defeated everything.

His victory is put to my account like I won. I did all of that through my substitute. And God put that payment to my account. I go to heaven over the good for you. Let’s pray a shout out. 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 Bible Line and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing 813-884-4328.

That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the radio broadcast link. If you’re 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 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Cut 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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

Look down at the last bold on page one. The handwriting was on the wall for Israel’s defeat. When you know the end result, or are you going to have, and here’s two phrases that I put here, and I want you to circle them, one is called the spirit of resolution. The other one is the spirit of resignation. You see, you’re either going to be a result. I am going to finish what God wants me to do with my life, or I resigned to doing whatever is my own will and not God’s.

You see, if you know and you can look and see the end result, would you be tempted just to quit and give up? It’s too hard. God’s asking too much. Now in the book of Luke in chapter 14, it gives a whole chapter on discipleship. And it says, many people start, he said, but they don’t finish. And he says, they didn’t finish because they didn’t count the cost. They didn’t count the cost. They were not willing to forsake all that they had.

He says, you cannot be my disciple. There’s people who play around with it. Piddle here and there. But I’m talking about a person sold out to the Lord. Lord, whatever you want to do with my life, you’re free to do it. You can take it. You can leave me here. You can do anything that you want. Bring anything in my life you want. If it’s for your honor and your glory, I’m for it. and you hold nothing back to the Lord.

And if it turns sour and everything seems to go wrong, are you with the spirit of resignation or resolve? He’s like a man who’s set his face like a flint and nothing’s going to stop him or change him. He’s made up his mind. I’m going to serve the Lord. And like David says, though he slay me, though he slay me. Yeah, well I trust him. Look at page two, the top of the page where Jeremiah 25, 10 says, Moreover, I will take from them the voice of myrrh and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, the voice of the bride and the sounds of the millstones and the light of the candle.

In other words, God said, I am going to strip you of all that you love. I’m going to take away and your husbands are going to be killed. The women are going to be raped. These are your kids are going to be killed. They’re going to starve to death. There’s going to be a great famine. All these things, your love, your joy, your peace, everything that you want, you’re going to lose it all. It’s not the way God wanted.

And it broke Jeremiah’s heart to see that the people were willing to run that risk. I grieve myself when I see some of God’s people who throw away God’s best for them and then take whatever crumbs are left. It’s said, I want the best. I want the best God has for me and I will end the pay whatever price there is to pay, but I want it. Look at number three there in your notes. See verse right before Jeremiah 25 and verse 11, where he talks about you’ll be in Babylon 70 years.

We see there’s some things that happen that cause this to take place. So number three, sometimes we’re a cursed without a cause. You’ll live a life and people will curse you and it seems like everything is against you without a cause. It’s not because you did something wrong and you deserve it. It’s because you did something right and people make wrong decisions and they wish not who you are. They wish not what you’re doing. They don’t appreciate where respect the stand that you take and understand where you’re coming from and you’ll face all these things all alone.

Jeremiah didn’t have a close buddy buddy. He was forsaken. Look at the next statement. Under number three there, Jeremiah loved them, but they took their hatred out on him. He did them good, but they wronged him. This is what they did. And many of the statements that you’ll see that they did to Jeremiah, when you read Isaiah 53, you’ll see a lot of these same statements that are made. Talking about the Messiah, Christ. Looked there in Jeremiah 11, 19, right there in your note.

But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter. You ever heard something like that before? And I knew not that they had devised devices against me saying, let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof and let us cut him off from the land of the living. That statement is also used in the book of Daniel in chapter 9 when he talked about the Messiah will be cut off out of the land of the living.

Look at the next verse, chapter 11 verse 20, but O Lord of hosts that judge us righteously, that triath the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them, for under thee have I revealed my cause.” In other words, Jeremiah poured out his heart to the Lord. And he knew all these things that the people had done to Jeremiah. And knowing that he says later, he says, God, you deceived me. You didn’t tell me it was going be this bad.

It wasn’t supposed to be this bad. And he says, Lord, what did I do? It wasn’t like he got up and he just decided one day, I think I’m going to serve the Lord. No God called him from the womb. You read Jeremiah chapter 1 and verses 4 through verse 7 and you’ll talk, see how God had a purpose for his life. And he didn’t ask Jeremiah, he just told him this is what you’re opposed to do. This is what I want.

I ordained you for this. Jeremiah had a choice. He could have been a rebellious prophet not done what God wanted him to do. But he says, you put your reins on me and you guided me and you led me and I wanted to stop. I wanted to quit. But inside Jeremiah, he says, I couldn’t quit. He says, your word was in me like a fire. Like It was in my bones. And I said, I’m not going to say anything, but the burden of the Word of God was so strong in Jeremiah’s life he couldn’t quit.

He had to go on. Look at the next statement. Jeremiah was persecuted, rejected, beaten, and imprisoned and slandered. Jeremiah 18 verse 18, right there, you know. Then said they come, let us devise devices against Jeremiah. for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us might him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words. They agreed together. We’re not going to listen to anything Jeremiah has to say.

Sometimes I wonder if people come to church and I don’t care what that preacher says today, I will not I will not he’s not going to get me to do anything. Now I know none of y’all did that or did you want to come back tonight. But there’s chances are people who have already made up their mind. I’m not going to move. I don’t care what he says. I’m not going to do it. After all, I don’t need him telling me what to do.

And you think it’s a personal thing between you and me? No. If I tell you what God’s word says, it’s between you and God. Not between you and me. That’s why when I talk to somebody about the Lord. I say, this is what God says. No, here’s you, not. Look what God says. Tell them what God said. Now, it’s not between you and me, between you and him. But there’s times when you will have people turning you. As I know of, I don’t know one person I have purposely ever set out to try to hurt in all my ministry.

I wanna help everyone I can. I wanna teach everyone that I possibly can. I wanna tell you the truth. I don’t like to play a little game where I come in the side door in the back door like I did. I like to take it straight up front, right between the eyes. You know where I’m coming from. No hope in or guessing. No, and where I stand on just about every issue. If you ever go to our YouTube channel and you’ll find out that I try to hit every issue I can think of.

Because I know that I’m running out of time. And I want people to know where I stand, of what the Bible says about hell. And that’s why I preached that this morning. I want people to know what I think about Jeremiah. That’s where I’m teaching about Jeremiah. But I don’t cover the whole book. I give you a little snippets of highlights, an overview. You can go back through and you can read all the things in between. But it’s very important to do so.

Now, the way he makes a statement. Okay. Okay. And. Yeah. Okay. So. Oh, yeah. Okay. And. Yeah. They. Yeah. Yeah. So. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. In Jeremiah 15 verse 15, look what we have here at number four. Jeremiah suffered without quitting. He suffered without quitting. Now this same thing you’ll find in 2 Corinthians in chapter 4, when the Apostle Paul having stated that having this ministry we faint not means we don’t quit. He says when we were perplexed but we didn’t quit.

Cast down but we didn’t quit. And all the things he said but we didn’t quit. We didn’t quit. We didn’t quit. Because if we quit, who else is there? Who else is there going to do this if we quit? And you have to believe that you are necessary. You are important. I had people tell me a long time ago, yank you. God doesn’t need you. God doesn’t need you. And I thought, man, that just takes and rings it right out of you.

I’m not needed. I’m not needed. He doesn’t need me for anything. I mean, God, the Creator, the Heavens and the Earth, He doesn’t need me. Then why did He make me? He made me and He saved me and He left me here. Therefore I believe He has something for me to do.” And I believe that. Looked in your notes again. Jeremiah 15, 15 says, Oh Lord, Thou knowest, remember me and visit me and revenge me of my persecutors. Take me nut away in thy long suffering.

Know that get this and this is why he’s pouring out his heart to the Lord. For thy sake I have suffered rebuke. In other words, you serve the Lord and you’re doing right but you’ve been rebuked every time you turn around. People are knocking and cutting and criticizing you. But he says, Lord, I did all of that and I suffered all of this for your sake, for your cause, for your name. Lord I want you to get him. God did.

He committed him to the Lord. Jeremiah took no vengeance on anybody but he sure committed him to the Lord. Somebody who can do something about it. But look at the next statement. In verse 18 of Jeremiah 15 says, why is my pain and you’re not on the line these two words, pain perpetual. Have you ever gone through some sickness and illness and it seemed like it never ends. You wonder when is it going to be over all one day?

One day, just be patient. Wait. The day’s coming for all of us and it’s going to be over. One of these days, just think about this, Larry’s going to be good looking. Isn’t that something to be thankful for? We’re going to have a healthy body. We’re going to look good. Whatever good looking means, whatever that means. My brother will not be suffering from a stroke and leave patterns, suffering from heart problems and breathing problems. He’s had cancer. He’s gone through everything.

That poor guy, but Lord has kept walking him through it. And he kept thinking he’s going to die. He’s going to die, but he keeps telling to live and God ain’t taking him yet. But we know that one day he will and he’ll be delivered from all of this pain. But right now it’s like a perpetual pain. Look at the next two words in here. wound and that word incurable. It’s like the nation of Israel, as it was in the eyes of a perpetual pain to Lord, read Isaiah chapter one, the first chapter.

Gives you an idea from the sole of his foot to the top of their head and he says, you’re sick. The whole nation, you’re sick, what God says. And your wound is incurable. At that time he says, come into me in, let us reason he gathered, sayeth the Lord. He said, there was a time when something could have been done about it, but they wouldn’t do it. And now it’s too late. It’s too late. Chasing hand of God is coming.

Look at the next statement. Jeremiah suffered in prison and in a pit. Now there’s some scripture here, but I can see that I don’t have much time, there’s a good scripture. Also, whenever you read Jeremiah 38 verses two through six, read also Jeremiah chapter 37, chapter 37, and then verse 15 and 16, and also though in there verse 21, that verse is also a good verse. Look at number five there in your notes. Well, in verse 37, Jeremiah 37, 15, that verse right there.

wherefore the princes were off with Jeremiah and smote him. You’ll be surprised how many verses will say some of the same things of what happened to Jesus. Cause when Jesus came, look at all the things they did to him. And he was innocent. Jesus never wronged anybody. And look how the world treated him. And Jesus told his disciples, he says, if they will do this to me, what do you think the world is gonna do to you? If the world loves you, something’s wrong with you.

Because he says, all they that live godly shall what? Suffered persecution. If you’re not being persecuted for something, you’re not doing something right. Because the world is not supposed to love us. We’re supposed to love the world. And that means in a good way for the Lord’s sake. Look at the next statement. Number five, Jeremiah remained faithful without friends. He was forbidden to marry because of the terrible times. And that’s found in Jeremiah 16, verse two, the next statement.

He was betrayed and denied by those who pretended to be on peaceable terms with him. Because, see, when he talks about his familiar, those who knew him well, those who knew him the best, those that should have been of his own family, of his own friends, and people that would stand with the prophet Jeremiah. What they wanted to do is stand back in this, Let’s just wait and see if he really messes up so they can get him.

Kind of like a man named Job who had a wife and all the things that begin to happen to Job. And his wife says, why don’t you curse God and die? Nothing like having a woman standing behind her man. She didn’t stand behind her man. Look at the next statement. Number six, Jeremiah did right, but not rewarded in this life. Jeremiah was not rewarded nor promoted for doing right, but he suffered evil instead. You think you’re going to serve the Lord and everything’s going to work out just as they say, hunky-dory.

There they’re going to be wonderful. Great. And you can lose everything in this world. And people can turn against you. People can slander you. And their paths on the back might simply be a place they’re looking to plan a knife. to plan a knife and people don’t always respect you. They don’t know who you are and what you’re standing for. And devil can work in a person’s mind and turn people against you. Disunderstand it. Now if you knew all of this and all of this was going to happen to you and how the world was going to accept whatever you did for the Lord, would you want to serve the Lord?

After you’ve read all of this and heard all of this, I said, man, I want to be a servant God just like Jeremiah, just like the Apostle Paul. You see, most Christians, those aren’t their heroes. Those aren’t the people they want to be like. They want to find something where there’s no problems. And we think, serve the Lord means that God is going to so bless me that I’ll not have any hard times. If God can just keep me safe, if I don’t get sick, if I don’t have financial difficulty, if I don’t have that, some people have all of these things happen to him.

doesn’t mean they’re doing something wrong. It could be that they’re doing everything right. But sometimes if you’re not going through some bad times, it’s so easy to land that long, fair, seal, connose and look at everybody else and say, you know, if they serve the Lord like I did, that wouldn’t be happening to them. I know Christians who do that and they’re hypocrites. Leave it with the Lord. God will take care of it. Look at number six where I have these couple statements here.

God does not guarantee us rewards in this life but in the life to come. In Jeremiah 31 16 here, thus saith the Lord, refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears, for thy work shall be rewarded. The work that he did will steal the work of the Lord. And the work that you do for the Lord, regardless of how it’s received in this life, will be blessed by God. And when you get to heaven, you’re going to be rewarded for what you did because we’re not going to have to answer for the way people respond into our messages.

We’re going to be rewarded because of the efforts that we put into the work in our faithfulness to the Lord. Number seven, down at the bottom of the page, God promised Jeremiah much help I will be with you I will help you and God worked with him from the time of his birth all the way to the time that he finally left and went down into Egypt and then his final days there as far as we know but God promised Jeremiah much out but no hope for success because when there was no hope for the children of Israel to listen, to yield, to obey, then there could be no hope for success in Jeremiah’s life.

But he still had a job to do, and he was to be thankful in doing that job. And the thing about this, God told him, you’re the right man for the job. He says, if I had Samuel, I would not spare them for them. So it’s not you Jeremiah. Look at that verse Jeremiah 51, then said the Lord unto me, though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people. Cast them out of my sight and let them go forth.

In other words, I wouldn’t change my mind even for those two righteous men. So Jeremiah was the right man for the job and the time in which he lived. And we don’t get to choose the time in which we live. We have got to face the life that’s going on when we get here. I wasn’t here 100 years ago. And I don’t think I’m over here 100 years from now. This is my time. And I want to reach as many in my generation that I can.

And so you are supposed to try to figure out how to serve this God, not on how to be so happy in life. I don’t chase those things. I just chase obedience. Is this right? Is it wrong? Too much in my life is governed by, it’s black and white. And I try to hinge away and stay away from anything that seemed like it’s too fuzzy. You know, dirty gray. I have things that I believe that are right and things that are wrong.

My biggest problem is always deciding between right and right, then right and wrong. So sometimes you can do this and that would be right. And you can do this and that would be right. Then you gotta say which one would be the most fruitful, which would be the best. In the long term, what would be God’s will for me? And so you need to be patient and seek God’s will. Look at the last thing here.

God knew that Jeremiah was the best man for the job. And then in the last statement, Jeremiah was given no hope, but was told not to be discouraged. Do the job, no hope for success, but you’ll win in the long run because this life is gonna end. And he will be rewarded by the Lord when he gets to heaven. Now here you and I are. What do we look for in this life? The success that God promised to Joshua in the book of Joshua chapter 1 is that meditated in my word that Thomas prospered to do his will to know what God wants you to do so you can have good success.

But it’s whatever God calls success. It’s the will of God. Did he have any failures after that? Well what about the sin of AI? That broke Joshua’s heart, but he still had to go through it. Because sometimes you suffer the consequences of other people’s disobedience. And sometimes God will tell people what to do and they won’t do it. They won’t do it. I was on television for eight years, and as long as the people gave, I would stay on.

But when they stopped giving, I had to go off. I wasn’t off the television because I didn’t want to be there. I wasn’t off the television because God didn’t want me there. I was off the television because some people did not obey God. And people will stand before God one day they’ll give a count to God for what they could or could not have done. Same thing where it’s the radio, the internet, I don’t get what we do. Sometimes we can make it possible for kids to come to ranch, but that won’t make kids come to ranch.

You can be there and you can play the music and have the Bible study and everything’s ready to go. all the facilities, got a party and a picnic and got this going on and whatever they’re doing on that one night, I won’t be there. And you can do all these things. But that doesn’t mean it’ll be a great success. But they will be rewarded for their faithfulness in doing what they can with what they got where they are. But you can’t make people respond.

You understand what I’m saying, right? It’s an individual thing. Sometimes you suffer the consequences of other people’s obedience or disobedience. Now you can just have to enjoy the blessings. And so that’s why these things are important. If you want to know what’s it like for the Christian life, you just read it. Go back and read the Apostle Paul. The Christian life, you can’t live the Christian life in better than Christ. Christ was the Christian life. And look how he ended up.

Let’s see, we don’t want to hurt. We don’t want things to go wrong. We want totally blessed all the time. Everything’s wonderful. And we don’t want this perpetual pain, perpetual sorrow, all the hurt. We don’t want to go through that. Jeremiah didn’t want to go through that. But God had to let him go through that without any hope. No revivals, nothing. People turned against him. Yet in God’s eyes, he’s got a book in the Bible. I mean, books do you have in the Bible?

Do you have any in? Have you wrote any yet? Jeremiah has one. And that’s why he’s called the Weep in Prophet. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. God loves you. us. Did you know that God weeps over us? He loves us so much that God’s in His Son, Jesus Christ. And He wept over Jerusalem. Well, I’m just as important as Jerusalem. You are just as important as Jerusalem, but God loves them.

You see, the pay for our sins, we have to spend eternity separate from the Lord in hell. But God loves us, wants us to go to heaven. They go to heaven, we have to be perfect and none of us are. We have all sinned and come short of God’s perfection. The sin represents Jesus Christ, He’s the Lord God in the flesh. Came into the world because He loves us, He hates our sin because our sin separates us. So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die.

So He took all the sin of all the world, patron on the cross, came back from the dead. So the only thing He wanted us to do is believe He did it for us. So when I believe He did it for me, He puts that payment to my account. When Jesse believed that he did it for him, he puts that payment to his account. You see, the payment was Jesus Christ. He was the payment. So when I accept him, he was my payment for my, say, Christ died for me.

And he says, tell everybody in the whole world the gospel, the good news of how you can know for sure you’re going to heaven when you die. Because when you believe he did it for you, he gives you as a gift, eternal life, and never cast you out and never lose you. Let’s pray, shall we? With heads bound, I suppose, no one looking around. It’s very important that if you have not trusted Christ as your Savior, that you do so.

We have no guarantee in life. Time is short. If you’ve never trusted the Lord, would you trust Him right now? You can trust Christ as your Savior right where you are. There’s nothing that you have to do there that these people don’t have in heart. Lord, I believe Christ died and paid for my sins. If you’ve never done so, do it right now. Our Father, we thank You again for Your blessings to us. We’re thankful for the free gift of everlasting life.

And Father, we’re thankful that we’ve been given an opportunity as Your children to serve You. And Father, we’re thankful for the testimony of Jeremiah, how that You used Him. And Father, what He went through. But Lord, we know that now, now, for all eternity, it was well worth it. Well thank for First Testimony. And even though he wanted to quit, your word was in his bones like a fire and it could not stay. We ask your blessings upon each person here.

Thank you for this time together. Christ that we pray. 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 813-884-4328. That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our home page at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you’re 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 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

Now, once you take your Bible, Turn it over to the book of Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah. This is a simple little title. Why Jeremiah was called a weeping prophet. He’s called a weeping prophet. Why? Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. He said, how often I would have gathered you together as I hadn’t gathered your chicks together. He said, but you would not. He didn’t say you could not, he said you would not. Jeremiah had the same kind of a ministry that Ezekiel had, but Ezekiel, well he was told, be not afraid of their faces and because you’re going to preach to a rebellious people.

See most times God’s children, even though they may trust Christ as Savior, have eternal life, they’ll rebel just to the Lord. As you see, all we light sheep have gone astray you. And just because you trust the Lord doesn’t mean you’re going to start walking the straight and narrow path. You still go astray. You still want to go your own way. Well that’s what’s found in the book of Jeremiah. I want you to look there in the first paragraph at the top of the page.

Jeremiah weeping over Israel is a perfect picture of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. is called the weeping prophet because this is what he says in Jeremiah 8 and verse 18, he says, when I would comfort myself against sorrow. Now we may think that if we serve the Lord, we’re not going to have the down times. We’re not going to go through the valley, that everything’s going to work out for good for us because all things work together for good to them that know the Lord, that are called according to His purpose.

Well, we believe that. But the good is not only in this life. The good can be something that coming down the road in the next life. I would say that Jesus did everything right. How did it end? Well, because he did the will of God, he ended in total success. You study the apostle Paul and see what Paul went through in 2 Corinthians in chapter 11 and chapter 12. When you see all that he went through. Paul was a success, but look what he had to go through and suffer.

And finally, God had to tell him in one situation, I’m not going to let them hurt you as bad. I’m not going to let them hurt you as bad. You’re going to go to Rome. And so when he went to Rome, he got there all right. But how did he end up? Anybody remember how he ended up? Nobody remembers what happened. Huh? He died. How did he die? How did he die? How did Paul die? He chopped his head off.

See there he doesn’t have any more problems. God solved all of his problems. He has no more aches and pains. He didn’t have to worry about anything anymore. You see, one of the God’s way of answering your prayers when you start complaining too much, he could just take you on out of here. You better watch it. Don’t complain too much, baby. But look at the next statement. Jeremiah 9, 1, says, all that in my head were waters in my eyes, a fountain of tears that I meet my wink day and night for the slain of the daughters of my people, that my eyes was a fountain of tears.

Jeremiah We’re going to whip over Israel, especially Jerusalem. Because it was in his day that Nebuchadnezzar was coming. And he prophesied and told him what was going to happen. Well, there were some false prophets there that told the king that what he’s doing is he’s killing the will of the people to fight. And so they blame Jeremiah and they wanted him dead. They wanted him dead. And they listened to the false prophets. Because they said, never can Israel’s not going to come and he’s not going to do this not in the other.

Everything to contradict everything that Jeremiah told him. Look at the next verse. Jeremiah 13 17 says, but if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your bride. Now you know we cry because of the body and the emotions and tears in our eyes. But you know you can cry also without shedding a tear. Crying in your soul. And the Bible talks about me and my soul cried out unto God. In other words, you that are inside of this body, like you can pray without moving your lips or without somebody hearing you pray, but you can still pray.

And you can grieve without anybody seeing what’s going on on the inside of you and you can cry about a lot of things and you can weep and it can break your heart because of what you see. Now here’s a man like Jeremiah and he talks about as a pastor then he talks about the people of sheep and he talks about how that you want so much for the sheep but it breaks your heart when they go astray and hurt you when you see God’s people doing things that bring hurt up on themselves.

I want you to look in your Bible to Jeremiah chapter 14. Jeremiah in chapter 14, Jeremiah 14 and look there in verse 10. In verse 10, these two verses 10 and 11. In verse 10 says, thus saith the Lord unto this people. Now this is found on page 787 in a church Bible. He says, thus have they loved to wonder. They have not refrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them. He will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins.

They love to wonder. They love to go their own way, do their own thing. And it breaks God’s heart because He had warned them. Even Moses had warned them in the book of Deuteronomy that when you get into the land. You’re going to have choices to make. And if you will serve the Lord, He will protect you and provide in all this, and you’ll have security in the land. But if you forsake the Lord, He’s going to bring in another nation that’s going to whoop you and take you out of your nation.

And He’s going to destroy you as a nation. He’d already told them all of this. And they knew all of this. Even when Joshua had taken the children of Israel into the land, the next generation who had not fought any battles, they hadn’t been in the wilderness. They were raised right there in the Promised Land. You see, they didn’t get to see all of these things that God had done. So the next generation was a little bit softer on sin.

But as long as Joshua’s alive, he says, for me and my house, we’re going to serve the Lord. He said, but choose you this day. Whoever is God, serve God. Whoever is God. And so God, Jehovah, He is God. Therefore serve the Lord. But they didn’t. Then you studied the book of Judges and how they went in cycles and rebelled over and over again against the Lord. Now looking for she 11th, then said the Lord unto me, pray not for this people for their good.

Pray not for this people for their good because God says I’ve had enough. Here’s a nation in God says I’ve had enough. Up to hear God says I’m not going to bless them. I’m not going to deliver them. I’m not going to save them from the chasing hand that enemies come in and this is what they’re going to do and it’s over. And they’re going to captivity for 70 years. Now they went into captivity for 70 years. Jeremiah was used by God to tell them all these things.

Now look in verse 13. In verse 13, this that I, Lord God, behold those prophets say unto them, you shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place. Well, that’s what the false prophets were saying. Contrary to what God told Jeremiah, so they wanted preachers that would tell them what they wanted to hear instead of what What is the truth? What God had to say? And so he says to verse 14, then the Lord said to me, the prophets prophesied lies in my name.

I sent them not. Neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them. They prophesy unto you a false vision and divination and a thing of not and the deceit of their heart. In other words, you believe in that lie instead of believing the truth. Well, they got very mad with Jeremiah. And so Jeremiah was going to have to suffer the consequences of the people believing a lie. Now look there in verse 17. Verse 17 says, therefore thou shalt say this word unto them, let mine eye run down with tears night and day and let them not cease for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach for a very grievous blow.

If I go forth into the field then behold the slain with the sword and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine. Yay, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not. Has thou utterly rejected Judah? Has thy soul loath Zion? Has thou smitten us and there is no healing for us? We look for peace and there is no good and for the time of healing and behold, trouble.

No end to it. In other words, they have gone past that point of return, where God says, I’m going to chasten you. The enemy is at your doors, and this is what’s going to take place. And Jeremiah was not called to do a very nice job. I want you to look at some of the things that I have here. You see there in a little bold and frightened two thirds of the page He’s done. Here are seven great things about Jeremiah that every servant of the Lord needs to learn.

You see, if you and I, if we wanna serve the Lord, there’s some things that we need to understand because this can happen to us. God doesn’t tell us in advance everything He wants us to do. He doesn’t wanna tell us all the course that we have to run. All the obstacles are gonna be in our way. All the testings that we’re going to have. All the trial. He doesn’t tell us all of those things. All he says is, I’ll not forsake you and I will not leave you.

I will be with you and I’ll walk you through it. And we don’t know how bad it’s gonna be. We don’t know how long we’re going to live. And so he did these things for Jeremiah. But look at number one. Sometimes we are called to do the lowest job without consent. In other words, you don’t get sometimes to pick what you wanna do. You’re supposed to just give yourself to the Lord let God place you wherever he wants to.

And if some people, God may put you on a pinnacle, and others he may give you a low job that we would consider a low job. It doesn’t matter if it’s just cleaning the tallest or sweeping the floor or doing whatever job. Whatever the job may be. Do you think you’re too high and mighty for that low job? Is it pride that will exalt you? think, Lord, don’t you know who I am? And Lord says, yes, I do. And he may put you where he wants you, but it may not be with your consent.

Your consent was simply that Lord, I want you to use me. That is up to God to put us in the use of however he wants. Because sometimes you can’t determine how God’s going to use you or where he’s going to use you. I want you look at number two, we have time we’ll go back with some of these sub points. Number two, sometimes we’re called upon to serve without earthly profit. In other words, in this life you’ll be seen as a failure.

You threw your life away. What did you gain? What do you have to show? Maybe you can serve the Lord for all these years and you have nothing at the end of it. But you see, God’s not through with us yet. Look at that statement underneath number two. It appears that Jeremiah had no good results, no revivals, no converts, no success. He tells him in Jeremiah 5 and verse 1, look at the scripture there, run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man.

If there be any, any that executed judgment, that seek if the truth and I’ll pardon In other words, they couldn’t find any righteous people. Anybody that wanted to do what God wanted to do. Jeremiah was a weeping prophet because he had an impossible task of winning people to the truth because God already said, don’t even pray for these people. I warned them, keep telling them what I told you to tell them. Jeremiah, after a while, he broke. He broke.

I don’t know if he had any emotional breakdown, nervous breakdown, whatever you want to call it. But he says, I tried to shut my mouth. I’m not going to say anymore. I’m not doing any more. I’ve had it because they wanted to kill him. And all the bad things that the people did to him and all he wanted to do was he was in love with his people. And he He was trying to warn them and they wouldn’t listen, they wouldn’t care.

Look down at the last bowl on page one, the handwriting was on the wall for Israel’s defeat. When you know the end result, or you’re going to have, and here’s two phrases that I put here and I want you to circle them, one is called the spirit of resolution. The other one is the spirit of resignation. You see, you’re either going to be a resolved. I am going to finish what God wants me to do with my life, or I resigned to doing whatever is my own will and not God’s.

You see, if you know and you can look and see the end result, would you be tempted just to quit and give up? It’s too hard. God’s asking too much. Now, in the book of Luke in chapter 14, it gives a whole chapter on discipleship. And he says, many people start, he said, but they don’t finish. And he says, they didn’t finish because they didn’t count the cost. They didn’t count the cost. They were not willing to forsake all that they had.

He says, you cannot be my disciple. There’s people who play around with it, pitiful here and there. But I’m talking about a person sold out to the Lord. Lord, whatever you want to do with my life, you’re free to do it. You can take it. You can leave me here. You can do anything that you want. Bring anything in my life you want. If it’s for your honor and your glory, I’m for it. And you hold nothing back to the Lord.

And if it turns sour and everything seems to go wrong, are you with the spirit of resignation or resolve? He’s like a man who’s set his face like a flint and nothing’s going to stop him or change him. He’s made up his mind. I’m going to serve the Lord. And like David says, though he slay me, though he slay me. Yeah, well I trust him. Look at page two. The top of the page where Jeremiah 25 10 says, moreover, I will take from them the voice of of myrrh and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, the voice of the bride and the sounds of the millstones and the light of the candle.

In other words, God said, I am going to strip you of all that you love. I’m going to take away and your husband’s are going to be killed, the women are going to be raped. They say your kids are going to be killed, they’re going to starve to death. There’s going to be a great famine. All these things. Your love, your joy, your peace, everything that you want, you’re gonna lose it all.

It’s not the way God wanted and it broke Jeremiah’s heart to see that the people were willing to run that risk. I grieve myself when I see some of God’s people who throw away God’s best for them and then take whatever crumbs are left. It said, I want the best God has for me and I will in the to pay whatever price there is to pay, but I want it. Look at number three there in your notes. See the verse right before the Jeremiah 25 and verse 11 where he talks about you’ll be in Babylon 70 years.

We see there’s some things that happen that cause this to take place. So number three, sometimes we’re a cursed without a cause. You’ll live a life and people will curse you to seem like everything is against you without a cause. It’s not because you did something wrong and you deserve it. It’s because you did something right and people made wrong decisions and they wish not who you are. They wish not what you’re doing. They don’t appreciate where respect, the stand that you take and understand where you’re coming from and you’ll face all these things all alone.

Jeremiah didn’t have a close buddy buddy. He was forsaken. Look at the next statement. Under number three there, Jeremiah loved them, but they took their hatred out on him. He did them good, but they wronged him. This is what they did. And many of the statements that you’ll see that they did to Jeremiah, when you read Isaiah 53, you’ll see a lot of these same statements that are made. Talking about the Messiah. Christ, look there in Jeremiah 11, 19, right there in your note.

But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter. You ever heard something like that before? And I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living. That statement is also used in the book of Daniel in chapter 9 when he talked about the Messiah. will be cut off out of the land of the living.

Look at the next verse, chapter 11 verse 20, but O Lord of hosts that judge us righteously, that triath the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them, for under thee have I revealed my cause. In other words, Jeremiah poured out his heart to the Lord. And he knew all these things that the people had done to Jeremiah and knowing that he says later, he says, God, you deceived me. You didn’t tell me it was going to be this bad.

It wasn’t supposed to be this bad. And he says, Lord, what did I do? It wasn’t like he got up and he just decided one day, I think I’m going to serve the Lord. No God called him from the womb. You read Jeremiah chapter 1 and verses 4 through verse 7. and you’ll talk and see how God had a purpose for his life. And he didn’t ask Jeremiah, he just told him this is what you’re supposed to do. This is what I want.

I ordained you for this. Jeremiah had a choice. He could have been a rebellious prophet, not done what God wanted him to do. But he says, you put your reins on me and you guided me and you led me and I wanted to stop. I wanted to quit. But inside Jeremiah, he says, I couldn’t quit. He says, your word was in me like a fire. Like it was in my bones. And I said, I’m not going to say anything.

But the burden of the Word of God was so strong in Jeremiah’s life, he couldn’t quit. He had to go on. Look at the next statement. Jeremiah was persecuted, rejected, beaten, and imprisoned, and slandered. Jeremiah 18 verse 18, right there in your note, then said they come, let us devise devices against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us might him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words.

They agreed together we’re not gonna listen to anything Jeremiah has to say. Sometimes I wonder if people come to church And I don’t care what that preacher says today, I will not. I will not. He’s not going to get me to do anything. Now, I know none of y’all did that, but you want to come back tonight. But there’s chances are people who have already made up their mind. I’m not going to move. I don’t care what he says.

I’m not going to do it. After all, I don’t need him telling me what to do. And you think it’s a personal thing between you and me? No. If I tell you what God’s word says, it’s between you and God, not between you and me. That’s why when I talk to somebody about the Lord, I say, this is what God says. No, here’s you. Look what God says. And I tell them what God said. Now, it’s not between you and me, between you and him.

But there’s times when you will have people turning you. As I know of, I don’t know one person I have purposely ever set out to try to hurt in all my ministry. I want to help everyone I can. I want to teach everyone that I possibly can. I want to tell you the truth. I don’t like to play a little game where I come in the side door of the back door. Like I like to tell you straight up front, right between the eyes.

You know where I’m coming from. No hope in your guessing, knowing where I stand on just about every issue. If you ever go to our YouTube channel and you’ll find out that I try to hit every issue I can think of. Cause I know that I’m running out of time. And I want people to know where I stand of what the Bible says about hell. And that’s why I preached that this morning. I want people to know what I think about Jeremiah.

That’s where I’m teaching about Jeremiah. But I don’t cover my whole book. I give you a little snippets of highlights, an overview. You can go back through and you can read all the things in between, but it’s very important to do so. Now, where he makes a statement, in Jeremiah 15 verse 15, look what we have here at number four. Jeremiah suffered without quitting. He suffered without quitting. Now this same thing you’ll find in second Corinthians in chapter four, when the apostle Paul having stated that having this ministry, we faint not means we don’t quit.

He says, and we were perplexed, but we didn’t quit. Cast down, but we didn’t quit. And all the things he said, but we didn’t quit. We didn’t quit. and quit. Because if we quit, who else is there? Who else is there going to do this if we quit? And you have to believe that you are necessary. You are important. I had people tell me a long time ago, Yankee. God doesn’t need you. God doesn’t need you. And I thought, man, that just takes and rings it right out of you.

I’m not needed. I’m not needed. He doesn’t need me for anything. I mean, God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, He doesn’t need me. Then why did He make me? He made me and he saved me and he left me here. Therefore I believe he has something for me to do.” And I believe that. Looked in your notes again. Jeremiah 15, 15 says, Oh Lord, thou knowest, remember me and visit me and revenge me of my persecutors.

Take me not away in thy long suffering. Know that, get this. And this is why he’s pouring out his heart to the Lord. For thy sake, I have suffered rebuke. In other words, you serve the Lord, you’re doing right, but you’ve been rebuked every time you turn around. People are knocking and cutting and criticizing you. But he says, Lord, I did all of that. And I suffered all of this for your sake, for your cause, for your name. Lord, I want you to get him.

God did. He committed him to the Lord. Jeremiah took no vengeance on anybody, but he sure committed them to the Lord, somebody who can do something about it. But look at the next statement. And verse 18 of Jeremiah 15 says, why is my pain, and you’re not on the line these two words, pain perpetual? Have you ever gone through some sickness and illness, and it seemed like it never ends? You’re wondering when is it going to be over all one day?

One day, just be patient, wait. days coming for all of us and it’s going to be over. One of these days just think about this, Larry’s going to be good looking. Isn’t that something to be thankful for? We’re going to have a healthy body. We’re going to look good. Whatever good looking means, whatever that means. My brother will not be suffering from a stroke and leave patterns, suffering from heart problems and breathing problems. He’s had cancer. He’s gone through everything.

poor guy, but Lord has kept walking him through it. And he kept thinking he’s going to die. He’s going to die, but he keeps telling to live and God ain’t taking them yet. But we know that one day he will and he’ll be delivered from all of this pain. But right now it’s like a perpetual pain. Look at the next two words in here. Wound and that word incurable. It’s like the nation of Israel is it was in the eyes of a perpetual paying the Lord, read Isaiah chapter one, the first chapter, gives you an idea from the soul of his foot to the top of their head and he says, you’re sick.

The whole nation, you’re sick, what God says. And your wound is incurable. At that time he says, coming to me and let us reasonably gather to sayeth the Lord. He said, there was a time when something could have been not about it, but they wouldn’t do it. And now it’s too late. It’s too late. Chase the hand of God is coming. 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 813-884-4328. That’s 813-884-4328. 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’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

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This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

Be the next statement. Isaiah 7, 15 and 7, 16, these two verses, they kind of go together. Look at him. He says, butter and honey, chalet, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou have for shall be forsaken of both their king. In other words, there’s a verse right before this. It’s not in your notes. Everybody ever heard of Isaiah 714?

I wonder what Isaiah 714 talks about. Something about, behold, I give you a sign. A virgin child can save him, bear his son in child, call his name and Emmanuel. A woman’s going to have a child. And this child is going to be a perfect child. But you see, he never knew any wrong. You see, this is why they say, When you want to teach a child to, you know, the sock, they put some time they call it a sugar tip.

Now I’m not using profanity. How many of you know what I’m talking about? You can take some cloth, I wouldn’t take a whole sock. And you can put sugar in there and you can twist it a little bit in and then, and the baby, they like the sugar and they learn how to do that. And so we can help them. So what you’re doing is you’re giving them a taste. When the Bible says, train up a child on the way he should go, it means develop that thirst, that desire, and the way they should go.

So you gotta give them some, they say you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink, but you can put salt in his oats to make him thirsty. Well, that’s what you’re doing. That’s what we’re doing with people. We’re trying to teach even the kids how to have a thirst for the things of God. Because you can’t make these teenagers in rank, you can’t make them serve God. And so many of them we lose. When they get to where they can get on their own car, get a job, phew, they’re gone.

And most of them for the rest of their life. Only a handful of ever-mounts are from the Lord. Because most of them will fall in love with the world. Because they didn’t develop that taste. That’s why he says, taste and see that the Lord is good. Desired that sincere milk of the word that you may grow there by, taste and see if the Lord isn’t precious, that he isn’t good. And most people, they don’t do it. So we gotta try to develop a taste in people’s mouth because they gotta make that choice on their own.

I wouldn’t mind having a part of it, we just make everybody do right. You can’t. It’d be great if you could force people, but you can’t. And so these two verses show you that you gotta make choices and you want the kids to make right decisions and so like making the honey, where it’s really sweet. And praise and compliment kids when they do the things you want them to do. When they don’t do what you want them to do, you let them know that you’re disappointed.

You’re very disappointed, but you love them, but you’re disappointed. You expected more, I expect more out of you. That doesn’t mean you hate the kid, but you do love them. Look in verse Isaiah 65 and verse 12, therefore he says, I will number you to the sword and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter. Now get this, here’s a reason. When God tells us something, there’s usually because, because, because when I called, ye did not answer. So that that showed that they had a choice.

Why would God get on to somebody for not answering if they didn’t have a will of their own? Or they were not free to choose? Ye did not answer. When I spake, ye did not hear. Whenever the Word of God is taught, and you can hear it, and then not hear it. The Lord says, be ye not hears of the Word only, but doers of the Word. This man shall be half happy or blessed in his deeds. So he says here, you did not hear.

But did evil before my eyes and get this? Did choose that wherein I delighted not? That means they were free to choose. Wouldn’t you get that out of that verse? That God was not pleased with what they’re doing, but if God pre-programmed them to do all of that they were doing, how can God get upset with somebody who only did what God made them do?

Because God didn’t do it. Everything is not the will of God. Now, if you choose to rebel against the Lord, you could say, yes, God, it’s his will to have to chasten you. But that doesn’t delight the Lord. That’s not what he wanted to do. He wanted us to choose life. He wants us to please Him. He wants us to delight in Him. He says, delight thyself in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

But it’s based upon what you delight in. Where’s that verse found? Psalms 37 verse 4. I learned that verse oh hundred years ago. Well not exactly energy. See I had a choice right then. I could have told the truth or lied and I lied. But I confessed it so I told the truth. True. Trace is over there. Look down at the bottom of the page. I said 66 verse 4. I also will choose get this their delusions and will bring their fears upon them.

Now why? Because when I called none that answer. And when I spake, they did not hear. For they did evil before mine eyes and get this, chose that in which I delighted not. They chose against the will of God. So you are a free moral agent. You’re the moral in the sense you should know what’s right and what’s wrong. And then you should make decisions be responsible for your choices. And God can either bless you or chasten you because there’s a reason why.

God doesn’t just beat his children to death. There’ll be a reason and God may even take some of his children home. Look at the next scripture, Genesis 1311, then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan. Who was the one who gave him a choice? Abraham told him says, you choose which and I’ll take the other, right? And he saw that the plains down towards Saudi Arabia, more of us so watered and it looks so green grass and I’ll take that.

Abraham went the other way. Abraham made a choice. He was gonna live by the choice that Lot made. You see, God will allow you to make choices and God will live with that. God will accept your choice. But you can either choose to be blessed by God or chastened by God, but you get the freedom to make the choice. That’s why he says, stand faster for it in the liberty where we have been made free. This liberty means don’t become trapped again in the law where you have to do it.

Serve God because you love him, because you want to. There’s freedom of choice. Look at the next scripture, Joshua. Most of y’all have heard this verse before. He says, you this day whom you will serve, but as for me in my house, what? We will, what? Serve the Lord. You can do whatever you want, but as for me in my house, this is what we’re going to do. And he was the head of his home. And so he says, at verse, you see, your witnesses against yourself, ye have chosen you, that you chosen you the Lord to serve Him.

Served Him. Look at 1 Samuel 10 and 24. And Samuel said to all the people, see ye Him whom the Lord hath chosen. Now this is important because of the very next verse that follows it. God chose. Now looking 1 Samuel 12 and verse 13. Now therefore behold the King whom ye have chosen, with whom ye have desired, and behold the Lord have said a king over you. God told them at the beginning, he would rule over them, theocracy, he would rule, and ask them judges that rule in God’s place.

They said we want a king so we can be like all the other nations. So they wanted a king. And so God told them, says, Samuel, tell them what it’s going to cost them, how that he’s going to take their men and their women, and they’re going to take them to cattle and he’s going to take some of their land, and just tell them what they’re going to have to do. And the king is going to be the king.

And that means he’s an authority. And so God says, that’s what you want, you can have it. So they chose to have a king. So God chose the man. that was hidden shoulders above everybody. And Correctly when he was little in his own eyes, God could use him and bless him. Later on Saul got too big for his britches and God had to humble him and he died a horrible death along with his son Jonathan. But they had choices.

Look at the next scripture, 1 Chronicles 28, take heed now for the Lord half did this, have chosen thee to build a house house, and then he says, be strong, then he says, do it. You see, it wasn’t Nike that said that. The Lord says, do it through as a scripture, it’s right there. And so he says, these three things to him, talking to David, I want you to do that. But David had already determined, Lord, I want to build you a house.

And the Lord says, you got too much blood on your hands. You just get everything ready. And I’ll have your son Solomon, he’ll build it. So that’s why it’s called Solomon’s temple. God used him. But there were choices that were made. God even gave Solomon a request. What would you like? Did you get asked me Solomon for anything? What would you want? You can see I want this and this and this and this and this. He mainly asked for one thing.

You remember what it was? He asked for wisdom. I want the wisdom that I need to rule your people. Isn’t that a good question? And his youth. And God gave him wisdom. He gave him all the wealth, the honor, the fame. He got everything else with that. But he got wisdom. And then he, well, he got so lifted up. He says, anything I wanted, I did. Whatever I wanted to do, I did it. And any woman he saw, he got.

By the time it was over, he had 300 wives, 300 porcupines. Conquipines. And when he married these women, it wasn’t long before those women turned his heart away from the Lord until the false gods. this man that was so wise became such a fool. So you see, you can be one way at one time in life and you can have the benefits of it. And so toward the end of his life, God says, I’m gonna take the kingdom and split this kingdom, but not in your day.

After your dead, I’m gonna split the kingdom. So 10 nations became Israel and two became the nation of Judah. And so you had Judah and Benjamin and the other 10 tribes. And then it wasn’t long before Syria came and took the one of Syria. And then it wasn’t long before here comes Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon and take the southern part and then they destroyed Jerusalem. You see, they could have stayed in the land and everything had been wonderful. He says, as long as you’ll serve me, I will put none of the diseases upon you.

They would have had us to best health care you could have ever thought about. You see, we’re suffering a lot of things in our country because we’re rebellious. we are rebellious to God, and therefore we pay the price of it. But anyways, we’re moving right along here. Look at the next statement. Luke 10, verse 42, said, but one thing is needful. You know the story of Mary and Martha? Well, Martha was busy trying to get everything ready. She was just serving, serving, serving.

And she looked over there and there says, Mary, and she’s sitting at Jesus’ feet. Well, that’s not fair. fair. I’m doing all the work and she’s sitting there on her can not doing anything. And so she complained. I do all the work. You know you have to watch it even in the Lord’s work of complaining about those people that won’t help. Look at me. Poor, poor me. I do all the work. Nobody else helps. You’re only doing what God wants you to do, right?

And they’re not what’s your problem? Does God see what you’re doing? Are you doing it for Him? Is God going to reward you for what you do? So don’t worry about it. Just do what you can do. You don’t want to make people do things. Drag it. You know what trying to make people do things? Where’s you out? It drains you of all of your energy. It takes to smile off your face, the joy out of your heart. When you try to force and make people do things and they don’t want to do it, just happily go ahead and do what God wants you to do and don’t worry about whatever that body else does.

You’ll come out so much better than I weigh in. It really will. Look at the next statement. But in that verse, it is important to take time in your life to set it the feet of Jesus and study His Word and load up so gene goes serve. And sometimes you don’t always have those opportunities. Mary knew Jesus was gonna be gone soon. And she wants to learn everything she can. She wanted to spend time with the Lord. So you can get so busy trying to serve God and the things that you do that it wears you out because you don’t spend time with him personally.

You cannot shortcut this thing. And if you’re always getting out and if you’re outflow is greater than your intake, then your outflow will be your downfall. Your service to God and for God can destroy you if you are not in love with it. Because in all of your work can be in vain because they’ll destroy you, because when you love, love is a motivator. But when you lose that, then you just do it out of, you know, whatever you wanna call it, but it won’t be real.

It’s just you’re going through the motions and you wear yourself out physically. Remember that happiness is not a destination, it’s a way of travel. It’s like we’re gonna go on a vacation to Denver, Colorado. Well, when I get there, I’ll be happy. No, I wanna be happy on the way. Getting there is my vacation too. I wanna enjoy all the time. Get to where you can enjoy the Lord as you go. There’d be so much better way of thinking.

Look at the next statement, John. It makes the statement 6, 70. Jesus answered them, “‘Have not I chosen you, 12, and one of you is a devil.'” You see, if Calvinism is true, didn’t Jesus choose Jews? Well, if he chose the disciples and he chose them to be saved, and that’s what they always try to take, that chosen, he chose them to be saved. Well, then if Jews was one of them, then he chose them to be saved too.

that I could just get lost. Because he wasn’t chosen to be saved. They were chosen as disciples to follow a learner. Look at the next scripture and you’ll see it better in verse 18 of John chapter 13. I speak not of you all. I know whom I have chosen, but the scripture may be fulfilled. He then eat his bread with me, have to lift it up his heel against me. Now get to it. If we were chosen for salvation, Why wasn’t Jesus saved because he was chosen?

There’s no doubt about that. No question about he was chosen, but he was not saved. And so don’t think, Dave, time you see the word chosen there. That’s the sign you would say, chosen to be saved. No. Look at the next scripture. John 15 verse 16, ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go to heaven over everybody else. No, he chose him for a purpose. You should go and grain forth fruit.

Go and grain forth fruit. And that your fruit should remain. And the only way your fruit can remain is they got eternal life. You’re talking about eternal fruit. Look at the next scripture. And John 15, 19 says, if you were of the world, the world would love his own, but because you’re not of the world. I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Listen, I got people that write me and email me and sometimes call me.

That literally hate me. And I’ve done nothing to them, excel, tell them how to go to heaven. That’s all I’ve done, tell them how to go to heaven. And I believe that the way I’d tell people how to go to heaven is the way you want how to go to heaven. because they’re not of the Lord, they don’t see it, they don’t understand it. So they fight against it. Look in Acts 1, 24, it says, and they prayed and said, Thou Lord, which get this and you’re not on the line, it’s in your nose.

Knoweth the hearts of all men. Does God know the hearts of every person? He does before the Gentiles and the kings and the children of Israel. I’m wrong with them wrong with them. Show whether of these two thou have chosen because they were trying to make a decision about who is he gonna be the next one to take Judas’ place? And they were trying to make choices. God has given us the power to make sure. Not for salvation, but for a title of service.

In Acts 9, 15, but the Lord said unto him, go thy way for he is a talking about the apostle Paul. He is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. God chose Paul to do a work for him. Well, hasn’t God chosen us to do a work for him? Yes. But you see, God did not decide to outlaw all you people out here and you’re all lost. And God says, I’m going to pick about five of you to go to heaven.

and the rest of you won’t have a chance. And I’m just gonna pick, I’ll pick that young girl over there. I think she ought to go to heaven. She just looks nice. And I’ll take Theresa. Okay. She even knew she was chosen. She chose herself. She chose herself. But you see, if I made a couple choices like that, the Bible doesn’t teach that God does that. But can God use certain individuals for service, for whatever he wants? He can do that with lost people too.

And concerning the nation of Israel, he did that. Now look at the next statement. In Ephesians chapter one and verse four, a courting as he had chosen us in him before the foundations of the world, that we who chose to believe should be holy and without blame before him in love. All believers are predestined for something. Not only pretty distant, we will be made pure and holy, set apart, going to heaven, where’s children, and also the Bible talks about our adoption has been predetermined.

We’re getting into that another time, but it’s awesome. Now look at the next verse, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brother, and beloved, of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning, now get this very important, chosen you to salvation. See, there’s a verse right there, it says God chose you to salvation. But should we stop right there? No, look at the next part. Through sanctification, it means to be in made pure and holy by the Holy Spirit.

And what’s those last words? Belief of the truth. Every person who will believe the truth, believe the gospel, God has from the foundations the world chosen to save everyone who chooses to be saved. God chose to save everybody who chooses to be saved. And you can choose whether or not you want to be saved or not you’re free to choose. Go in all over and preach the gospel to every creature. That’s because God wants everybody to hear the gospel, but God does not force anybody to trust him.

Look the last statement. As a child of God, we’ve got a lot of decisions to make. And so he talks about that you and I should make choices. And one of these choices is, as he mentions right here, we’ve been chosen to be a soldier. That’s why he says, do not entangle yourself with the affairs of this life that you may please him who have called you to be a soldier. God called you to serve Him. So that means automatically you’re going to.

No. You can say yes, you can say no. And you could decide to say yes and after five years I had enough of this and choose not to. You say you can be up here and then you can be down here. You can be all over the place. You can be like a yo-yo. But being faithful it means you stay like this. I made that decision 59 years ago after I trust the Lord. I want to be found faithful.

So I’m not up here and I’m not down here. I try to be right here, stable. I’ve made it my mind. I don’t question anymore. I’m like to hold and believe that I’m solid as a rock and you watch something tomorrow, shake my whole life. Remember, you’re on a foundation. That foundation is the rock that’s christen. and that foundation will never shake under you. You may shake on the rock, but the rock won’t shake under you. It’s the best news in all the world.

Anyway, those are some thoughts that helped you to realize you and I, we are responsible for our decisions. So that’s why you study the Bible so you can learn how to make wise decisions. Because you don’t want somebody else making them for you, do you? Maturety is where you’re getting old enough and mature enough that you can decide for yourself. Do you want to serve a Lord? You can. If you don’t want to, nobody can make you. But this light’s going to be over one day.

And when you get to heaven, you’re going to wish you had a, you know, there’s that little song, I wish I had given him more. It’s a beautiful song. I wish I had given him more. Look up here, the sin 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. And because of sin and we’re in debt, we’ve got to pay for it.

So we’re all condemned. God loves us and wants us to go to heaven. To go to heaven, we’ve got to be perfect, but there’s the problem. We’re not perfect. None of us are. So God says you cannot save yourself. There’s no other payment you can make. No amount of works that you can do. can do that would ever pay for your sins. This then represent Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us.

And God says, because He loves us, He sent His Son. And the Son said that the world may know that I love the Father. This is what I’m going to do. I’m going to take all of your sins and pay for them. Come back from the dead and you are not. You’re free to choose. You’re free to choose. That’s why it’s called grace is risky. God took a risk on you. He was willing to pay that much and not making you accept it or believe it, but you were worth it.

I would hate to think He did it in vain on my behalf. When I heard the gospel, the first time I really heard and understood it, that night, I trusted Christ as my Savior. He paid for my sins, gave me eternal life, and I get to go to heaven or what Jesus Christ did for me. Let’s pray, sorry. Heads, bow, nice clothes, no one looking around. This is a choice. If you’ve already trusted Christ as Savior, you don’t have to ever do it again.

But if you’re here tonight and you’ve never trusted the Lord, God knows the hearts of every individual. Does he know if you have really trusted him or not? He knows. Wouldn’t it be a shame for you to be so close? Did you know that 99% and still 100% lost? You can’t be almost saved. Is he the you are? Are you not? I pray that you’ll trust Christ to save you if you haven’t. If you’re watching by the internet, right on the screen and says, yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior.

I pray that you would if you haven’t done so. So in his bow and knife clothes, no one looking around, is there anyone here tonight? You say, pre to that made sense to me. I will accept Christ as my Savior. I wanna make the right choice. I wanna make the best choice I can ever make in my life. I will accept Christ as my Savior. And friend, God said, if you trust Him, because of that, He will give you eternal life.

Because you trust Him as your Savior, He will make you his child. He will take you to heaven. He will make you pure and holy. You’re set apart. You belong to him for all eternity. Anyone all before we close? Just slip your hand up very quickly or back down. Then we’ll all follow. We do thank you so much for loving us, for making the payment for our sins, and giving us the freedom. Yes, even the servia. The freedom are not serving you.

But help us, Lord, not to abuse this liberty that we have. Help us to learn to walk within, love you, do the things that we should. Help us to do right. Bless us in Christ’s name we pray. 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 813-884-4328.

That’s 813-884-4328. 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’re 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 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328 or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

I want to talk to you a little bit about something I think is very important. We don’t sometimes take our decisions that we have to make seriously until we know that there are consequences to our decisions. And God, was he wrong? Did God make a big mistake by giving to us a free will? I mean, you know, all this year, problem came because he gave us the freedom to choose, we’ve made some wrong decisions. Adam and Eve made the wrong decision didn’t they?

When you say they made a bad decision, they probably didn’t think it was going to be that bad of a decision when they decided. But boy, it was a blunder. The blunder of all blunders. Now you may not think that some of your decisions are that bad at the moment you make them because you don’t see the consequences right away. In the book of Ecclesiastes in chapter 8, He talks about because sentence against an evil work is not executed right away.

The heart of men is, I got away with it. And you didn’t get away with it. It ain’t over yet. God is a patient God and He waits for us to correct things. Sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we don’t. We just forget all about things. Until down the road and all of a sudden you get a flashback. It happens. Boy, sees girl. I love girl. sees boy, I don’t love you. Boy, I will make you love me. I’m going to lock you into a room and treat you like a dog, starve you half the death until you love me.

Do you think that’s going to work very well when you’re trying to make somebody love you? The way you want somebody to love you is to be free to voluntarily choose to love you, correct? Well, God could have done all of that to us. He could make us love Him by forcing us, but it would not be love. Love has to be free. You can’t make your children love you, you can’t make your husband love you, you can’t make your wife love you, you can’t make anybody love God because it has to be a voluntary thing that you do on your own.

So I will take away all of your freedoms and make you my slave against your will. Would that be called free will? I’m giving you a free will. I’m not going to let you have a choice or then it’s not free will. But we believe that God has given to us the power of choice, reasoning power to make decisions. Charlie Bean, he just sent out a little note. And he had one little statement in here, a paragraph. And because he goes with what I want to say tonight, I want to read it to you.

Grace is risky. To understand the Father’s forgiving grace later. We must first see his initial grace in giving his son freedom to make bad choices. Now we’re talking about the Father and the prodigal son. Since the Father obviously represents God, doesn’t this tell us that God created us with the freedom to make choices? Can the possibility of reciprocal love exist under any other condition? in grace or risky. This Father can determine to love, but not to be loved. Nobody can keep you from loving things or people or God, but you can’t make anything or anybody love you.

You can love whoever you want. That’s what breaks people’s heart is when they love somebody and they don’t love them back. And that’s really breaks everyone’s heart. And some of you have probably gone through that. And we give them all your love. And the thing is they don’t love your back. And so be heartbreaking. God loves us so much. He set us free. He loves us so much. He gave us a free will. And let you have choice. You can choose to love Him, choose not to.

He made a payment for the sins of the world, and then you can choose to accept it. You can choose to reject it. But are there any consequences to our decisions? You may as a child of God, you may choose to serve the Lord, and you may choose not to, but are there consequences to your decisions? Yes. Now, the last part of this here, he says, love is not always returned. We are not pre-programmed robots, but free agents with moral responsibility.

destroys the theology of determinism that teaches all actions are preordained. God loves only some, chooses only them to be saved and they cannot resist His will. Now that’s what some people say, that God has predetermined every action of every person, good or bad. That’s why everything is the will of God. That’s similar to what Muslims believe when they say it’s all the will of Allah, it’s all the will of Allah. And there are people who put that same meaning to God and self, the true and living God.

God is willing to risk the rejection of his free love rather than have a predetermined compliance to his forced love because voluntary love brings him glory. If we had no choice and we were forced to love God, that would not and does not bring glory to God. So it has to be voluntarily. Now who can make you love God? Who really can make you walk with a Your Heavenly Father? Nobody. So I want you to look at your notes here.

Freedom is having the ability to choose, your free to choose. The Lord saved us and He said us at liberty. You see, I’m not under the law where I have to serve Him. I’m under grace. It means that I’m free to choose. And so I can choose to live by grace by making the right decisions, but I made my own voluntary decisions. I choose. And many people don’t believe that you really have the power to make a choice. God has pre-programmed all of us in a certain way where we will do whatever he wants us to do, and we really don’t have a will.

So I want to give you some verses that we show you choice, choice, choice. So look there in your first scripture reference there, Exodus 17 and Moses said in the Joshua, choose us out, men go out, fight with Amalek. He tells them to choose. That means he gets to make a choice of all the people that he has. Choose out some men that go out and to fight. So he was given the ability to choose. And his choice would give him consequences because of the quality of the men that he chose, because of the battle they were going to fight.

Now that’s in Exodus and chapter 17 where the The Lord talks about and then came Amalek. I preached a whole sermon when I first came here years ago and it was all about Amalek. But look at the next statement. In Deuteronomy 14, 24, where it talks about the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there. See, there was a place where God was gonna put his name. God makes choices, but it wasn’t that he chose you to save you from hell over somebody else.

God can choose a place and God can choose a person and God can choose a thing. You see, God can make many choices because God’s free too. But He also gives to you and I the opportunity to make choices to serve or not. Look there in Deuteronomy 30 and verse 19, that verse down, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have said before you life and death, blessing and cursing, Therefore, What does he say?

Choose life. Now, if they were already pre-programmed, they have no choice. If everything was already determined, they have no choice to make. And so when he says life and death, blessing, cursing. You see, concerning your life, God will allow you to make decisions that can destroy you. You can choose to get on certain drugs and take your life. You can make a choice to get on alcohol and Get drunk and drive 80 miles an hour down the expressway wrong way Like it’s one woman.

She was watching the news and she says honey I know you’re on your way to work and you’re on the expressway, but I want to warn you that That’s hurt it on the news. There’s a guy on the expressway going the wrong way. So you look out for them He says that ain’t nothing. He says everybody I see he’s going the wrong way but There are consequences to your decisions And he says, therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live.

In other words, to extend physical life. I was with Ray Stanford one day and I said, Ray, I said, how come you think you’ve lived so long? He said, my mama lives so long. She was almost a hundred. He said, I believe God gave me long life because I honored my mother. Now you can make it on a lot of mistakes and a lot of areas, but God says in the book of Ephesians, he says that thy days may be long upon the earth.

Because he, under Israel law, parents had a way of shortening a child’s life if they rebelled against him. They could take him to the city and stone him to death. That’s how you could deal with a disobedient child. If they had done that in my time, out of him dead, I’d never lived. My daddy did enough, tried to kill me. He just left me alive just enough to survive because he needed somebody to throw the rocks out of the field.

So anyway, I’m glad I had a purpose in living. But God, see, made a choice. In verse 11 of chapter 31, when all Israel has come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place, see God chose a place which he shall choose. So God makes decisions, God makes choices. Now he makes him concerned people also and we’ll see that. Look at the next one. Joshua 24 verse 15, And if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord, L.O.R.D., Jehovah Himself, choose you this day, whom you will serve.

You see, you can choose who you will serve. And you may choose to serve the Lord and you may choose not to serve the Lord. Now, one of the problems that Joshua and that first generation had is, you see, they got to see what God did in delivering them through the wilderness and all the miracle they had and the battle they fought and got into the land. And after a while there was got peace in the land a little bit, but the next generation, they didn’t have to fight for anything.

They were already there in the land. And so it’s harder for that generation to be strong in the Lord because you see, they didn’t have to struggle in order to get what they had. They got it because Mummy and Daddy fought it and they got it. The reason our generation is so easy to give away our country because they didn’t do anything to get it. We didn’t have to fight for it. If our founding fathers were here today, they’d take up arms and they’d take our country back.

I got no doubt in my mind. No, anyway, look at the next statement. In 2 Samuel 17, 1, and moreover, I’ll hit the fail, said unto Absalom, let me now choose out 12,000 men and I will arise and pursue after David this night. Is he saying he gonna make a choice? And there were the consequences, these decisions that they make. Every day you and I make decisions about what we’re going to do or not do. Where we’re gonna go and not go.

What we’re gonna eat and not eat. Sometimes you know you’re going on diets and so on. I can’t eat that because that’ll make me gain weight. Is it what makes you gain weight? Anything that’s good. Anything is good makes you gain weight. And so I don’t even have to eat. I can just look at it and gain weight. Anybody like that here? Yeah, I’m glad to see that. I’m not the only one. I’ve never even seen a calorie, but evidently when I go past the dessert table, they jump out and get a whole over me somehow.

But there are choices, so you’ve got to try to stay away from it closest. I opened up the refrigerator and there was a piece of pie in there. I looked at that piece of pie and it says, taste me. Taste me. I said, I will not come on, tell me. Just one little taste. Betty won’t know. I said, a lot. She will too, because you’ll tell. It’s the highest thing I’ll tell you. won’t be here. That’s how she’ll know.

That woman is better than Sherlock Holmes. She can know when I just either looked at something I’m not supposed to look at it or she can tell and I tell you just drives me up all the time. I think she’s got a photographic memory or she got not only eyes in the back of her head she got on the side of her head. Leave the next statement. Where he says in 2nd Samuel 24 12, go and say unto David, thus saith the Lord, I offer the three things.

You see David had made a mistake and he, you know, you can trust the Lord or you can count, how many people if I got that I can put my trust in, but Lord was a little upset with him. and he says, I’m going to punish you. He said, I’m going to give you three choices. What do you want? So he got to choose his form of punishment. Wouldn’t it be neat? But not a one of them was pleasant.

All of them were bad decisions, bad choices. But it was God’s way, he’s gonna, but you get to choose which one you are. All right, son of a, I told you not to do that. Now that you did, I’m gonna give you three choices. You can die by hang poison or I’m gonna stone you to death. Know which way you like. Oh, and now, yeah, I’m gonna like you to one. But you see, he sinned against the Lord, and God was upset with him, and God gave him a choice.

You can choose. So he says, choose the one of them that I may do it unto thee. You know, and I heard this here about this guy. He was getting older, and he found this little lamb, so he rubbed it, and this genie came out. So I’m gonna give you three wishes. He says, well, number one, I want to wake up in the morning on a bed of money. And two, I want to have a Cadillac, pink Cadillac, sat in my garage.

And three, I want the woman to be 20 years younger than me. the next day, boom, everything happened. And he looked at his wife and she was the same age. So he ran to the mirror and he was 20 years older. You got to think about these things through, whether or not, you know, are you making right decisions? Well, anyway, we’ll move right along since y’all didn’t laugh too hard at that, sir. Look at Proverbs 1.29 says, for they that hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord.

See, it’s your choice. It’s individual’s choice. See, some people don’t like this idea of choice because, see, it’s better to say God planned everything. It’s everything is the well of God. And whatever you do, God’s already done determined that’s what you can do. Doesn’t God know the infront of the beginning? Well, yes. Does God know what I’m going to do tomorrow? Well, yes, he does. And though for how can I change it? If God already knows what I’m going to do, how can I change it?

So if it’s something that can’t change it, whatever will be, will be. Well, just because God knows what you’re going to do tomorrow doesn’t mean God made you do it. God knows that you’ve got a mind and you can think and you can change things. You don’t have to do things the way somebody might think you’re going to do them. You can change. You can make another decision. And sorry, it makes the statement here. And did not choose the fear of the Lord.

Now this verse is good because it goes with another verse I want to show you in just a minute. Now look in verse of Proverbs 3 and verse 31, envy thou not the oppressor, choose none of his ways. So that means that there are consequences to trying to be like somebody else when their ways are wrong. God tells us in His Word to be thou an example and Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ and be followers of me.

Therefore you can make a lot of decisions for your life. You can choose to read the Bible or not to read the Bible. You can choose to come to church or not come the church. Some of you made a decision about coming to church tonight and evidently some people made a decision not to come. True? Well the only reason they didn’t come is because God already predetermined for the foundation or for them not to go to church tonight. No.

Well I’m here because God pretty turned me to be here. No he didn’t. He gave you the choice and you made a decision because next week you may not be here and he wanted you to come. God wants us to know his word, so it’s a thing of obedient to come in, you can study God’s word. Here’s the next statement. Isaiah 7, 15 and 7, 16, these two verses, they kind of go together. Look at him. He says, butter and honey, shall ye, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.

For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou abhorce shall be forsaken of both their king.” In other words, there’s a verse right before this. It’s not in your notes. Anybody ever heard of Isaiah 714? I wonder what Isaiah 714 talks about. Something about, if you hold on, I give you a sign, a virgin shall come and save him, a better son in shall call his name Emmanuel. A woman’s going to have a child.

And this child is going to be a perfect child. But you see, he never knew any wrong. You see, this is why they say, when you want to teach a child to, you know, to suck, they put sometimes they call it a sugar tip. Now I’m not using profanity. How many of you know what I’m talking about? You can take some cloth, I wouldn’t take a whole sock. And you can put sugar in there and you can twist it a little bit in and then the baby, they like sugar and they learn how to do that.

And so we can help them. So what you’re doing is you’re giving them a taste. When the Bible says, train up a child on the way he should go, means develop that thirst, that desire, and the way they should go. So you’ve got to give them some, they say you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink, we can put salt and salt to make them thirsty. Well that’s what you’re doing, that’s what we’re doing with people.

We’re trying to teach even the kids how to have a thirst for the things of God. Because you can’t make these teenagers in rent, you can’t make them serve God. And so many of them we lose. When they get to where they can get on their own, get their own car and get a job, they’re gone. And most of them for the rest of their life. Only a handful of ever-mounts serve in the Lord, because most of them will fall in love with the world, because they didn’t develop that taste.

That’s why he says, taste and see that the Lord is good. Desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow there by, taste and see if the Lord isn’t precious, that he isn’t good. And most people, they don’t do it. So we got to try to develop a taste in people’s mouth because they got to make that choice on their own. I wouldn’t mind having a part of it with it. Make everybody do right. You can’t. It’d be great if you could force people, but you can’t.

And so these two verses show you that you got to make choices. And you want the kids to make right decisions, and so like making the honey, or it’s really sweet. And praise and compliment kids when they do the things you want them to do. When they don’t do what you want them to do, you let them know that you’re disappointed. You’re very disappointed. But you love them, but you’re disappointed. You’re expected more. I expect more out of you.

That doesn’t mean you hate the kid, but you do love them. Look in verse Isaiah 65 and verse 12, therefore he says, I will number you to the sword and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter. Now get this, here’s a reason. When God tells us something, there’s usually because, because. Because when I called, ye did not answer. So that that showed that they had a choice. Why would God get on to somebody for not answering if they didn’t have a will of their own, where they were not free to choose?

When I speak, you did not hear. Whenever the word of God is taught and you can hear it and then not hear it. The Lord says, be you not here’s of the word only, but doers of the word. This man shall be half half your blessed in his deeds. So he says here, you did not hear, but did evil before mine eyes and get this, did choose that, wherein I delighted not. That means they were free to choose. Wouldn’t you get that out of that verse?

that God was not pleased with what they’re doing, but if God pre-programmed them to do all of that they were doing, how can God get upset with somebody who only did what God made them do? Because God didn’t do it. Everything is not the will of God. Now if you choose to rebel against the Lord, you could say, yes, God, it’s His will to have to chasten you. But that doesn’t delight the Lord. That’s not what He wanted to do.

He wanted us to choose life. He wants us to please Him. He wants us to delight in Him. He says, delight thyself and the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. But it’s based upon what you delight in. Where’s that verse found? Psalms 37 verse verse, verse four. I learned that verse oh 100 years ago. Well not exactly energy. See I had a choice right then. I could have told the truth or lied and I lied.

But I confessed it so I told the truth. True. Traces over there. Look down at the bottom of the page here. I did 66 verse 4. I also will choose, get this, their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them. Now why? Because when I called, none did answer. And when I spake, they did not hear. For they did evil before mine eyes and get this, chose that in which I delighted not. chose against the will of God. So you are a free moral agent.

You’re the moral in the sense you should know what’s right and what’s wrong. And then you should make decisions be responsible for your choices. And God can either bless you or chasing you because there’s a reason why. God doesn’t just beat his children to death. There’ll be a reason. And God may even take some of his children home. Look at the next scripture, Genesis 13, 11, then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan. Who was the one who gave him a choice?

Abraham told him, says, you choose whichever way you want to go and I’ll take the other, right? And he saw that the plains down toward Sodom and Gomorrah was so watered and it looks so green grass and I’ll take that. Abraham went the other way. Abraham made a choice. He was going to live by the choice that Lot made. You see, God will allow you to make choices, and God will live with that. God will accept your choice. But you can either choose to be blessed by God or chastened by God, but you get the freedom to make the choice.

That’s why he says, stand faster for in the liberty where we have been made free. This liberty means don’t become trapped again in the law where you have to do it. Serve God because you love Him, because you want to. There’s freedom of choice. Look at the next scripture, Joshua. Most of y’all have heard this verse before. He says, choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me in my house, what? We will what? Serve the Lord.

You can do whatever you want. But as for me in my house, This is what we’re going to do. And he was the head of his home. And so he says, at verse, you see, your witnesses against yourself, ye have chosen you, that you have chosen you the Lord, to serve him, serve him. Look at 1 Samuel 10, 24. And Samuel said to all the people, see ye him whom the Lord hath chosen. Now this is important because of the very next verse that follows it.

God chose, now looking for Samuel 12 verse 13, now therefore behold the King whom ye have chosen with whom ye have desired and behold the Lord have said a King over you. God told him at the beginning, he would rule over them, theocracy, he would rule and ask and judges that rule in God’s place. They said, we want a king so we can be like all the other nations. So they wanted a king. And so God told them, saying, tell them what is going to cost them, how did he’s going to take their men and their women, and they’re going to take them to cattle, and he’s going to take some of their land, and just tell them what they’re going to have to do.

And the king is going to be the king. And that means he’s an authority. And so God says, that’s not what you want, you can have it. So they chose to have a king. 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 813-884-4328.

That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain aSegue download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

Take your Bible and turn to the book of Acts in chapter 2. In the Christian realm, there’s many prophetic words that you will hear. And so prophetic survey is a tremendous tool that God gives to us because He says He planned the ages in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11. So if He planned the ages means He outlined the different periods of time, different dispensations, and in which God deals with man. Now, all of the Word of God is for us, but not all of the Word of God is to us.

Many of the things that are written in the New Testament are written to us. And so, we can study the Old Testament because the Bible says there’s admonition that we can have for ourselves, we can learn from him. You have, first of all, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ because everything starts with history. History is history. So we always go back to Christ. Every time you write a check, you put his date on it. His history is the history of what God has done and what God is doing.

All of this has to do with what God is doing with man, what God did with the angels, what God is going to do with the earth. Whether it’s the tribulation period is what God is going to do to the earth and the people, the thousand year reign, that’s what God is going to do. Everything deals with what God is going to do. Now God has told us things to do and if we don’t obey their consequences, so at the end of each one of these is a judgment.

In other words, how God judges mankind. So if you and I are wise, we’re supposed to learn from these things. But to start with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, that is what makes the gospel possible. In other words, the gospel is good news. But you see a lot of people, a lot of religions believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, but they don’t have the good news. Many people say, well, the death, burial and resurrection, that is the gospel.

Now that’s what makes the gospel possible because without the death, Berlin resurrection, there would not be a good news. The good news is he did that for me. He did it, but if I don’t know he did it for me so that I don’t have to try to earn my salvation, then I don’t see it as good news. That’s just a historical fact. He did that. But does it mean you’re going to heaven because you believe he did that?

You must personally believe he did it for you, that he paid for your sins and you’re trusting him and him alone is your only hope of going to heaven. And once you do, you have eternal life. Now, here in the book of Acts in chapter two, verse one, and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Pentecost means 50 days, 50 days from the resurrection of Christ. So Christ came back from the dead, ascended into heaven, and then the Bible says that there was a time limit.

It was also a time limit from the time that He actually ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives. But see, Pentecost means 50 days, and when that day was fully come, something happened on that day. That’s the day the Holy Spirit came. Remember this, when Jesus was here preaching, He told him, He says, that I’m going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. But the people didn’t understand everything that was said. John the Baptist says, I baptize you with water, but He that cometh after me, He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

But during Christ’s lifetime, he never baptized anybody with the Holy Spirit. It hadn’t taken place yet. So on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came, the Bible says, in Cloven Tonses of Fire, the Bible says those believers were baptized. They were already believers. They were baptized into the body of Christ. This is the beginning of the church. It is the birth of the church. This one, the church began. And Christ said, I will build my church. And so the church is made up a body of believers.

So when you trusted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit places you and I into the body of Christ. That’s the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is not a feeling that you have. You never had an experience. So as you can recall that that’s when it happened. The very moment you trusted Christ as your Savior, you were born spiritually. You were placed into the body of Christ spiritually. It’s not something you saw or felt, but it’s something that happened because God said so.

That’s when the church began. The church age goes from pinty cost until the rapture. That is the period of time that you and I live in. So we are now waiting for the rapture to take place. Now, turning your Bible to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians and chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, the Bible tells us, love ones are going to die. It means they will not be here when the rapture take place. So some of the people that were there, When Christ was there, who believed all of this began to die.

And so as people began to die, the question came up, well, where are they? And the longer Jesus Christ teres, the more people are going to die. So He has teared for almost 2,000 years. And because of that, many people have died. Well, what happens to those people? The Bible says that if you were to die, you will be absent from the body present with the Lord. So when you die, you are present with the Lord in heaven. Your body goes to the grave.

The Lord says that when he comes back, he’s going to bring those people who have already died with him. So he brings them with him and the Bible says the bodies are in the graves are going to be resurrected and they will be a reunion and we that are alive at this time will be caught up to meet the Lord in the the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Now look what he says in verse 13, but I would not have you to be ignorant brethren because there are so many ignorant brethren.

It doesn’t want you to be ignorant. He says this, concerning them which are asleep, those who’ve already died, that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope. In other words, you can’t see the person after they’ve died. Don’t you believe like lost people? Don’t you believe that there’s nothing more to it. We don’t sorrow like those who have no hope. We know we are going to see them again. We know where they are. To be absent from the body, President Lord, God says they’re with Him.

So don’t you worry about it. We know somebody who’s on the other side and He’s told us everything we need to know. All you and I need to know He’s told us. You don’t need to know anything if it’s not revealed in the book. But what you do need to know and understand it’s in there, understand and know what God did say and don’t worry about anything he did not reveal. Look in verse 14, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring what?

With him he’s going to bring them with him. He can’t bring them with him if they’re not with him, but they are. Then he says this in verse 5 of 15, for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. or go before them, which are asleep. The Lord says He’s going to come back. So there’s going to be some people who have died, some people who are going to be alive when it takes place.

And the Lord says that we are going to be alive when He returns, and then the Bible says something is going to take place. In verse 16, for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. That’s the bodies that are in the graves. Verse 17. then we, which are alive and remain when he comes back, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord where?

In the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord. It means we that are alive when this takes place won’t die. We will not all die. In the book of 1 Corinthians and chapter 15 says, we shall not all die. is a mystery, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye for the corruptible must put on in corruption and mortal subject to die. Those are still alive. We’ll put on immortality. So this moment is coming.

You go to the judgment seat of Christ. Now I want you to look at these verses. These are very important verses. Look there in the book of Romans and chapter 14. Romans and chapter 14. This is what the Lord’s Word says. See, I can’t make anybody clean up their life. I can’t make you serve the Lord. I can’t make you want to honor Him or please Him. I wish I could, but I can’t. All I’m supposed to do is tell you what the book says.

You can do it whatever you want. Because you can’t make me serve God and I can’t make you. I can’t make you faithful. You can’t make me faithful. But truth, the Bible says, will set you free. Free to serve God. And if you don’t know the truth, you’re not going to be free to serve it. Now I know what he says here in the book of Romans in chapter 14. Look there in verse 10. But why does thou judge thy brother?

Or why does thou set it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written as I live, saith the Lord every knee, shall bow to me, every tongue, shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Is that true? That is true. The judgment seat of Christ is what takes place the moment the rest of the world. happens and we’re caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

The Bible says we will disappear here and we will appear at the Judgement Sea of Christ. The Judgement Sea of Christ is a rewarding stand. That is where God is going to reward you for what you have done for Him. If you don’t do anything for Him, you will still be there. You’ll be ashamed before Him at His coming and your whole life that you got to live can be a total waste. You could have used your life and done nothing more and bring forth briars and thorns and weeds, or you could have invested your life for the Lord.

That’s why down here, so you can brag about your money you make and where you work and all the possessions that you have, all of that is zero there. Here God’s only going to reward you, not for the amount of possessions you were able to accumulate. What did you do for Him? What did you do for the Lord? That’s what God is going to reward you for. That’s That’s why God is watching every decision you make, every deed that you have done, every thought, every word.

And God is going to reward you when you get at the judgment, the sin of Christ. Now look there in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Just turn to your right, a couple of pages, 1 Corinthians and chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, look there in verse 8, in verse 8. Now he that planet and he that waterth are one and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. One of the things that you need to understand down here is that life isn’t fair.

Have you found that out yet? Life is not fair, right? But God said he’s going to reward every man according to his own work. So that means that whatever you do for the Lord it will be fair, it will be right because he is the righteous judge. He knows every sacrifice you made. that you’ve given up everything that you’ve done. And if you did it for him, you can’t lose. But if you did it for people, oh yeah, they may not appreciate anything you do.

You can do all the right you know to do and nobody appreciates anything you’ve done. You can go out in the garden and eat worms. No, because if you did it for God, you ain’t lost anything. So you don’t put your hopes in people, they’re not gonna be your judge. The Lord is. Now look what He says there in verse 12. Now if any man build upon this foundation, which is Christ. Go silver precious stones, wood, hay and stubble, two different kinds.

Every man’s work shall be made manifest. For the day, jump into the Christ, shall be cleared because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. Whether it’s gold, silver and precious stones or wood, hay and stubble. If any man’s work abide which he had built there upon, he shall receive what? Reward. Remember this. Look up here. Rewards are are earned. Salvation is free. Salvation and rewards are not the same thing.

Going to heaven is free. That’s a gift. That’s what He did for us. He paid our way. So I’m going to heaven because of what Christ did for me. What I have when I get to heaven, rewards are earned. That’s why I want to study the Bible to find everything I’m supposed to do and try to eliminate all things I’m not supposed to do because I want when I stand there I want God to bless me I want him to reward me I don’t know what they all might be it doesn’t matter God said it will be worth it all didn’t somebody just sing a song about that it will be worth it all when we see Christ now look what he says here in verse 15 if any man’s work shall be burned he shall suffer lost but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire.

Now look up here. Some people tell you this. You get saved and if you don’t live right, well you’re going to hell. That’s not true. You can get saved and not live right. You can live like a dirty bird. You can live like the devil. Still be a child of God. You’ll stand at the judgments of the Christ and God says your works are going to be burned up. And what you could have had, you won’t get. God wanted to reward you, but He couldn’t reward you.

But He Himself shall be saved, but He’s lost reward that He could have had. So you see, it’s up to you. Nobody can make you do this. But if you decide to serve a Lord and be faithful, nobody can stop you. Isn’t that great to know? It’s all an individual thing. That’s why I try to tell people what the Word of God says. I can’t make people respond to it. I can’t make people be a soul winner. I can’t make you carry a track.

I can’t make you come to Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, Sunday night. I can’t make anybody do anything. But if you really want that and you believe that’s the most important thing in your life, because that’s where we’re headed. And if you really believe it will be worth it, You will sacrifice everything down here to put God first and get your priority straight and do what you know You need to do why you can but if you don’t think that’s important devil fool with your mind I got a lot of time.

I’ll serve God when I’m old. Oh great When you’re 90 years old and one puts in the grave one don’t have an anapyla. Oh my god, the Lord You know, how much you’re gonna get done now serve the Lord in the days of by Youth why you young? That’s when you reveal how wise you are. You’re not wise because you know you should serve God. You’re wise if you do. You’re a fool if you don’t. This is the decision every individual has to make for themselves.

Now 2 Corinthians 5, look at it very quickly, 2 Corinthians and 5. And notice there in verse 10, 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10. This is a very important verse for you to see. In verse 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Remember, this isn’t in order to bring up all of our sins that we’ve done. Now this is a rewarding stand. They call it a beamah seat. It’s kind of like the Olympics. After you’re running the races and you stand up there and you get your crowns.

God says we’re going to stand in the judgments of the Christ and be rewarded. Now look what He says. That everyone may receive the things done in His body. In other words, done in his body means during your lifetime. While you’re in this body, it means the decisions that you make today, the things that you do tomorrow, the places you go, the profanity that you use, the filth that you want, everything about you is affecting eternity, like it or not.

You’re not an as to be born, nobody did. That’s the way it is though, that’s the truth. Now you can let this knowledge affect your life and you can control yourself if you choose to do so, you can live like the devil. That’s a personal decision nobody can make you do anything. Now look what he says, according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad means truthful or unfruitful. You’re gonna stand at the Jubbins hit a Christ.

True truth is that the Bible is the Bible it’s coming it’s gonna happen and you’re going to appear there and appear there means you’ll disappear here change the moment twicken of it not gone. Meet the Lord in the air and phew we’re to go on to the jump into Christ. An awesome period of time. Take your Bible look in the book of 2 Corinthians in chapter 11. 2 Corinthians and chapter 11. One of the Apostle Paul wanted to do with the people that he’d won the Christ, the various churches scattered throughout Macedonia and all the places in Galatian, and Listeron, Derby and so on.

He says in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, look in verse 1. He said, would the God ye could bear with me a little in my folly? And indeed bear with me, he says, this is how I feel. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chase virgin to Christ. In other words, in the Old Testament time, when a man says he wanted to marry a woman and a woman says she wants to marry a man, well, they would have about a year.

And during that year, she had to prove her faithfulness and he had to prove his faithfulness. They were considered looked upon as though they were husband and wife, but he can’t touch her until she’s actually his. This is the same story that happened with Joseph and with Mary. In the word, because he was going to put her away. Well, he hadn’t even married her yet, but he was a spouse to her. In other words, he looked upon as that’s his wife.

Because he found out she was going to have a child. And according to the law, he has to put her away. He has to squeal on her, but he didn’t want to do nothing. just go to just walk away from this thing and the angel had to come in and says don’t be afraid to take on the Mary thy wife. So they had about a year-long engagement period and during that time she was to prove her faithfulness to her husband to be.

With Christ the body was born on this day, the birth of the church. The body has been building for two thousand years. You and I are part of the body we are going to be the bride of Christ. So he says, I want to espouse you in a sense that whenever you meet the Savior, you’re a virgin. You’re a virgin. And not, I don’t think too many people even today know what a virgin is anymore. Never been touched. And to be presented to the Lord so that God wants to take all of us as believers and we are going to stand there and we’re going to be rewarded and our attire.

That all of us as individuals are going to wear. To the wedding, the Bible says they are dressed in the righteous acts of the saints. It means that the righteous acts that we do in the body we are rewarded for and we are going to wear. Our honor, our glory, our crowns, our rewards, whatever it is, God says that we are going to be dressed in the righteous acts of the saints. And the bride had made herself ready for the marriage.

That’s where we’re going. Look there in verse 2, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chase virgin to Christ. So we are the bride of Christ. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Revelation chapter 19. Revelation and chapter 19. Now look in verse 7, in verse 7. This is on page 1348 in the old scopher reference Bible. Let us be glad and rejoice because the day has arrived. Give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb is come, the lamb is Christ and Christ is going to get married.

Look up here very quickly. God the Father, Jehovah, took a woman Israel as his wife. So when you read the Old Testament, God, Jehovah, and Israel were like married. Well, they had a child. They had a child. Their child was the son Jesus Christ who came into the world. He was rejected by the mom. The mom rejected her child. But what the Father has been doing is finding a bride for his son. And so the son is one day going to get married.

But the Father finds the bride for the son. And that’s why all that the Father gives me shall come to me. So that’s in the book of John chapter 6. It means that all those who go to the Father, through the son, the Father gives all of those to the Son as the bride. And we become the bride of Christ. He went to the cross and died there in order to bring many sons into glory so that we could have eternal life and be with God.

See, being God is a God of love. God wanted somebody to love him back. So God allowed everything that happened the way that it has with all the sin, the devil, the hell, everything that’s ever taken place that you and I might learn to love God. And God says, you have no idea what I’m gonna do for all those that love me. If you would answley learn, love the Lord with all of our heart because God says, see God doesn’t wanna be alone.

He’s God, he can create all the angels, he can create the earth, he can create all the world. But one thing he wants more than anything else is he wants you and I to love him. And some of that desire he placed within you, that’s why you like to be loved. That’s why you even wanted to get married one day because you love somebody and love can make you do the strangest thing, the craziest thing. Have you ever heard love is blind?

I get married and it will wake up. Look at your eyesight back. But notice what he says here in down in verse eight. And to her was granted that she should be a raid in fine linen, clean and wipe, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. In other words, this is not the righteousness of God that He gave to us to get to heaven on. The righteousness of the saints is the works that you have done for the Lord while in the body.

Now the Bible says in verse 9, and He said unto me, right, blessed are they, which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now the marriage supper of the Lamb, we are going to be the bride, but I believe it’s the Old Testament saints are going to be the guest at the wedding. You’ll read that in the book of Matthew in chapter 25 when it talks about the 10 virgins, 5 wives and the 5 foolish, some days go back and read that.

Some ready and some not ready, some get to go to their wedding. Now look up here. This is the great white throne judgment. You and I are not going to stand there and be judged. This is a judgment for all the people who have never trusted Christ as their Savior. You see, you and I don’t stand there because you see, Christ took our judgment for our sins. This is not a judgment in the sense, it is a rewarding stand, where God rewards you for what you’ve done.

We then will go to the Mary’s feast of the Lamb, and then as the bride we come back to this earth and power and great glory, and we will rule and reign with Christ over the earth for one thousand years. Then there will be the great white throne judgment for all the people that have rejected Jesus Christ as their Savior. And the Bible says they will be cast into the lake of fire. This is the final helm. Some day we’ll get into all of that.

You’ll notice the word pre-tribulation or position. It means look up here. Pre-tribulation means pre-before. It means that we believe that Jesus Christ is coming back before the tribulation. If we say mid-trib position, that means that we believe Christ is coming back in the middle of the tribulation. If we say post-trib means we believe that Christ is coming back at the end of the tribulation. But for you and I, he is coming back. pre-trib for his saints. He’s coming for us before the tribulation so that we don’t go into the tribulation period upon the earth.

If you believe it’s mid-trib then you believe you’re going into parts of it. If you believe that he comes back for us here then you believe you go through the whole seven years of it. You see the difference? But the Lord says he’s coming back to deliver us from the wrath to come. You and I will not be here during the tribulation period upon the earth talking about this great worldwide tribulation, the worst time that the world has ever known.

Now, when we talk about pre-millennial and post-millennial and all-millennial, we say, what is the living? All right, look at that. When you say pre-millennial means you believe Christ is coming back to the earth to rule and reign with his saints. Here he comes for us. Here he comes with us. And pre-millennium means he’s coming back before the millennium, thousand years. Pre-millennial is when Christ comes back before the millennium, which is what I believe, and I believe the Bible teaches that.

That is the correct position. Post-millennial is the wrong position. Then there’s those who believe of millennial. Ah is the A before a word in the Greek means no. So there’s no millennia, no millennium. This hand represents you and me and the wallet represents sin. We all have sin upon us. God loves us, hates our sin. And for you and me to pay for this sin is eternal separation from God, in hell. Now God loves us and wants us to go to heaven and to go to heaven we have to be as righteous as God.

We have to be perfect and none of us are perfect. And so the Bible says you cannot save yourself. You cannot earn eternal life. We need a Savior. And the sin represents Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us. He hates our sin, called our sin, separates us from the Lord. So Christ paid for our sins on the cross, came back from the dead. Said if you and I, if we would believe that what He did was for us, He would save us, save us from hell, give us eternal life and we’d go to heaven on what He did for us.

That’s the gospel, that’s the good news. You can have eternal life, you can go to heaven. It’s free. You don’t have to promise God anything, you don’t have to stop anything, you don’t have to join anything. going to heaven is what He did for us. He made it free. So all you have to do is trust Christ as your Savior. Once you trust Christ as your Savior, your God’s child. Now as a child of God, you may be obedient, you may be disobedient, but you’re still his child.

I found out long time ago, life is a lot more fun, a lot easier, serve in the Lord and do in right. And I want you to do the same thing. Let’s pray Shout. 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 813-884-4328.

That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you’re 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 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, and the today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

So let me ask you this, what was the greatest problem you have ever had in your whole life? The greatest problem, your greatest need, and take all the way to the end of your life. And when you died, where was you going? You were on your way to hell. Now, regardless of what happened in the period of time that you lived, Well there’s 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, what doesn’t matter how long you lived, your greatest problem was where were you going when you died.

Now if God can take care of your biggest need, your greatest problem that you’ve ever faced so far in your whole life, can He take care of all the little stuff in between? If God can give me eternal life, can I trust him to give me a hamburger from day to day? For God, he’s bankrupt. He has no means to take care of me. I’ve got a heavenly Father who has forsaken me. Do you believe that God knows everything that’s going to happen to his children?

What you’re going to do? You know, I thought it was really bad that day that I went in and had that surge and I thought, God didn’t know about this. God didn’t know I was gonna have to go through this, because if you really loved me, if you really loved me, he wouldn’t let this happen to me. I mean, he knows that I like to sing and now I can’t sing. He knows that I like to do the wall of illustration, but he lifted my hand all the way up, and now I can only go here.

Boy, I wish God knew that ahead of time. But you see, God doesn’t know everything. He can’t do anything. And you’d be surprised at how you’ll feed your mind with questions and doubts. I try to tell the college kids, feed your faith and your doubts will start to death. But if you don’t, you’re gonna feed your doubts and your faith will start to death. So how you doing? Learn this. Now, you’ll notice in verse 14, this is the confidence.

See, 513 is to give us confidence to believe what else he has said in the book of 1 John. He said that if we ask anything according to Israel, he hear it the, now that’s mentioned also in the book of John in chapter 14. What’s whoever you ask my father in my name, I will give it to you. But the confidence of you doing that is based upon do you really believe that you have eternal life? Because you took God in his word.

And now you know that you’re saved, you’re going to heaven when you die. Well then believe this, God hasn’t stopped loving you just because you trust in Christ’s Savior. God hasn’t taken a vacation. God is intricately involved in your life whether you see Him or not and He’s bringing things into your life and taking things out of your life because He’s building your character because He wants you to be like Him. He wants you to love him more than the love of the world and that’s why in chapter 2 he talks about the love of the Father and if you love the world then that means you don’t love him and he’s going to reveal these things to you and so that’s why he lets you have all the problems because he’s trying to get you to get closer to him.

He hasn’t forsaken you, he knows who you are, he knows how you hurt, he knows what you go through and God will do what he promised. You see when he talks about there. Notice what he says in 1 John chapter 3. Look in verse 19. First John chapter 3 verse 19, hereby we what? We know. You see, we know. How do we know that because God keeps His word? God promised. Well, what if I don’t believe what God says?

And I begin to question and doubt. Well, that’s why He says up there in 1 John chapter 5 and verse 10. Look what He says in verse 10. Because throughout this 1 John, He talks about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit that is within you, the Holy Spirit that is to lead you, the one that to give you the spiritual joy that you’re supposed to have. He says in verse 10, he that believeth on the Son of God, have the witness in himself.

What is this witness that he has inside me? See, I am in dwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. And the Holy Spirit is to teach us truth. The Holy Spirit is holy. The Holy Spirit never teaches you a lie. The Holy Spirit doesn’t lead you astray. The Holy Spirit doesn’t desert you and leave you. We’re sealed into the day of redemption till we get our new body. That’s how secure we are. And we ought to believe what God’s word has to say.

And then he says in verse 10, he that believeth not God hath made him what? Made him a liar. You know, that’s also found in 1 John in chapter one. Look what he says there. In 1 John chapter one in verse 10. If we say we have not sinned, we make him what? This is to the believer. The believer calling God a liar. Because when you begin to question and doubt God, you’re saying, God, I don’t believe you. You can’t take care of me.

See God may want to give you the peace, the love, the joy. He may not send you finances. You see, between you and him, that’s more important that you don’t start questioning and doubting your heavenly Father because you didn’t get what you wanted. You’re not as healthy as you would like to be. You don’t have the friend maybe you’d like to have. You’d be surprised in this life how many things can go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong.

But God’s never done you wrong. God has never failed you. God doesn’t lie to you. God doesn’t deceive you. God doesn’t tempt you. How do you know all of that? Because he said so. He said so. And you’d be surprised how you’re like and be filled with questions and doubts. And as a child of God, you’ll never get to know God personally. He is more real to me than the clothes I’ve got on my back. And he ought to be real to you, that you know regardless of what comes, what happens.

Instead of griping and grumbling and murmuring and complaining, put a smile on your face, isn’t it great to be alive and have a father like I’ve got. I got a father that’ll never leave me and he wants the best for me. So evidently at this point in my life, this must be very good for me and I can learn something from this. I can get closer to the Lord than I was before. Maybe I’ll understand that these old bodies are not really gonna last forever.

And I need to be more careful. You can be right, you can learn something from everything that you’d run through. Look what else he says here. Here in the book of 1 John in chapter three, I want you to look back there in verse 19. Hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him, because you see, assure your heart’s talking about your conscience. Because you believe what God says, it affects what you do and what you say.

That’s mentioned in the prayer in verse 18, my little children. He said, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but indeed and in truth. Because you know the truth and you believe the truth. And that’s why that’s important. So then he makes the statement here in verse 20, for if our heart condemn us because we ourselves know I’m not walking with God like I should. I’m walking in the flesh and I’m deceiving myself. But your conscience bothers you.

When you do that what you know you shouldn’t do. When you begin to question in doubt God and it bothers you. That’s your conscience. But if you can bring this guilt upon yourself. What do you think God knows? Should the last part of that verse? Or it says, if our heart can dim us, God is greater than our heart and He knows everything. We only know a little bit. But I do want you to know this. Let’s look at this one verse here before I close to chapter 2.

And here in verse 21, beloved, if our heart can dim us not, then have we, and here’s that word we’re wanting. Confidence before God. In other words, the Holy Spirit is the great comforter, but He’s also a great discomforter when you don’t believe what He said. When you begin to question and doubt the Word of God, This book will not let you down. Trust the Lord. Maybe you SetFontSize walking with the Lord longer than I have, but I’m telling you, in all these years He’s never failed me.

He’s never always given me everything that I want, but of what I’m talking about, He’s given me the confidence, the courage, the boldness that I need to continue looking to Him and trusting Him, because I know what His Word says, and I want God’s blessings upon my life. And I believe every child of God should want and desire that. Now look there in chapter two. And look in verse 20.

See confidence comes from knowing and trusting in the truth. In John 17 where we were in verse 17, thy word is truth, sanctify them through thy truth. If there’s anything you should learn in the days that you live is learn truth, the word of God. And you’d be surprised how that yes, your conscience can be your guide if your conscience knows the truth and you can discern. But look what he says in verse 20, but you have an option from the Holy One and you know all things.

It means the Holy Spirit that lives within you is to teach you all things, everything you need to know about truth. That’s why the world cannot teach you truth. It teaches you the wisdom of the world. But there’s the wisdom of God that comes from above. There’s the wisdom of man that comes from below. And many people search for the wisdom of this world. And you and I, as God’s children, are to seek the wisdom that comes from God.

And so I want you to take your Bible turned to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians and chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 is an interesting portion of Scripture that kind of helps us to understand the purpose of the Holy Spirit in our life. And the Holy Spirit doesn’t magnify the Holy Spirit. It magnifies Christ, magnifies God in himself. So there’s things that we’re supposed to learn. And 1 Corinthians in chapter 2, look in verse 9. And verse 9.

But as it is written, I have not seen, ear have not heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them. Do you see the next couple words? Then that what? That love it. You see, there’s things you can know if you love him. And God says, those who love me, I will make myself known unto Him. John chapter 14, also 16. God will reveal things to you. Teach you things because you love Him.

Now nobody can make you love God. And a lot of Christians go through life, and they’re always like you’ve been baptized in pickled juice. Never happy, never satisfied, always complaining about some. But don’t forget about Jonah. He was down in the mouth, he came out of the way. Now, we’re looking here at this verse. And verse 10, but God hath revealed him unto us, those who love the Lord. God has revealed things to us. Not out of everybody, always knows exactly the same thing.

People are at different points in their Christian life. Some of you have learned some great lessons that other people haven’t learned yet. But then they’ve learned some lessons you probably haven’t learned. This is why loving each other and sharing with each other, we learn from each other because everybody is sooner or later going to face the same things in life. Here in verse 10, God had to reveal them unto us by what? Mad magazine, CNN, Hellywood reveal them to us by his spirit for the spirit.

Spirit. Now we’re talking about the Holy Spirit. We’re talking about the Holy Spirit of God. Searcheth all things. He can discern all things, knows all things, and he’s the one who wants to teach us discernment so that we can make better decisions in our life, understanding how to judge ourselves in my living in the spirit or my living in the flesh. Am I walking in light according to truth? Or am I walking in the flesh according to darkness? Can I discern the difference in my life?

you just do whatever you want to do and call it the will of God. You see a lot of people, they commit a lot of sin by praying. Well, I prayed about it. I prayed about it. And then they do whatever they want to do, so well I prayed about it. That doesn’t mean that God gave us approval upon it, you to do something that’s totally contrary to the word of God. So, notice what he says now in verse 11.

When he says in verse 10, the spirit search of theology, the deep things of God, things of God. This is after you’re saved. There’s things that God wants to teach all of His children deeper truths that make your life more precious to you and God more precious to you and the experiences of life where you get more out of life and you can put more into life. But people who walk in darkness can’t see, they don’t understand, they stumble and they fall and they go astray.

Well, I waste your whole life. You only got one time to do it right. You don’t get another chance. It’s one trip through life, no replays, no just one trip. Don’t you want to get it right? Don’t you want to serve a little with all your heart? Why you can’t? Because one of these days, some of you all that are younger, you’re going to get all like me. Take that. if you live as long as I have. And I’m not that old.

I just look old. I just feel old. And the longer I live, the older I feel. But anyway, look at this next verse. In verse 11, for what man doeth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him, even so the things of God know of no man, but the spirit of God. Now, now, we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us that we might know.

There’s so much more that God wants you to know. Why do you think we want young people to go to Bible college so they can know the truth, so they know what God said, so they can make better decisions for their life, so they got good discernment. Most of the time, church on Sunday morning, people that’s haphazard sometimes don’t come on Sunday night, Wednesday night, and just whenever you want to do it. And so you’re not going to learn the things that you could have learned.

So you’re not going to do and accomplish what you could have accomplished. It’s impossible because you cannot live above the truth of the Word of God without knowing the truth of the Word of God. You’ve got to know it. most people have never learned the word of God. Because you’re not gonna get enough on an hour on a Sunday morning to keep you going all week long. It won’t happen. Your life’s gonna be pretty much just the way it’s always been.

Don’t you sense that nothing’s happening in your life, that you’re just totally bored with all of it because you are not really close to the Lord and doesn’t really make any difference whether I go or if I’m not, if I’m involved or if I’m not, It’s a, you know, happenstance. Or is there a burning in your heart? I wanna know God more. I want him to be rich to me, precious to me. I wanna do something with my life that God wants me to accomplish because time is short.

We have no guarantee in life. The longer I live, the more I realize that. And I know what he says. In verse 12, now we have received not the spirit of the world, But he said to know the things that are freely given to us of God. And then in verse 13, which things, which things, also we speak not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth. Are there words that man’s wisdom teaches? Yes, sir, and the Bible says to be aware of the philosophy of man.

Stay away from it. God has given us what we need to guide our lives. But you see, most people don’t believe that as long as I got my little pinkies inside the pearly gates, that’s all I need to know. It’s not all you need to know. Just think what knowing that you have eternal life did for you. What if you knew the rest? What if you could discern other things that God has for you? Totally change your life. And you have a different reason why you’re living.

What is your real purpose in living? To get, and everything you get, you’re going to lose. Or is it because you want to do what God wants you to do and have fruit that’ll last for all eternity? It does make a difference. So we in verse 13, which things also we speak not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches can get comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Spiritual things by spiritual means. You see, you’ll learn how to discern things when the Holy Spirit that God gave to every one of his children to discern the truth that’s found in the Word of God.

So it can make a difference in your life. If the Word of God isn’t changing your life, you’re not in the Word of God. If your life is the same as it’s always been, you’re not walking with God. You’re not walking in the light. As a thing called hypocrisy. Another word is you don’t have the discernment and it’s called deception. If your life is unholy. You ought to be a godly individual. He says, be ye holy for I am.

What? Holy. Be ye holy. Well I don’t want nobody to call me, no holy, Joe. I wouldn’t mind it. call me anything that you want. As long as it’s pleasing to God, he’s the one that concerns me, and that’s the one that concerns you. Because the Bible says in Romans 14, every man shall give account of himself to God that day will come. Now, notice what he says also down in verse 14, the natural man, the lost man, receive if not the things of the Spirit, he cannot know them, the lost God, he doesn’t have the Holy Spirit.

But what’s the value of a Christian who does have the Holy Spirit but does not allow the Holy Spirit to teach him the deep things of God. And that’s why so many Christians are so shallow. They’re so shallow because they don’t know the deep truths of the Word of God. They can keep them solid, keep you strong and mature all your Christian life. Do you want to stumble, you want to fall, or do you want to walk with God?

And that’s why he says in the last part of verse 14, because they are spiritually discerned. See, there’s things of God are spiritually discerned. And then you find in verse 15, but he that is spiritual, judges all things, which is exactly what it says back there in chapter 2, of 1 John, verse 20, because you have an unto, you have the power of the Holy Spirit living within you to teach you so you can discern all these things God wants you to know and these things that you know are what’s going to help you in your walk with God.

And if you don’t know them, you don’t have that element of truth that can make a difference in the course of your whole life. I hope that some of this will make a little sense to you. I’m going to try something I haven’t done for a little while standing this is truth, this is truth, this hand representing you and me, and we have all sinned. And the truth is that we have sinned. And the wages of sin is death, that may be eternal separation from God and hell.

And that’s the truth. But God says that He loves us, wants us to go to heaven, and that’s the truth. But God says you cannot earn eternal life. You can’t work your way to heaven and that’s the truth. So we needed a Savior and that’s true. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord, God in the flesh. He came into this world because God loved us and the Son loved the Father. So the Son came into this world because he loves us and that’s so true.

He loved us so much. He took our sins and he paid for them on the cross and that’s true. He came back from the dead. That’s true. He ascended into heaven. One day he’s going to come back and that’s true. But you see he says, I go to my Father to prepare a place for you that where I am there you may be also because he God loves us and wants us to be in heaven with him. So the Bible says if I would believe that He did that for me.

He would put this payment He made to my account, and I get to go to heaven, all what Jesus Christ did for me. No tricks to it. That is so simple. And yet it is so simple that the majority of people that’s ever read the Bible don’t get it. You see why? Because it’s so deep. It is so deep, and that’s why you and I need to remember. If you want to be deep in the Word, be a soul winner, like this one guy says.

I don’t know if I want to do this certain job and go to college and learn because there’s so many people that can, you know, in that same field. Well, there’s always room at the top. This is the greatest thing you can ever do. There’s room at the top, because most people won’t do it. You want to be different. You want to be unique. Love the Lord enough, and love people enough that you want them to go to heaven, and you’re willing to tell them how.

Wasn’t that letter I read this morning Isn’t that awesome? After two years, I didn’t even know they existed. But think about the thousands that are here in the same thing, and I never hear from them. But one day we’re going to get to heaven, and they’re going to know that’s the congregation that paid for all those things on YouTube that we heard the gospel. And they come come up to you and say, was you one of them? Was you one of them?

Was you one of them? Was you one of them? you went to Calvary Community Church. And college is going to have a special section in heaven just for Calvary Community Church. You didn’t know that. Now that may be a little yank-yology, but I like to believe you realize that if it wasn’t for the people in this ministry that give sacrificial like they do, there wouldn’t be know you to them because all these things that we have, everything cost, everything cost.

Nothing’s free, nothing’s cheap except eternal life. It’s like the water’s free, it just costs to pipe it in. Let’s pray, shall we? With every head bowed and every eye closed, no one looking around. If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you write down the quietness of this moment and just say, Lord, I don’t understand at all, but I know I’m a sinner. And I believe that when Christ died, I believe He died for me, and I’m going to trust Him as my Savior this morning.

Friend, I’m not going to embarrass you, but I do want to have prayer for you. And I’m going to ask if you’re just sleeping in it very quickly and put it right back down. And by raising your hand, it just means I’m trusting Christ as my Savior this morning. If you’ve already done it, you’d never have to do it again. Is there any one of the law? Just raise your hand very quickly. But right back down, say, preach or pray for me.

And what at all? If you’re watching on the internet, there’s a little tab on the screen that says, yes, I’ll trust Christ, it might save you, I pray that you would. But let me ask you something else. Are you struggling? Are you hurting? You’re heavenly Father, hasn’t forgotten you. Take all your cares, because He cares for you and cast them on Him. Walk with the Lord. It will be worth it all. Father, we thank You again for Your blessings for all that You do for us.

We ask Your blessings upon each person here and those that are watching by Internet, nor we want to hear from people whose lives have been changed because of the message of the gospel that they’ve trusted You as Savior. And follow for those who wanted to wait at it a little bit deeper, learn a little bit more. and we ask your blessings upon each one. Christ name 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 813-884-4328. That’s 813-884-4328. 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’re 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 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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 and just keep looking up.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bible line to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

I want to pretend this morning, you know, just for a little bit. I want to pretend like I’m John in the Bible when he was 90 years old. I kind of feel like I’m closer to 90. But I want to talk to you today as a father talking to the children because that’s kind of like the the book of 1 John. I want you to take your Bible and turn with me to the book of John, the Gospel of John in chapter 17.

John chapter 17, we often ask people, do you know the Lord? Do you know the Lord? I know the Lord. I know the Lord from back in 1960, September. I know on a Friday I trusted Christ as my Savior so I know the Lord. I will say that it’s taken me almost 60 years to really know the Lord. I knew Him from the day I trusted Him as my Savior but to get to really know the Lord it’s taking me almost 60 years.

I think I know Him better today than I did 60 years ago. And that’s a little bit about what I want to talk to you about. Here in John chapter 17, if you’ll look there in verse 1, this is these words, spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.” See, it’s a two-way street. Glorify me so that I can glorify you. Jesus has glorified us so that we may glorify Him.

And the Bible says that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed. And then he also makes the statement in 1 Thessalonians, concerning the people that we reach for the Lord, ye are my crown of rejoicing, ye are my joy, you are my glory, the people we win to the Lord. The Bible says that you bear much fruit. Hearing is my Father glorified. So we’re here to give glory to God our heavenly Father.

And the people that we win to the Lord is one of the ways that we glorify the Father, because He gets glory from those people who trust Christ as their Savior. So the greatest thing you and I can be about is telling people the most important message in the world by that glorious gospel about how to have the glory, the perfection. He says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So here in this verse, he says this in verse 2, as thou have given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou have given him, all flesh.

There is made up of believers and unbelievers. And he says that according to this verse that he should give eternal life to as many as thou have given him. Now there is a good little note of explanation here in the church Bible that’s in front of you if you don’t have one. Or in your Bible if you look down at number three at the bottom of the page, seven times Jesus speaks of believers as given to him by the Father.

Jesus Christ is God’s love gift to the world. That’s a beautiful statement. And then he says, and believers are the Father’s love gift to Jesus Christ. In other words, what does Jesus get out of this? In the second Psalm it talks about we are His inheritance. This is what He gets because of what He does. And then He makes the statement here, it is Christ who commits the believer to the Father for safe keeping. So there is your security.

the Father says, He’ll never cast us out and never loses and none can take it out of His hand. But the day will come when we will be presented to the Son. That’s why in John chapter 6, all that the Father gives me shall come to me and Him that come up to me, I will know why He’s cast out. And then He says here, So that the believer’s security rests upon the father’s faithfulness to his son Jesus Christ.

Now God had promised that he would justify the heathen through faith and the son had to come and make the payment for the sins of the world so that God the Father could keep his word. You realize that Jesus had not come and was not faithful to do the will of the Father that the Father could not have saved anybody? There would be no salvation. But They did come. Now look at verse three. And this is life eternal, that they may know the, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast said, to know God is to have eternal life.

And you can’t have eternal life unless you know God. And you can only know God through the Son. And that’s why he says in John 14, he that have seen me have seen the Father. So why ask, show us the Father, show us God, look at Jesus and you’ll see God. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. If you really want to know God is revealed in your walk with the Heavenly Father. You see, you can know God through Jesus Christ when you trusted Him as your Savior.

I wrote a little note down there. To really know God is revealed in your walk with your heavenly Father. If you never learn to walk with the Lord, you’ll never understand God. You’ll never see why He does what He does. You’ll not be able to discern the character of God. And there’s a lot of descriptions and attributes concerning the character of God. And you’ll learn those in your life by walking with God and seeing what God will do for you, through you and to you.

So it’s an important thing. I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of 1 John, the book of 1 John and chapter 1. 1 John and chapter 1. And notice what the disciple here is saying when he makes the statement about our walk with God, our fellowship with the Lord. You see, it was one thing that they knew him here in the place, but they also learned about God, the way God is. You notice in verse three, that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that he also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

And these things right we unto you that your joy may be full. So these are things that are written so that people’s joy could be full. There’s great joy in knowing, truly knowing, intimately knowing God your Heavenly father. There’s things about God you will never understand unless you walk with him. You may be as child you’ll go to heaven when you die, but until you learn how to walk with the Lord. You’ll always hear me saying, I don’t care what’s going on in your life.

The Lord will walk you through it until he takes you home. It may be you got cancer, finances, social. I don’t care what the problem may be. There is no problem that you have greater than your God to deliver you. And the way he may deliver you out of all of your problems as he might take you home. Don’t fear death. It was amazing that while I was in the hospital I had some people send me some funnies. And out of about 10 funnies every last one of them dealt with death.

That really encouraged me. But anyway, I didn’t die. I’m not dead yet. May come tomorrow. But this is a very important verse. Now take your Bible looking 1 John chapter 2. So here you’re talking about the fellowship that you have with the Lord during your life. Fellowship is like two fellows in a ship. going in the same way. You and God, how can two walk together unless they be agreed? And so chapter 2, and there’s two verses here I want to bring to your attention, verse 9, where it says, he that saith he is in the light and hated his brother is in darkness even until now.

Look, I’ll be here very quickly. When we are born into this world, this is the flesh that walks in the dark. It doesn’t have the light of God, doesn’t know. He’s lost. This is a person with a sinful nature and we all sin. So whenever you trust Christ as your Savior, God doesn’t change this birth. He gave you a new birth which is the Holy Spirit living within you. You have a new spiritual birth. These are separate from each other.

This one walks in the light. This one walks in the flesh, in the dark. So if you tell God in other people, if you believe that you’re walking in the light but you’re bringing forth the works of the flesh, you’re lying to yourself. You’re deceiving yourself. So he says here, if you say you’re in the light, doesn’t mean it’s true, you’re saying though. You’re believing something, it’s not true. And you hate your brother. Well, hate. Does that come from the new birth or does that come from the old birth that comes from this one?

So that means you’re lying. You’re not walking with the Lord. You’re not fellowshiping with the Lord. You’re walking into flesh. So first John is to help us to see how we’re walking, how we’re doing. You see John, when he was young, was probably one of the youngest disciples. And he was the one that loved the Lord and he was always the one that was leaning on his breast. And he talks about how he was the one whom he loveth.

And he’s always writing about love. John is a book on love. And first John is another book on love. But it’s to the believer on how to judge for himself to discern things in his life. And that’s why I want you to see the verse 10. Because you see in verse 10, he said, he that loveth his brother abideth in the light or darkness, the light. So that means you’re walking in truth, you’re walking in the light, you’re walking according to the new birth.

See, God has fellowship with you. And then he says this, and there is none occasion of, and you ought to underlying these three words, non-occasion of stumbling in Him. Remember, we’re talking about a walk with God, not a step. First John 1-9 is a step. It is not the walk. When you cease to walk with God because you choose to walk in the flesh, confessing your sins is you acknowledging, Lord, I’m walking in the flesh. Confessing that only up to the truth, you can now walk in the Spirit.

But confessing your sin is not the walk, is to enable you to walk with God. It doesn’t make your spiritual, it’s so that you can be spiritually minded, by minding the Spirit, minding the truth of the Word of God. So we acknowledge this is why you need to learn discernment in the Word of God so that you can judge clearly between walking in the Spirit and walking in the flesh. So the book of 1 John is to help us not to fall because if you don’t stumble you won’t fall.

And so the way to keep from stumbling is to walk in the light or darkness. So that light means walking according to the new birth that God gave to you. And so this is very, very important. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Hebrews in chapter 8. The book of Hebrews in chapter 8. This is a reference, believe it or not, in the book of Hebrews to the Hebrews in the Old Testament. And in the book of Jeremiah, in chapter 31, talks about they will not stumble.

They will not stumble because they’re going to walk with the Lord. Not everybody is going to walk with the Lord. But when you don’t walk in the light according to the truth, well then you’re going to stumble. stumble and you stumble you’re going to fall. And when you fall you can’t be walking with God. And so you need to learn to discern for yourself. So here in the book of Hebrews in chapter 8, I want to look there in verse 10.

This is a reference to an Old Testament covenant and there is a covenant that demanded righteousness and the failure to produce this righteousness of the law produced death. Temporary, you are dead. You die. That’s stone you to death. You didn’t keep the law and the sacrifice that it means the shortness of your life. But if you can’t do that and prohibit physical death, how are you going to produce this spiritual life? Grace is always the way a man is saved.

So he says here in verse 10, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days. Sayeth the Lord, I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me and people.” Now that part of the verse is also quoted in the book of Revelation when he says, and I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And he goes down and he says, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people, a fulfillment of a promise that he may be back in the book, the Old Testament. And here referring to it again, and he says here in verse 11, and they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother. Why? Do you not have to say, do you know the Lord? Do you know the Lord?

Because they all will know the Lord. the last part of the verse, from the least to the great day, all going to know Him. The day is coming when everybody will live for all eternity because we know the Lord. That’s what knowing God gets for us. The day you trusted Christ as your Savior, you got a free pass into eternity to be with the Lord. And God became your Father. You became His child. And I will be to them, their God, our Father.

And we shall be His people. And that’s why we’re called the children of God. Beloved, we are the children of God. And to not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. That day is coming. And see in verse 11, and they shall not teach that. the Lord for all shall see me.” Now it’s one thing to know the Lord and know that you have eternal life because to know Him is to have eternal life.

And if you don’t have eternal life, you don’t know the Lord. All the religions of the world, if they don’t know they have eternal life, they don’t know God. And they don’t believe what Jesus Christ said. Because Jesus says, if you believe you have everlasting life. So if you believe, what are you supposed to have? And if you don’t know you have everlasting life, then you don’t believe what he said. And that’s important to remember. Very, very important. Take your Bible and turn to 1 John chapter 5.

First John in chapter 5. First John chapter 5. Now you’ll see parts of these verses referred to in the gospel of John. and it also especially in the 15th chapter of John and as you read through the book of 1 John you’ll notice a word that’ll stand out kind of slapshipside the head. The word to know, know, know, know. We know, we know, we know, we know. Well in order to know that this is true and know this is true and know this is true and know and know it, know he kind of puts all of it, hinging upon the greatest foundation that if you can believe God about this and know this is true, then you can know that this and this and this and this and this is also true.

If I know that if I trust Christ as my Savior and He gives me eternal life and I can take God at His Word for that, then why can’t I take God’s word that he will never leave me and never forsake me and that regardless of what I go through he will see me through. And that whatever suffering that I may have to go through, it will be worth it all. Because you see, I have a great foundational truth.

See there in 1 John chapter 5 verse 13, look at it. These things have I written unto you that give the 10 commandments and obey the goal and roll and go to Calvary Community Church. Then what it says? No. These things have I written unto you that believe. So that means if it’s written to those that believe, then it must be something every believer should know, because he wrote it to those that believe. Now if you believe, then you should know this.

Look what you’re supposed to know. He says, these things, have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may what? Know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. whether or not that’s a reference to a mixed audience or not in case somebody else, it’s believers should know they have eternal life and the lost man should know he can have eternal life if he believes.

But notice the next verse, this is the what? You ought to circle this word, confidence. This is the confidence. What’s the confidence? If you can know that you have eternal life and if you can believe that what God said. Then we as God’s children don’t believe everything else that he has to say with that. Don’t you agree? So let me ask you this, what was the greatest problem you have ever had in your whole life? The greatest problem, your greatest need and take all the way to the end of your life and when you died where was you going?

You were on your way to hell. Now, regardless of what happened in the period of time that you lived, whether it’s 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, it doesn’t matter how long you lived, your greatest problem was where were you going when you died. Now, if God can take care of your biggest need, your greatest problem that you’ve ever faced so far in your whole life, can He take care of all the little stuff in between? If God can give me eternal life, can I trust him to give me a hamburger from day to day?

For God, he’s bankrupt. He has no means to take care of me. I’ve got a heavenly Father who has forsaken me. Do you believe that God knows everything that’s going to happen to his children? What you’re going to do? You know, I thought it was really bad that day that I went in had that surgeon and thought, God didn’t know about this. God didn’t know I was going to have to go through this because, you know, if you really love me, if Compatibility, he really loved meAttorney, he wouldn’t let this happen to me.

I mean, he knows that I like this thing and now I can’t sing. He knows that I like to do the wallet illustration by lifting my hand all the way up. And now I can only go here. Boy, I wish God knew that ahead of time. But You see, God doesn’t know everything, He can’t do everything. And you’d be surprised at how you’ll feed your mind with questions and doubts. I try to tell the college kids, feed your faith and your doubts will start to death.

But if you don’t, you’re gonna feed your doubts and your faith will start to death. So how you doing? Learn this. Now, you’ll notice in verse 14, this is the confidence. See, 5’13 is to give us confidence to believe what else he has said in the book of 1 John. He said that if we ask anything according to Israel, he hear at the, now that’s mentioned also in the book of John in chapter 14. What’s whoever you ask my father in my name, I will give it to you.

But the confidence of you to doing that is based upon do you really believe that you have eternal life? Because you took God in his word. And now you know that you’re saved, you’re going to heaven when you die. Well then believe this, God hasn’t stopped loving you just because you trust in Christ’s Savior. God hasn’t taken a vacation. God is intricately involved in your life, whether you see Him or not. And He’s bringing things into your life and taking things out of your life because He’s building your character because He wants you to be like Him.

He wants you to love Him more than the love of the world and that’s why in chapter 2 he talks about the love of the Father and if you love the world then that means you don’t love Him and He’s going to reveal these things to you. And so that’s why he lets you have all the problems because he’s trying to get you to get closer to him. He hasn’t forsaken you. He knows who you are. He knows how you hurt.

He knows what you go through. And God will do what He promised. You see, when he talks about there, notice what he says in 1 John chapter 3. looking verse 19. First John chapter 3 verse 19, here by we what? We know. You see we know. How do we know that because God keeps his word. God promised. Well what if I don’t believe what God says? And I begin to question and doubt. Well that’s why he says up there in 1 John chapter 5 and verse 10.

Look what he says verse 10, because throughout this first John, he talks about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit that is within you, the Holy Spirit that is to lead you, the one that they give you this spiritual joy that you’re supposed to have. He says in verse 10, he that believer on the Son of God have the witness in himself, what is this witness that he has inside me? See, I am indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God.

And the Holy Spirit is to teach us truth. The Holy Spirit is holy. The Holy Spirit never teaches you a lie. The Holy Spirit doesn’t lead you astray. The Holy Spirit doesn’t desert you and leave you. We’re sealed into the day of redemption till we get our new body. That’s how secure we are and we ought to believe what God’s Word has to say. And then he says in verse 10, He that believeth not God hath made him what?

Made him a liar. You know that’s also found in 1 John 1, look what he says there. In 1 John 1 and verse 10. If we say we have not sinned, we make him what? This is to the believer. The believer calling God a liar. Because when you begin to question and doubt God, you’re saying, saying, God, I don’t believe you. You can’t take care of me. God may want to give you the peace, the love, the joy. He may not send you finances.

You see, between you and him, that’s more important, that you don’t start questioning and doubting your heavenly Father because you didn’t get what you wanted. You’re not as healthy as you would like to be. You don’t have the friend, maybe you’d like to have. You’d be surprised in this life how many things go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong. But God’s never done you wrong. God has never failed you. God doesn’t lie to you. God doesn’t deceive you.

God doesn’t tempt you. How do you know all of that? Because he said so. He said so. And you’d be surprised how you’re like and be filled with questions and doubts. And as a child of God, you’ll never get to know God personally. He is more real to me than the clothes I’ve got on my back. And He ought to be real to you. That you know regardless of what comes, what happens? Instead of griping and grumbling and murmuring and complaining.

But a smile on your face, isn’t it great to be alive and have a father like I’ve got. I got a father that will never leave me, and he wants the best for me.” 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 813-884-4328.

That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible Line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you’re 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 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

Now look at this next thing. Here in Acts chapter 14 where he says he would be killed. We know that and believe that according to 2 Corinthians in chapter 12, he said, I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago, whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell, but such a one was caught up into the third heaven. We believe that’s what happened to Paul. Even though they wanted to kill him, God used that to show him things that no man had ever seen and come back to the earth and live and then God put a thorn in his flesh to make things worse for him, lest he be exalted above measure that he was somebody that he shouldn’t think that way.

So God had to humble him all the days of his ministry. He said, well, why would God do that? Because he’d be lifted up with pride. Pride destroys every person. When you think more about yourself than you do about the word of God says. When you get to think, I don’t need God, I don’t need church, I don’t need the Bible. No, you get it all nailed down. You can handle everything all by yourself. You fool. That’s a fool.

All right, but anyway, Galatians chapter one, look over there very quickly. The book of Galatians, Galatians in chapter one. Look what Paul had to say. Galatians chapter one in verse 13. Here he is telling a little bit about the way he was before he ever trusted Christ as a Savior. He says, for you have heard of my conversation or my behavior, my testimony, in time passed in the Jews religion because he was a religious man. How about beyond measure?

I persecuted the church of God and wasted it. This is what I did. Now God had to do a work in his life. Have you got things Sometimes you have to hit somebody over the head with a two before. Not everybody sees everything the same way. And sometimes you can prejudge things that happen in somebody else’s life. And sometimes you can look at somebody and they’re going through the trials of tribulation, I know what they did. You don’t really know, you guess.

But did you know there’s a warning in the scripture, like in the book of Luke about the one Pharisee that says, Lord, I’m so glad I’m not like those other ones. And they look down their long fairs, silken nose. Well, I’m glad I’m not like that. I’m glad I’m not like that. I’m so holy. I go to church all the time and I pray and I give. Man am I holy. And another man just says, Lord be merciful to me as sinner because he just knew he was a sinner.

And there’s some people don’t think, well, I’m glad I’m not that bad. I’m not that bad, but I’m not that bad. And they just kind of prejudge everybody else. You better watch that, because there’s verses in the Bible about people who do that. Lock those doors. No. Now look at this. Look there in 1 Corinthians chapter three, 1 Corinthians chapter three. Now you need to know these verses are in the Bible because they will help you. 1 Corinthians chapter three, when you trusted Christ as your Savior, The Bible says you were born of God and your body becomes the temple of God.

See, God doesn’t live here in this church. I’ve seen some people that don’t just… Quiet. Be holy. So why are we going to be holy? Quiet. We might wake up God. He doesn’t live here. But how do I know God is here? I brought him. He lives inside of me. My body is the temple of God. Look what he says there in verse 17. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

Your body is the temple of God. And if you defile that body, and a lot of people have died way before their time. They have killed that body with alcohol. drugs and doing things that should not do, running with the wrong people at the wrong time, doing all kinds of things, AIDS. But there’s crimes, sins that can be committed against the body. And a lot of people who have gotten diseases of the body because of sex with people they’re not supposed to be with.

And there’s a price to pay and they die early. But if you know Christ is your Savior, you can’t sin against the body and get away with it. Now God talks about, yes, as a word praso, poeo, not one single act, but praso to habitually committing certain sins over and over and over again, and you can destroy that body that you have, and you have to be very careful. So He says, for the temple of God is holy which temple you are.

Now look in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, just briefly. I I want to show you how the church doing what’s right, it became a blessing. And verse 1, it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you. So it wasn’t something that was just a casual thing. This was commonly reported. Is it not so much as named among the gentile that one should have his father’s wife? Where are you are popped up and not rather mourn why because it’s wrong that he that have done this deed might be taken from among you.”

In other words, taken out. You say, I don’t know if that’s what it’s said. Well, if you look down here a little bit further, for I verily has absentened body, but present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning Him that have so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, talk about this church, and my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the what?

Of the flesh. That’s dead. So God can remove his hand of protection when you decide to live outside of that little umbrella called the will of God. And so whenever you move outside that realm then I don’t pray God bless that person because I don’t want God to bless that person in his rebellion. I pray God chasing the person for the purpose of correction, put a hedge of forms around that individual, so that whatever he does, or she does, it pricks them and makes them get back under that element.

So you can always pray for everyone within the will of God. And those that are in the will of God, they still get sick And they still get tired and weak and they still die. But it won’t be because of chasening of the Lord. Or I should say, rebellion. So you can serve the Lord and suffer for it. And you can be rebellious and suffer for it. That’s why in the book of Peter, he talks about it is better to suffer for doing right than to suffer for doing wrong.

Doesn’t it say that? It’s in there. So there’s choices that we can make. So when I go home to be with the Lord, I wanted to be because he’s ready for me, not because I had to be taken home against God’s will, because I was rebellious. I want to serve the Lord all the days of my life. That’s why these scriptures that are written in the world of God are so important for us. But what I want you to see, though, that’s what they were prayed to take it home that his spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord, This is what God wanted the church to do, but now take your Bible and turn to 2 Corinthians 2 Corinthians in chapter 1 Now this is an important tag on that verse of that incident and You’ll notice here in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and look in verse 1

He’s referring now back to the time when he told them as a church what to do about the brother of that sin against God. But I determined this with myself that I would not come again to you in heaviness. For if I made you sorry, who is he then that makeeth me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me? And I wrote this same unto you lest when I came I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice.

Having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all, for out of much affliction and anguish of heart. Now this is Paul’s feelings because you see, doesn’t mean that Paul doesn’t love the person. You love the person but not what they were doing and the testament was having for the church. So he says if I wrote unto you with many tears, not that you should be grieved but that you should know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.

But if any have caused grief, he have not grieved mean, but in part that I may not overcharge you all sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted by many. In other words, the church praying for the individual woke the person up. They correct the problem. Now that person has corrected the problem, forgive the person, now pray for the person. So that contrary wise you out rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with over much sorrow.

See, sometimes you step outside that little umbrella of protection and God’s people are supposed to pray that God can correct that person or chasten that person for the purpose of correction because you want them to get back so they can commit a sin that is worthy of death, but if they’ll correct the problem, they don’t have to die. Did you realize, and I’ll show you this in just a minute, this is such an important lesson to remember because every one of us sooner or later, somewhere along the line, will have to face it for ourselves or someone we know and love, because not all of God’s children all serve the Lord to the same degree, do they?

Yet we want them to, but discerning how to pray is very, very important. So he says up here in verse eight, wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him. Now, without first Corinthians, we would have a clue what he’s talking about here. But we do have Corinthians, and so we do know. And he says in verse nine, for to this end also did I write that I might know the proof of you whether you be obedient in all things and learning how to forgive an individual who steps outside of the boundary of the will of God.

So that’s why he says in the book of Galatians, he says, ye which are strong, seek to restore them that are weak. So that means you have to know why are they weak, well because they’re walking in the flesh. See, strong believers don’t walk in this flesh, they walk in the spirit. Weak believers can walk in this flesh, and not the spirit. So those who are strong to suppose encourage and pray for the other individual. Now look at the next script I want you to see.

In the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 11, turn there, 1 Corinthians in chapter 11, just turn to you, left a couple pages. These are verses that we generally read just about every time we have communion service. But I want you to see a couple verses here with me. You’ll notice there in verse 28. There were individuals in the church that were coming together but they were getting drunk and they had a lot of problems in the church and they were not correcting anything.

So you can’t get right for somebody else and somebody else can’t get right for you. So he says examine yourself, see there in verse 28, but let a man, the individual, examine his neighbor. And what we do? Well I’m not as bad ass boy I’m glad you’re there. I’m glad you’re really bad because that doesn’t make me look so bad. No he says let a man examine himself so let him eat that bread and drink of that cup and for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation or judgment to himself not discerning the Lord’s body judgment to himself then you see there in verse 30 for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep.

Three different things, but you’ll notice that I have here in the notes. I want you to look at it very quickly. One is examine yourself. Two, judge yourself. You got to correct it, right? Three, confess to God. That means all up to it. This is what I did. The fourth thing for sake of sin. And that’s where you have 1 John 1 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin, thank cleansers from all unripe.

That is one of the things that you do. Why do you confess it? Because I examined myself, I’ve judged myself that it was wrong. And now I confess it to God. And now the last thing is forsake the sin. Now, look at the words under result, because this is so important. When we have here, he is faithful. Talk into God now. He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And according to 1 Corinthians 1131, we will not be judged.

Our look up here, I’m God and I’ve got a great big O’ Umbrella. And there’s room here for everybody. It’s called the will of God. And you’ve got a lot of freedom within the will of God to make a lot of decisions between right and right. You see, this is right and that’s wrong outside of the will of God. you’ve got a lot of decisions that you can make. But when you step outside of the will of God and you walk into flesh and you wind up doing things that you know is ungodly and it’s wrong, you can do one of two things.

You can examine yourself because you know God could take you on home and there are sins to be taken home and there are sins that once they have been confessed to God because you examined yourself, judged it was wrong and corrected the problem, then God says, you will not be judged. So there are sins that are not under death. Sins that the Christian has made right concerning. And I believe that is also taught in the book of 1 John, and I believe that’s a good possibility.

This is what those verses are talking about. So when we see those at the outside of the will of God, we’re to pray that God will use chasening in their life to bring them back to the Lord. It’s not because you hate people because you love them. And you know the greatest thing for them is to walk with the Lord and to love the Lord and stay within that boundary of the will of God. And you’d be surprised I pray God blessings on all those people who want to serve God.

Who want to be used by God. And I want God’s blessing. I want you to be happy because you’re doing what God says to do. And the Holy Spirit brings you great comfort when you obey the Lord. But when you step outside of that boundary, I don’t ask God, Lord, comfort them. They’re committed adultery, they’re on drugs that are ruining their life. Lord, I want you to bless them. No, I don’t. I want you to put a hedge of borns about them so that they’ll be pricked in their hearts and their minds and see the era of their ways.

And that’s why I want you to see another verse with me. But look there in the boldness first of all, what I have, these can be sins that are not under death because they were confessed and corrected. And I believe that’s what 1 John wants us to do. Everybody doesn’t always walk perfect. We mess up. But when we mess up, straighten up. When somebody falls, don’t put your foot on the back of their head and say, well, you blew it, mash them into the mud.

No, we try to pick them up. We want to help them. Because if we don’t, then God says considering it could be you next time. You realize how easy it is to fall and there are all these problems in life. So look down at the next statement, 1 Corinthians 11, 28, not everyone that was sick committed the same sin. Not everyone that is weak commits the same sin. Not everyone that dies commits the same sin because these committed a certain sin and not the same thing happened.

Just because somebody did something and they did nothing happen to them, well, I’m going to do it too. Bad move, bad judgment. And James chapter 5 very quickly I want you to turn there. The book of James, right after the book of Hebrews, this is in James page 1310 in your Bible. We have some interesting scriptures that are mentioned here and they kind of give us another idea of the power of prayer. And you’ll notice here in the book of James in chapter 5 started there in verse 13.

In verse 13, is any among you afflicted? How many of you feel like you might be in the afflicted area? I’m there. I am there. I have been greatly afflicted. And some of y’all have been going through exactly the same thing. Just another area, another part of your body, but there’s problems. And the older we get, they come heat together. Anyway, is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Well, why pray if it can’t be resolved? If nothing can happen about it.

You may want to pray. not so much that the affliction goes away, but you may have the strength and the grace you need to bear the affliction. Because see, that’s something that can be done. That’s in the will of God. God cannot just take away everybody’s affliction. Now nobody got any problems. Isn’t that great? But then that’s contrary to Scripture.

Look what else he says. Is any Mary let him sing Psalms? Well, I can’t even sing the opening song we did today. But I anticipate down the road with great, joyful anticipation, I’m gonna be all singing again. And I know that’ll bless your heart. Verse 14, is any sick among you? I bet I don’t want to raise a hand on this. That might include the half of the church. Is any sickling? Let him call for the elders of the church?

Let them pray over him, anointing him with all in the name of the Lord. That’s why we have a Wednesday night prayer service. You want prayer? Come on and give us your request. And the people here, everybody here will pray for you. That means somebody has to know you’re hurting. I’ve had people say, I was in the hospital and you didn’t come to see me. Did you tell me you were in the hospital? Well, no, you’re supposed to know.

So I have decided it from now on. Anybody goes to the hospital? That’ll be Bob Gilbert and Bob Brooks’ responsibility. And we’re moving to verse 15. And the prayer of faith. Now, if you have been sick because of sin that you have done against the Lord and God knows what you’ve done and you know what you’ve done and you’d be surprised how God can prick your little mind to let you know this is what this is for. I don’t believe my heavenly Father just spanks me for no reason and then never tells me.

I believe God lets you know. And if it’s because of sin and you’re like, You know, you know, you know. It’s kind of like that guy that went into the pet story wanted to find him with just the right pet. He walked in and there was a parrot. And that parrot says, hey, mister. Little Trois is this? Yeah, you’re ugly. So you walked in before the wagon. That parrot hollowed out, hey mister, you’re ugly. And so the owner came back there and took ahold of that bird, shook them, slapped them right a little bit, says, don’t you talk to the customers like that?

Don’t you ever again? Went back to the front, that mister came back getting ready to go out the door, and that bird said, hey mister, you’re trying to look at that bird, better at birds, you know. You know. You know. When you do something wrong, you know. You know. And he says, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he have committed sins, they shall be what? Because if the sickness is because of sin, you can correct the problem.

Otherwise, the sickness could take your life. But that’s between you and the Lord. But he also says in verse 16, see that word confess? Because if you’ve done things against somebody and you haven’t confessed that sin, maybe even to the person that you wronged and you haven’t confessed it, is that right or wrong? Is that a sin? Is it possible that you could get sick from something like it? Could God have the freedom to take you home if you wanted to?

And yet nobody else know the real reason, but you know, you know. And so that’s why he says in verse 16, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man available much, not everything, much, but not everything. Some things we can pray for that can never be. There’s some things God cannot do and will not do. And that’s why he made the statement down here in verse 19. Brethren, if any one of you do air from the truth. So we’re talking about believers go in a stray living in air and one converted.

Let him know that he which converted the center from the air of his way shall save a soul from what? Death. And shall hide a multitude of sin. Now that also helps when we apply it to the lost man. Is it we want a man to have eternal life? So you can pray for that. But you see, God can extend a person’s life who corrects the problem, but God may not, and you don’t know how much time God’s going to give you to correct the problem.

You don’t know where the finish line is. You might have thought you had 30, 40 years, and God just moved that up because of your rebellion. I’m not God. I don’t play Holy Spirit in people’s lives. But I know what this book says, and sometimes it’s scary for me to tell. the last line on here that’s in bold. NBN is where are you going? When you die, whether you’re lost or saved, you should know that you have eternal life because God doesn’t take that away from you.

But God can shorten your life because of stiff-necked rebellion to God. So if you want to live a little bit longer and get a little extension of life and little tranquility of peace in your mind, then realize I need to examine myself and I need to judge myself on how I correct this problem. Confess that thing to the Lord and God says He’ll forgive and you can have but you need to forsake the wrong way. That means get back underneath the umbrella of the will of God.

Look up here. Letting this hand represent you and me and this wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us but He hates what we do wrong. And everything that I’ve said this morning, I want you to understand this. Saved or lost, God loves you but He hates what you do wrong. And so Christians sometimes step outside the will of God. We just got to find out what we’re missing out on. You know, can I have more fun doing my will than I can, God’s when I realize that my very life, my very breath, my very heartbeat depends upon God.

I don’t want to make him mad, would you? Not me. He has power and he can take everything away, even my very life. God says He loves us, hates our sin. And for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in hell. But God loves us and wants to go to heaven and to go to heaven, we have to be perfect no sin. But we all have sinned. We’ve all come short of God’s perfection. God says we cannot save ourselves.

This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord, God in the flesh. Came into this world because He loves us, but He hates our sin. He hates what we’ve done wrong. And our sin separates us. So Jesus Christ, see, I couldn’t do anything about it. But Jesus Christ, who had no sin, took all my sin and all your sins paid for them on the cross came back from the dead. And God said if we’d believe he did it for us, he’d put this payment to our count and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us.

It’s the greatest thing around, you know why I want to live long? I enjoy telling the story. If there’s no other reason for telling the story, you can learn to take me on now. But I enjoy telling people the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you’re watching by internet, all you have to do is trust Christ to save you and God will give eternal life. You’ll never cast you out and never lose you. It’s the gift, totally free. And on the screen it says, yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior.

If you’ve never done it, I pray that you would. 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 813-884-4328. That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible Line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the radio broadcast link.

If you’re 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 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328 or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

I’m going to speak this morning on the subject called the sin unto death. Found in the book of 1 John chapter 5, you’d be surprised how many different views there are on this one little simple portion of scripture. And I’ll have to admit, out of front, I’m not 100% that mine is correct. That’s why you’re going to read the verses and you’re going to study the scriptures and you’re going to come out with what you believe it might be.

So first of all, take your Bible and turn to the book of 1 John chapter 5. Now remember, now we have a heavenly Father who really knows how to love His children. Do you believe that God gets up in the morning and looks over the banister of Heaven and looks down here and he sees you and says, Boy, I’ve got to talk to you today. I know you deserve it. So I’m gonna go ahead and just beat the Torah out of you from morning to night.

Wouldn’t that be wonderful to get up every day knowing that your heavenly Father was just gonna beat you for no reason? Punish you and you don’t even know why. Have you ever spanked your child without telling them why they’re being spanked? Now don’t answer that, you probably have. But I know I have been warped at times and I’ve been totally innocent. I sense a wave of doubt as it sweeps across the room. But my daddy used to just whoop me just for general principle, because he knew I did something.

He didn’t know what it was, but he knew I was guilty of something. Now my sisters, he didn’t do that with him. Only the firstborn son. And I wish I had been the lastborn son. But he would just beat the Torah to me, and I hadn’t done anything wrong. I did not deserve it. And I can recall some of those moments. I’ve said this before. My daddy was an officeman, but we went on a few wailing expeditions. But you got a heavenly father who loves you so much, and I don’t believe my heavenly father just gets up and starts beating on obedient children.

Now disobedient children, he may have to call you in and obtain your hide a little bit, but I don’t believe God whoops us without telling us what it’s for. Chasing us for no reason at all. So I want to talk to you about the sin unto death. But first of all, I want to read these two little statements that I wrote here, because I think it’ll help you to understand where I’m coming from. So let’s look at the little paragraph there.

How do we distinguish between those who sin unto death and those who do not? Remember now we’re talking about believers. Our prayers can never override the will of God, even though God tells us to pray according to his will and whatsoever we ask, he will do, but it’s always within his will, whatsoever he has to father in my will, according to my will. So that’s why we studied the Word of God so that we can understand the will of God so we can discern the things that we should pray for, not only concerning ourselves, but also for one another because prayer is a powerful thing.

And God tells us throughout the scriptures, pray, pray, pray. And all of the great men of the Bible, they always prayed. And Jesus, when he was here, he prayed. So there’s got to be something to this prayer life of ours, where you’re talking to the Lord. But when you talk to the Lord, you should expect something from the Lord, especially whenever we’re making requests unto the God. We’re asking God to do something, either for us or for someone else.

So our Purse can never override the the will of God or the will or desire of a man. In other words, we can’t take away his will by praying. Because people will have their own will to make choices and decisions. And so we cannot override those things. We can appeal and appeal to the authority that’s over them that God would do something for them. Remember now, picture me up here with a nice, great, big ole umbrella in my hand.

Under this umbrella is the will of God. Outside of the umbrella is not the will of God. So under the umbrella where we have the protection of God, the will of God and how he can lead and guide us, and we can have all kinds of freedom to move around under this big old giant umbrella called the will of God. But sometimes as children of God, We want to get on the outside of God’s protection, outside the will of God.

And when we do, you have moved yourself away from the protection of the Lord. It’s not like God has to know from heaven, zap me so that I, ah, you did that. Boom, you’re dead. You’re dead. He doesn’t kill everybody who steps outside of his will. but whenever you choose voluntarily to step outside of the will of God, then you may be moving yourselves outside of the wisdom of God, the protection of God, and therefore God can remove His protection from you that you suffer the consequences of your own natural decisions.

The next thing is I never pray for God to bless rebellion, but I do ask God to chaste them for correction. So there arePlot children of God that don’t always obey what God’s word says. So I don’t ask God’s, get them God, strike them dead. Now they did that in the Old Testament, but I don’t do that today. I don’t. But I do ask God not to bless them, but to chaste them and for the purpose of correcting them so that they can get back into the will of God.

Look at the next statement. Although all men will die in this physical body. There are some sins that produce physical death and there are some sins that do not produce physical death. The main question is does this the chasing of the Lord ever bring physical death in order to shut down his life earlier than it could have. In other words, You ever hear people make this statement? When it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go. You ever hear that?

When it’s your time to go, that’s it. And yet doesn’t the Bible say from the book of Deuteronomy in chapter six, when he says, to do all of these things, heart, mind, body, and soul, if you’ll do all of these things that you may have eternal life, no, it didn’t say that, that your days may be long upon the earth, that your life can be extended. And so there is a possibility that our lives can be long. He even tells in the book of Ephesians where he talks about the children of God, obey your parents that it may be long your days upon the earth, a promise of living longer.

That doesn’t mean that you’re not going to some people die, but it’s a general principle. And there’s lots of these in scripture, but God can intervene in anyone’s life at any given time. It’s appointed unto every man wants to die and after this to judgment. But we do know that Enoch didn’t die. Well, who made that first role in the start with? Well, God did. Can he suspend it if he wants to? And he’s God. Isn’t God sovereign enough to give me a free will?

Now, there’s a lot of people saying, no, he can’t do that. God is sovereign, but he can’t give me a free will. Anyway, he got a problem with that. So God gives you and I choices to make in our life. Now look at the next statement. Number one there, remember one incident may be a trial to one person, a temptation to another, a chastened to another and a warning to another. The same thing that can happen to me, that can happen to you could be a testing to me, it may be a chastening for me, it may be a warning.

But see, people are different stages of their Christian life. And God may use different things to wake us up, to challenge us. You’re not living your life totally without God been aware of who and where you are and what you and I are doing. So we do have God intricately involved in our lives. You may not discern it. We often call everything an accident, don’t we? But I don’t know if God, other accident, God’s, oh man, I didn’t know that was going to happen.

Is it something that we call an accident, something we didn’t plan? I fell down the stairs. Did you do it on purpose? Oh yes. What happened? I broke both legs. So you plan to do that? Well, generally, no. So we call it an accident. It’s interesting that these Calvinists, it talks about everything is the will of God. And then they get insurance to override the will of God. But anyway, we’ll move right along. In Acts chapter 5, but first of all, before we go there, I want us now to take a look there in 1 John chapter 5 verse 13.

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And then it adds another statement and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. God. That means to continually believe in other things outside of just having eternal life. So that’s why he says, and this is the confidence in verse 14. And verse 14, this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

So we have to know if we have according to his will. So that’s where your discernment comes in. Assuring the will of God. study in the world of God so that you can discern the will of God, so that you can make better promises or I should say better decisions for your life because you want better results from your decisions. Don’t you always want to make the right decision and get the best results from that decision? Well, I always think that would be a normal desire of all of us.

And then he says in verse 15, and if we know that he hears us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the positions that we we desire of him. If any man see his brother sent a sin which is not on the death, he shall ask. And he shall give him life for them that sin not on the death. There is a sin on the death. I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin and not on the death.

Now you have to admit, boy, this is really interesting. What does it mean? I don’t know. Well, I got an idea. But I know he’s talking to believers. who have trusty Christ’s Savior and is written to give us confidence. And it lets us know that this confidence that we have is that God hears our prayers if we ask according to his will. And that there are people who can commit some sins that doesn’t produce death. And there’s those who can produce sins that will lead to death.

And this is talking to believers. I can apply it in many different ways. But I want to try to explain some things to you that I think would help. So first of all, let’s take a look there in Acts chapter five. Now, here are two people that were in the church, we believe they were believers, doing something for the church. There was others that were doing this, and they did it too. God didn’t kill them, but here’s a man and a wife, and God just zapped them.

Took them out of here. But here’s two people who have their names written in Scripture. And verse one, but a certain man named Anaias would defire his wife, sold a possession, kept back part of the price. His wife also being privy to it. Ah, scheme, collusion. You’ve heard that word before and kept back part of it and bought a certain part of it and laid it at the Apostles’ feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan feel thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land?

While it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied on the men, but on the God. Who did they lie to? They lied to God. Tried to deceive the church, tried to deceive Peter, but the Holy Spirit told Peter what they did. Does God see everything that people do? Does he know your motives? Notice why you do what you do.

Does God really know why you’re here today? Now, when he makes this statement here, you lied to God. In other words, look what he says here in verse five. Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost and great fear came on all them that heard these words. When he says that he fell down, what did he do? Oh, he stumbled? What happened to him? He died. So can God’s children die because of sin? They’re sins that can produce death.

Now, I don’t necessarily know every sin that commits a person to death, but there is such a thing caught in the Scriptures. And we can go through the Old Testament into the whole bunch, because when you stop and think about it about a King named Saul, and he died because of his rebellion to God. Uh-huh, it’s in there. Anyway, and the young men arose, wound him up, carried him out, and buried him. I don’t even wound him up like the little leaf, the little bunny that was talking about.

That means that they wrapped him up. And it is amazing that the guy died and he was buried before his wife ever came in. Maybe she wanted to have some last words, didn’t get a chance. And so he says here in verse 7, and it was about the space of three hours his wife walks in. Now our husbands already been buried. Now you’re talking about moving on the ball. And Peter answered her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much.

And she said, yay, so much. Then Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband or at the door and shall carry thee out. What do you think happened to her? She died too. So is it in the Bible where somebody did something wrong and died for? and died for it. I had a man write me, you can’t show me one verse in the Bible that says God ever killed any of his children.

Well, remember he only takes the flesh birth. He can’t kill the new birth. So none of God’s children ever go to hell. None of God’s children really never die. Because Christ says, when you believe in me, you shall never die. And if you die, yes, shall you live? But he’s talking about two birds. The one that dies is that flesh bird, but it takes us out of this world. And just let’s us get into the next one. See, everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to leave here to get there.

Now, if God answered everybody’s prayer concerning those that get sick, Lord make everybody well, and you shall have whatever you want. I know it’s not God’s will to keep everybody here forever. I don’t want to stay here forever. So there’s some prayers to God will not answer. Why? Because it’s contrary to his word. Now get the scripture here. Look at Acts chapter six, chapter six and verse eight. Stephen was a new elected deacon. He was a good man. He was a godly man.

The Bible says that’s what he was. So in verse eight and Stephen full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the people. Was he a good man doing good things? You ought to say, he preached one great sermon as far as we know it. This is the only sermon he preached. But he preached a great sermon. So I’m now looking in chapter 7. Chapter 7 and verse 51, look what he said about these people he was preaching to.

I have some people say, you know, you should always try to bring comfort to people. When people come to church, never ruffle any feathers. That came to the wrong church. You’re supposed to make everybody feel good. And some churches don’t even talk about sin because that makes people feel bad. You know, that just makes people feel bad. It makes me feel good. Oh, I feel better now. And always smiling. Well, there’s sometimes, you know, not everything. We’re smiling about it.

Give what it said in verse 2, verse 1. You stiff neck and uncircumcised. That’s why I had to get my neck fixed. I had a stiff neck and I didn’t want to be no stiff neck. So now I say I can turn my head a little bit. Now, was it worth it? See, now I praise the Lord. So He’s not talking to me here. You do always resist the Holy Spirit and your Father’s so do you. And so He was landed on the line and hitting right between the eyes.

And so because He preached such a great sermon, a good godly man, well, God’s not going to let somebody do Him wrong, right? Because He’s doing right, He’s serving God, so therefore He’s invincible, right? Now, what, what, what, what, what, what they said. Verse 54, when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed your teeth on him. And he’d been full of the Holy Spirit, looked upstairs, fastly into heaven, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God and said, behold, I see the heavens open in the Son of man, standing on the right hand of God.

And they cried with a loud voice, stopped their ears, ran upon him with one of course, cast him out of the city, stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet whose name was Saul, and they stoned Stephen, calling upon the Lord and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. What do you think happened to him? Well, he died. Well, God’s not gonna let people who are doing right die, is he? What you read the scriptures.

People that did right, they still die. You can do right and still suffer for it. And don’t take for granted. Everybody who gets sick, well, they must be out of the will of God. Everybody that dies are out of the will of God. Well, lo and behold, everybody dies out of the world of God because everybody dies. No. This is the truth of what God’s Word says. And there’s some thing that God says in one verse that enlightens another verse and helps you to understand this principle of life that we’re living because you’re going to have things happen in your life and you’re going to wonder whether or not is that because of something that I did.

Did I deserve this? Isn’t it true that sometimes when things go wrong in your life you think I must have sinned? I wonder what I did wrong. You ever had your kids go wrong? I must not have raised them right. I don’t judge too fast. Give them time. When they get some kids you be surprised how they wound up teaching the kids what you taught them. It all depends on what time we want to judge something and we don’t have all the facts in the case.

But look at the next thing on Schruggs, look in chapter 9 and verse 1. who later became the great apostle Paul and wrote about 14 books in the Bible, no for 13 for sure, but he says in verse 1, and saw yet breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. That means it taped their life. He tried to ruin the church. He did a lot of wicked things, but he did what he did because he thought he was doing the will of God.

But the only thing was he wasn’t doing the will of God, but he thought he was doing the will God and look at the damage that he did. And yet God could have taken his life, but God I believe let him hear the gospel. And even though God had a purpose for his life, he had to still trust Christ as Savior and he did so and he believed. And God used him in a great and wonderful way. But here’s God’s children.

God allowed that man to kill his children. But you see, He acts them from the body’s present with the Lord. They still went to heaven. But God allowed a wicked man to do something wrong to his children. And as you live your life, you’re going to suffer being defrauded. Things are going to happen. You’re going to get sued sometimes. People are going to do wrong to you. And you’re going to have health problems. You’re going to have financial problems.

You’re going to have every problem that anybody else has. sooner or later, if you live long enough and you’re going to always wonder, I mean, why? Why? Isn’t that the question we always ask why? Look in chapter 14, chapter 14, chapter 14 and look there in verse 19. In verse 19, the Apostle Paul went to preach, in Galatia here and lo and behold, he must be a God. Well, this idea about him being a God changed quickly. Now they wanted to kill him.

They wanted to kill their God. But we’ll just jump down here to verse 19. And there was another certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium who persuaded the people and having stone Paul drew him out of the city. Supposing he had been dead. Now you ought to read the things that are I mentioned in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 about what Paul went through. And God let people try to kill him, stone him, all kinds of things that happen to him.

Have you ever wondered, I’m trying to serve a Lord the best, like I’ve ever done to you, what do you do? What did you expect? Well, I thought being blessed is going through life without any problems. Well, really, you’re talking about heaven. That’s not the way it is here. Did you know to have all of your needs met is just as trying as having none of them met? Because your faith is on trial and God is going to try your faith.

Now look at this next thing. Here in Acts 14 where he says he would be killed, we know that and believe that, according to 2 Corinthians in chapter 12, he said, I knew a man in Christ, it’s about 14 years ago, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, but such a one was caught up into the third heaven. We believe that’s what happened to Paul. Even though they wanted to kill him, God used that to show him things that no man had ever seen.

And come back to the earth and live, and then God put a thorn in his flesh to make things worse for him, lest he be exalted above measure that he was somebody that he shouldn’t think that way. So God had to humble him all the days of his ministry. You see, why would God do that? Because he’d be lifted up with pride. Pride destroys every person. When you think more about yourself than you will do about the word of God says.

When you get to think I don’t need God I don’t need church I don’t need the Bible and the note you get it all nailed down you can handle everything all by yourself. You fool. That’s a fool. Alright, but anyway, Galatians chapter 1, look over there very quickly, the book of Galatians, Galatians and chapter 1. Look what Paul had to say. Galatians chapter 1 and verse 13. Here he is telling a little bit about the way he was before he ever trusted Christ as a Savior.

He says, for you have heard of my conversation or my behavior, my testimony. in time passed in the Jews religion, because he was a religious man. How that beyond measure, I persecuted the church of God and wasted it. This is what I did. Now, God had to do a work in his life. Have you think sometimes you have to hit somebody over the head with a two before? Not everybody sees everything the same way. And sometimes you can prejudge things that’s happening in somebody else’s life.

And sometimes you can look at somebody and they’re going through the trials of tribulation. Oh, I know what they did. You don’t really know. You guess, but did you know there’s a warning in the scripture, like in the book of Luke, about the one Pharisee that says, Lord, I’m so glad I’m not like those other ones. And they look down their long fairs, silken nose. Boy, I’m glad I’m not like that. I’m glad I’m not like that. I’m so holy.

I go to church all the time and I pray and I give. Man in my holy. And another man just says, Lord be merciful to me as sinner, because he just knew he was a sinner. And there’s some people don’t think, well I’m glad I’m not that bad. I’m not that bad. I’m not that bad. And they just kind of prejudge everybody else. You better watch that. Cause there’s verses in the Bible about people who do that. Lock those doors.

No. No, look at this. Look there in first Corinthians chapter three, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Now you need to know these verses are in the Bible because they will help you. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, when you trusted Christ as your Savior, the Bible says you were born of God and your body becomes the temple of God. See, God doesn’t live here in this church. I’ve seen some people think, don’t you, quiet, be holy. Why are we going to be holy, quiet?

We might wake up God. He doesn’t live here. But how do I know God is here? I brought him. He lives inside of me. My body is the temple of God. Look what he says they’re in verse 17. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. Your body is the temple of God. And if you defile that body, and a lot of people have died way before their time.

They have killed that body with alcohol and drugs and doing things that should not do. Running with the wrong people, the wrong time, doing kind of things, AIDS, but there’s crimes, sins that can be committed against the body. And a lot of people who have gotten diseases of the body because of sex with people they’re not supposed to be with. And there’s a price to pay and they die early. But if you know Christ is your savior, you can’t sin against the body and get away with it.

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 813-884-4328. That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you’re 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 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

If you will, take your Bible and turn to the book of Philippians and chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 9. I want to speak to you this morning on the subject of the lordship of Jesus Christ. We do not make Christ the Lord. He is the Lord. You don’t make Him the Savior. He is the Savior. You can choose whether or not He will be your Savior and you can choose whether you will let Him be your Lord.

That’s still who he is. He is the Savior of the world, and nobody can be saved without him. He is the Lord. That means he is master. I wrote several things down here. One of them’s found there in the book of Luke. We’ll read here in the book of Philippians, Aperitutius moment, but when said, when Christ was born, says, Behold unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ, the Lord. That’s who he is.

That’s who he was. Not going to be the Lord. He was the Lord. And if you’ll notice there in the book of Philippians in chapter 2 verse 9, says, Wherefore God also had highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father.

That is who He is. Every person one day will admit to that fact. You can do it now or you can do it later. If you do it later, it will be too late. But every knee will bow and admit Jesus Christ, He was God. He was the Lord. He has the ultimate power, power. There is no power above God. Jesus Christ is God. Even in these verses, when He makes a statement in verse 6, who in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

See, Jesus Christ is the revelation of the invisible God. And that’s why in the Gospel of John it says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God. But the word reveals the invisible thought. Like you can think, but nobody can see it. But when you speak, it reveals what you think. And so every time you speak, your mind is on parade. Well, the word is the revelation of the invisible God.

So God manifests Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God. He is the ultimate power. He is final authority. So whatever he says, that’s final. You watch the millionaire, they come on air and say, that’s your final answer. This is the final authority. He is the source of power, the source of life, and the source of all law. Now we live in a world that we consider to be natural laws, laws of nature. Well nature didn’t produce the laws.

There is a God on laws that produce the world and the world runs off of the laws of the divine God. And so when we talk about natural laws, we’re talking about the laws as we see them as a scientific fact that we say this is a law. It is scientific. This is what’s going to happen and there are many laws but there is a God behind those laws. So whenever we talk about a miracle, we’re talking about someone who can suspend natural law.

That would be a miracle. Last week I took something and held it out and I let it go. And the law of gravity pulls it down. That’s a law. But if I let it go and it stayed there, there has to be a law greater than the law of gravity that kept that from falling. And if it did, you and I would call that a miracle. And God, in His Word, has produced miracles in order to reveal Himself to us.

Now look at the statement there in the bold print, the following demonstration of miracles reveal His power to suspend all natural laws. So when you read some of the miracles in the Bible, and especially in the Gospels, they’re not all exactly the same, because they reveal different phases of His power over the things that we consider to be natural law. I want you to look there in Romans 10 and verse 9. Romans 10 and verse 9. I had my father-in-law read this verse to me the night that I trusted Christ as my Savior.

And I’ve read it to a lot of people since then that have accepted Christ as their Savior. chapter 10 and look there in verse 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. You would be saved if you’ll believe that God raised up Jesus from the dead, that thou shall confess with thy mouth Jesus, he is the Lord. He is God.

If you believe that, and that God the Father raised up God the Son from the dead. And words tell us here that what he means by believing on him is that salvation is by grace alone. Look there in verse 2. Paul said that his desire for Israel is that they would be saved. He says, my prayer and desire for Israel is that they might be saved. So he then in verse 2, for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge.

For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. So whenever you’re talking about being saved and confessing that Jesus Christ died on the cross and He paid for my sin, you are declaring that you believe that He will give you His righteousness and you’re not going to try to earn your righteousness by your deeds. And so He says that there are a lot of people who are ignorant of God’s righteousness and are going about seeking to establish their own righteousness, what they think it takes to be saved.

Now God is ultimate authority. He is the Lord Himself. He is ultimate power. There is no other. He made up a plan of salvation and man can only be saved the way he says that a man can be saved. It’s not left up for you and I to design a method of which we can save ourselves and God will approve it. God says, is only one way and he designed it. Now in the book of John chapter one and verse 12, it says, and as many as received him, Christ, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.

So he has the power to make anybody who comes to him a saved individual, a child of God. So he says that if we simply come to him, he will save us, give us eternal life. He has the power to do that. You do not have the power to save yourself. You don’t have the power to keep yourself safe, so you need a Savior. When the question was asked in Acts chapter 16 and verse 31 by the Philippian jailer, the Bible says that he asked, what must I do to be saved?

They said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thine house. If thine house believes. So if you believe you can be saved, who designed that? Who made it so simple that anybody can understand it? God did. If it’s left into the hands of man, then man gets it all messed up. And he says, there’s all kinds of things that you have to do. Well, God is the ultimate authority. He is the Lord. He is the master.

He is God. And he says how it’s supposed to be. And it will be his way or no way. The second thing I want you to look at. He is Lord over the demon world. There is a world in which you and I cannot see. There are fallen angels. There is a devil that you and I have never laid eyes on. It’s not your wife, it’s not your mother-in-law. There is a real devil, a real one. And the Bible says that he is a spirit.

He is an angel, but he is fallen and there are demons are fallen. are fallen. And so there is another world that you and I have never seen with our physical eyes. But God is also Lord over them. And they have no power, no authority, anything that God does not permit. So if there are demons and there are as they devil and they are doing their thing and going throughout the world seeking whom they may devour, it’s only with the permission of God himself.

So he is not unlimited. He has limitations put upon the devil and upon the demons and they can only do so much. And God uses them to accomplish His purpose and tempt you and deceive you. God will allow that to happen because you will not believe the truth that you may be delivered. So here in the demon world, there’s things that always keep in mind. So take a Bible looking Col UNCLASSIFIED in chapter one, Colossians and chapter one. In the very beginning, God created the heavens.

in the earth. Here in the book of Colossians in chapter 1 verse 15 it makes this statement. This is on page 1262 in an old Schofield reference bible. Verse 15 says, who? Referring to Christ, is the image of the invisible God. Now you and I know God is invisible. You cannot see him. You cannot behold the face of God himself. But the bible says, Jesus Christ coming into the world is the visible God. He is the image of the invisible God.

The Lord also tells us that Jesus Christ made the world. It says in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. He was in the world and the world was made by Him but the world knew Him not. So God the Father may the world by God the Son.

So Jesus Christ is the one that created the heavens and the earth. He is the chief, he is the foremost, he is the architect of the beginning of creation. That’s why when he says he is the firstborn. The firstborn doesn’t mean he’s born first because there were many people that’s been born. But he was the only one that was born by God. But the Bible says here in verse 15, the firstborn of every creature or creation, He is the architect of creation.

He says also in verse 16, for by Him, read friend of Christ, were all things created. So all those things that I just said is verified by what it says right there. Jesus Christ did not begin the day that Mary gave birth to a little baby that says that, behold, there’s born unto you this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. He already existed and He is the creator of heaven and earth. And it says, for by Him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in the earth, visible and invisible.

Whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. So why was I made for Him? Thy pleasure, thou art and work created. In other words, you were created by God for His pleasure. You were created to please Him. That’s why you are not happy in life. You don’t have true blessings in life unless you’re pleasing the one that created you for the purpose of pleasing Him. So the word of God is given so that you and I could study it to find out how do we please God.

What does God want? First of all, God wants you to trust Him as Savior. After you trust Christ as your Savior, God wants you to serve Him. That would please God. But many of God’s people don’t wanna please God. They only wanna do what they think pleases them. what makes them happy. So he makes a statement here in verse 17, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. If he is before all things, that mean there was nothing before God.

You know what a question is that many people asked me? I walked into a store the other day, and three people says, can I talk to you? I know you’re a preacher. Says, where did God come from? Who made God? Isn’t that a good question? Who made God? I said, well, I did. And she would know that would be a what? A lie. If I said somebody else made God, that would be a lie. Because whoever made God would be God.

So there is no such thing as somebody making God. God has always been self-sufficient, eternal. He has always been, just like you and I will always be. He is the Lord over the demon world, the invisible world that you cannot see. God did that. He created the world. The third thing I want you to look at there in your paper is he is Lord over disease. Many of us are going to die of some kind of disease. Something’s going to stop working.

Everybody wants to live and everybody wants to go to heaven. If I was that, how many of you like to go to heaven? Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to leave here to get there. Because to leave here to get there, what do you got to do? And nobody wants to do that. Most people don’t want to die. Well, every one of us know that we do have moments that we get sick. The body is susceptible to the diseases.

Well, if God is God and Jesus Christ was God and He came into this world, then if He really is God and somebody was sick, well, if you are God, you should be able to make a person that’s sick. Well, right? He did. And if there were demons that were inside of people’s bodies, and if he is the Lord, real Lord, and ultimate power, he ought to be able to cast those demons out of those people’s bodies, right? He did.

Whatever he was supposed to do if he was God, he did. He did everything just like he would do if he was God. Jesus had a time proven to people he was God when they said, we know your mother and father. We know your brothers and sisters. We know where you came from. You’re not God. And they said, you’re guilty of blasphemy. So that means claiming to be something that they were not and blaspheming God’s. And I’m the son of God.

That’s the same as saying, I’m like God. I’m better than the rest of y’all. He was. He was. When the Lord healed and the disciples healed in the Bible and the apostles, real divine healing was universal as the time. That means they could heal in the daytime and the nighttime and at any hour. A real divine healing could be done at any place, anywhere the need existed. It also could be universal as to the disease, whether it was inherited or whether it was acquired.

In other words, if Jesus was God and he really had power, there would be no limit on what kind of healing he could do. We’re upon what individual? If he’s God, he can do it all. And when he gave power to his disciples that they could go and do the very same thing, they could do what he did. And they did. What you see today is not of God. That is not of God.

Also, that he real divine healing was universal as the person, whether it was believer or a stranger. They were instantaneous except John chapter 9 it was assigned to Israel because they could see only in part. And a man was healed from his blindness, but first of all he saw people walking like they were upside down. And then when they were like trees and then you could see clear. They were instantaneous. They were complete and they were made whole. The main word made whole.

All missing parts were restored. They don’t do that today. You don’t see it done. It’s not being done. Guys like this, Hintheller is a joke. And people that follow it and give them money, that is not of God. The reason they can’t convince me of those things is because of one reason. I know the truth. I know what the book teaches. I know every verse on healing, every verse on tongue, every verse. I know what’s above it and what’s below it.

They can’t deceive me, but they can deceive the people who don’t know the word of God. And that’s why so many people are so deceived. And they follow all that junk. And I had a person tell me what I’m, you shouldn’t blaspheme the Holy Ghost like you’re doing. I said, I’m not blaspheme the Holy Ghost. I’m saying is true. If it’s not according to this book, it is a lie. It’s not the truth.

There were no finances involved and no music been played by the choir when Jesus healed or the apostles healed. No money was ever involved. But today’s healing lines, you need to sow your seed, seed, seed of faith. And if you want to demonstrate you’ve got a lot of faith, you’ve got to give a lot of money, but no money, no faith, and no faith, no healing. Therefore you didn’t believe hard enough. You don’t find that in the Bible. Jesus never said, give me your money.

That’s not in there. That’s sheisters who prey upon the minds of people that don’t know any better. And most of these healing meetings and the tongues movement is because of the women that are in them. You take the women out of them, it die. Women, listen to me, I’m not against women, don’t you ever dare say that. But they’re easily deceived. They won’t think according to truth, they go by emotions, emotions, instead of what does God’s words say and go by it.

Those that were healed were told not to tell. There were no failures. He never failed to heal anybody. Today, it’s always they got healed from something you couldn’t see. You couldn’t see what they were getting healed from. And then, bang, did you feel that? I don’t feel that. Lay your hand on that radio for a feeling, a point of contact. You want a point of contact, stick it in the back of that radio. Give you charge. Those that could heal could also raise the dead.

If they could heal, they could raise the dead. And these people today, there’s not one man walking around or one woman that they’ve ever raised from the dead. raised from the dead. They’re liars, they’re jokesters, they’re deceivers, and they’re not of God. And I’ll tell them face to face eyeball to eyeballs, nose to nose, exactly what I’m telling you right now. And if they don’t like it, show me chapter and verse. Prove it with the book. Just the books sir.

Just the book. No one went into the healing business. I mean Peter didn’t go into the healing in business with his shadow. Paul didn’t go into the healing business with his handkerchief and wipe off his virtue and sell it over to radio. So if you want some of my virtue, you just call in. Well, if you want some virtue, come on up. My sweat ought to be just as good as their sweat. There is no record of reoccurrences. None of these things are evidenced by these so-called divine healers up today.

Don’t you send them one penny? Do you ever do that and help spread that garbage? This health and wealth philosophy. The only wealth there is is the wealth they get from naive people who listen to them. Am I clear? Number four, he is the Lord over the elements. Meaning that if he is God, he ought to be able to take some bread He ought to be able to take a couple of fish and multiply them. Guess what? He did.

He is Lord over nature. Means that the fig tree withered. Why? Because he said so. He looked for some fruit. There was no fruit. He caused a fig tree to wither. That takes power. He’s in charge. He’s God. He can do all these things. He is Lord over the animal world. He can tell them where the fish were. He told them to cast their net on the other side. Well, how did he know? He made the fish and he can cause them to jump in the boat.

He can do anything. He’s God. That’s why he can do it. Why could he walk on the water? Because he’s God. He defied the very laws that you and I call it natural. So if he can reverse the laws, we call it supernatural. the supernatural power of God. And that’s who saved me and gave me eternal life. He is the Lord over death. It means that if he is God, then he ought to be able to bring people from the dead back to life.

Well, did he do it? Yes, he did. And there’s people today that say they’ve got this healing power. Well, let’s just all get with one of them. Go down here to the cemetery and see them raise somebody from the dead. Why don’t they do it? If I had that power, I’d do it in a minute. I’d go down to the hospital and walk down the hallway. Hey, get out of the bed. Take a fight bed and walk. Those beds are pretty heavy.

But I would go in the hub, I’d rake get everybody out of the bed. Why don’t they do stuff like that? They’re not doing that. And you said, oh, did you see that? Oh, get the checkbook, dear. We want to go to park. We want to sew some seed and wait for our ship to come in. Yeah, his ship’s coming in. He tells you how to do all that and raise all that money Yeah, and while at the same time why don’t he do it and get his own money?

He gets his money from all of you Don’t you ever do that anybody in this church you wind up supporting something like it and if I find out about it I won’t tell everybody on you I’m gonna tell them I’m on tell them know how naive you are Number eight. He is the Lord over life He is eternal life He is the true God and eternal life and that’s why he can give eternal life to whosoever believes on him Why because he’s God he doesn’t have to answer to anybody he can do anything he wants And he says that he is the Lord first John 5 13 says anybody know it These things have a written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may Know that you have eternal life who said the Lord says that you can know you have eternal life

by trusting Christ as your Savior. John 647, very, very, very, I send you, heed that, believe it on me, hath, present tense right now, hath, what, everlasting life? So if you trust Christ as your Savior, God who is the ultimate authority, He is the source of all life, all power, all law, heed God. And he says he can save anybody by his power. There’s no limit to what God can do except the limits that he places upon himself. And he says it’s impossible for a man to save himself, therefore it would be a supernatural thing for a man to be saved.

So being saved is not anything that can be done by the natural man. You can’t save yourself. It is impossible. That’s why you can’t walk on water. That’s why you can’t do miracles. You’re a natural man. So to be saved takes a supernatural thing. And that’s why being born again is being born by the Spirit of God. It’s his power. That’s what he does. He’s God. I’ve trusted Christ as my Savior. I have eternal life and I’m going to heaven when I die.

That’s the best news in all the world. I want you to look up here. This is you and me. This is sin. We all have sinned. God loves me and you. He loves us. Hate’s our sin because our sin separates us from God. To go to heaven, we have to be perfect, because righteous is God, none of us are perfect. We’re all sinners. And the Bible says there is a real literal hell, and we’re going there to pay for sin.

But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven, heaven, but we can’t save ourselves. It would take something supernatural. This, see, if going to church could save you, then that would be something you could do. If given money could save you, then that’s something you can do. And if living a good life is something that would save you, then that’s something that you could do. But then you saved yourself. You did it. I finally did it. God says, it’s not by your words.

Okay, that takes out that. Now what? The same represents Jesus Christ. He’s God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us. Hates our sin. Our sin separates us from God, but He took our sins, faithful on the cross. God said if we would believe that He did it for us, He’d give us as a free gift everlasting life. And we would go to heaven or what He did for us. I trust that Christ is my Savior.

And I know most of you in here have. But if you haven’t trusted Christ as your Savior, if you die without trust in the Lord, you will spend an eternity separated from God in a literal hell because God that created the heavens and the earth said so and he’s ultimate authority. But he has the power to save any one who will believe on him. I pray that you have. If you haven’t, I pray you will. Let’s pray, shall we?

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 You’ve 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 813-884-4328. That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible Line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the radio broadcast link.

If you’re 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 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

So what Jesus did in most of the miracles that he did, he did them publicly. And as he did them publicly, and many people, the common people heard him gladly, and they believed on him. Believe in that he was the Messiah. Even when he asked his disciples, whom do men say that I, the son of man am? It’s like asking who was buried in the grants tomb, or when was the war of 1812? Well, who do they say that I, the son of man am?

And then finally, well, they said, hey John, the Baptist, sorry, he’s Elijah, one of the prophets. And he looked at Peter and said, whom do you say that I am? He said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And so he says, upon this rock, this truth, I will build my church upon this truth. He didn’t say that Peter was the rock. He was a pebble, but Jesus is the petri rock. Now, there is a difference.

It’s a play on words. But Jesus was the one they were looking for. But when they were cleaning a question or doubts, he says, the gospel is preached to the poor. And the death can hear and the blind can see, the lame can walk. Those were the credentials of the Messiah. So by doing the miracles that he did was so they would be convinced and Especially the leadership of Israel the representative as the nation of Israel would believe That Jesus Christ Was the Messiah and as the Messiah he was the king and he had a right to the throne Because of all these miracles that he did they could not deny the miracles So they denied the power of those miracles coming from God.

They denied that they were the works of the Holy Spirit and so therefore they said that what Jesus did because they could not deny the miracles. They said He did it by the power of the elves above, the prince of demons. Did it by the devil himself. So now I looked there in verse 22. Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb and he healed him. In so much that the blind and the dumb both spake and saw.

And all the people were amazed and said, it’s not this the son of David. Now here he’s talking about is the son of David. Now in verse 32, he’s talking about is the son of man. He had the right to the king, be the king because he was the son of David. He was in the right line. He was the right person and he was proven his apostleship and his Messiahship by the simple fact he was able to do these miracles that no one else could do.

That said him apart as being very unique. But they said that you didn’t do that by the power of God. You did it by the power of the devil. Now notice what he said in verse 24. And when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by the yells above the prince of the devils, and Jesus knew their thoughts. Sudden to them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. So in other words, if this is the kingdom of the devil and the devil gave me power to cast out the devils, then he’s doing the very opposite of what he should be doing.

And the only way that if I worked for the devil cast out demons, then you Pharisees, how did your sons cast them out? So he’s saying, It’s either legitimate and I am of God. Or I’m of the devil and so are your people that are cast on out the demons. And it wasn’t because the devil was doing it, it was because they really did have the power of exorcism to cast demon out. Now get this. And if Satan in verse 26 cast out Satan, he’s divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?

And if I, by Beelzeboth cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out, therefore they shall be your judges. Remember, he answered these questions because he knew what was in their mind. He knew their thoughts. So he’s able to answer the questions that they never even asked, except in their mind. But in verse 28, but if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God is coming to you. And so he says, the Kingdom is at hand.

I am the King. I am the Messiah. These are my credentials. as a nation of Israel and the leaders in Israel, they rejected the credentials that he had the right to be the king and that he was able to do the miracles that only a man of God would be able to do. So they did not credit his power to do these things to the Spirit of God, but to the devil himself. And so they did not believe. Now why was Jesus producing these miracles in John chapter 20 when we read that you might believe that he is the Son of God and that by believing you may have what?

Life through his name. So if you do not believe that he is who he claimed to be then you’re not going to accept what he is going to do. You’re not going to trust him. So as a leadership in Israel, the leadership as a nation rejected Jesus Christ as the king. Up to this point, Jesus has done many, many miracles. Enough to prove who He was. He said who He was. Now chapter 12 is like a pivotal point because after this chapter 12, He starts in chapter 13 with the parables and the kingdom of heaven is like unto and he says, as this and that and the other and there’s a whole bunch of things that we won’t get into tonight.

But that was the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven because they rejected the king. Jesus let them know the kingdom is taken away from you and there is nothing you can do about it now. It’s like it is too late, it’s over, and now he’s talking about the Gentiles. And in comparison, if you’ll look there in chapter 12, look what he says in verse 38. He said in verse 38, then certain of the scribes of the Pharisees answered saying, Master, we would see a sign from them.

But he answered in the Son of Him, and evil and adulterous generations seeketh after a sign. But there shall be no sign given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the Wales belly, were the great fish, even so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The only sign you’re going to see after this as a nation is going to be that sign.

Now that doesn’t mean that there weren’t some more miracles after this but they were individual miracles and it was for individual people to believe and trust in the Lord. Before this he was doing these miracles to the nation of Israel but afterwards he says tell nobody, tell nobody, tell nobody and there was a reason for that because as a nation they had rejected the King, rejected the Kingdom and that’s why he says this generation and he mentioned this generation twice, he says you have put it away from you.

This is as a nation, an unpardonable sin. It’s been prophesied for 1500 years. The Messiah is coming to sell up His kingdom. And now He’s here. He has proven who He is. And the nation of Israel has rejected their king. So they rejected the kingdom. And that generation, He says, there’s Old Testament saints who would have loved to have seen what you’ve seen and to hear what you have heard, but you’ve hardened your heart, your ears are dull of hearing.

And you could have had this in your day. And he says in the book of Luke, they wished not who he was. In other words, here’s God in the flesh. And he proved who he was, did things that only he could do, and they would not believe on him. They would not believe it. And so their unbelief, they accredited his miracles that were done by the Holy Spirit to the devil himself. Individually, any Jewish person can trust him. the Savior.

But as a nation, I believe that mainly is the unpardonable sin for that nation because the kingdom was taken away from them and has been projected into the future and it’s still coming. But those people at that time will not have any part in it. Now look what we have here in verse 41, verse 41. Now he refers to two incidents, but both of these are about the Gentiles. See up to this point it was all about Israel, Israel.

Then he compares and he says in verse 41, the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation. Now this word this generation, you ought to underline it because that’s a very important word. This generation separates it from all the other generations. And And he’s talking about the people that were there, this generation, and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold, a greater than Jonah is here. In other words, the gospel was preached to Nineveh, they were warned, they believed the message and a greater than Jonah is here in Israel and you won’t believe it.

He was greater than Jonah. He was greater than the temple. And then he says this in verse 42, the queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment, the queen of Sheba, with this generation and do what to this generation? Condemit. For she came from the utmost parts of the year to you hear the wisdom of Solomon and be holy, a greater than Solomon is here. In other words, they had less knowledge and believed. You have been given more knowledge and you still will not believe.

So as an individual, yes, anybody can trust Christ as their Savior. All sins can be forgiven. But remember this, everyone who has trusted Christ as their Savior is saved and cannot be guilty of the unpardonable sin because it was the sin of unbelief but on the part of Israel mainly. We can apply that in many other areas because God can save anybody who trusts the Lord. But as a nation, they rejected the King. Now Jesus is going to give them parables and the kingdom of heaven is like unto and the subject changes.

And then later on they asked the question in the book of Acts. Will thou at this time restore unto us the kingdom? Because they knew the kingdom is gone. There is no hope for the kingdom at that point. So they did not know. Now, I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of, well, let’s go to it. Let me just tell you this stuff for the sake of time. You remember in the the Old Testament in Numbers chapter 13 and 14, there were 12 spies that went into the land.

Remember that? But 10 of them came back with what kind of a report? Good or bad? Bad report. And so they said, we had died in the wilderness. Or we should have just stayed in Egypt. You brought us out here into this wilderness to die. And they complained about a lot of things. But Jesus, I guess you could say, the Lord told Moses, these people, the children of Israel, that generation would not go into the promised land. Has this happened before?

When they could have in 11 days, they could have went into the promised land. But because of their rebellion, they said that the people in the land are like giants and they’re like grasshoppers in their site they were afraid and their fear contaminated the whole nation of Israel. But Joshua and Caleb believe we can do this. 40 years later Joshua and Caleb got to go into the land. And the younger generation under 20, but there was these people that for 40 years they kept dying in the wilderness until they were all dead.

They were not going into the land. In other words, because of their unbelief. Now individually, anybody can trust Christ with their Savior, have eternal life, but this was about entering into that land that God had promised that flowed with milk and honey. And because of their rebellion, they didn’t get to go. Turning to the Old Testament to the book of 2 Kings. Second Kings in chapter 21, and look in verse 1. there were some kings that God had that were not always obedient to the Lord.

Because of their rebellion they led the children of Israel astray. So when they went astray God promised judgment upon them. And so he makes a statement here in verse 1, Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign. Rained 50 and 5 years in Jerusalem. Verse 2, he did that which was evil in the side of the Lord. After the abomination of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. So he raised up altars in order to worship Baal, many wicked things that he did.

And he says in verse six, and he made his son pass through the fire and observed the time and use enchantments and deal with familiar spirits and wisdom. Everything God had told him in the book of Deuteronomy not to do. He was guilty of doing and God had promised that if you do these things, and if you live wickedly and you forget my ways and forsake my way. He says, I’m going to bring in another nation and they’re going to take you into captivity.

You’re going to be taken out of the land. And there comes a time when God says, all right, I’ve warned you over and over again, deadlines over. It’s too late. The die is cast. You’re going into captivity. Nothing you say or do will change it. It’s done. In other words, had you ever got fed up with something so does God. And God was giving them and giving them and warning and over and over again. Now later on, yes, they had a good king come along by the name of Josiah.

He did a great job. He was an interesting little fella. He was only about eight years old when he began to reign. That’s over there in chapter 22. So Josiah had like a revival, but it was only a lengthening of the tranquility for a time being, but eventually the judgment came. And so it says in verse six, and he made his son to do that. And he said, he rocked much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger.

These are things that God saw and that God was not approval of. And there’s a main reasons. Look there in verse 15, where he says, because they have done that, which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger. Since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. In other words, they never stopped complaining. And so there was a problem that they were going to go through. Look in 2nd Chronicles, 2nd Chronicles and chapter 33.

2nd Chronicles chapter 33, and you’ll find pretty much the same thing mentioned here in verse 1 down to verse 9. But we can’t cover all of these scriptures, but you’ll see in verse 6 they did the same thing as just another record of it. And so all these things were taking place. Now what I want you to see is look there in verse 12. Verse 12 of chapter 33, second chronicles. And verse 12, and when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed unto him and he was entreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem unto his kingdom, then Manassah knew that the Lord he was God.

So in the latter years of Manasseh’s life, individually he could get saved. He could trust the Lord. But as a nation, God had the Assyrians come against them and there was great judgment upon the nation of Israel. Now here we are again in the book of Matthew in chapter 12 where God has said what he’s going to do. Now take your Bible and go back to the book of Matthew in chapter 12. Back to Matthew in chapter 12. You will notice in chapter 12 where he makes the statement, I’ll be there in a minute there.

He says here in verse 29, when he’s talking about the kingdom of the devil and if I do what I do by the power of the devil, then evidently if I’m I’m casting out demons and I’m healing people, which the devil doesn’t do. Either I had to go into the devil’s house. And be stronger than the devil. So either I am of God, or I’m stronger than the devil. One way or the other. So he says, or else I can one enter into a strong man’s house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man.

Then he will spoil his house. He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me, scatters the broad. Now I love that verse because I can use it for missions. You’re either gathering with the Lord or you’re scattering. Two words in that verse. You’re either as the Lord says it. You’re either with me or you’re against me. Now here we are 2,000 years later. And you are either working with the Lord and His will or you are not believing that what God says is worthy to follow.

And you’ll deny God working in your life. I do believe that there can come a time when you are so hard in your heart that you can be cut off and that without remedy. In other words, where you just will not listen and God will have to step in. At this point in your life, if you’re teachable, sensitive, and you have that sense of a guilt or that sense of I want to be used by the Lord, then I would take advantage of that, that you are still usable and God still loves you, but you better not play games with the Lord.

I believe it’s a principle that’s also taught in the Word of God. Now get this. Therefore in verse 31, wherefore I sinned you all men of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto the men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. Blasping in the Holy goes is not believing that what Christ said and did was of God. So of course you’re not going to trust Him as your Savior if you don’t believe. But I believe in context it mainly has to deal with the nation of Israel and their rejection of the Messiah.

And after this it talks about what God is going to do and how He’s going to raise up the other generations, those people that were there when Jonah went to Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba when she went from Sheba up to see Solomon and they’re going to condemn this generation. This is why you’ll also find in chapter 11, looking chapter 11 real quick. In chapter 11 you’ll see there in verse 20, then began he to up braid the city’s reign.

Most of his mighty works were done because they did what? They repent and not they did not believe. But he did mighty wonderful works. And then in verse 21, he says, whoa under the chorazan, whoa under the best saith, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyron Sun, they would have repented long ago in cycloth and ashes and refers to some gentile countries and cities. Then he makes the statement in verse 20, but I said to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyron’s item at the day of judgment.

In other words, there is a day of judgment. And because Israel rejected Jesus Christ, 40 years later, the temple was destroyed, Rome destroyed the nation of Israel. And the Jews have been scattered upon the face of the earth. Just like Jesus said was going to take place. And part of this is found in the book of Matthew in chapter 24.

So the unpardonable sin is not anything, any believer ever has to worry about. But if you want to apply it to us today, the unpardonable sin that can never be forgiven will be the sin of unbelief, not trusting Christ as your Savior, because you don’t believe He was who He claimed to be and that He didn’t do what He said He did. Now I believe that when Jesus Christ came into this world that He loved the whole world, that He died on the cross all the sins of the world.

And the only thing he wants us to do is believe that he did it for us. So when I believe he did it for me, he says, I am forgiven of all sins from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Doing the law does not forgive you of sins. And God can forgive you and pardon you as though you never were found guilty at all. Now that’s the Lord. And he can forgive you of all sin.

See, there’s no value in be forgiven all sins but one. That one would have done in. So when God forgives you, He forgives you of every sin, gives you eternal life, and you go to heaven on what Christ did on the cross for you. You can follow all this tonight. Can you understand what I’m saying? This means yes. This means no. Hopefully you understand. Are you worried about committing the unpardonable sin? You should never have to worry about it.

And I do believe in its context, it refers to the nation of Israel because they had closed the door for the king to set up this kingdom. He was rejected as the king of Israel. Individually, anybody who so ever will can have eternal life. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. Now God loves us. Now He hates our sin, but He does love us. And for, for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in hell.

But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven and to go to heaven, you have to be perfect, as righteous as God. No sin. All of our goodness, regardless of how good they may be, will never take away sin. It can’t even cover your sin because God got x-ray vision. And he can see all the way into the heart of man. And so God says, you cannot save yourself. 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 sin separates us from him. So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die. So he took all the sin of all the world, paid for it on the cross came back from the dead. And the only thing anybody in the whole world has to do to go to heaven is to believe. Now if you don’t believe, you’ll spend an eternity in hell, but he paid for all sin.

And all that you need to do, and I need to do is to believe that he did it for us. And this is what the Old Testament prophets prophesied that in him all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Let’s pray, shall we? But his bound eyes closed, no one looking around.

I know this is not the typical message that most people like to hear, but I believe it was important. And if you’re watching by internet and you never trust the Christ as your Savior, right now in the quietness of this moment, why not in your own mind trust Christ as your Savior? If you’ll trust him, God is bound by his word, he must save you. And that means that he’ll put that payment he made to your account. You go to heaven on what Christ did for you.

If you’ll believe that, you can be saved. If you don’t believe it, you cannot be saved. And I pray that you will. And on the screen, it says, yes, I trust Christ. It’s my Savior. I pray that you’ll do just that. And if you’re in the audience tonight, if you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you trust him right now? I’m going to ask in just a moment for you to raise your hand. Raising your hand doesn’t save you.

It just lets me know that what I said made sense to you. And you say, preach to that made sense to me. And right now I will trust Christ as my Savior. Is there any one at all before we close? Say, preach to that. I will trust Christ right now. It’s my Savior and I’d like for you to pray for me. Just slip in hand up very quickly, put a right back down, and then when it’s all. Our Father, we thank you again for your blessings.

Thank you for all you’ve done for us. We’re so thankful that when Christ died, He died for all sin. that all we had to do is believe that he did it for us. I’m thankful for the free gift of our lasting life. Bless each one here in Christ’s name and play. 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 813-884-4328.

That’s 813-884-4328. 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’re 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 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

Tonight I want to speak to you on the issue, the subject of the unpardonable sin. I’m any of you who have heard about the unpardonable sin. The sin that God will not forgive. So I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Matthew in chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12, you’d be surprised how many people will email me or even post it on some of the YouTube broadcasts that we have. always wanted to know, have I committed the unpardonable sin?

And they’re afraid that if they ever have, then they can’t be saved because God won’t forgive them. And you know God has to forgive you of all your sins. But what if I have committed the unpardonable sin? And then where God will not pardon me, he won’t forgive me. And so that concerns a lot of people. So here in the book of Matthew and chapter 12. This is on page 10, 13 in one of the church’s Bibles. So you need to know it because there’s people, if you ever talk to people or many people, they’re going to have the question sooner or later and you need to know how that you can answer that question.

In the book of Matthew in chapter 12, look in verse 31, wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. But the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh they were against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost is shall not be forgiven him neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” That sounds pretty dogmatic.

Now whatever it is. You want to make sure you haven’t done that, right? You want to know that I have not done that sin. Whatever that sin is. Well, I believe it needs to be looked at. So we’re going to come back here. So don’t lose your place here in the book of Matthew in chapter 12, but we’re going to kind of run around a little bit. So take your Bible and turn to of Acts 13. What ever the unpardonable sin is, it cannot violate these scriptures that we’re going to take a look at.

We’re going to take a look at about three or four scriptures, but whatever the sin is, it cannot go against the truth that’s found in these verses. So in Acts 13, look in verse 38, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, talking about Jesus, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Now you don’t see anything added to that where it says, except the unpardonable sin. That’s not included. And by Him Christ, all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the love Moses.

Now as the disciples went out into the world and they preached the gospel, the good news was that Christ died and paid for all sin and that whosoever believes would be forgiven of all sin. No exception. No exception. And you’ll notice in verse 39, and by Him All that do what? Believe. Believe. Can receive forgiveness of sin. So… All are forgiven when you believe. So if you’ll believe that what Christ did, He did it for you, and you accept the payment He made for you, then you are forgiven of all of your sins.

So that’s why in the book of Luke in chapter 24, He sent His disciples out and says, is going to all the world and preach the gospel and preach the forgiveness of sins. And there’s no exception to the rule. There is no, well, except for the sin of unbelief. It’s never added, it’s never included. In the book of Mark chapter three and in the book of Matthew chapter 12 is the only place that you’ll find that phrase, the unpardonable sin.

It is nowhere else in the Bible. So whatever it is, it’s got to have a good answer as to what is this unpardonable sin. Because the Bible says here that if we believe we are forgiven of all sin. Now, take your Bible in turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 10. Just go ahead and go pages back. And you’ll notice that there’s something mentioned here. Even in the Old Testament, the Bible says, the prophets witnessed, and this is what they said.

In verse 43, to him give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believe it in him shall receive what? Remission of sins. So whatever the unpardonable sin is, if it’s included as one of the sins that you commit, then if you believe all sin is to be forgiven. So when it says, accept the unpardonable sin, I wonder what it is. Because here it says, God will forgive all sin by simply doing one thing, by believing. So if you trust Christ as your Savior, God has forgiven you of all sins.

And so if he forgives me of all sin, that’s why I can go to heaven because I don’t have any sins to pay for. He paid for all my sins. Now, looking Colossians in chapter 2, the book of Colossians and chapter 2. In the book of Colossians chapter 2, there’s a very interesting verse and it says there in verse 13, this is on page 1264. 1264 and in verse 13, this is what he says, and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened or made alive together with him, haven’t forgiven you what?

All trespasses accept the unpardonable sin.” That’s not in there. You only find it mentioned twice, Mark 3, and here in the book of Matthew chapter 12. So it must be nailed down to something in particular. So whatever it is, we often say, well the only sin that you can’t be forgiven of is the sin of unbelief because it says if you believe, you’re forgiven of all sin. So evidently somebody didn’t believe something that they should have believed. Now take your Bible and turn to the gospel of John, the gospel of John, and there is a verse there I want to show you, and that’s found in the book of John, Gospel of John, and chapter 20 on page 1144, page 1144 in an old Gopher Reference Bible or one of the church’s Bibles just right in front of you there.

So in John chapter 20 look in verse 30 and verse 30 says, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name. So the reason that God worked these miracles by the Holy Spirit through Jesus, because he says, I do all those things, You know that the Holy Spirit gave him the power to do he depended upon the Holy Spirit and he did all things that would please His Heavenly Father So here he makes the statement that you might believe that Jesus number one is the Christ and that means he was the one that’s supposed to come the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world and

The miracles that he did or the signs that he did was so that people would believe he is who he claimed to be And that if they’ll believe that, that believing on him, they could receive eternal life through his name. So the reason you believed in Christ was so that you could be forgiven of all your sins and receive the gift of eternal life. Take your Bibleline and turn back to the book of Matthew in chapter 12. In Matthew chapter 12, now look in verse 22.

Verse 22 is talking about a miracle that Jesus had done. The Pharisees did not believe that what Jesus did, he did it by the power of God. Understanding this, Jesus was born the king of the Jews. So in the book of Matthew, it says he was born king of the Jews and the wise men who came were looking for the king. It says, where is he to be born? They said in the book in the Old Testament, like a chapter 5 verse 2 in Bethlehem, Ephraim, where it says, and though thou bethle him Ephraim, though thou be little among the thousands of Judea.

Yet out of thee shall he come forth that is be ruler in Israel, who’s going forth and been from old to everlasting. The one that’s going to be born is eternal. Never had a beginning, never have an ending, but he is going to be born and he’s going to rule and reign. He is the king. And so he was born in Bethlehem. So at the right time, John the Baptist came on the same as the forerunner of Jesus Christ telling the people, get ready, the king is here.

The king is here, and the king here, that means that this Missyanic kingdom that they have been waiting for, the Davidic kingdom is going to be set up. So he kept telling them, the kingdom is at hand. It’s at hand. The king is coming. So what Jesus did in most of the miracles that he did, he did them publicly. And as he did them publicly, and many people, the common people heard him gladly, and they believed on him, believing that he was the Messiah.

Even when he asked his disciples, whom do mean say that I the Son of Man Am? It’s like asking who was buried in the grants tomb, or when was the war of 1812? Well, who do they say that I, the son of man am? And then finally, well, they said, hey John, the Baptist, sorry, he’s Elijah, one of the prophets, and he looked at Peter, and said, whom do you say that I am? He said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.

And so he says, upon this rock, this truth, I will build my church, upon this truth. He didn’t say that Peter was the rock. He was a pebble, but Jesus is the petri-rocked. Now, there is a difference. It’s a play on words, but Jesus was the one they were looking for. But when they came a question or doubts, he says, the gospel is preached to the poor and the death can hear and the blind can see. can see. The lame can walk.

Those were the credentials of the Messiah. So by doing the miracles that he did was so they would be convinced and especially the leadership of Israel. The representative as the nation of Israel would believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. And as the Messiah, He was the King. And He had a right to the throne. Because of all these miracles that He did, they could not deny the miracles. So they denied the power of those miracles coming from God.

They denied that they were the works of the Holy Spirit. And so therefore they said that what Jesus did, because they could not deny the miracles, He said, he did it by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons. Did it by the devil himself. So now look there in verse 22. Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb and he healed him. In so much that the blind and the dumb both spake and saw.

And all the people were amazed and said, it’s not this the son of David. Now here he’s talking about is the son of David. in verse 32, he’s talking about as the son of man. He had the right to the king, be the king, because he was the son of David. He was in the right line. He was the right person and he was proven his apostleship and his messiahship. By the simple fact he was able to do these miracles that no one else could do.

That said him a part has been very unique. But they said that you didn’t do that by the power of God. You did it by the power of the devil. Now notice what he said in verse 24, and when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by beels above the prince of the devils, and Jesus knew their thoughts. Sudden to them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. So in other words, if this is the kingdom of the devil, and the devil gave me power to cast out the devils, then he’s doing the very opposite of what he should be doing.

And the only way that if I worked for the devil and cast out demons, then you Pharisees, how did your sons cast them out? So he’s saying, it’s either legitimate and I am of God, or I’m of the devil and so are your people that are castin out the demons. And it wasn’t because the devil was doing it, it was because they really did have the power of exorcism to cast demon out. Now get this. And if Satan in verse 26 cast out Satan, he’s divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?

And if I, by Beelzeboth cast out devils, by home to your children cast them out, therefore they shall be your judges.” Remember, he answered these questions because he knew what was in their mind. He knew their thoughts. So he’s able to answer the questions that they never even asked, except in their mind. But in verse 28, but if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is coming unto you. And so he says, the kingdom is at hand.

I am the king, I am the Messiah. These are my credentials. But as a nation of Israel and the leaders in Israel, they rejected the credentials that he had the right to be the king and that he was able to do the miracles that only a man of God would be able to do. So they did not credit his power to do these things to the Spirit of God but to the devil himself. And so they did not believe.

Now why was Jesus producing these miracles in John chapter 20 when we read that you might believe that he is the Son of God, and that by believing you may have what? Life through his name. So if you do not believe that he is who he claimed to be, then you’re not gonna accept what he is going to do. You’re not gonna trust him. So as the leadership in Israel, the leadership as a nation rejected Jesus Christ as the king.

Up to this point, Jesus has done many, many miracles. Enough to prove who He was. He said who He was. Now chapter 12 is like a pivotal point because after this chapter 12, He starts in chapter 13 with the parables and the kingdom of heaven is like unto, and He says as this and that and the other there’s a whole bunch of things that we won’t get into tonight. But that was the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven because they rejected the king.

Jesus let them know the kingdom is taken away from you and there is nothing you can do about it now. It’s like it is too late, it’s over. And now he’s talking about the Gentiles. And in comparison, if you’ll look there in chapter 12, look what he says in verse 38. He says in verse 38, then certain of the scribes of the Pharisees answers, and Master, we would see a sign from them. But he answered in the son of them, an evil and adulterous generation, seeketh after a sign.

But there shall be no sign given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights the whales belly or the great fish, even so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the year. The only sign you’re going to see after this as a nation is going to be that sign. Now that doesn’t mean that there weren’t some more miracles after this, but they were individual miracles and it was for individual people to believe and trust in the Lord.

Before this, he was doing these miracles to the nation of Israel, but afterwards he says, tell nobody, tell nobody, tell nobody. And there was a reason for that. Because as a nation, they had rejected the king, rejected the kingdom. And that’s why he says, this generation, and he mentioned this generation twice, he says, you have put it away from you. This is as a nation, unpardonable sin. It’s been prophesied for 1500 years. The Messiah is coming to set up His kingdom.

And now He’s here. He has proven who He is. And the nation of Israel has rejected their king. So they rejected the kingdom. And that generation, He says, there’s Old Testament saints who would have loved have seen what you’ve seen and to hear what you have heard. But you’ve hardened your heart, your ears are dull of hearing. And you could have had this in your day. And he says in the book of Luke, they wished not who he was.

In other words, here’s God in the flesh. And he proved who he was, did things that only he could do and they would not believe on him. they would not believe it. And so their unbelief, they accredited his miracles that were done by the Holy Spirit to the devil himself. Individually, any Jewish person can trust Christ as Savior. But as a nation, I believe that mainly is the unpardonable sin for that nation because the kingdom was taken away from them and has been projected into the future and it’s still coming.

But those people at that time will not have any part in it. Now look what we have here in verse 41, verse 41. Now he refers to two incidents but both of these were about the Gentiles. See up to this point it was only about Israel, Israel, Israel. Then he compares and he says in verse 41, the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation. Now this word, this generation, you ought to underline it because that’s a very important word.

This generation separates it from all the other generations and he’s talking about the people that were there. This generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold a greater than Jonah is here. In other words, the gospel was preached to Nineveh. They were warned. They believed the message and a greater than Jonah is here in Israel and you won’t believe it. He was greater than Jonah. He was greater than the temple. And then he says this in verse 42.

the queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment. The queen of Sheba with this generation and do what to this generation, condemn it. For she came from the utmost parts of the year to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold a greater than Solomon is here. In other words, they had less knowledge and believed. You have been given more knowledge and you still will not believe. So as an individual, yes, anybody can trust Christ as their Savior.

All sins can be forgiven, but remember this, everyone who has trusted Christ as their Savior is saved and cannot be guilty of the unpardonable sin because it was the sin of unbelief, but on the part of Israel mainly. We can apply that in many other areas God can save anybody who trusts the Lord. But as a nation, they rejected the King. Now Jesus is going to give them parables, and the kingdom of heaven is like unto and these subject changes.

And then later on they asked the question of the book of Acts, will thou at this time restore unto us the kingdom? Because they knew the kingdom is gone. There is no hope for the kingdom at that point, so they did not know. Now I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of, well let’s go to it. Let me just tell you this stuff for the sake of time. You remember in the Old Testament in Numbers chapter 13 and 14, there were 12 spies that went into the land.

Remember that? Ten of them came back with what kind of a report? Good or bad? Bad report. And so they said, we had died in the wilderness. Well, we should have just stayed in Egypt. You brought us out here into this wilderness to die. And they complained about a lot of things. But Jesus, I guess you could say, the Lord told Moses, these people, the children of Israel, that generation would not go into the Promised Land. Has this happened before when they could have in 11 days they could have went into the Promised Land.

But because of their rebellion they said that the people in the land are like giants and they’re like grasshoppers in their sight and they were afraid and their fear contaminated the whole nation of Israel. But Joshua and Caleb believed we can do this. 40 years later, Joshua and Kaelin, we got to go into the land. And the younger generation under 20, but there was these people that for 40 years, they kept dying in the wilderness until they were all dead.

They were not going into the land. Just in other words, because of their unbelief. Now individually, anybody can trust Christ that their Savior have eternal but this was about entering to that land that God had promised that flowed with milk and honey and Because of their rebellion that didn’t get to go Turning the Bible to 2nd Kings and the Old Testament to the book of 2nd Kings 2nd Kings in chapter 21 chapter 21 and look in verse 1 You see there were some kings that God had that were not always obedient to the Lord Because of their rebellion, they led the children of Israel astray.

So when they went astray, God promised judgment upon them. And so He makes the statement here in verse 1, Manasseh was 12 years old when He began to reign. Rained 50 and 5 years in Jerusalem. Verse 2, He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord after the abomination of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. So he raised up altars in order to worship Baal, many wicked things that he did.

And he says in verse 6, and he made his son pass through the fire and observed the time and used enchantments and dealt with familiar spirits and wisdom. Everything God had told him in the book of Deuteronomy not to do, he was guilty of doing. And God had promised that if you do these things, and if you live wickedly and you forget my ways and forsake my way.” He says, I’m going to bring in another nation and they’re going to take you into captivity.

You’re going to be taken out of the land. And there comes a time when God says, all right, I’ve warned you over and over again. Dead line’s over. It’s too late. The die is cast. You’re going into captivity. Nothing you say or do will change it. It’s done. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church 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 by the line and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing 813-884-4328.

That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our home page at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the radio broadcast link. If you’re 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 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friends, 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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

This was written years and years ago, but it was a missionary named Jim Elliot to the Alka Indians on an Ecuador. And I remember reading about that and hearing all about that. But it says, a man is no fool. Think of how many people have used that quote. A man is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Isn’t that an awesome state? That was found in the flyleaf of his Bible and him and some of the missionaries were killed.

Later on the wives of those dead missionaries went in and reached the tribe. And even one of the daughters went to Florida Bible College. And she wrote Elizabeth Ella, “‘There’s always enough time to do the will of God.” He said, well, I just don’t have time to do the will of God. I don’t have time to read the Bible. I don’t have time to pray. I don’t have time to give. I don’t have time to with it. I don’t have time.

Do you realize time is in God’s hands? and he loaned it to you temporarily. And little by little, you’re running out of time. Why do you think the Bible says in the book of Ephesians chapter five, redeeming the time? Why? Because the days are evil. The days are evil and they’ll eat up your time. They’ll eat up your life and leave you with nothing. Supporting missions. He says it’s your reasonable service. It’s only reasonable. If God can save me and give me eternal life, call me his child and give me that promise that I’m going to be with him for all eternity.

And then he asked me, he said, I’m going to leave you down here so you can just tell somebody else this good news. All he wants me to do is go through life telling good news of what he did for them, how they can have eternal life. Be not conformed to this world. Whatever it is, that’s the will of God for you. I can tell you this. It is the will of God that you not be conformed to this world.

are not to be like the world. Now just ask yourself this question, are you? Are you conformed to this world? Are you just like the world? Is there any difference on what they live for and what you live for? What’s the purpose of their life? The lost man’s life. What’s the purpose of your life? Why are you living? What are you living for? You say, for my wife, I live for my family. You got it all wrong. You ought to live for the Lord.

And by living for the Lord you want to treat your wife right. You want to treat your husband right. You want to treat your kids right. But you got to have God has to be first. He is preeminent. Has to be. That’s why Jesus says, unless you love me more than mother and father. He says, you can’t be my disciple. Because if you love anything more than me, then you’re not going to serve me. Because you’re going to serve that which you love more.

And you’re not the same way. Why do we well lay up treasure and heaven says, where your treasure there will your heart be also. It’s where your love’s going to be. Be in transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now, all we’re talking about is this, the will of God. And what does he say? Be transformed. How do you transform your life by the renewing of your mind? How do you renew the mind? By the word of God. And that’s why when you don’t have an appreciation for the Bible member, this is God’s love letter to his children.

It’s the Word of God. So we should study the Word of God so that we can know the will of God. So it’s the will of God to know the Word of God so you know the will of God. Ain’t that clear? It’s very cold, we’ll say, isn’t that good? Mm, ain’t that good? It’s good. That you may prove or discover what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You’re only going to live one time. No reruns, no instant replays.

trip through life don’t you want to get it right. Don’t you want to get it right? Well, you can’t get it right if you don’t know the book. And you can’t go through life saying, I believe whatever my preacher is. Yeah, but what if your preacher is wrong? Although then I’m messed up. Know what you know because you know what the word says. Believe the Bible, study the Bible. And you’ll be surprised. God has given to every one of us that believe the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit is the teacher of the Word of God. You remember whenever you used to go to Sunday school and you used a little brat child, and you used to sing that little song that goes like deep and wide, deep and wide, there’s a fountain flowing deep and wide. Now remember that song? Deep and wide. You’re supposed to be deep in theology so that your roots are deep in the Word of God. So whatever the wind blows, it doesn’t move you.

You’re not tossed by every wind of doctrine that comes along. But wide in our evangelism. Now I don’t know some people who go down so deep, stay down so long, come up so dry. But we try to take college kids and put the Word of God into them, putting water into them, into their well. And sometimes I can’t put the water into the well because they got so much trash in their well. So we got to get trash out of their life so you can put something good and value in their life.

And then when they leave college, we want them to have enough water in their well, they got enough for a lot of people. And as the scripture says, “‘Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, “‘but this fake key of the Spirit which they “‘that believe on him should receive. “‘Missioners are necessary support missions, “‘and if they are.'” He says, “‘Go ye into all the world “‘and preach the gospel to every preacher.'” That’s really what it should say.

If every preacher knew the gospel, every preacher would be preached in the same thing. You take all the preachers of all the religions, or they all preached in the same thing about how to go to heaven. No, they’re not. And that’s a shame. But when he says, go ye, he means be a missionary. Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? And who will go for us? So in Isaiah chapter six, the Eliza says, Lord, here am I.

Send me. That penetrated in my little heart when I saw that till the first time. And I said, well, if he can do it, I can do it. Lord, here am I, send me. But I didn’t have any talent, no, ability, I couldn’t do anything. I’m a Georgia boy. I mean, out of the woods, the sticks. And I, what can I do? What can I do? I’d sit in a corner of a Bible bookstore and I’d sit there and I’d try because I wanted to do something for the Lord but I didn’t know what I could do.

And I thought that God would do something miraculous and nothing like that ever happened to me. It was just a little slow by bit by bit growth in the Lord. And I find out, well, I can do that. I can do that. I want to be so clear, so simple that anybody who listens to me will think anybody can do what he does. If he can do it, God can use me. That’s the point God can use you. And probably in a greater way, here am I sinned me, but as we were allowed a God to be missionaries, but the rest of that verse, and I remember it, but as we were allowed a God to be put in trust with the gospel.

Even so we speak not as pleasing men, but God which trot our heart. But see there’s a verse there that says that we ought to be missionaries. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, Matthew chapter 28. Go ye means be a missionary. How can you put it in the other way? So if there’s people who are willing to go, shouldn’t we be willing to help them and send them? I was so thrilled that so many of y’all gave so so much money for the missionaries.

Because I went out on the limb, and I told them that we wanted to be a blessing to them. We even sent out a little letter and just thought it would be good. Just get something back from their request. What do they need? And they actually know we had five or six people that wanted laptops, and I thought laptops, there’s $600, $700, we can’t afford that. Somebody gave us money, and they went in person, bottom. and gave it to them.

And then I looked at the offer in the last week, and it was about $4,400 or something like that for missions. That is incredible. That’s because a person’s given five, somebody’s given 10, somebody’s given 20, and somebody’s given a lot. But it’s people doing what they do. What I don’t want is for the rest of the year, nobody gives anything to missions. Well, we did it one time in the year, now they can starve until next year. No. and So, if this man can say that and these scriptures are there for us to read and if you opened your Bible and you read that verse, what does it say to you?

What does it do to you? Does it challenge you, motivate you, exhort you? Does it rebuke you? What does it do to you? You see, the Word of God has no power until it can change your life. And you don’t know the Bible until you obey the Bible to reach the unreached support missions. God only had one son. And what was he? He was on the mission. I came to seek and to save that which was, well, if the Son of God, if that’s His goal and He wants me to be like Him, what would be my goal?

doesn’t change, doesn’t change. Do you’re given why you’re living so you’re knowing where it’s going? Do you’re given why you’re living? Because whenever we die it’s it’s too late. All your opportunities are gone. The day will come when no man can work. Work while it is day while you’re alive, while you have this time and you’d be surprised what God will do for us. So you’re knowing where it’s going because you’re laying up treasures in heaven. See anything you invest for the Lord you never lose.

You can do anything else and lose. You cannot lose whatever you invested for the Lord. Impossible. God will not be in debt to any man and he is not, as he says, God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. Does he know your work, your labor of love? It would be a sin for God to forget what you did for him. People may forget it and people may not appreciate it. Don’t worry about that. You didn’t do it for them anyway, right?

You did it for the Lord. How beautiful are the feet of missionaries. I was going to have the missionaries all come up here and take off their shoes. Wouldn’t it have been neat? Everybody look at these feet. These are the beautiful feet of missionaries. Why? Because they’re carrying the truth. The people that’s never heard the gospel going to places that maybe you and I would not want to go. So then faith come at by hearing and hearing by a missionary.

Don’t you think it’s important for us to pray for missionaries, support missionaries? Maybe you’re sitting here saying, I’d like to be a missionary. You can do it but you got to pay the price. You got to prepare. Nobody wants to support somebody who wants to take a vacation. Where do you want me to go? Well, I was thinking about Hawaii. Oh, wouldn’t that be nice? What do you know? I don’t know anything but I can go over there and watch.

I don’t think that’s the kind of missionary we’re looking for. You shine as lights in the world when you support mission because that’s what God wants us to do. If you cannot support a missionary, then be a missionary. Hold in fourth a word of life, how? By supporting missions. Missionaries have compassion. Now when you study the book of Jude, there’s a wonderful section of verses there that talks about having compassion, making a difference. When life is all over and God had called you on home, the question is, did you make a difference?

Did you make a difference? People were going to hell. Did you make a difference? They are people who are going to spend eternity in hell and some of those people are going to be reached and And they’ll be in heaven. Did you help make a difference? Was God able and free to use your life? Like Paul says, whether by life or by death, he may be magnified. Pulling them out of the fire. That makes a difference, doesn’t it? People are already condemned.

They’re already lost. They’re already going to hell. And there’s no way of stopping them. You can’t stop them. People are living the day. They’re already on their way to hell. They’re not waiting for a judgment. already condemned and when you went a person to the Lord you just pulled them out of the fire. See it was only a matter of time before they got there. You have to reach them before they die. Once they die there is no second chance.

There is no hope. So we were taught to reach them while we can. Support mission because of rewards and eternity. You realize God’s gonna reward you when you get to heaven because of the people you led to Christ. Want be wonderful. To get to heaven and see a bunch of people that say, I trust the Lord because of you. There’s a song that I love is called Faces. It’s just called Faces. And you get to heaven and see all those faces of the people that you affected because you passed through life.

Because of the the needs of the lost. Does the lost need a missionary? They need somebody. So, whatever you go, whatever you do, you see, when I can’t talk to somebody, I got tracked. I’ll leave my picture everywhere. But nobody, no Christian, not taking me to go out to the door and not have tracks. You ought to have tracks somewhere on your body, in your Bible, somewhere. Why? Because those are just seeds, you’re going to go plant some seeds.

When you don’t have time to talk to somebody, look, I want to leave this with you. Get a chance to read that. Would you do that? I even had somebody ask me, how in the world did you get the name Yankee. I says, it’s interesting you should ask that. Let me show you, and I pull out the track, and I associate right there. My name is Yankee. I said, have you ever heard of Yankee Doodle? You mean like Yankee Doodle, Andy?

Yeah, that was my dad. And I said, no, I’m lying. I said, can you believe that? I said, look, I’m a preacher. You didn’t know preacher told lies, did you? I said, if you get a chance, would you read this? But see, It was a little human, they got it. I just passed out of track. But they didn’t know. I’m gonna pass out of track. Yahoo! Come get it. As you go. Trust the Lord to open up doors and operate as you go.

Trust the Holy Spirit to give you the right words to say, as you go. But don’t wait until I’m not gonna move until the Holy Spirit says go. I don’t wanna do this in the energy of the flesh. You coward, that’s what it’s called. scared to death. I’m still petrified sometimes to witness. Sometimes I do it only because I’m supposed to do it. The mission hasn’t changed because I don’t feel like doing it. The love of Christ, the love of Christ constrains us, motivates us, challenges us because we thus judge that if one died then all were dead then he died for us, came back from the dead.

And he says, and henceforth they that believe believe on him should also serve him and live for him. God wants us to from henceforth, the command from above. God has given a command from above and there’s a cry from without and there’s also a cry from beneath, people that are in hell, says, go and witness to my five brothers, lest they come to this place of torment. And the Holy Spirit is that burden that’s on the inside of you.

He cries from within. He given you the Holy Spirit that you may be witnesses. And if you don’t witness, you grieve the Holy Spirit. And he says, we’re by grieve not the Holy Spirit. How do I grieve the Holy Spirit by not being the witness that the Holy Spirit came and dwelt in me in order that I might go? And you wonder why sometimes people are not really happy. Just not enjoying the Christian life. Well, if you’re rebellious, you’re not going to enjoy it.

You’re always saying, there’s something missing, something missing. You know, you can have a miserable lousy day, but next thing you know, you witness to somebody or give somebody, you haven’t tried, you talked about the Lord, or they were blessed because, and all of a sudden, be right how you’ll feel. You’re not, man, I feel good. I’m gonna sleep good tonight. And if you haven’t done what God wants you to, I hope you have a miserable night’s rest. And you’ll have hiccups all night long.

When the world crashes in upon you, it doesn’t matter. You’re having a bad day. Okay, you have a bad day. A lot of people have bad days. You had a fight with your wife. Okay, so you had a fight with your wife. Okay, so you just lost your job. You got cancer. You just found out whatever your problem is, and the world comes crashing in upon you. The mission hasn’t changed. God can put you in a hospital. There might be a nurse or some young person come in there just to clean the room or to bring you some food.

and it could be an opportunity to talk to them. I had this next surgery. And while I was in the hospital, it was a very next day, some people came to the room, I think George Heckman, I think it was him. And they took a video of me sitting there in my, the job outfit and IV hooked up to me, and he says, go ahead and give the gospel. So I went ahead and gave the gospel and told him a little bit.

And next thing you know, they put it on Facebook. I don’t even know how to do that. He put it on Facebook and he said, you know, it had over 10,000 views, over 900 shares. I don’t know where all it went. But a lot of people heard the gospel, just because George Heckman knew a little tool to use. Was that worth it? He’s a missionary. He’s supposed to think like that. We’re not missionaries like that, so we shouldn’t have to think like that.

No, he saw an opportunity, an opportunity that he took it. And I thought from now on, I’m gonna start preaching in my pajamas. I got more comments and a lot of people praying for me and buddy that I appreciate it. But remember this, whatever bad day you’re having, the mission hasn’t changed because you have a bad day. You know, the mission, if you stay on track with the mission, do you know that’s the biggest thing to help heal in the problems in your home?

This will help heal your financial problems better than anything, your health problems. You said, just trust the Word of God. You do the will of God and put Him first and His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you. He’ll take care of that. But you see all these other things is because, well, if I’m not right with the Lord, then you’re not going to pray right. You’re not going to live right. You’re not going to think right.

And it’s going to affect your life. And you’re going to make bad decisions. And you’re going to be miserable, most of your Christian life. But the mission hasn’t changed. Whatever our loss, our crisis may be, the lost man is as worse. Would you rather be a Christian in all of his problems or the lost man with his problem? I’d take being saved any day. So don’t forget the mission. Remember when the end of the world, when it’s finally come, eternity is just beginning.

It’s only begun. We’re living at a very interesting time in this whole world. How important is this gospel that we have? Let me read up to you. Yeah, thank you for explaining the gospel of grace to me clearly. I really can’t express how much you mean to me and how you’ve helped me understand many hard verses through the lens of grace. I accepted Christ as my Savior back in 2008. Over the next ten years I slowly came to believe in Lordship Salvation, sinless perfection and repent of your sins to be saved.

I thought I wasn’t really saved back when I accepted Christ as my Savior and that I needed to turn from all of my sins and start living perfect to be saved. I had forgotten the clear gospel of grace message I once knew and the all the verses that went along with it, Ephesians 2 8 9 and support. I started to see the era of my Lordship position when I was challenged with the question, when is someone in Christ? I concluded the moment of faith, not the moment when reached a state of sinless perfection.

I contacted a friend who believed the gospel of grace and asked him for help. He told me I should listen to a preacher named Ralph Yankee Arnold and that he would I could help me make sense of the hard versus. I was using to justify a lordship salvation. You’ve absolutely helped me through your preaching to understand I can’t thank you enough. I have two sons and hope to send them to your Bible college someday. God bless you my brother.

My heart is full of joy. My eyes are filled with tears as I write this. That’s from Pennsylvania. Another one says, my name is Greg. I’m from Nebraska. Years ago, I believed the gospel that Jesus Christ dealt on the cross to pay for my sins, and I was saved by faith in the shed blood. I also learned about eternal security, and I believe it, or thought I did. Unfortunately, there were many false teachers on the internet, Radio Neltrar, who taught that I was supposed to repent of my sins and stop sinning, to show that Jesus was my Lord and that I was truly saved.

If I kept sinning after I was saved, then according to them, and that evidence I was never really saved. One morning I was driving to work, and I was in despair. Even though I had believed in Jesus for salvation, I realized I could never stop sinning because I had tried too many times and failed. I was ready to give up because I believed those false teachers who were teaching Lordship Salvation, although I didn’t know what that was at the time.

I thought that morning I was going to hell when I died because I couldn’t stop sinning and that meant I must have never really been saved. That’s what the false teachers taught me. But God is merciful. About two days later I found your video called Lordship Salvation on the internet. I watched it and then your other videos on the heresy of Lordship Salvation and the truth hit me like a bolt of lightning. You made it so clear. I had never heard the gospel in turn, security and explain so clearly.

You taught me how wrong Lordship Salvation is. You taught me the salvation and service are separate and cannot be mixed. That my faith in Christ saved me, even though I stand afterwards. You showed me how to rightly divide the scriptures regarding faith and works. Now I know that I’m going to heaven when I die. I am rock solid in my faith and I have a deep hatred of the false teachings of Lordship Salvation. Thank you for your teaching, Dr.

Arnold. The day I watched your video, it felt like a giant weight was taken from me. Do you think we ought to keep the internet going? And the, I mean, I get them from all over the world. And it’s not a joke. And that wasn’t even my idea. I didn’t even know about you two. Jesse’s the one that came up with that idea. and we started doing it. And we were so excited when he says, I hope we can get 100 in about six months.

You know, subscribers, we’re now we’re moving up to 10,000. And we can put up a sermon and in one day have almost a thousand views on it. And I thank the Lord for that. And the person that’s doing the work for us now on the… And the messages that we put up there, Louis Hernandez. Louis, raise your hand. But ain’t that exciting so we can go around the world to the unit to you. You’re in the tube. Here’s.

know there’s nobody here that’s lost. Well, as far as I know, because I want you to learn how to do what I’m doing. If I do it consistently over and over and over again, it’ll get into your brain and you can’t get it out. And one of these days you’re going to talk to somebody and next thing you know, you’re going to be doing the same thing because you didn’t see it done so many times you’ll know how to do it.

Get in front of a mirror and see if you can win yourself to Christ. When you can do that, you’re good. This hand represents you me. The wallet represent sin. We all have sin upon us. God loves us. Now he hates our sin, but he does love us. And because God hates sin, his law condemns those who sin and the wages of sin is death. That’s why we all have to die and be eternally separated from God in hell.

But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven, but we have to be perfect and nobody’s heaven is perfect, God is perfect, but we’re not. That’s why we need a Savior. And God says you cannot save yourself. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us. He hates our sin, called our sin, separates us from the Lord. And the good news is that Jesus Christ took all the sin of all the world paid for it on the cross.

He paid for the sins of the whole world, everybody, came back from the dead. The payment was made. And the only thing he wanted us to do to go to heaven is, well, we believe he did it for us. So when you believe he did it for you, he gives you as a free gift everlasting life. We go to heaven because I don’t have any sins to pay for it. My debt’s been paid. And I get to heaven, I won’t have an old sinful nature.

I’m perfect, just like the Lord. And that’s why it’s the most important thing in all the world. So if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, why not trust the Lord right now? See, this is the gospel, the good news that God wants everybody to hear. What do you want everybody to hear? What is this gospel? Christ died for my sins. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth two things. You will not perish when you will not go to hell.

But have everlasting light go to heaven. All you gotta do is just believe John 3, 16. Let’s pray, shall we? Father, we thank you so much for all that you’ve done for us. Thank you for this church and every person. We ask your blessings upon each one. We just figure honor and for your glory. In Christ’s name we pray. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church 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 by the line and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing 813-884-4328. That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you’re 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 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. You’re prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue to be on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

I want to talk to you a little bit about something that I believe that every one of us should be sold on. It would be a shame for the people of the Calvary Community Church not to believe the message that we’re going to talk about this morning. This is the heart of this church. This is what it’s all about. And so I want to start by these words. Is the missionary necessary? Now if he’s not, we don’t need to support him and we don’t need to do what we’re doing if it’s not necessary.

And so I want to give you some scriptures that I think will help us. There will be some verses that I will change around a little bit, but I wanted you to know what I’m not changing the word of God. I’m only trying to take certain verses and apply them to our purpose because each one of these verses will tell us something to do. But we need to know what is that that we’re supposed to do. You see in James chapter 1 it says, be not just here’s only but doers of the work.

Now this man shall be blessed or happy in his deeds. So there’s scriptures that I put in a little of a meaning which I believe explains what the scriptures are saying. So you understand that. One of the things that we need to find out is what on earth is God doing? Why are we here? When we trusted Christ as our Savior, God gave us a new birth. And the Bible says you are born from above. Means our citizenship is really in heaven.

So we were born of God. And as Jesus says, as the Father has sent me into the world, even so send I you. So why are we sent to do what? When He says you’re strangers and pilgrims. We are away from home, but we’re going home, but we’re not there yet. Why did God leave us here after we trusted Christ as our Savior? Missionaries are necessary. And the reason the Bible talks about Jesus Christ came into the world to be the Redeemer means to pay for the sins of the world.

Because without a payment for our sins, every person will spend an eternity separated from God in a literal fire burning hell. The people need a Savior. It’s not that they need a closer walk with God, though that’s important, but you can’t get that until he becomes your Savior. You can have fellowship with the Lord, which is good, but you can’t have that until you trust Christ as your Savior. He has to save you from hell first before I can become his child.

He has to save me. So I need to be saved from something. So if you’re saved from something, you’re saved to something, to an inheritance that’s incorruptible and undefiled that faith if not away reserved in heaven for you. So I’ve got me in your reservation. It’s already been paid for and it’s I’m good to go. So the light was to shine into all the world. When Christ was here, He commanded His disciples, go ye into all the world. And then he says, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, He shall be witnesses.

You shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. So that is a mission. And we know what He wants us to do. Going all the world on this mission. To tell the gospel. Now that’s so easy to say, but if you really believe it, it can change your life. These verses that says like in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6, it’s impossible to please God except by faith. So he says, without faith it’s impossible to please God.

But faith to do what? What’s the mission? It’s so many. But without missions, it is impossible. to please them. Now here we are. Do we want to please the Lord? Well then we need to know what was the mission. It’s just like I told my daughter, she comes at daddy, what is your will for me? I wash the dishes. Well praise your holy name. I love your Father and I want to do all things to please my Father. What is your will for me?

Wash the dishes. Anything else? Now just wash the dishes. I don’t want to wash the dishes. I’ll tell you what, I’ll shine your shoes. I’ll bring you the newspaper. Now, that’s good, that’s good, that’s good. But I told you what I want you to go wash the dishes. You see, that hasn’t changed. Some people are willing to do for the Lord anything, except what He said to do. But they want to be happy and peaceful and joyful and have all the wonderful things of life.

So we’re so diligently seek to please the Lord. Now this is why it’s so good when you have people in the church as a body of believers and you all believe the same thing. I saw a little cartoon one time as these three or four, five little bitty kittens was going into this year room and it had on their prayer room. Little kids going into a prayer room. And the next scene was these lions coming out because prayer is preparation for battle.

When you don’t pray, you’re not preparing for battle because it’s a spiritual war and you’re always battling with the mind. These are on the same mission as we are. This is what makes it so wonderful to have the missionaries come. I want them to know we stand with them and as much as possible we got your back. We’re gonna help you. We’re gonna help support you. And we want to stay with you year after year. As much as we possibly can do it, I believe that is the will of God.

It’s just not well that’s a good thing we ought to do. Well if the preacher says do it, no no no. That’s the will of God. That’s what the Word of God says. So we need them and they need us. You see this church we need missionaries. We need to see them as somebody who is doing what we’re supposed to do. So if we can’t go ourselves, then we’re supposed to send them one or the other. And if you’re not a missionary, you’re a mess.

But everybody’s a missionary, but not everybody is one that’s going to be going to the foreign fields or doing it full-time. When Christ says, follow me and I will make you fishers of men, right? Isn’t that the way it says? In the book of Matthew in verse 19, follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men. But when it says fishers of men, what does that mean? It means be a missionary. What is a missionary? A fisher of men.

They go on fishing. They go to this country, that country, that country, and we’re helping people to go fishing. And God says, follow me and I’ll make you a fisher of men. So if you’re not a fisher of men, maybe you’re not following. So if you’re following, you want to reach souls. And so we do it a lot of different ways. But whatever your way is, it should be a way that people come to know the Lord. So either we buy helping, it’s just like this.

We had missionaries come. There were some people in the kitchen working hard, peeling potatoes, cutting up stuff. Well, why were they doing that? So that we could work together. But is that important? We had deacons working. We had people in the booth up there sound people, people that do all the work around here. Everybody doing what they can and I was actually amazed myself because often I’ll have people say we could build a work like that to it if we had your workers.

I says where do you think we got them from? We didn’t bring them in from the outside it’s because they’ve got a vision on the inside. The while they were here they saw you know I can do that Otherwise, the preacher can’t do everything. Jesse can’t do everything. He just about had to do everything. But I mean, it’s a lot of things that everybody pitches in that can do. So he says that we should not be ashamed of the gospel.

I don’t wanna be ashamed of the gospel or ashamed of his testimony. So the shame of all shame is to not go or support missionaries. Wouldn’t it be a shame for us to get to heaven and God says, now give a count of yourself, you knew what the mission was. What did you help to do concerning that mission? Of getting the gospel to people. What did you do? Well, Lord, I didn’t go because you didn’t give me any talent and abilities.

And you didn’t give me any money. So I just didn’t do anything. Well, there’s stories in the Bible about a servant who doesn’t do what God wants him to do. But every person has to settle this in their own mind. How much do you want to do? What kind of an involvement will you have? Trust in the Lord. I love this verse from the book of Psalms. Psalm 37. And he says, trust in the Lord and do good. What would be something that would be doing good?

Is supporting missions a good thing or a bad thing? It’s a good thing. So don’t you wanna do that which is good? And God says, and we just read that verse this morning from the book of Hebrews in chapter 13 about doing good. This is good. So we should do that which God wants us to do. You’d be surprised what a blessing it is to yourself. how that you feel so much better when you’re doing that and walking in obedience to the Lord.

And it just relieves a burden off of your shoulder because I’m doing what God wants me to do with my life. Now, I am not God and I’m not the judge. I’m not gonna sit in judgment on anybody’s life and you’re not gonna sit on mine. God is though. And so we gotta learn to please the Lord. And so, delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart, delight thyself in the Lord.

what would be delighting God to support missions, either be a missionary or support missions. You know, years ago when I was at Florida Bible College, Hank Linson went to Florida Bible College. And so there’s a whole bunch of us who went to Florida Bible College, but when we went to Florida Bible College, the college is only two years old. There wasn’t a lot of students there. And it wasn’t long before people began to catch evasion. And lo and behold, there was over 14, 1500 students at Florida Bible College.

fastest growing Bible college in the world. Today you can’t hardly find enough people to go to college because see there’s no vision for doing something or being a missionary or pastor or a preacher or whatever because see if nobody goes to Baba Khan, most of them will never find up serving the Lord full time. They won’t be the missionaries because see it closes the doors. The colleges will close their doors and the church will dry up because there’s no purpose there.

There’s no reason why we do what we do. Next thing you know, everybody goes to sleep, church dies, and then where is the church? Where is this body of believers that God put here to do the job? And we’ve lost our vision, we’ve lost our mission. Because this life is so, well, it’s so important. We gotta do everything else, but that. We don’t have time. Yeah, I know. I know a little bit about that. Commit thy way unto the Lord.

Support missions. That’s why I wanted people to learn less support missions more than anything else his church does. Do you know in reality, ranch is a mission. We call it a ministry of the church. The radio is a ministry. The internet, it’s a ministry. But we’re talking about supporting full-time outside of our ministry and those are our missionaries. Trust also in Him. Learn to trust the Lord and do right. Give what you should give. Talk to the Lord about things.

But see how can God use you where you are to do what you can. You don’t have to maybe totally revolutionize your life. You see, it’s just little small changes in your life. Little areas that you correct and actually know you’re you’re gonna write road. You see, it’s kind of like this, if this is the right road, and you start going off just a little bit. Well, right here, see, it’s not that big of a difference. But on down the road, see, when you keep going the wrong direction, it gets to be a lot of difference.

And you’re like totally be changed. But if you make little adjustments to go back to the Lord, you’d be surprised how you get closer and closer and closer to the Lord. It’ll work. And you’ll be surprised one of these days when you stand before the Lord, God’s gonna reward you for what you did. God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. It would be so good if we could just pull back the curtain from all the wisdom of this world.

You know, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life and look beyond the curtains of heaven. As the Bible says, God has rolled them back and we can see into eternity and see that there’s another world out there because we get trapped into this one. This is all we see. We can’t see God. We can’t see the new heavens and new earth. So we get, this is all there is. So it’s just do whatever we want while we’re here.

It won’t matter. Nothing matters. And yet if that new world is true, everything matters. Everything you say and do matters. All the time where you waste matters. The time you invested for the Lord matters. Because see, when you get to heaven, God’s going to reward you for what you did. You say, how do I know those other things are out there? Because God said so. If he says so, it must be worth it. You see, we don’t work to get to heaven.

We’re going to heaven because Christ came into the world and he did the work. He lived that perfect life I could not live. He was a righteous individual, I’m not. But because he lived a perfect life, he put his righteousness, his perfection to my account as though I did it. It’s just like I was born in this world and I lived that perfect life just like Jesus did. But I was everything, but he put it to my account as though I did when I believed he did that for me.

He died on the cross, he paid for my sins. It’s just like I paid for my sins. Christ did it for me once and for all. So that day will come and he promises. Psalm 37 verse five, he promises it and he shall bring it to pass. You see, this life and what you do for the Lord and you dedicate to the Lord, the day will come when you’ll be so glad you went ahead and put God first. In other words, living by faith is learning how to walk on water.

You step out by faith trusting God, and you don’t know how he’s going to do something, how he’s gonna meet your needs, whatever, but I want God to do more than anything that’s my life. And you in your mind, you just go ahead, whatever you wanna bring into my life, go at it. Do anything that you wanna do. It doesn’t matter what people say, what people do. It doesn’t matter all my hurt, my pain, whatever I go through, all my grief, whatever, if that pleases you, I’m satisfied.

And you go ahead and you just trust the Lord and the Lord. And you’ll win in the long run. But you try to save your life from all of those things that happen to you, you’re gonna lose. And God teaches that. I beseech you, this is two of the verses that I really love concerning service that’s in the Bible, Romans chapter 12 verse one and two. You’ll hear me talk about them all the time. I beseech you, therefore, brother, by the mercies of God that you present your body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable on the God which is a reasonable service.

Then in verse two, and be not conformed to this world, but be it transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. If you check it, you’ll find out it’s pretty close. But what does it say? How’s it pose effect to me? How do I apply that? Well, when it says I beseech you, therefore, brother, that you support missions. You see, it all goes back to what was the purpose?

What on earth is God doing? What did he wanna do? What was his purpose? What was his goal? That has not changed. It might have been 2000 years since then, but it hasn’t changed. When he says that you present your body as a living sacrifice. Do you know most Christians have never sacrificed for the Lord anything? They don’t wanna do anything, it costs them. their time, their talent or their money. They can give their time, talent, money to anything else in the world, but not God.

I know a lot of Christians and that’s not a lie. I know a lot of Christians never give a dime to the Lord’s work. They’ll do everything else they want. They got money for everything else they want, but they can’t support God’s work. People that never give to the internet, they’ll never support the radio ministry. They’ll never give to ranch. They won’t help college kids to camp. They don’t support the church regularly. You say, you picking on us, not unless you’re guilty, but if you’re not guilty, you don’t have to worry about a thing I’m saying, do you?

Because you know the truth. You know how you’re doing between you and the Lord. But so does God. It is my job. Remember that verse who was just read this morning? I don’t know how come Jay always wanted to read in the scriptures that I like to preach on sometimes. He said, obey them to have the rule over you, that they may do it with what? Joy and not with grief, because this would be unprofitable for you. In other words, don’t cause the preacher grief.

You say that’s what it says, that’s what it says, I’m just translating it for you. Oh, there are a lot of people who cause a lot of grief. I’m gonna write a book one day, All My Grief. This is All My Grief. Wouldn’t you like to just read a book on just grief? It’s probably your best salary. This was written years and years ago, But it was a missionary named Jim Elliot, to the Alaca Indians on an Ecuador. You And I remember reading about that and hearing all about that.

But it says, a man is no fool. Think of how many people have used that quote. A man is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Isn’t that an awesome state? That was found in the flyleaf of his Bible. And him and some of the missionaries were killed. And later on the wives of those dead missionaries went in and reached the tribe. And even one of the daughters went to Florida Bible College.

And she wrote Elizabeth Ellis, there’s always enough time to do the will of God. He said, well, I just don’t have time to do the will of God. I don’t have time to read the Bible. I don’t have time to pray. I don’t have time to give. I don’t have time to, I don’t have time. Do you realize time is in God’s hands? And He loaned it to you temporarily. And little by little you’re running out of time. Why do you think the Bible says in the book of Ephesians chapter 5?

Redeeming the time. Why? Because the days are evil. The days are evil and they’ll eat up your time. They’ll eat up your life and leave you with nothing. Supporting missions. He says it’s your reasonable service. It’s only reasonable. If God can save me and give me eternal life, call me His child and give me that promise that I’m gonna be with Him for all eternity. And then he asked me, he said, I’m going to leave it down here so you can just tell somebody else that’s good news.

All he wants me to do is go through life telling good news of what he did for them, how they can have eternal life. Be not conformed to this world. Whatever it is, that’s the will of God for you. I can tell you this. It is the will of God that you not be conformed to this world. You are not to be like the world. Now just ask yourself this question, are you? Are you conformed to this world? Are you just like the world?

Is there any difference in what they live for and what you live for? What’s the purpose of their life, the lost man’s life? What’s the purpose of your life? Why are you living? What are you living for? You say, for my wife, I live for my family. You got it all wrong. You ought to live for the Lord. And by living for the Lord, you want to treat your wife right. You want to treat your husband right. You want to treat your kids right, but you got to have God has to be first.

He is preeminent has to be. That’s why Jesus says, unless you love me more than mother and father. He says, you can’t be my disciple because if you love anything more than me, then you’re not going to serve me because you’re going to serve that, which you love more and you’re not the same way. Why do we well and lay up treasure and heavy says, where your treasure is there, will your heart be also is where your love is going to be.

be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now, all we’re talking about is the will of God. And what does he say? Be it transformed. How do you transform your life by the renewing of your mind? How do you renew the mind by the word of God? And that’s why when you don’t have an appreciation for the Bible members, this is God’s love letter to his children, it’s the word of God. So we should study the word of God so that we can know the will of God.

So it’s the will of God to know the word of God so you know the will of God. Ain’t that clear? It’s fairly cool, wasn’t it? Isn’t that good? It’s good. That you may prove or discover what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You’re only going to live one time. No reruns, no instant replays. One trip through life, don’t you want to get it right? Don’t you want to get it right? where you can’t get it right if you don’t know the book.

And you can’t go through life saying, I believe whatever my preacher says, whatever my preacher says. Yeah, but what if your preacher is wrong? Although then I’m messed up. Know what you know because you know what the word says. Believe the Bible, study the Bible. And you’ll be surprised. God has given to every one of us that believe the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the teacher of the Word of God. You remember whenever you used to go to Sunday school and use it a little brat child, and you used to sing that little song that goes like deep and wide, deep and wide, there’s a fountain flowing deep and wide.

Now remember that song? Deep and wide. You’re supposed to be deep in theology so that your roots are deep in the Word of God. So whatever the wind blows, it doesn’t move you. You’re not tossed by by every wind of doctrine that comes along. But wide in our evangelism. Now, I don’t know some people who go down so deep and stay down so long, come up so dry. But we try to take college kids and put the word of God into them, put water into them, into their well.

And sometimes I can’t put the water into the well because they got so much trash in their well. So we got to get trash out of their life so you can put something good and value in their life. And then when they leave college, we want them to have enough water in their well, they got enough for a lot of people. as the scripture says, out of his bellish, he’ll flow rivers of living water. But this fake key of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.

Missionaries are necessary support missions, and if they are, he says, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every preacher. That’s really what it should say. If every preacher knew the gospel, every preacher would be preached in the same thing. You take all the preachers of all the religions, or they all preached in the same thing about how to go to heaven. No, they’re not. And that’s a shame. But when he says, go ye, he means be a missionary.

Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? So when I said chapter six, the lie says, Lord, hear my, send me. That penetrated in my little heart when I saw that till the first time. And I said, well, if he can do it, I can do it. Lord, hear my, send me. But I didn’t have any talent, no, I couldn’t do anything. I’m a Georgia boy. I mean, out of the woods, the sticks.

And I, what can I do? What can I do? I’d sit in a corner of a Bible bookstore and I’d sit there and I’d try. Because I wanted to do something for the Lord, but I didn’t know what I could do. And I thought that God would, you know, do something miraculous and nothing like that ever happened to me. It was just a little slow by bit by bit growth in the Lord. And I find out, well, I can do that.

I can do that. I want to be so clear, so simple, that anybody who listens to me will think, anybody can do what he does. If he can do it, God can use me. That’s the point. God can use you. And probably in a greater way. Here am I saying me, but as we were allowed of God to be missionaries, But the rest of that verse, if I remember it, but as we were allowed for God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God which tried at our heart.

But see, there’s a verse there that says that we ought to be missionaries. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, Matthew chapter 28. Go ye means be a missionary. How can you put it in the other way? So if there’s people who are willing to go, shouldn’t we be willing to help them and send them? I was so thrilled that so many of y’all gave so much money for the missionaries. Because I went out on the limb and I told them that we wanted to be a blessing to them.

We even sent out a little letter and just thought it would be good. Just get something back from their request, you know, what do they need? And they actually know {} people that wanted laptops and I thought laptops, there’s $600, $700, we can’t afford that. You know, somebody gave us money, they went and bought them. Person bought them, gave it to them. And then I looked at the offer in the last week, and it was about $4,400 or something like that for missions.

That is incredible. That’s because, you know, a person given five, somebody given 10, somebody given 20, and somebody given a lot. But it’s people doing what they do. See, what I don’t want is for the rest of the year, nobody give anything to me. Well, we did it one time in the year, now they can starve until next year. No. 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 813-884-4328. That’s 813-884-4328. 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’re 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 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.