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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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Once you take your Bible and turn to the book of 1 Peter, chapter 5, 1 Peter and chapter 5, regardless of how healthy you feel right now, tomorrow you could be in the hospital or you could be in glory. And so because you don’t have any control over what’s going to happen to you, some things you cannot control, they are out of your hands. So the best thing you can do is learn how to prepare for things. The reason you have car insurance is in case you have a car accident.

So maybe you have health insurance in case you get sick and have to go to the hospital. And so you’re always preparing, but many people never prepare for the most important thing of all is one of these days you’re going to die. You’re going to leave this world. But until then God calls this time that we live a time of suffering. So here in 1 Peter chapter 4, I want you to look at a verse before we look in chapter 5, look there in verse 12.

Verse 12 tells us, Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing has happened to you. Don’t think it’s strange because what happens to you? I mean, all of a sudden you get lung cancer or the next thing you know you’ve lost your job or next thing you know you broke a leg or next thing you know your kids ran away or next thing you know your husband ran off with somebody.

There’s always something going to happen. You’re going to be filled with nothing but problems because you live in a sinful world. everything is going to work and not everything is fair. In this life it’s not fair. Nothing’s fair in this world. That’s why there’s a great white throne judgment. That’s why there’s the judgment seat of Christ. That’s why the righteous God who lives in heaven is going to be the judge of the quick and the dead. And now I know what the quick and the dead refers to.

That was over in Egypt when you tried to cross the road. If you weren’t quick enough you were dead. It’s so important for you to understand that in this life you are going to have troubles. You’re going to have sufferings and your teenagers might well understand that everything ain’t going to work out your way. Your parents ain’t going to let you do everything that you want to do. The teacher ain’t going to always trade your paper fair. They’re going to make mistakes and you’re going to get a D when you should have observed an F.

And sometime you’re going to get a B when you should have thought you should have got an A. And nothing is going to happen to you just perfectly. You’re going to have a girlfriend, you’ll love her to death and then she won’t like you and she’ll choose somebody who looks twice as ugly as you and you won’t figure it out. And you can’t have whatever you want and get whoever you want. It’s not going to work out. Life isn’t fair.

So I want you to take your Bible. Look there now in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 1. As you read some of this, the whole book is talking about the sufferings that we go through and that Christ is our example of what suffering is all about. Then He gets to not just the people in the church. He’s talking now a son about leaders in the church, talking about the pastor, talking about the elders. But he talks about the older preachers and the younger preachers.

And there’s some interesting things in here that you should understand about us. Preachers, as you know, are perfect, right? Yeah. And everybody knows that everybody makes mistakes, but a preacher needs a better excuse than that he’s just human. But the Bible says that the apostle Peter puts himself in the same class. And the word elder here is used as a presbytery or the office of a God called man. That’s to be a pastor. And says in verse 1, the elders which are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the suffering of Christ and also of a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.

This is really like an exhortation chapter. Now, when you read the book of Hebrews in chapter three, it talks about exhort one another, challenging one another, motivating one another. Well, that’s one of the things that we do as a Christian, and every one of us are to challenge one another, exhorting, motivating. We should not provoke one another to do evil, provoke one another to anger, but the Bible does say provoke one another to love and to do those things that are right.

So in your Christian life, if you’re not winning somebody to the Lord, you should be trying to challenge and motivate Christians to serve the Lord. And you challenge and motivate them by what you do. Now if you took a list, made a list I should say, of the ways in which God shows you that He loves you. I’ve ever given a God that loves me. Nobody loves me. Well, some people are very unlovable. But if you made a list on what has God done to manifest his love for you, well, you could put down or he died for you, doesn’t that prove God loves you?

Well, yes, hey, you could put that down. And God forgave you of all of your sins when you trust him and say, yes, you could put that down. So God had manifest his love for you. God made you his child yet. That proves that God loves me. And you could say that God has left you in this world So you could serve Him. All wasn’t that be a big old proof of that. God loves you. And the Bible says, go on down to Him.

God loves us. God gave you a body in which you could use to serve Him. All that will prove God loves you. And God gave you not only the free gift, the eternal life, but He gave you the Holy Spirit to entwel you, to lead you and guide with that. I ought to prove to you that God loves you. And you could go on down and make a whole list of things. And then still people are, I don’t know if God loves me.

Yeah, God loves you. And then all God did all these things, But when something goes wrong in your life, somebody up here don’t like me. God got up on the wrong side of the bed, he looked over the banister of heaven and looked down at you and says, I’m gonna get you today. And there’s people that think that God is out to get him. God isn’t a bad God. God is a good God. The scriptures tell us this. But now let’s just change it just a little bit.

Suppose we took this piece of paper. Now I want you to list ways in which you demonstrate you love God. How do you demonstrate you love the Lord? In what ways? Do you demonstrate you love God? Well, and then, well, I go to church. Okay, that really demonstrates you love the Lord. Okay, you don’t beat your wife. Well, that really helps demonstrate that you love God. And you feed your kids. Well, that’s, I’d say that’s good. And you’re faithful to your mate.

Well, that’s good. And you’re doing all this because you love God. Well, no, I just ain’t found nobody better yet. No, no, no, no, no, no, wait a minute. You see, you would have trouble if somebody was to put you on the witness stand and says, now let’s see if we have any evidence in your life that you love God. What would they refer to? How would you prove that you love God? The Bible says in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter eight, he says, them that love God, the same shall be known of them.

It will be revealed if you do love the Lord. But do you love God? One of the ways you demonstrate your love, the Lord, is your faithfulness, your steadfastness, to God in the midst of trials and tribulations. Now, when everything’s going wonderful, your proof and the evidence that you’re strong in the Lord is how can you stand when everything seems to be going wrong, when nobody loves you and everybody’s blaming you and accusing you and this happening, that going wrong and you’re sick and your bills are not paid and you’ve got all the problems in the world.

Now, do you really love God? it’ll be revealed in your attitude. Or whether or not you’re gonna get mad and bitter and curse God because everything’s not working right in your life. You should manifest a love for the Lord every area of your life all the time. Okay, now we got that out of the way. There’s three things here. Number one, there is a challenge to the elders in verse one to four. There is a challenge to the younger’s in verse five to seven.

And then there’s a challenge to be sober and be vigilant Because your devil is after you. So there’s a lot of challenges down through here. And so I want you to look at this, first of all in verse one, where he says, I was a witness of the sufferings of Christ. You see the apostle Peter, he saw Jesus Christ being crucified. He saw him being whooped. He saw him being nailed. He saw him through all the stuff that happened to him.

He was a night witness. He also was there, the Bible says, on the amount of transfiguration, whenever Jesus Christ was upon the Mount, and the Bible showed Jesus Christ in His glory, the way He’s gonna be when He comes and reigns upon the earth. Saw Him in His perfection, in His honor, in His glory. He says, I was a witnesser, so I saw the sufferings of Christ, and I also saw the glory of Christ, and you and I need to understand that first of all, there is gonna be the sufferings and then the glory.

So we are in this life going to suffer for the Lord. And then you’re supposed to believe the glory will follow later. And the glory will be because of what you suffered for him. So don’t look at the sufferings of this life as some bad thing that’s happened to you. All of the suffering that you have are opportunities for you to demonstrate faithfulness for which God is going to reward you for all eternity. He says a crown of glory that fate if not away.

Remember, he says this in 1 Peter 1 and verse 4, he says, when you are saved, you’re saved from something to something, from hell to an inheritance, incorruptible, that fadeeth not away reserved in heaven for you. So the place that I’m going to get will never fade away. And the crown of glory will never fade away. That’s mentioned there in verse 4, looking in verse 4 very quickly. He says, but when the chief shepherd, which is a reference to Jesus Christ, shall appear ye shall receive a crown of glory and let you got on the line this in your mind that faded not away it will never fade away in other words an eternal way to glory so the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with what you’re going to get so serve the Lord serve him faithfully because it will be worth it now look there in verse 2 verse 2 says fleece the flock of

God Is that what it says? The job of the preacher is not to try to fleece the flock. Many preachers, their only goal is all they want is to fleece the flock as much as he possibly can. It’s amazing how many times you’ll hear preachers make the statement. You know, the demonstrate your faith in God, you give me your money. And you listen to the radio and all the TV things, and you’ll be surprised. How many of them all they want is money, money, money, money, money grabbing preachers.

And it turns people away from those who are real preachers who really love the Lord and want to do God’s work. You should support God’s work when you see God’s work being done. And if the people are not doing the work of God, then just keep your money. Find a place where you can put it where you believe that they’re reaching somebody for the Lord. But understand this, you should when you give, realize that I’m given for the work of the Lord so that people can use the money to reach people for the Lord.

Then you’re having fruit that will abound to your account. And the reason you give it, because you know that in the long run, God is going to bless you for whatever you’ve done. I don’t believe it’s my job to try to find out how much you have and make sure you have just enough to get by on. I don’t care how much you make, I don’t care how much you give. That’s between you and the Lord. You should understand that whatever you do, there’s an eye upon how watching you and God is going to reward you and bless you.

Your giving will be in direct ratio to the caliber of a love that you have for the Lord based out of what God has blessed you with. If you give nothing, it perhaps will mean either you have nothing or you do not love him. But if you love him and God has provided, then you should give to the Lord’s Word. Enough said on that point. Look what he says in verse 2. Feed the flock of God. The Bible says, feed my sheep.

It does not say feed my giraffes. You want to put the food down on the bottom table so that even the children can understand it. Speaking in such a way that everybody can understand what you’re saying. Feed the flock. Remember that you feed the flock. It’s the flock that bear the sheep. Many people think it’s the shepherd that’s supposed to have all the babies. No, it’s the sheep that bear the flock. We’re supposed to teach and educate and try to help in every way we possibly can to try to get people to win more people to the Lord and more people to the Lord.

This morning they’ll probably have some little children, trust Christ of Savior. We have teenagers on Friday night that trust Christ of Savior. And once in a while we have some adults that trust Christ of Savior. But do you know who’s the easiest it is to win? It’s easier to win the children. And then it’s next it’s easier to win the teenagers. And you know who’s the hardest to reach of all people? The adults. Because you’re setting your ways. You’ve been living a long time.

Nobody’s gonna tell me what I can’t cannot do. Nobody’s gonna preach to me. And they’re hard-hearted. Very seldom do you have mean adults who trust the Lord or challenge to serve the Lord. Unless you get some new blood, people who just recently trusted Christ’s Savior and more of them are easier to set on fire than people who have heard it a thousand times all their life and they’ve become complacent and don’t want to hear it anymore. They become cold.

Like one person says, our church is as clear as ice and and justice frozen. Here he makes the statement, feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy looker, but of a ready mind. That filthy looker means shameful or dishonorable gain. In other words, you don’t do it just for money, not for dishonest gain, just because you can say, well, I’m somebody, look at me, not because you want to be a lord over God’s heritage or you want to take and just be over somebody’s flock and act like you’re a king dictator.

No. A pastor is supposed to be a servant of the people, not to be the Lord over the people. We’re supposed to serve you. And the more people we can serve and help, that’s what you’re supposed to do. Remember Christ came into the world. He says he came not to be ministered unto, but to give his life and to minister unto others. We’re supposed to try to find out how can I serve? How can I help? What can I do for you to be a blessing?

He makes a statement in verse three, neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock. Go to Andakir line that word, examples to the flock. Those in place of leadership are supposed to be an example of the believer, in word, in deed, in love, in attitude, and prayer. All these things are to be an example so that you know how to follow. The shepherd is the lead and the flock is to follow. I have done my dead level best to try to set an example what faithfulness is all about.

I will be here on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, when I’m half dead, I will be in church. The Lord goes first, and then everything else falls in the place. Look there at verse five. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourself unto the elder. Now, whether this is a reference to younger pastors honoring older pastors, I’m not sure. Or that just the younger people in the churches show honor and respect to their aged individuals. Those who are older in the Lord, you’ve gotten up in age, I believe that there should be, should be, honor and respect to our older generation.

Those that are what we call senior citizens. Whether you want to call them the aged or seniors or whatever. I couldn’t stand it for a long time. Because, well, see when I was about 45, I couldn’t wait to be, I became a senior citizen because at Denny’s and I hop, it was always you got a discount for seniors. So when I got 50, they changed it to 55. So I couldn’t wait until I was 55 because when you go to play golf, if you are a senior, you got a discount.

And so when I got 55, they changed it to 60. And now it’s moved up to 62. And you say, well, that is just not fair. It’s just not fair. nothing in this life is fair, I guarantee you. But we are to honor those that are older. I think teenagers honor your mother and your father, honor them. That means that whatever you do should honor your parents. You should never do anything that brings shame or disgrace to your family.

And then when you get older, you still should honor your parents. I still should not do things that would dishonor my mother or my stepdad. I still should not do anything that would dishonor them. It doesn’t mean I always perfectly will obey them because I may disagree with them. They may want me to do something I should not do, but I will always honor them in the sense I will always try to do right and not do anything that I believe is a wrong thing for me to do that would dishonor my family.

If my mama wanted to today, she wanted to whoop me after church service, I would let her whoop me. God forbid that she would want to whoop me. The last time she tried to whip me and she took the belt and she swung it at me and she missed. And then she swung up my leg and then I moved it just in time and she missed. And she did that about four or five times, each time she missed. Not to one that she got tickled, I got tickled and she never did it again.

I’m sure I’ve needed a few more weapons along the way just like you have. But he says, submit yourselves unto each other, submitting yourselves. Look at the last part of verse five. He says, yeah, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. That means in subjection. In the word subjection, you can serve somebody. You can serve them. See, there’s some people that always want like, I’m the dictator, I’m the head honcho. Everybody serve me.

Everybody make me happy. It’s whatever I want. The whole world revolves only around me. And I’m the big eye. I’m first in line. I’m the first in everything. I’m the greatest. and you’re nothing and now everybody bow to me. No, that’s not God’s way. That’s not what God’s talking about. He says, be clothed with humility for God resisteth the… He’s proud and he also says this and he says, in the last part of it, give a grace to the humble.

Now how do you know when you’re filled with pride and when you’re humble? Well it’s simple. God’s going to send you problems. A man who’s filled with pride doesn’t cast his cares upon the Lord. He tries to handle him himself. That’s pride. I can handle it myself. I don’t need no help. You don’t talk to God about anything. You’re a big, you know, self-made man. Well, you quit too soon. He makes a statement and he gives grace to the humble.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. Did you know that if you will submit yourself to God, God will exalt you? Because see, God is looking for people he can use. But the B-shot, the no-it-alls, I’m somebody, yeah, God’s gonna just set you aside, and God’s looking for a dedicated nobody, and God can use you if you’ll let God use you. But God cannot use the proud, but he’ll use the humble.

Those who are submit themselves to the will of God. Look what else he says here. In verse seven, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. It’s a sign of pride not to cast your cares upon the Lord. A sign of humility is when you’re humble enough to realize, I cannot bear my burdens alone. And you can cast your problems upon the Lord. And God says that if you cast your cares upon Him, He will take care of those things.

You see, if you take everything and put it into God’s hands, it won’t be long before you see God’s hand in everything. But if you don’t do it, you’re gonna have some heavy yoke of iron upon your neck. and it’ll keep on until it destroys you. Look what he says in verse eight. Be sober, be vigilant because you’re adversary the devil. Start your wife, be vigilant because you’re adversary the devil as a roaring lion. Walketh about seeking whom he made of our roaring lion is because a lion does when it’s hungry.

And a roaring lion is looking for you. A roaring lion wants to devour you to satisfy his hunger and you are food for him. And the lion is the devil and the devil is after you. You’re the one that determines whether he gobbles you up or not. You say, what do you do from the lion? Run? No, do I have it and say run? It says something else. In verse nine, home resist, steadfast in the faith. In other words, stand up to the devil.

Stand up to him. I know that there’s sometimes incidents where you see some great big fella and you got to stand up to them. I remember one day before I married Betty, she had this big dude that went over to her house and I saw him walking down the street and I knew he’s going to see Betty next door. And I watched this dude. This is a big dude. I mean he was a big feller and he came down the sidewalk and he went up the door and he He knocked on the door and he went in the house.

I was furious. I was furious. I went out of that house. I didn’t know the Lord now. I didn’t know the Lord. And I went down the sidewalk and I walked up and I banged on that door. And this big dude came to the door and Betty stuck her head around. He says, Yankee, what do you want? I says, him. I says, get out of this house. It wasn’t my house. We weren’t married, but get out of here. That woman is mine.

You leave her alone. Get out of here. Don’t you ever come back. I stood up to him. He could have crushed me. It’s like a chihuahua that doesn’t really understand the situation when it’s barking that a rottweiler. But did you know that a chihuahua can kill a rottweiler? It gets caught in a stroke. But sometimes you just got to stand up for what you believe in and what you think is right and so I would stand up for what I believe was right.

I remember one day and this is a long time ago but one day I was just a 17 year old kid and down here in part view apartments would you believe that I was the president of the youth group and in walked one of the biggest men ever seen in my life the name was William Allen big dude I mean he was big and strong built like myself well not exactly. But he walked in and my little brother, little man was only 13 years old.

But little man would stand up to anybody. He was the chihuahua and this was the rottweiler. And little man, yanki, yanki, kick him out. I said, why? He didn’t pay his dime. It cost a dime to come into the youth group that night. He didn’t pay his dime. I said, man, it’s all right. He says, you didn’t pay your dime, mister. You ought to get out of here. Yanki, kick him out. Man, it’s okay. It’s alright. He was 19 years old.

I was 17 years old. Little man was 13 years old. I said, it’s okay, man. Everything’s fine. He was getting ready to leave. And little man, he wouldn’t let it drop. Have you ever seen somebody who just don’t know when to quit? Don’t know when to quit. Don’t know when just to let it alone. He says, Yankee, kick him out. That guy reached over, got a hold of my little brother and picked him up. Straight arm just picked him straight up off the floor.

Drew his hand back and I was fixing to let my brother So you know what I did? Let him. No, I didn’t. I jumped over this chair and I hit him and I hit him and I hit him. When I got up off the floor, I realized that my nose had been replaced. It had been placed over here on my cheek. It was broken and just totally crushed. And so I got up and somebody didn’t call the police and they said, Yankee, your nose looks funny.

Well, you would too, if you had a nose transplant, I didn’t have it here. I didn’t have it here. It was laying over here on my cheek. But there’s a time when you need to stand up and sometimes you get crushed. And I thought, man, I wished I had a friend always walk with me. Did you know I now have a big brother and I doubled all dare you to pick on me anymore? Because, see, Jesus Christ, He’s not only with me, He is in me.

And He says, He’s going to watch after me and He’s going to protect me. And he’s going to take and get anybody who messes with me. And I really believe that. And the Bible says that he will always be there. And you get a chance. You read the book of Hebrews in chapter 4. And it says there that we come to the throne of grace that we may get what we need in the nichth of time. He’ll always be there and is always on time.

I want you to see this because it says in verse 9, whom resist steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. In other words, you’re not alone. There’s other ones just like you that are going through hard times just like you. But he says this in verse 10, but the God of all grace who had called us into his eternal glory, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, established, strengthened, settled.

In other words, this is only temporary. And you’re going to suffer a little bit. And they may get in a few little And you’re going to have a little persecution down here, but the little while that you’re here, this light affliction, worketh for us an eternal weight of glory in 2 Corinthians in chapter 4, that you’re going to win in the long run, that there is a righteous judge and he’s going to take care of you. And you don’t have to always live in fear.

You don’t have to be afraid. And who cares what the world can do to you? And he says, fear not what man can do you? What can the man do to me? The worst he can do to me is to kill me. I’m so glad I know the Lord. You don’t know him. Oh, you’re missing out. Serving the Lord after you know Christ is Savior is the most exciting, dynamic life in the world. There’s nothing like it. I wouldn’t trade my life for anybody that I’ve ever heard about, ever known.

I don’t know of a man I want to be. I want to be me. But I want to be all that I can be for the Lord. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you are blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. 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.

Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the Internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771.

Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear Gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. At least we have the testimony of an eyewitness. And that’s the Lord. So as we read the evidence, we ought to at least consider it. And whenever you consider it, when you get through, you’ll come up with one conclusion.

God created the heavens and the earth. Only a fool would believe otherwise. A person that’s something’s wrong upstairs, they can’t see it and understand it. They’ll try to make you think Christians are the ones that are uneducated, living in the dark ages, believe it or not, old book. Yeah, you disprove this old book, double dog barrier. They can’t do it. The book is true historically, scientifically, prophetically, medically. The book is God’s Word, and this is true as the world.

And the world gives evidence that there is a God, and so does the Word, and they both work together. One by reason, one by revelation, and we can know and understand that. So we go back to the very beginning, and there has to be something that causes it to start, Let’s just pretend for a moment. Because they work on the premise that everything just gets better and better and better and better and better and better. You know, it was a little one sale to me when they didn’t multiply it and blah blah blah.

And then here we are. Let’s just pretend that this little blob of protoplasm, whatever it might be, wants to develop something wonderful like an eye, I got one, but I got two. Y’all have two, I guess. My mom, I had one in the back of her head. She could see everything I ever did. But you have an eye. Now, where did this eye come from? A light sensitive spot like a freckle. I saw a girl one time. She could have eyeballs all over her face.

She had freckles all over. But I don’t believe that. Aren’t you glad that those two little freckles happened to develop right there? What if they had developed in your seat in your pants every time you sit on you go blind? But you think about this. You have the eye. Where does the eye come from? Well, remember in evolution, there’s no purpose, no plan, no design. They call that means a purpose, somebody got a plan, a designer, a logist. But there’s no, it just happened.

How do you know to develop an eyeball that has no purpose if there’s no light ways? If there’s no light ways, you can’t, this has no purpose. Well, who came first? It’s stupid how that something without a brain could develop an eye and hear all of you are here with a brain and you can’t do it. But something without a brain did. Explain that. See, that’s why every step in evolution requires a greater miracle than God created because there’s a impossible, impossible can happen.

Take your Bible and look in the book of Psalms 94, Psalms 94, 94 Psalm, Psalms 94 and look in verse 8, understand Yee-bruish among the people and Yee-fools, when will you be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? In other words, the word of God tells us. God said, I made the eye and I made the ear. Well, of course he made the light waves and he made the sound waves.

So we have evidence that this is true because how is a blob of protoplasm without a brain going to develop an eye? And yet he doesn’t even know ahead of time that there’s light. How does it even know there’s something to see? What would come first? It’s impossible. Well, what about the ear? What came first? The ear or sound waves? How does it know there’s something to hear? There’s no brain. How can something that has no ability whatsoever can create something as wonderful as the eye or the ear?

Just those two things along defeats evolution. So it just happened. No, it doesn’t just happen. Have you ever seen a new ear come along? Nothing just a ear, just a ear. How long has it been since you woke up in the morning and you look on the countertop and love you? A new eye disappeared. Well, if it happened billions of years ago, how come we still don’t see them happening today? the, see, I have an enquiry mind and I want to know what demands the faith of an evolutionist because the only alternative is God.

The only alternative is God. And if there is a God, then there’s creation. If there’s creation, then I’m responsible and they don’t want the responsibility. They want to live like an animal, wait for a moment. There is no God. There’s no creator. Then we are animals. You are an animal if there is no God. You’re just the highest form of life on some evolutionary ladder. And if there is no God, then what is right and what is wrong? Everything’s a dirty grace.

It’s whatever you want. power will make right. And this is why some people will live like an animal. And they think like one. And it doesn’t matter what they do or who they do it to, because there’s nothing to restrain them. So people could do whatever they want to do and control everybody else if they want to, murder anybody they want to. But I happen to believe that there is a the God. How would you explain the immaterial part of man?

You know the soul of man or the life that a man has. His emotions that he has, his will, his intellect. Things you can’t touch. Put your finger on it. Where did it come from? Am I supposed to believe that four gases developed this? You see, there’s a few laws. One is called the law of biogenesis. The law of biogenesis state that life must come from life and exist on previous life. That’s a law. Life must come from life.

Nothing comes that’s alive from something that did not live. You are here because you came from life and we have a problem. You see, they can’t break or cross the bridge, the barrier between non-life and life. can’t do it. And yet we’re supposed to believe that’s where we came from. They can’t do it today and they’re the highest on the evolutionary ladder and the scientists today cannot produce life from non-life. Can’t do it. They talk about how can we can split the DNA and all these wonderful things that are able to do.

Yeah, take it all away. Now produce one. You see what it’s called? The survival of the fittest. It’s not the survival of the fittest. It’s the arrival of the fittest. How did it arrive? I’m not talking about where they can shuffle the genetic factor within the chromosomes and all that and try to create that’s what’s already here. But they are not creating anything. Can four gases give rise to free thought? If man came from nothing without a God? What does mankind believe there is a God?

Where did we get that idea from? Who gave us this idea? And you can take people that’s never been in any church for our sins in the world. And they’ll be raised and they’ll believe that there’s a God. And that’s why you have all the religions all over the world. Atheism is a religion. It’s what somebody believes. And that’s why it has supplanted the religion of Christianity in America. So today we have humanism in our schools because we taught atheism.

And evolution is the religion of the atheist. And evolution is okay to teach in our schools, but that’s simply the belief system of those that are atheist. You say, well, Christian can believe in evolution. If a Christian believes in evolution, just because he doesn’t understand evolution or creation, they’re not compatible. Well, God could have created by the process of evolution. No, he didn’t. He spoke and it was done morning and an evening, one day, we’re eating in the morning, I should say.

No. And neither were those long geological ice ages in the past, no, they weren’t. Six days creation. Now, whatever my being is, whatever I have inside of me, whatever I am, I got it from my parents. Cemento’s law states that whatever you are, you can only get it from your parents. Now the world might change a little bit here and there, but you are what you are because of your parents, and it has always been so. And it’s what we call in the Word of God, after his own kind, after his own kind, after your own kind.

And it’s amazing that we can have all kinds of people in this world, but we’re still people, people. You are not a descendant from a monkey. I hate to break your heart. Neither is your husband. So, well, I don’t know my husband’s side of the family. Take your Bible, look in Genesis chapter 1, Genesis and chapter 1. You see, you might think this is not important to discuss. It is very important to discuss. Remember this, today our children have gone to the public schools where they have taught this to be true.

If your children believe that evolution is true, why should they serve God? Why should they even believe in God? Why should they obey you? Why should they have any standards or morals whatsoever? Don’t tell me it, don’t make a difference. It does make a difference. Look there in verse 11. And And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed and the tree yielding fruit after his kind. In the next verse, verse 12, after his kind.

Over in verse 21, twice after his kind, after his kind. Down in verse 24, after his kind, verse 25, after his kind. Verse 25 again, after his kind, is talking about when God made it, he made it, where everything would reproduce after its own kind and it has not changed. Now the statements that God made is scientifically true. It is true. People say, well, yeah, but what? Have you ever heard of bestie jaloregans? Hmmm. Something like your vest. Vestie jaloregans.

Well, that’s because you see, you pull the hat, some organs that you needed, but now you don’t need them anymore and so natural selection will eliminate those unfit organs from your body. Isn’t that wonderful? That’s how natural selection works. That’s where you get the survival of the fittest. It all sounds so scientific. It’s just that ain’t true. Listen for a moment. If best angel organs are supposed to be eliminated from your body because you no longer need them, because they no longer to have a purpose or a function.

How did somebody decide it no longer has a purpose? I mean, what part of your body decided I don’t need that anymore. And so therefore natural selection will eliminate that from my body because I don’t need it anymore. Well, let’s just go back on the other side. If it no longer has a purpose, it eliminates it. Okay, I need heart. I mean I got a body. I need a heart. What would come first? The heart or the lungs? Because the heart has to have oxygen and I got to have blood.

Well that comes from the bone marrow. Well that produces the blood. Now which one would come first? You’ve got a problem. If you only think about it, it’s impossible for one to develop without the other. You need this whole body. Because you see, what good is this body if I can’t eat? I gotta eat, cuz I gotta feed the body. Well, you gotta have food. Well, you gotta have a mouth. Well, I mean, they gotta have a stomach and they gotta have a digestive system.

I gotta have all of this so I can eat the food so that I can stay alive. So I can breathe, get the oxygen in so I can put it into a mouth. my bloodstream so they can get to the heart so I can live in the pups which came first. They don’t have any answers. And let’s say for example, I need this heart. Okay, I’m going to develop me a heart. Now remember, there’s no plan, no design, no purpose because it’s just random chance because there is no God.

This is going to happen automatically all by itself. So lo and behold, a miracle because it has to have miracles bigger than the world. the one that God did. At least we had God. They did it without God. That’s pretty, pretty huge. So I got me a heart. Half developed. Well, if it’s half developed, it can’t function until it’s complete. Well, if it’s not able to function because it’s not complete, then why don’t they look like it at it like a vestigeal organ and eliminate that unfit organ from my body.

You can do it on this side, do it on this side. You see, by their own admission, they defeat themselves and it’s impossible for evolution to ever happen. So you get better and better and better. No, it doesn’t. People can choose to believe that everyone and call it so intellectual and have all the degrees after their name. But God’s Word still says, A man says in his heart, there is no God. He is a fool. And you can respect them, look up to them, holly and tell it, and send them your kids.

And say, here, teach my kids this. Go through these colleges and universities where they put this trash into their mind and say if it don’t affect how they live and the goals they have in life. See every man born in this world comes to know Christ as Savior. the will of God that they know His Word so they know how to live. And we have today where people don’t have any respect for this Bible. None. They don’t have respect for the preacher anymore.

They respect the scientist. They respect the evolutionist because they have the The truth and all of ours is just made up old fables, dark ages. I’ve studied what they’ve studied. I know what an evolutionist believes as well as some evolutionist, but I know what he believes and I also know what I believe. And I’ve weighed them both and this is the truth in Colorado. I used to have opportunities for kids to get me into school to speak in their biology class, English class, you name the class, it didn’t matter.

I speak the same thing. And Doug Steer, who came to our church, his brother was Greg Steer that started a huge ministry. He called me up one day and said, Yankee, I want to know if you can come over and speak in our school. I said, sure. He said, it’s on evolution and creation. I said, I can handle that. So I got over there and I’m supposed to have free reign to tell them why I don’t believe in evolution.

So I would say a few things about evolution and then I would say something about the Bible. Well the teacher standing in the back after while he couldn’t stand anymore. He stood up and he said, oh, we don’t believe the Bible. He was speaking for everybody. I We don’t believe the Bible. That was written by man. I said, sir, are these books on evolution on your desk written by God? He said, no, they were written by man. I said, so mine is not acceptable because it was written by man.

And yours is because it’s written by man. He says, but we don’t believe the Bible. I says, you’re telling me that you want to meet a over here and speak, but not say anything against evolution. And I’m going to tell you why I believe in creation, without referring to the Bible or the Creator. I says, it can’t be done. He told me, he says, I’ll debate you anytime. I said, sir, get it on. We finished that class and he was going to ask me to leave.

And well, he did ask me to leave. And the kids, and I made the statement, I said, sir, I says, why Why are you afraid of these kids here in my view? They’ll have me for one hour and you for all these hours every day for several years. Are you afraid that yours won’t hold up? For one hour and the kids said, yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s right. So the kids got me to stay and the teachers just, okay. So we had a break and they brought in two more classes.

So now I had three classes in there and I had more teachers in there. So it really got interesting. And so I was talking along and finally the one guy he made the statement, he says, I don’t believe that. That is not true. And the reason I said that is because I said, would you believe that a person can take a piece of paper and tell you how old this piece of paper, what tree it came from, and how many leaves it had on the tree, and how many acorns it had on the tree, and how tall the tree was.

And he says, we don’t believe that. We do not teach that. I says, I know, but you do it with a bone. You tell how tall the man was, how many kids he had in his family, go to your museum and you’ll see him. And all they found was a piece of a skull and they can make a whole family out of it. He didn’t like that. I had one teacher, everyone’s cool. Now he looked just like a baboom.

He was redheaded, but he had redheaded, But he would always invite me to the school and speak on it. And he would never say a word about, or again, he just said, they’re not smiling so far. And I told one day I said, I said, I didn’t come from the monkey. I said, but if your teacher did, that’s fine. I said, I’m not, I’m not saying anything about him. I said, if he believed that. And I said, anyway, I have fun at the same time.

And then in the middle of the meeting, I would just stop and I would pull out my wallet. I mean, in school, There was a time when you could do this in the schools and preach the God right in the classroom and He knew I was gonna do it because he had bite me back every year. So for years I’d go back to this school our vet OS high school and I would say this hen represent you and me This quality represents sin.

We all have sin on us God loves us now. He hates the things we do wrong But he loves us. I says I want you to listen to what I’m saying Because if there is a God then this is true. And God loves you. He hates what you do wrong because you see that sin and it separates you from God. So you have to spend an eternity separated from God in our literal fire burning hell. But God loves you.

But God wants you to go to heaven and to go to heaven you have to be perfect as righteous as God and none of us are perfect. We’re all sinners. We cannot save ourselves. God says eternal life is not something you can earn. It’s a gift. It’s totally free. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us. Now he hates our sin because it separates us from him.

So Christ took the sin, paid for it, and the cross came back from the dead. And God said, if you would believe that he did it for you, he would give you as a free gift ever lasting life. And then I’d ask the kids. I said, let’s have a fresh, shall we? And everybody in the classroom, they’d buy their heads. Now he’d always just sit there and just look at me. Just stare at me and look at the kids.

And I would ask for a raise a hand and every year, because they had new kids coming to the class, a bunch of hands all over. It was easier to count the ones that didn’t raise their hands. We’d have 30, 40 kids trust Christ of Savior in the classroom. And nobody ever said a word. It wasn’t against the law. It’s never been against the law. And it still is not against the law. It’s that people are afraid of lawsuits and all that.

But if it was right then, it’s still right today. It’s always been right. The Word of God has free course. It should be able to go anywhere to anybody, any nation that might be a price to pay for doing it. Yes, I’ve had a few threats and so forth in my life, but that’s all right too. But I’ve had a lot of kids trust Christ as Savior. But I want those kids to know, and I’ll tell you in this classroom, You don’t have to be ashamed of being a Christian.

You don’t have to take a back seat as though intellectually you’re not as superior as they are. Because this Bible is truth. To know this, you know truth. And the Bible talks about it in the book of 2 Timothy. It talks about science falsely so called. It’s false science. The word science means to know, to talk about knowledge. And all these things, yes, there’s a lot of things I wish I had time to mention. You say, well, you’re getting all this information.

Out of my little booklet, I wrote this little booklet on why we cannot believe in evolution, wrote it years ago, 30 years ago, and it still holds to today. But all that stuff is in here. You see, when you study the principle of uniformity, which is the principle of gradualism, or what they also call the unchanging change, it means the laws by which they look at things today, especially in the carbon-14 dating, trying to figure out the age of bones.

Well, they’re basing the past and the future upon the present that it changes at a certain rate. Well, I know that the world’s already been under a a flood. And so that changes everything. So it can’t be accurate more than what it goes back to the flood. And this is this boom, 45 million years ago. I went one time up there to the Smithsonian Institute. That is a place to go. But I despised it when I saw all the stuff in our honoring evolution.

Evolution is all over the place. So this represents our country. So thousands upon thousands of schools take their kids up there to the Smithsonian Institute and to the museum and all about evolution. The atheist are winning the battle because they get to get our children. And then we pay them to teach them this trash. And no, I don’t like it. I hope that little by little my convictions are leaking out. When you study the book of Romans, chapter 1, when he talks about when we see the handy work of God, and we know all these things and it talks about where man is without excuse, he’s without excuse, because we know that there is a power greater than ours, that there’s a God that made all of this.

But man became vain in his mind, in his imagination, and changed the glory of God into the glory of man. And instead of worshiping the Creator, they worship the creation and change the truth into a lie. Let me ask you to do me a favor. If you have never accepted the payment Christ made for you on the cross, why not right now? Just believe that Jesus Christ paid for all of your sins. See, He paid for mine, paid for yours, but the payments not put to your account till you believe He did it for you.

And when you believe He did it for you, He gives you as a free gift everlasting life, and you get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for you. Now, if you didn’t believe in God before, and maybe something that I said may cause you to think, you know, maybe it’s true. Maybe it’s true. It is true. And even though you may have a few questions and a few doubts, why not in your own mind? Lord, I don’t understand it all.

But I believe He did it for me, and I’m gonna trust Him right now as my Savior. And God said, if you would trust Him, He would save you and give you eternal life. And you get to go to heaven on what He did for you. Let’s pray, shall we? Our Father, we do thank you so much for the time together. We’re thankful for your word that you’ve given us. We ask your blessings upon each person here and help us not to be afraid or ashamed of believing your word.

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 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 tool free, 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

your Bible and turn to the book of Genesis in chapter 1. We’re going to cover the entire Bible this morning. You laugh. When I was in school and I did go to school for some of you all that didn’t know that, I remember in say 7th, 8th grade or so where they would teach in us things that I think they’re still teaching in the school about evolution. I remember they talked to us about the Crow man young, the Heidelberg man, the Pitt the Cantapassie rekdis man, the Austro-Lepitthicane man.

And I learned all those words. And never remember the teacher telling us that this is what scientists tell us. And scientists, of course, they were evolutionists. And somewhere down the line, we had this common ancestor and we kind of broke off and you know the apes went one way and we went another way. But we had the common ancestor down there somewhere. Now my relatives, my song by the neck but not by the tail and I remember listening to this and thinking, am I understanding her correctly?

Because remember I wasn’t religious. I didn’t know the Lord. I didn’t go to church and thinking if what What she says is true, I came from a monkey, I came from a monkey. And I’d look in the mirror and say, no resemblance. Of course I was prejudiced. I’d ride home on the school bus and I’d look out on the hills and everybody’s talking to the bus but me, I’m in deep thought. You know, I’m going back a million years and I could see these eight men hitting their and wise over the head and dragging by the head and through the cave, you know.

And I could picture them on the hillside. I could see them. And I used to think, man, that sure would be nice to be there. Man, I love to live back then. Fighting off these great big monsters, you know, these big dinosaurs and all that stuff. It wasn’t long before I started hearing things about the Bible and whether or not it was true. I wanted to know the truth, and I know that I had to come from somewhere. I mean, here I am.

I didn’t make me. Kind of like these two boys that was in school, and they were always in trouble. They were always having to go to the principal’s office. I kind of liked myself. I spent so much time in the principal’s office. They thought I was on the faculty. But these two boys had to be called in because there’s nothing but trouble. And the principal thought, I need to put the fear of God in these kids. So they’re sitting there and he’s talking to them about different things and of course the kids deny everything.

He says, do you fear God? Naturality talked to him some more and he said, do you know where God is? He talked to him a little bit more. Do you know where God is? He finally dismissed the boys and they started to cross the park in London. He says, whew, man, we’re really in trouble now. He says, I know it. God’s missing and they think we did it. Some people think God’s missing and we gotta find God. Like I’m supposed to reach up there and get ahold of God and bring him down here and say, but there he is.

Well, I don’t have any miracles. Somebody who doesn’t want to believe in God, I can’t change your mind. If you want to believe in God, I can’t change your mind. You will believe what you really want to believe. Now here in the book of Genesis it makes the statement, in the beginning there was a blob of protoplasm floating around in the use of an owl. And all of a sudden there was a big bang, bang! And life began. Is that what your Bible says?

No, my Bible says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It’s just God, it doesn’t go into an explanation of who’s God. It just tells you He did it. God, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now you know what? I believe that. I really do. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Colossians in chapter 1, the book of Colossians. The book of Colossians in chapter 1, and look there in verse 15.

Now we know that the world is here. Now the world was either made by somebody or somebody made it. It was either made by somebody, or I guess you should say it made itself. Now if the world is here and there There is no God. There’s nobody that can take credit for making it. Then it had to create itself. Does that sound logical? Does that sound reasonable? To a reasonable thinking man. That the world created itself. Have you ever seen anything create itself?

You never have. Why would you start now? Just because some Lulu in a school says there’s no God. and that you were just an accident that you might have been. But you are here. Did I say that? Look at verse 15, who is the image of the invisible God talking about Jesus Christ, the firstborn who is the architect of creation. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth. Well it says in Genesis chapter 1, God created the heavens and the earth.

Here it’s saying Jesus Christ created. Everything has been made. Heaven or visible, invisible. Whether there be thrones or dominions or principalities or607, get that all things were created by Him and for Him. So if you ever wondered who did it, I got the answer. He did it. God created the heavens and the earth. In the first Peter chapter 3, it talks about the people saying, well all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. Doesn’t say evolution.

It was created. God created the heavens and the earth. The Bible says that He created man. And I’ve told you this before, but whenever God was able to take the dust of the earth and breathed into the man’s nostle he formed a body and man became a living soul. Well, their scientists today think they can duplicate what God has done. They can make a man. They can clone a man. So they told God, we don’t need you anymore because we can make a man too.

God says, let’s have a contest. So God says, okay, we’ll have a contest. So he took some more dirt and he made another man And just like he did the first time. So the evolutionists got ready and they’re Santa, they got ready to make their man. So they took some dirt and God says, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, get your own dirt, get your own dirt. Well, we can clone a man from what? Nothing? Try it.

They can’t do what God did. God created the heavens and the earth. And he says here in verse 17, And he is, get it before all things. And by him, all things consist or held together. God doesn’t spend much time arguing with a fool. He states it, and that’s it. I don’t spend much time arguing with the fools either. Because the Bible says a fool have said in his heart, there is no God. So when a man says there is no God, he is a fool.

And I don’t really like to spend a lot of my time arguing with a fool. Now somebody who really wants to know truth and they’re searching, that’s one thing. But some people are just too smart for their own good. Now we say that a belief in God, we call it theism, means that I believe In God, atheism don’t believe in God. The world is here. Either evolution is true and the world made itself or somebody made it. And since I believe in God, I can believe that God did it.

And because I have faith and the evolutionist has faith. He has the belief that it came from whatever. He hasn’t had it in the story. with. At least I have faith in something that was here that claims to have done it. So I ought to at least listen to the testimony of the one who claims to have been here. And that was God. So it’s good that sometimes let God speak. See what he says. What are the evidences that God would use to convince a person that he is for real, that he really did do it?

And I think those those things are revealed. God has given to us His Word and the world. So with the world, we believe that we can use reason. The power of a man’s mind is conscious to think because of what he sees. There must be a God. And so by the very nature of the fact that the world here, God has given to us a world that reveals there must be a God. And God has given to us His Word by revelation.

So one is by reason, one is by revelation, where God reveals to us in His Word what God hath done. So if God made the world and God made the Word, then the world and the Word ought to agree, and they do. When it doesn’t agree, it’s because there’s false science that doesn’t agree with true science. True science and the Bible agree perfectly. We call that biblical theism means that I believe what God says from the Bible. And I believe in naturalism, or I should say, is naturalistic theism because it deals with the world that God has made.

See in nature itself and see in the laws, or nature’s laws as we call them. We know that somebody had to make all these things and it didn’t just happen. So whenever you want to start at the very beginning, where would you really start? Back there where there’s a lot of protoplasm floating around in the ooze of the Nile. Suppose of this year, big bang theory and the gases came together. Okay, where do gases come from? Well, they don’t know.

Were they there? Oh, no. How do they know that’s why I started? Well, they don’t know. So they’re guessing that’s why it’s called a theory. It’s not fact. Evolution is not a fact. It’s never happened, never will happen. It is not happening. There is no such thing as evolution. Now when we talk about the evolution of the telephone, the evolution of the car See this evolution, it is not. It’s the development of a telephone. The development of an automobile did the telephone create itself?

And when it got into a different did it do it all by itself? Then that’s not evolution. There is a man behind it, an idea, somebody designing. It didn’t happen by itself. It wasn’t random chance. It was done with a design in mind. There’s a purpose. Now, won’t you take your Bible looking the book of John chapter 1, the Gospel of John and chapter 1. John chapter 1, just look what God said in His Word. And John chapter 1 says, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

Now if you have a Bible that says anything else, throw it away. Throw it away. If it says, He was A God, throw it away, throw it in trash. That is not the Bible. That’s a translation of somebody who has an ulterior motive in order to make money by copyrighting it, and that’s not in the book. I just thought I thought that that there was no extra charge. Now get it. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.

This time I’m at the Lord. And look what he says here in verse 10. He was in the world. And the world was made by him and the world knew him not God, made the world, and then came into the world and took upon flesh. And it says in verse 14 where it makes the same and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus Christ created the heavens and the earth. Jesus Christ in the beginning it was God and He came into the world that He made and took upon flesh. Jesus Christ is God. Now if people do not believe that, I can’t help that, but I believe it. There was a time when I didn’t know any of this, but there’s something inside of you that says, you know, this is truth, this is truth, this is truth, and I can’t make people believe truth.

Even God doesn’t make people believe the truth. God will allow a person to believe a lie. So many times, whether you want to do right depends upon what kind of a God you have or not. And so your morality in many cases dictate your theology. You’ll We’ll figure that out after a while. But God created the world. Now the world is here. And let’s go back to the beginning. Back to the beginning when there wasn’t anything. Now if I believe that in the beginning God, in evolutionist in the beginning zero, now which requires a greater miracle?

nothing to create something or for somebody to create something, which is easier. There’s require a greater faith, requires a greater, greater miracle than the miracle of creation because at least we believe there’s a create per that created it. They believe it happened all by itself. Now that taxes my imagination that somebody could think I’d be so naive is to believe that slop. And that’s what it is. That’s humanism. Because see, if you don’t believe in God, you’ve got to explain where you came from.

Well, if there is no God, then there’s no law giver. There’s no designer. There’s no planner. There’s no life-giving force. Or explain it. Here we where do we come from? And they have no answers. They have no answers. They go on nothing but a little geological circle. And the biggest thing they have in their favorite they think is these bones that they find. Bones. Bones. They can do more than what God did. God at least took dirt from the ground and formed a body and breathed in his life the breath of life and name him a living soul but now evolutionists can take the tooth of a wild pig and call it the Nebraska man and make a whole family and put it into the textbooks.

What if he’s me? I will swallow. Oh and many people do. Take your Bible and turn to the the book of Job, the book of Job, all the way back there in the Old Testament. Job chapter 38, it’s easier to believe that somebody made this world. You say, why? Because it’s here, I didn’t make it, did you make it? Well, if I didn’t do it, you didn’t do it, what somebody had to? You said, well, it made itself. Have you ever seen anything make itself?

No. Why How would you believe that? What would be the evidence that you would use as the foundation for your faith? Here in Job in chapter 38, I want you to look there in verse 3. He says, good up now, by loins, like a man. In other words, when he sends act like a man. For I will demand of thee and answer thou me guts. And I got a couple of questions I want to ask to Job. He says, where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Declare if thou hath understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? What holds the earth together? What holds everything together instead of it flying off into the space? What holds all these, you know, the orbits of the sun and the moon and the stars and everything, the earth? What holds everything together? He said, where were you when I did all of that? Okay. At least we have the testimony of an eyewitness.

And that’s the law. So as we read the evidence, we ought to at least consider it. And whenever you consider it, when you come up with one conclusion, God created the heavens and the earth. Only a fool would believe otherwise. A person that’s something’s wrong upstairs, they can’t see it and understand it. They all try to make you think Christians are the ones that are uneducated, living in the dark ages, believe it or not, old book. Yeah you disprove this old book, double dog barrier, they can’t do it.

The book is true, historically, scientifically, prophetically, medically. The book is God’s Word, and this is true as the world. And the world gives evidence that there is a God, and so does the Word, and they both work together. One by reason, one by revelation, and we can know and understand it. So we go back to the very beginning, and there has to be something that calls it to but let’s just pretend for a moment. Because they work on the premise that everything just gets better and better and better and better and better and better.

You know it was a little one sale to me when they did multiply and blah blah blah and then here we are. Let’s just pretend that this little blob of protoplasm, whatever it might be, wants to develop something wonderful like an eye. An eye. I’ve got one, but I got two. Y’all have two, I guess. My mom, I had one in the back of her head. She could see everything I ever did. But you have an eye. Now where did this eye come from?

A light sensitive spot like a freckle. I saw a girl one time. She could have eyeballs all over her face. She had freckles all over. But I don’t believe that. Aren’t you glad that those two little freckles happened to develop right there? What if they had developed in your seat in your pants every time you sit on you go blind? But you think about this. You have the eye. Where does the eye come from? Well remember in evolution there’s no purpose, no plan, no design because that means a purpose, somebody got a plan, a planner, a designer, a logist, but there’s no, it just happened.

How do you know to develop an eyeball that has no purpose if there’s no light waves. If there’s no light waves, you can’t, this has no purpose. Well, who came first? It’s stupid how that something without a brain could develop an eye and hear all of you are here with a brain and you can’t do it. But something without a brain did. Explain that. See, that’s why every step in evolution requires a greater miracle than God created. Because there’s a, it’s impossible.

Impossible. Can you happen? Take your Bible and look into book of Psalms 94. Psalms 94. 94th Psalm 94. Psalms 94. And look in verse 8. Understand Yibruch among the people and Yifu’s. When will you be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? In other words, the Word of God tells us, God said, I made the eye and I made the ear. Well, of course, He made the light waves and He made the sound waves.

So we have evidence that this is true because how is a blob of protoplasm without a brain going to develop an eye and yet you doesn’t even know ahead of time that there’s light. How does they even know there’s something to see? Well it would come first. It’s impossible. Well what about the ear? What came first? The ear or sound waves? How does it know there’s something to hear? There’s no brain. How can something that has no ability whatsoever can create something as wonderful as the eye or the ear.

Just those two things along defeats evolution. So it just happened. No, it doesn’t just happen. Have you ever seen a new ear come along? Nothing just the ear. How long has it been since you woke up in the morning and you look on the countertop and let me know a new eye disappeared? Well, if it happened billions of years ago, how come we still don’t see them happening today? See, I have an inquiry mine and I want to know what demands the faith of an evolutionist because the only only way to do it is to alternative is God.

The only alternative is God. And if there is a God, then there’s creation. If there’s creation, then I’m responsible. And they don’t want the responsibility. They want to live like an animal. I think for a moment. There is no God. There’s no Creator. we are animals. You are an animal if there is no God. You’re just the highest form of life on some evolutionary ladder. And if there is no God, then what is right and what is wrong? Everything’s a dirty grace.

Whatever you want, power will make right. And this This is why some people will live like an animal and they think like one. And it doesn’t matter what they do or who they do it to because there’s nothing to restrain them so people can do whatever they want to do and control everybody else if they want to, murder anybody they want to. But I happen to believe that there is a God. How would you explain the immaterial part of man?

You know the soul of man or the life that a man has. His emotions that he has, his will, his intellect. Things you can’t touch, put your finger on it. Where did it come from? Am I supposed to believe that four gases developed this? You see there’s a few laws. One is called the law of biogenesis. The law of biogenesis state that life must come from life and exist on previous life. That’s a law. Life must come from life.

Nothing comes that’s alive from something that did not live. You are here because you came from life and we have a problem. You see, they can’t break or cross the bridge, the barrier between non-life and life. can’t do it. And yet we’re supposed to believe that’s where we came from. They can’t do it today and they’re the highest on the evolutionary ladder and the scientists today cannot produce life from non-life. Can’t do it. They talk about how can we can split the DNA and all these wonderful things that are able to do.

Yeah, take it all away. Now produce one. You see what it’s called the survival of the fittest. It’s not the survival of the fittest. It’s the arrival of the fittest. How did it arrive? I’m not talking about where they can shuffle the genetic factor within the chromosomes and all that and try to create. That’s what’s already here. But they are not creating anything. 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. Part two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. 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 tool free, 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10.30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for a Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. It’s a wonderful thing to know that, yes, I do have some things I can do, but I am limited. So in the eyes of God, I am not much like God. I am more not like God. When you look at me and I look at you, because there’s so many things that we do, is God perfect?

Do you live perfectly? God never does anything wrong. Do you ever do anything wrong? Just once in a while, huh? A little here and a little there. But he is all wise. He knows everything. Jesus Christ, when he was here, he says that Christ, the wisdom of God, the righteousness of God, he is the wisdom of God. The book of Proverbs talk about searching for this wisdom as a man would search for hidden gold or silver, that the wisdom of God can make a man very wise.

And so the word of God is the mind of God on paper and how wise we could be if we only believed and looked at the word. Now, the Bible says that God is omnipotent. It means that he has all power. If he has all power, I mean there’s nothing God cannot do. He is so powerful, so great. He has limited himself only when he chose to limit himself. Can you do everything? No, you can’t. Can you accomplish everything you want?

No, you can’t. Regardless of what you have been able to do, when you look in that mirror, you’re still just a man or just a woman. You’re nothing more than a man. There’s God. You ain’t God and I’m not God. And we will learn a great lesson if we’ll understand that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, not man. God did it. And that there is a true and living God. And I don’t believe that I’m a fool.

in the eyes of the world. But the second thing I want you to give is this. God created man. God. Second thing. God made man. He formed him out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. And the word of God tells us that God made the man. The man did not make himself. Man did not get here by the process of evolution. God holds man responsible.

God holds us accountable. So there is a God, and everybody needs to know that. God made the man. Everybody needs to understand that. That holds the man responsible accountable. Because he says there is going to be a judgment. And if there’s going to be a judgment, every man shall die. After this the judgment, what’s the purpose of a judgment? Is there something that God required of the man that God is going to hold the man accountable for? the purpose of a judgment.

Is something right? Is something wrong? Is it because something that I said? Is it something that I did? Is it something that I thought? What’s he gonna hold me accountable for? Every idle word, every deed, every thought, all of my actions. It means that if God is God and God made the man and God’s gonna hold the man responsible, and you and I would be very wise to believe that. because it makes a difference on what we do with our lives.

Just believe in the simple basic things. I think after a while when we get away from the things of the Lord, things seem to be running together. Life gets complicated. The economy’s sour. Your health goes. Your money goes. The security in the world goes. And you don’t know what’s going on. sight of the most important things. See, the most important thing in your life is not the provision of all those things, because sooner or later, they’re going to die anyway, right?

One of these days you’re leaving here, because it’s appointed in that every man wants to die after that, the judgment. So there is accountability, things that won’t have to count to the Lord for him. You know one of the greatest things in all the world is to believe that this God that made the man that holds him accountable, wrote a book. Have you realized what the world would be like? Life would be like if there was no Bible. If this Bible did not exist, What would this world be like?

What would people really believe? Do you know the truth of this book is the restraint upon a man’s sinful nature. But who’s to say he has a sinful nature? It would just be our instinct. We’d be no different than animals. It’s just the west the way we are. And that would never change. But isn’t it wonderful to know what God says about everything? all in this book. This book tells us who we are, where we came from, what we’re doing here, where we’re going.

You see, God wrote a book. And that’s why we call this the Word of God. It’s called Bible, biblose, but it’s a book written by God. It’s divine, it’s inspired, We believe this every word to be the Word of God. And we look to it, we read it, we trust it. So God has given to us a book. And he says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Means that it’s God-breathed. Now I talk about that for a long time if I wanted to.

But I think you get the point. If we have the Word of God, then we have the mind of God on paper. So as we read the book, we’re putting the mind of God into our minds. And it says, be not conformed to this world, but be it transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove or discover. What is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So that’s why God has given to us His Word.

His Word reveals His will. And the man that knows the Word knows the will of God. The man that does not know the Word does not know His will. Therefore a man who does not know the Word doesn’t know the will and he cannot know the way. So God has given to us the answers that we’re seeking. When you You studied the book of Job and he finds out that what is man and how that God gave him the right to life.

And if a man die shall he live again? And what happens to him? And where did he go? And how can a man be just with God? So when Christ came, He answered all of those questions when a man dies, where does he go? There’s only two places, heaven and hell, and it’s good for you and I to know the difference between the two. So as we live life, we have a little bit of heaven here and a little bit of hell here, but that is not heaven and that is not hell.

But we have a little bit of things that we enjoy and a few things that we don’t enjoy. To help us to be wise, because we do not want to go to a place that is pain forever. But to go to a place that is joy forever. If there was none of that in this life, you and I would not know the difference between joy or pain. Therefore we will not be able to make a wise decision. Aren’t you glad for a little joy in life and a little pain?

Because that’s how we learn. But the Bible says that he is infinite, no limitation. I am so much not like God, the whole human race. And yet, the Bible says that God created man in his image. Something must have gone wrong. Something must have gone wrong. Well the word of God tells us what went wrong. Man sinned against God. And because of that sin separated us from God. Why? not like God anymore. To be Godly is to be like God.

To be ungodly is not to be like God. And so you and I with our sinful natures causes us to do and to think and to say and to believe things that are not like God. So God gave us a book. Another great thing for us to realize is that God gave us His Son. And of all the things that a man may know, and it doesn’t matter if you know how to get a man to the moon or the Mars, but you can’t get him to heaven, you’re still missed out.

And there’s a lot of people with a lot of wisdom and knowledge of the world, but they don’t know the simple, basic things that God has given to us. what God wants us to know. So yes, I believe there’s a God. And I believe that God made man. And I believe God holds man responsible, accountable. So he gave us his word so that we would know just how much God expects. What does he want? What’s the purpose of all of this.

And I believe it’s all revealed in his Word and that you and I, because of sin, God wants us to know how much God loves us. And God found a way to show you and I just how much He loves us. By doing something for us, no one else could do. By allowing us such limitations that we could not get out of the consequences. We were all going to die because of sin, and no man can deliver himself. No man can deliver another man.

We’re all condemned, and we were all going to hell. And so it was the perfect opportunity for God to show to us How much God loves us. So Christ coming into the world was God’s definition of love. Because you take away Christ and you and I live in this world have no way of knowing whether God loves us or not. We may know about the power of God and believe in the omniscience of God and the omnipotence of God and everything about that, but you don’t know God.

And you would not know that God was a God of love, a God of compassion, a God of forgiveness, a God of hate, of sin. You see, our knowledge of God would be so limited. So what God did was make it known. And he says that God has manifested to us. The love of God is manifested. It means revealed by what He did through His Son. So God sent His Son into the world to make a payment for all the sins of the world that you and I could simply by faith alone believe and have the free gift of everlasting life.

That’s because of how much God loves us. So God gave us the word so that we would know what God was doing. See, God wanted us to be able to live with Him for all eternity in a perfect place. Never to lose it. God wanted us to know what love was. And He wanted us to know that He loved us unconditionally. I don’t have to earn it. So he made it for salvation. Being saved would be a gift totally free.

And all I had to do is believe he did it for me. And God will save me and give me the free gift of eternal life. You see the other thing that all men need to understand is that all men are lost. Everybody’s lost. We have all gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. That’s why everybody is so rebellious. That’s why wives don’t like to obey husbands and husbands don’t like to obey the Lord. This is why children don’t like to obey parents.

This is why we have a mess in society. Because so many are so rebellious. Nobody likes anybody telling me what I cannot do. So we all fight back and we argue. We fuss and we fume. All because all men are lost means all of us have an old sinful nature and we can’t go to heaven because of the sin. And yet God loves us. So yes, God is real. He made a man. And he made a man and he told him the man responsible.

And so the whole man responsible, he got to let a man know what was the expectation. So he gave us his word. And then gave us his son and given us his son, then all men need to know that everybody is lost. the last thing, the greatest thing I think. Because if all this is true, I’m so glad I know that God wants every man to be saved. God wants every man to be saved. That’s why he sent his son to down on the cross to pay for the sins of the whole world because God wants to save every man.

And he is not a respecter of persons. It means that God doesn’t love me more than Peter Amato. But he doesn’t love you anymore than me or anyone else. He loves us all the same. We sung a little song in Sunday School. Jesus loves the little children, all our children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world. Jesus loves the little ones like me. Jesus loves the little ones like me.

Little ones like me, sat upon his knee. Jesus loves the little ones like me, me, me. Jesus loves the little ones like you. Jesus loves the little ones like you. Little ones like you. Jesus loves you too. Jesus loves the little ones like you, you, you, aren’t you glad? And He made salvation for everybody so that everybody can be saved. So those seven simple things that everybody I think in the world, they need to know that and believe that.

I’ll be honest with you. I believe it. I believe that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. I didn’t have anything to do with it. And I believe that God is infinite. He can do whatever he wants to do. But anything he can’t do, he chose that. He has limited himself. You see, God hates sin. God cannot sin. And the Bible says that God made the man. That means that’s where you came from. God made you.

And he’s going to hold you responsible. He’s going to hold you accountable. So you can do whatever you want to do. You can live any way you want. But you are going to be held accountable. You can get away with everything down here. can lie, steal, cheat, murder, and people get away with it. But God keeps the books on you and me. And we are going to face a perfect, righteous, holy God that knows everything. Nothing is hid from God.

And so God gave us a book, the Bible, so that we would know and understand the will of God. And we would know and understand why He had to send His Son to reveal to us how much He loved us. and made it possible for a man to be saved, all are lost, all can be saved. That’s why we do what we do. That’s why we give, we sacrifice. I’m thankful every time I get a phone call from Peter Amato that, hey, we had two trusts of the Lord and Ranch.

We had three trusts of the Lord and Ranch. We had one after Ranch. He just can’t stand it. He can’t stand it. And then I hear about others that lead somebody to the Lord and somebody talk to somebody and somebody talk to somebody I Don’t know if there’s a week that goes by that James ain’t talk to somebody in the hallway You don’t get any work done. He just talks to people about the Lord Now he’s a great soul winner Just way we get to heaven and see all those people that’s gonna be in heaven because somebody talked to them about the Lord But listen as you go through life a lot of things will make you sour and bitter But to serve the Lord faithfully, you’ve got to serve the Lord like you’ve never been hurt.

Serval or like you’ve never been hurt. Like nobody’s ever said or done anything to hurt you at all. Because you see, those hurts that you can’t get over, they make you better. And then they make it cold and hard and brittle. And you want to stay soft and tender, pliable, or God can use you. God wants you to have compassion, forgiveness, love, and understanding. Can you handle it? You see, in all of this, when you trust Christ as your Savior, God begins a work in you to make you just like Him.

So can you think of some ways in which you are like the Lord since you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior? Have you allowed the word of God to conform you into the image of Christ or you’re more like Him than ever before? Do you have the forgiveness that God had, the compassion that He has, the care that He has? Think about it. Look up here just a moment. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior. It’s about time. It’s about time.

This end represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. Everybody has a sinful nature and because of that we sin. All these bad things that we do. And so God says we’re to be eternally separated from God. But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven. And to go to heaven you have to be perfect as righteous is God and none of us are perfect. None of us are righteous. We’ve all done things wrong.

And God says, you can’t earn eternal life. You can’t work your way to heaven. So no, you don’t have to give any money to go to heaven. You don’t have to change your life to go to heaven. You don’t have to join the church to go to heaven. But one thing you do have to do is this. You have to believe that you can’t earn it. If you want to go to heaven, you have to believe that you can’t earn it.

You have to believe that there’s nothing you can do to save yourself. If you believe that there’s something you can do to save yourself, then God can’t save you, and you can’t be saved. 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 because it separates us from him. So Jesus Christ, who had no sin, didn’t have to die. But He took our sins, paid for them on the cross, came back from the dead.

people have heard this all their life. But the reason he did this is so that you and I wouldn’t have to. He paid for all of my sins so that I don’t have to pay for my sins. Make sense? All I have to do is believe he did it for me. And God says, if I believe he did it for me, then I have a payment for all of my sins. If I’ve got a payment for all of my sins, there’s no sin to condemn me.

There’s no sin for me to pay for in hell. Because he, I believe he paid for it, but you say, well, I don’t believe that. Well, then that payment’s not put to your account. And you’re still lost. And you’re going to be judged one day. And God says, be not found having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith. And you’re going to be found naked.

You won’t have His righteousness. You see, I’m going to heaven whenever I die, because 50 years ago, sitting in a little old living room, I knew I was a sinner. I knew I wasn’t good enough to go to heaven. I knew I wasn’t perfect. Her Christ, He died for me. So I accepted Him as my Savior, and God gave me His a free gift everlasting life. And I’m going to heaven on what Christ did. Well, that’s good news. You know it sounds just as sweet today as it did 50 years ago.

You know if he saved me 50 years ago and gave me eternal life, just what I have today? Eternal life. And 50 years from now I’ll still have it. I can’t lose it. It tells us it was given to me as a gift. Totally free. Let’s pray, shall we? If you’re here this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your savior, right where you are, I’m not going to have you stand up and come forward. there’s nothing for you to sign.

Don’t want anything from you. I just want you to receive something. I want you to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior. I want you to believe that He died and paid for everything that you have ever done. And will you trust Him? Would you believe it? God loves you. Believe that. He paid for all of your sins. Believe it. He said, if you’d trust Him to take you to heaven when you die, He would give eternal life as a free gift.

Would you believe that? I did. Made sense to me. So his bow and I close and no one looking around, if you say, yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior this morning and preach out like for you to pray for me. Friend, would you just slip your hand very quickly and put a rub back down? I’m not gonna have you forward, not gonna embarrass you, but right where you’re sitting. So that made sense to me. And I wanna be certain of going to heaven when I die.

And I’d like for you to pray for me. Just slip it up very quick, put a rub back down. Anyone at all? Our Father, we thank You again for Your blessings to us. Thank You for giving us Your Word, explaining all these things to us. We don’t even deserve that. And for someone bringing the gospel to us, we don’t deserve that either. For saving us and giving us a free gift of eternal life, we didn’t deserve that either. And then after we trust You, save You, give us the indwelling Holy Spirit.

We don’t deserve that either. To give us the opportunity to live for you this side of eternity is such a wonderful thing, and we don’t deserve that either. Lord, you have been good to us. It’s all by grace. Thank you for your lessons to us and for all that you’ve done. Bless each one hearing Christ and 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 are 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 tool free. 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, Just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634.

Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Take your Bible and turn to the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis. We’ll go from generation to revolution. Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1. Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. I want to cover what I believe to be seven of the greatest facts in all the world. You know, you can live long enough and learn a lot of things. You go to all the colleges and universities and get degrees after your name. But if you don’t know these seven things, you missed it, you missed it.

So there’s seven of the greatest facts I believe that a man can know in this life. And if you look there in verse one, it says, in the beginning, God. In the beginning, God, it doesn’t spend any time trying to prove that there is a God, because the natural man knows that the world is here and he didn’t make it, and he knows it, no other man made it, but it’s here. When you consider all the power that’s in all the world, and all the universes, and all these things.

Whoever created it had to have that much power at the beginning without losing power. You see, if I had a hundred dollars and I gave you fifty, then I just gave up fifty dollars. So I’m less than what I had. But God can’t be less than what He ever was at any be given time. Now that blows my mind and it will take much to blow my mind. But sometimes I said and I think about things and my wife says, I don’t believe you or I don’t think like that.

But I do. But in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now to believe that is a great thing to believe because the world is here. I’ll take your Bible looking Isaiah 45, the book of Isaiah chapter 45, Isaiah and chapter 45. And chapter 45, look there in verse five. I am the Lord. there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hath not known me. I am God. I am the Lord.”

Now, that’s who he says he is, but look there in verse 22, look unto me be, and be ye saved all the ends of the earth? So is he telling everybody in the whole world that wants to be saved to look to him, for I am God, there is none else. There is only the one true and living God’s. Now some religions have a lot of God that are subject to the main God. Well, we believe there’s one God.

I’ve often wondered in my Christian life, since I’ve trusted Christ as my Savior and I’m going to heaven when I die, I wondered how much am I like God? How much am I like God? And I thought, and I thought… And I thought, and I had to stop thinking, I couldn’t think of too many ways that me and God was really alike. So I thought, I wonder in what ways am I not like God? Boy did I come up with a lot.

The ways in which I am not like God. Now we know that God is infinite, and I’m a finite individual. It means that I am limited and he is unlimited. Isn’t that a wonderful thing to know about God? God is infinite. He is unlimited. Unlimited in what? Well, just about everything. He only has chosen to limit himself in any area that he is limited. I’ve thought about, you know, if you could go as far as you can go in this world, in the universe as far as the telescopes can take you.

And to the end of the galaxies, what else is there on the other side of it? If there’s nothing on the other side, did we come to the end of something? And if God is infinite, is there no end to it? That’s hard for me to I’ve also thought about here’s God, and God has always been. He has no beginning. He has no ending. He is forever. Well what about man? When did I first come into his mind? Or have I always been in his mind?

That would blow your mind. You mean there’s a time when God did not know me? And now he does? Well, if he’s God, then he would have always known me. Am I as old as God in the mind of God? You say, you’re messing with my mind. I know. But it shows you how little we really know. You know the Bible talks about immortality. immortality. The Bible makes his statement and I want you to see this verse. Look over there in 1 Timothy chapter 6.

1 Timothy and chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6. Let’s just look there in verse 15, which in his times he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate. That means the sovereign, the supreme sovereign. Nobody over him. Nobody’s over him. The king of kings and Lord of lords, verse 16. And you ought to underline the second word there who only, only had immortality. Dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto whom no man has seen nor can see to whom be honor and power everlasting?

Maybe sounds like God is God. And if you were going to describe God, you would have to say, well, he’s always been. We said, well, who made God? You ever thought about that? Well, whoever made God then would have been God. Well, who made him? Well, whoever made him. So otherwise you had to keep going back and back and, or God never had a beginning. And he’s always been, can you figure this out? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

God did that. Now I believe that’s one of the greatest facts known to man is to know and to believe there is a God. Now the Bible says that God only hath immortality. In the words he has no beginning, no ending. Immortally, he’s not subject to death. We talk about mankind, we are mortal. Means we’re subject to die. And because of that, we have limitations. We had a beginning and we have an ending in time concerning you and I.

Mankind is very limited. We don’t know how long we’re going to live, but God will always be. You and I, we come and we go. We’re here today and gone tomorrow. It’s wonderful to try to think upon some of these things. The Bible talks about God, how he is omnipresent. Unnipresent. That means being everywhere. All at the same time. Try it. Have you really understood how much you and I are not like God? Are we immortal? No, we’re immortal.

We’re going to die. We have limitations. He has none. He is on my present. I mean, he can be everywhere all at the same time. Not just the ability to be everywhere or anywhere, but everywhere at the same time. He says, if you were to climb into heaven, he said, well, God’s there. Climb into hell. God’s there. Where can you go where there is no God? God is God and God is real. God has a purpose. Now when you talk about you and I, how finite we are, how limited we really are.

You’re heard about the omniscience of God. In other words, the wisdom of God. Talk about the knowledge of God. Not only that he knows everything, He is so wise and that there’s no one wiser than God. Nobody wiser than God. I told him in Ranch One Night, I thought about, I’d love to be the wisest man that ever lived. Solomon’s already got that. I’d love to be the strongest man that’s ever lived. That’s Samson already doesn’t beat me on air.

Surely there’s something that I can do. I want to be the biggest fool that the world has ever known. Hey, I bet that’s still open. I want to find something that I will be different, unique in, you know? And the Bible says a fool has said in his heart there is no God. I really don’t want to be that kind of a fool. The Bible talks about a man who had the ability to make great wealth. I’ll tear down these barns and build me some bigger barns and say to my soul, soul, they’ll have much goods.

Eat, drink, and then be merry for tomorrow we diet. Diet. And God says, this night, thou fool, thy soul shall be required of thee. I don’t want to be that kind of a fool. But when I read in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 4, where the Apostle Paul was talking about how that God has set forth us, the apostles last, how that we’re the the off scouring of the world that despised the garbage of the world. He says we are fools for Christ’s sake.

I said I can head on that. I want to be a fool for Christ. In fact, in case I want to be the biggest fool the world has ever known for Christ’s sake. In the eyes of the world they may think you’re foolish for trusting Jesus Christ. Believe in a God that you cannot see. Believe in a person that came into the world from out of space and paid for the sins of the whole world and will give you eternal life as a gift, they may think you’re a fool.

So I guess if I’m going to be one, I might would just go all the way and be the biggest fool I could be. I’ve been told by some that just to serve a Lord, you ain’t you’re a fool. You’re throwing away your life. But Christ says if I will lose my life for His sake, I will save it. I’m going to take that risk. If there is a risk, I’ll take that chance. But I don’t want to be like millions and millions millions of people who live and die and are real fools.

I’d rather be a fool for Christ’s thing. You know the Bible says in the book of Psalms 139th. I taught it one night. Talking about how that God is everywhere and He’s everywhere at the same time. You and I are limited to the sole body of flesh were prisoners, bars of bones that hold my soul so limited. And as we get older, we find out that the body is harder and more difficult to move around. Have you noticed any of that?

And sometimes it don’t want to go. I woke up one morning and I said, body, get up and it says I will not. I said, get out of this bed. He says, I’m not moving. Can you believe it? My body almost won. It was so easy to stay there. Have you ever had a fight with the covers and lose? It’s a wonderful thing to know that yes, I do have some things I can do, but I am limited. So in the eyes of God, I am not much like God.

I am more not like God. When you look at me and I look at you, because there’s so many things that we do. Is God perfect? Do you live perfectly? God never does anything wrong. Do you ever do anything wrong? Just once in a while, huh? A little here, a little there. But He is all wise. He knows everything. Jesus Christ, when He was here, He says that Christ, the wisdom of God, the righteousness of God, He is the wisdom of God.

The book of Proverbs talked about searching for this wisdom as a man would search for hidden gold or silver, that the wisdom of God can make a man very wise. And so the Word of God is the mind of God on paper and how wise we could be if we only believed and looked at the Word. Now, the Bible says that God is omnipotent. It means that He has all power. If he has all power, I mean, there’s nothing God cannot do.

He is so powerful, so great. He has limited himself only when he chose to limit himself. Can you do everything? No, you can’t. Can you accomplish everything you want? No, you can’t. Regardless of what you have been able to do, when you look in that mirror, you’re still just a man, man, or just a woman. You’re nothing more than a man. There’s God. You ain’t God and I’m not God. And we will learn a great lesson if we’ll understand that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, not man.

God did it. And that there is a true and living God. And I don’t believe that I’m a fool, maybe in the eyes of the world. But the second thing I want you to give is this. God created man. God. Second thing, God made man. He formed him out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. a living soul and the Word of God tells us that God made the man. The man did not make himself.

Man did not get here by the process of evolution. God holds man responsible. God holds us accountable. So there is a God, and everybody needs to know that. God made the man, everybody needs to understand that. God holds the man responsible, accountable, because He says there is going to be a judgment. And if there’s going to be a judgment, every man shall die. After this the judgment, what’s the purpose of a judgment? of a judgment? Is there something that God required of the man that God is going to hold the man accountable for?

What’s the purpose of a judgment? Is something right? Is something wrong? Is it because something that I said? Is it something that I did? Is it something that I thought? What’s he gonna hold me accountable for? Every idle word, every deed, every thought? All of my actions. It means that if God is God and God made the man and God’s going to hold the man responsible, and you and I would be very wise to believe that. Because it makes a difference on what we do with our lives.

Just believe in the simple basic things. I think after a while when we get away from the things of the Lord, things seem to be running together. Life gets complicated. The economy’s sour. Your health goes. Your money goes. The security in the world goes. And you don’t know what’s going on. And you lose sight of the most important things. See, the most important thing in your life is not the provision of all those things. things, because sooner or later they’re going to die anyway, right?

One of these days you’re leaving here, because it’s appointed into every man who wants to die after that, the judgment. So there is accountability, things that will have to count to the Lord for him. You know One of the greatest things in all the world is to believe that this God that made the man that holds him accountable wrote a book. Have you realized what the world would be like? Life would be like if there was no Bible. If this Bible did not exist, what would this world be like?

What would people really believe? You know, the truth of this book is the restraint upon a man’s sinful nature. But who’s to say he has a sinful nature? It would just be our instinct. We’d be no different than animals. It’s just the west the way we are. And that would never change. But isn’t it wonderful to know what God says about everything? It’s all in this book. This book tells us who we are, where we came from, what we’re doing here, where we’re going.

You see, God wrote a book, and that’s why we call this the Word of God. It’s called Bible, bibblows, but it’s a book written by God. It’s divine. It’s inspired. We believe this every word to be the word of God. And we look to it, we read it, and we trust it. So God has given to us a book. And he says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Means that it’s God breathed. Now I talk about that for a long time if I wanted to.

But I think you get the point. If we have the Word of God, then we have the mind of God on paper. So as we read the book, we’re putting the mind of God into our minds. And it says, be not conformed to this world, but be it transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove or discover. Where is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God? So that’s why God is given to us His Word.

His Word reveals His will. And the man that knows the Word knows the will of God. The man that does not know the Word does not know His will. Therefore a man who does not know the Word doesn’t know the will and he cannot know the way. So God has given to us the answers that we’re seeking. When you study the book of Job and he finds out that what is man and how that God gave him the right to life.

And if a man die, shall he live again? And what happens to him? Where did he go? And how can a man be just with God? Well, when Christ came, He answered all of those questions when a man dies, where does he go? There’s only two places, heaven and hell. And it’s good for you and I to know the difference between the two. So as we live life, we have a little bit of heaven here and a little bit of hell here, but that is not heaven and that is not hell.

But we have a little bit of things that we enjoy and a few things that we don’t enjoy. To help us to be wise because we do not want to go to a place that is pain forever. But to go to a place that is joy forever, if there was none of that in this life, you and I would not know the difference between joy or pain. Therefore, we will not be able to make a wise decision. Aren’t you glad for a little joy in life and a little pain?

Because that’s how we learn. But the Bible says that he is infinite. No limitation. I am so much not like God, the whole human race. And yet, the Bible says that God created man in his image. Something must have gone wrong. Something must have gone wrong. Well the word of God tells us what went wrong. Man sinned against God. And because of that, sin separated us from God. Why? Because we were not like God anymore. To be Godly is to be like God.

To be ungodly is not to be like God. And so you and I with our sinful natures causes us to do and to think and to say and to believe things that are not like God. So God gave us a book. great thing for us to realize is that God gave us His Son. And of all the things that a man may know, and it doesn’t matter if you know how to get a man to the moon or the Mars, but you can’t get him to heaven, you’re still missed out.

And there’s a lot of people with a lot of wisdom and knowledge of the world, but they They don’t know the simple, basic things that God has given to us and what God wants us to know. So yes, I believe there’s a God. And I believe that God made man. And I believe God holds man responsible, accountable. So he gave us his word so that we would know just how much God expects. What’s the purpose of all of this?

And I believe it’s all revealed in his word, and that you and I, because of sin, God wants us to know how much God loves us. And God found a way to show you and I just how much He loves us. By doing something for us, no one else could do. 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. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast.

If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634.

Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. friend one day it will happen the trumpet will sound and we will be changed caught up to meet the Lord in the air so live today and every day believing that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the Internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue to be able to the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family. We’ll take your Bible and turn to the book of Hebrews, the book of Hebrews. the book of Isaiah in just a little bit. But first of all, the book of Hebrews. Hebrews and chapter one, there’s things in this world, everything that you see with your naked eye is going to pass away. And these things are going to wax old.

The Bible says they wax old. I made the mistake of showing some of the teenagers or some of the young college kids, some of the pictures, I was trying to clean out one room called we’re going to have it to use for something. And I found some old pictures of ranch back in 1969 and 1970 and I show it to them and first thing that they look at it when they see that thing is says, hey you had hair.

Yes I had hair. But we’re waxing old and and and some of y’all that are young right now, you will too. But But there are some things that doesn’t age. And God says God remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus Christ stays the same. Look there in Hebrews chapter 1 now and notice this. And He says there in verse 10, And thou, Lord, in the beginning hath laid the foundation of the earth. And the heavens are the work of thy hands.

This refutes evolution. They shall perish. The earth will perish. Notice what he says. He says in verse 10, the works of by hand, verse 11, they shall perish, but thou remaineth, and they all shall wax old as death a garment. And it doesn’t matter how long you… you live. It doesn’t mean how well you live. It doesn’t mean how healthy you are sooner or later we’re all going to get old and die. Nobody wants to get old. We all wish we could just stay young looking but it’s just not the facts of life.

God says the world is waxing old. Even the heavens is getting old. Everything’s getting old but God and He is forever. Look everybody says, you know, in verse 11, they all shall wax old at the garment. And as a vester shall thou fold them up, they shall be changed. But thou, thou art the same, thy years shall not fail. So the Lord is not going to get old. The years won’t fail. He stays the same forever and ever and ever.

And the Lord says that he’s going to do what he has some ministering spirits, angels, guardian angels. Every one of us in this room have guardian angels, angels who watch after us. And it says, these are ministering spirits for those in the last part of verse 14, who shall be heirs of salvation. So we know we have eternal life. We’re going to be with the Lord in heaven. We have angels that watch after us. We have guardian angels. How do you like that?

You are somebody special. If The Lord didn’t protect you. Satan would kill every last one of us. But God is the one who spares our life. He can allow us to be taken home whenever he cheons. But we are in the hands of the Lord to know that, to believe that. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Matthew, chapter four. And the Lord says this here in chapter four. He makes a statement in verse 12. Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, He departed into Galilee and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast in the borders of Zebulon and Naphtulam, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet.

Now in just a moment we’re going to go to the book of Isaiah, the prophet, and see something that is said there. If you were just to sit down and read the book of Isaiah, you may not see this, but because you know that it is a fulfillment of a scripture and it’s quoted here when you go back to Isaiah, then you can look at the context in which you find it and you’ll find some other truths that you would not have seen had you not known that it was a prophecy concerning Christ.

So he says they’re in verse 15. The land of Zebulon and the land of Nepilon by the way of the sea beyond Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles. The people which sat in darkness saw great light. Now, we’re talking here in the book of Matthew about when Jesus Christ came on the scene. That people sat in darkness and people saw a great light. You see, Jesus Christ was the light of the world and that people are in darkness without Christ.

There’s something about the gospel that illuminates a person’s mind. The only way they can know anything about God is through the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the light of the world. It’s how that you can know the truth about who you are, where you came from, what you’re doing, where you’re going and how you can have eternal life. So it’s important. 16 again. The people would set in darkness all great light and to them which set in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

Talking about Jesus Christ is coming into the world and the world is dark and God sends this light into this dark world. And He is the only light. He says, I am the light of the world. And when Christ left, He says, ye are the light of the world. So all the people who trust Christ the Savior are like little light bulbs, and we are the light for the world to see God. And that’s why it’s so important, as the scripture says in Matthew, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven.

We often sing that song, this little light of mine, I’m going to let it what? I’m going to let it shine. Letting it shine means I’m going to tell people about Christ and and what he did for me. Now take your Bible and turn back to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 42. There’s a multitude of verses in here that I wish to have the time to cover from chapter 42 to chapter 52. But I do want you to see this because there’s many references to Jesus Christ in these scriptures.

Our desire should be is to be more about what God wants us to be than anything else in the world. There’s a lot of people that do not know Christ and we should be willing to tell them. Look there, first of all, in Isaiah chapter 41, look in verse 27, if you don’t have verse 27 on the line, I would recommend you underline this verse because it’s in verse 27, the first shall say to Zion, behold, behold them. And I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings, this one that’s gonna bring these good tidings is a reference toward Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is going to come. Now chapter 42, God refers to Jesus Christ as a prophecy in the Old Testament, remember now, this is written over 700 years before Jesus Christ ever came. So God is telling that I have a son, I have a servant. When my son comes, my servant, my righteous branch, when he gets here, this is the way he’s going to be. So it’s all talking about Jesus Christ before he ever came. Now he tells us when he’s going to be born, how he’s going to be born, where he’s going to be born in Bethlehem, Africa, and how he’s going to be rejected in Isaiah 53, and what the people are going to do to him, what he’s going to do.

All these things are written hundreds and hundreds of years before Christ ever came into the world. Look what he says in verse 1 of chapter 42, Behold my servant, which is the reference toward Christ, whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighted. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentile.” Now this is talking about Jesus Christ when he comes into the world. You see, God the Father is bragging upon his son.

He says, now of all the people in all the world and use the word fellows, he says, there’s nobody like my son. Nobody’s like this one. This one’s different. See, he didn’t have a sinful nature. He did nothing wrong. He did everything to please his father. He did everything that was right. He hated sin. Nobody liked this man. So God the Father brags upon a son. He says here in verse three things about him. A bruise reed shall he not break, and the smoking flak shall he not quench, he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

Looking verse 5, thus saith God the Lord. He that created the heavens, stretched them out, he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth bread unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein. I the Lord have called thee in righteousness. When he says, the Lord have called me. In other words, I’m talking about, I have called my son. Another scripture says, I called my son out of Egypt, but I called my son and I have something that I want my son to do.

And then he tells us how his son is going to be treated at all. But notice what he says there in the last part of verse six. He says, and we’ll keep the end, give thee for a covenant of the people for a, and you ought to underline this, a light to the Gentiles. This is a reference also mentioned in the book of Matthew in chapter four, verse seven, to open the blind eyes to bring out the prisoners from the prison and then that set in what?

Darkness out of the prison house. This is a reference to Jesus Christ because when you go over there to the book of Matthew and you read These scriptures it says this is that which was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah This is being fulfilled which said and talked about, I saw the people that said in darkness and behold a great light which is a reference toward Jesus Christ. So we know these verses here are talking about Jesus Christ when he comes into the world.

And he says there in verse eight, I am the Lord. This is my name, my glory will not give to another, neither my praise to another, grieve the image. So he goes in here and he talks about Jesus Christ who is going to be able to heal those that are death Those that are dumb look what he says in verse 18 Here ye death look you blind that you may see Who is blind but my servant or death is my messenger that I send in other words There’s people in the world that are deaf and dumb blind cannot see and God says I’m gonna do a work that you will not believe He goes on chapter 3 and he talks about how that he has took Israel, Israel, Jacob, and he says, I formed the I created thee, and I made you into a nation.

And he goes on through and he says everything that he has done for his people. You can take Israel instead of the site and go back and refer every bit of it to his son, the Jesus Christ, his son. And he did all of this for his son and through his son. It’s an awesome thing. Look in verse four of chapter 43 verse three tells you that he’s talking about the Holy one of Israel Not God the Father, but the one that’s going to be born the Savior’s referring to Christ verse four since thou was precious in my sight Remember he looks over the banister of heaven and says this is my beloved son and who I am well Please Christ was precious in the eyes of the father nobody like this son And he says, now, if you do this for me, I am going to do something for you.

Now, when you read the second Psalm and it makes the statement, I will give the inheritance, the heathen for thy inheritance. In other words, that was a promise that God had made to the Son. If you do this for me, I’m going to give you the heathen as an inheritance. So he says, you’re in verse four, since thy was precious in my sight, thy has been honorable and I have loved therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy what?

You give me your life and I’m going to give you people in return for it.” You’ll see the same thing mentioned when you studied the book of Isaiah chapter 53 when he says, then he shall see his seed. There’s going to be results on down the line. He is the kernel of corn that is planted into the ground that dies and then more come from it. It’s an awesome thing when you read the whole chapters and read all this together.

But anyway, he says, you’re in chapter 44. Look at verse six. Isaiah chapter 44 verse six, thus saith the Lord the king of Israel and his redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first, I am the last beside me, there is no God, there is no other God beside Jesus Christ. Down in verse eight, the last part of the says, is there a God beside me? I know now God, I don’t know of any other God, there’s nobody but me.

Now, turn on over there to Isaiah chapter In chapter 45 he talks about how in verse 11, thus saith the Lord L.O.R.D. the Holy One of Israel and his Maker. So we’re talking about that God is the one who gave his Son. Mary prepared the child, the flesh, but the Son was given, Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6. He said in verse 12, I have made the earth, created man upon it. I even my hands have stretched out the heaven and all the hosts have I commanded him.

He said, I have done all these wonderful, wonderful things. So he tells the people, he says, seek me, command you me and behold what I will do and show you and all these things. Look at in verse 22, it’s a reference toward Christ coming, making a payment for sin and being a light to the people that are in darkness. In verse 22, look unto me and be Yesaved all the ends of the earth, for I am God there is none else, there is no other God.

And he also makes a statement in the book of Philippians in chapter 2 when he makes a statement he says, and he was highly exalted and given a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father. Well that’s mentioned right there, see in verse 23, say verse 23, I have sworn by myself the word has gone out of my mouth and righteous and shall not return.

They that unto me every knee shall bow every tongue shall swear. This is what it’s talking about. You wouldn’t know these verses are referring to Jesus Christ, but when you go to New Testament and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit it says this is referring to that. This is referring to that. This is referring to that. So when you go back and you read it’s a good night. There’s a picture of Jesus Christ on all these pages. This tells you about the sky and of what God thinks about His Son.

This is awesome stuff and this is the attitude that you and I ought to have about Jesus Christ Look what he says in verse 9 of chapter 46 Remember the form of things of old or I am God there is none else. I am God There is none else like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times of things that are not yet done Saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure In other words I’m going to do all the things that I want to do and he said I foretold all these things in advance And the reason was because he says, I think I want you to see this.

Look very quickly in chapter 48 in verse 3. He said, I declare the former things from the beginning. They went forth and it happened. Suddenly, just like I said it would. He says, because thou art hard headed and thy neck as an iron senior. See what it says in verse 3. I have declared the former things from the beginning. They went forth out of my mouth. I showed them. I did them. Suddenly they came to pass because I knew that thou art obstinate And thy neck is an iron senior and thy brow brass.

He said, I have declared from the very beginning before it ever happened. I’m gonna tell you what’s gonna happen. So you have a record in the word of God of things that are going to take place before it ever happens. That’s why the Old Testament was written. That’s why there’s hundreds of years in between these things so that no man can make it happen. And God hit everything just right on schedule. Everything’s right. And Jesus Christ came the first time just like He said.

He’s gonna come back again, just like He said He would. Look there in chapter 48, looking verse 16. Look at verse 16. Verse 16 says, come ye near unto me, hear ye this, I have not spoken in secret from the beginning, from the time that it was, there am I, and now the Lord God, one, and his spirit, too, hath sent me three. God the Father and the God, the Holy Spirit, sent the third person of the Trinity. It’s awesome, read it, it’s right there.

There’s the Trinity right there in that one verse. And God brags upon his son and all that his son has done and what’s going to take place. And he says in verse two calls him a Paul is shaft. And in verse three talks him out, he is my servant in whom I will be glorified. In verse five he talks about him being the servant. In verse six he talks about him being a servant. But look in verse six, I want you to see this in chapter 49.

And he said, it is a light thing that thou should be my servant. To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel, I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles. You think it’s talking about somebody else? No, it’s talking about Jesus Christ. I will give him to be a light that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth. This is a reference to Jesus Christ. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his holy one Christ, to whom man despises to him to whom the nations abhorrent.

And the people of the world despise the very one that God is so pleased with. But this is a reference to Jesus Christ. Turn your page. If you got a host of the reference Bible, chapter 50 talks about the humiliation that’s going to happen to Jesus Christ. It says in the first one, He says, does Seth the Lord? He says, where is the bill of your mother’s divorce? Who might put away, in other words, like here’s God the Father and God took Israel and she is the wife, she’s the woman.

So God had a wife and the wife is Israel, but because Israel went a horn after other gods and didn’t become obedient unto her own husband, so God gave her a writing of divorce. But God divorced his wife. But if that happens, then God can’t go marry somebody else. God has to wait. So the Bible says that God the Father and the wife, well they had a son. And who is this son? Jesus Christ. God used Israel, the wife, to have a son and brought him into the world.

But the wife rejected her son. Wanting nothing to do with her son. Turned against her own child. rejected her child. But God the Father loved his son and Israel the wife rejected the son. So the Bible says now God is looking for a wife for his son. Well where’s he gonna find a wife? Well Israel didn’t want to, so God began among the Gentiles. And as the story is told every individual believing Gentile all over the world that we leave on Christ and trust me Savior, they will form the bride of Christ, the bride for Christ.

So God is calling out from among the world, believers as a bride for His Son. Now this is the story that’s told in the Old Testament and it’s going to happen just like God said. But you see when he gave this bill in the enforcement and here’s the nation Israel who needs to be redeemed when Jesus came says was there no man isn’t there anybody else that can redeem you anybody else can can pay for the sin because they had to have a redeemer you read the story of Ruth about Boaz and about the kinsman redeemer somebody that would be willing to to pay the price and when Christ came was there anybody else that’s willing to redeem you who else is willing to redeem the human race.

Nobody could. Nobody had the price. So God says, my son will do it. My son is willing to give his life and to redeem. That’s why as you read down through these scriptures, he’s talking about being a redeemer and how he says, my son is not going to be rebellious. Look down there in verse 5. The Lord God hath opened my ear and I was not rebellious, neither turn turned away back. Now this is a reference to Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ came to where He says, my ear hath thou opened. You see what He means by that? We see when a person became a voluntary love slave of God. It was like having their ear burned through with a big old hole because in the days of Israel when they had a servant or a slave and that person had served their time and was free to leave if they chose voluntarily to be a bond slave of the master because they liked the way they were being treated.

They wanted to do that. They could voluntarily be a slave for the rest of their life. And they would take him and put up against a post and they would take a hot iron and they would bore a hole through their ear and they would open up their ear. And he said, my ear has now opened because I chose to be a voluntary love slave of God my heavenly father. I was not rebellious. I was not disobedient. And God could use me in looking verse 6.

And I gave my back to the smiteers, my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. You think this is talking about Isaiah? Think it might be talking about Daniel? Think it’s talking about Lot? Job? Who do you think it’s talking about? So I’m talking about Jesus Christ. This is Jesus Christ. And look what he says there in verse verse nine. Behold, the Lord God will help me. Who is he that shall condemn me?

Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment. The moth shall eat them up talking about people. What’s it talking about here? They all shall wax old as a garment. Didn’t we read that somewhere else? Didn’t we just read that in the book of Hebrews in chapter one? It was God who made the world and it talks about they’re all going to wax old as a garment and the people but my son he stays the same yesterday, today, and forever.

He never ages. And when you are born of the Son of God what he had in his genes he gave to you. Same identical DNA. All born from the same incorruptible seed the Word of God itself. It’s awesome when you start thinking about these things. The way God puts it down here into his Word. It is awesome. Look down now in verse 5. Look in verse 5 of chapter 51. Verse 51. Chapter 51 verse 5. My righteousness is near.

In other words, it’s only 700 years away. My Son is coming. Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God. He says, my righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth. My arm shall judge the people. The aisles, Gentiles shall wait upon them and on mine arm shall they what? You read chapters 52 and 53 and talked about his arm and my holy arm is revealed. It’s talking about Jesus Christ, the power of God. And he knows what he says. This thing is awesome.

Look in verse 6. Lift up your eyes to the heavens. Look upon the earth beneath. For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke. The earth shall wax old like a garment. They shall dwell therein shall die in like manner. I don’t care how long you live, you’re all going to die. We’re all going to die. Everybody born going to die. The world is going to come to chaos one of these days. God says it’s going to have it all burned up.

That time is coming. But notice something he says here, this awesome. But my salvation, something that will not die, My salvation that will not wax old. My salvation shall be for how long? My salvation is for ever when you trust Christ as your savior. How long is your salvation good for? It is eternal security, eternal salvation. There is no other. Look what else he says. My righteousness shall not be abolished. What God gave you, he will never take it away from you.

When I trusted Christ as my Savior in 1960, I became a child of God. He gave me everlasting life. It will never be taken away from me. It can never be abolished, never can be altered. In other words, my salvation cannot be changed or altered by me or God. I’ve got his word on that. Look what he says in verse eight. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment. The worm shall eat them like wool. But my righteousness shall be, and you’ll unline that word, fall forever.

My salvation from generation to generation. It’s always in season. Anybody can be saved all over the world. Going to all the world and preach the gospel. He says, this is the light to them who said in darkness. I know I have eternal life. That knowledge, that’s light. That truth, that’s light. And a lot of people don’t know the truth. They don’t know crisis or savior. They don’t know they have eternal life. They don’t know where they’re going when they die.

And you and I that know this, this is the greatest news in all the world. Let me just close with you, you see this. But look what he says there in verse three of chapter 52. He said in verse 52, for thus saith the Lord ye have sold yourselves for none and ye shall be redeemed without what? Without money. You can be redeemed without money. That means you can’t buy it. You can be redeemed. That means to be bought back from the slave market of sin, Even though you’ve done all these bad things, you deserve to go to hell, what can you use to pay for all these sins without you having to pay it?

And that’s a death payment. It’d be done without money. And when you look over there in chapter 55, I just got to show you this in chapter 55. Look what he says in verse one, Ho, everyone that first death, come you to the waters and hear that half, no money. Come ye by and eat, ye come by wine and milk without money, without price. In other words, God says, I’ve got something from a whole world. They that sit in darkness shall see a great light, a great truth.

I’ve never seen, never understood before. Won’t cost you anything. It’s totally free. And you realize you have 53, and you have there the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. All this is about him. 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 tool free.

1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, Just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for a Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. You should always examine, see, now, have I been the kind of an example that I’m supposed to be? What kind of an example am I? What if I said or what have I done that would bring the criticism that comes to me? Maybe there’s something that we do. Sometimes we don’t always see ourselves the way we really are.

And sometimes we respond in such a way and we answer in such a way that is kind of hurting, sharp words. But we didn’t see it that way because we didn’t mean it that way, but it still come across that way. Sometimes whenever we let people become the interpreter of what we mean because we’re not clear, you can’t blame the interpreter for what he interpreted. What his understanding was because we were not clear ourselves. I want you to take your Bible look into the book of Galatians.

The book of Galatians in chapter 6. Galatians in chapter six, I want you to look there in verse one. Galatians six and verse one. And it says brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fall, is it what’s the fall? A Christian walking in the flesh from the previous chapter. So if you see a brother walking in the flesh and he’s bringing both the works of the flesh, well then you that are spiritual are walking in the spirit. in chapter 5 verse 16 walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Okay, if you see a Christian that is walking in the flesh. What do you do about it? You, well, number one, draw attention to that person. Make sure everybody knows that they’re walking in the flesh. And if they fall, you walk up and put your foot on their head and push them down into the mud and make them cry uncle. And let them know you saw every, we know one of the best ways I think of Christians to live one eye and one ear.

Don’t see everything and don’t hear everything. And working with teenagers, I had to develop that. Because at first I saw everything they did wrong and I knew what I expected of them and I wanted so much for these kids but they can’t see what I want for them. Their blind is a bat and everything that they said everything they did. Man, I could so criticize everything. And I could see every area of flesh and they just revel in it.

And I wanted to be so spiritually minded. I wanted them to be so godly. And they were so worldly. Boy, I had a problem. And I realized, see what one eye and hear would one ear. Because I would become so bitter and so critical at them because they disappointed me over and over again because I wanted so much. Don’t they see what I want for them? No. Don’t they care? No. Don’t they care about me and my feelings like I care about them?

No. And a lot of people, they don’t care what you think. They don’t care how you live. Most of them just leave me alone and let me do my thing. Don’t you know this is the 21st century. This is everybody do whatever makes you happy? Century. And yet you love them. But you also got to realize that with people you have to be patient. If people see fault in me, don’t you think I see a few in you? No, I don’t see anything wrong with y’all.

Y’all little darlings, y’all the perfect little angels you are. And somebody says thank you. Somebody’s getting the wrong message here. But look what he says here. Yee, which are spiritual. Restore such a one in the spirit of migness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted.” In other words, except for the grace of God, it could be you. And be careful how you judge somebody because, you know, it might come back home to roost. If you want to receive mercy, then you need to show mercy.

If you want a little grace from people, then maybe you need to show a little grace to people. If you want to receive a little forgiveness, maybe you need to give a little forgiveness. You know, the Bible says you reap what you… what you sow. You sow meanness. You might reap meanness. But if you sow some kindness, you might reap a little kindness. and a soft answer turneth away wrath. For example, it’s so easy between boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife.

Say something bad and if that person comes back bad boy you could get at it real quick. But if the answer was a real soft voice, it kind of deflates you because you know that’s what I should have done. Especially when you’re supposed to know better and we fail, we mess up. In Matthew chapter 7 and verse 3 and 5, where it talks about realizing what you’re doing and how you’re saying these things, look over there very quickly in Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew and chapter 7, and look there in verse 3, verse 3, and why beholdest thou the that is in thy brother’s eye, but consider if not the beam that is in thine own eye, or how will thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the moat out of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then thou shall see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother’s eye.

See it didn’t say you couldn’t see the moat. It It didn’t say that you can’t help the mode out of his eye. It just says, make sure you get the two before out of yours first. That’s why I said, because of that you judge, that you be not judged. In other words, so that when you try to correct somebody, they’re going to try to correct you back. So first of all, examine your own life. Is there something that is in my life that could hinder someone from being the way they ought to be?

Could they stumble over my pride, my arrogance? Because you see, we don’t always see ourselves the way we are, but we sure can dissect other people very easily. And we can see all their faults and all their flaws. You see, whenever you go and tell him his fault to him alone, it’s got several good points to bring up. It assures that you’re loyal because you went to the person, because you want to resolve the problem. You’re not condemning and you’re coming as a learner.

Or is there something that I’ve said or done that caused you to react toward me this way or for you to say what you said? Have you ever said these words? I didn’t mean that. You said something and somebody took it and they got hurt because and then later on you find out, you said, I didn’t mean that. I have said a lot of them. I didn’t mean that. I didn’t say it the right way. You can say things with a certain tone or say something and you get a word left out that can and change the whole meaning of it.

As you get a little bit older, like I am, and I have a hearing aid in this year, and I got another one for this one, but I can’t stand it with both of them in there because they just talked back and forth and I can’t understand anything. And sometimes I can’t hear the words, and then when I can hear the words, I can’t discern what the words are. And I was sitting talking with somebody today, and I could not hear what they were saying.

And it’s very, very difficult. I just hope that people don’t get offended because of it. Or sometimes you may talk to me and I give you an answer that clean off the books. Has nothing to do with what you asked. Because what you said and what I heard are not even in the same room. And all I can say is I’m sorry about that, but I can’t improve that. I don’t know how to improve that. I’ve asked people over and over again sometimes I says, huh, what?

And sometimes it gets to be a joke. And sometimes I just figured, I don’t guess I really need to know what they said. And if I gave an answer and nobody said anything strange, I guess it was the right one. Whatever the question was, I don’t know. But I know that I’ve lived long enough, and so have you, that sometimes we say something but we don’t mean that. Or we didn’t mean for people to take it in the wrong way.

And so sometimes it happens and people get offended. But when somebody comes to you, how they do it is so important. And so that’s why you need to understand there’s things about attitudes that you have. The attitude by which you can be confronted. Can somebody confront you with a problem without you falling apart? Without you getting mad and coming and glued on the person. For example, can the husband talk to the wife or the wife talk to the husband?

Can you talk to your kids? talk people on your job. Can you talk people in the church? But they’re afraid to talk to you because they think you’re going to explode. That’s not right. You don’t need to explode. People should be able to come to you, and if they’re wrong in whatever they said, and if they come to you and they’re wrong in the way they do it, you can still be kind to one another. Because, see, some people are having a hard time.

Some people that takes every bit of courage in the world to come and see somebody. And if somebody comes to you and they want to correct you on something. Now, you and I know that we’re perfect and we don’t mess up. But some people don’t see us the way we really are and they think we did something wrong. Let them be able to say to you whatever it is they need to say without you jumping on top of them and trying to stop them and correct them.

Have you ever seen somebody you start talking to them and before you can finish what you’re saying they already know what you’re going to say, come up with an answer and give you three solutions. And then you have to tell them, that wasn’t my problem. Because sometimes we don’t want to listen to everything. We got ears. We’re supposed to listen. God gave us one mouth and two ears. It means He wants us to listen twice as much as we talk.

And sometimes we don’t want to do that. But we should do that. So anyway, you and I are supposed to come to a person as though we’re trying and seeking to learn. What was the one main ingredient between what Christ says about His disciples and how you would know that you are my disciples indeed is that you what? Love one another. So regardless of what the problem may be, how you accept criticism is very important. So we ought to be able to give it and receive it and believe that the purpose is for constructive criticism, not destructive.

If your purpose in trying to bring something to light is because your goal is wanting to destroy someone, I don’t believe that that’s a good thing to do. Now, a man who is a man of character, I do not believe you should try to destroy a man of character, but I do believe you ought to have the right to describe a man’s character because that’s the way he is. And there’s even the Bible, Paul talked about certain individuals and gave their name and said how they helped destroy people’s faith because that’s what they were doing, a public thing known.

Another sermon for another time. Look there in Proverbs chapter 16 and look there in verse 28 verse 28, a forward man soeth strife and a whisper separated chief friends. If you want to see a lot of damage done it’s with people who just plant little seeds of questions and doubts and other people’s minds about somebody that has to be very careful that you do this. Otherwise you can destroy somebody, but you say, well, that’s not my purpose and my goal.

Okay, but make sure that you only tell somebody who is part of the solution to a problem. There would be no reason for me to share things with somebody unless they are part of the solution to a problem. Or unless you want me to go with you to help solve a problem. But the real issue is sometimes a person is scared to death to confront somebody about a particular problem if they have hurt them or offended them because they’re afraid of being hurt and offended even more.

And sometimes they’re afraid of confronting a person because they don’t know how that person’s going to come across. Don’t know if they’re going to get mad or become angry and furious or what they’re going to do. And so to avoid it they just avoid the thing. But if possible, like God says in his word in the book of Romans in chapter 12 that if possible live peaceably with all men, it’s not always possible to live peaceably with everybody. Though I believe that should be our goal in what we should try to do.

But look in Proverbs 25 you’re right there, Proverbs chapter 25, Proverbs 25 and verse 9. In verse 9 says, debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself and discover not a secret to another. Sometimes we know that if somebody tells us things in confidence, it should be in confidence and it’s not something that you necessarily have to go around and reveal that to other people. But sometimes people are trying to find more dirt and they’re trying to discover things And so they can become real kind and sweet, but they’re really looking for dirt on somebody.

Be careful that you don’t allow somebody to dump their trash under your piece of property. In other words, if you’re driving down the highway and you look over there and they got a beautiful lawn, you drive down a little bit further and you got trash all over the lawn. But people have driven by and just dumped their garbage there. But on the one piece of property, it’s nice and clean and everybody respects that. Chances are somebody went down the road and they had some trash and they just dumped it out.

But they left it there. Somebody else comes down the road and they got some trash too andgently you can’t put it back there but you can put it up here. This is acceptable. So they dumped some more trash there. Did you know that yard is your, your brain up here, it’s your mind, that’s your little piece of territory. And as we live our life, we allow people to dump their trash into our minds. And when you feed upon garbage, your mind will become garbage.

You will have germs and disease of all kinds because of garbage. And you will not be a healthy individual. So the best thing you do is when people to gossip to you, remember they will also gossip about you. The only difference between a buzzard and a gossip is one devours you while you’re alive and the other one eats you while you’re dead. But they want to devour you. And the Bible talks about do not devour one another, where you’re just trying to totally destroy another individual.

God’s people are supposed to love one another, care about one another, pray for one another, exhort one another. But you will not find where it says Christians destroy one another, hate one another, be mean one to another, but you’ll find it be tender-hearted, kind one to another. Am I lying to you or am I telling you the truth? So you’ve got to watch that you don’t allow people just to dump their garbage in your yard and you have to take a strong stand because of that.

Now, he makes the statement here in verse 9 and discover not a secret to another. It’s just some things that you’re not supposed to do. But anyway, the other thing is in James chapter 3 the whole chapter talks about the tongue and then it talks about let your speech be seasoned with salt. So how do you season your words with salt? Well before you always carry a little bottle of salt around with you. Stick out your tongue and put salt on your tongue so that when you talk you can talk and just beat the things with salt and then that way it won’t be as offensive.

But it means to flavor your words. Don’t be just hard and cold. You may be right. You may be telling the truth but the way we do it isn’t always the sweetest way. We could said sometime the same thing but said it with a sweeter tone. I’m always having to work on the tone of my voice. God gave me a very strong voice and I know that. I am very boom and yet inwardly I’m meek as a lamb. I’m sweet and kind and y’all believe everything I’m saying and I wouldn’t hurt anybody for anything in the world.

Really? But sometimes we just don’t always say and do the the things that we are supposed to do. And sometimes we just fail. We just fall completely apart. Let me give you a couple of other things that I want to mention to you very quickly. What would happen if we actually followed Matthew 18? Well, they say that slander is telling the truth with a design to hurt. Gossip is sharing detrimental information with those who are not part of the problem or part of the solution.

But gossip and slander would cease. if we would commit ourselves to only giving good reports about each other. And Christians will be giving and receiving loving corrections which will edify each other. If you have to confront somebody, pray first, and you want that person know that look, I love you and I really appreciate you. And I just wanna let you know, I appreciate you sharing with me what you said. And I will correct that as much as I possibly can.

And see, you may not always agree with their view, but there’s some things that you could just let them know that look, I will seriously think about what you said. And I can see that I could have said it a better way. And it learned to be able to accept constructive criticism and take it that way, even though they didn’t say it the right way. But realizing that God, you’ve often made statements like, God, I want you to speak to me, I want you to lead me, I want you to guide me, I want you to correct me, I want you to reveal if there’s any wicked way in me.

And here comes 15 people and they all tell you the same thing. You say, well Lord, that’s not what I meant. Sometimes God may speak to you through somebody else who has the nerve to hurt you. And it might hurt you, but you might need to correct the problem, so be willing to do that. And it will also build loyalty and security, because you know that everybody’s committed to giving a good report about you. I would like to believe that everybody in this whole church loved me enough that you wouldn’t say anything against me to nobody.

Now is that wrong for me to want that or to desire that? But shouldn’t I have, you think the same thing that my pastor loves me enough that he’s not going to try to destroy me? You realize I try to do everything I possibly can. I don’t care the littlest kid to the old, to try to open up doors of opportunities for y’all to serve and do whatever y’all can do for the Lord. True. In ranch last night, even though we had some little kids there, I still wanted them little kids to understand.

Look, if God can use Yankee, God can use anybody. So y’all see me now, smooth and polished. But you never saw me when I was a teenager, praise the Lord. But I want the little kids to know, look, I might be the pastor, pastor, but I love you and I want the best for you. This ranch meeting here is designed because we want to give you a chance, a place that you can serve the Lord. I’m so glad they got somebody like Peter.

I want somebody to know that we got somebody that loves us and cares about us. I want those little kids in a Wanna, those kids in Sunday school. I want them to know anything that those people over them, they love them and they’re that help them. And even though we might see things in people’s lives that are not right, yeah, but we got things in ours too. We’re always needing to grow. Nobody has arrived. We still got a lot of work to do.

And it doesn’t matter if you’ve lived to be as old as Al. You still, you’re still going to make mistakes and you might even forget when your anniversary is. You can figure it all out. But look, I’ll bet you. I’ll bet you. She forgave him. Not yet. I’ll tell me. OK, so as the world turns, then anyway, as an individual, just in your own mind, you don’t have to make somebody else do anything. It’s just something that you do for yourself.

One is you don’t want to be guilty of just a gossiper, saying detrimental things about somebody for the purpose of destroying somebody. And to say things to somebody who can be a help to the problem, to solve the problem. And ask the Lord to give you the grace that you need to examine your own life so that you can have the strength and boldness that you need to maybe to help somebody else who has wronged you. And be forgiving, because the rest of that chapter in Matthew 18, it talks about, and the disciples asked that question, Lord, how many times should I forgive them?

Seven times? He said, 70 times seven. 490? It didn’t matter. Just forgive people and just keep moving ahead. And love one another as God says we should, because when you get right down to it, that is the Christian thing to do. That is the Christ thing. You know, people were not in the beginning called Christians. It was because in Antioch, they were first called Christians because they were of the Christ way, because of the way they lived. Their actions were like Christ.

They way they loved each other and the way they forgave one another and cared about each other. They lived like a Christian. Today, when we trust Christ as our Savior, everybody knows we’re, well, you’re a Christian when you get saved. Yum, in your name, but in your actions, you may not live like a Christian. So I just think we ought to live like Christians. Act like Christians. and God blesses for doing so. Look up here. So much easier to get this smaller wall of that on my pants.

The other night I was in Herkville. I couldn’t get my sand out. And I pull out that wall and I said, man, that thing is huge. And I knew that my sins were not that big. I mean, they’re this side, but they weren’t that other size. So I figured I’d just give that wall to Peter O’Mato. Now see, now he can get offended if that he wanted to. He can get offended. But see, sometimes you get an offended because he is your choice.

You don’t have to. You know, nobody can offend you unless you choose to do so. So sometimes you got to get the chips off your shoulders and don’t let little things hurt you. Let things kind of slide around a little bit. I can give people some room to maneuver. Don’t be so mean and so strict. Don’t be law. Have a little grace. Don’t that just sound like just plain old good sense? I think so. You’ll be happier if you do.

This is you and me. This is sin. We all have sin upon us and God loves us. Loves all love us, but He hates what we do wrong. And we’ve all sinned. We’ve all come short of God’s perfection. God says for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in hell. But He loves us and wants us to have eternal life and go to heaven when we die. And God says you can’t save yourself. So to go to heaven you have to be perfect no sin and nobody like that here.

So the Bible says you can’t save yourself by your deeds. This sin represents Jesus Christ, He is the Lord and God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us but He hates what we do wrong because it separates us from Him. So Christ took the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead and said if we believe He did it for us, he put that payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did.

By grace are you saved through faith, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. Let’s pray, shall we? If you’re here tonight and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, remember this, God does love you. He has paid for your sins. Yes, we all fail. We don’t always do the things that we know is right. God loves us anyway. But to go to heaven, you see, we have to be as righteous as God, and by our works we’ll never be.

This church cannot save you. Your good works, given money, all those things cannot save you. The only way you can get to heaven is to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. So if you’re here tonight or if you’re watching by internet, I just want you to know that you can be saved from hell. God will give you eternal life and you’ll go to heaven whenever you die if you simply accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. And so if you’ll do that, God said he would save you and I’d like to know and I’d like to have prayer for you.

So a hedge bound nice close and no one looking around is there anyone else? So yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior tonight and preach our life for you to pray for me. We just sleep in it very quickly and put a rep back down. Say it one at all. Our Father, we thank You so much for this opportunity to talk to Your people about the subject of Christian unity, of how we’re supposed to solve some of our differences.

And Father, help us more than anything else, just to love each other and forgive each other and to do what’s right and realizing that we’re supposed to truly care about the lives other people and try to challenge and motivate them to do right. We just thank you so much for this time together. Thank you for these good people and Lord, just bless them. They’re going to have a hard week and just a lot of things. And we just pray your will to be done in Christ and 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 are 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 tool free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broad If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So live today and every day. 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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I preached this sermon tonight with a little fear and trembling. It deals with a subject of slander, gossiping, backbiting, and we all know that those are good things to talk about. And we all know that we’re not guilty of any of that, but we all know somebody who is. If there’s anything that I sometimes dislike speaking on, it’s, I don’t really like talking about the devil because I know the next day he gets me. And when I speak about how to have Christian unity, it seems like it always backfires.

I’ve tried sometimes, you know, I want all the married people to be so happy. So I speak on how husbands are supposed to treat their wives and the wives are supposed to treat their husbands and they just get into more fights. I think I’d have been better off just let it alone. It wasn’t as bad maybe. Somebody just said amen.

Okay. I like y’all too. But tonight I do want to speak a little bit on Christian unity. You said, no, that’s going to be boring. I can tell her that’s going to be a boring message. Well, maybe it will be. It’s probably not going to rank up there with my A game, you know. I want you You take your Bible and turn to the book of Matthew and chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18, the disciples came to Jesus and they had asked him a question, who’s going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Remember we talked about the kingdom of heaven several times. That period of time where the king from heaven sits up the kingdom upon the earth. That starts in the book of Daniel in chapter 2 where it says, in the days of these kings the God of heaven set up a kingdom upon the earth. This is the stone that comes down and smites the ten toes and sets up his kingdom. So we know it’s Christ. But who’s going to be the greatest?

Can you imagine the disciples getting together and hey, who’s going to be number one? And you know, it even caused some problems because mama, she said, she had two sons and she wanted one to set He said, on one side, one said on the other side. And Jesus told him, says, you don’t understand quite how this works. You see, it’s not so much as I just want to point somebody to do. He says, it’s because of what you do.

It’s your faithfulness. That God wants to reward your faithfulness. But he says, a man in order to be great in the kingdom of God or in the kingdom of heaven, it has to be like a little child. So he brought a little child and said him there in the midst and you’ll see there in verse excuse me verse two, and Jesus called a little child unto him and said him in the midst of them and said, barely I sinned you, except you be converted and become as little children you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child the same as greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And then he talks about don’t offend one of these little ones. Woe to the offender who offends. So this is a sermon I guess you could say the offender and the offended. Now you and I, if we live long enough, we know it’s only a matter of time before we offend someone or someone offends us. It’s the world in which we live because we’re sinners and we have expectations and we really don’t like people offending us.

You know, getting on our case, saying things we don’t like, jumping in front of us in their car. You know, when I’m boogin’ down a road and then here comes Uncle George and he pulls right in front of you. And you’re goin’ 19, he pulls out and he’s goin’ 10. And you wanna just push him on off the road. But we all get offended by somethin’. Now, if you come to this church long enough, let me tell you before it happens so that you’ll know that when it happens, I told you so and you’re not supposed to let it bother you, but you’re going to let it bother you anyway, but I still got to tell you.

I’m going to offend you. Sooner or later I will hurt your feelings because you’ll think the preacher shouldn’t have said that because I talk a lot. Well, I do. Every time you see me, I’m talking or eating, but I talk a lot. And when you talk a lot, you’re going to say something that maybe you shouldn’t have said. And if I listen to you long enough, you’re going to say something that offends me because you’re not going to always do what I tell you to do that I know you should do and you’re not going to do it anyway.

Do you know there’s people that probably come to church and it doesn’t matter what I teach? They will not move. Their favorite song in the Bible is, I shall not be, I shall not be moved and you’re not going to move them. the preacher gets offended sometimes too. And the people get offended. We hurt each other’s feelings. If you’ve been married for any length of time, it’s only a matter of time before you offend each other. It doesn’t matter, well we’re just so sweet.

We’ll never hurt each other’s feelings. There you will. And the same thing with children and the adults. But what I want you to see here is something that God says how to solve a problem. And most times we don’t really want to solve the problem the way that we should. I want you to look there in verse 15, verse 15, he says, Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell everybody you can. Put it in the church bulletin, announce it on radio, but make sure everybody knows what he did to you.

Is that what it says? No, see, it doesn’t say that. There are some things that God says that we should not do. So he says, if thy brother, now it could be somebody in your own household, maybe he’s talking about a brother in the church, somebody in the same family, the family of God. But whatever it does say, it does say, if thy brother shall trespass against the go and tell him his fault between the and Him alone. If He shall hear thee thou hast gained thy brother.”

Now there’s several things to mention here and one is if your brother says or does something that offends you. There is a statement here that says go to Him, go to the individual and try to make it right. And you’re to keep in mind that in the verses right before this, he gave an illustration about the sheep that had gone astray. And we are all like sheep and we all go astray. We all don’t always do everything right. And so there’s some problems that we have.

So in trying to understand what does God want me to do and how to solve a problem because it’s only a matter of time, like I said, that we will offend each other. It says, go to to Him. Now going to an offending brother to restore Him is one of God’s greatest tests of genuine love. Do you really love the person that offends you? So you’re always going to be tested. So let’s pretend that somebody does offend you whoever it may be.

That is a test of do you love the person who just wronged you. You start right there. Now if you love the person, how should you respond to someone that you love? You get out of a hangerineed vazooka You want to kill them? No if it’s somebody you love you treat them differently than somebody you hate So from a Christian point of view God says Love the whole world Love everyone Now I can even love a Muslim, but I don’t have to love the ways of a Muslim.

I can love every center, but not as ways. And I’m supposed to still try to do what is right by the individual, try to love them to the Lord, try to get him to trust Christ’s Savior. Now, I want you to take your Bible and just look at this word in the book of Proverbs in chapter 15. Proverbs chapter 15. And don’t lose your place in Proverbs because I got a few verses that I want to show you from there and that you’ll be going back to it.

But first of all, and this is something that I’m still working on. I haven’t got this down to a science yet. Now you may have it all worked out and nothing bothers you anymore. But look what he says in verse 1. A soft answer turneth away wrath. A soft answer turneth away wrath. But grievous words do what? Stirth up anger. Now is it possible for you to stir up anger? I get so easily stirred up. And Then afterwards, I mad at myself because I do, because I know I’m not supposed to, and I do it anyway.

Now, that’s why I say, I’m glad that you’re not like me. You wouldn’t do that. But I sometimes have a weakness that I want everything to go my way. I wouldn’t get mad at anybody if they just do whatever I tell them to do. But not everybody does that. So you’ve got to live with it. Remember this, Satan’s program of defeat is to cut off the lines of communication. He doesn’t want you to try to solve the problem. He wants you to magnify the problem.

Always remember that. Someone wrongs you. Satan wants to cut off the lines of communication between you because he wants the problem to grow. try to believe that behind the scenes there is a devil who wants to destroy. And sometimes the devil is able to use Christians. I know that’s hard to believe. But sometimes God’s children do the devil’s work. You’re doing the work of the devil. But you may not even be aware that you’re doing it. And that’s what happens whenever we don’t do things God’s way.

easy sometimes to just pass judgment and figure out they’re wrong and then try to forget about it. But just trying to forget about it sometimes doesn’t solve a problem. God didn’t say that moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, just forget about it. They didn’t say that. It’s not just to forget about it. There’s sometimes you might need to solve a problem, try to find out what’s causing the problem. Why does someone feel that way about me or why did they do a certain certain thing?

But just to render a judgment in your mind and then not try to resolve it, sometime it can eat at you on the inside like cancer. And it can linger there. They talk about sometimes of cancer or even chickenpox. Once you’ve got the virus, it can linger in your body and they say it’s in remission and then you never know when it’s going to come out and get you. Well, I’ve experienced a little bit of that, but that’s what problems can do when they’re not resolved.

They hunt you and they eat it you like cancer and they can destroy you. Remember, a person’s life can be destroyed by things that happens to them on the outside, but also by things that happen to them on the inside. Sometimes it’s not what you’re eating that’s problem. It’s what’s eating you. That’s the problem. And a lot of people have things. They’re eating at them that they never get taken care of. And it needs to be done. It’s easy to tell someone else and genuine concern and hope that somebody else will take care of the problem.

Because it’s easy to take and mention a problem to somebody who is not a part of the problem or part of the solution. But you just hope they’ll solve the problem because you don’t want to solve the problem. It’s the most difficult thing in the world to go to the person that wrongs you and try to make it right because we don’t want to face that individual. We would rather not. But sometimes if a person doesn’t do it, the person who does the wrong has a tendency to do it again and again and again and again, because nobody calls them down on it.

Nobody confronts that individual in order to help that person, and they may not always be aware of what they’re saying or doing, and yet they could have had somebody because they love them and care about them. And in a loving manner, talk to them and pray for them and so forth, that could have really made a difference. And it’s also very easy to go to the person who’s wrong to end boldly go and tell them how wrong they are, but don’t listen to what they have to say.

Because you’ve already judged they were wrong and you’re going to get even for whatever. So, one of the first things that you have to do before you go to a person who has wronged you. Remember it says in the book of Matthew in chapter 7, and we may look at that in just a little bit, but it’s best to get the two before out of your own eye so that you can see clearly to get that little splinter out of somebody else’s eye.

In other words, God said, first of all, examine thyself, examine yourself. We can always spot the air and everybody else’s life, the faults, the flaws they have. We can always see the dirt in everybody else’s life. But very seldom do we turn the spotlight around and look at ourselves and see what we need to do or correct and how to solve that problem. In the book of Romans in chapter 2 and verse 1 to verse 7, where it talks about ye that condemn others and judge others, do us thou not the same thing?

Are you guilty of doing to others what somebody did to you? And you’re offended by that. But you do the same thing to everybody else. Sometimes God will allow things to happen to you because He wants to reveal to you what’s wrong in your own life. And God wants you to examine yourself because when you go to help somebody else see the air of their way, they just might tell you about the era of your ways. And this is why we’re afraid to go to somebody because if you ever heard somebody say, before you tell me about what I need to do, you need to clean up your own backyard.

What do they mean by that? It means you’ve got faults too. So instead of you trying to correct me, why don’t you go straight not your own life? Do they have a point? They might have a point. And so we’re sometimes easily offended by the very thing that we’re guilty of doing to other people. Well, this is why we first of all, we do that. And in the book of 1st Samuel in chapter 12 and verse 23, it talks about did you pray about this?

Did you pray about it? Did you pray about what they did, or about what you understood? Did you pray about your feelings, about how you received it? What did it do to you emotionally? What did it do to you spiritually? How is it affecting you? Is it making you worse than you were before? Or is it making you wiser? I had to tell this to several people because they had allowed themselves to be hurt by what somebody said. And so they were not going to keep serving the Lord and doing right because they were so hurt.

And I says, serving the Lord means you have to serve the Lord as though you have never been hurt. You cannot allow all the people in the world all the wrong that they do to so hurt you that you stop loving people, that you’re afraid to go out on the limb because you don’t want to be hurting you more. If that was the case, I would have to stop being the pastor. Because see, over the years, 40-something years that I’ve been preaching, you have no idea how many hours, weeks, years that I have put in the people and have them turn on me and knife me in the back.

and try to destroy me and my ministry. And I’ve done them no wrong, except I love them. I try to, I want them to Christ and teach them to serve the Lord, challenge them to serve the Lord, and teach them enough Bible where they can challenge you on it. And then tell you what you’re doing, it’s wrong. And what you ought to do, and just rake you over the coals, and as the pastor many times, the pastor can’t say anything.

The pastor can’t do anything to stop it. And even if he goes to the person and you try to get it settled correctly, people can say things and plant seeds in people’s minds that you can’t get out of their mind. The seeds are there for the rest of your life. They don’t have to be true. Somebody can say something about you to somebody else and it not be true but they’ll never come to you and they’ll believe it for the rest of their life.

But they never got it resolved. And it can be a terrible thing. It’s a wicked thing to do. So this is why you need to be very, very careful. You should always examine and say, now, have I been the kind of an example that I’m supposed to be? What kind of an example am I? What if I said or what have I done that would bring the criticism that comes to me? Maybe there’s something that we do. Sometimes we don’t always see ourselves the way we really are.

And sometimes we respond in such a way and we answer in such a way that it’s kind of hurting, sharp words. But we didn’t see it that way because we didn’t mean it that way, but it still come across that way. Sometimes whenever we let people become the interpreter of what we mean because we’re not clear, you can’t blame the interpreter for what he interpreted. What his understanding was, because we were not clear ourselves, I want you to take your Bible look into the book of Galatians, the book of Galatians in chapter 6.

Galatians in chapter 6, I want you to look there in verse 1. Galatians 6 and verse 1, and it says, brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fall, is it what’s the fall? A Christian walking in the flesh from the previous chapter. So if you see a brother walk in the flesh, and you see a man walking in the flesh from the previous chapter. So if you see a brother walking in the flesh and he brings what works of the flesh, well then you that are spiritual are walking in the spirit.

Remember in chapter 5 verse 16, walk in the spirit, you’re not going to feel the lust of the flesh. Okay, if you see a Christian that is walking in the flesh, what do you do about it? You will, number one, draw attention to that person. Make sure everybody knows that they’re walking in the flesh. And if they fall, you walk up and put your foot on their head and push them down into the mud and make them cry uncle.

And let them know you saw every, we know one of the best ways I think of Christians to live. One eye and one ear. Don’t see everything and don’t hear everything. In working with teenagers, I had to develop that. Because at first I saw everything they did wrong. And I knew what I expected of them. And I wanted so much for these kids, but they can’t see what I want for them. Their blind is a bat. And everything that they said, everything they did, man, I could so criticize everything.

And I could see every area of flesh. And they just revel in it. And I wanted them to be so spiritually minded. I wanted them to be so godly. And they were so worldly. Boy, I had a problem. And I realized, see what one eye and hear would one ear. Because I would become so bitter and so critical at them, because they disappointed me over and over again, because I wanted so much of them. Don’t they see what I want for them?

No. Don’t they care? No. Don’t they care about me and my feelings, like I care about them? No. And a lot of people, they don’t care what you think. They don’t care how you live. Most of them just leave me alone and let me do my thing. Don’t you know this is the 21st century. This is everybody do whatever makes you happy. Sensory. And yet you love them. But you also got to realize that with people you have to be patient.

If people see fault in me, don’t you think I see a few in you? No, I don’t see anything wrong with y’all. You all little darlings? You all the perfect little angels you are? And somebody says, thank you. Somebody’s getting the wrong message here. But look what he says here. Yee, which are spiritual. Restore such a one in the spirit of migness considering thyself lest thou also be tempted. In other words, except for the grace of God, it could be you.

and be careful how you judge somebody because you know it might come back home to roost. If you want to receive mercy then you need to show mercy. If you want a little grace from people then maybe you need to show a little grace to people. If you want to receive a little forgiveness maybe you need to give a little forgiveness. You know the Bible says you reap what you what you sow. You sow meanness you might reap meanness but if you sow some kindness you might reap a little kindness and a soft answer turneth away wrath.

For example, it’s so easy between boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife. Say something bad and if that person comes back bad, boy you could get at it real quick. But if the answer was a real soft voice, he kind of deflates you because you know that’s what I should have done. Especially when you’re supposed to know better and we fail. We mess up. In Matthew chapter 7 verse 3 and 5 where it talks about realizing what you’re doing and how you’re saying these things.

Look over there very quickly in Matthew chapter 7. Matthew and chapter 7 and look there in verse 3. Verse 3 and why beholdest thou the moat that is in thy brother’s eye but consider if not the beam that is in thine own eye. Or how will thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the moat out of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother’s eye.

See, it didn’t say you couldn’t see the moat. It didn’t say that you can’t help the moat out of his eye. It just says, make sure you get the two before out of yours first. That’s why I said, be careful that you judge, that you be not judged. In other words, so that when you try to correct somebody, they’re going to try to correct you back. So, first of all, examine your own life. Is there something that is in my life that could hinder someone from being the way they ought to be?

Could they stumble over my pride, my arrogance? Because you see, we don’t always see ourselves the way we are, but we sure can dissect other people very easily. And we can see all their faults and all of their flaws. You see, whenever you go and tell him his fault to him alone, it’s got several good points to bring out. It assures that you’re loyal because you went to the person, because you want to resolve the problem. You’re not condemning and you’re coming as a learner.

Or is there something that I’ve said or done that caused you to react toward me this way or for you to say what you said? Have you ever said these words? I didn’t mean that. You said something and somebody took it and they got hurt because of it. And then later on you find it, you say, I didn’t mean that. I have said a lot of them. I didn’t mean that. I didn’t say it the right way. You can say things with a certain tone or say something and you get a word left out that can change the whole meaning of it.

as you get a little bit older like I am. And I have a hearing aid in this year, and I got another one for this one, but I can’t stand it with both of them in there because they just talked back and forth and I can’t understand anything. And sometimes I can’t hear the words, and then when I can hear the words, I can’t discern what the words are. And I was sitting talking with somebody today, and I could not hear what they were saying.

And it’s very, very difficult. I just hope that people don’t get offended because of it, Or sometimes you may talk to me and I give you an answer that clean off the books. It has nothing to do with what you asked. Because what you said and what I heard are not even in the same room. And all I can say is, I’m sorry about that, but I can’t improve that. I don’t know how to improve that. I’ve asked people over and over again sometime that says, huh?

What? And sometimes it gets to be a joke. And sometimes I just figured, I don’t guess I really need to know what they said. And if I gave an answer and nobody said anything strange, I guess it was the right one. Whatever the question was, I don’t know. But I know that I’ve lived long enough, and so have you, that sometimes we say something but we don’t mean that. Or we didn’t mean for people to take it in the wrong way.

And so sometimes it happens and people get offended. But when somebody comes to you, how they do it is so important. And so that’s why you need to understand there’s things about attitudes that you have. The attitude by which you can be confronted. Can somebody confront you with a problem without you falling apart? Without you getting mad and coming and glued on the person. and listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr.

Ralph Arnold. We pray that you are blessed by today’s message. Part two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free, 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10.30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound and we will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, the Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the Internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make itiqueness for Bibleline to continue. you on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

What? Because you see, a prophet has no honors on the country. It means that sometimes you You’re going to find out you’re not going to be appreciated all the time by the ones you know and love the best. That’s what taking a strong stand for the Lord is all about when it costs you something, when it hurts you. And you do what’s right and sometimes people don’t see it and they don’t understand. And it kind of twists your guts inside out and you can’t explain it.

And nothing hurts like rejection. You don’t think they really know care. What did they want to do with Jesus? What He said all of these things. Do you think they were getting His drift? Well, all they wanted to do, well, it says they’re in verse 28. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were so impressed and filled with love and joy. And they wanted to declare Him king right there on the spot. Is that what it said?

They were angry with what He said. Is what He said, was it true or was it false? He told the truth. Do you think before this ever took place that Jesus who is God himself and he knew that those Scriptures referred to him and this day shall these Scriptures be fulfilled in your ears? Do you think he knew the outcome of their mind thinking before he did the first thing and said the first thing? And yet he did it anyway.

And sometimes I have already known how people are going to respond about things and I will do it anyway, because if it’s truth, it’s truth. And if people get hurt because of truth and rebel because of it and get offended because of it, so be it. I cannot and will not try to ever change anything because I’m afraid it’s going to offend somebody. If truth offends, then let it offend. Because being offended was your choice. mind is to declare truth.

What people do with truth is their choice. I do not purposely ever seek to try to offend anybody, but I know that truth is offensive. The most offensive person ever to come into this world was not Hitler, not Mussolini, not Stalin. Not Osama bin Laden. Thought him who’s saying the most offensive person in this world ever coming to this world with Jesus Christ. He offended more people. He made everybody mad. He split everybody. And it’s still going on today because He’s truth.

And people don’t want truth. And so it says in verse 29, and rose up and thrust him out of the city and led him unto the brow of the heel, where they said the city was built that they might cast him down head long. But he passed through them. do they want to do with them? They wanted to kill him. What wrong had he done? They wish not who he was. They didn’t understand the times in which they were living when the Scriptures were being fulfilled at their time and their moment in that one little synagogue and they blew it.

They blew it. And you think, well, how could they be so blind? And you’d be surprised how many times you and I are doing the same thing. We’re not sensing the opportunities that God gives to us and what we could accomplish for the Lord. Look there in the book of Luke chapter 19. Luke, chapter 19, just a couple of scriptures I want to show you here that I think is very important. Luke, chapter 19, and look at verse 41.

This is mentioned several times in the scriptures about him looking over the city of Jerusalem. But look at verse 41 where he says, and when he was come near, he beheld the city, talking about Jerusalem, and wept over it. And it’s Jesus’ web. He’s webbed. But why did he weep? Why was he crying? Saying. So what we’re reading here is something that he says, weeping. If thou hath known. You ought to just think about that. If thou hath known, if you only knew, if you could only perceive.

Here it’s talked about for almost 2,000 years about my coming. I give you all these signs, and I’m here. He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. They didn’t know who He was. Here is God in the flesh standing in front of them, talking to them, walking with them, all the miracles that He did. and they perceive not who was in their midst. Sometimes we don’t appreciate somebody until it’s too late.

I don’t want it to be that you don’t appreciate your husband, your wife, or your kids. I know most of you do. Make sure you show it. Make sure you show it. And you do things now instead of living in regret, wishing you to done it differently down the road. Look what he says, If thou hath known, even thou, at least in this thy day, You can see, you didn’t have last year, it’s gone. You have now. When? Now, gone.

And you may not have next year. You have now. Do you think God is concerned about our life and what’s going on and what we can do for Him? And opportunities He might send our way, but we may not take advantage of it? I just want to take advantage of everything that I can think of. By all means, by all means every mean. Because the devil will do every means he can to destroy us. And I want to do everything I can to build us.

And he makes a statement. If thou hath known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy be. In other words, it’s for you. This was planned at this particular time for this to happen And for you people to be here, but see, God does not override the will of man’s ignorance. He won’t override the will of man’s rebellion and his unbelief. If you choose not to know, not to perceive, not to understand, God does not force his light upon you.

He says in verse 43, He said, for the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side. Shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, and you ought to underline the last part of that verse. Because, because, why? Because, because thou knewest not the times of the visitation. When God came to visit, the time of Thy visitation, someone came to your house.

He told you he was coming. He announced it. And then when he got there, you didn’t want him. You didn’t want anything to do with him. How do you think Jesus Christ felt? That’s why he said he wept over the city. He wasn’t talking about the buildings. He’s talking about the people. loved his people. And he says, this was designed with you in mind. This is for you. And all the things that have happened for the 2000 didn’t have to take place.

It was a legitimate offer. God don’t play games and they would not believe. Look Matthew chapter 13, Matthew in chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13 is interesting. Chapter deals with a lot of parables, but I want to go through this kind of quickly here just a part of it. Matthew chapter 13, I want you to look here in verse 10. Verse 10, and the disciples came and said to him, why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, because there’s a reason, because You see, when he had a mixed audience, a mixed multitude, he was speaking parables so that those that wanted to know the truth could understand and those that didn’t want to know the truth, they wouldn’t get it.

Did you realize that God’s work had been preached from the pulpit and those that want to learn can learn and those that don’t want to learn won’t learn? You can hear the same words. Some people will grow and others will be stagnant. Do you know that God already knows? who will do the will of God and who will not do the will of God?” And he said, those that will do the will of God shall know of my doctrine.

John 17. But here in Matthew, he makes a statement, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. Why isn’t it given to them? He said, because they’re hard-hearted, they’re stiff-necked. They won’t listen. Their ears, they won’t hear. their eyes, they refuse to see. So he says there in verse 13, therefore speak I to them in parable because they seeing see not hearing they hear not need to do they understand.

Now notice what he says that he’s referring to an Old Testament description, the book of Isaiah where it says in verse 14, and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which sayeth by hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, seeing you shall see and not perceived. For this people’s heart is waxed gross or hardened. Their ears are dull of hearing. In other words, it doesn’t matter if I hear or if I understand what you’re saying, I’m not going to do it.

God knows that even if you heard the word of God in your heart you have already decided I will not do the will of God. And opportunities will come but you won’t see them. God will speak, but you will not hear. And you’ll find yourself one day, realizing I let all my great opportunity slip away. I’ve wasted my life. I wasted my life. What do you think at the judgment seat of Christ when He talks about the haywoodness stubble, the gold, silver, and precious stone, that it will try every man’s work of what sort it is.

Is it gold, silver, and precious stones? Or is it Hey, wouldn’t stubble? Do you believe that God’s people could have some hey, wouldn’t stubble? It means the times of your life that burn up and wasted. And a lot of Christians are wasting their whole lives wasting it to no profit, no gain. And they don’t seem to get it. They just don’t understand, they don’t perceive. It never changes their life. They hear the word of God, they soak it in Nothing ever happens.

Nothing ever changes. No decisions are made. No corrections in their life. They just keep doing the same old thing. They’ve always done. Same old habits they’ve always had instead of working in your life and discipline your life and trying to be as God as you possibly can be. Nothing changes. No power in their life. No influence in the lives of other people. And yet one day when we stand before the Lord God says, I gave you thousands of opportunities and you didn’t take advantage of them.

You lost your power of influence. Nobody would believe you. Your testimony was shot for whatever the reason. And get what he says. And verse 15, he says, for this people’s heart as wax grows, their ears are dull up here, and their eyes they have closed, it’s because of what they’ve done. They have closed. He said, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, should understand with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them.

But no, they chose not to. Did you know a lot of things in life doesn’t have to be that way, but because of the hardness of people and they refuse to be sensible, to be teachable, pliable, teachable in the hands of God so that God can mold Him into the kind of a person that God wants to be. God wants all of us to have this vision. Two other scripts I want to show you right quick before we close.

First Corinthians chapter two. First Corinthians and chapter two. I’ve looked at this with you before but I just want to briefly refresh your mind. And first Corinthians in chapter two, look there in verse three, the apostle Paul, great man of God. He says, I was with you in weakness. And in fear and much trembling. You ever feel like that sometimes? Serving the Lord can do that to you. And sometimes you’re not as strong as you think you are. But sometimes you just go ahead and you do right because courage is nothing but fear that says its prayers and goes ahead.

He says in verse four, my speech, my preaching, was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and the power. Remember this, it’s not so important that a person who preaches or teaches a Sunday school class or whatever has a super duper outline Where you can get up and preach a great sermon Because you can preach a great sermon and not have a message It’s better to have a message What is that message that I believe God wants me to give to the people?

So those that speak on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, whatever night, ranch on Friday night, Saturday, I don’t care. There has to be a message, not just a beautiful outline sermon with the three points in the poem, you got to have a message. What is it that you believe that God wants me to say to the people? What’s that message? There’s got to be something that reaches to the heart of man, that somehow it burns inside of a person, something that can change a person’s life.

He says here in verse 7, but we speak the wisdom of God in the mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world under our glory, which get this none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Why did they crucify the Lord of glory? Because they didn’t know who he was. They didn’t believe who he was. They didn’t listen to what he had to say.

But they blinded their eyes. They closed their ears. And that’s why they did what they did. You trusted Christ as your You’re saving your God’s child. You’re going to heaven. Your eyes are open. You heard. But if you don’t watch it, you realize that as a Christian, you can start closing your eyes and become dull of hearing, where you are no longer effective for the Lord. And you can sit on the pew, but God will set you on the shelf.

You understand what I’m saying? You can sit on that pew and you can be faithful to the day you lead this world. But God has put you on the shelf because God knows the heart and knows that you’re rebellious in your heart and you have hardened yourself against the will of God. You refuse to change or make any corrections in your life. God knows. And you may pass up some great opportunities and you can even get to the place where you don’t know really know and understand that person you’ve been living with all your life.

And they not appreciate them like you ought to. or even the people in the church until they’re gone. I am just starting to know some of you people. Some of you are not so bad. If I had just came here and you died that week, the same week I can you died, I probably would not have shed a tear. Cause I didn’t know you. Now I’m getting to learn you. I spent some time with some of y’all. You died now, I probably shed a tear.

Might not, but I might. You’ve weaseled your way into my heart. I can get you out of my hair, but I can’t get you out of my heart. And so you become more precious as time goes on because you spend time with people and you learn people and you appreciate people. I appreciate the people we have in this ministry. And I know that if I was to lose anybody, it would break my heart. It would hurt me. Because I’ve learned to depend upon individuals.

I depend upon y’all. You know that I’m getting older and I can’t do everything, but I got a lot of good people who do a lot of a lot. And I’m very thankful for that. But if they had known, if they had only known, they wouldn’t have done what they did. Last verse I want to show you in Matthew chapter 11. Look there real quick. Matthew chapter 11. Jesus Christ went around the nation of Israel preaching all the cities.

He came to a couple of them and he says, got some bad news for you. Because of their unbelief, he says, whoa, unto you in verse 21 of Matthew chapter 11. He says, Corazon, whoa, unto thee best say unto them, if the mighty works which were done in youth had been done entire inside them, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. In other words, if what I did here had been done there, there’d have been some changes made, but God didn’t do it.

God knows why he does what he does, but they blew their opportunity. In verse 22, but I send you it shall be more tolerable for tyrants out in the day of judgment than for you. In other words, there’s going to be judgment coming, but one has more light than the other. Because what I did here, and I didn’t do there, you’re responsible. God said, I know what you could have known, and you did understand, and you refused. God knows the potential of every individual.

God knows your potential, and God knows what you could You could have done if you had yielded. That’s why he can judge accordingly. Don’t mock light. Don’t mock light. I mean, don’t mock truth. Now, when he talks about a man being a fool, it’s because he mocks God. And how do you mock God? You mock sin. In the words, it doesn’t matter what I do. It’s not going to be that bad. And it is. Truth is something that people better not mock.

Don’t mock God. He is truth. Look at this. In verse 25 he says, at that time Jesus answered and he said, now here he’s in front of them, he just upgraded the people in this city. Then he says, as he turns to the Lord, He praised this prayer. I think the O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou has hid these things from the wise and the prudent. Wise and the prudent means in their own eyes and hath revealed them under babes.

You know sometimes a little child just has a simple childlike faith. It’s so easy to teach children, isn’t it? is just so easy to believe. Work with adults. Have you ever heard that most adults are set in their ways? Have you ever heard a phrase you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? What do you think that means? It means what most adults, and this is just the truth, and I’m included. I’ve already done a live most of my life.

Don’t try to tell me to do anything or change anything. I’m going to do what I’m going to do. This is me. You do whatever you want. I’ll do whatever the one. Just be friends and get off each other’s back. See there? But look what he says in verse 26, “‘Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father. No man knoweth the Son but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son.

And he too, whomsoever the Son will reveal him. that last part and to whom the Son will reveal Him. Now you trusted Christ as your Savior, you have eternal life, but don’t you want Him to reveal Himself to you in a better way? And then after He says that you can’t do this unless the Son revealed and then in verse 28, come unto me and you ought to circle that the next word, all, all. Come to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.

So yeah, he can reveal himself to those that he chooses to reveal, but he says, it’s those that comes to him. If you come to Christ, and I’m not talking about just for salvation, I’m talking about, see, you trust Christ is your Savior and He gives you eternal life. But as a child of God, there’s a lot of things that God wants us to learn. Come into me all ye that labor and are heavy, and I will give you rest.

Take upon you my yoke, learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. But so many of God’s Most people are going to miss out on so much because the day will come when we realize we didn’t understand the time in which we lived. I wasted so much of my life. Or I thought I had so much more time to go and I didn’t.

And I wasn’t very wise. I were not perceptive. And I missed so many opportunities. while you can. Do what you can, where you are, with all that you have. And God said that he will bless you for it. And he’ll reveal himself to you. That’s worth it all. Look up here, this is you and me, this is sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us. And I hate our sin, but he loves us. And God says for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in a place called hell.

He loves us, wants us to go to heaven. heaven. To go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God. None of us are perfect. None of us are righteous. We have all sinned and come short of God’s perfection. And God says you cannot save yourself. It’s not by our works that we do. 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 because it separates us from him.

So Jesus Christ took the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead, and said if And if you and I would believe He did it for us, He would give us a free gift of our lasting life and we get to go to heaven, oh, what Christ did for us. No doubt there’s people watching that don’t realize the importance of the gospel. If they don’t trust Christ as their Savior to realize what an opportunity they missed.

To think that to be in a literal fire burning hell for all eternity and they could have taken advantage of that opportunity. And all they had to do was to believe Christ died and pay for their sins and trust him as their Savior. All they had to do is believe it. And they could have been saved and gone to heaven. The outcome would have been totally different. Just something so simple. And as a child of God to approach the Word of God with the attitude that I want the will of God for my life, whatever it might be, to take advantage of whatever God gives to me.

Let’s pray, shall we? And if you’re here tonight and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, or if you’re watching by internet, friend, right where you are, all that you have to do is the only thing you can do is believe that God so loved the world, that’s you, that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. The hosts so ever believe it than Him should not perish but have everlasting life. If you’ll believe He did it for you, God would save you, give eternal life, and you would go to heaven on what Christ did for you.

Friend, I pray that you will. There is no other way. Believe on Him now. Our Father, we thank you so much for this time together, for the opportunity you’ve given us, the side of eternity to serve you. And Lord, it It is an opportunity, an opportunity to take advantage of. And I grew, I father, I fear that so many will pass by and never see it, never perceive because they’ve hardened their heart. We thank you for this church and all these people that make it possible to get the gospel to so many people.

And I want to hedge put around us and to protect us. I know the devil will do anything he can to hurt or to destroy this ministry. I pray, Lord, that whether they try to infiltrate or storm the gates, that you would protect us. And I’m trusting that you will give us good people to do a good work. 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 are blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Watch Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing tool free, 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the Internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue to be able to help you. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleInmenistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Don’t you take your Bible and turn with me to the book of First Chronicles in chapter 12, Chronicles in chapter 12. First Chronicles chapter 12 in the Old Testament and I want to share with you a few things about understanding the times in which you and I live. I guess you could all understand that it could be titled Ignorance is not bliss. Many people think Ignorance is bliss. Oh, no it isn’t. And you’ll find that out one day because God wants us to know so much.

Kind of like his guy, he said to his girl, he says, you know, I have half of mine to get married. He says, that’s all it takes. You’ll find that ignorance is not bliss. First chronicles in chapter 12, I want you to look there in verse 32. Verse 32, not a lot around this that I want to cover. I just want to cover a statement that it makes. And it says in verse 32, and of the children of Issachar, which were men, and you ought to on the Linus in your Bible that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do, understand in the time, know in what Israel ought to do.

You and I ought to understand the times so that you and I can do what we ought to do. And I believe that as we go through some of the scriptures, you’ll see that men have not always understood what they ought to do because they don’t understand the times in which they live. They don’t know what’s going on. So take your Bible and turn to the book of Luke chapter 4, the gospel of Luke in chapter 4. Now some of this might make some sense, some of it may not, but here in the book of Luke, in chapter 4, I want you just to notice the unbelief here, the unbelief, how people are perceiving something that is taking place in their time and they don’t realize who they’re seeing, who they’re facing, what’s been said.

Yet they went to the synagogue every Sabbath and they listened to the Word and yet did not understand. And now right before them is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, right there. And He reads the scriptures and it says this day these scriptures are fulfilled in your ears. That’s awesome. I would have loved to have been there. Of course I have mixed emotions I just hope that I wouldn’t be one of those that would let’s throw them over the cliff and kill them.

Hopefully I’d be one of those that would be an awe. It seems like people who want to know the truth should be able to see and understand these things and get God is holding a hole them responsible for their unbelief. Look what he says here in verse 16. He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, stood up for the reed. And there was a liver to him the book of the prophet Isaiah when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he had been learning me to preach the gospel to the poor and he had sent me to heal the broken hardened to preach deliverance to the captive and recovering of the sight to the blind to

set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” And he closed the book. He gave it again to the minister and sat down. The eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, today, this day. Is this scripture fulfilled in your ears? And they didn’t know who he was. They whisked not. The Babies that were whisked many times in the scriptures means they didn’t know, they didn’t understand, they did not perceive.

What was taken place right dead in front of them. And he later refers to a statement where he says, a prophet hath no honor in his own country. Now you might not understand this, but a lot of times when you trust Christ is saving, you want to serve the Lord. Sometimes those that are the closest to you don’t understand you. They won’t see it. They won’t get it. And I think it’s sometimes years, and maybe even when a person gets to heaven before they realize the person that they were married to, that wife of theirs or that husband of theirs was one great person, but they didn’t appreciate it at the time.

They didn’t realize what they had. You know a lot of people go through life and they don’t realize what they have until they what? Until they lose it. Until they lose it. You don’t realize the opportunities. They say the opportunity knocks and is gone. Temptation will lean on the doorbell. I’ll say that again. Opportunity is like on wheels. It’ll come your way and it’s moving on. A being being prepared is being able to take that opportunity when it arrives, being prepared.

Not to do so, it’s on wheels. Maybe never to return again. There’s opportunities that you and I are going to have in life and they’re coming by, and we may never get them again. Wisdom is being able to see, to perceive, take advantage of what you have before you. I never really, and now it was those years I was in Colorado, appreciated as much the ministry that I had till I left. And then years later, I realized what we had.

But while I was there, it was just like it was a normal thing to have 15, 20, 25, and sometimes 50 people trust Christ to save you. every Thursday night, the average of 415 teenagers to have eight and nine hundred kids come on to rent. They couldn’t fit in here. I mean, just a handful of them, they wouldn’t fit in this room. They would pat that gymnasium over there. And I just took it for granted because everybody was working, everybody was doing something.

And I didn’t realize what I had. Cilatra had done left and then tried to do it again. And it won’t happen again. You are there for a moment and opportunities come and opportunities go. But temptation leans on the doorbell. It’s waiting for you, waiting for you, waiting for you. But the opportunities of life to serve a Lord, you realize how short life is. And there’s things that one day you and I are going to grieve about. Wonder why God didn’t give us a chance or an opportunity.

There’s something wonderful to agree. And God says, I had so many that I gave to you. And you never took advantage of it. you didn’t perceive the times in which you lived. You didn’t see the opportunity. You didn’t seize upon the moment. You let it slip away. Look what he says. In verse 22, “…and all bear him witness, wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, is not this Joseph’s son? We know him.

He’s illegitimate.” He said He said to them, ye were surely saying to me this proverb, physician, he of I saw, because nobody else will. Nobody else is gonna believe you. He says whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do here also in this country. But he said he couldn’t do them because of their, their unbelief they would not believe. They want him to be a little magician that they can snap their fingers. They say do this trick force, do this trick force.

And verse 24, now look at the statement that Christ made. Verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. In other words, people where he are that really know you sometimes don’t appreciate you. Now there’s a good possibility that wherever you are, even on your job, people don’t know what a great person you are because of what you know. You know how to have eternal life and go to heaven. You live right, you try to talk to them, you share the gospel and they don’t want nothing to do with it.

They won’t know until they get to the judgment what they had right there in front of them. They had somebody who poured out their heart, prayed for them, cared about them, witnessed them, and they had noticed our for any of it. And you’re going to have to go through that. And it’s going to hurt you sometime and cut you quick, but understand that Jesus Christ went through that very same thing, those times of rejection. A prophet happened to wander in his own country.

And then he uses a couple of illustrations that most time I believe people when they see this, they already appreciate it. Because he says, do you remember that when Elijah was back there and they had the three and a half years of drought? All these people, in all these cities, and all over Israel, he wound up going to a house of a lady who was a widow in a heathen town, a siren. in Palestine. And he went there because even though there was a lot of people hurt him, but there was a woman there that gave to the man of God.

And look what he says in verse 25, but I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel, many, there were many widows in Israel. In the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months. Great famine throughout all the land, but was none of them was Elijah’s end, saving the serapha a city of Sidon unto a woman that was a widow. He went to a heathen woman and not to the house of Israel because of prophet hath no honor in his own country.

They didn’t appreciate this man. He had didn’t appreciate this man. They had 450 prophets that turned against Elijah. All these things were going on. But yet in their midst was a man of God that could perform miracles, do all kinds of things. But their unbelief caused a great man to go to a widow that was a heathen in Palestine. And yet there were many widows. Christ tells the story. You would think He probably went to a lot of them did all the…

No, He only went to one person, one time. And she had an opportunity laid before it, and she took advantage of that opportunity. She made the last thing that she had. She says, I’m just going to eat this last meal, and my son and I were going to die. We’re going to starve to death. But because of what she did, her oil never run out. And God blessed her. And her son died and brought him back to life. You see, so many people miss so many opportunities because they don’t appreciate what’s right in front of them, what they have.

I would venture to say, and I’m just guessing, some of y’all may have never really appreciated Hank Lindstrom like you should have until he was gone. I’m not saying you did, but he was a great man. He was a good man. He loved the gospel, He loved souls, and we give His life for the sake of the gospel, and probably did. But after a person’s gone, you think, man, I should have prayed for Him more. I wonder if I could have helped Him more, and not realize sometimes what you have right in your hands.

I did that with the people that I had, and sometimes not appreciating people like I should have. Do you think it’s possible Christians can do stuff like this Until it’s too late, I wanted my mom to love me. I wanted my mom to be proud of me. Believe it or not, I even wanted my dad to be proud of me. But he’d have when I was 13. He had no clue what I’ve done. But when it’d been great to have a dad say, you know, son, I’m proud of you.

Son, I love you. Don’t we want something like that from those that we think should know us the best, and sometimes we fail to realize what we have. Some of you may lose your wives, and you think, man, I should have treated her better. I shouldn’t have spoke so harsh and so mean and unkind. We should have never had those arguments that we had. I should have treated my kids better than I did. I failed my kids. I should have done this, so I should have done that.

But after a while ago, it’s too late. They’re gone. When my son was brutally murdered, you have no idea how many times I thought in my mind, what I could have done, what I should have done. I could have been a better father to him. I could have loved him better. But it’s gone. I’ll never get that opportunity again. That was 20 years ago last month. Do you think I think of stuff like that? Opportunities that are forever gone.

We’re now living at a time in history where it’s you and I. We weren’t here a hundred years ago, and we won’t be here a hundred years from now. This is our time. This is our moment. This is where we get the opportunity to take advantage of whatever God has for us. To learn whatever God has for us to learn. Well, look what else it says. When he makes the statement in verse 27, and many lepers were in Israel.

Now, talk about the many lepers in Israel. Evidently, Jesus knew every one of them. New every one of these lepers and knew exactly where they were. But who does he wind up healing? Who’s Elijah Hill? Is it those lepers in Israel? No. God had a lot of little Jewish girl to be taking captive in this area. And there was a man there, and name him had leprosy. And the little girl told about if he only knew about the man of God, the man of God.

You see, that was one little episode in a life of a great general, and all of a sudden, here’s a little slave girl who takes one opportunity in life if he only knew about the man of God. Maybe there’s just that one statement. If he only knew about the man of God in Israel, he knew something about it. What if it hadn’t have been heard? What if it hadn’t have been relayed? What if he hadn’t have got together and went all the way into Israel just to see this man of God?

And then when he got there, he thought that he would come out there and meet him and allah, allah, allah. You ought to read the whole story. And he was healed of his leprosy. Why? Because see, a prophet hath no honors on country. It means that sometimes you’re going to find out you’re not going to be appreciated all the time by the ones you know and love the best. That’s what taking a strong stand for the Lord is all about.

When it costs you something, when it hurts you. And you do what’s right and sometimes people don’t see it and they don’t understand. And it kind of twists your guts inside out. And you can’t explain it. And nothing like hurt, flight, rejection. We don’t think they really know care a lot. What did they want to do with Jesus? What He said all of these things? Do you think they were getting His drift? Well, all they wanted to do, well, it says they’re in verse 28.

And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were so impressed and filled with love and joy. And they wanted to declare Him King right there on the spot. Is that what it said? They were angry with what he said. Is what he said, was it true or was it false? He told the truth. Do you think before this ever took place? That Jesus who is God himself and he knew that those scriptures referred to him and this day shall these scriptures be fulfilled in your ears?

Do you think he knew the outcome of their mind thinking before he did the first thing and said the first thing? And yet he did it anyway. And sometimes I have already known how people are going to respond about things. And I will do it anyway, because if it’s truth, it’s truth. And if people get hurt because of truth and rebel, because of it and get offended, because so be it.

I cannot and will not try to ever change anything because I’m afraid it’s going to offend somebody. If truth offends, then let it offend because being offended was your choice. mind is to declare truth. What people do with truth is their choice. I do not purposely ever seek to try to offend anybody, but I know that truth is offensive. The most offensive person ever to come into this world was not Hitler, not Mussolini, not Stalin, not Osama bin Laden, thought him who’s saying the most offensive person in this world, ever coming to this world with Jesus Christ, he offended more people.

He made everybody mad. He split everybody. And it’s still going on today because he’s truth and people don’t want truth. And so it says in verse 29, and rose up and thrust him out of the city and led him unto the brow of the heel, where they said the city was built, that they might cast him down headlong, but he passed through them. What did they want to do with him? They wanted to kill him. What wrong had he done?

They wished not who he was. They didn’t understand the time to which they were living, when the Scriptures were being fulfilled at their time in their moment. And that one little synagogue and they blew it. They blew it. And you think, well, how could they be so blind? And you’d be surprised how many times you and I are doing the same thing. We’re not sensing the opportunities that God gives to us and what we could accomplish for the Lord.

Look there in Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. Just a couple of scriptures I want to show you here that I think is very, very good. important. Look chapter 19 and look in verse 41. This is mentioned several times in the Scriptures about him looking over the city of Jerusalem. But look in verse 41 where he says, and when he was come near, he beheld the city. Talk about Jerusalem and wept over it. And it’s Jesus’ web. He’s webbed.

But why did he weep? Why was he crying? Saying. So what we’re reading here is something that he says weeping. If thou hath known, you ought to just think about that. If thou hath known, if you only knew, if you could only perceive. Here is talked about for almost 2,000 years about my coming. I give you all of these signs, and I’m here. He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not.

They didn’t know who He was. Here is God in the flesh standing in front of them, talking to them, walking with them, all the miracles that he did. And they perceived not who was in their midst. Sometimes we don’t appreciate somebody until it’s too late. I don’t want it to be that you don’t appreciate your husband, your wife, or your kids. I know most of you do. Make sure you show it. Make sure you show it. And you do things now instead of living in regret, wishing you to done it differently down the road.

Look what he said, if thou hath known, even thou, at least in this thy day. You can see, you didn’t have last year, it’s gone. You have now, when? Now gone. And you may not have next year, you have now. Do you think God is concerned about our life and what’s going on and what we can do for Him? And opportunities He might send our way, an hour. Ipotion. I just want to take advantage of everything that I can think of.

By all means. By all means every mean because the devil will do every means he can to destroy us. And I will do everything I can to build us. And he makes a statement. IfPhiladelphia even thou at least in this sight if the things which belonged unto thy be. In other words, it’s This was planned at this particular time for this to happen, and for you people to be here. But see, God does not override the will of man’s ignorance.

He won’t override the will of man’s rebellion and his unbelief. If you choose not to know, not to perceive, not to understand, God does not force his light upon you. He says in verse 43, he said, for the days shall come. Upon the enemy shall cast a trench about the and compass the round and keep the in on every side. Shall lay the even with the ground and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in the one stone upon another.

And you ought to underline the last part of that verse. Because, because, why? Because, because thou knewest not the times of the visitation. When God came to visit, the time of Thy visitation, someone came to your house. He told you he was coming, he announced it, and then when he got there, you didn’t want him, you didn’t want anything to do with him. How do you think Jesus Christ felt? That’s why he said he wept over the city. He wasn’t talking about the buildings, he’s talking about the people.

God loved his people. And he says, this was designed with you in mind. This is for you. And all the things that some of the things that have happened for the 2000 didn’t have to take place. It was a legitimate offer. God doniframe games, and they would not believe. Look there in Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13 is interesting. Chapter deals with a lot of parables, but I want to go through this kind of quickly here, just a part of it.

Matthew chapter 13. I want you to look there in verse 10. Verse 10. And the disciples came and said to him, why speakest thou unto them in par He answered and said unto them, because there’s a reason, because. You see, when he had a mixed audience, a mixed multitude, He was speaking so that those that wanted to know the truth could understand or didn’t want to know the truth, they wouldn’t get it. Did you realize that God’s work and be preached from the pulpit?

You can hear the same words. Some people will grow and others will be stagnant. You know that God already knows who will do the will of God and who will not do the of God and said, those that will do the will of God shall know of my doctrine.” John 17. But here in Matthew he makes a statement because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Why isn’t it given to them? He said, because they’re hard-hearted, they’re stiff-necked, they won’t listen, they’re ears they won’t hear, their eyes they refuse to see. He says they’re in verse 13, therefore speak I to them in parable because they seeing see not hearing they hear not need do they understand now notice what he says that he’s referring to an Old Testament scripture in the book of Isaiah where it says in verse 14 and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which sayeth by hearing you shall hear and shall not understand seeing you shall see and not perceived for this people’s heart roared.

Their ears haha are dull of hearing.ovych doesn’t matter if I hear or understand what you’re saying, I’m not going to do it. God knows that even if you heard the word of God in your heart you have already decided I will not do the will of God. And opportunities will come but you won’t see them. God will speak but you will not hear. You’ll find yourself one day realizing I let all my great opportunity slip away. I’ve wasted my life.

I wasted my life. What do you think at the judgment seat of Christ when he talks about the haywoodenest stubble, the gold, silver and precious stone, that it will try every man’s work of what sort it is. Is it gold, silver and precious stones or is it haywooden stubble? Do you believe that God’s people could have some haywooden stubble? It means the times of your life that burn up and wasted. And a lot of Christians are wasting their whole lives wasting it.

To no profit, no gain. And they don’t seem to get it. They just don’t understand. They don’t perceive. It never changes their life. 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. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. 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 tool free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible and programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. 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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

There’s a lot of people who are thinking that they are saved and are not. So therefore, that means a lot of people are being deceived today. They’re disillusioned. Many people are not really sure what it takes to get to heaven. No one will be saved after death. We often hear about, well, God will give you a second chance. Don’t even think that when you die, and if you’re not saved, God will give you another chance. God will give me another chance.

If he really loves me and really wants me to go to heaven, he’ll give me another chance. The Bible says, depart from me, I never knew you. He didn’t give you another chance. After this, the judgment, not a second chance. Otherwise, everybody would go to heaven. So evidently, God only gives you this time, this life, in which to trust him as your savior. But though that is true, there is a lot of people people who preach a wrong message.

If all this is true, there must be a lot of preachers though that are not preaching the truth. Good, nice, sincere preachers, but wrong. Let me ask you a question. How do you know I’m telling you the truth? How do you know I’m not deceiving you? Wouldn’t it be a shame for you to trust me for your eternal destination. Trust them that I’ve told you the truth and I’ve lied to you all along. And now when you die you wake up in hell for all eternity and you believed me.

So how do you know who to believe? If all of this is true and there really is a heaven and there really is a hell then you’d better make sure sure that what you think you believe is true. And how do you know? Let me give you a statement by Dr. Dehan. I used to listen to him already years ago. He said there’s a vast difference between coming to Jesus for salvation and coming after Jesus for service. Coming to Christ makes one a believer.

While coming after Christ makes one a disciple. All believers are not disciples. To become a believer, one accepts the invitation of the gospel. To be a disciple, one obeys the challenge of a life of dedicated service and separation. Salvation comes through the sacrifice of Christ, but discipleship comes only by sacrifice of self and surrender to his call for devoted service. Salvation is free, but discipleship involves paying the price of a separated walk. Salvation cannot be lost because it depends upon God’s faithfulness.

discipleship can be lost because it depend upon our faithfulness. Though he wrote that and I agree with it, it is simple. I believe it’s true because there’ll be confusion to the majority of people who just heard what I just read. Now salvation means eternal deliverance from hell. If we was going to say what is salvation. It is eternal deliverance from hell to heaven. It costs you nothing. It’s totally free.

The discipleship, that’s serving God. That can cost you everything. So understand there’s a difference between being saved and serving the Lord. Some people are trying to serve the Lord, hoping that if they do enough good, God will save them. No, all of your service and all of my service is supposed to be because we are already saved, not going to be saved, not working to be saved, not helping him save us. But all of my service that I’ve given to the Lord is because I have been passed in, been saved.

Not to be saved. I have been saved. Any person who is doing any of these good deeds in order to be saved are not saved. Because it means you’re not going to be saved until you finish doing all these good works. So you can’t rejoice in salvation because you don’t have salvation. I’ve enjoyed mine because I’ve had it. You can’t enjoy something you don’t have. Now I want you to look there in the book of Matthew chapter 7 and verse 15 very quickly.

There are false prophets, false teachers in the world. Some understand in pulpit all across this country and some of them look just like everybody else and I’ve had people say well all preachers are the same. No they’re not. They do not all have the same message. Here he says, be aware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are raven in wolves. You shall know them by their fruits. I want the happy people to say, well, you know, you can tell them by their fruits, talking about Christians.

So everybody thinks we’re supposed to all be fruit inspectors, go around with your magnifying glass and inspecting the fruit so you can tell whether or not who’s a Christian who’s not a Christian. Now, this verse refers to false prophets. False prophets you can tell. How do you tell? Well the Bible says you’ll know them by their fruit and Some people say well that means that way they live well it could be the way you live But there’s also a verse that talks about in the book of Hebrews in chapter 13 verse 15 that says the fruit of your lips Giving praise unto God So there’s the fruit of your lip the things that you say But how do you know this is referring to what they said?

Because he says a pair in verse 21 not everyone that does what? Say it They are saying something as the fruit of their mouth what they are saying is We’re trusting our works to save us because look what we did We did this and we did this we cast out devils. I mean we did wonderful things. We spoke in your name We did all the signs saying with my mouth Look what I did and what I did is why I should go to heaven and he says depart from me.

I never knew you That’s because they listen to false teachers False teachers tell you, look at your life and if you live good enough, you’ll make it. And if you don’t live good enough, you won’t make it. So you’re going to heaven, depends on how you live. So everybody thinks, well, you have to go to church to go to heaven because that’s what they’ve been told. They have to give money. But of course, if you don’t go to enough church or not or give enough money or to pray enough, you don’t know if you’re going to make it, not because well, you ain’t dead yet.

So you have to wait until you die to find out. false teaching. Very false teaching. I want you to take your Bible and look there in the book of Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 48, the Bible tells us that God is perfect. Verse 48, be therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is what? Perfect. If He’s perfect that means There’s nothing wrong with God. If he’s perfect, there’s no flowing God He says be ye perfect as your father, which is in heaven is perfect.

Oh boy If somebody was to ask me Run off the bat. What do I have to do to to go to heaven and to inherit eternal life? Be perfect Simple so you gotta be perfect Now isn’t that consoling? Now you know all you gotta do is just be perfect. Now what’s the problem with that? No one’s perfect. Well maybe you could try. Would you like to spend the rest of your life trying to be perfect? Well nobody’s ever done before but you might be the first one.

Well what are you gonna do about the things you’ve already done that’s wrong? Now what are you gonna do about that? If you can live perfect from this day forward, what are you gonna do about the way you already have lived? He says, being ye perfect as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. Means there’s nothing wrong with God. If you understood if God is perfect, then heaven also must be perfect. In the book of Revelation, chapter 21 and verse 27, he says, there shall in no wise enter into it anything that work of the domination or whatsoever make it the lie.

I mean, not even a lie. Now I know if I was to ask you and I think others have done this, ask you have you ever told, I’m going to hear never told a lie in your life, raise your hand, nobody can raise your hand. Well did you know that in James chapter 2 the Bible says that if you break one you broke, you broke them all. You have just admitted you broke in every commandment there is. Now, that’s what God said.

So if you had to be perfect and keep the law in order to go to heaven, it would be an impossibility. Now go back there to Matthew and chapter 19 and look there in verse 16. And behold, one came and said unto him, good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life. And Jesus said in verse 17, why call us thou me good? There is none good but one. that is God. But if thou will enter into life, keep the commandments.

Another way of saying, be perfect. How do you know that when he says, keep the commandments, he will say and be perfect? Very simple. You see, I always cheat. I always read a little bit further and get the answer before I ask you the question. So he says in verse 21, Jesus said to him, if thou will be what? Perfect. Go and sell all of a house because he’s already admitted, Oh, I’ve done this, and I did that, and I did this, and I did that.”

Well, Christ already knew that He had agreed that He coveted money. He coveted wealth. He said, OK, take everything that you got and go sell it. Because he didn’t matter how many you kept, did you break one? Yep, he broke one. What do I have to do to go to heaven? What do I have to do to have eternal life? Be perfect. Why would He tell Him that? so that man could see the impossibility of it. You see, some people think, oh, yeah, do it just be good.

No, you have to be perfect to go to heaven. Christ is perfect. Heaven is perfect. God is perfect. And to go there, you have to be perfect. And that’s why if you ever really see it, it’ll help you to understand why you cannot add works to the gospel. Now, notice what he says here. Down here in verse 25, after he had said this to the sky, Jesus Christ talking to this rich young ruler. His disciples stand here, listen to them, said in verse 25, when his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed saying, who then can be saved?

Well, what did they understand? That Jesus was saying, you have to be what? To go to heaven. You gotta be perfect. That’s why they said, they were amazed. You gotta be perfect. Who then can be saved? Didn’t look at verse 26, but Jesus beheld them and send it to them with what? Men, this is what? Impossible. In other words, it’s impossible for a man to do what? Be perfect. It’s impossible for a man to save himself. Now me, I can read that and I can see that.

It’s clear to the bell of my mind. I have no problem with that. Yet there’s a multitude of preachers that cannot see that. They do not read that. They cannot discern that. And they will tell people, you’ve got to keep the commandments to go to heaven. Christ is trying to show you the impossibility so that the law is not designed to save you. The law only points you to Christ. He can save you because it’s impossible for a man and the folly of some preachers that tell people that you have to stop a certain way of living or start living a certain way.

you know, stop being bad and start being good as though your efforts of what you do, a sinful man, is going to help God save you. Now let me show you something that’s very important. Look there in the book of Hebrews and chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5 is a tremendous verse, And this is what it says. In verse 9. In verse 9. And being made, this is talking about Christ. Being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation.

Now listen to me. If he is perfect and becomes the author of eternal salvation, the wages of sin is what? Death. the wages of sin is death and he is the author of eternal salvation, then in his eternal salvation plan can be no sin. No room for sin because if there was sin in his plan of salvation, then his salvation could not be perfect and it could not be eternal because death would cause it to cease. Now you understand that don’t you?

If you don’t get it I’ll repeat it. He is the author of what kind of salvation, eternal salvation. If it’s eternal salvation, it has to be perfect salvation because He is perfect and He has developed a salvation that is eternal, a salvation that is perfect. How do you know it’s perfect? Because He’s the author of it and this is what He said. When He died on the cross and He had paid for sins of the world. The last thing he said was it is what?

It is finished. If it’s finished, there’s nothing else to add to it. It means that after the work Christ did, there is no work for man to do. Man’s got to stop some of his sins. Well, if he has to do that, you had just now entered sin into the plan. And it can’t be an eternal salvation. When Christ saves you, it is forever. It’s an eternal salvation. Not partial. Not until you see it. And again, Christ is perfect.

He is the author of eternal salvation. If it’s eternal salvation, it is a perfect salvation. And the work that He did is finished. There’s nothing else that needs to be done concerning the plan of salvation that anybody can add to. That’s why when you take an individual and try to get him committed to giving up something in his life, some work of the flesh, then that means that man is trying to do something by his own efforts, by what he stops or what he does to enter into that idea of that plan of salvation.

God says it cannot be. Any preacher that teaches you can be saved today, lost tomorrow because of something you do, that man is a false teacher. He is false. Totally false. He’s not of God. I don’t care who they are. Their message is a false message. They’re a false teacher, false preacher. You cannot add to the eternal gospel that he has given. God doesn’t want man tinking with it, adding to it, taking from it. To say you got to stop your sins to be saved is man’s efforts to save himself.

And then if you try to say, you got to live a certain way to be safe, that’s false teaching. Man’s works have nothing to do with it. You are accepting the work Christ did, not what you do. And some people cannot buy the idea. They just can’t believe that it would be so simple. I have you say, that’s just too easy just to believe. cli. But that’s all that it requires. Believe in me, you’re trusting in the work he did for you.

You’re not trusting in your work. See, if you think you got to stop your sins and to be saved, or you got to live a certain way to prove your saved, then what you’re doing is you’re adding your effort, your work to the gift of eternal life. And when you stop performing, you doubt your salvation. See, anybody who truly just trusts Christ is their Savior, never has to doubt their salvation again, because it doesn’t depend on them. But anybody who believes you can lose your salvation because of something that you do have reason to doubt being saved because there will always be something somewhere along the line that you won’t know whether I’m really saved or not because of the way I live.

Does that mean that I promote sinful living? No. But I’m not going to lie to anybody either to try to get people to live right. Do I want people to serve God? Yes, I do. I don’t know any preacher that hits it harder than what I do. but you do not serve God to be saved. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Philippians in chapter 3. In Philippians chapter 3 I want you to see this in verse 3 and understand that there are no works that a man can do in order to qualify to be saved.

It’s not that Lord I finally confess I stop all my sins I promise that I’m gonna serve you and I’m good enough for you to save now. No, you think God’s gonna save you because you promised that you’re gonna quit your sins when it’s an impossibility? Do you know it is impossible for you to turn from all your sins? Impossible? That’s why it’s not that way. Did you know it’s impossible for you to love the Lord by God with all the heart, mind, body, soul, and strength that’s impossible for you?

Why? Because you got to send for nature. Why tell people that you got to do the impossible and believe it that without giving them the cure sure I’ve told people if you want to go to heaven Just be perfect. What’s that you can’t do that? Yeah, you got to point Here in Philippians in chapter three looking verse three for we are the circumcision which rejoice or which worship God in the spirit and Rejoice in Christ Jesus and have in your on the line this in your Bible no Confidence in the what in the flesh?

No confidence in the flesh means no confidence in who I am. No confidence in what I’ve done. See in verse 5, if you talk about who you are, he said, well, I’m circumcised the eighth day. The stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, the Hebrew of the Hebrews, is touching law fairs he looked who I am. I have no confidence in the flesh as to look who I am. When my dad was a preacher, my uncle was a preacher, my great-granddad, he was a preacher.

Boy, I was raised in church all my life and I sing in the choir and I go, that has nothing to do with nothing. Zero! No confidence in the flesh! Looking for six concerning zeal? Boy, am I motivated. I mean, I give to all the humanitarian needs and I help to feed the poor children. Boy, I give my body the burn if it was necessary. I’ll do anything like that. And buddy, that has nothing to do with anything. Concern is he’ll persecute in the church, touching the righteousness, which is in the law, blameless.

He said, man, you talk about what I’ve done. God’s not impressed with what you’ve done or what you’re going to do. When it comes to going to heaven, it’s not of works. It’s not by the works of righteousness which we have done or the works of righteousness which we promise to do. God never saved you because of the works of righteousness. I stop all my bad needs. And that’s why God saved you. Think again, He didn’t save you because you quit sins.

He never saved you because you promise you’re gonna live for Him. He saved you only one way, and that is did you or did you not? Did you accept the payment He made on the cross for you? Are you truly trusting Christ to take you to heaven? If you haven’t done that, you’re lost with a houndball getting into the soup bone. You won’t go to heaven. Many people think and they’re saved, not saved. And I’ve traveled around on preaching enough churches.

And a lot of those people, I’ve been people in independent fundamental Bible evolutionary minded Baptist churches lost. People that sing on the choir, people that have been deacons, lost. People that teach Sunday school classes, lost. Because you see, they never really trust the Lord. They just know they want to go to heaven and they think that because they mean well and they join the church or they quit some of the things in their life and they want to serve God, that’s salvation.

That’s not salvation. That don’t even help you to be saved. That doesn’t get you a little pinky’s one inch closer to the pearly gates. Whenever you die, it’s dead, you or did you not trust Christ? And he’s the one who knows whether you did or you didn’t. He’s not interested in whether you sung in the choir. He don’t care what you did. That has nothing to do with you going to heaven. You’re getting to heaven is free, totally free only.

there is no flesh involved. It means that you’re not trusting in your good deeds. You’re not trusting in who you are. You’re not trusting in what you’ve done that gets you to heaven. And yet you can ask some people, how do you know you’re going to heaven? Well, I’ve been going to church all my life. I’ve been sincere, not giving money. You don’t get it. And yet you can be there so close and not really get what he’s talking about.

Look in verse 7. Remember this when he talks about the word gain, it means there’s no pluses. There’s no pluses. Christ plus. No. In verse 7, but what things were gained to me or pluses for me? Look who I am. Look what I’ve done. Well, those ought to count for some, those ought to be some good brownie points. Those are some pluses in my life. He says, no. Those were lost, not gained. She says here in verse eight, Yay Dallas and I count all things, but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them, but manure that I may win Christ and get verse nine and be found where in him not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of

Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. God will not give you his righteousness when you’re trying to work and get your own. You have to totally give up, surrender, stop, trusting in anything you have ever done or ever will do. It’s not a matter, and this is why when you hear preachers tell you that you have to turn from your sins to be saved, that preacher’s not clear. That preacher’s messing with your mind. That’s not the book.

When preachers tell you that you have to make Christ the Lord of the master in your life in order for you to get to heaven, that’s not true. That’s telling you you gotta stop something, you gotta join something and you’ll trust in what you did for your salvation. And then whenever you got sins in your life and then when you find out he’s not the Lord and Master of all of things in your life, you’ll begin to doubt whether you’re saved or not.

And you have rights to because you’re trusting the wrong thing. If I am 100% totally trusting Christ to give me to heaven, if he don’t get me there, I don’t get there. He don’t save me, I’m not saved. He don’t give me eternal life. I don’t have it. And I’ve never sworn a cuss word in my life. I’ve never drank in my life. I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life. And people say, well, you got to live right to go to heaven.

Dream on. It’s not by works of righteousness. It’s only through Christ and Him alone is your only hope of ever getting to heaven. Now, the only way I know that somebody is saved is because of what they tell me they’re trusting in them and get them to heaven. If they tell me they’re putting any confidence at all and anything that they’ve done, I doubt it. their salvation. I doubt their salvation. Why? Because God says if you trust in anything other than Him, God says you not say, He said, I didn’t say it.

He says Christ propheteth you nothing. Nothing. Is it important? Oh, I think so. Remember this, when you talk about whether you stop something or you’ve got to start doing a certain thing, it is impossible, impossible for a man to totally turn from all of the sins. So why tell them he asked them what they do. Why tell a person that you have to make Christ the Lord and Master of your life in order to be saved? It’s impossible. That’s impossible.

But then they’ll leave it there. But tell you that’s what you got to do. And so now you try to live the impossible life. That’s why you have people sometimes that say, well I like to be a Christian, but I can’t live it. What they mean is they’re honest. They know they’re, they’ve got things in their life and they don’t have the power to quit them or to change them. They know that they have no desire to go to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night.

How many times you got to go to church? You had to go, well, you got to give money. Okay, how much? What if you give it to your own church? That’s not the Bible. It’s not anywhere in here. Salvation is free. He has given to us an eternal salvation. It’s a perfect salvation because man has nothing to do with it. A perfect God had a perfect plan. It is finished. All we’re doing is accepting it or rejecting it, but you cannot add to it.

This hand represents you and me and this wall of represents sin. We all have sin upon us. God loves us, hates our sin. And because you and I have sinned, we’re condemned, all condemned. God says, you cannot save yourself. It is impossible to go to heaven. We have to be perfect because heaven is perfect. God is perfect. And you and I aren’t. And therefore, there’s nothing that we can do to be perfect. It’s impossible. With men, it’s impossible. This hand represents Jesus Christ.

God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us. Hates our sin because they separate us from Him. So Christ took the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead. Because of what He did, it is possible for Him to do what we could not do. We can accept what He did for us. We are only accepting a work that He did. There is not a work for us to do. But to him, that work, not believe it on him, that justified the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

So when you and I believe that, he gives us eternal life and we go to heaven on what Christ did for us. I hope that you have trusted Christ as your Savior. Let’s pray, Shallelujah. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you are 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 tool free.

1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. realize that most people don’t have a good attitude, they have a prideful attitude. They have a me only attitude. You ever watch kids get in line when they go into school? I don’t know why it is. Somebody always thinks they have to be in front of the line. I don’t mind if they get behind me.

I just got a bad case of not me, I just, you know, me only. Well, I guess that’s the way it is. Have you ever noticed when we have the food in the auditorium sometimes? I have no clue how ideas that I always work out to be in the front of the line sometimes. I didn’t plan it that way. Somebody has to have prayer. Now Larry, that busted out too. You shouldn’t have done that. You know you’ve been on the internet and it’s gone all over the world.

His name is Larry. But rejoice, rejoice and get this. Look at the last part of that verse. Rejoice and be exceeding glad. For great is your reward, where? In heaven. So that means that in order for me to get rewarded for that persecution or those things that people say against me, somebody has to be watching. Somebody has to be keeping the books. Did you realize that your heavenly Father watches everything. Don’t you think that he knows how you’re being treated and that you can still have a good attitude?

It doesn’t seem like whatever happens because you know that when I get to heaven God’s going to reward me for whatever I’ve gone through and persecution or whatever it might be. And so here it makes a statement for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Now you just read about that in the book of Acts on Wednesday night. How that you have prosecuted all the prophets before you. So it’s a it’s a good verse to always remember.

Remember he talks about seeing your good work when he talks about you being salt of the earth and the light of the world. It’s referring to lost people or the world seeing your works. See what he says there in verse 16. Let your light so shine before men.” Now, this light to shine before men is the response of what people do to you. It’s how you’re handling it. That causes them to see something better, something different. If you’re going to live like a lost man, I don’t think you’re going to be honored.

But he says, let your light so shine be foreman that they may see your good works. You see, what they were doing was not good, but your response is good or supposed to be good. And then he says, and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Always be willing to give credit and honor to the Lord for what God’s done for you, but God is pleased when you suffer and you praise Him for it because You know God’s going to reward you.

And it can help your attitude while you’re here. Otherwise, you’ll just be a Christian with a bad, nasty attitude. And that’s not what the Lord wants. Looking first Peter in chapter one, first Peter chapter one. This is a familiar verse, but it’s good to look at, renew your mind one more time. First Peter chapter one. All right. As you know, we’ve talked about in verse four that when you’re saved, you’re saved from something to something. You’re saved from hell to in verse four to an inheritance and it’s incorruptible and undefiled that they, if not a way, reserved in heaven for you, for a kept by the power of God through faith and desalvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

So you were saved by grace and your kept saved by grace. because you put your faith in what Christ did for you. So you’re rejoicing that. You’re glad you know you have eternal life. In spite of everything else that happens, you know you’re going to heaven. But now look what he says in verse six. Wherein ye greatly rejoice? You can rejoice about that, your salvation. But we just read in the book of Matthew chapter five about greatly rejoicing and be exceeding glad because of your life.

This period of time God’s got us to live. You know you’ll influence more people with a good attitude than you will with a bad attitude. With a smile on your face, more than a frown on your face. But get what he says in verse six. We’re in you greatly rejoice though now for a season. See this little period of time that we have to go through, this is just a little period of time. And we’re supposed to be found faithful.

And it has rejoiced there now for a season. If need be, ye are in heaviness. If need, you ought to take that word need and underline him. Did you know that there’s various times in your life that God knows what you need? Did you know that he knows that you need to learn a lesson? God knows when you need a trial or a testing.

Did you know that? Did you know that God could be the one that’s actually disciplining you, disciplining you? There’s a lot of people I like to disciple, and when they don’t do this, I try to follow up and help. You’re always doing that. Did you know that God, your heavenly Father, is doing the same? He knows more about what you need than you know. And so sometimes he knows that you need a rebuke. You need a testing. You need to be humbled.

are filled with pride or jealousy or envy or bitter. God knows and did you know that God can work things out the way time he gets through with you he can so humble you and you say Lord I’m so sorry I should have done that. God, God knows what he’s doing. You lift yourself up in pride and God will put you down. You humble yourself and God will exalt you and you don’t get exalted like you think you should.

Does God know that? Can you just go ahead to be faithful and have a right kind of act only because you know God is going to take care of it and I get to heaven God’s going to reward me. You win in the long run. You win. But look what he says. He says here in this verse, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptation. In other words, there’s things that weigh you down. There’s always problems. Every one of us has assets and liabilities.

All of us do. And God is always working in our lives. doesn’t stop. Just because next month I’ll be 70 doesn’t mean that that’s the end of it. I finally reached my peak and everything’s wonderful from then on. I hope so. I don’t think so though. And then in verse 7, the trial of your faith. Been much more precious than of gold which perishes though it be tried with, fire might be found on the praise, honor and glory win at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

So the time is coming, just always look for that and believe that because it will happen. 1 Peter 4, just look a little bit very quickly. 1 Peter 4. And you’ll notice there’s a few verses here that are really, really sharp. 1 Peter 4, look in verse 12, where he says, Beloved, thank it not strange concerning the, and you ought to underline these two words in your Bible, fiery trial, which is to try you. You see what’s coming this year?

You really want to know. This year, there’s going to be some fiery trials to try you. Did you know God can try your faith with success or would tell you with help and without help. You see, the man who I was reading in the paper this morning, how is talking about some of these presidential poor folks and all their millions that they’ve got. Millions. And they’re trying to help us, I guess, make our million like they did. No, I’m not sure.

But there’s some people that have a lot of money, but you know they can struggle and be just as miserable as a poor man. But what he says here, he says this, don’t think that it’s some strange thing that’s happened to you, because these things happen to all of us. You just get different testing at different time. Aren’t you glad we all don’t have the same thing hit at the same time? So that some of us have done learn a lesson.

We can help the other one then that you helped her then then later on she has to help you and then just everybody needs each other. That’s where God designed it. But in verse 13, he says, but and here’s that word again. Rejoice. Rejoice. and as much as you are partakers of Christ’s suffering, that when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with an exceeding joy. See, you’re supposed to know and believe this, and so you just kind of like reach out to the future because you know God’s Word is sure, and you know you’re going to be rewarded, and God’s going to be pleased, and that makes you happy now.

I’m satisfied. I’m pleased.” And so it doesn’t matter what anybody says or does. You just keep doing what’s right. And it doesn’t matter whether you have good health, bad health. You got money, no money. You just be faithful between you and God. Believing that God is watching and taking notes and keeping the books and is it going to take care of everything? And you’ll win in the long run. That’s what the me, the Word of God, is saying. Of course, you can go ahead and you can read a lot of that because the book of Peter is talking about sufferings.

He just happened to see some of it, you know, the sufferings of Christ, and so he got a good view. Look in Romans in chapter eight and verse 18. Romans and chapter eight. Romans, chapter eight, and verse 18. This is talking about you and me serving the Lord. It’s talking about us being mature sons of God. See up there in verse 14, first of all, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons or the maturing sons of God.

So you begin to grow when you begin to let the Lord lead you and realizing the Holy Spirit is living within you And he’s going to lead you into sufferings. When Christ went up into the mountain, he says, and he was led by the Spirit into the mountain to be tempted by the devil. The Holy Spirit led him there. It was God that led Moses and the children of it into the wilderness, right up to the Red Sea. And look at all the problems they have, but who led them that way?

The Lord. Why should you and I be exempt? Why should we be exempt? If God loves me and God loves you, he ought to give us the same opportunity, don’t you think? Don’t you think God wants us to prove our love and faithfulness to him just like, well, he gave that opportunity to everybody else? Why should we be exempt? So let God use you. Let God have the freedom to do in your life whatever he wants to do without any lip.

Well, I complain in full, I bad attitudes and just look to the Lord and trust Him. But anyway, he says on verse 18, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present, present time are not worthy to be compared, not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. See, there’s a present time and there shall be glory. So you go through it now knowing and believing that it will be worth it all. At least I believe that’s what the Scriptures says.

It will be worth it all. Somebody wrote a song about that too one time. I think it’s a great thing. But take your Bible looking 2nd Corinthians in chapter 4. 2nd Corinthians and chapter 4. and look at verse 16. Verse 16. This verse here, verse 16, where it says, for which cause we faint not. It’s really coming from the first verse in chapter four, where it says, therefore seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy. We faint not.

In other words, we don’t quit just because it gets rough. Just because it gets hard. We don’t quit. We don’t stop just because somebody don’t like us and somebody said something. We keep going because we want one thing after our name. And that is what describes you. you the best. And it should be the word faithful. Moreover, it is required and steward that a man be found faithful. Faithful to do what you can with what you have where you are.

Well, I believe that. See there in verse 16, for which cause we faint not? That means we don’t quit. We don’t stop. But though our outward man perished. In the word, the older we live, the body gets older and older and older. Sometimes we have to move out. But it says, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Did you know spiritually you can get stronger and stronger and stronger as you get older and older and older? But you’ve got to keep doing what makes you strong.

And I would say for 51 years, I’ve been in church. I believe if I stop going to church, stop reading, stop praying, stop witnessing, stop. I don’t think I’m going to be very strong after a while. That just makes sense, doesn’t it? And so he says here in verse 17, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, work for us far moreanchester eternal weight of glory. See, the glory comes after the work, after the suffering. And so that’s why he says, we don’t quit.

Otherwise, don’t you think the apostles would have quit long before? I mean, they did get stoned a little bit here and all kinds of things they went through. I mean, it was pretty bad. Wouldn’t you have quit? How would you like to be Dr. Apostle Paul? Five times he would be with a cat and nine tails. Stoned and now the people that took vows to kill him, wasn’t going to eat or sleep until he was dead. And yet miraculously God intervened and gave him the strength and the grace and it even protected him and you know Paul didn’t die until God was ready We just read about Stephen in the book of Acts and how that when he died the Bible says in Jesus standing Jesus was standing I believe He saw Jesus But don’t you know Jesus saw him?

Don’t you know that Jesus knew what they were going to do to him? I do. I believe it. So do you believe that serving the Lord is worth it? If you do, you will. If you don’t, you won’t. You can’t make a blind man see. That’s Tom. No. You can’t make people serve God. You can’t make anybody love God. as the decision they have to make. But anyway, he makes a statement here in verse 18, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporal, things which are not seen are eternal. So we live our life based upon that which you cannot see, but we believe it because God said it. And we know that God doesn’t lie and God doesn’t make mistakes. So we are very thankful to the Lord. Take your Bible looking 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians, and look there in chapter one, chapter one.

2 Thessalonians chapter one. And you notice there in verse three, verse three. We are bound to give thanks. The thank God always for you brethren, as it is to meet or necessary fit. Because that, your faith, grow up exceedingly. And the charity of every one of you all toward each other abounded. So the word faith, you ought to underline it maybe. And the word charity, the word charity means what? Love. So he’s talking about their faith. He’s talking about their love.

And then when you look down in verse four, he’s talking about their, their patient. You see there in verse four, so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your Persecutions and tribulations that you enjoy, that you endure. So here’s a letter written to people who are having a rough time, really going through some poverty. I mean they’re suffering. And he says, but through that, it demonstrates your faith. It gives you the opportunity to show your love, to show your patience.

So they are opportunities. And every one of us, we probably always ask the Lord, Lord, give me an opportunity. You ever use that word? Lord, give me an opportunity. Give me an open door. And then the tire goes flat, the motor blows up, Radiator leaks, but you ask for a opportunity. You see, there’s things that happens in our lives to give us opportunities. And so we all have these wonderful opportunities.

But the last part of verse four says that ye endure. So they are known. They reveal our character. In verse 5 he says, which is, and you ought to look at this real close, which is a manifold token of the righteous judgment of God. That means that God has to see your faith in your patience and your love, and God is allowing all these things to happen to you and I. Because God says it’s a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God.

Get this that ye may be counted and you ought to underline this word worthy worthy to suffer worthy of the kingdom of God for which ye also suffer. Are you worthy to suffer? for the Lord. Or do you run from the sovereign? You don’t want anything to go wrong. You want everything to go right. And because it doesn’t happen the way you want it because you wanted to plan your own life and you know that you’ve got I want this and this and this and this and this and God said oh here’s the blank piece of paper.

You just sign it down here and just let me fill it in. Alright. See we want to fill it in and say God would you sign it? No God said no no no You just go ahead and sign it. I’ll fill it in. Do you believe that God knows what’s best for us? If God really loves me, He would give me as many opportunities to prove my love and faithfulness to Him, if He really loves me. And He won’t leave me, He won’t forsake me, He won’t put upon me any more than what I can bear, and I have His word on that.

But I also know that there’s a fiery trial, And I should not think it’s some strange thing that’s happening to me. That I know that persecutions and all these things always comes before the praise, the honor and the glory. So he says here in verse 6, looking verse 6, seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. In other words, it’s like God’s end. Don’t you worry about it? I’ll get them. You just go ahead and keep doing right right and loving the Lord and God says he’ll take care of everything else.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could really live according to what I just taught in these Scriptures every day. You know why I teach certain things because it’s what I need. We forget the Apostle Paul and Peter talked about stirring up your remembrance. And sometimes we don’t listen and learn something new but we should be reminded to refresh our minds of what God is like. What is He doing? And if you’re wondering, why do they let this happen to me?

Well, that’s not a badogene. There might be a reason. It might be that you’re just living in an old wicked, sinful world. And don’t always try to make something mean something. It’s just, just keep serving the Lord and keep faithful Lord. And look for opportunities as you live life. And God will bless you for doing so. But just because there might be somebody watching by internet. And no, they might just watch us for Sunday school and then they hurry up.

off to their church somewhere and made me not know the most important thing in all the world. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. God says that He loves us. He hates our sin, but He does love us. And to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in hell. But God loves us. Wants us to go to heaven. And to go to heaven we have to be perfect. This is righteous is the Lord and none of us are perfect.

None of us are righteous. We’re not good enough to go to heaven. And God says you can’t save yourself. You can’t do good works. to pay for sin. There’s no amount of money you can give to pay for sin. You see, the wages of sin is death. So that’s why God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to die for our sins. See, He loves us, but He hates our sin because our sin separates us from the Lord.

So Jesus Christ took our sins, paid for them on the cross, came back from the dead, And said, if we would believe that He did it for us, He would put this payment to our account, and we get to go to heaven on what Christ did. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. He says, these things have I written unto you that believe. Now, some people will believe it, some people won’t. But those that do believe it, he says, these things have I written unto you that believe that you may know that you have eternal life.

So can you know your happy eternal life? Yes, he can. You can do it right now. If you trust Christ right now, as your Savior, God said, He would save you right now and give you as a free gift everlasting life. And He said, I’ll never cast you out and never lose you. Let’s pray, Shavu. Our Father, we do thank you so much for the free gift of eternal life. And Lord, if there’s anyone listening, we pray that the most important thing they could ever know, most important thing they can ever do is to believe that when Christ died, He died for them and that by faith alone in Him as their only hope of going to heaven is their only hope, their only way of going to heaven.

And Father, we just pray that you had helped each one to see and understand that. We also pray Lord concerning each person here. There’s a lot of things we don’t know and we can’t see the future, but there are things that you said in your word that we can expect. And so Father, we do thank you for all the opportunities that you’re going to give us. We pray that we’ll be found faithful and not want to run from them, but Father desire from you the grace and the strength that we need to bear them.

Because we know that you walk with us, you’re not put upon us anything greater than we can bear and that you want each one of us to be found faithful. So each one of us are special in your eyes. And each one of us are going to get specialized attention. And Father, when we get to heaven, each one of us are going to get the rewards that we have earned. And Father, we want everyone here to receive the honor, the glory, the praise.

Because of their love for you in 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 are 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 tool free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broad If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline by line, here got to word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here gots truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family. You know, sometimes you say things that don’t mean. Sometimes you mean things you don’t say. And sometimes you say things you wish you hadn’t said. And sometimes you say things and it’s taking the wrong way. You ever had to have them? Well, somebody always trying to help me out in the ministry.

And I appreciate them. You know, they send me little tidbits of this and little tidbits of that, you know. Anyway, I hope y’all are having a wonderful year so far. And have y’all heard anything about it? the elections or anything like that. So debates or, you know, somebody running for president and all that kind of stuff. Anybody hear anything like that? We do have some serious elections coming up in Florida is a close state. I mean, it is very, very important.

But anyway, let me read something to you. You know, these are some statements because it’s similar to the book of Proverbs. Now we’re not gonna go to Proverbs. We got a few other places we’re gonna run to. But whenever you study Proverbs, Pro and Verba means more than meets the eye, you see one thing and it says that, but there’s another meeting sometimes in there that sometimes we don’t always see. A statement where there’s a will, you know, you say, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Well some people say, where there’s a will, there’s a relative. Or where there’s a will, I want to be in it. that can be good and that can be bad. Another statement, do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience. Think about it. Some people, just like if they run for office, they know how to play down and dirty. One time was talking to my son and he says, Daddy, he says, I know all about that street life out there.

He says, I know how to live on the streets. I know how to, because it’s like it’s another language, it’s another way of living. There’s people who know how to do that. So there’s another part of the world. I don’t know anything about. So you have to watch that people don’t pull you down into where they are and then beat you with experience. So you’ve got to be smart, be wiser. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it’s still on my list.

But it’s the last thing. Dan likes that one. Then hearing the lights that. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. It’s also the reason why you have two ears in only one mouth. So you should listen twice as much as you speak. Good point. If I agreed with you, both of us would be wrong. I love it whenever you can say a lot in a few words. It’s called when I used to speak in ranch I used to teach the college kids how to tell jokes.

Brevity is the soul of a joke. The shorter you can make it. I don’t like it when somebody’s gonna tell me a joke and it goes on and on and on. I said get to the punchline. I ain’t got all day. Tell me the story. You got to tell it. But they go on and on and they can take a joke that takes about five seconds to tell and they can work it into about two or three minutes. We never really grow up.

We only learn how to act in public. War does not not determine who is right, only who is left. There’s a little bit of something. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in the fruit salad. You may be considered, well, I know a lot about the Bible, but if you don’t know how to apply it and where to put it, then you’re not very wise. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. So it’s not just a matter of learning the Bible is the application of the Bible.

So to say, well, I’ve been to the Bible 10 times. times. Oh, I’ve been going to church for 30 years. Have you ever noticed there’s some Christians who’ve never applied it, never grown up yet? Well, we’ll move right along. Evening news is where they begin with good evening and then proceed to tell you why it isn’t. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research. A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops.

My desk is a workstation. I’m not gonna explain that. I thought I wanted a career. Turns out I just wanted to paycheck. Isn’t it what it’s all about really? You just want to be happy making your money. You just want to make your money your way. And that’s how you determine your career. Anyway, whenever I fill out an application in the part that says in case of emergency, notify I always put doctor. I didn’t say it was your fault.

I said I was blaming you. Now there is a difference. I’m not sure what it is, but I’m sure it’s there somewhere. Don’t you enjoy a little brevity, a little brevity. Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman. How many of you say this morning I have a clear conscience? Careful. I also noticed nobody quickly raised their hand. You’re in fear this morning. A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.

I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way, so I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness. Have you ever thought about, I’m just gonna do what I want to do, and then I’ll just ask God to forgive me and everything will be cool. Don’t go that way. This preacher does not approve of that. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute if you want to guy died twice. Did y’all get that?

Good. Money cannot buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with. I used to be indecisive. Now I’m not so sure. You ever hear somebody say, you can’t be sure about anything. Are you sure about that? You’re never too old to learn something stupid. You would think the older we lived, the longer we lived, we’d be smart enough not to do such stupid things all the time, to be sure of hitting the target. Shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

Like the guy that’s you know he’s 70 years old and he’s working at Burger King. This is where I’ve always wanted to be. Because this is where I am, this must be what I hit. This must be what my goal was. Some people don’t have clear guidance for their life so anything will do. When you don’t know where you go in any road will do and it’s better to aim at something and miss to name it nothing and hit it.

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage. It makes you a car. Hospitality is making your guests feel at home, even when you wish they were. When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember the fire department usually used water. A word of wisdom. The early bird may get the worm. But the second mouse gets the cheese. Now you’ve had your warm-up session.

Take your Bible and turn me to the book of Matthew, chapter five. I just wanna mention a few things to you that I hope will be a blessing to you. Some things you already know, I mean, what can I teach you people that you don’t know? Y’all know everything. But Matthew in chapter five, You know that the Lord is going to reward you when you get to heaven. We all teach that. We know that, we understand that, we believe that.

But sometimes in the process of time, we kind of lose sight that before glory is suffering, before praise is suffering, before Your honor is suffering. So which comes first? Suffering, then glory. When Christ came into the world, what did He do first? He suffered, and the next time, glory. So keep the thought in mind. First we have to labor and suffer in this world for His Kingdom, and then later God is going to reward. bless is going to give you praise, honor, and glory.

So here in Matthew and chapter 5, look at their in verse 10, blessed are they which are persecuted. Blessed are they which are persecuted. I don’t mind being persecuted. I just don’t want the person who did it to me to get away with it. Right? We want revenge. We want to get even. And so that’s where you could forfeit the rewards that you could have got by enduring the persecution. Now you may not enjoy the persecution, but we are told in his word to endure it.

But he says, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness, say for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when man shall revile you or mock you, make fun of you, rib you. You know, I’ve thought about running for president, But after watching all these debates, I think I’ll pass. You realize what they have to go through, the scrutiny? They’re mean. They’re ugly. And it makes you think twice, don’t they? Sometimes you wonder, well, what is the truth?

And they cast questions and doubts on just about anybody. They don’t have to prove anything. All they got to do is just say it. Now you prove it didn’t happen. But it says here in verse 11, Blessed are ye when men shall revow you and persecute you shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my say in other words because you’re serving the Lord and you’re seeking to do what’s right and You are persecuted for it. He says and you did it for my sake.

He said I got something for you In verse 12 you ought to underline this word see that word rejoice rejoice Now, when should you start rejoicing when we get to heaven and get all those rewards? I believe that you and I are supposed to rejoice when? Now, because you know what’s coming down the road. And see, it doesn’t matter what people say and do. You can rejoice now and you know that’s where you can have a lot of happiness in life.

Because you know that what just happened maybe wasn’t good. And your happiness isn’t dependent upon happenings, but you know that I’m going to get rewarded for this if I handle this correctly. If I have the right attitude, you realize that most people don’t have a good attitude, they have a prideful attitude, they have a me-only attitude. Whenever what kids get in line when they’re going to school, I don’t know why it is. Somebody always thinks they have to be in front of the line.

I don’t mind if they get behind me. I just got a bad case of not me, I just, you know, me only. Man, I guess that’s the way it is. Have you ever noticed when we have the food in the auditorium sometimes? I have no clue how it is that I always work out to be in the front of the line sometimes. I didn’t plan it that way. Somebody has to have prayer. Now, Larry, that busted out too. He shouldn’t have done that.

You know you’ve been on the internet and it’s going all over the world. His name is Larry. But rejoice, rejoice and get this. Look at the last part of that verse. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward where? In heaven. So that means that in order for me to get rewarded for that persecution or those things that people say against me, somebody has to be watching. Somebody has to be keeping the books. Did you realize that your heavenly Father watches everything?

Don’t you think that he knows how you’re being treated and that you can still have a good attitude? It doesn’t seem like whatever happens because you know that when I get to heaven, God’s going to reward me for whatever I’ve gone through and persecution or whatever it might be. And so here it makes the statement for so persecuted day, the prophets which were before you. Now, you just read about that in the book of Acts on Wednesday night. How that you have prosecuted all the prophets before you.

So it’s a good verse to always remember. Remember he talks about seeing your good work. When he talks about you being salted the earth and the light of the world, It’s referring to lost people or the world seeing your works. See what he says there in verse 16. Let your light so shine before men. Now this light to shine before men is the response of what people do to you. It’s how you’re handling it that causes them to see something better, something different.

If you’re going to live like a lost man, I don’t think you’re going to be honored. But he says, let your light so shine before meant that they may see your good works. You see, what they were doing was not good, but your response is good or supposed to be good. And then he says, and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Always be willing to give credit and honor to the Lord What God’s done for you, but God is pleased when you suffer and you praise him for it.

It’s because you know God’s going to reward you and it can help your attitude while you hear. Otherwise you’ll just be a Christian with a bad natitude and that’s not what the Lord wants. Looking first Peter in chapter one first Peter chapter one This is a familiar verse But it’s good to look at renew your You knew your mind one more time. First Peter chapter 1, as you know, we’ve talked about in verse 4, that when you’re saved, you’re saved from something to something.

You’re saved from hell to in verse 4, to an inheritance and sin corruptible and undefiled that faith, if not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith and the salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. So you were saved by grace and your kept saved by grace because you put your faith in what Christ did for you. So you rejoicing that. You’re glad you know you have eternal life. And despite everything else that happens, you know you’re going to heaven.

But now look what he says in verse 6. Wherein ye greatly rejoice. You can rejoice about that, your salvation. What we just read in the book of Matthew chapter 5 about greatly rejoicing and be exceeding glad because of your life. This period of time God’s got us to live. You know you’ll influence more people with a good attitude than you will with a bad attitude, with a smile on your face more than a frown on your face. You get what he says in verse 6.

We’re in you greatly rejoice though now for a season. See this little period of time that we have to go through, this is just a little period of time. And we’re supposed to be found faithful. And it has rejoiced there now for a season. If need be, ye are in heaviness. If need, you ought to take that word need and underline it. Did you know thateanor various times in your life that God knows what you need? Did you know that he knows that you learn a lesson?

God knows when you need a trial or a testing. Did you know that? Did you know that God could be the one that’s actually disciplining you, disciplining you? There’s a lot of people I like to disciple. And when they don’t do this, I try to follow up and help. You’re always doing that. Did you know that God, your heavenly Father, is doing the same? He knows more about what you need than you know. And so sometimes he knows you need a rebuke, you need a testing, you need to be humbled, you are filled with pride or jealousy or envy or bitter.

God knows. And did you know that God can work things out, that where time he gets through with you, he can so humble you and you say, Lord, I’m so sorry I should have done that. God knows what he’s doing. You lift yourself up in And in pride and God will put you down. You humble yourself and God will exalt you. And if you don’t get exalted like you think you should, does God know that? Can you just go ahead and be faithful and have a right kind of addict only because you know God is going to take care of it.

And I get to heaven, God’s going to reward me. You win in the long run. You win. But look what he says. He says here in this verse, We are in heaviness through manifold temptation. In other words, there’s things that weigh you down. There’s always problems. Every one of us has assets and liabilities. All of us do. And God is always working in our lives. It doesn’t stop. Just because next month I’ll be 70 doesn’t mean that that’s the end of it.

I finally reached my peak and everything’s wonderful from then on. I hope so. I don’t think so though. And then in verse seven, the trial of your faith. Been much more precious than of gold, which perishes though it be tried with fire might be found on the praise, honor, and glory win at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So the time is coming, just always look for that and believe that because it will happen. First Peter chapter four, just look at it very quickly.

First Peter chapter four. And you’ll notice there’s a few verses here really, really sharp. 1 Peter 4, look in verse 12, where it says, Beloved, thank it not strange concerning the, and you ought to underline these two words in your Bible, fiery trial, which is to try you. You see what’s coming this year? You really want to know. This year, there’s going to be some fiery trials to try you. Did you know God can try your faith with success or with failure?

With help and without help? You see, the man who I was reading in the paper this morning, how, is talking about some of these presidential poor folks and all their millions that they’ve got, millions. And they’re trying to help us, I guess, make our million like they did. No, I’m not sure. But there’s some people that have a lot of money, but you know they can struggle and be just as miserable as a poor man. But what he says here, he says this, don’t think that it’s some strange thing that’s happened to you because these things happen to all of us.

You just get different testing at different time. Aren’t you glad we all don’t have the same thing hit at the same time. So that some of us have done learn the lesson, we can help the other one. And then you helped her. And then later on, she has to help you and then just everybody needs each other. That’s why God designed it. But in verse 13, he says, but and here’s that word again, rejoice, rejoice. And as much as you are partakers of Christ’s suffering that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with an exceeding joy.

See, you’re supposed to know and believe this and so you just kind of like reach out to the future because you know God’s Word is sure and you know you’re going to be rewarded and God’s going to be pleased and that makes you happy now, I’m satisfied, I’m pleased. And so it doesn’t matter what anybody says or does, you just keep doing what’s right. And it doesn’t matter whether you have good health, bad health. You got money, no money.

You just be faithful between you and God. Believing that God is watching and taking notes and keeping the books, is it going to take care of everything? And you’ll win in the long run. That’s what the meter word of God is saying. Of course you can go ahead and you can read a lot of that because the book of Peter is talking about sufferings. He just happened to see some of it, you know, the sufferance of Christ. And so he got a good, good view.

Look in Romans in chapter eight and verse 18, Romans and chapter eight. Romans chapter eight and verse 18, this is talking about you and me serving the Lord. It’s talking about us being mature, sons of God. See up here in verse 14, first of all, for as many as are led, led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons or the maturing sons of God. So you begin to grow when you begin to let the Lord lead you and realizing the Holy Spirit is living within you and he’s going to lead you into sufferings.

when Christ went up into the mountain, he says, and he was led by the Spirit into the mountain to be tempted by the devil. The Holy Spirit led him there. It was God that led Moses and the children of it into the wilderness. What up to the Red Sea? And look at all the problem they have, but who led them that way? The Lord. Why should you and I be exempt? Why should we be exempt? If God loves me and God loves you, he ought to give us the same opportunity, don’t you think?

Don’t you think God wants us to prove our love and faithfulness to him just like, well, he gave that opportunity to everybody else? Why should we be exempt? So let God use you. Let God have the freedom to do in your life whatever he wants to do without any lip. Well, I complain, well, I bad attitudes and just look to the Lord and trust Him. But anyway, he says on verse 18, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present, present time are not worthy to be compared, not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

See, there’s a present time and there shall be glory. Now you go through it now, knowing and believing that it will be worth it all. 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. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. 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 tool free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for a Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. See there, verse 11, courtim and wine and new wine take away the heart. And buddy, this is descriptive. See, that’s why you read the Old Testament to find out what God says and how God dealt with the situation. He had also made a promise to Israel. He says, you show, if you listen to me, you’ll be the head and not the tale.

See the dog is supposed to wag the tale. The tale is not supposed to wag the dog. And what he says is, when you rebel against me, he said, I’ll put a yoke of iron upon your neck until it destroys you. He says, and you will be the tail because somebody else is going to pull the strings. And America is going to get to the place where we are so indebted to others outside of our country, they’ll be able to pull the strings that says what we can and cannot do.

We’re not far from that now. We’re borrowing billions from a place like China. Do you believe this? And the borrower is servant to the lender. We’re losing an awful lot. But anyway, I told you that I would run for president. So when I get through, I want you to nominate me. My fellow Americans. You’ve ever heard that before? My fellow Americans? Well, that sounded like Nixon, Richard Nixon. Let me be perfectly clear.

Some of y’all have a memory and can remember a few things. Now I want to try to get through this if y’all will stop all this now. I started it all. My fellow Americans as of today, I will lead this nation to implement the following principles, policies and practices. At home and abroad, this nation will follow a new foreign policy that will solve the problem of terrorism. We will return to our roots and follow the wise advice of our founding fathers.

We will no longer get entangled in foreign alliances. We will no longer meddle in the affairs of other nations, nor consider ourselves the policemen of the world. We will always consider first our national interest. We will not presume that we know best for all countries. What may be best for us may not be the best for them. See, you don’t want other countries in fight dying so that they can have democracies without the foundation that produces a Republican form of government.

A Republican form of government is only good for a Christian people. You understand what I’m saying? Our founding fathers knew this. So just because you have a democracy, majority rules, that’s the worst form of government that that they have because it leads into socialism and communism and all the other isms and spasms. Since America has been attacked by Muslim fanatics, we have aggressively gone after those responsible. However, we will no longer try to topple governments and set up democracies.

Of course, we will always encourage liberty everywhere. We will not carpet bomb cities filled with innocent civilians. We do not believe total war is morally right or militarily justified. However, be assured that those culpable individuals will be punished at a deterrent than others. Of course, if you are attacked by a nation, that’s a wipe-mout. Anywhere. Americans don’t hate Muslims or anyone else since it is wrong and unproductive to hate. However, we will no longer plead with Muslims at home and abroad to love us.

We will no longer express guilt and self-loathing. Federal officials will no longer try to prove that Americans are not racist. It is up to the Muslims to prove they are not terrorist. I have worded the Department of Homeland Security. That no traveler will be mistreated. However, since all the attacks against us have been young Muslim men, we will do the reasonable thing in profile air travelers. The harassment of little old ladies, very young people and handicapped persons will no longer be our practice.

We will still be alert to terrorists with special attention to those of Middle Eastern appearances. You mean you believe in racial profiling? You got that right. Right? Yes, I do. If nobody was doing this, but little Chinese, well, here comes some down the line. And so you pull out some old grandmother and the little Chinese goes, wait a minute, something’s wrong with this reasoning. And they want to be politically correct. I don’t. But anyway, as we’re moving right along.

Moreover, I have authorized the use of troops on our southern border to secure that border and arrest fingerprint and photograph each illegal alien before he or she is deposited forth with back to Mexico. Any second offenders will be imprisoned and put to work on a Texas or an Arizona work or chain gain. You say, you don’t believe in putting people on a chain gain. My daddy worked on a chain gain in America. Did he deserve it? Yes. I have the papers for my daddy, attempted murder several times.

I watched him one time. He was trying to kill a couple guys. He always had these overalls and he carried a big old switch blade. And buddy, you talked about in the West when they could fast draw. He was just that fast with a knife and he had hit that thing and jumped out there and he had hit that little button that blade jump out there like that. But anyways, furthermore, any American firm that knowingly hires a neo-legal alien will be heavily fined following the second offense that business license will be revoked.

Furthermore, as of today, we have shut the welfare window. No more foreign age to any nation. You realize we’re given a couple billion dollars a year to Egypt. And Obama wants to hurry up and give it to him. There’s something wrong with this. Something wrong with this. You remember when Carter became the president and I ran took some of our people hostage and they didn’t get free until Ronald Reagan became president. And the reason is because they knew Carter wouldn’t do anything.

And Reagan would. The only reason Egypt is doing what they’re doing right now is because they know that Obama won’t do one cotton-picking thing. He may do something a little bit later because he heard me. But if we had a president, they wouldn’t dare touch an American because they knew what would happen. It’s because they see us as weak and the reason is we are. We need a spinal transplant. America has lost its backbone. Anyway, we may decide in the future that it is in our best interest to help some nations, but it will be temporary and as unusual as snow in July or freezing weather in Tampa.

We will also start bringing our troops home from all over the world. They will be sent to foreign nations only in the event of a declared war by Congress, not by the President. Congress is the only one who has the authority to declare war. Anyway, I just thought that out there. This is not isolationism, but is an America first policy. Any other policy is insane. Japan, Germany, the other 20 nations where our troops are now stationed should learn to protect themselves.

See, we’re on the hook for protecting all these nations. And sometimes they prosper and America is paying for their defense. Now, I do believe it’s good to have bases all over the place, a few bases, not 120 basis. As to the Middle East, we don’t know what is best. Israel has been a longtime friend of the United States. We will support their right to exist within secure borders and support their right to defend themselves against those who want to drive them into the sea.

We will not support a Palestinian state carved out of Israel, but would support a separate state if it is carved out of the surrounding Muslim dominated nations. They got more room. It’s about 50 Arab nations and they don’t have room for those people there in Palestine. Isn’t that a shame? As to our reliance on Middle East oil, we have already started drilling in Alaska because the Foughs Presidents went down. The Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of California and will immediately expand the mining of our vast coal supply.

We will try to be sensitive to the environment. However, I believe that people are more precious than plants or bugs or nicks or fish or spotted owls. Our drilling equipment, you know, I just might do away with the EPA too. Yeah, I might just do away with him. Our drilling equipment may cause a caribou here and there to abort her young or a bear may sense its rear end on a pipeline, but we will live with those tragedies. American oil will flow.

Moreover, of course, we will still buy oil from South America and even Middle Eastern nation. However, we will not buy oil from states that support terrorists. They can pour their excess oil over their pancakes each morning. or drink it. This government will no longer pretend that terrorist leaders, kings, and dictators, are gracious gentlemen, nor will American officials shake their hands while smiling like idiots. We will encourage American entrepreneurs by tax incentive and other measures to pursue the development of alternative fuels.

Oh, by the way, I’m also for abolishing the 16th Amendment. in case you didn’t know that. If the 16th Amendment would have be applied the way it should be, it would be okay. When it talks about the federal government shall have right to tax income. Income, according to a proper definition, is the profit from income, or I I should say, principle that has been invested, not from wages. I do not believe that wages are taxable. And I don’t believe that was in the Constitution.

There’s a thing about direct law and indirect taxes that talks in the Constitution about this. And when it came in about 1913 and so forth, it was ruled on Constitution in 1894. But because people don’t understand it, they don’t stand for it. And of course, we could say, well, they don’t have the power to, yes, they have the power. They don’t have the right. So you Congress today, they don’t have the right to do the things they’re doing, but they do have the power.

And that’s what’s wrong. Because they’re not honoring the Constitution. They don’t have the right to do it, but they have the power to do it. And when you have the power to do it, anything the government can do for you, they can do to you so they can take everything that you have. There’s great consequences, and you may not be willing think that battle most people learn. But anyway, just like for example a church, a church, 98% of probably of all churches in America are all incorporated.

And when you incorporate, you move yourself from just a church under Christ and to a church that’s under the laws of the state here of Florida. So there’s consequences and there’s control that can come and there’s demands that they can make. And so little by little churches can lose their freedom. And government can begin to tell the church what they can and cannot do why because you’re incorporated. And even if you’re a nonprofit corporation, you’re a child of a bigger corporation like, see, there’s state.

The state is incorporated. And all the businesses that people have, most everybody when they start a business, first thing you do is get incorporated. The reason to get incorporates because it keeps you personally, supposedly, from being sued. So there’s protection for you. There’s the possibility of longevity. You can, the perpetuity, you can keep going. So there’s advantages, but there’s also disadvantages. Because see, as soon as you incorporate, now the state allows you and you go in the business with the state.

So now you get to share some of your profit with the state so they get the right of a return because of your investment, your work. So eliminate all of your work, the expenses, and whatever’s left over, they want a part of the profits. So then the state has now the right to regulate all corporations. Majority of all people in America now work for what? Corporations. And they all are required to take out with holdings and to pay. And so it’s one big gigantic trap and you can’t get out of it.

Now you can deny and try to hide and things like that and then people do that. And you can do that and get away for a while. But then you’re always living in fear coming after me, that coming after me, that coming after me. So now you live in fear. So is there a way out of all of this? Yeah, there’s a way out of all of this called the Rapture. So I do look forward to the Rapture coming.

But anyway, individual households and businesses can be assured that taxes will be cut not raised while we pay off our national debt by eliminating the energy department, Commerce Department, Education Department, and hundreds of unnecessary and overlapping commissions that harass and limit private enterprise. You remember when never Dobb Ronald Reagan became president he said this, I am going to eliminate HEW health education and welfare. But he couldn’t get the Congress to go along with it. But that was his goal.

And then he called it couldn’t eliminate it. You got to feed it. And it’s a monster. And it grows. It’s hungry. So now Congress has to spend all the time trying to feed these little monsters. Years ago, they had great big debates about starting these things like Social Security. And how small it was going to be. And it’s only for a few people to help them. Alright, you started a pyramid scheme. It’s okay when you get old enough and you get to get your social security.

But eventually it becomes top heavy because after a while you’ve got more people taking out of it than it’s putting into it. And the money that has already been put into it has already been taken out of it. It’s on the verge of collapse. But nobody would want the government to stop. And you know what’s happening like over in Greece and why they’re having riots in the street? It’s because the government promised them and now they want the government to pay up and the government don’t have any money.

What’s gonna happen in America when all these senior citizens and people can’t get their money and there is no Medicare and there is no Social Security, there is no healthcare because it’s all collapsed and all your savings are gone. You don’t own your homes. It’s going to be a dark day in America. What would people do when they really get hungry? You see, the spiritual problem in America is because, see, when you don’t stay close to the Lord and do things God’s way, you have a natural built-in, all sinful nature that’s filled with greed.

And there’s people who are finding every way possible to rip off somebody. to get something and it’s happening in Washington, the insider trading stuff, the very ones that passed the laws, got inside information and they know what to do, land to buy, decisions to make and what funds, all these things because see, they make the law. And isn’t it a shame that lawyers make the laws that you can’t understand so that you have to hire a lawyer to understand what the lawyer put in the books.

It’s self-perpetuating. They make more money. I think that not one lawyer ought to be able to be elected to office. No lawyers, because it’s a conflict of interest. about it. It’s laws and they word them in such a way that they become a little traps and that’s why well go ahead and pass this bill and then you can find out what’s in it afterwards. That dog won’t, huh? Let me just mention this to you before we quit here. You have some difficult days ahead that will require an adjustment by us all.

Nevertheless we see a bright future after a few years of sacrifice. This administration will keep you informed since you are the boss. You fund our world travels and generous salaries as you do for all federal employees. This administration takes our job seriously. Therefore, we promise that any further bills that come to the Oval Office, and of course I’m the president, must meet five criterias to qualify for passage. It must be constitutional. It must be necessary. We must be able to afford the proposed law, it must not expand government and limit individual liberty.

The last criteria is that it must not undermine the family, decency, and general morality. Now don’t that sound reasonable, but you know that won’t pass because that would restrain government and what they want to do. And people can understand that the Constitution, our Bill of Rights that we have, are the chains that our founding fathers put upon Congress saying this is what you can’t do. There’s a limitation of power and the things that they’re doing, they have no authority to do.

And And what I haven’t yet understood is where is the rebellion of the people that regardless of what they say, regardless of what they pass, the people said, no, and we will not do it. To be able to look Congress in the face, pass all the laws you want to, we said no, and mean no because there’s consequences to define this powerful government. If you think that these candidates that are running and you see how they can go back and dig up dirt.

You sneezed when you were two years old. They got it. And it doesn’t matter. And they will take and destroy you, or you’ll find yourself in a prison someplace. I have friends, people that I know that have been placed in prison because of their defiance of the federal government on certain issues. And they paid a price. I was with Dr. Greg Dixon, and in the Annapolis up there when they took his church away from him. And it wasn’t because they did anything wrong, because I was doing the same thing he was doing.

And so it was a lot of other churches. We had Christian schools. They had a Christian school. We told our people, you’re responsible for your own taxes, but the church does not become a tax collecting agency for the federal government. So they came in on their church and took it, sold it, took their church away from them. And it was a huge church about number seven in America in size. And I’ve been with Dr. Dixon a lot of times, but that happened right here in America.

I was up there in, placed in Nebraska, wherever at Sullivan had a Christian school. And he had to go to the judge because they were closing down their school. fathers were placed in jail. Told they had their kids in a Christian school, in a Baptist church. And they stood there and argued that this government has no right. He says, what is the name of your church? He says, faith Baptist church, what’s the rest of it? He says, comma, ink.

He says, you’re a corporation. You’re a corporation. You follow in the laws of the state. we can and we will. He said, well, these children don’t belong to you. They belong to the parent. He says, thank again. I mean, it’s just in courtroom. It’s all document. He says, do you have a marriage license? He says, yes, the state gave you permission to get married. Those children belong to the state. The kids, that’s why it’s called a human resource. Children belong to the state and you thought they were yours.

And that’s why they can tell you in sooner or later, that all these things, they’re going to tighten these nooses on the churches, on the families, on the children. They’ve got all the decisions already made. They’re just waiting for the right time to impose it when they think they can get away with it. And they keep testing to see what can they do and see what the outrage will be. And what will they do because of this or that and the other?

There’s a plan on. I don’t believe in all the, every time something happens there’s a, you know, a sinister theory behind things, but I do believe the devil is alive and the devil is working. And I believe that if you love the Lord, we should put the Lord first and do what God wants us to do regardless of the consequences. But there is a possibility that down the road we could have severe consequences. me give you my last statement.

Don’t doubt there are need jerking all across America. Left ones of course. And those people can cast their vote for new leadership and these policies in the next election. Till then learn to live with it, I am your President and will do as I have promised and may the God of the Bible bless America. Finally, during this Christmas season when we honor the birth of Jesus Christ who died to provide a way of salvation for centers. May I wish the best for you and your family, good night to everyone and so forth.

A friend of mine that I’ve been in a lot of meetings with named Don Boyes, he wrote that and sent that to me. I know I read that a lot of good points on that. Of course, I changed a little bit on it. But anyway, hope you have a wonderful election this year and honor of the Lord. But you still have a responsibility prolong our freedom as long as we can. Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness or a property. We should vote for the person that will preserve our life or our liberty or our pursuit or our property, the longest.

We all know we’re going to die one of these days, but we’re not dead yet. I’m so a citizen of this country. And I got responsibilities and I think that I oughta do the best I can with my decision. So glad to have you here. I realize you may never come again. But I love you. I love America. I love the Lord. I love his word, but whether we ever change anything in this nation, I want you to know how to go to heaven.

So let me tell you the best news in the world. Letting this hand represent you and me, the wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. God says that he loves us. Now he hates our sin, but he loves us. But because we’ve all sinned, we have to pay for it. And that payment is eternal separation from God in hell. God, he doesn’t want us to go to hell. He wants us to go to heaven. And to go to heaven, you have to be perfect.

His righteousness has got, none of us are perfect. None of us are good enough. We’re all sinners. We’ve all come short of God’s perfection. But God says, you can’t earn eternal life. You can’t work your way to heaven. So how you live doesn’t determine where you go, because you’ll never live good enough to go to heaven. That’s why you need a savior. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us, but he hates what we do wrong.

And he says, our sin separates us from the Lord. So Jesus Christ, who had no sin didn’t have to die. But because he loved us, he took our sins, paid for them on the cross, came back from the dead. God said that if we would believe that he did it for us, he would put the payment he made to our account and we get to go to heaven on what he did. No, we don’t deserve that, we didn’t earn it.

He says, by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourself, it is the gift of God. It’s not a works list any man should boast. So salvation, it’s free. You don’t have to stop something or join anything. All you have to do is trust Christ as your Savior. So right where you’re sitting, right now, the quietness of your mind, the Lord knows who you are, knows what you’ve done, knows what you’re gonna do. Still loves you. And He said He would give you as a free gift eternal life if you simply trusted Him.

Will you trust Jesus Christ right now as your Savior? Would you trust Him to take you to heaven when you die? God said if you believed that He did it for you, He would save you right now. Let’s pray, shall we? If what I said this morning made sense to you about how to have eternal life and go to heaven, would you trust Him right now? I want you to trust the Lord. I really do. I want you to go to heaven when you die.

But right where you’re sitting, So yet, it makes sense to me and I want to be certain. Is there anyone at all before we close? Our Father, we thank You so much for all that You’ve done for us, for the free gift of eternal life. And I pray Lord, Your blessings upon each person here and each family. We ask Your blessings upon our country, help us to do right. 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 are 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 toll free, 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. 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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I appreciate you all. Got a few things I want to share with you today Since there’s an election going on I Guess it’s just appropriate to see a few words And you know, I don’t tell you how to vote come close Give you a few ideas But I think it’s important for the times in which we live Take your Bible and turn to the book of Jose, you know like Jose. Can you see? Hose chapter 4, chapter 4, you’ve heard me make this statement over and over and over again, well if I was the president and a lot of time I’ve said I should have ran for president.

Well, I didn’t. But I do have some thoughts. But here in the book of Hose in chapter 4, it talks about God’s sinful people. And he tells them why they are so simple. Why are they having all the problems that they’re having? Well, you see in verse 6, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. They don’t know truth. All the problems that we’re now facing in America, When you talk about all the banking problem that’s going on over there in Europe and afraid that we’re gonna follow the same line as Greece and others I do believe this That we have those in our administration that are gonna do everything they can to bring down This country bring down the economy they want it destroyed so they can remake it the way they want.

Now in the book of Jeremiah where the Lord says I will root it up and then he’s going to rebuild but that’s the Lord and he’s doing that to the nation of Israel and they’re going to allow it to take place in the tribulation period where God will allow the He the nations to so humiliate and come close to annihilate in the nation of Israel that their only hope is the Lord and He has them then right where He wants them.

See, I don’t believe that God has America where He wants us yet. I believe He’s working on it. You see, God doesn’t want to exalt us. He has yet to humble us and get us to where we need to be. If you listen to those that are seeking the nomination, they’re always talking about how we’re going to fix things. We’re going to fix things. We are going to fix the employment. We’re going to fix the national debt. We’re going to fix the Medicare and Social Security and everybody getting hospitalization.

We’re going to fix all these problems. We’re going to fix our dependency upon foreign oil. We’re going to fix that and fix the banking problems and financial institutions and fix our trade with China and other countries. We’re going to fix all these problems. Everybody’s listening to who’s going to fix it. Who’s got the best fix it plan? Well, I Do believe that few will admit But as a nation we are a sin sick nation Our problem is sin Our problem is because we have lost our morality and Therefore, God will not bless us and all these other things are simply a symptom of another problem and That problem will be fixed when people get right with the Lord.

I’m not sure I see America ready to Submit themselves to the authority of God The move is on to strip every vestige of Christianity from our society. And that’s what the move is on attacking even religions and what the President of the administration does. Some people see this, some people haven’t got a clue what’s going on. And it is to pit one group against the other until we have infighting. About a year or so ago, maybe two years ago, I told you it won’t be long before we have civil disobedience, and it’ll turn violent.

Just wait and see. I believe it’s just part of a plan for somebody that doesn’t love our country or our Constitution, our Bill of Rights. And in so many words have said just that. They don’t like it. They don’t like the restraints that it puts upon them because they can’t get something done that they want to, want to say they got to destroy it and they’re going to try to teach the people to want a change and change the document altogether.

But anyway, those are just a few of my humble opinions, but I want you to look there and also in Hosea chapter three and look in verse three. And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days, Thou shalt not play the harlot, and Thou shalt not be for another man, so will I also be for thee. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, without a prince, and without a sacrifice, without an image, without an ifoden, without a terrarium.

In other words, there’s not going to be a temple. There won’t be the sacrifices. There won’t be a king. In any verse five, afterwards shall the children of Israel return. Seek the Lord their God and David their king. Now they’ve gone back to the land, but they’re not seeking the Lord. They’re not seeking David their king. They’re back in unbelief. God hasn’t finished with him yet. And then he says, this will take place in the latter day. Now look in chapter four.

Chapter four is that here the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord hath a, and you ought to underline this, were a controversy with the inhabitants of the land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the land. So there’s five little things that are mentioned in these following verses. One is there is a spiritual decline, a spirituality climb, which is what we’re facing in America. When you’re not right spiritually between you and the Lord, then they will become a moral decline because then where is the restraints upon dignity upon the honor of another individual?

Because you see what’s going on today is a dishonoring of individuals. Men dishonor women by having sex outside of marriage. Women with women and men with men that’s all dishonoring to each other. Doesn’t honor God doesn’t honor each other. Most husbands that they do not honor their wives and the wives don’t honor their husbands. Kids don’t honor the parents, don’t honor the kids. You see, when you do not have a spiritual basis, a foundation, then you’re not going to have the restraints upon morality because then it’s do whatever you want to do.

So then you have to change laws that justify whatever it is you want to do. That’s why they want laws to see that you can have abortions, change the law. All these things is because people have lost their spiritual foundation. Then there’s nothing to hold them morally. And then the third thing is it becomes an operational decline. Nothing that we try to operate will work. It doesn’t make any difference. It’s Medicare or Social Security or the National Health. Everything causes a decline because everyone begins losing their freedom.

When you have Social Security, you will lose some freedoms. You have Medicaid, you’ll lose some more freedoms. And when you have the health care program and talking about, you’ll lose some more freedom. Everything is designed for government to grow and for you to lose more of your freedoms. And this is why our country was founded because our founding fathers saw Britain trying to do that to America when they try to tax the tea. That’s why they call these people today the tea party.

They’re rising up. They don’t like what’s being done. But some of them are not spiritually minded. They still don’t have the right morality. They’re not spiritually connected to the Lord. They want their freedom so they continue doing what they’re doing, but they’re just a few years from going down the same road that everybody else goes down. You see, you’ve got the Democrats and you’ve got the Republicans and then you’ve got the Tea Party, but they’re all moving in this direction unless you’re anchored not just to the Constitution.

You’re going to be anchored in the Bible. My people are destroyed for a lack of Bible knowledge, not just knowledge, spiritual knowledge. And this is why we have to have people today that learn the Word of God. And so there’s a decline. There is a humility decline. What it means is because people have exalted themselves and begin to think, I think our solution to our problem is in the White House. Our solution is not in the White House. It’s not in the House of Representatives.

It’s not in the Senate. They’re not our answer. All we’re going to do is just replace them with somebody else, and if they still don’t have the spiritual basis of why they do what they do, they simply will pass more laws. All we’ll do is just maybe prolong the agony. America is going down unless it’s going to be a spiritual revolution in this country. Not just a revolution, but they’re planning on a revolution. Remember this, it is the Democrats who think you ought to give up your guns.

The Republican says no we’re not. So they need to understand this. And I would love to be able to just look in Obama’s face and say, pass any law you want. Senate pass any law you want. House of Representatives pass any law you want. And it doesn’t matter what the Supreme Court says. We the people that have the guns said no. And there’s a time that there’s gonna be a line drawn in the sand and bloodshed is gonna flow in America.

Because see, it’s not gonna be based upon the ballot. It’ll be based upon the bullet. There’s still gonna be some people in this country going to say they’ve had it up there here and they’re going to take matters into their own hands. And say I would rather die fighting for my liberty than trusting a bunch of nuts that don’t understand what freedom is all about and why we should have freedom. I’m not interested in fighting for freedom so that people can just live the way they want to and take away the freedom of the people that’s died so that they can have freedom.

They dishonor every veteran that’s ever fought in any of our wars sitting in the White House or in Congress and voting to destroy this country by the things that they do and turn us into a country that our founding fathers fought not to become. And they didn’t want them to rule. So if we didn’t want them to rule us from the outside, why in the world would we want them to rule us from the inside? It was just my humble opinions, And the results of pride is total collapse.

And that’s where we’re headed, total collapse. If you know the Bible and believe the Bible at all, you know it’s only a matter of time. Because you know the tribulation period is coming. We’re not going to build a utopia up on this earth. It’s not going to happen. And you don’t have to worry about the Amaiian calendar. It’s not going to end into this year. I’ve already read the Bible, and it was written before the Mayan calendar. And it said, if the rapture took place today, we still got seven years of tribulation and another thousand years on top of that.

So they can stick it in their ear. I believe the book. And I don’t have to worry about all this other junk. But I want you to see this. In verse one he says, for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. Because there is no truth, nor knowledge of God, nor knowledge of God. The problem is they didn’t think about what God says. Is that where America is today? Nobody cares about what God says. Get him out of our schools, get him out of our universities, get him out of the Constitution, amount of our land don’t want no prayer and trying to minimize the impact of the church.

You know years ago, if people needed help along the way, they went to the church. Church looked after the old folks. That’s even in the scripture. And it didn’t matter what the problem was. People went to the church, but then people gave their money to the church. You see, you’re going to look for your help from wherever you give your money. give your money to the federal government, then you expect the federal government to take care of everything. Now, people don’t need the church.

But what if government didn’t do all of those things and let you keep your own money, and then you went to a church where people that know you and love you, and then when you have a hard time, people can stand behind you. But see, when people give their money to the government, they don’t give it to the church. Church can’t help people. They have stripped the church of its power because people don’t go. people don’t even know each other.

People don’t love each other, and yet we still have at times we have people that are always calling us, wanting us to help them. And the church don’t have the funds to do so why? Because everybody’s given it to the government. And the government can’t give you anything until it takes it from you first. And then it always gives you less back than what it took. Because they’ve got to be able to live off of all that work they’re doing, giving it to you.

where they would have been better off if you just kept it and eliminated that middle band. But this is, I know it’s too simple. It’s got to be more complex than this. But I can see things, I think clearly simple. But look what he says here. Look in verse 5, therefore shout out, fall in the day and the prophet also shall fall with the end the night and I will destroy thy mother. And then he says in verse 6, He says in verse six, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge and you ought to underline this word because.

What is that? Because thou hath rejected knowledge. I will also reject thee. That thou shalt be no more preached to me. Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God. I also will forget thy children. You see, God expected the priests to do the teaching of the Word of God. They didn’t teach the people, so the people didn’t have the discipline to do what they should. And so because of that, they wouldn’t bring their money to the priest, to the storehouse.

So now they don’t have. So they become crooks, thieves. Now you had to pay for things, and they were wicked individuals and wicked leaders. They weren’t the pastors that God wanted them to be over their people. And He says here in verse 7, as they were increased, so they sinned against me. You ought to underline this next phrase. Therefore, while I changed their glory into what? Now America has been a glorious nation, a wonderful country, and we were great because we were good.

And when people do things because they want to do them, we help people because we want to help people. Well, God change the glory and to shame. Verse 8, they eat up the sin of my people, they feast on it. And they set their heart on their iniquity. There shall be like people, like priests. Monkey see, monkey do. Now we’ll punish them for their ways and reward them their doings. they shall eat and not have enough, they shall commit boredom and shall not increase because they have left off to take heed to the Lord.”

See, when you see what he’s saying here, when you’re not right with the Lord spiritually, boredom comes which is your morality. And when the morality goes, then you don’t teach the truth to the generation that’s coming up. And so everybody rebels and then total collapse eventually. See there in verse 11, Hordam and wine and new wine take away the heart. And buddy, this is descriptive. See, that’s why you read the Old Testament to find out what God says and how God dealt with the situation.

He had also made a promise to Israel. He says, you show, if you listen to me, you’ll be the head and not the tale. See the dog is supposed to wag the tale. The tale is not supposed to wag the dog. And what he says is, when you rebel against me, he said, I’ll put a yoke of iron upon your neck until it destroys you. He says, and you will be the tail because somebody else is going to pull the strings.

And America is going to get to the place where we are so indebted to others outside of our country, they’ll be able to pull the strings that says what we can and cannot do. We’re not far from that now. They’re borrowing billions from a place like China. Can you believe this? And the borrower is servant to the lender. We’re losing an awful lot. But anyway, I told you that I would run for president. So when I get through, I want you to nominate me.

My fellow Americans. I’ve never heard that before. My fellow Americans. Well, that sounded like Nixon, Richard Nixon. Let me be perfectly clear. Some of y’all have a memory and can remember a few things. Now, I want to try to get through this if y’all will stop all this now. I started it all. My fellow Americans as of today, I will lead this nation to implement the following principles, policies and practices. At home and abroad, this nation will follow a new foreign policy that will solve the problem of terrorism.

We will return to our roots and follow the wise advice of our Founding Fathers. We will no longer get entangled in foreign alliances. We will no longer meddle in the affairs of other nations nor consider ourselves the policeman of the world. We will always consider first our national interest. We will not presume that we know best for all countries. What may be best for us may not be the best for them. You see, you don’t want other countries in fight dying so that they can have democracies without the foundation that produces a Republican form of government.

A Republican form of government is only good for a Christian people. You understand what I’m saying? Our Founding Fathers knew this. So just because you have a democracy, majority rules, that’s the worst form of government that they have because it leads into socialism and communism and all the other isms and spasms. Since America has been attacked by Muslim fanatics, we have aggressively gone after those responsible. However, we will no longer try to topple governments and set up democracies. Of course, we will always encourage liberty everywhere.

We will not carpet bomb cities filled with innocent civilians. We do not believe total war is morally right or militarily justified. However, be assured that those culpable individuals will be punished at a deterrent than others. Of course, if you are attacked by a nation, that’s a wipe mouth. Anyway, Americans don’t hate Muslims or anyone else since it is wrong and unproductive to hate. However, we will no longer plead with Muslims at home and abroad to love us. We will no longer express guilt and self-loathing.

Federal officials will no longer try to prove that Americans are not racist. It is up to the Muslims to prove they are not terrorist. I have worded the Department of Homeland Security that no traveler will be mistreated. However, since all the attacks against us have been young Muslim men, we will do the reasonable thing in profile air travelers. The harassment of little old ladies, very young people and handicapped persons will no longer be our practice. We will still be to terrorists with special attention to those of Middle Eastern appearances.

You mean you believe in racial profiling? You got that right? Yes, I do. If nobody was doing this but little Chinese, Well, here comes some down the line and so you pull out some old grandmother and the little Chinese goes, wait a minute, something’s wrong with this reasoning and they want to be politically correct. I don’t. Then anyway, as we’re moving right along. Moreover, I have authorized the use of troops on our southern border to secure that border and arrest fingerprint and photograph each illegal alien before he or she is deposited forth with back to Mexico.

When he second offenders will be imprisoned and put to work on a Texas or an Arizona work or chain gain. You say you don’t believe in putting people on a chain gain. My daddy worked on a chain gain in America. Did he deserve it? Yes. I have the papers for my daddy attempted murder several times. I watched him one time. He was trying to kill a couple guys. He always had these overalls and he carried a big ol’ switch blade.

And you taught him in the west when they could fast draw. He was just that fast with a knife. And he’d hit that thing and jump out there and he’d hit that little button, that blade jump out there like that. But anyways, furthermore, any American firm that knowingly hires a neo-legal alien will be heavily fined following the second offense that business license will be revoked. Furthermore, as of today, we have shut the welfare window. No more foreign age to any nation, you realize you’re given a couple billion dollars a year to Egypt.

And Obama wants to hurry up and give it to him. There’s something wrong with this. Something wrong with this. You remember when Carter became the president and Iran took some of our people hostage and they didn’t get free until Ronald Reagan became president? And the reason is because they knew Carter wouldn’t do anything and Reagan would. The only reason Egypt is doing what they’re doing right now is because they know that Obama won’t do one cotton picking thing. Now he may do something a little bit later because he heard me.

But if we had a president, they wouldn’t dare touch an American because they knew what would happen. It’s because they see us as weak and the reason is we are. We need a spinal transplant. America has lost its backbone. Yeah, we have some. We may decide in the future that it is in our best interest to help some nations, but it will be temporary and as unusual as snow in July or freezing weather in Tampa. We will also start bringing our troops home from all over the world.

They will be sent to foreign nations only in the event of a declared war by Congress, not by the President. Congress is the only one who has the authority to declare war. Anyway, I just thought that out there. This is not isolationism, but is an America first policy. Any other policy is insane. Japan, Germany, the other 20 nations where our troops are now stationed should learn to protect themselves. See, we’re on the hook for protecting all these nations and sometimes they prosper and America is paying for their defense.

Now, I do believe it’s It’s good to have bases all over the place, a few bases, but not 120 bases. As to the Middle East, we don’t know what is best. Israel has been a long time friend of the United States. We will support their right to exist within secure borders and support their right to defend themselves against those who want to drive them into the sea. We will not support a Palestinian state carved out of Israel, but would support a separate state if it is carved out of the surrounding Muslim dominated nations.

They got more room. It’s about 50 Arab nations and they don’t have room for those people there in Palestine. Isn’t that a shame? As to our reliance on Middle East oil, we have already started drilling in Alaska because if I was President, that’s what I’m doing. The Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of California and will immediately expand the mining of our vast coal supplies. We will try to be sensitive to the environment. However, I believe that people are more precious than plants or bugs or snakes or fish or spotted owls.

Our drilling equipment, you know, I just might do away with the EPA too. Yeah, I might just do away with it. Our drilling equipment may cause a caribou here and there to abort her young or a bear may may send its rear end on the pipeline, but we will live with those tragedies. American oil will flow. Moreover, of course, we will still buy oil from South America and even Middle Eastern nation. However, we will not buy oil from states that support terrorists.

They can pour their excess oil over their pancakes each morning. Or drink 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. Part two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. 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 toll-free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. 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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for a Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. And God says eternal life is a gift. And some preacher says that you have to do something to be saved. Do you think God’s pleased with somebody saying God had said? And God said I didn’t say that. So God is going to judge them. And you and I don’t have to worry too much about it, but you better be able to defend yourself.

And to say that what they’re saying is wrong, because he’s not to do so, he says rebuke them like Michael had to rebuke the devil over the body. You didn’t argue with him, he just said, the Lord rebuked thee, because the day is coming when he is going to deal with all of these people. But look what else he said. In verse 16, he says, they are murmurs, complainers, walking after their own lust, and their mouths speaking great swelling words, having men’s person in admiration because of advantage.

Did you know that whenever you study, for example, 2 Thessalonians, Second Peter, second Timothy. The seconds are always a book about the false teachers. The seconds. And so you have God warning the people about all these false teaching and that God’s gonna deal with them. So he told Timothy, he says, study the show thyself approved unto God. He also told him and says, in doing this thou shalt save thyself and them that hearer thee because there’s people with a false message and they try to teach and they’re influencing and people need to be delivered from that.

So you need to know the truth so you can protect yourself and those that you know and love. Because if you don’t know what’s wrong with what somebody else believes, you might believe it. The reason you need to know the Word of God is so that you can not only rightly divide the Word of God, but that you might be able to give an answer to those who ask you a reason why you have this hope. Why do you believe what you believe?

Because you see, when people ask questions and you can’t answer their question, their question, their doubts will become your questions and your doubts. And that’s why you’re supposed to read in the study, the word God. But he makes a statement here in verse 17, but they love it. Now see, there’s two groups of people we’re talking about here. This is written to those who do believe. Remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, and how they told us there should be mockers in the last time.

So is there any place where any of these guys told us anything like this? Well, I think so. Just look there in the book of 2 Peter, chapter three, 2 Peter chapter three. And look there in verse one. The second epistle, beleavened. I now write unto you in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of and your underline is worth. Remember, because you told them before telling them again. That’s why preachers don’t always try to teach you something new.

Most times they just need to go over the same thing you think you already know well and cover it again and again and again. They say theological, mousielege, well it’s kind of like throwing mud on the wall. the more that you throw in the wall, the more is going to stick. So here he makes the statement. In verse two, that you be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandments of us, the apostles, of the Lord and Savior.

So that’s almost like exactly what it said over there in the book of Jude, because he Jude was an apostle also. And he says, knowing this first, first, that there shall come in the last eight scoffers walking after their own lusts. In other words, they don’t really care about you. Every man who teaches works for salvation doesn’t really care about the person. Because it’s a damning message. It’s one that won’t save. They’re not helping anybody. Anybody who teaches works for salvation or that you can lose your salvation doesn’t help anybody because it’s a lie.

It’s a lie. So he says in verse four and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the Father’s fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of evolution. creation. He says he’s coming back. See, he ain’t come back yet. So people said, well, he must not be coming. I got news for you. He’s coming. He is definitely coming. But anyway, he says, this is what’s going to happen. There’s scoffers, mockers coming last days.

Did you know that today, whether or not it’s getting the Bible out of the schools, do you know that that’s mocking the Bible. Prayer out of the school. That’s mocking prayer. Don’t talk about God teach you evolution. That’s mocking God. Do we have people mocking what we believe today? Yes. And but is it getting better? Is it getting worse? It’s getting worse and worse. And it’s going to get worse. But the Lord has already told us all these things are going to take place.

And so just taking look there in the book of 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 3, he says this, no in verse 1, that in the last days perilous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous and boasters and proud and blasphemer, disobedient to parents, unthankful, ungodly, without natural affection. Boy is that going on or not. Truthbreakers, false accusers, traitors, Hitti, high-minded lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God. Check it out on Sunday morning and see how many people are at ball games and stuff instead of in church.

They’ve got a God. They’re worshiping their God. But anyway, having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof. And it says here, from such, join them and participate with them. Be just like them. No, it says, turn away. is to be a separation from the people of the world and God’s children. There should be a difference in how we think and how we live. All of this is mentioned in the book of Jude, and this is why it’s so important.

And then look down there in verse 13, but evil men, evil men and seducer shall wax better and better, worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But thou continue thou in the things which thou hath learned and hath been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them. In other words, contend for the faith. You contend for the faith. Don’t you stop, slow down, quit, don’t chase odd teachings and dreams and stuff like that. Just stay on course. Keep doing the right that you know to do.

And whenever you go over there to the book of 2 Thessalonians. And you’ll notice God talking about in the last days, in the last days. See there in verse 3, in the last days, letting no man deceive you in verse 3 of chapter 2, by any means. For that day shall not come, except there come a fallen away person that man of sin, the old antichrist, be revealed the son of predation, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worship, so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Remember ye not? See, they had told them, and then they go back and they tell them again. So don’t you remember? Don’t you remember? Don’t you remember? Remember it says in the book of John chapter 14 that I will go to my Father, but I pray that He will send to you the Holy Spirit that He may abide with you forever, and that the the Holy Spirit will be in you and teach you all things which I have said to you and bring all things to your remembrance.

So see you study and you put the Word of God into your mind and then you can depend upon the Holy Spirit to bring those things to your remembrance. And so that’s why sometime when you teach in the Word of God it talks about stirring up your remembrance. Turn up your mind. Do you remember who you are? Do you realize you’re a child of God. Don’t you know what you’re supposed to be about? Don’t you know how you’re supposed to live?

Don’t you know you’re supposed to be looking for Christ to come back? Don’t worry about what the world says. Don’t worry about what the world does. I as one little old bitty individual, I probably will never be able to affect the stock market. Now some people can say a few words and it goes up or it goes down. I can speak for days and days and days and it won’t affect anything. So nobody here’s what I think. Except maybe God’s people that want to serve a Lord.

So I know there’s some people, I’ll never be able to influence them. But I’m going to do what I can and influence whatever I can do. But he says here look at him first time even him talking about the old devil and he said who’s coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. With all deceivableness and unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.

For this cause God shall send him strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. You see the seconds books of the teas all pretty much talk about the same thing. And so go over there to the book of Jude again, the book of Jude. So a little bitty book, we’ve got a lot of things in it. And so he says here in verse 8 likewise, or likewise about the people who came out of Egypt and how that God dealt with the unbelievers, how he dealt with the angels, and how he dealt with those people in Sodom and Gomorrah.

And he also told us about those false teachers that he’s going to deal with. So if he’s right on all these other things that has happened, do you think God’s going to keep his word on the rest of it? He did everything else just like he said. So now in says in an illustration, And likewise, these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, speak evil of dignities. In other words, little respect for authority, little respect for what God has to say.

And he says, yet Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil. So if Michael contended with the devil, and we’re supposed to contend for the faith, you just might find yourself contending with the devil. few little demons alongside of it. Because remember, the devil is the father of the lie. It is the devil who have deceived the whole world. He has his own preachers, his own ministers, and they have their own doctrine. They got a doctrine on everything. There’s just a copycat of the truth, but enough of a lie to twist it just a little bit.

So that’s why they’ll have a false Jesus and a false gospel, a false spirit. They twist everything and they don’t know that the spin stops here. Not with O’Reilly, stops right here. This is anchored and there’s no spin here. And so he says in verse 10, but these speak evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally as brute beasts and those things which corrupt themselves. In the words they harmed themselves, but then harm others.

They don’t know the truth, and they don’t teach the truth. They can’t know the truth. They believe a lie, they teach a lie. They’re deceived, bein deceived, and deceiving others. And it says in verse 11, “…whoa unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and have ran greedily after the heir of Cain.” In other words, what was his bad deed, you know, this guy named Balaam? What did he do that’s so bad? He he was a prophet of the Lord and Be like wanted him to put a curse on the children of Israel.

He says I can’t do that and every time he said something It would be a blessing. I can’t curse the people He’s well, what can I do and he promised them all kind of you know, well He says all I got to do is get Israel to sin against God and God will deal with them so get those women to marry some of those people from the other nations there and you know, they’re wicked and and I’m gonna have to chase them.

Don’t that sound good? So teaching them to live in sin, to do the wrong, to the God’s people. And so they manipulated some God’s people, and God had to chase them. And God said, this is what they’re doing. They’re trying to get God’s people to do wrong. Did you know that there’s a devil that you can’t see? There are little demons that you can’t see. And they manipulate people to try to lure you, to seduce you, to try to get you to say and think and do things you ought not to do.

I always understand that the devil’s behind all of that. So you can’t see him, you just understand that. And so he says in the last part of verse 11, he says, for reward and perish in the gain, saying of course. Now there are several things that are mentioned here that goes into, there are three main things. And in your Sculpha reference notes are the three things that mentions this down there, verse 1 and 2 and 3. But it talks about three things that happen and you can read those things later on your own.

But let me just give you this, five dangers of an apostate. Number one, as you find in verse 12, they’re dangers as a sunken rock. It’s like there’s spots in your love feast. In other words, here you are. You love the Lord and you’re trying to demonstrate Lord and you all come together. And here comes these that don’t believe right. And they’re like a man in a white tuxedo and they got a big old black spot they just put on you.

And here you can be a church that loves the Lord and wants to do right. And lo and behold, here comes one person that just got to be that one little black spot. that causes everything to go sour. Good look down. It just robs it. Can a Christian even, can a Christian do the work of the devil? You bet your life they can. I’ve seen that happen a lot of times as he’s talking about right here. Now in verse 12 also, there is the deceptive as a hidden cloud.

And there’s just nothing but bags of wind. in verse 12, there are spots in your feast, or spots up on your white tuxedo, that kind of takes away from the love that you’re supposed to have. When they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear, clouds they are without water, clouds without water. It means you can’t quench your thirst. about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth. No life without fruit. Twice dead plucked up by the roots. This is God’s definition of what a false teacher is.

They can promise but they have, it’s all empty. Swelling words but there’s nothing there. It’s all vanity and vexation of spirit, I guess I could say along with Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. clouds without water, wind that you can’t see or understand, and no purpose. Just blow hard, just bags of wind, that’s all most of them are. The other thing in verse 12, they’re dead as a fruitless tree. Verse 13, disturbed as a raging sea, no peace, that what you call a troublemaker.

See the verse 13, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wondering stars to whom has reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Now, do you think these are saved people? To whom has reserved the blackness of darkness forever? Can’t be believers. And so when he says over there in verse 19, And these be they who separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit. So that’s what I would probably go with. And also in verse 13, doomed like a wandering star.

No orbit, no purpose. And God says this is the way they are. And so there’s false teachers and God says, contend with them. In other words, a shepherd is not to allow these wolves among the flock. So when I see or sense anybody who teaches something contrary to what I believe this book teaches, should I deal with it or just let it go? I will deal with it. And it won’t matter to me who I see it coming from.

Because I know that it’s possible that even a Christian can get down out of shape and teach things that they shouldn’t teach and be doctrinal and incorrect. I will always try first of all to win the person to what I believe the word of God says, but it’s not always possible. Now look in verse 20, verse 20, but ye belevered, hah, we’re still talking about God’s children, building up yourselves. You see to contend for the faith, you have to be strong in the faith and you need to build up yourself.

You see, a preacher can’t make you strong. I can only give you the tools, the verses, but I can’t apply them. I can’t make you believe them. You will be as strong in the Lord as you choose to be. Building up yourselves on your, your most holy faith. So as you learn the word of God, build yourself strong to believe it. And when God says, stay away from something, you stay away from it. When God says, don’t love this, don’t love that.

And God says, love this, love this. God says fear that, fear that. Whatever God says, that’s just what you do. You don’t give God orders, you just report for duty. So he says in verse 21, keep yourselves in the love of God. Now this is not for salvation, this is service. This is for you growing strong. See, God loves you. But do you keep yourself in his love by the things that you say and do because you want God’s blessings upon you, you want to be strong.

Did you know that God also has a part of anger about him? Now his love’s always there, but he might have to beat the tar out of you. Now if God will do this to all of these wicked people, don’t you think he might chasten his own children? I believe so. And if you look at 2 Peter, you might find something like that. But look what he says here in verse 22, I covered this not long ago. And of some have compassion, that’s love, making a difference.

And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, keep you from falling. It goes all the way back over there to where it says in verse 3, that you should earnestly contend for the faith because if you earnestly contend for the faith it’ll keep you from falling but if you don’t earnestly contend for the faith it’s because you fell.

So I got a little line in my Bible and I draw it all the way across my page. See most of my teaching I don’t have notes. Sometimes I do. Sunday morning I had a whole bunch of them because I don’t trust my mind. I trust the book and when I got it in front of me I can read. I can read all right but But there’s some things that you just need to mark in your Bible. And don’t be afraid of marking your Bible.

It’s not an undoddly thing. It doesn’t mean that you’re adding to the Scriptures. We understand that. So mark your Bible. Did you ever see Dr. Hank Lindstrom’s Bible? You probably know the pages of disintegrating. Because you read it and study it so long that that’s the way it gets. So it’s nothing wrong with you studying your Bible and marking it and cross-reference it. So yes, mark your Bible. Especially at this church, nobody is going to thank your ad into the Word of God.

But it’s just to help you to remember what the Word of God says. And then he says in verse 24, Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. You see the apostle Paul talks about this also that he wanted to present us faultless before the father In other words, it’s like I led you to the Lord and I’ve exposed you unto Christ and I want to present you to the Lord Now I don’t know whenever we get to heaven Do we get to present all those that we’ve led to Christ or?

These are the ones that I told them how to have eternal life and they trusted Christ as Savior and you want to present him to the I don’t know. There might be something to it, but I don’t know. I really don’t care. I just know that I want every person who listens to what I preach. I want it to make you more holy and more godly because when you get to heaven, I want God to richly bless you and I will be hurt if you robbed yourself while you were here and I didn’t say anything.

If I saw you doing something that’s gonna hurt that day, that moment, and I held back because well I didn’t want to hurt your feelings. It’s either I hurt your feelings now or you get hurt feelings there. So what do I want? It’s like not telling a lost man how to go to heaven because well after all, you know, I don’t want to hurt their feelings. So they go to hell and be in the flames of hell for eternity, but I didn’t want to hurt their feelings.

I think I’d rather run the risk of hurting their feelings here. So that I don’t hurt their feelings there. It says in verse 25 to the only wise God, our Savior. Wait a minute, are we talking about Christ? Is He God or is God the Savior? So Jesus Christ must be God. I mean that’s how I would see that. The glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. So over here in this one verse in verse four and denying the only Lord God, that’s really a reference to God as master.

Lord as master, that’s who he is. And over here when he talks about now and forever, he is to be the master of my life now and he will be forever. So you and I as we continue for the faith, why? Because the master said to do this. So you and I are not supposed to run from our responsibility. You and I are to study the word of God so that we can know how to contend for the faith.

Look up here. This is more important than anything else I’ve said. I want you to know this. I want you to know how to have eternal life. This hand represents you and me and the wallet represents sin. We all have sin upon us. And the Bible says that God loves us. He hates our sin, but he loves us. So I want you to know, yes, we’ve all done things wrong, but I want you to know God, he loves you.

And to pay for this sin, we are condemned. We are all guilty. And because we’re all guilty, we have a debt payment that we owe. So it’s not a matter of you and I turning from our sins, boy, it’d be great if we could. We have to pay for it, and the wages is death. But God loves us who wants us to go to heaven and to go to heaven. We have to be perfect just as righteous as God.

And none of us are perfect. None of us are righteous. We have all sinned and come short of God’s perfection. And God says that you and I cannot save ourselves. We cannot work our way to heaven by our own. good deeds. No amount of good works will ever take away our sins. This end represents Jesus Christ. He is the Lord, He is God and the flesh. He came into the world without sin, lived a perfect life, never did anything wrong, didn’t have to die.

But because of His love for us, He took all of our sins and paid for them in my place. So if He paid for my sins, Then I don’t have to. All I have to do. And all that’s required is that I believe he did it for me. So God says, if I would believe he did it for me, he would give me as a free gift of a lasting life. And I get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for me.

And he says that these things have been written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. So I know I have eternal life. I know that I’m going to heaven when I die. And it’s not because of anything that I’ve done. It’s all because of what Christ did for me. So if you’re listening, why not right now in the quietness of this moment? Just believe this. In your own mind, you can’t make a mistake this way.

Only the true and living God knows what you’re thinking. And He says, if you would trust Him, He would save you. All you need to do is believe that when He died and paid for your sins, came back from the dead, he did it for you. Would you trust him? Let’s pray, shall we? Lord, we thank you so much for all you’ve done for us. We thank you for the free gift of eternal life. And we thank you, Lord, for those who have trusted you as Savior and had a desire to contend for the faith, to build themselves strong, to walk the way they should, to have compassion, to love you the way you want us to.

Father, you said in your word that you would be able to keep us from falling. And that’s all of those that lean upon you and do what you say. And so Father, we know that we can never lose our salvation because our salvation is not in our hands. It’s in yours. And you said you’d never cast us out, never lose us, that we can know that we are going to heaven because of what you did for us. And Father, I pray that you bless each one and help them to understand and see how simple it really is.

Eternal life is a gift. And you said in your word for bike grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. I thank you for all you’ve done for us. Bless us in Christ and then we pray. Amen. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you are blessed by today’s message.

If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible Line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634.

Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

your Bible and turn to the book of Jude, the book of Jude. The book of Jude is a small book found here right before the book of Revelation and after everything it’s been said and done in all these letters to the churches we have a little book like this and it has mainly to do with contending for the faith. It’s been delivered to you, now contend for it. It means that if somebody says this and it’s wrong, we say what God says.

And it kind of says the Lord rebuke. You see there in verse 9, yet Michael the Archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses. They’re not bringing against him a railing accusation but said the Lord rebuked thee. So you and I are supposed to let the Lord rebuke you, but you used the Word of God in order to do that. So you and I are supposed to know the Word of God so that we can defend the faith and contend for the faith and being able to rebuke those who contest the faith.

In the book of Jude, you see the word Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ. Christ. Now, He was an apostle, but I guess it’s a sign of humility when you don’t, you know, brag about your position, but you submit yourself on just the servant of the Lord. Those that work around here, we’re just servants, that’s all we are. And no better than anybody else, you’re just a servant. It’s just you get a chance to serve in that capacity. And He is the brother of James.

Now James is the one who passed to the church there in Jerusalem and he probably was there when they had the council meeting with the Apostle Paul and others and Peter and different ones that all came together in Jerusalem. In the book of Acts chapter 15, when it says that there were some who were trying to teach that you had to add works to the gospel and putting people under the law saying that you had to keep the law to be saved or be circumcised to be saved and so forth.

So they had no small dissension among them, not among the depossal, but those who were teaching something that was wrong. And so there were those who said this, and so when they met there and then James told them, it says, we will not put any other burdens upon the disciples, except they’d not drink blood or be sacrificed to idols. And he says, but there were some who went out from us, but they weren’t all of us, as he says in the book of 1 John chapter 2.

So there were those who were not of them. Their doctrine was wrong. And so they were trying to infiltrate and say that this is what they’re supposed to teach and the Apostle Paul didn’t have the whole gospel, didn’t fully understand it. You wouldn’t have people that they talk about the full gospel. That then the full gospel means you got to add all the gifts and the healings and the miracles and all that stuff into it and the tongues speaking and all that.

And so there’s a group called today the full gospel businessman. Believe it or not, I even spoke at a couple of those. But anyways, we move right along. In verse 1, there’s an understanding here about Judas and Judah and Jude. It’s the same name, but it all refers to the same person. Now, when you read in the book of Matthew, it doesn’t break down and say, this is the Judah. There’s one called Judas is carry it, but there’s no one that’s taddeus, and that’s a reference to who he is here.

So if you look over there, Matthew, you won’t see that, but if you look in the loop You will find it and you’ll see his name mentioned there as one of the apostles the brother of James to them That are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Christ Jesus, or Jesus Christ, and called. So in this one verse there’s three things that just happen to those that have trusted Christ as their Savior. One, they are called, and they are preserved and they are sanctified, so I just kind of put down sanctified, secured, and separated.

So whenever you trust the Christ as your Savior, you are sanctified, made pure and holy, and set apart, believe it or not. And I love the word preserved. My mama used to make preserves. In other words, you would do that in order to preserve them. Well, when you trust the Christ as your Savior, believe it or not, you have been preserved. You are preserved forever once you trust Christ as your Savior. And so that means that you are saved and secure.

And you are supposed to, as we all know, separated unto the doctrines of the Lord. So there’s other doctrines out there. And the Lord says for us to mature in the Lord and not be swept along by every wind of doctrine that comes along. You cannot discern air if you do not know truth. So you study the word of God so that you can discern what’s not the word of God. And so that’s what he’s talking about here in the first verse.

Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. In other words, what God has for you is more than you need. God has more mercy for you than what you’ll never need. And he has more peace for you than you’ll ever need. And he has, as he says here, love. He has more love for you than you’ll ever need. In other words, I guess it’s just that grace is greater than our sin. It means it’s more than what we need.

So every day that you and I live, we should be thankful for the mercy of the Lord. And I spoke a little bit about this in the book of Lamentation in chapter 3, where it says that his mercy is sufficient and new every morning. So even though there is a special day that God hath made in this day, God has given to us mercy for this day. So it’s not going to be harder than what we can bear. And because of the goodness of the Lord, we can be thankful.

So God has given to us, and this is what we pray that people will understand that though you trust the Christ is your Savior, you’ve been saved and you’re secure, you’re to be separated unto the Lord and for whatever it is God has for you. So God has called you to this. This is what God’s calling is. So you and I are supposed to live a separated life that know what is acceptable to God and what is not acceptable.

And in verse three, what a verse. This is a small book, but is it a powerful book so much in this one little chapter? He says, beloved, so we know we’re talking to those that know the Lord and love the Lord and he says, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation. Now there’s only one salvation that’s common for all men and it’s the message of grace that God has loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever, believe it than him, should not perish but have everlasting life.

And you and I are supposed to be convinced that this message is complete and that we We don’t have to be waiting for or expecting some special divine revelation coming down the road to add to it like we don’t have all of it right now. It makes a statement here. It was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints. There’s no new revelations coming.

What we have is a complete gospel message and there’s nothing else needed. When Jesus says it is finished, it means there’s nothing else for a person to do. It’s done. And when He went to heaven, He sat down because the work was finished. And He says He hath by Himself purged our sins. All that we had to do was accept the payment Christ made on the cross for us. And he says that you are to contend for this faith.

And this faith is embodied in these most of the letters that have been sent to the churches that describe what is the faith. And it’s not just your salvation. It’s the whole realm of the Christian life. This embodiment of truth that God has delivered unto us, you and I are supposed to stand for that and contend for it. So whenever somebody teaches contrary to it, you’re supposed to know, is that right or is that wrong? And so you gain some discernment and you can listen and make a wise choice.

And as we were studied in the book of Romans in chapter 16, where it says in verse 17, Mark them which caused evasions contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and what? Join them? Avoid them. Avoid those that teach doctrines contrary. That’s why, for example, it’s not wise for a person who really understands the truth to go to a church and listen to a pastor who doesn’t believe like they believe. What if does not run uphill? It runs downhill.

No, we’re talking about the source of power. Those on the top usually influence those on the bottom down here. And so those down here are not supposed to go into a church and try to change that which is on the top. And that just leads to trouble and chaos. What you need is what you believe what the preacher’s preaching from the Word of God. And if you don’t believe what you believe, then you ought not go there. And I don’t support him.

And that’s why he says, come out from among them and be separate. You don’t stay in trying to change it. Don’t somebody trust the Lord and they’re in the Catholic church. Well, you don’t stay in the Catholic church and try to change the Catholic church. You’re not going to change the Catholic church. Or if you were a Jehovah’s Witness and you trust the Lord, you don’t stay in it and try to change it. Or if you’re a Mormon, you don’t stay in it and try to change it.

You get out of it and meet with those who believe the same way so that that you can become strong. Says in verse four, for there are certain men, Crep in unaware, not in underwear. Crep in unaware, who were before of old or deigned to this condemnation. Ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into less seriousness and in nine the Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, a lot of times people wonder what’s all this you’re talking about.

But as you read a little bit further, other verses will seek explain what he’s talking about here and these men of old and things like that. See it’s prophesied long time ago that even though there’s men who preach the truth and so the truth, there’s always going to be these other ones that are going to come along and sow air and try to teach air. It’s always been that way. Why? Look at there in verse 14. See in times past, he says, men of old preached and even warned about all these things and says that they are ordained.

This is what they do. They are purposed. They have a goal and it is to satisfy their own belly, their own desires and it’s always it’s in the flesh. It’s about the flesh and they don’t really care about you. They don’t love you and they simply make merchandise of the people. So he says here in Enoch in verse 14 the seventh from Adam prophesied of these. Say and behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly.

Or now go back there and look there in verse four. But there are certain men crapping unaware who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men that take what God says, the grace of God, and turn it into a license to sin. And that’s not of God, that is of the devil. And you’ll notice that in Genesis chapter 6, it makes this statement that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So grace was actually back there.

So he saw it and he understood. There was also somebody else preaching at that time, and his name was called Enoch. And Enoch was a preacher. And Enoch preached and told them that there were ungodly men, and that he put out a warning against these ungodly men. So when you read here in the book of Jude, as a warning about these people that come along and teach these things, and even as the apostles said, see there in verse 17, where he says, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So you have Enoch a long time ago and then not so long ago when this was written, because this was written about 62, something like that. And so you have the apostles that told them, and he says here in verse 18, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who would walk after their own ungodly lust. Verse 9, these be they who separate themselves sensual and you’re underlying these three words, having not the Spirit.

Now if any man have not the Spirit of God, He is not of God. If he doesn’t have the Holy Spirit, he’s not of Christ. It means he’s not saved. As I read this, of course, somebody else may read it differently, but this is how I perceive it to be. So he’s talking about these people that are unbelievers trying to teach and infiltrate and lead God’s people astray. Otherwise, why wouldn’t all of God’s children serve the Lord? Except it was for these preachers and teachers that teach all this air.

All of God’s children should believe the same thing because they’re hearing the same thing because all God’s preachers ought to preach the same thing. But lo and behold, not everybody does. And it makes it kind of hard upon people to know, well, I don’t know what’s right. So it brings confusion and it affects how a person lives. Well, the night they know the truth or they don’t know the truth. And so he says here in the last part of verse 19, having not the spirit, that means that they’re lost.

So he’s talking about these false teachers. So go away all the way back over to verse four again. For there are certain men, Crep and unaware, who were before of old or danger, this condemnation, ungodly men, and I would say in verse 19, they don’t have the spirit, they are not saved, that they are lost. Turning the grace of our God into last civishness, and denying the Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. So they have a doctrine of their own.

Remember the Bible tells us in the book of 2 Corinthians in chapter 11 verse 13, 15. And that says that the devil has his own ministers and when he has his own ministers, they’re ministers of righteousness, but man’s righteousness. And they are as angel of light and they deceive. And with their fair speeches and so forth, that says in the book of Romans, this is what they’re doing. Now look at verse five, verse five, I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterwards destroyed them, that believed none.

So there’s could be two and a half million people that came out of Egypt, but I believe that the Lord knows those that believe and those that do not. And God says he destroyed them, that did not believe him. So whether or not it’s talking about salvation or he’s talking about they didn’t believe and he destroyed them. And then he refers to the angels and what did he refer to about the angels? Well, they left their first estate and then they sinned against God and it says they’re placed into chains.

As he says here in verse six, he had reserved and everlasting chains under darkness onto the judgment of the great day. So can they do it and get away with it? So the Lord is letting us know that all these false teachers that teach all these false things that damn all these people because they don’t hear the truth. And like he told about the Pharisees, he says, you’re not going in and you won’t let others go in. And you have made two full of man the child of hell.

So then he says in verse seven, even as Sodom and Gomorrah. So all this is together about those who teach something that’s false. that are against God, those that are wicked. And you ought to hear how Enoch describes all of these people. Well, just look there. As he says there in verse 14, Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all. So we’re talking about God is going to deal with those that don’t teach and believe right.

So if you’re saved, Christ was your judgment. Aren’t you glad of that? He took your sins. But the lost man is going to have to answer to God. And God says he’s going to bring every one of them into judgment. And he says this in verse 15, to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

So do you think God knows all those people that spoke against him, that compromised his gospel or said things against his message? When God says eternal life is a gift, and some preacher says that you have to do something to be saved. Do you think God’s pleased with somebody saying, God have said and God said, I didn’t say that? So God is going to judge them. And you and I don’t have to worry too much about it, but you better be able to defend yourself and to say that what they’re saying is wrong because he’s not to do so.

He says, rebuke them like Michael had to rebuke the devil over the body. He didn’t argue with him. He just said, the Lord rebuked thee because the day is coming when he is going to deal with all of these people. But look what else he said. In verse 16, he says, they are murmurs, complainers walking after their own lust and their mouths speaking great swelling words, having men’s person in admiration. because of advantage. Did you know that whenever you study, for example, 2nd Thessalonians, 2nd Peter, 2nd Timothy, the seconds are always a book about the false teachers, the seconds.

And so you have God warning the people about all these false teachings and that God’s going to deal with them. So he had told Timothy, he says, study the show thyself approved unto God. He also told him and The Lord says, in doing this thou shalt save thyself and them that hear thee because there’s people with a false message and they try to teach and they’re influencing and people need to be delivered from that. So you need to know the truth so you can protect yourself and those that you know and love.

Because if you don’t know what’s wrong with what somebody else believes, you might believe it. The reason you need to know the Word of God is so that you can not only rightly divide the Word of God, but that you might be able to give an answer. answer to those who ask you a reason why you have this hope. Why do you believe what you believe? Because you see when people ask questions and you can’t answer their question, their question, their doubts will become your questions and your doubts.

And that’s why you’re just supposed to read and to study the word God. But he makes a statement here in verse 17, but they love it. Now see there’s two groups of people we’re talking about here. This is written to those who do believe. Remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ and how they told us there should be mockers in the last time. So is there any place where any of these guys told us anything like this?

Well I think so. Just look there in the book of 2nd Peter chapter 3, 2nd Peter chapter 3. And look there in verse 1. The second epistle belevered, I now write unto you in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of and you are the underlying this word. Remember because they told them before telling them again. That’s why preachers don’t always try to teach you something new. Most times they just need to go over the same thing you think you already know well and cover again and again and again.

They say theological, mucilage, well it’s kind of like throwing mud on the wall. The more that you throw on the wall the more is going to stick. So here he makes a statement. In verse 2 that you be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the Holy prophets and of the commandments of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior. So that’s almost like exactly what it said over there436 in the book of Jude? Because Jude was an apostle also.

And he says, knowing this first, first, that there shall come in the last eight scoffers walking after their own lust. In other words, they don’t really care about you. Every man who teaches works for salvation doesn’t really care about the person because it’s a damning message. It’s one that won’t save. They’re not helping anybody. Anybody who teaches works for salvation or that you can lose your salvation doesn’t help anybody because it’s a lie. It’s a lie. So he says in verse four, and saying, where is the promise of his coming?

For since the Father’s fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of He’s getting a revolution. Creation. He says he’s coming back, see he ain’t come back yet. So people said, well, he must not be coming. I got news for you. He’s coming. He is definitely coming. But anyway, he says, this is what’s going to happen. There’s scoffers, mockers, come in the last days. Did you know that today, whether or not it’s getting the Bible out of the schools, do you know that that’s mocking the Bible?

out of this book. That’s mocking prayer. Don’t talk about God, teach evolution. That’s mocking God. Do we have mocking what we believe today? Yes. And but is it getting better? Is it getting worse? It’s getting worse and worse and it’s going to get worse. But the Lord is already told that all these things are going to take place and take a look there in the book of 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 3. He says this, no in verse 1.

That in the last days, perilous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous and boasters and proud and blasphemer, disobedient to parents, unthankful ungodly, without natural affection. Boy, is that going on or not. Truthbreakers, false accusers, traders, heady, high-minded lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Check it out on Sunday morning and see how many people are at ball games and stuff instead of in church. They’ve got a God. They’re worshiping their God. But anyway, having a form of Godliness but denying the power, they’re up and it says here, from such join them and participate with them.

Be just like them. No, it says, turn away. There is to be a separation from the people of the world and God’s children. There should be a difference in how we think and how we live. All of this is mentioned in the book of Jude and this is why it’s so important. And then look down there in verse 13. But evil men, evil men and seducer shall wax better and better, worse and worse. Deceiving and being deceived. But thou continue thou in the things which thou hath learned and hath been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them.

In other words, contend for the faith. You contend for the faith. Don’t you stop, slow down, quit. Don’t chase odd teachings and dreams and stuff like that. Just stay on course. Keep doing the right that you know to do. And whenever you go over there to the book of 2 Thessalonians, look in 2 Thessalonians, and you’ll notice God talking about in the last days, in the last days. See there in verse three, in the last days, let no man deceive you in verse three of chapter two, by any means.

For that day shall not come, except there come a fallen away person, that man of sin, the old anti-Christ, be revealed, the son of predation, who opposes and exalts himself above all, that is called God, or that is worship, so that he as God sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not see they had told them and then they go back and they tell them again. So don’t you remember? Don’t you remember?

Don’t you remember? Remember it says in the book of John chapter 14 that I will go to my father, but I pray that he will send to you the Holy Spirit that he may abide with you forever. And that the Holy Spirit will be in you and teach you all things which I have said and do and bring all things to your remembrance. So see, you study and you put the Word of God into your mind and then you can depend upon the Holy Spirit to bring those things to your remembrance.

You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tapp of Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. 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 tool free, 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bible 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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. How much did this book do you think God wants us to know? How much do you think God wants us to study? Is it only those salvation verses? Or do you think that God wants us to put on the whole armor of God? To know the word of God.

Because you can be saved and know some salvation verses, but if you’re not strong in the other areas of your life, Satan will destroy you and you won’t be doing anything with your Christian life. You won’t be strong. There’s a lot of people who trusted Christ as Savior sitting on the bench Never doing a thing for the Lord for the rest of their life Because they don’t study the word of God Because they said well, I don’t need all of that.

I don’t need all of that then why did God write it? Why would he say in the book of Romans to study the Old Testament? Because he makes the statement that These things were written a fourth time for our learning that we may find out the things of God and how God works, and understand the God of peace, and the God of love, and the God of hope, and the God of joy. Because that’s why he always talks about, as it is written, and as it is written, and all of those verses are not salvation verses.

You can be strong on the clarity of the gospel, but be weak in your spiritual life, and you won’t amount to a hell of beans for God. You’re going to burn out. You won’t last because you don’t have the strength. There’s joy in the Lord and the joy of the Lord is your strength because of all these other things that you have to face. And there’s going to be a lot of trials and tribulations in life. Ephesians 2, 8, 9, they’re going to solve that problem.

You got to know other verses that will help you to be strong and nobody can do this for you. You must believe it. He will not fail the nor forsake thee. And Moses called unto Joshua and said unto him, In the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage, for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord has swore unto their fathers, to give them, and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.

And the Lord, he it is, that death go before thee. He will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee, fear not neither be dismayed. That sounds like pretty good encouragement top-down it. Why does he keep having to say fear not? Because we are afraid. Because it’s not the natural thing for us to just trust. Your new birth, yes, but you still got an old one to deal with. And that old nature that you have is always working against you, trying to get you to question and doubt God.

So you don’t want to fear, fear itself. Look there in Isaiah 41, Isaiah in chapter 41, Isaiah 41 and verse 10. It’s similar to what we were already looking at, but it’s important to see these verses. Look what he says in verse 10, fear, thou not, for I am with thee. You know, it seems like all the time he’s always tense. You know, don’t be afraid I’m with you. I’m your shield, I’m protect you. I will do this, I will, God says, you say, well I can’t see you God, where are you at?

It’s not a matter of you trying to figure out what God is, God knows where you are. That’s better. And you don’t have to see God, God can see you. That’s better. And just walk with him and trust him that he’ll do what he says. For I am thy God, I will strengthen thee, yea I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” So you have the verses in the Bible and they’re supposed to be able to sustain us as God says in his word.

Look in Psalms 55. Psalms 55, just a quick glance back there, Psalms 55. And look there in verse 22. Now this is a good verse that you should underline. It kind of reminds you of the book in Peter in chapter 5 and about the old devil that’s always after you know. And the Lord says, casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. See there in verse 22, cast thy burden upon the Lord. And he shall. What?

He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. He won’t permit it. If you will trust him and walk with him, you will stand. You see, as a Christian, you don’t have to fall apart. You don’t have to. The Bible tells in the book of Peter, heapons, But if you do these things, you shall never fall. You see, falling is a choice, and you don’t have to fall. You can keep serving God all the days of your life, but you’ve got to trust Him and lean on Him.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lay not unto thine own understanding, and all thy ways acknowledge Him. That means thank God. Acknowledge Him. And He might direct thy paths. He shall direct thy path.” He’s, well, how do I know if I’m on the wrong road? Can God direct you and get you back to wherever you want? You’re supposed to be. Trust the Lord. You see, I don’t have to worry about trying to make every perfect decision because I’m not perfect.

I have an old sinful nature and sometimes it gets in the way. But I trust the Lord to guide me in the mist because I know that He knows me. He knows my heart. He knows my motive. And I’m gonna trust Him to correct my path when I make an air in judgment. I believe He’ll straighten me out. I believe He can move and work in my life. I trust Him to do what I can’t do. And this is why the Bible talks about in the book of Romans in chapter eight where the Holy Spirit enters seeds for us.

Now, you can intercede for a lot of people. The Holy Spirit can intercede to God on our behalf. But there’s only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. So keep that in mind. But in this verse, I love it because it says, and he shall sustain. The cast might burden upon, do you have a burden? You have a problem. Something bothering you. Cast it on the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. You say, that means he’s gonna automatically solve all of my problems.

They didn’t say that. He’s just gonna sustain you in the midst of the problem and get you through it. But now, what if that doesn’t always work better way? Well, I know. But Hebrews chapter 13. Remember that beautiful little verse over there we looked at last week? I want you to look at it one more time. Hebrews in chapter 13. In Hebrews chapter 13 where it makes a statement in verse 5, let your behavior or conversation manner of life be without covetousness.

Be content with such things as you have, for he hath said, I and you, this is the part you need to underline, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And we read the verse in the book of Hebrews chapter 4 about coming boldly to the throne of grace that you may get all the help you need and the time of need. God wants us to do this. God is up in heaven and just waiting for His children to come to Him.

You be surprised what God has done to get your attention. Did you know that the hurt, the longing, the love that you have for somebody? Do you ever know what it’s really like to feel rejected and lonely? See, how do you think God feels? And there’s a God in heaven that’s doing everything he knows how. And he’s God to get us to walk with him, just to get us to talk to him. I wonder how God feels. We always think about how we’ve been, nobody knows how I feel.

Well do you know how God feels when we won’t go to him and cast our troubles upon him and Let him lead and God let him provide. And we worry ourselves all the time because we don’t know how God’s going to do it. So we’ve very easily fall out of faith and then to sight. But here in Hebrews in verse six, I want you to look in verse six. So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Can you really say I am not afraid of what man can do unto me? Careful. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Matthew. The book of Matthew chapter 10. I can chapter 10. I showed you this one time. Three times where Jesus had told his disciples to fear not. See there in verse 26? Fear not. See that in verse 28? Fear not. See that in verse 31? Fear not. I wonder why he has to say this over and over and over again.

You know who he’s talking to his disciples? You know what he just told him? Well, it’s over there in verse 1 of chapter 10 where he made the statement, and when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power, power over unclean spirits, power to cast them out, power to heal all men of diseases. And he says, now I’m not sending to the Gentiles, only to the house of Israel. He says, and when you go, if they won’t receive you, he says, you just kind of shake the dust off your feet judgment against them.

You ever seen a Jehovah’s Witnesses do that outside your house? And they think that that through burned to them. Where have they got it mixed up? But he says, as you do this and as you go, you see there in verse 14, whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words. When you depart out of that house or city, Shake off the dust of your feet. So it didn’t matter who you talked to or where you went. But wherever you go, whoever you talk to, if they do this, you do this.

So you and I, we trust the Lord to lead us as we go. But if you wait until the Holy Spirit tells you to go, you’ll probably wait forever. But you trust the Lord to open up opportunities as you go. You see, there’s no sense trying to steer a car when the motor’s not running, when it’s not going anywhere. When little Johnny gets up behind the wheel, I’m going to work on that.

I love sound effects. But they didn’t go nowhere, didn’t do anything. And a lot of Christians are just playing at the wheel, hitting a horn and hitting a brake, but the motor’s not running. They’re doing all the things that looks like you’re driving a car. You’re really getting somewhere. But the motor isn’t running. And there’s Christians that are not doing anything. They’re not going anywhere. Lord, I want you to leave. God, I’m direct. And they never do a thing.

If God ever did leave, God, I’d direct them. They wouldn’t have a clue. It’s like going into a grocery store and walking them to the manager. I want some groceries. Well, they got them on those aisles. You go up and down the aisle and you pick out what you want. When it comes to prayer, Lord just bless me. Be specific, tell them what you want. What do you really want? The Bible talks about open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.

Come boldly to the throne of grace. Come boldly to the throne of grace. Tell God what you want. If you think you really ought to have it, then you don’t let God go until you get it. And keep at it, and keep at it, and keep praying. Knock, and keep knocking, and it shall be opened. Ask, and keep asking, and it shall be given. Seek, and keep seeking, and ye shall find. Well, I asked them one time, 20 years ago, and they didn’t know, no, no, no.

Now, there’s a story in the Bible a person who went to see a judge. And the judge says, because of her persistence, antagonizing me. I finally gave in and gave joy. And Christ is the one that told the story about what you and I ought to do. You see, we quit too soon instead of talking to look. You know, there’s been times in my life when I have talked to the Lord all night long. I couldn’t sleep and I’d cry half the night because there’s things that I had to get and that I didn’t know what I was going to do.

And the Lord was real to me, but I knew that what I needed was beyond my ability to provide or perform. And I needed a miracle. I needed God to do something. There hasn’t been a lot of those, but I’ve had a few of them. You know Elijah didn’t have a miracle every day. He had seven. Elijah didn’t have one every day but he had fourteen. How many of you had lately? What have you asked God’s specifically for and God do it?

And you knew it had to be God. I want you to look at this now. He says they’re in verse 26, fear not, therefore, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known. So your and I are not supposed to be afraid of what somebody says or calls us and so on. And not in verse 28, and fear not them. Look at this fear not them which kill the body. Now I have trouble with this one.

So now Lord, are you sure you got this right? Maybe it’s not worded right. Maybe in the Hebrew and the Greek it means something else But look what it says Fear not them which have the power the ability to kill you Oh wait a minute God If somebody wants to kill me Aren’t you supposed to be my shield and my protector and they can’t do that to me? Did you know that God may allow someone to kill you? Are you saying that nobody can take a gun and put it to your head and pull a trigger and take you out of this life?

Are you trying to say that you don’t believe that you could die in a car wreck because somebody else did something stupid or foolishly? You most certainly can. Do we have military young men that go over there to Iraq or Iran and Pakistan or wherever? And many of them die? They can die. But we’re not to fear those that can take your life. But look at the last part of the verse. Fear him that can kill both body and soul.

You see, the one that can send you to hell is somebody to really fear. the man who can just take my body. There has been over the years multitude of God’s people that have died for their faith because they believe what God’s word says. And when they had to declare it’s either King Jesus or King Caesar, and knowing to say that King Jesus is King would mean they would be thrown to the lions. They’d be ripped as reds. And yet they were told, I am with thee.

I will not fail thee. You see, it’s the faith that you have in the Lord. It’s not all this other stuff that’s more important. What you need is always your trust in the Lord. Like the three Hebrew children that says, okay, we want you to understand that whether our God delivers us or not. We want you to know we will not bow, and they believe that God would sustain them until death. Now they could die in the lion’s den, they could die in the fiery furnace.

It didn’t matter. It’s that can you trust the Lord to sustain you until you’re no longer here? Doesn’t matter how we die. we die? Is it that you have your trust in the Lord until you die? That’s more important. Take your Bible and turn to the one verse that I want to show you. You’ve probably never seen this chapter before, but it’s 12th, the 23rd Psalm. 23rd Psalm. And look what he says here. And the 23rd Psalm is on page 6, 0, 9.

It says, the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord my shepherd, I shall not want. Want for what if he’s your shepherd? Isn’t it the shepherd’s responsibility to take care of the sheep? He makes it me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. That’s for my refreshment. And when he makes it me to lie down in green pastures, that’s because he’s beneath me. When he says, the Lord is my shepherd? Well, it’s because it’s not a program and it’s not the church.

It’s not the pastor. He’s the shepherd. I shall not want He making me to lie down in green pastures and leadeth me beside the still waters. He restored my soul because He is with me. He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake. See, at no time as you read any of these verses, has the Lord forgotten who you are. Now, Lord hasn’t forgotten His role. He hasn’t forgotten His promises. And we are like sheep. All sheep have gone astray.

And He says, in verse 4, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, always under the threat of death. Living in this world, as I mentioned one time before, in chapter 22 you have Mount Calvary, or Christ was crucified. In chapter 24 you have Mount Zion. Where Christ is going to come back and rule. Those are two mountain peaks. And now we’re in the valley between the cross and the glory. And as you and I live in this period of time, yay though we walk through this valley where we’re subject to death.

It says, I will fear no evil or vow art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. And those are the things that we use to protect the people. us and to meet our needs. All these things,” he said he would do for us. He says, for thou art with me, thy rod, thy staff, thy protection, thy supplies, staff of bread. There’s so many things you can get out of this. But anyway, he says in verse 5, thou prepared a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.

You have food to eat that the world does not know about. You remember when Christ and his disciples in the fourth chapter of the gospel of John where they went off into town and to get something to eat and he was there talking to the woman at the well and they came back and says, are you hungry? He says, no. He says, I got me to eat that you know not of. Was there something that satisfies me more than the natural food?

And they thought somebody didn’t got him something to eat, but he was talking about another world that that they did not understand at the time. He says, the opera pairs the table before me in the presence of my enemies, not the absence of the enemies. So you and I, we serve the Lord with the lions all around us. Sometimes in this life, we picture ourselves as though we were Daniel thrown into the lion’s den. I had some occasion in my life to feel like I have been thrown into the lion’s den.

And sometimes those lions didn’t seem like it was a board meeting. You can go to board meeting sometime and it seemed like, it’s like I got sick one time and I got this year get well card from the Deacon board. And it says, five, four against. But get this. He says, dawg prepares they table before me in the presence of my enemies. dawg, anointed my head with oil, my cup running over. I wanted you to see that one little phrase up here in verse four.

I will fear no evil. I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me.” I want to know who said that. Who said that? You see, God used David to write this. Did you know there was always somebody trying to kill David? Just seemed like they just never let up. I bet whenever he was just a little kid and he found out that he had been anointed to be the king of Israel. And then here’s this guy that’s the king trying his best to kill him.

So Lord, I don’t know how you’re going to work this out or when you’re going to work this out, but it seemed like there’s no end to it. He was always running and hiding, but God was protecting him. Don’t you think there were somebody down days in that man’s life? No, that he had done nothing wrong and yet he had to run for his life. And it seemed like all those that were against him. working out, living out in the middle of a desert, running and hiding.

But no, at the same time God brought to Him all the other vagabonds that didn’t have anything to live for, all the rejects, the misfits, the all kind of gathered around poor O David. And David became a leader of an army. God used those mighty men later. Great stories. I love them. Verse 6, Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. David knew where he was going, but he also knew that he was in the valley of the shadow of death.

He knew that the enemy was always present, and there was good reason to be afraid, but it is our fear and O evil, for thou art with me. Well, that’s good enough for David. Is that good enough for us? So anyway, God is good to us. He really is. But we don’t have to live our lives in fear. Look up here, this hand represents you and me. And the wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us.

Now, he hates what we do wrong, but he loves us. And the Bible says for us to pay for that sin is eternal separation from God in hell. But he wants us to go to heaven. But you see to go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God and none of us are perfect We’ve we’ve all sinned we’ve all come short of God’s perfection So God says you can’t save yourself You can’t earn it, you can’t work for it, you can’t buy it.

So, well, how can I get to heaven? Got some good news for you. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He used to learn God in the flesh. You see, God loved us so much. He sent His Son. And His Son came into this world and lived a perfect life, had no reason to die. But because God loved us, God allowed His Son to take our sins and pay for them on the cross and come back from the dead. So he died for us.

And God said it would believe he did it for us. He would put the payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us. Best news and all the world. So if you’re here tonight, let me encourage you. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, trust him. Do it now. Let’s pray, shall we? If you have not trusted Christ as your Savior, would you trust him right now. All that means is you’re going to take him at his word that he died and paid for all of your sins.

And you’re going to accept that death payment he made as yours. And God says if you’ll believe he did it for you, then he would give to you as a free gift everlasting life. And you can know that you’re going to heaven whenever you die, not because of any good thing you’ve ever done or ever will do. It’s because he loves you that much. He offers it to you as a gift and if you trust him as your Savior, he saves you and gives you the free gift So is there anywhere that I’ll say yes, that made sense to me.

I want to be certain of going to heaven when I die in preacher I will accept Jesus Christ right now as my Savior friend if you’re doing that I Like to know I’m not gonna embarrass you not gonna have you forward But right where you’re sitting you say that made sense to me and I will trust Christ as my Savior and and preach our life to pray for me in closing. Would you just slip in it very quickly and put it right back down?

Is there anyone at all? Our Father, we thank You so much for Your word, Your given us, Lord, we’re people that have limitations. We can’t see everything. We don’t know everything. Your ways are not our ways and Your thoughts are not our thoughts. So much we don’t understand. We’re in the dark about so much. Yet You want us to walk by faith day by day, moment by moment. Trust in you where we cannot see. Walking on water where we cannot see other steps where it leaves no trace.

And Father, we just pray that you’d help each one of us to look to you and to walk with you. Believing that because you’re God, you are our shield, our protector, that you’ll never forsake us, that you’ll always be with us. Low unto of the ends of the earth. Thank you so much for your word you’ve given us. Bless each one of you here in 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 are blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free, 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound and we will be changed. caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family. One of the things that hurts us in our Christian life, more than any other, I believe, is fear. One man made a statement during the Second World War that the greatest fear is just fearing fear, fear itself. You realize that we are afraid to be afraid. We’re afraid to be afraid.

afraid that sometimes God may not come through like we think or we misread him and we trusted him to do something that he didn’t promise to do. That’s scary. There’s been time when I have stepped out by faith on a limb, believing that this is what God wanted me to do, but I have no visible evidence. And so sometimes because of my, I guess I don’t know if it was being hard-headed? No, that wouldn’t be that. Ah, arrogant? No, it wouldn’t be that.

Stubborn? No, not stubborn. Wilful? Well, you know, it’s hard sometimes to put your finger on it, but there’s something inside of you that says, how do you know positively this is the will of God and you can safely trust in it. Because sometimes, you know, God doesn’t tell us all the little details. And so it seemed like it would be so neat if God would just open up my little brain and pour in your all of his knowledge and wisdom so then I could make the right decision.

Lord, if I only knew, but we have to learn on the run while we’re doing it. it. It’s like, you know, two young couples, they get married and they haven’t got a clue how to raise kids and here they are. And you got to learn as you go. And you think by the tenth one, I could do a better job. I had an uncle and an aunt. My uncle’s son, we called him uncle’s son. He had 12 kids. The last three or four, they didn’t care what they did.

They really didn’t care. They just let the rest of the kids raise those kids and it didn’t matter to them. You know, after a while, you didn’t have enough and just about give up and you come to the conclusion, it doesn’t matter what I say or do. They’re going to do whatever they want. So you just kind of hang it up and kid, you’re on your own. Oh, they feed them and clothe them, things like that. But as it gets difficult sometimes, we don’t have it all together.

But I do want you to take your Bible and turn to 2 Timothy and chapter 1. 2 Timothy and chapter 1. I want you to see a verse there that will help you. And look in verse 7. Verse 7 says, For God hath not given us the Spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. God did not give us the Spirit of fear. But we do have an element of fear that kind of grips us at times.

You may be very well today, but you know if the doctor told you tomorrow, you got cancer. It won’t matter how much you know about the Lord, you’re still going to have an element of fear. Because you know that it just springs into play a whole realm of things that you’ve never gone through before. And it’s a scary thing to go through. But don’t let fear ruin your life. Don’t be afraid of fear. You know that fear is there and you’ll have some, but learn how to trust the Lord in the midst of your fear.

And God will bless you. Take your Bible look here in the book of John 14. I was at a funeral this afternoon, and I shared with him a couple of thoughts from the book of John chapter 14. The first six verses, but look in those verses with me. Jesus is speaking, and He says, let not your heart be troubled. Why? Because so many have a troubled heart. We do worry about things and be very concerned about things. We do wonder how things are going to work out.

You can be worried about your job, your health, your home, the kids, the grandkids, your husband, your wife. Everybody has something that’s a problem, and we have to deal with all of these things. But he said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In other words, trust me. When he makes a statement in verse two, in my father’s house, many mansions, if we’re not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you.

Now, when he says, in my father’s house, many mansions, I go to prepare a place for you. Why would he have to go prepare a place if he already has the mansion with many rooms in it. Like I’ve already got it. One person brought it out. So when I says, I go to prepare a place for you, they said, it means I go to prepare a way for you. This is what I have, but I’m going to prepare a way for you.

So he’s going to go to the cross and prepare a way so that we can get to that mansion up there. Now, I don’t know if that’s what it means. It sounds good. I can’t disprove it. But he did say just a little bit later, I am the way. I am the way, the truth, and the life. So he is all of these things and he tells us not to be afraid. We’re to look beyond this life at something that God has for us and he says, just trust me.

Because we rob ourselves of a lot of peace and joy, stability, sound mind by the things of the world, because of things that we cannot control. So anyway, just to keep that in mind, I want you to take your Bible looking at the book of Genesis. All the way back there to the book of Genesis, and chapter 15, Genesis in chapter 15. The Lord had said to Abraham in verse 1, he says there in verse 1, after these things, the word of the Lord, L.O.R.D.

caps, Jehovah, came unto Abram in a vision saying, and here’s those two words. See, whether it’s in the first book of the Bible, the gospel of John in the middle of the world, whether it’s in the book of Revelation, it doesn’t matter. People of all ages have been afraid. We’re afraid of being a failure. Sometimes we might be afraid of being a success. We don’t know how we’d handle it. We’re just not sure. That uncertainty causes uneasiness. Now I do my best not to mock people who are honestly, genuinely afraid.

I try to encourage them that in spite of the fear, going ahead and doing it with the fear, God will bless you for doing so. And it’s amazing that when you get a little confidence how the fear sometimes just goes away and you’re not afraid anymore. I remember watching Dr. A. Ray Stanford for years. He says, the biggest fear in soul-wening is getting started. Once you start, No, it’s okay. It’s just getting started. But look what he says, verse 1.

After these things, the word of the Lord came into Abraham in a vision saying, Fear not, Abraham. I am thy shield. No, wait a minute. When he says, I am thy shield. What’s a shield for? It’s protection. In other words, God says, don’t be afraid, Abraham. I am thy shield. I will protect you. I will protect you. Now that auto taking eliminate all of his fear, right? Well, isn’t he my shield? Yeah, but do we still get afraid? Why do we have to so question and doubt the protection of God?

But we do or the provision of God, but we do because we don’t see how God’s going to do something something. But he says, I am thy shield and look at the last part of it. Not so much that I’m going to get a reward someday, but he says, I am thy exceeding great reward. I am your reward. Did you know the lessons that you learn what you go through, learning how to Trust the Lord. God. Being revealed to you, manifested to you, is a great reward.

The joy and the peace that it brings to you to know that you can go through life trusting him and that he will, but you’ve got to prove it. That’s when you begin to rest when you see successful past experiences. When you don’t have any successful past experiences, then you’re totally unsure. But when you walk with the Lord for a while and you’ve seen how God walked you through this one and walked through that one, your faith grows in the Lord and you’re not as afraid.

You still have little elements of fear, but you still go ahead and you do what God wants you to do. Look in Genesis in while we’re here in chapter 26. Genesis chapter 26. Genesis 26 and look there in verse 24. Verse 24. Here you’re talking about Isaac. And he says in verse 24, And the Lord appeared unto him the same night. Says, I am the God of Abraham, thy father. You ought to underline those two little words. Fear not.

You see, God has to tell every individual that comes along. Everyone that God wants to use, everyone that wants to serve God, God has to reassure you. Don’t be afraid. I’ll take care of you. Don’t be afraid. Because we can’t see God. And so, there’s a difference between faith and sight. You can live by sight or to live by faith. Some things you can see. Now things you can’t see. You got to take God’s word at it. But look what he says.

He makes a statement in verse 24, fear not for I am with thee. And look at the next few words. And will bless thee. Do you believe that if I fear God, God will bless me? If I fear God, he is my shield. He will protect me. You say, you must believe that. You say, but what if I do all of that and things seem to go all wrong?

Where do I show you another verse? It’ll knock your socks off. For the person who is afraid, really, really afraid, you ought to see what Jesus told his disciples. Now you’ve seen it before, but not quite like this, I don’t believe, but it is so very important. Take your Bible and turn there to the book of Exodus 14, the book of Exodus, and chapter 14. Exodus 14, and look in verse 13. The children of Israel, hell, a couple of million of them maybe.

And you realize the awesome job that Moses has got to do, he got to feed these people and give them water, bed them down, warm so there was a fire, the hot blazing sun of the day time. See, God didn’t tell him in advance how God was going to take care of two to two and a half million people in the desert. He never told him. He never told him how he was going to lead him. In other words, this is progressive revelation.

He’s going to give him to him as it’s needed. You ever heard in the military a phrase like, only those who have a right to know, and to sail with order sealed until it’s time to open the envelope to find out what is the command? What do we do now? And so God never told Moses in advance all the things that were going to happen. Moses had to go through it one at a time and deal with it one at a time.

And so he says in verse 13, Moses said unto the people, fear you not. But that’s because the Lord had to talk to Moses. And Moses is now talking to the people. And he says, fear you not. He says, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you this day for the Egyptians who we have seen today, you shall see them again, no more forever. And you are on the line verse 14, for the Lord shall fight for you.

The Lord shall fight for you. Can you imagine if the Lord is going to fight for me? Can you see me losing? The Lord going to fight for you. Can you see or picture you losing when the Lord is going to fight for you? Get him Lord. Do you think there’s something or someone in this world that God can’t handle? He’s going to fight for you. In the words, you don’t have to do the fighting. He’ll do it for you.

I think it’s awesome. And verse 15, and the Lord said in the Moses, we’re for Christ. I want him to speak in the children of Israel and tell them to go backwards. Forward. How can we go forward? There’s water. But God made a way and you know the story. And God keeps his word and does everything just like he’s supposed to. Now in Matthew 28, where it says and gives us the Great Commission, he says, And lo, I am with thee always.

Lo, I am with thee always. That’s why there’s one guy who wouldn’t get in an airplane. And the guy said, why can’t you get in an airplane? He says, because I’m not going up there. Because I’m going to say right here. He said, well get up here. God can take care of you. He said, oh, oh. He says, low, I am with you, always. Not up there. No, he won’t up there. But, you know, there’s always somebody who takes scripture out of context.

Now, take your Bible to look in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 31. Just turn to your right to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 31. Deuteronomy 31. And look in verse 1. Verse 1. I want you to follow me down to verse 8, but look in verse 1. Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel. And he said unto them, I am a hundred and twenty years old this day. I was having a birthday party. This day, my birthday.

I can no more go out and come in. Also, the Lord have said unto me, thou shalt not go over this Jordan. the Lord thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee.” Now look what he’s saying. He’s saying God is going to go over before you, and God is going to destroy those nations. That sounded like a promise to me. Sound like something that’s money in the bank. They can count on this.

But did they have questions and doubts and fears? Ye boy. And he says, And thou shalt possess them, and Joshua, he shall go over before thee as the Lord hath said. And the Lord shall do unto them, as he did in saithon and the ag king of Amorite, he said, And unto the land of them whom he destroyed. And the Lord shall give them up before your face. That ye may do unto them according unto all the commandments which I have commanded you.

See, God doesn’t command us to do something and then it’d be impossible to accomplish. Whatever it is God wants us to do, we can do. And verse six, you are the on the line in your Bible. Be strong and of a good courage. It’s almost like reading in the book of Joshua in chapter one verse seven, eight, and nine. Whereas as be strong and of a good courage, and here’s those two, fear not, fear not, Nor be afraid of them for the Lord thy God.

He, it is that doth go with thee, and you ought to underline this phrase. He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Do you realize it’s one thing to trust Christ as your Savior? And have eternal life, know you’re going to heaven and I. But you see, if you don’t get strong in the Lord and understand these things, did you know the devil can have a heyday with you and you won’t be winning souls? and you won’t be going to church, and you’re gonna have a miserable life.

You will not be a victorious Christian, or because you maybe don’t learn all these other things that God has to tell about. You see, EphesiansCooldown is a great verse. 1 John 5, 13 is a great verse. John 3, 16 is a great verse, but that’s only three verses. They’re not on every page, and they’re not in every verse. How much did this book do you think God wants us to know? How much do you think God wants us to study?

Is it only those salvation verses? Or do you think that God wants us to put on the whole armor of God? To know the word of God. Because you can be saved and know some salvation verses, but if you’re not strong in the other areas of your life, Satan will destroy you and you won’t be doing anything with your Christian life. You won’t be strong. There’s a lot of people who trusted Christ’s Savior sitting on the bench, never doing a thing for the Lord for the rest of their life, because they don’t steady the Word of God.

Because, well, I don’t need all of that. I don’t need all of that. Then why did God write it? Why would he say in the book of Romans, to study the Old Testament because he makes the statement that these things were written a fourth time for our learning that we may find out the things of God and how God works and understand the God of peace and the God of love and the God of hope and the God of joy.

Because that’s why he always talks about as it is written and as it is written and all of those verses are not salvation verses. You can be strong on the clarity of the gospel, but be weak in your spiritual life and you want to mount the hella beans for God. You’re gonna burn out. You won’t last because you don’t have the strength. There’s joy in the Lord. And the joy of the Lord is your strength because of all these other things that you have to face.

And there’s gonna be a lot of trials and tribulations in life. Ephesians 2.8 and 9 ain’t gonna solve that problem. you’ve got to know other verses that will help you to be strong. And nobody can do this for you. You must believe it. He will not fail thee nor forsake thee. And Moses called unto Joshua and said unto him, In the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage, for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath swore unto their fathers, to give them, and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.

And the Lord, he it is, that death go before thee. He will be with thee. He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee, fear not, neither be dismayed.” That sounds like pretty good encouragement, top, don’t it? Why does he keep having to say fear not? Because we are afraid. Because it’s not the natural thing for us to just trust. Your new birth, yes, but you still got an old one to deal with. And that old nature that you have is always working against you, trying to get you to question and doubt God.

So, you don’t want to fear, fear itself. Look there in Isaiah 41, Isaiah in chapter 41, Isaiah 41 and verse 10. It’s similar to what we were already looking at, but it’s important to see these verses. Look what he says in verse 10. Fear, thou not. For I am with thee. You know, it seems like all the time he’s always tense. You know, don’t be afraid I’m with you. I’m your shield, I’m protect you. I will do this. I will, God says, you say, well, I can’t see you God.

Where are you at? It’s not a matter of you trying to figure out what God is. God knows where you are. That’s better. And you don’t have to see God. God can see you. That’s better and just walk with him and trust him that he’ll do what he says for I am thy God I will strengthen thee. Yeah, I will help thee Yeah, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness so you have the Verses in the Bible and they’re supposed to be able to sustain us as God Says in his word look in Psalms 55 Psalms 55 just quick glance back there.

It sounds 55. And look there in verse 22. Now, this is a good verse that you should underline. It kind of reminds you of the book in Peter in chapter 5 and about the old devil that’s always after you, you know. And the Lord says, casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. See there in verse 22, cast thy burden upon the Lord. And He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

He won’t permit it. If you will trust Him and walk with Him, you will stand. You see, as a Christian, you don’t have to fall apart. You don’t have to. The Bible tells in the book of Peter, he says, if you do these things, you shall never fall. You see, falling is a choice, and you don’t have to fall. You can keep serving God all the days of your life, but you’ve got to trust Him and lean on Him.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lay not unto thine own understanding in all thy ways, acknowledge Him. That means, thank God, acknowledge Him, and He might direct thy paths. He shall direct thy path. He’s well, how do I know if I’m on the wrong road? Well, can God direct you and get you back to wherever you want? You’re supposed to be? Trust the Lord. You see, I don’t have to worry about trying to make every perfect decision because I’m not perfect.

I have an old sinful nature and sometimes it gets in the way. But I trust the Lord to guide me in the mist because I know that He knows me and He knows my heart, He knows my motive. And I’m going to trust Him to correct my path when I make an air in judgment. I believe He’ll straighten me out. I believe He can move and work in my life. I trust him to do what I can’t do. And this is why the Bible talks about in the book of Romans in chapter eight where the Holy Spirit intercedes for us.

Now, you can intercede for a lot of people. The Holy Spirit can intercede to God on our behalf. But there’s only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. So keep that in mind. But in this verse, I love it because it says, and he shall sustain the cast my burden of a, do you have a burden? Do you have a problem? Something bothering you? Cast it on the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. You say, that means he’s gonna automatically solve all of my problems?

They didn’t say that, he’s just gonna sustain you in the midst of the problem and get you through it. But now, what if it doesn’t always work better way? Well, I know. Hebrews chapter 13. Remember that beautiful little verse over there we looked at last week. Don’t you look at it one more time. Hebrews in chapter 13. In Hebrews chapter 13 where it makes a statement in verse 5, let your behavior or conversation, manner of life be without covetousness.

Be content with such things as you have, for he hath said, I and you, this is the part you need to underline. I will never leave the nor for sake thee.” And we read the verse in the book of Hebrews chapter 4 about coming boldly to the throne of grace that you may get all the help you need and the time of need. God wants us to do this. God is up in heaven and just waiting for His children to come to Him.

You be surprised what God has done to get your attention. Did you know that the hurt, the longing, the love that you have for somebody? Do you ever know what it’s really like to feel rejected and lonely? How do you think God feels? And there’s a God in heaven that’s doing everything he knows how, and he’s God to get us to walk with him. to get us to talk to Him. I wonder how God feels. We always think about how we’ve been.

Nobody knows how I feel. Well, do you know how God feels when we won’t go to Him and cast our troubles upon Him and let Him lead and let Him provide? And we worry ourselves all the time because we don’t know how God’s going to do it. So we very easily fall out of faith and into sight. 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.

Part two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to To keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen, the trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible to be able to help you. for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Take your Bible and turn to the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter one, 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18 says for the preaching of the crosses to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved the power of God we are saved by the power of God the Holy Spirit is the power of God that’s why Jesus says you must be born again born by the spirit of God, born by the power of God. You’re not born again by the power of man, by the will of man, by the will of the flesh, not by your own power, not by your work, you’re born again by the power of God.

It’s a spiritual birth. But he says in verse 19, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. In other words, the wise man of the world cannot see, they cannot touch, they cannot understand this new birth because it is of God. And the things that are of God, the natural man cannot understand. It is the message of the gospel that is the light the illumination of a man’s mind so he can perceive divine truths.

The gospel is the lens by which we see the face of God. That’s why it says in the book of Corinthians in chapter 4, it says the glorious light of the gospel is what causes us to see the face of God who God is what he has done. This is why he didn’t say, go into all the world and preach the book of Daniel or preach the book of Revelation, though I love prophecy. But he says, go in all where and preach the gospel.

The gospel is the story by which God uses to pierce into the heart of a lost man. That is the light which illuminates his mind. It helps him to see. Look in verse 21, for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God. You will not find God in the laboratory. You’re not going to find Him in a test tube. Man by his wisdom cannot search and find God. And yet we can have the 200 inch hell refractor of Mount Palomar and they can scan the heavens and they got the Hubble telescope now, but they’re not going to find God.

They can’t zero in on heaven. But he makes the statement, the Jews seek after a sign, but the Greeks seek after wisdom. As far as the people upon the earth, the Jews when they came to Christ in Matthew chapter 12 says, show us a sign. Give us a sign. He says, an evil in their daughter’s generation, seek at the after a sign, but there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For Jonah was three days and three nights in the will of the bell, even social, the son of maybe three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The only sign you’re going to get is my resurrection. back and back from the dead. The Greeks seek after wisdom. And that’s why you have a lot of your philosophers. The lover of wisdom that comes from the Greeks. So Christ, the wisdom of God for the Gentiles, the power of God for the Jews. So whether it’s Jews or Gentiles, Jesus Christ is the answer. And He makes the statement here in verse 26, for you see your calling brethren. He says, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble or call.

But God had chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God have chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, base things of the world and things which are despised. Yeah, and things which are not to bring to not things that are, that no flesh or glory in his presence. When you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, Christ became your righteousness. Christ became your power. Christ became your wisdom because God doesn’t use the wisdom of the world to accomplish his purpose.

God has a different set of wisdom by which he wants to be. By which he wants to impart into the mind of a man by the person of the Holy Spirit so that you can understand the things that the natural man cannot understand. So he says here, so that no flesh or glory into his presence, by the power of the Holy Spirit, he gives you a new birth. By the power of the Holy Spirit, he quickens you and gives you his wisdom, which comes from his word, because he was to accomplish things in his power and not for the flesh.

Even after your sate is not the flesh that God wants to glorify. God said he wants to give you his wisdom, his power to do his work his way so that he gets all the honor and all the glory, but what is done? You can do some of the things that God wants us to do in the energy of the flesh for your own personal honor and glory. And when you do, God says, you have received your reward. Paul says that when I came to you, I did not come in great words of wisdom, man’s wisdom.

He says here in chapter two, he says, and I, brethren, when I came to you, came now with excellency of speech, my great oratory, my ability, or of my wisdom. He says, came not with excellency, a speed of wisdom, be clear unto you the testimony of God. You see, you and I, when we serve the Lord, we are testifying what God hath done. It’s not your wonderful testimony of how good you are, or how great you are, and great talents and abilities that you have, because once you trust Christ as your Savior, you’re not limited as you were before because of your physical body.

Because the Holy Spirit living within you can quicken your mind and the mind is that which can control the body and you can find yourself with a whole new set of abilities, talents, gifts that you did not have before. It’s a new birth. God is simply using the same body that you had and you can find that you can do things you you thought never possible. You can be able to speak like you thought you could never speak before.

But many Christians have destroyed their effectiveness for the Lord because they have limited themselves because they have limited the Holy One of Israel, the Holy Spirit working in their life. He says in verse two, I determined not to know anything among you, say Jesus Christ and Him crucified because this is the only important thing that there is in the life of a lost man. It’s the gospel that must enlighten their mind because trying to get people to live the Christian life without trusting Christ’s Savior is a total waste of time.

He says, my speech in verse 4, and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom. He says that your faith in verse 5 should not stand in the wisdom of man but in the power of God. He makes a statement in verse 7. He’s, if, if, if the princes of this world, the leaders of this world, the kings of this world, were so smart. If they were so wise, then why did they crucify the Lord of glory?

If the leaders of the world, when Christ was here, were so smart, so good, why did they crucify Christ? Because it shows the limitations of the human mind. Man’s wisdom cannot see and understand cannot perceive the things that are of God. So they’re in chapter two, look in verse nine. But he makes a statement, but as it is written, I have not seen ear, have not heard, neither has entered into the heart of man to think which God has prepared for them that love him.

Now you and I, once we trust Christ as our Savior, we have within us the indwelling, holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit living within us is to reveal to us things that God can do for us and through us that we never dream possible. You are not to limit yourself. You’re not to go through life. I can’t. I can’t. Every Christian Can do what God wants them to do with their life. You’re the one who says, I can’t, I can’t, God says you can, you can, you can.

Because He says, I will help you. There is power in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells us for a reason. The Holy Spirit is God. He’s God. I have God living inside of me. When He makes a statement in verse 9, the last part of it, He says, God has prepared for them, and you ought to underline these three words, that love him. You remember Romans 828, for all things worked together for good to them that loved the Lord, then that loved him.

All things worked together for good to them that loved him. To those who were called according to his purpose, those who loved God, All things work together for your advantage, for good, if you love Him. If you love Him, the Holy Spirit that lives within you is going to teach you things that He cannot and will not teach others, even though they’re His children. children. Many of God’s children will not learn many things that God has for them. But he says in verse 10, to those who love him, but God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit, gave the spirit search of all things, gave the deep things of God.

Everybody wants to know the things of God. If I could have your spirit that lives inside of you, dwell inside of me, then I could know why you think, the way I can know how you think. I can know everything about you. But he said, for what man knew the things of a man, say the spirit of man, which is in him, even so the things of God know of no man. Get this. The things of God know of no man.

He cannot know them. But the spirit of God. But what if God took his Holy Spirit and gave it to you, then you could know the mind of God. You would know things and no man can judge what you know because he can’t understand that the lost man. But we have the mind of Christ. Look at the last verse, look in verse 15, but he that is spiritual judges all things, spiritual things, godly things, can understand and see things and understand things that you cannot see with the eye and hear with the ear.

But he says, but he that is spiritual, all things yet, he himself a judged of no man, no lost man, because he cannot understand. It’s a different world altogether. In the last part of verse 16, he says, but we have the mind of Christ. Now look there in verse 13. Remember when it says that when we accept Christ as our Savior, we are a new creature, new creation, and it He says, all things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.

All divine things, godly things, not everything changed, but talking about all these things that comes from God. These are all new. My birth is new. The indwelling, the Holy Spirit inside of me, being able to be used as a whole wealth of wisdom and knowledge and treasure that I never had before, never knew before. Talents and abilities that I didn’t have before that God can give to you and I. He says in verse 13, which things also we speak.

He says, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches. And you ought to underline that word teach. This is one of the primary goals of the Holy Spirit. It is to teach us when you study the Bible, the author of this book that moved and motivated men to write what God told them to write is the author who lives inside of you. So every time you sit down to read the Bible, the author of the book is right there to help you understand what he said.

You see, many people, their theology is determined by their morality, how they want to live, then they approach the Bible to justify what they want to do. Instead of coming to the Bible and saying, this is God’s Word, I want the Holy Spirit to teach me what it says. And then the Holy Spirit is to give you the power to fulfill what it says. And God says, I will do things and reveal things to those who love me that he will not do for those who don’t love him.

See, God will not make you love him. If you don’t love him, then God says there’s things he won’t tell you. He won’t teach you. You’ll be saved. You’ll go to heaven when you die. He says here in the last part of verse 13, but which the Holy Spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual or by spiritual means. So, we have to understand spiritual things that are God by a spiritual means, the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit that indwells me and you is to teach us things that no man can know.

He cannot understand. It’s the same thing with the studying of the Word of God. If you don’t love God, you don’t love the Word of God, then you’ll read but you won’t understand because God says he will not allow you to understand it. That’s why he says, and we will go into perfection or maturity if God permits and God’s the one that will permit it or not permit it. based upon the motive that you have. Then he says in verse 14, for the natural man, the natural is the lost man, receive of not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.

These are things that God says they have to be discerned spiritually to understand them and the lost man doesn’t have that. And And that’s why the lost man can never understand the things of God until first of all he Understands the gospel. That’s the doorway into this new world Because it’s by a new birth that God will give John chapter 14 and Notice there in verse 16 Who is the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit is God? He says in verse 16 I will pray the Father and each I’ll give you another comfort that he may abide with you forever Even the spirit of truth spirit of truth is the Holy Spirit look in verse 26 But the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send So he he he all the way through here.

We know that the Holy Spirit is a person. He is a comforter He is the spirit of truth and he indwells you verse 21 says he that hath my commandments and keep of them He it is that loveth me in other words if you don’t serve God you don’t love God I’ve had love you to say, oh, I love God, but they don’t serve God. You don’t serve God. God says you don’t love him. I didn’t say that. God said that.

You may be his child. You’ll go to heaven whenever you die. But if you don’t serve him his way, you don’t love him. Period. That’s what God says. Then he makes his statement. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my father. And this means in a special way. Because God loves us all but he said I’m talking about in a special way look what he said and I will love him and Will manifest myself to him manifest myself to him?

God says if you love me, I’ll reveal myself to you Or what about the person who doesn’t love him it doesn’t say he will do that It’s to those who love him so can you make somebody love God? You can’t make anybody love God. You see, the ones who grow to maturity are those who love the Lord. Those who become used by God are those who love the Lord. There’s many people who don’t mind getting things from God, but they’re not willing to give to God of their life, or their time, or their talents, their treasures.

They don’t give to God for God’s glory. They just want to receive. We love him because he first loved us. You receive love from God and then you give love back. And many people have never learned the secret of this powerful motivation. First Corinthians in chapter six, the very moment that you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. And whenever you accept Christ as your Savior, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit, a promise that very moment, that very moment.

So he says here in 1 Corinthians in chapter 6, he says in verse 19, what? No ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which you have of God and ye are, ye are not your own. You don’t belong to your son. He owns you, he bought you, he paid for you. My body belongs to God. That’s why I can’t do with my body whatever I want to do with it.

It’s not mine. This is his body. Your body belongs to God. Therefore, you and I are to honor this house in verse 24, year bought with the price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods. Now, I want you to look there in the book of John, chapter 7, the Gospel of John and chapter 7. We know the woman at the well was told that if you drink this water in this well, you will thirst again.

But he says, I have water that if you drink it, it shall be a well of water, springing up in the everlasting life. In John chapter seven and verse 37, it says, in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come in to me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hat said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. When you trusted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit indwells you to flow THROUGH YOU!

And he says in verse 39, but this spake he of the spirit that they which believe on him should receive. But as yet see Christ has not yet been glorified. He said, but when I ascend, he will descend. Acts chapter one and verse eight, look at it very quickly. When you say, I just don’t have power to live for the Lord. I don’t have the strength. Yes, you do. You won’t use it. You won’t allow the Lord to help you.

The Holy Spirit lives within you to give you the power that you need to do what God wants you to do with your life. But in verse 8 he says, But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea. And it’s a merriant unto the uttermost parts of the earth to the person who wants to serve the Lord. Yes, he can be a witness, but many people will not be a witness around the world because they’re not even a witness at home.

Isn’t it because they can’t? No, because they won’t. You’re not a soul winner because you choose not to be a soul winner. It’s not that you can’t win souls It’s that you won’t win souls It’s not that you can’t talk to people about the Lord. It’s that you won’t talk to people about the Lord It’s the Holy Spirit that can help you and the Holy Spirit wants to teach you and the reason he teaches you is because he wants to Guide you by what he taught you and he says the Holy Spirit will bring things to your Remembrance of what he said don’t wait until some night you expect some little angel to stand on your bedpost and whisper some little sweet dreams in your ear and that’s gonna be, oh God spoke to me last night.

The Holy Spirit leads you according to truth. In the book of Romans in chapter 8 it makes the statement, being led by the Holy Spirit. You’ll either be driven by the devil or led by the Lord. Always remember the Holy Spirit will always lead you according to truth. And I believe the Holy Spirit can make you sensitive to things that you would normally not be. I honestly believe at critical times in my life that the Holy Spirit has revealed things to me or caused me to be sensitive to certain things that has caused me to make decisions that has altered my life.

I believe God can make you sensitive to things that you never thought about before. I’ve had opportunities where I would witness to people because I am to obey a command. I don’t depend upon the Holy Spirit to lead me to witness, but that doesn’t mean he can’t lead me to witness. I am commanded to witness, but I believe there’s special times when God on principle in my mind certain people I need to talk to. And I will do that.

I was a student at Tennessee Temple. And one day out of the clear blue sky, I told Betty I said, Betty, I feel like I’ve got to go down and talk to your granddad. I got in the car and we drove all the way to Athens, Georgia. Went down here and talked to her, Granddad. And I told her, I said, you get your mom and him and get your grandma and y’all get out of the way. Keep him away from him.

And I went up there and I talked to him. And next thing you know, he just started to squall. He slid off the couch and got him to the, I didn’t tell him to do anything. And I got down beside him and I talked to him about the Lord. He trusted Christ as a savior. And I got my car and I left. But I got there just a month later, it was dead. How close to the Lord’s You want to be?

Do You believe God literally leads You, guides You, impresses the body and speaks to You. Through the Word of God, are things that He wants You to do or not to do. Some people, their life is so noisy, so busy. They don’t have time to stop because sometimes God is not speaking through the tornado of the hurricane, but speaking through a what? They have a small voice. And some people ain’t quiet enough to hear. When you read the book of Galatians in chapter five, it talks about walking and despair.

Walking in the spirit is a direction. Walking in the spirit is obeying the Word of God. And you see, you don’t ignore the Bible. And so I’m just gonna depend upon the Holy Spirit to lead guide me. You dummy, don’t you understand it? He don’t do it that way. He leads in guys according to the truth of this book. And He never leads you contrary to the book. The Holy Spirit will always lead you to do right. He never leads you to do wrong.

I had people do you tell me, and they’re gonna do something, I’ll say, you know, I don’t believe that’s the will of God. Well, I prayed about it, and I believe this is what God wants me to do. I prayed about it. A lot of sin has been committed because they said I prayed about it. It means they already have made up their mind what they gonna do even if it conflicts with the book and then blame it well I believe it’s God’s will for me what if it’s God’s will for you it’ll be right God doesn’t lead you to do wrong they’ll always be right first Corinthians chapter two says that the truths that are in this book where you really understand them cannot be understood by the eye or the ear first of all they have to be saved But he makes that statement,

I have not seen ear, have not heard, and neither have entered to the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. You can trust Christ’s Savior except that free gift of eternal life. You become God’s child, you’ll go to heaven whenever you die and God will never cast you out and never lose you. That’s free. But there’s another world growing to maturity, getting old enough where you can accept spiritual responsibilities. You see, like in the world, there’s people who are born, but they never mature.

They can never, as an adult, take care of themselves. And many people like that in the Lawrence realm. It’s so important. That’s why you need to have a time where you read God’s Word. Don’t depend upon what you get at church. Even if you come on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, whatever, that’s fine. But you need a personal walk with God. a personal strength and time that you spend alone just between you and God and Don’t let nobody take that away from you.

Don’t get too busy that you don’t have time for it because this is life This is where you get the strength and this is where you get the power from to do the thing that God wants you to do Be faithful look up here. This is you and me and this is sin We all have sin upon us God says that he loves us, but he hates our sin We’re all born into this world with a sinful nature and we’d always do these things that are wrong.

And God says, the pay for the sin is eternal separation from God. To go to heaven, we have to be perfect, as righteous as God. And God says, by the flesh, you will never be perfect, because you can’t change what you are. We cannot save ourselves. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord. He’s God in the flesh. He came into this world. He loves us, but he hates our sin, but our sin separates us from. And see, without the knowledge of the Bible, we wouldn’t know this.

So Christ took the sin, paid for it on the cross, and without the Bible we wouldn’t know that. Came back from the dead and all the sins of the world have already been paid. And without knowing the Bible, we wouldn’t know this. These are things that are revealed to us how much God loves us. And this is how He showed it. And God said, if we’ll believe He did it for us, He would give us a free gift eternal life.

So we wouldn’t know we could have eternal life and know that we’re going to heaven and we don’t have to earn it. We don’t have to work for it if it wasn’t for the truth found in this book. So when we trust Christ as our Savior, we become His child and we’ll go to heaven whenever we die. So it without the Bible say you would know you were his child. You would know that you’re going to heaven and know it before you died.

You wouldn’t understand none of this stuff. You would even know there was a heaven or there was a hell if it wasn’t for the truth found in this book. So God says once you trust Christ to save you become his child as his child. You go to heaven whenever you die. Now because of what Christ has done for you, what he’s done for me, it is your choice. You can love him or not love him. But he says, if you love me, he says, I will reveal and manifest myself to you.

You see, a lot of people would want to see the will of God so they can decide whether they want to do it or not. See God will reveal things to you just like He tells in the book of Timothy. Teach things to those who are faithful that they may teach others. Those who are faithful will learn things that people who are not faithful won’t learn and they’ll be able to teach others things that they learn that others who didn’t learn can’t teach.

I know you understand all of that. Let’s pray shall we? You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, of Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you are 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 toll free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. I’ve broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound and we will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. All of God’s people are important. And if you’re going to follow anybody, Paul says, if you’re going to do this, you want to follow me. Why should they follow him? Well, for this reason, look in verse 9 of chapter 4. He says, I think that God has set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death, for we are made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men.

You’re fools for Christ’s sake, but you’re wise in Christ. We’re weak, but all but you’re so strong. You’re honorable and we’re despised. Even unto this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. But see, they knew where they’re going to live. They knew where they had a house. You see, they didn’t have to worry like the apostles did as they would travel around the country. But see, they were the one that’s gloating in themselves and now trying to shame the apostle Paul.

And why does it hurt Paul so much? Why is he taking it so hard? Well, there’s a reason. But just look at this in verse 11. Even under this prison hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked and buffeted, have no certain dwelling place, and labor working with our own hands, being reviled, we blessed, been persecuted, we suffered, for Him, be in defamed, we entreat, we are made as the filth of the world. And as the offscouring of all things unto this day, I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons.

So I believe He believes that they have believed on the Lord. In verse 15, for though you have 10,000 structures in Christ, yet have you not many fathers? For in Christ Jesus, I have be gotten you through the gospel. In other words, Paul says, I’m the one that came to you first. I’m the one that preached the gospel unto you. I’m the one that convinced you because of the signs and the wonders and the miracles that God gave me that I could do for you.

I gave you reasons why you should believe it. I had all the credentials of an apostle. The issue came down, Paul says is, if I’m not an apostle and I preach a false message, you need to examine yourself to see if you’re in the faith. Because you’re questioning my message in order to see whether or not if I’m wrong, you’re wrong. Do you see what I’m saying? If Paul says, if I am not an apostle and I’m not who I claim to be and my message is not true, then how do you know you’re saved?

But he is not questioning their salvation. They were doing the questioning, not Paul. They were questioning Paul and his authority and his apostleship. So he made the statement here. I’m the one in verse 15. For though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore, wherefore I beseech you be followers of me. Listen to what I’m saying. Look there in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 11.

1 Corinthians in chapter 11. And look in verse 17, verse 17. See, in verse 1 of chapter 11, he says these words again, be followers of me. Follow me. Why? Well, you follow him because he’s the God that led you to the Lord. Listen to Paul instead of those who are knocking the apostle Paul. Who said in verse 17, now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that you come together not for the better, but for the worst.

And they were coming together and not for the better. It was for the worst. They were getting drunk and all the things that they did was so bad. And you would think, well, they should have smartened up by then, but they hadn’t. I’ll turn over the second Corinthians. Second Corinthians. And look now in verse one of second Corinthians in chapter 11 here, looking verse one. Would to God, you could bear with me a little in my folly. And indeed bear with me.

In the word, put that with me just for a moment. Remember, he’s talking to carnal Christians, worldly minded Christians, babes in Christ. Now if he was talking to a mature spiritual adults, he would talk totally different. But he’s having to rebuke babes in Christ. He has to rebuke rebellious children. He says in verse two, for I am jealous over you with Godly jealousy. For I haven’t, you know what jealousy is, I’ve told you this before, jealousy is the fear of being replaced.

You ever heard God say, God is a jealous God. I mean, God doesn’t want to be replaced. And so God doesn’t want you to put anybody in His place. What causes a girl to be jealous of another girl? When that girl begins to like her boyfriend, and she gets what? Jealous. And isn’t jealousy an ugly sin? Jealousy can lead to murder? I mean, man, when we get married and all of a sudden, somebody starts hanky-panking with somebody else, and next thing you know, there’s a murder.

And you think, well, something so wonderful is love. Yeah, but you’re gonna push this thing too far and you’re gonna get yourself in trouble. Second Corinthians in chapter 11, as we’re moving right along. Look there in verse two, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste for it into Christ. But I fear, but I fear. Lest by any means as the servant beguile you through his subtlety so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

For if he that cometh preaches another Jesus, so there’s somebody else coming along preaching something else. They’re preaching another Jesus that pulses, I didn’t preach. And they’re preaching another spirit that I didn’t preach. They’re preaching another gospel that I didn’t preach. He says, they’re false. He said, but I want you to bear with me just for a little bit because I want you to bear with me because I’m afraid you’re gonna bear with them. I want you to listen to me because I’m afraid you’re gonna listen to them.

And it’s gonna affect your whole life. This is why the church was all filled with problems because they no longer listen to what Paul taught them. They were listening to false teaching. And so he says, or if he that cometh preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit which we have not received, or another gospel which you have not accepted at this point, you might well bear with him. You might listen to him.

And Paul said, I don’t want you listening to somebody that’s false because they were telling them Paul isn’t a real apostle. And Paul really didn’t have the right message. And he wasn’t with them in the very beginning. He didn’t really walk with Christ, you know, when he was on the year. So he’s not a real apostle. So he makes a statement here in verse five, for I suppose I was not a wit behind the very cheapest apostle, but though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge.

But we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things. Have I committed an offense in abasing myself that you might be exalted because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely. In other words I didn’t charge you I didn’t take anything from you and when I had need I would work and make tents and sell things in order to meet my needs. He said if I wronged you by not taking anything from you,” he says, then I’m guilty.

I robbed other churches, taking wages of them to do you service. Man alive. He says down here in verse 11, wherefore, because I love you not, God knows. God knows why I did what I did. You don’t think I love you? Because Paul says I’m going to be hard and I’m going to be sharp. He says, the more I love you, the less I’m loved. See words that say that. Oh, he says that during chapter 12. But we’ll look at it a little bit.

Now looking verse 13, verse 13, this is what Paul is saying about these others that were teaching false doctrine. Remember they teach a false Jesus, a false spirit, and a false gospel. And in verse 13, for such are false apostles. So Paul is saying they’re false. And what were they saying? Paul, you’re false. Paul says, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Who led you to Christ? And if I am not an apostle, and my message is the one that’s wrong, you need to examine yourself Hawes, to see if you’re in the faith then, because I’m the one that gave you the gospel.

I think there’s a whole message here that Paul is weaving throughout all the things as the proof of what he’s saying. So he says here in verse 13, for such a false apostle’s deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ, but they’re not apostles. They’re deceitful. They’re transforming themselves in all such wonderful people, and they’re not wonderful people. In verse 14, and no marvel for Satan, himself is transformed into an angel of life. He puts those false apostles under the leadership of the devil says they’re not of God, they’re of the devil.

Verse 15, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers, who’s ministers, the devil’s ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness. Teaching the law you got to be justified by the law to be saved. You got to be circumcised to He’s safe and they were teaching a false message. Totally contrary to what the Apostle Paul taught. He says, whose ends shall be according to their works. In other words, God’s gonna judge them by their works. You preach that kind of a message?

Okay, you’ll be judged by your works. And that’s why the Apostle Paul is defending his apostleship. Hold your place right here because we’re gonna come back to chapter 13, just a second. But look there in 1 Corinthians in chapter nine. 1 Corinthians in chapter nine. And look in verse one, in verse one, it says, am I not an apostle? It’s a question. Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ, our Lord, are not in you ought to underline this phrase, are not ye my work in the Lord?

If I be not an apostle under others, yet doubtless I am to you, for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord? And mine answer to them that do examine me is this. Have we not the power, the right, the authority to eat and to drink? Have we not power to lead about a sister or wife as well as other apostles as the brethrens of the Lord and of Sifas or Peter? Or I only and Barnabas have not we power to forbear working?

Don’t they have the right to be supported to do the missionary work, but if they didn’t support him, Paul would go anyway, and he’d work and pay his own berth. He did without a lot. He suffered a lot. There was no apostle quite like the apostle Paul. I don’t know if there’s ever been a man that’s alive, alive today or ever has lived like the great apostle Paul. When you read and study what the apostle Paul did and what he went through.

It is an amazing thing. It really is. Just why we’re right there. Just look over there and where he says in verse 12, if others be partakers of this power over you, what? To be able to be supported. He said, have not we rather. Nevertheless, we have not used this power, but suffer all things lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. end of the Gospel of Christ to them. So Paul would do without suffer so much because he loved people so much.

And he says there in verse 13, do ye not know that they which minister about holy things. Live of the things of the temple. And they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar. Even so have the Lord ordained that they which preached the gospel should live of the gospel. In other words, if you win people to the Lord and you teach people the word of God, you’re supposed to, the people are supposed to support you and feed you and take care of your needs.

should a preacher have to feel like he’s a beggar when he’s doing the Lord’s work? When you live because people who love the Word of God and are being taught by the Word of God are supposed to fulfill that responsibility is the preacher out of place if he expects it. Paul says no. And yet he would do without because people would you read the book of Philippians in chapter four where Paul says you didn’t have an opportunity. Other people met the need.

And I have learned in whatsoever state I am how to abound and to be abased, to be full and to be hungry, to have everything and yet be in need. That’s when he says I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me, to give him the strength to keep going when everything else falls apart. A lot of people misuse the verses, they don’t really apply it correctly, not in the spiritual way. But He makes a statement down here.

In verse 16, For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yet woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward. If against my will, a dispensation to the gospel is committed, and I’m still responsible. What is my reward then? Fairly that when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power, my right in the gospel.

What I have the right to do, Paul says, I’ve laid that aside and I will do what I have to do. And he says, if I have wronged you, then that’s one thing that I’ve done. So go back there to the book of 2 Corinthians and chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. And look there again in verse 12, where he says, truly the signs of an apostle were brought among you in all patience in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.

For what is it wherein you were inferior to other churches? Accept it be that I myself was not burdensome to you. What does he say? Forgive me this wrong. He says, forgive me this wrong. He says, I was wrong, I shouldn’t have done that. I should have been burdensome to you. You should have taken care of my financial needs. You should have done that. So he says, I’m coming to see you. And he says here in verse 15, and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you.

What is servant Lord, being spent for the sake of others? Look what he says, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. He led these people to Christ, and these people had turned on the Apostle Paul. And Paul says, you have known what I went through to get the gospel to you. You read the last part of the 11th chapter, what Paul says, I went through to get the gospel to you. And then they hate him, they turn on him.

And then they’re listening to these others that they didn’t win him, they didn’t win you. They just make merchandise of you. They don’t care about you, they don’t love you. They just try to develop a following. It makes him feel good. So Paul says you’re in chapter 13. He says in verse two, I told you before and forte you as if I were present. The second time, and Ben apps it. Now I write to them which hitherto have sinned.

And to all others that if I come again, I will not spare. And that sin goes up there to verse 21 in the previous chapter where he makes statement verse 21, “…and lest when I come again, my God will humble me among you.” That means to cause me to have so much grief because of what I see. See, Paul loved these people and he had told them what was wrong and wanted them to correct the problem. And Paul says that when I come, I don’t want to find you like that.

I don’t want to have to come hard. I don’t want to have to be sharp. I don’t want to have to be mean to you or unkind to you. I don’t want to have to rebuke you. Verse 21, and that I shall be wail, many which have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and less civishness which they have committed. In other words, this church needed to be dealt with. Paul is writing to them about the problems and expect them because it’s the truth to correct the problem.

so that when he comes, he doesn’t have to do that. Because see, this is what Paul was afraid of. See, in chapter 13 and in verse 10, therefore I write these things, being absent, less being present, I should use sharpness according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification and not to destruction. In the word Paul said, God gave me what I have, the right, the authority. God only be a soul whenever he established churches to teach and to set up elders and so forth and to do what he was doing.

But Paul said, I don’t want to have to say and do anything that would hurt and to destroy, but to build up. So he says in chapter 13, in verse 3, he says, sense ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which toward you is not weak, but is mighty in you. In other words, it’s mighty because he says, you are my proof. And so maybe I look weak, and he says my bodily present, my speech is contemptible.

He says, but the biggest proof is you. And if that isn’t enough proof, then you need to examine whether or not are you in the faith. Because I’m the guy that came to you and I’m the guy that had the gospel and I’m the one that led you to Christ. I’m your father and the Lord. You are my children in Christ. Follow me. Believe me. So he says in verse 5, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. He’s not talking about examining your works, but he’s saying it to them in a way that lets him know that if Paul is wrong, then so are they.

If he’s not an apostle and his message was false, like the other ones are saying it’s false, then what do you believe? What do you believe? And so he says, no, you’re not your own selves. How that Christ Jesus says, and get those two words in you, except you be reprobate in the words without Christ. And then he says, but I trust that ye shall know that we’re not reprobates. Now I pray to God that ye do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobate.

In other words, you might see us that away, but it isn’t the truth. Because When you want to know what the word reprobate means, just read verse eight. For we can do nothing against the truth, but a reprobate does everything against the truth. He says, but we do what we do for the truth. So one is for the truth and one is against the truth. For we are glad when we are weak and you’re strong. And this also we wish your maturity.

Because when he starts off, were they maturing the Lord? No. He says, you’re yet carnal. He said, I cannot speak unto you as under spiritual. For you are yet carnal and walk his men. So he’s wrote two big books to these Christians. He wasn’t questioning their salvation. They were the ones questioning Paul. And Paul is the one who led him to Christ, so they need his emendre. Wait a minute, if I’m wrong, what do you believe? You need to examine yourself then.

But when you read the book of Corinthians in chapter 15, he gives the gospel again, because he’s talking about if we believe the gospel, as it is written in the scriptures, Christ died for our sins, and how that Christ rose again, and how we’re gonna be changed in a moment, the twinkling of an eye, and caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and all that. So somebody wonderful things. And then he makes his statement in verse 10, therefore I write these things not because he questions their salvation, not because he wants them to look at their works.

But you need to check the message. What did I tell you how to be saved? That he told him over and over and over again. And whenever you read in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21, I wonder what that says, for he God hath made him, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, to be sinned for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So Paul put the gospel back in and of course in the whole 15 chapters the purpose of the gospel and why our faith is in vain if Christ did not come back from the dead.

So all they have to do is go back, do you really believe on Christ? Do you understand the gospel? Let me show you something. I just made this up. Just thought it would be a good idea to use this little illustration. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin upon us. We’ve all done things wrong. Everybody’s a sinner, but God loves us. No, he don’t like what we do wrong, but he loves us.

And the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. So to pay for what we’ve done is death in hell for all eternity. But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven, and to go to heaven we have to be perfect, no sin. Perfect without sin. Because you see, if we took sin to heaven then there’d be sin in heaven. And God says heaven is a perfect place. God is perfect, there’s no sin there. He won’t allow one sin in heaven, not even one little lie.

So you see, we can’t go there with the sin. We can’t go there without sinful nature. Because then we would sin in heaven. So God says you have to be perfect to go to heaven. Do you see a problem? I see a problem. And the problem is, is you and I cannot save ourselves by being perfect because we can’t be perfect. So you can’t even be good. All sinners are sinners. And we cannot pay for sin except by death and hell.

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

Now what Jesus Christ did? Well, that’s good news. Let’s pray, shall we? If you’re here tonight, you never trust the Christ as your Savior, then you don’t get to go to heaven. So you can’t earn your way to heaven. The only way to get to heaven is you must believe that when Christ died, He died for you. See, if He died for you and paid for your sins, then you don’t have to pay for your sins. You get to go free.

You get to go to heaven because He paid for yours. You don’t pay for it twice. But God’s the one in heaven that knows whether or not do you really believe that He did it for you? Do you believe it? Examine yourself. What are you trusting in to get you to heaven? What are you dependent upon? If you’ve never really trusted Christ as your Savior, I think the night would be a good time to do so. So in the quietness of this moment, with heads by nice clothes, is there any one that I’ll say, yes, pray for me.

I will accept Jesus Christ as my Savior tonight, and I like you to pray for me. Would you just slip your hand very quickly and put a wrap back down, see him with it all? If you never trusted the Lord, would you do it right now? Our Father, we thank You so much for all You’ve done for us for the time together, the study of Your Word, and help us to be found faithful. 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 are blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold.

Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Take your Bible and turn to the book of 2 Corinthians 2 Corinthians and Chapter 13 chapter 13 There’s a portion of scripture here that I think It would help us if we kind of looked at it and studied it a little bit tonight. I Know you already know the answers to all of this, but you know, it’s just Repetitionous is the logical mucilage So maybe I’ll just kind of stir up your mind on things you already know. But look there in verse 1, chapter 13.

This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. I told you before and foretell you as if I were present the second time. And be an absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned. And to all others that, if I come again, I will not spare. Since ye seek a proof of Christ’s speaking in me, which toward you is not weak, but is mighty in you, for though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveeth by the power of God.

For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. yourself, whether you be in the faith, prove your own cells. No, you not that your own cells, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates. But I trust that you shall know that we’re not reprobates. Now I pray to God that you do know evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates, for we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth.

For we are glad when we are weak and ye are strong. And this also we wish even your perfection or maturity. Therefore I write these things, being absent, lest being present, I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification and not to destruction. Finally brethren, farewell, be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace shall be with you. Great one another with a holy kiss, all the saints salute you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all, amen. Now isn’t it something that God can use a man to write a letter? Do you realize there’s 13 long chapters here? Did you know the book before this has also got a lot of chapter 16 chapters in it? And look how long these letters are. When’s the last time you wrote a letter this long? Well, anyway, the book of Corinthians is written to believers.

And a lot of things that happened in Corinth, it was a wicked city, even though they trusted the Lord, they were wicked people. It looks like they were still just as sinful after they got saved as they were before they got saved. Not much maturing going on here. They were pretty carnal, fleshly minded. Fourteen major problems with the church there at Corinth. And Paul says something very strange here in the thirteenth chapter. You’ll notice there in chapter 13. And look in verse 5, after every thing is said and done, two whole books that he’s wrote.

He says in verse 5, examine yourselves. you be in the faith. Prove your own cells. No, you’re not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be your reprobate. So I guess we’re gonna have to try to find out what is a reprobate. Well, he says, Christ in you except you be a reprobate. So Christ in you, you’d be a believer, a reprobate, maybe a questioning that they’re saved. Somebody who denies the truth, disqualified, set aside, rejected.

A person that’s abandoned to sin, one lost to virtue and the character of Christ, because they can’t have it without salvation. But I do believe he’s talking to those that are in Christ, but he made us a strange statement, examine yourselves to see whether or not you’re in the faith. Now, most Christians today are talking about the rapture because everybody’s watching this thing going on about Israel and the Middle East and the Arab nations and the United Nations and all these things that are going on.

So if the rapture took place, what is the rapture? All of those who know the Lord are supposed to be changed in a moment, the twinkling of our eye and caught up to meet the Lord in the air, taken out of here. So don’t you think that everybody ought to reexamine themselves, make sure you’re really saved? Is Paul questioning their salvation? I mean, what’s going on here? Does Paul doubt that they’re saved and saying you need to examine yourself because you may not really be saved?

Well, why would Paul say a thing like that? Is he going by what they were saying and doing? Now we know that they were some mighty wicked people here and they’d done a lot of bad things. and it names them, all kinds of things. They’d have the Lord’s Supper and they’d get drunk. That’s pretty bad, huh? Oh, one guy was sleeping with his mother. That’s pretty bad when you say that’s pretty bad. So whenever you look at these, and the Bible says, and they were popped up about it, like it was a badge of honor.

Hey, we’re all under grace. It doesn’t matter how you live because we’re all under grace without another law. We can do whatever we wanna do. They were some pretty bad folks and some bad things. So when Paul says, you need to examine yourself, see if you’re in the faith or not. So is he doubting that they’re saved? Well, if he’s doubting their salvation, it causes another problem. Why is he doubting their salvation? Because of their works, the way they were living?

Are we supposed to use the way a person lives to determine whether they’re really saved or not? And we become, you know, inspectors. So everybody needs to get a pair of magnifying glasses and check out everybody. But he is in here, examine yourself. Oh, I think I look all right to me. So you’re going to examine yourself. What are you going to look at? Are they going to look at the way they’re living? To see if whether or not they’re really saved?

And if I look at my works, well, I thought you weren’t saved by your works. Are they supposed to look? He didn’t say, do you really believe on Jesus Christ? He didn’t say, he just examined yourself, whether you’re in the faith. So there’s a lot of questions in this thing. And remember, the book was written to the saints at Corinth. So Paul is saying they’re saints, and he talks to them to the church at Corinth. The church is made up of believers.

Why would he say, examine yourself? Now, what if I came in here tonight and I said, now look, I want you to examine yourself and see that you’re really saved. What would be your steps? What would you look at? How often do you go to church? Because if you don’t go to church very often, you must not be saved, right? What do you study the Bible? You don’t study the Bible, I’ll go with that. It’s probably a sign you’re not really saved.

Do you support the church? Well, every once in a while, well, you’ve got reasons to doubt your salvation. And so if I gave you 10 reasons on how to know you’re saved, I just gave you 10 reasons on why you should doubt your salvation. Because what are you going to use as the criteria for finding out if you’re really saved or not? Well, of course, you and I know that all we have to do is find out, well, what are you trusting in to get you to heaven?

your works have nothing to do with it so you’re not supposed to look at your work because your works can’t save you. So if good works can’t give it to me then bad works can’t take it away. That just seems to make sense to me. I didn’t get it by being good, so why should I lose it by being bad? Because my works are of no value. Zero. You’re saved by grace, well then you have to stay saved by grace.

There is no way. You can’t get saved by grace and stay saved by works. So what are they supposed to examine? But don’t you believe that it’s important for every person to examine themselves to see if they’re really saved or not? Well, I think that you ought to be certain that you’re saved, but what are you going to use as a criteria? Well, one you and I would always judge, well, because I trusted Christ as my Savior. He said I was saved.

He said He would save me from hell, give me eternal life as a free gift. And so I’m basing my eternal destiny upon the sith, the Lord God’s Word said, that if I believed on Him, He would save me and give me eternal life. So I can’t examine my works. So what are they supposed to examine? So Do they have to examine their works? Does Paul doubt their salvation? It’s not really an issue about Paul doubting their salvation and It’s not really to examine their works.

Well, what in the world is it about? Well, it’s about a certain subject that had come up You see there in the book of 2 Corinthians in chapter 13, it makes the statement here in verse 2. He said, I told you before and foretell you as if I were present. The second time, and be an absent, now I write to them which heretofore have sinned into all other that if I come again, I will not spare.” Now, who are these that he’s talking about that is sinned?

Well, you usually try to check it out in the context and it’ll usually tell you. Now, remember the chapter divisions were written by man and the verses that are numbered were added by man. They’re not in divine Holy Scripture, so they’re not inspired of God, but they are very, very helpful in finding where we are. Look up there in verse 20 of chapter 12. For here he says, for I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, or I should say as I would like, and that I shall be found unto you such as you would not like to find me.

He says, but now if I come there, we’re going to have a showdown at sundown. And I’m gonna be wearing my guns and we’re gonna have it out. Now what was the real problem? You see the Apostle Paul was a missionary. He was an apostle. God had chosen him and says I’m gonna show you what great things you’re gonna suffer for my name. And buddy he did suffer and it ain’t over yet. So he would go to the various places when people to Christ and establish a church and then he was on to the next city.

Well, there were some of these legalistic Judaizers from Jerusalem. They always followed Paul around and they would get ahold of the people and stir them up. And they would say, look, Paul is not an apostle. They caused the people to question and doubt. Paul is a possalship, his sincerity, his love, his message. They said he preached everything, it was false. And so it caused the people not to believe Paul. And so it caused them to start going astray, caused a lot of problems.

Paul really had his hands for it. And so he says, when I come, I’m going to deal with you and I hate to, but I’m going to have to be kind of strong. Might even have to be a little on the hard side. So you see there in verse 20, he said, but I fear. When I come, I shall not find you as I would like. He says, and you’re not going to like what you see when I come because of the way that I’m going to be.

He said, lest there be such as you would not. their beat, get their debates, envying, rafts, stripes, back biting, whispering, swelling, tumult, all these problems, these works of the flesh, it’s going to be manifest, it’s going to come out and you’re going to get ugly. And you’re going to get ugly because Paul says, I’m going to get ugly and I’m not going to spare and I’m going to come to you with a rod. And you don’t believe that I’m an apostle, I’m going to show you that I’m an apostle.

Because when he came, he came with all the signs of an apostle. See there, he’d just gone through telling him how that God had dealt with him and how that God had given him visions and all these things. See there in verse 1 of chapter 12, he says, it is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. He said, I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago, whether in the body or out of the body.

He said, I cannot tell. Such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man. I think he’s talking about himself. Whether in the body or out of the body. He said, I cannot tell. God knoweth, how that he was caught up into paradise. Heard unspeakable words which is not lawful for a man to utter. I’ll such a one while I glory. Yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities, because living in a body you have infirmities, you have weaknesses, you’re subject to death, you’re gonna die.

And you have all kind of weaknesses and problems in the flesh. But he makes a statement in verse 6, “…For though I would desire to glory, or de-brag most, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth. But now I forbear, I hold back lest any man should think of me above that which he sith me to be, or that he hehered to me. In other words, he says, I am what I claim to be. I am an apostle.

You may not believe so, but I am.” And he says, and God has given me visions and revelations of God himself, and I have things to say, and I can do things because God gave him power that he could perform miracles and produce signs and wonders.” So he says in verse 7, “…unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations that was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.”

And maybe it was these fellows that legalistic Judaizers from Jerusalem that followed them everywhere and nothing but a constant pain in the side of him and the church always causing trouble. He had trouble after trouble after trouble. He lived constantly in trouble. And so he says, I asked the Lord to remove this and he didn’t do it. The Lord says, my grace is sufficient for you. there in verse nine. My grace is sufficient for the, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

God’s strength is made perfect in your weakness. Means you’re gonna have to depend upon the Lord. You’re gonna have to trust the Lord because there’s certain things you and I cannot do. There’s limitations that we have. There’s sufferings that we go through, misunderstandings that we have to go through. So he says, most gladly therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities at the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Now get this. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, reproaches in necessities, in persecution, and distresses for Christ’s sake.

But when I am weak, then am I strong. I am become a fool in glory, and he says, you have compelled me. Now he doesn’t want to brag a boast, but because of what they were doing and what they were saying, Paul had to defend himself. Paul doesn’t want to defend himself. He says, you ought to know. You ought to be commending me, not me having to commend myself to you, but he says you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended of you for in nothing am I behind the very cheapest apostle, though I be nothing.

And get verse 12, Truly, the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders, and mighty deeds when I came among you. I had all the evidences, the qualifications of a true apostle. There’s no reason for you to doubt that I’m an apostle. Turn over there to book of 1 Corinthians. Corinthians in chapter four. You see, there had been problems among the people and they were becoming divisive because that’s what Eira does. Eira causes you not to believe the truth.

When you don’t believe truth, it divides. It causes separation, causes carnality, people to live, I guess you could could say after the flesh. But look where he says in chapter four, he says in verse three, but with me, it’s a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man’s judgment. Yeah, I judged not my own self. For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified? No, I don’t know anything against myself because Paul said, I preached the gospel to every man.

He said, I’m free from the blood of all men. I’ve done the job and as you made the statements before he died, he said, I fought a good fight. I’ve kept the faith. There’s later for me a reward in heaven. And then he says here in verse 5, therefore judged nothing before the time until the Lord come, who bow would bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart. Then shall every man have praise of God.

And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollo’s for your sakes. Well, who would need to do that? Well, look over in chapter 3 and look in verse 5, chapter 3 verse 5, where he says, who then is Paul and who is Apollo’s? But ministers by whom ye believe, even as the Lord gave to every man. I planted, Apollo’s water, God gives the increase. He said, I’m only using this as an illustration. He said, but God uses all of us.

and God used the apostles to accomplish certain things. When he made the statement there in chapter 3 and verse 2, he says, you are carnal. See there are verses 3, for you are yet carnal. Where is there among you envying, strive, devasions? Are you not carnal? Walk as men? For one sayeth, I am a Paul, another I am of apollos. Are you not carnal? In other words, all of God’s people are important. And if you’re going to follow anybody, Paul says, If you’re going to do this, you ought to follow me.

Well, why should they follow him? Well, for this reason, look in verse 9 of chapter 4. He says, for I think that God has set forth us the apostles last. As it were appointed to death, for we are made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you’re wise in Christ. We’re weak, but all be you’re so strong. You’re honorable and we’re despised. Even unto this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place.

But see, they knew where they’re going to live. They knew what they had a house. You see, they didn’t have to worry like the apostles did as they traveled around the country. But see, they were the one that’s gloating in themselves and now trying to shame the apostle Paul. And why does it hurt Paul so much? Why is he taking it so hard? There’s a reason. But just look at this in verse 11. Even under this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked and buffeted, have no certain dwelling place and labor working with our own hands, been reviled, we blessed, been persecuted, we suffered, been defamed, we entreat, we are made as the filth of the world.

And as the off scouring of all things under this day, I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, so I believe he believes that they have believed on the Lord. In verse 15, for though you have 10,000 structures in Christ, yet have you not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. In other words, Paul said, I’m the one that came to you first. I’m the one that preached the gospel unto you.

I’m the one that convinced you because of the signs and the wonders and the miracles that God gave me that I could do for you. I gave you reasons why you should believe it. I had all the credentes of an apostle. The issue came down, Paul says, if I’m not an apostle, and I preach a false message, you need to examine yourself to see if you’re in the faith. Because you’re questioning my message in order to see whether or not if I’m wrong, you’re wrong.

Do you see what I’m saying? If Paul says, if I am not an apostle and I’m not who I claim to be and my message is not true, then how do you know you’re saved. But he is not questioning their salvation. They were doing the questioning, not Paul. They were questioning Paul and his authority and his apostleship. So he made the statement here. I’m the one in verse 15. For though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I have been gotten you through the gospel.

Therefore, wherefore I beseech you be followers of me. Listen to what I’m saying. Look there in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 11. 1 Corinthians in chapter 11. And look in verse 17. Verse 17. See in verse 1 of chapter 11 he He said these words again, be followers of me. Follow me. Why? Well, you follow him because he’s the God that led you to the Lord. Listen to Paul instead of those who are knocking the apostle Paul.

Look what he says in verse 17. Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not. That you come together not for the better, but for the worse. And they were coming together and not for the better. It was for the worse. They were getting drunk. And all the things that they did was so bad. And you would think, well, they should have smartened up by then, but they hadn’t. Now turn over the second Corinthians. Second Corinthians.

And look now in verse one of 2 Corinthians, in chapter 11 here, looking verse 1, would to God, he could bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me. In the words, put up with me just for a moment. Remember, he’s talking to carnal Christians, worldly-minded Christians, babes in Christ. Now, if he was talking to a mature spiritual adult, He would talk totally different, but He’s having to rebuke babes in Christ. He has to rebuke rebellious children.

He says in verse 2, for I am jealous over you with Godly jealousy. For I haven’t, you know what jealousy is, I’ve told you this before, jealousy is the fear of being replaced. Ever heard God say God is a jealous God. I mean, God doesn’t want to be replaced. And so God doesn’t want you to put anybody in his place. What causes a girl to be jealous of another girl when that girl begins to like her boyfriend and she gets what?

Jealous. And isn’t jealousy an ugly sin? Jealous he can lead to murder. I mean man, when we get married and all of a sudden somebody starts hanky-panking with somebody else and next thing you know there’s a murder. And you think, well, something so wonderful is love. Yeah, but you’re gonna push this thing too far and you’re gonna get yourself in trouble. Second Corinthians in chapter 11 as we’re moving right along. Look there in verse two, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste for it’s into Christ.

But I fear, but I fear. Lest by any means as the serpent begal leave through his subtlety, So your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preaches another Jesus, so there’s somebody else coming along preaching something else. They’re preaching another Jesus that Paul says, I didn’t preach. And they’re preaching another spirit that I didn’t preach. They’re preaching another gospel that I didn’t preach. He says, they’re false. He said, but I want you to bear with me just for a little bit, because I want you to bear with me because I’m afraid you’re going to bear with them.

I want you to listen to me because I’m afraid you’re going to listen to them and it’s going to affect your whole life. This is why the church was all filled with problems because they no longer listen to what Paul taught them. They were listening to false teaching. 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. Part two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast.

If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634.

Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. The live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. Then He goes down to verse 20, for our behavior or manner of life is in heaven, our citizenship, from which also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body. According, according to the working whereby, and you ought to underline that statement, He is able, even to subdue all things unto Him.

Now God is able to take the body that we have and make it like unto His body. He took our soul and washed it white as snow, but He never changed the body. But the one that can wash the soul white as snow can also make the body whole. To where we can have a body that will live for all eternity. The new body that he says as he makes a statement, he’s going to change our vile body. What makes our body vile is our old sinful nature.

So he’s going to give us a body that does not have a sinful nature. He’s able even to subdue all things unto himself. He can bake everything under his feet. You and I have a God who is able to do anything he wants to do. And he’s told us a few things that he will do. And he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and he is unchangeable. And he continuously live. He liveeth forever. That’s why you and I can have and rest in the fact that I have eternal security.

Because I am in him that is eternal. So if I am in Him that is eternal, how long am I going to be around forever as long as He is? And I can’t go to hell if He don’t go. I don’t think He’s going. I think I feel pretty safe, pretty secure. In the Bible, in the book of Daniel in chapter 3, we’ll have to turn it right now. Why not? Go there. Daniel chapter 3. ever heard of the three Hebrew children, but the three Hebrew children, they refused to bend to bow or to burn.

But Nebuchadnezzar was very mad upset with them because they just didn’t bow to him. And he really didn’t want to set them on fire. Nothing like being on fire for the Lord, but this is not kind of firing on the Lord. I like the man. But he He says in verse 15, he says, after he talked to them, he said, now listen you fellows, if you be ready that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, the flute, the harp, the cyborg, and the soft-reedend, all kinds of music, he fall down and worship the image which I have made well.

But if you worship not ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And then look what this statement is. Who is that God? that shall deliver you out of my hand. What God can deliver you out of my hand? That is what their test really is. The test is about who’s God is God. Who has the power? And so, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they were, no, I didn’t say that. One guy said, this is my shack, you’re shacking the bungalow.

But anyway, he says, He says, they said to Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer the in this matter. In other words, we’re not worried. We’re not worried. Are you worried? Are you worried? He said, I’m not worried. Wait a minute. Why shouldn’t they be worried? They’re fixing to be cast into a burning fiery furnace. Shouldn’t that cause everybody to be worried? We’re not careful to answer you in this manner. If you throw us into the burning fiery furnace.

Looking for seven and he says, if it be so. Our God whom we serve and you’re on the line that is able. Our God is able. He is able to deliver us. To deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. If he doesn’t, so be it. But I know that I have a God who is able to do it. And if he doesn’t do it, it means God has a higher purpose. And I can accept that. So he may let me lose my health, and he may lose, I lose wealth and he might lose, who cares?

But my God is able to keep it from happening. And if he doesn’t keep it from happening, then maybe he has a reason he just never told me about. And I’m just going to be faithful regardless. Now God hadn’t told the three Hebrew children that he was going to deliver them because what he says. He says, if it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery He will deliver us out of thine hand, O King, one way or the other.

But if not, be it known unto the O King, we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up were not going to do it. God is able. God is able to do what God says that He can do and wants to do. That doesn’t mean he’s going to do something just because he’s able to do it. Unless he has a higher reason. Not everybody is delivered out of the fiery furnace. Not everybody escapes death.

Not everybody escapes poverty. Not everybody escapes bad health. Not everybody escapes it. But sooner or later we all die. And that’s true. Look in Acts 20, the book of Acts in chapter 20. The book of Acts in chapter 20. I know the apostle Paul knew that the people he was talking to here at Ephraus, he knew that this would probably be the last time he’d ever talked to him. This is kind of like a farewell address to them. And he loved these people, but looked there in verse 17, and from my leaders he sent to Ephraus and called the elders of the church, and when they were come to him, he said unto them, ye know from the first day that I came into Asia.

what manner I have been with you at all seasons. In other words, you know me. You know what I was like. You know how I approached you, what I did and I didn’t do. And he really goes to it pretty good here. But let’s just look what he said. In verse 19, serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and tim day. In other words, this is what he said what I had to go through and serve in the Lord.

This is what I went through to reach you. You see, whenever the Bible talks about going and sowing the seed with tears shall come with joy, reap with joy, finding the Old Testament of Psalms, talking about sowing with tears. Not the tears, you know, of the people you’re reaching, but the tears that you have to shed to go through all the trials and the troubles and the tribulations in order to get the seed to them, to get the word to people.

You see, you could always find a better way to maybe live life and to have more and without the stress and all the problems and so forth. And you might live like that and then say, well, it’s worth it. But when you think of being the light of eternity, all the tears that’s been shed because of the heartaches that you went through because you didn’t take the easy road. You decide, I’m going to serve the Lord and trust the Lord.

And maybe you’ve hurt and you suffered and there’s been a lot of tears shed. This is what Paul’s talking about. This is what I went to. This is how I heard. This is how I suffered in order that I might get the gospel to you. So he says in verse 19, he says, with many tears and temptations which befell me by the line in weight of the Jews. How I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you and have showed you and taught you publicly from house to house.

Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greek repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Now he says, Behold, I go bound to Jerusalem. He said, not knowing the things which shall befall me there, the thing that brings those tears. He says, except this in verse 23, that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. This is what served the Lord. He said, when I came to you, I came in humility of mine.

Serving the Lord. And he says that in verse 24, but none of these things move me, neither can I my life dear unto myself, that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received the Lord to testify of the gospel of the grace of God. That’s why I did what I did. But he also knew, he says, you’ll see my face no more. See the last part of verse 25? Where he says, shall see my face no more.

Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men, if I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves to all the flock, because he’s talking to the elders of the church. And he says, over the wish the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this that after my departant shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

Wolves not sparing the flock. Do everything he possibly can to destroy the church. He’s telling them this and warning them this before he leaves. So he says in verse 31, Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years, I cease not to warn every one night and day with what? Tears. And now, brethren, I come in you to God and get this. This here part is so important. Because you wonder, well, what will help me to stay strong in the Lord?

Does stay strong in the Lord? What will help build me up to be stronger in the Lord? Well, look what he says. Now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the… And you ought to underline the word of his grace. And you ought to underline the last part of that, which is able to build you up. What’s able to build you up? The word of grace. The word of God is able to make you strong. It’s able to do this.

But see, if people don’t learn the word of God, they won’t become strong. Every sermon that every person in this church misses without hearing it is costing them something. Just think it through. Every message that is designed to help to build the comfort, to encourage, to exhort, to rebuke, Every message that can help a person to become stronger in the Lord because of the Word of God, somebody who doesn’t hear it doesn’t get that strength from that message. So it’ll cost every person something.

They don’t know it now, but down the road, the lack of wisdom, the lack of knowledge, the lack of strength will have its payday someday. It’ll take its toll somewhere down the line. So whenever you come and you read and you study and you hear and you absorb and you obey, you become a stronger Christian. You’re building yourself up to where you can face all the trials and tribulations. And yes, there may be tears that comes with it, but you don’t quit as you just stay at it.

But look what he says down here. He says in verse 30, he says, I want you to know, he said, when I came among you, he said, I coveted no man’s gold. In other words, I don’t do what I do just to be rich, just to get all this money from all these people and all these churches.” He said, that’s not my motive. I have coveted no man’s silver or gold or a paron. Yay, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities.

And to them that were with me. Paul says, I worked and I labored. I did other jobs. I built tents and things like that and I sold them. Because he talked about Aquil and Priscilla. That’s what he did. In order to pay his way when when people wouldn’t minister to Him and give them the money that He needed to get some place. He never cried and whined and pined. He just went ahead and worked, did what He could, did without.

And He says, I have suffered all things. He says, I know what it’s like to be abased. I know what it’s like to abound. I know what it’s like to be hungry. He says, I’ve learned in whatsoever state that I’m in to be content. And I found out that my God is able to provide my God is able. And then He makes a statement down here in verse 35, I have showed you all things, how that soul-laboring you ought to support the week.

And to remember the words of our Lord Jesus, how He said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And I don’t think He’s just talking about money, but it’s more blessed to give my life for the cause of Christ, to receive anything from anybody. Because, see, your service to the Lord, it is worth it. And then he says this, these are three little beautiful verses here. Look at the warmth that’s in these verses. And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all.

And they all wept sore and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him, soaring most of all for the words which he spake that they would should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship, because Paul was leaving and they knew they’d never seen him again. But they’ll see him, of course, when they get to heaven. But Paul did what he did because he knew that God was able to sustain him, to give them all that he needed, when people did or when they didn’t.

When people wanted to kill him or whatever. It didn’t matter. Paul just kept on doing what God wanted him to do. Look in Ephesians chapter three, the book of Ephesians in chapter three. Ephesians chapter three, talk to us. about the church and the love that God wants us to know about Him so that we would know how to love others. See, the closer you get to the Lord, then the easier it is to love other people. The further you get away from the Lord, the harder it is because sin abounds when love waxes coal.

So here in the book of Ephesians in chapter 3, you look up there in verse 14, because he talked about the cause, the cause again. For this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, He just prayed with them and He got on His knees and they all prayed. And where was this at? Now where was He at? Now these were the elders of what church? Where was it at? Oh, that’s right, Ephesus.

The church their inethicists. The book of Ephesians, maybe there’s a connection here somewhere. So he says here in verse 15, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be, get this strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man, strengthened by his power, by his might, by the spirit in the inner man. Now the inner man is that one that was born of God.

See there, just look over there in chapter four real quick and see what he says there in verse 23. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. You see, your new birth is the new man that you received when you trusted Christ as your Savior. You see, the old man is no good. Can’t be saved, can’t go to heaven. You were born in the God’s family when you trusted Christ as your Savior.

So the new birth has no sinful nature and it cannot sin. My old birth, yes, still got an old sinful nature. But the new one doesn’t. It was created in righteousness and true holiness. And so he makes a statement to put on the new man. So over here in Ephesians in chapter three, when he makes a statement about his spirit and the inner man, look what he says in verse 17, that Christ made dwelling your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love.

Maybe, and here’s that word. Boy, that’s a wonderful word, isn’t it? Maybe able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and the length and the depth and the height. You see, this is talking about you and I now, knowing the Lord in such a way and loving the Lord in such a way and rooted and grounded Him in such a way that we might be able to love and serve others. Because without it, you’re not going to be able to do it.

And so He says here in verse 20, now unto Him, Him that is able, Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we asker thing according to the power that works at thinnest. So what God is able to do in your life is according to the power that is working in you. And if the power is not working in you and you’re not yielded to the Lord, you’re not doing what God wants you to do, then there’s so much that God cannot do for and through you.

Because as he says in the Old Testament, in the book of Psalm, he talked about, you have limited the Holy One. You limit God. God can’t do certain things. God doesn’t bless disobedient children. So what do you do to solve that problem? Be an obedient child. Doesn’t that make sense? I think that makes sense. Look there in the book of Jude. The book of Jude. There’s only one chapter. But I want you to look there in verse 20. Verse 20.

And the Bible tells us here about you and I doing something that we’ve already read about. But it says in verse 20, but ye belevered. How do you become a belevered? Belevered. You see, to be loved, you simply accept Christ as your Savior and your Lamb the Lord to love you by saving you. So now he’s writing a letter to those that have been loved. And he says in verse 20, but ye belevered, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, building up yourselves.

That’s what I’ve told people. The greatest thing you’ll ever build is not a ministry. That’s just the results of you being built. Build yourself strong in your faith. Study the word, walk with God, because there’s no substitute for it. And activity doesn’t mean productivity. You can be active and not accomplish anything. But it says, build ye yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. It means that you let the Holy Spirit teach you the word of God and you know the things that God is able to do.

So ask the Lord to do the things that He is able to do. You see, you can’t ask God to do things that God isn’t going to do. God’s not going to bless rebellion. He’s not going to bless disobedience. So if you’re yield to Him and know what He’s able to do, don’t let it be because you didn’t ask. Ask the Lord. Talk to Him. Look in verse 21, keep yourselves. Do you see a personal responsibility? Some people just wait, well, I’m just going to I’m just gonna let God do it.

I’m just gonna let God do it.” God said, I done done everything I’m gonna do. You do this and you do that and God will bless. Do what God tells you to do. Keep yourselves in the love of God. Looking for the, in other words, the thing that God can do because He loves you. God doesn’t want to chasten His children. That isn’t what God wants to do. He wants to bestow blessings upon us. Sorry, it says, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ eternal life.

And of some have compassion, some have that love, they have the compassion. And it’s the last three words, they make a difference, making a difference. And he says here in verse 23, another save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. In other words, all the tears that you shed, all the troubles you go through, and all the debts of your love that that you have between you and the Lord, going deep, Greg Steer talks about going deep and going wide.

I don’t know if this is talking about this, but I think it’s a good point to make. And he says, pulling them out of the fire. You and I are told that God wants to use to pull people out of the fire. See people that do not know the Lord, they’re already on their way to hell. They’re going to hell. And every person we went to Christ is one that we just pulled out of the fire. And isn’t the shame for God to let you live for so many years and you never pulled anybody out of the fire?

Do you know there’s a day coming when those people are gonna be mad, glad. Then He makes the statement here in verse 24, you ought to underline this verse. Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling. How is He able to keep you from falling? He says in the book of Acts chapter 20 that if you will keep yourself in the word of grace, it will build you up. If it builds you up, is God able to buy His word, keep you from falling?

If you keep yourself in the word of God and keep strong and doing what God says to do, you don’t have to fall. You don’t have to mess up your life. You really don’t. I’ve had somebody say to them, well, everybody’s gonna mess up their life. No, you don’t have to mess up your life. No, you don’t. Now I may in the future, but I’m going to stand here and tell you right now, I have not messed up my life.

Now I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but I’m going to try to serve the Lord with the same determinationextreme and fervent that I’ve done for the last 51 years. You don’t have to mess it up. You don’t have to ruin your life. You don’t have to ruin your testimony. You can keep a clean life. And when you’re not doing right, you can still confess it to the Lord and keep on going, but you don’t have to quit and stop.

I didn’t say I was perfect, just almost. No. I’m a sinner. I am a sinner, and I know it. And I know the danger of pride, but I also know the power of humility. That when you submit yourself to the Word of God and you build yourself strong, then I believe God is able to keep you from falling, or cut that verse out of the Bible. But it happens to be there and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

So now that you understand more about what God is able to do, the question comes down, is are you able to trust him? Are you able to trust the Lord regardless of the consequences? Sounds good to me. And maybe somebody here, I never know for sure. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior. Remember the first point that we covered in the book of Hebrews in chapter 7 was that He is able to save completely forever those who trust Him.

Let this hand represent you and me in this wallet. Represent sin. We all have sin upon us. God, He loves us. Now He hates our sin, but He loves us. And the Bible says that since we committed the sin, we have to pay for it, and that is eternal separation from God in hell. But God wants us to go to heaven. To go to heaven, you have to be perfect, just as righteous is the Lord. And none of us are perfect, none of us are righteous.

We’ve all sinned and come short of God’s perfection. And God says, you cannot save yourself. You committed the sin, but you can’t deliver yourself from the penalty. So God says, it’s not by going to church, it’s not living a good life. Living a good life does not pay for your sins. There’s only one way for a man to get to heaven. And that’s through Jesus Christ. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He is the Lord, God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us.

He hates our sin because our sin separates us from Him. So Jesus Christ, who had no sin, did not have to die. He took all of the sins, paid for it on the cross, and came back from the dead. And God said that if you and I, we would believe that He did it for us. He would put this payment to our account and completely for eternity, save us, give us eternal life, and we’ll never cast this out and never lose us.

We go to heaven all on what he did. That is salvation by grace and grace alone in Christ alone. Let’s pray, shall we? If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, friend, would you do it right now? And if you’re watching by internet, there’s nothing for you to do, just something for you to receive, just something to believe. Believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for you, that He paid for your sins. And if you trust Him right now, then God said He would save you right now and give you the free gift of eternal life.

And if you’re here this evening and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior right where you are, would you simply just talk to the Lord, Lord, I’m a sinner? I believe Christ died for me and I will trust Him right now as my Savior. My only hope of going to heaven, would you do that? If you will, would you slip in it very quickly and put it right back down? I just like to know, I like to have prayer for you.

And what at all? Our Father, we thank you so much for this time together. We know according to your word that you’re able to do so much, help us to learn to trust you. And Father, we thank you for this time together. Bless each person here. In 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 are blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free, 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at six o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

You know we need to know what God is able to do What is God able? To do what do you used to believe that God was able to do? But you don’t believe he’s able to do it anymore Is your faith in the Lord getting stronger where you’re having more confidence in what God is able to do or less because you tried him He failed you so you know he can’t do that I Won’t trust him in that area of my life anymore more.

So are there other things that God just can’t do, won’t do? He’s not able to do. And yet at the same time we’re taught in the Bible to know the things that God is able to do. Because wouldn’t it be a shame to waste your life trusting God to do something God can’t do, won’t do? Never going to happen Captain? Or to know what God is able to do and then you’re more likely to trust Him in that area.

So it’s good to know what God is able to do. Take your Bible and turn there with me to the book of Hebrews in chapter 7. Hebrews and chapter 7. I just want to give you a couple things to think about because you never know when you’re going to need it. In Hebrews chapter 7 I want to look there in verse 23 and they were many priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. In other words, they died.

And that’s why they had to have another one and then they died and then they’d have to have another one and then they’d die and they’d have to have another one. Wouldn’t it be needed if they just had a high priest that would just live forever? Well, that’s what Christ was. Christ was a high priest that wouldn’t die. So he can intercede forever. Look what he says there in verse 24, but this man, this man, referring to Christ, because he continues ever.

That means he has eternal life. It means he’s forever. He’s not going to die anymore. Never die. Get this half an unchangeable priesthood. Never changes. God’s promises to you and I are based upon that which does not change. God doesn’t lie. God doesn’t change. And look what he says in verse 25. Wherefore because he’s able to live forever and because he doesn’t change. Look at the next verse. Wherefore he is and here’s that word you ought to just underline.

He is able also to save them to the uttermost. They always say from the the guttermost to the uttermost. Well, it’s talking about He’s able to save you completely forever. It means He’s able to save you not just for a day, a month, or a week, or forever. Why? Because of this reason. He doesn’t change and He is forever. And He saves you forever. sounds pretty good to me. He says, to the uttermost, that is what I would consider eternal security.

You’re eternally secure. See and he, and here’s those two words again, ever live it to make intercession for them. There’s nothing from this day forward that can ever separate me from the love of God. So therefore I I have great confidence in what God has to say. And I never have to worry because I know what my God is able to do to save me for all eternity, completely, forever. He can never cast me out and never lose me.

Anyone who teaches you can lose your salvation, do not understand this book. They do not understand the power of God, what He is able to do. Now take your Bible and turn with me to the book of Second Corinthians. Second Corinthians, because you know you got to get saved first before all these other things really make much sense. But in Second Corinthians in chapter nine, and look at there in verse six. There’s a lot of good teaching right here in these few verses, but I don’t want you to look at him.

In verse six says, but this I say, he that soeth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly. And he that soeth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Now this is to the believer, not in the Old Testament. This is the New Testament to the church, to you and I, and it’s now. And God tells us that if we were so sparingly, then evidently we’re the one that decides how much I so. I can be a cheapskate. I can invest heavily in the Lord’s work, or I can be cheap.

You can do whatever you want to do. just so that you know God said, He’s the one up in heaven and He’s the one that can open doors and close doors. He can pull out the abundance. He can open up the windows of heaven and He can have the earth bring forth all these things because of how you sow. And then He makes a statement in verse 7, every man accorded as He purposes in His heart, so let Him give.

Not grudgingly like, I have to do this. Or of necessity, He says, for God, loveth a cheerful giver. And there’s a promise that God made in His Word about what He is able to do. Now He doesn’t always necessarily may do it to satisfy you, but you need to know what God is capable of doing. So look there in verse 8. God is, and there’s that word, he’s able, get this to make all grace abound toward you. Did you know there’s a God in heaven that not only can save you completely for all eternity, but you got to live in the nasty here and now and he can’t help you at all.

Sorry about that. or Kenny. God says that He is able to make all grace abound toward you based upon your giving spirit or whether or not you so sparingly or begrudgingly, cheerfully, abountably as He says. But look what He says again. God is able to make all grace abound toward you. In other all that you need, all the grace that you need, all the power that you need. Whatever it is, you need God says, I’m able to supply everything for you.

You see, just sometimes people have a hard time trusting the Lord. You know what sowing means? It means you taking the initiative and doing it first and then expecting the results later. Some people are waiting for God’s all these blessings And then they will decide if they want to do it or not. None of them, God says, you first, and you say, none of them, you first, none of them, you first, after you, none of them, after you. So we look in the last part of this verse, that ye get this always having most, no, all sufficiency in all things.

may have what? Money in the bank, a new pink Cadillac. No, that is not what it said. That you might have everything that you need. May abound to every good work. Oh, we’re back to work again. In other words, if you put God first, God said, I will you have everything you need to do what I want you to do with your life. You’ll have all the grace to effectively do what you do. You’ll have all the grace to effectively do what you do.

Now, God is able to make everything abound towards you and in order for you to do what God wants you to do. Can God, is he able to make everything that we need to do the work of the Lord? Can he make everything abound toward us? That we will have everything we need to do what God wants us to do. I believe God is able. God is able. I’m not sure if I’m able, but I know God’s able. But look what else he says.

In verse nine, as it is written, That means it’s recorded in the Old Testament. He hath dispersed abroad. He hath given to the poor. His righteousness remaineth forever. In the words, when you serve the Lord and you do what’s right. That’s my parent. You know why they’re wrong? What’s the key? What’s the key? No? 28. Yeah. The right thing for the Lord, the children don’t know why they’ve decided. I don’t know. The right thing is what he’s doing is what we say, Jesus.

He goes through. I don’t know how to do it. You know why? What’s the key? What’s the key? What’s the key? What’s the key? The key’s eighteen. That’s the key lesson I have to do. That’s my key, the key lesson is the key, the key lesson practice. I’ve got to School ofsay. eternity. The sufferingstarian of this present time are not worthyGGGG to ReincarnatedBron The glory that we shall receive will be given to heaven. That’s why we serve the Lord, not to get there.

I’m already going there. I serve the Lord because I want God’s blessings upon me here and if he chooses to give me. He gave me something when I get to heaven that will be fine too. Look what else he says in verse 10. Now he that ministered seed. yrinth the sower, both men are bred for your food. Multiply your seed soon. God can take the work that you do and multiply it. Did you know that when you do something right for one person, you may be helping that person to help somebody that helps somebody that helps somebody that helps somebody and you have no idea down the road how many it’s God can take what you have and what you give and multiply it.

You can lead one person to the Lord And that person may lead thousandsaterial to the Lord. That might lead thousands to the Lord. That might lead thousands to the Lord. You don’t know. But God says, I can supply the seed. You sow the seed. Trust me to work. And so he says, to minister bread for your food, repudiate your seed zone and increase the fruits of your righteousness. Now can you tell me why a Christian would not want to serve a God who is able to do all of that.

A God who is able to give me good health that he wants to. I have a God that can give me, well, if he wants to, I have God get can multiply everything that I do if he wants to, because God is able to do ituitive. Andholi And you and I are livingretty by faith. We’re living because we know that our God is able. Now he doesn’t do certain things if because God has a, higher purpose than what ours is.

I want God to feel free to use me any way he wants. And I don’t want to put no gs upon what God has to do. He doesn’t have to do anything that I want him to do. He can do whatever he wants to do. And I can trust him, but it’s nice knowing what my God is able to perform. Now look what he says here in verse 11, being enriched in everything to all bountifulness which causes through us thanksgiving to God.

You see, when God does all these things for us, what does it cause us to do? to be thankful to the Lord? Do you just take God for granted? Are you thankful to the Lord for what you do have? Or are you always living with the desire for more? And if I get more, then I might be thankful. No, be content with such things as you have. Learn to be thankful now and praise the Lord now for what you do have.

Not down the road. Lord, if I give you all these things, I’ll thank you for it. God says, I don’t already gave you this and this and this and this isn’t, this isn’t, I haven’t heard a word, SERVICE back. Show your gratitude to God. Be respectful of the Lord. And in verse 12 he says, for the administration of this service, not only supply at the want of the saints, in other words, because you give and it supplies their need, not only that.

He says, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God. In other words, because whenever you help somebody else, people will thank God because of what you did. How many people are going to receive not only the blessing but will give thanks to the Lord? Do you know I believe God is so pleased when somebody is so thankful. Just learn to be thankful. Thankful for God to God for what He’s done for you. Look what else He says here in verse 14 and by their prayer for you.

You see, you use what you have and you become a blessing and then those people thank God for you and pray for you. Do you know one of the most powerful things in the world is prayer? When I don’t know how to do everything and I can’t do everything and I know I’m limited, man, it does something, when people say, I’m praying for you. I’m praying for you. Because I know they’re interceding on behalf of me to God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I could ever dream.

Do you still dream? You’ll get a little vision. You still want to do something, accomplish something? Or you just want to coast from here on in? Maybe you want to fly a little higher. So many things. And that’s why he says there in verse 15. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. It’s like you can’t find words to express how you really feel about the Lord. Take your Bible and turn to Hebrews in chapter two. of Hebrews in chapter 2.

Hebrews chapter 2, in verse 9 it makes a statement, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for almost every man. No, for every man. For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons into glory. The the word, making us perfect. And he says, to make the captain of their salvation perfect, Christ, through suffering, because not only was God perfect, but see, he had never suffered.

God is perfect, but see, he had never faced death. But coming into the world as a man, he got to face everything just like us and became a perfect Savior in every aspect. He He knows about everything that we think and feel. But anyway, if you’ll look back here. In verse 11, he says, for both he, that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all of one. Christ who is pure and holy and perfect hath made you an eye pure and holy.

So we are the sanctified by him. He has made us just like God, perfect in that sense. And get what else he says. And for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. See, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church, will I sing praise unto thee? And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, because, or behold, I and the children which God hath given me. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same that through death, he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject abundance.

For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. For in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren that he He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people and look there in verse 18. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, you ought to underline this, he is able to suckle them that are tempted.

That means to aid, to help, to sustain those that are tempted. He was in the world and you have at your disposal somebody who can help you face any issue in life. It doesn’t matter what it is. God is able to walk with you through it and God will do just like He promised that He will do. Look here in Philippians in chapter 3. The book of Philippians in chapter 3, there’s things that God’s Word tells us that we should be aware of and all the things that he’s able to do for us.

One day he is going to come back, but he makes this statement that you and I are to walk according to the light that he’s already given us. That’s the will of God. And if you walk according to the light or the truth that you already know, he will give you more truth, more light. So that’s why he says up here in verse 17, brethren, be followers together of me, mark them which walk not so as you have us for an example.

Then he goes down in verse 20, for our behavior or manner of life is in heaven, our citizenship, from which also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashions like unto his glorious body. According to the working whereby, and you ought to underline that statement, he is able even to subdue all things unto him. Now, God is able to take the body that we have and make it like unto his body.

He took our soul and washed it white as snow, but he never changed the body. But the one that can wash the sole whiter’s nose can also make the body hold. The way we can have a body that will live for all eternity. The new body that he says as he makes a statement, he’s going to change our vile body. What makes our body vile is our old sinful nature. So he’s going to give us a body that does not have a sinful nature.

He’s able even to subdue all things unto himself. He can bake everything under his feet. You and I have a God who is able to do anything he wants to do. And he’s told us a few things that he will do. And he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And he is unchangeable. And he continuously live. He liveeth forever. That’s why you and I can have in resting the fact that I have eternal security because I am in him that is eternal.

So if I am in him that is eternal, how long am I going to be around forever as long as he is? And I can’t go to hell if he don’t go. I don’t think he’s going. I think I feel pretty safe, pretty secure. In the Bible, in the says in the book of Daniel in chapter 3, we’ll have to turn it right No, why not? Go there. Daniel chapter 3. You ever heard of the three Hebrew children?

But the three Hebrew children, they refused to bend, to bow, or to burn. But never Knessa was very mad, upset with them because they just didn’t bow to him. And he really didn’t want to set him on fire. nothing like being on fire for the Lord, but this is not kind of firing on the Lord. I like the man. But in verse 15 he says, after he talked to them, he said, now listen you fellows, if you be ready that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, the flute, the harp, the side button, the soft, the reed, and the lusam, and all kinds of music, he fall down and worship the image which I have made well.

But if you worship not ye shall be cast the same hour into the mist of a burning fiery furnace. And then look what this statement is. Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? What God can deliver you out of my hand? That is what their test really is. The test is about whose God is God. Who has the power? And so, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they were No, it doesn’t say that. What do you guys say?

This is my shack, your shack in the bungalow. But anyway, he says, they said to Nebearchinessar, Nebarchinessar, we are not careful to answer the end of this matter. In other words, we’re not worried. We’re not worried. Are you worried? Are you worried? He says, I’m not worried. Wait a minute. Why shouldn’t they be worried? They’re fixing to be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. furnace. Shouldn’t that cause everybody to be worried? We’re not careful to answer you in this manner.

If you throw us into the burning fiery furnace, looking for seven and he says, if it be so, our God whom we serve and your underlining is able, our God is able. He is able to deliver us, to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. If he doesn’t, so be it. But I know that I have a God who is able to do it. And if he doesn’t do it, it means God has a higher purpose. And I can accept that.

So he may let me lose my health and he may lose my wealth and he might lose who cares. But my God is able to keep it from happening. And if he doesn’t keep it from happening, then maybe he has a reason he just never told me about. And I’m just going to be faithful regardless. Now God hadn’t told the three Hebrew children that he was going to deliver them because what he says, he says, if it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O King, one way or the other.

But he says, but if not be it known unto the O King, we will not serve by God’s, nor worship the golden image which thou has set up, were not going to do it. God is able. God is able to do what God says that He can do and wants to do. But that doesn’t mean He’s going to do something just because He’s able to do it, unless He has a higher reason. Not everybody is delivered out of the fiery furnace.

Not everybody escapes death, not everybody escapes poverty, not everybody escaped bad health. Not everybody escapes it. But sooner or later we all die. And that’s true. Look in Acts chapter 20, the book of Acts in chapter 20. The Book of Acts, chapter 20. Now you know, the apostle Paul knew that the people he was talking to here at Ephraes, he knew that this would probably be the last time he’d ever talked to him. This is kind of like a farewell address to them.

And he loved these people, but look there in verse 17. And from my leaders, he sent to Ephraes and called the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, ye know from the first day that I came. into Asia. After what manner I have been with you at all seasons. In other words, you know me, you know what I was like. You know how I approached what I did and I didn’t do.

And he really goes through it pretty good here. But let’s just look what he said. In verse 19, serving the Lord with all humility of mine and with many tears and tempting, in other words, this is what he said, what I had to go through and serve in the Lord. This is what I went through to reach you. You see, You see, whenever the Bible talks about going and sowing the seed with tears, shall come with joy, reap with joy, find in the Old Testament that Psalms, talking about sowing with tears.

Not the tears of the people you’re reaching, but the tears that you have to shed to go through all the trials and the troubles and the tribulations in order to get the seed to them, to get the word to people. You see you could always find a better way to maybe live life and to have more and without the stress and all the problems and so forth And you might live like that and then say what was worth it But when you think of being the light of eternity All the tears has been shed because of the heartaches that you went through because you didn’t take the easy road You decide I’m gonna serve the Lord and trust the Lord and maybe you’ve hurt and you suffered and there’s been a lot of tears shed This is what Paul’s talking about.

This is what I went to. This is how I heard. This is how I suffered in order that I might get the gospel to you. So he says in verse 19, he says, with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the line in weight of the Jews. How I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you and have showed you and taught you publicly from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greek repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now he says, behold, I go bound to Jerusalem. He said, not knowing the things which shall befall me there, the thing that brings those tears. He says, except this in verse 23, that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. This is what served the Lord. He said, when I came to you, I came in humility of mine, serving the Lord. 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. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

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, your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

If you will, take your Bible and turn to this portion of Scripture. Isaiah chapter 6, there’s something here that I want you to see because there’s two truths, two main truths that permeate the entire Bible. One of those is that God is holy. God is righteous, God is perfect, God is pure. There is no sin, no fault, no flaws, no mistakes in God. And Isaiah said that when I saw the Lord, I saw myself and until you see God and how holy and righteous He is, you will never see yourself the way you really are.

Because you see, you can compare yourself with others and not see yourself that bad. But when you compare yourself to perfection, to holiness, then you can realize there is a serious problem. This is why the Bible talks about the word justification throughout the Scriptures. The question that keeps coming up is how can a man be right with God? How can a man be justified in the eyes of God? And you’ll notice that he says here in verse three of Isaiah chapter six, and one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of host.

The whole earth is full of his glory. Now this is a picture of God in heaven. As you read the Bible, you never at one time ever see God admitting to one mistake, one imperfection, one flaw, because there is none with God. Jesus Christ was the manifestation of God upon the earth. And as you call the life of Jesus Christ from birth until the day he died, there was no fault, no flaws in his son. Jesus Christ was as perfect, was as righteous, was as just, was as holy as the Father.

The Bible says that you and I need to be just with God. We have to be justified. Therein lies the problem. The Bible, throughout, declares that God is just. God is holy. But man is a different story. Look in verse 5. Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips. If you see God the way God is, then you can see that you come far short of the holiness of God, far short of the perfection of God.

When He saw God, He saw Himself, and when He saw Himself, He saw the people, and He said, I dwell in the mist of unclean people. And then the Bible says in verse 6, then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongue from off the altar and he laid it upon my mouth and said, lo, this hath touched my lips and thine iniquity is taken away and by sin purged.

Also I heard the voice of the Lord sin, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send me.” He had to first see the Lord. I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans in chapter 3. The book of Romans and chapter 3. Romans chapter 3 is a picture of you and I. We love it when we go to the studio and have a portrait made of ourselves or our family.

Have you ever noticed that when you’re going to stage a picture of you that you want to put on the wall, many times you’ll make sure that every hair is in place? And the wife wants to make sure that your tie is straight if you weren’t a tie. Your clothes are clean, and a little Johnny looks fit and span, and the little girl has got on a pretty little dress. The wife is sitting there looking beautiful, and you stage it, and you’re trying to show it as good as you can.

to look your best. But here’s how God sees us. Look there in chapter 3 of the book of Romans and verse 4. God forbid ye let God be true every man a liar as it is written that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and mighteth overcome when thou art judged. Every man a liar. Look what he says down there in verse 10. As it is written there is none righteous, not one. And on in verse 12 they’re all going out of the way, they’re together becoming profitable, there’s none that doeth good, no not one.

Verse 13 says, their throat is an open seperica or like a grave. Their tongues, they have used deceit. The poison of asp is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Feet swift as shed blood, destruction and misery are in their ways. the way of peace they have not known. There’s no fear before God of God in their eyes of this is how God sees man. And when you boil it all down, this is what he says in verse 23.

For all, all men all over the world, all mankind have all sinned and comes short of the perfection of God. That’s why when you study the Bible all the way through talks about the righteousness, The holiness of God and the sinfulness of man and the plan of salvation is how to get man justified in the eyes of God. Take your Bible-looking a book of Titus in chapter 3. This is the method on how God is going to justify a man.

Justification is the righteous act of God. How can a righteous holy God make a sinful man as good as God and God be right in doing it? God must be just, unjustifying a man. How’s that going to be done? Here in the book of Titus in chapter three, look there in verse five, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

How is a man justified by the mercy of God? That’s why throughout much of the scriptures is by grace through faith. This is what God does. This is what man does. Man’s part is only to believe in the part that God did. God did the work. Man simply accepts that work, believes in that work. But man cannot add to that work. Man cannot take his little 25 cent efforts and add it to the work that God has done in annulled salvation.

So any person who tries to save himself by helping God, by thinking that is going to church or giving money or being water baptized or any good deeds is helping in his salvation of that man. If he’s trusting in his part as far as works go, that man is not saved. He’s lost because you cannot add to grace. One work added to grace means grace isn’t grace. Grace means that it’s free. It was all done by the work that Christ did.

Man cannot justify himself. He cannot help in his justification. He can only by faith accept the work that Jesus Christ did for him. Look what he says there in verse 7. That being justified by his grace, but it is by our faith. God says every man by faith, your faith in Christ’s grace. So God says every man can be saved. I believe that every man has the ability to trust. Every man can put his confidence in something. You can put your confidence in me to get you to heaven.

But there’s a problem. I don’t have the power to get you to heaven. So your faith in me is in vain. I can’t help you. You may put your faith in your own good works to get you to heaven. You still are putting your faith in your confidence where you choose, but your good works can’t get you there so your faith is in vain. You can put it into anything that you want. You can put it into this church by your giving money and your good deeds and maybe joining the church, but that can’t save you so your faith is in vain.

Your faith is not in vain. If you’re trusting in what Christ did for you, then your faith is not in vain. You can be saved and go to heaven whenever you die and be justified by faith and faith alone. See, in verse seven, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. See, eternal life is something that God does not give to sinners. Eternal life is something and a gift that God gives to those who are justified.

Those who have been made righteous and pure from the sins that they’ve committed. And God gives every man this free gift of eternal life because as a child of God we inherit eternal life. Now these things are so important to keep in mind. Now take your Bible and turn all the way back to the book of Job. The book of Job and chapter 9. Job and chapter 9. The Bible tells us that Job went through an awful lot concerning his testings, the trials that he went through.

He lost, I believe, the respect of his wife. He lost his wealth. He lost his health. He lost an awful lot of things. He lost his patience with his three friends. But here Job asked the question. He does it in several places. 14, I believe in verse 10, he makes the same statement about how can a man be just with God? A chapter 25 of the book of Job says, how then can a man be just with God? Here in the book of Job in chapter 9, look in verse 1, then Job answered and said, I know it is so of a truth, but how should man be just with God?

How can a man be just with God? Because he says, I can’t find anything that I’m doing that’s wrong. And I cannot explain why I’m going through what I’m going through. Because I cannot understand why God is letting this happen to me. Because I don’t think I deserve it because I don’t know of anything that I’ve done that’s wrong. And God was simply testing the faithfulness of Job, the building, the character of Job, Not trying to show Joe how far he’d come, but how far he has yet to go when you talk about, oh, I’m righteous in my own eyes.

God is holy, and you won’t see how sinful you are until you see how righteous God is. So how is a man gonna be made just or righteous with God? Now, notice what he says over there in verse 20. And in verse 20, he said, if I justify myself, My own mouth shall condemn me. If I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse, though I were perfect. Yet when I not know my soul, I would despise my life.

He despised the very day he was born because he has no answers. He doesn’t know why things happened the way they did. He could not explain it. He could answer his friends that ask him, why is all this happening to you? They were accusing and blaming him. And he said, I just don’t know. He pours out his heart to God. He said, if I could justify myself, it still bothers me. But the thing is, justification is not. By you declaring yourself good enough.

Have you ever talked to somebody and they said, I think I’m good enough to make it? That means they have justified themselves good enough to get to heaven. They have declared themselves righteous. I go to church and I don’t beat my wife. If I pay my bills and I don’t hurt nobody and I don’t do anything wrong to nobody, I’m a pretty good guy. They have cleared themselves. They justified themselves. Now, God says, a man is not just because you say and you declare yourself to be justified.

So you cannot do it by positive thinking. Notice up there in verse 27, it is not by you being sorry for the way you’ve lived. not because you’re remorseful for all those sins you’ve committed. If I say I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness and comfort myself. I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that God will not hold me innocent. It’s spite of how I see it. Though I’m sorry for what I did.

I don’t understand why I did that. I felt bad. I felt remorse. I felt this way. I felt that way. All these feelings. If I could just clear myself. I know God will not hold me. me innocent. Then how can a man be just with God? Look in verse 30, he says, it’s not by washing, it’s not by quitting, it’s not by any works. He says in verse 30, if I wash myself with snow water, make my hands never so clean.

There have never been this clean before. If you could get some soap and some acid if you had to and make sure there’s not one dirt spec on your whole body. You’re still unclean. And whenever Isaiah lifted up his eyes and he saw the Lord, he said, I am a man of unclean. I’m unclean. Whoa is me. Every man. Whoa is you. You are unclean. You are dirty. You are as filthy rags. You are a sinner. You cannot clear yourself.

You’re not justified by yourself. All of us all put together cannot justify one man because we say he’s just. I’ve had people say, well, if anybody made it to heaven, I knew that dear old aunt Susie did. She would give you the shirt off of her back. She was the sweetest person. And therefore I know she’s in heaven because she was a good person. And she went to church and she was there to do that. That is not why she’s going to heaven.

If dear O lance Susie didn’t trust Christ as her Savior, she’s in hell. And all of the nice compliments that we could ever pay upon any person because of how they live does not justify a person. Only God can declare you righteous. And it only takes one sin to condemn your soul to hell. That’s why you need to be justified. And he goes throughout the Scriptures here, over and over again, talking about how can then a man be justified?

Take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans in chapter 5. The book of Romans and chapter 5, the means of our justification is by grace through faith, and the Bible tells us that we are justified by the blood of Jesus Christ. there in verse 9. Romans chapter 5 and verse 9. Much more than being now justified by what? By His blood. His blood was the payment that was used to pay for our sins. If you paid for your sins, it’s death in hell.

So Jesus Christ had eternal life, and that life was in the blood. And He says, the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your soul for the life of the flesh is in the blood. So when He gave His blood, He shed His life. And the life that He can give to you and I Because of the payment that He made is eternal life.

He made the payment for all the sins of all the world and paid for all of our sins. Christ did that for us. And God will declare you and I righteous because of the payment that He made. And that’s why He says, much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. no other way for a man to be justified. When is the man justified? When is he just? Am I going to be someday, or was it yesterday, or is it going to be tomorrow, or was it when I got saved?

The day I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior. That day, that moment, that payment Christ made was put to my account as though I made it. And at that moment, God declared me righteous. He declared me justified. I am one of the just that the Bible talks about. You, if you trusted Christ as your Savior, have been just if I’ve cleared of all charges against you. How is a man to be made righteous with God? Only because of the blood of Jesus Christ.

That was the payment that was made. Take your Bible and look there in the book of Romans in chapter 3 and verse 24. Here he says, being justified freely, that means that you do nothing. It means you pay nothing. It means you don’t do any works whatsoever. There’s no charge to you. It means that you don’t promise that you’re going to stop something or start something. You simply are receiving something. You’re receiving your justification, just as if you had never sinned.

Being justified freely by his what? his grace. That means unmerited favor. God did it by his desire and God did it by his power. Because grace is the desire and the power of God. Like I said before, God may have had the power to save you, but if he had no desire to save you, you’d still be lost. And if God had the desire to save you, but not the power to save you, you’d still be lost. Aren’t you glad he had the desire to save you and the power to save you because God loves you and you can’t explain that.

But the last part of that verse is what I want you to say. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, the redemption means that He made a payment for you to buy you off the slave market of sin. He made a payment. That was the ransom payment that He made for the sins of the whole world so that anybody in the world and God said, I need somebody because They’re all people of unclean lips. All the people are wicked.

And I need somebody to go tell them, Isaiah says, Lord, here am I. Send me. Here am I. Send me. I want you to take your Bible, look in the book of Acts, and chapter 13. The book of Acts and chapter 13. How many sins are you justified from? How many sins are you justified from? If he doesn’t justify you and clear you of all of them, he didn’t do you any favors. It’d still be lost. How many sins would it take to condemn you to hell?

Just one? It’s simply put like this. Here you are, you’re hanging over a cliff. Ten links in a chain. How many links has to break before you fall? Just one. Does it matter which link? You say, I didn’t commit adultery and I haven’t killed anybody and I haven’t done this. Yeah, but have you ever lied? God says, let every man be what? A liar. Okay. So that one broke. You’re falling. You’re falling. You’re hopelessly. You’re lost. You’re going down.

And there’s nothing you can do to save yourself. God has to reach down and save you, because He loves you, has nothing to do with you loving Him. You’re not saved because, oh, I really love the Lord. That’s all fine and good, but that’s not gonna get you to heaven. And you can say, I’m gonna go to church, and I’m gonna try to do right now. I’ve proved to you about how much I love Him. If you don’t accept Him as your Savior, you’re lost.

There is no other way. No other way, no other name by which a man can be saved. Here in the book of Acts chapter 13, look in verse 39, and by Him, all, get that, all, that believe are justified from how many things, all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. The law of Moses is the 10th commandment. You can’t be justified if you kept the whole law. You’re not going to be justified.

You’re still lost. So God says, by your worst, you cannot be justified. Take your Bible looking to book of Galatians and chapter two, the book of Galatians and chapter two. Remember this, you are justified the very moment that you accept Christ as your Savior. Remember the story in the book of Luke, the publican and the sinner, stands there in the temple and the Pharisee says, Boy, I tithe all that I have and I do these good works and these good deeds.

And he ran and rayed and bragged on himself for how good he was. And there was a man who stood there and he bowed his head. He says, I’m not even worthy to look of Lord be merciful to me a sinner. The Bible says that man went down to his house. What? Justified the wind. When he left, that means he was justified then, right then, on the spot. He was justified. When were you justified? The day you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior.

Now if you never trusted him, and only him as your only way to get to heaven, you’re not justified. You’re not going to heaven. Unless you trust Christ as your Savior before you die, you are lost. You can be sitting here, you can be sat in the church here for 30 years. I don’t care if you’ve been in the church for a thousand years. If you haven’t done that one thing, you’re lost. Doesn’t matter how good you live and how intended you may be and how sincere you may be, you’re lost.

Doesn’t matter how much you know about the Bible, how much you can quote, how much money you’ve given, nothing matters. It’s all in vain. you trust in Christ as your Savior. Look here in Galatians in chapter 2 and verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Isn’t that simple? Isn’t that clear? Here’s the Lord and here’s us. We have to be justified just as if I’ve never sinned. I’ve got to be equal with God. God is perfect in lives in heaven, which is perfect. And God says, you have to be perfect to go there. God says, you’re not. So being justified is being made equal with the Father. Well, the Father finds no fault in you. He finds no sin in you because when He looks at you, He looks at you, he sees you through his son.

He sees all of us through his son because when we trust Christ as our Savior, we’re placed in him. We’re in his son. And so the son is in heaven and we’re in him. This is how God sees it. So God has judicially declared and justified in doing so and declaring you and I righteous. If a man could be justified by any means other than the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, In Calvary and all that great sacrifice that Christ made was the biggest blunder in history.

Not by works I may have done, but by the blood of God’s own Son. Not a merit wrought by me, the blood of Christ my only plea, justified by grace alone, for through his work, he can atone. For ever settled, free at last, justified, my sin is passed.” Tremendous thing. You’re justified the very moment you trust Christ as your Savior. Now God wants those who have been justified to live like you’ve been justified. Live the way God sees you.

God sees you as his child. Live like you’re a child of God. act like you’re a child of God. If you’re a child of the King, use the language of the court. Learn to quote his word. Talk about his word. Praise the Lord. Honor him in your life because you have been justified by grace through faith and that alone by the payment that Christ made on the cross. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr.

Ralph Arnold. We pray that you are blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free, 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at six o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline And now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family. And when people die, they’re still alive. But the people that are without the Lord, they’re looked upon as being dead, means separated from God. So you and I understand that whenever we die, means we’re separated from our body, it’s not the annihilation of a person. You still exist, you’re just separated from your body.

So death is you being separated from your physical body, and everybody’s going to die. If you think, well, I’m just going to die and they’ll put my body in the grave and that’s all there is to it. Have you died before? Then how do you know that’s true? That’s what you hope is true. But why not listen to the person who died and was buried, came back from the dead? Know anybody else that’s done that on their own? Jesus is the only one to come back from the dead.

And it says, now this is the way it really is. You see, if you die, you can’t come back. You can’t make it happen. But the one that did can. And so we have interesting things here in the Word of God. The poor man, he received compassion. You see, he said he was in Abraham’s bosom, the individual, the writer that God used to write the Gospel of John. It says that he laid his head upon Jesus’ bosom. It means he was as close as he could get.

That’s as close as you can get. That’s as close as he could get to the great patriarch Abraham. Did you know that he was isolated and probably nobody wanted him? Nobody met his need. A poor man. A beggar. Now he is comforted. And it says, in thou art tormented, he is comforted. You see, we in this life, we don’t always have the comfort that we would like. There’s a lot of struggles that we go through, a lot of problems and hard aches of all kinds, disappointments and discouragement and despair.

But you see, it’s so short a period of time. It’s just this little lifetime, time of life, and it’s temporary. But there’s something that’s going to be for eternity. And you and I are going to be blessed and comforted for eternity in something like a place called paradise. Forever and ever. No more sorrow, sickness, death, and disease. Why? Because there’ll be no more sin. All these things are because of sin, sin in the world. So the Bible says this is what it ought to be and the way it’s going to be.

You see Abraham, it says, could not show mercy to the rich man. What was the one thing the rich man says here? He cried in verse 24 and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Mercy. He couldn’t have mercy on him. After the man is dead, there was no more mercy. We have people today who teach that whenever you die, you can go to a place called Purgatory, which is not in the Bible, and that somebody can pray you out of there and help ease your time there and your pain.

But that’s not taught in the Bible. You see, there’s a way to be sure of going to heaven. I’m so glad I can never go to purgatory. I can never go to hell. I’m going to heaven whenever I die. Whenever Lazarus died, see, he didn’t go to purgatory. Two men died. One went here, one went there. They both didn’t go to the same place. That’s contrary to what a lot of religions teach. Jesus is the one that tells the story.

And you notice what he prayed, he says, Father Abraham. Evidently they thought at one time that’s all they needed. As long as I can say that, hey, I know who my Father is, is Father Abraham. Look there in the book of John in chapter eight. The book of John chapter eight. And look in verse 19. Verse 19. And you notice the Jewish people had, I guess you could say a special bonding to Abraham. And they thought just because we are of the lineage of Abraham, we got it made.

That’s all we need to do is just make sure that we are of the nation of Israel. Well, look what he says in verse 19, then said they unto him, where is thy father? Where is your father? your father because he talked to them as though he always referred to somebody else being his father. All right now see Joseph was not his father and he says in the last part of verse 19, ye neither know me nor my father.

If he had known me, ye should have known my father also. So, so you see, they said, they knew who his daddy was because they said, we know that your father is Joseph. They made the statement, we be not born a fornication because they knew that Mary and Joseph, they had a child before they got married. So it’s like a mockery back to him. We’re not born a fornication. We know you were. See there in verse 41. He says, ye do the deeds of your father.

Then said they to him, we be not born of fornication. In other words, we didn’t come from outside the matrimony of marriage. But now look what he says up there in verse 38. Look at verse 38. I speak that which I have seen with my father. And ye do that which you have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said unto them, if you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.

But now you seek to kill me, a man that have told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. You do the deeds of your father. And that’s why they said what they said. And then Jesus said what he said. I loved have been there and seen this. In verse 42, Jesus said unto him, If God were your father, because he said, God is my father, because he said, I am the son of God.

That would make Jesus God. But look what he said. You loved me not. For I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but he sent me. So he says in verse 44, You are of your father, the who? The devil. This is what Jesus said to him. See, Jesus never read Del Carnegie’s book on how to win friends and influence people. See, he should have took that course. Because Jesus should have known, you’re going to make those people mad.

They’re not going to like you offended them people. But he says, you are of your father, the devil. Now, look at verse 52. Then said to Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast the devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets, and thou sayeth, If a man keep my sin, he shall never taste of death. Thou greater than our father, Abraham, which is dead, and the prophets are dead, whom make a style thyself. Who do you think you are?

And Jesus said, If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my Father that honors me. Of whom ye say, He is your God. Yet ye have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I should say, I know Him not, I shall be a liar just like you. Does that seem like he’s tipped Owen through the tithers? What’s he calling him? Liers? He says, I’d be a liar like you. Looking for him, first phag, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad.

They said unto Jews and to him, Thou art not yet 50 years old and hast thou seen Abraham. Have you seen Abraham? Well, he slapped my mouth. He had. So he said, no, no, no. in verse 58, Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto thee, unto you, before Abraham was, I am. See, Jesus was Jehovah. He is the Lord. He is God. He said, I was here before Abraham was. They said, you mean you seen Abraham? Yeah. Now, Jesus knew that he was setting him up.

And it says in verse 59, and so they all got together and honored him and thought he was a wonderful man and everything wonderful happened to him. And they took up stones to cast at him. They didn’t like what he said, but did he lie? He told the truth. And so they thought just because father Abraham, so here’s his rich man, in health, Father Abraham have mercy on me. Hey, I know you, your father Abraham. He didn’t know him.

Go back to the book of Luke. If Abraham could not give him mercy. I’ll bet you the Pope can’t give mercy either or the priest can’t give mercy nor can this preacher give anybody mercy. I’m not God. You see, you must accept the mercy of God while you can accept the mercy of God. That means you must do it before you die because after you’re dead there is no more hope. There is no more chances. It will not work that way.

Did you know the rich man, he must have been hot. Because he says, sin lassar that he may tip the tip of his finger in water and cool, Mike Tongue. He must have had a hot tongue. I bet his whole body was hot. Did you know that he was able to see, to recognize, he was able to remember. Because he said, son, remember that thou in thy lifetime. thou in thy lifetime.” So when a person is in hell, he can remember his lifetime.

Did you know that in the Word of God it tells us that when we get to heaven they’ll come a time when God will wipe away all tears from our eyes and the former things will not be remembered. Did you know the only thing that goes to heaven is going to be the second birth, not the first birth. Things that happen in the first birth you’ll no longer remember only that which is in the second birth. I got two of them.

And the day will come when we get to eternity. I will not recall all those things that can bring me hurt or harm or pain or grief or sadness or sorrow. God believed they’re all begun. But did you know the rich man and And those who have not accepted Christ as their Savior will remember their sins forever. I believe they’ll remember their opportunities forever. All the chances that they had and threw it all away. As you can see here, was he able to talk?

He can talk without a body, but he can talk. God is a spirit, but can God talk? Can God hear? Can God speak? Yes. And he says that the Bible talks about grief, not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can grieve. He says, you don’t need a body for that is for our advantages in our lifetime. Could the rich man feel? Could he feel? I am tormented in this flame. I’m tormented. And the Bible tells us all these things about him.

Did he have desires? He had desires. He desired that he would send left, so he could go talk to my brothers lest they come to this place. So he still had something that he wanted done. He had, I believe he had regret. But he also had a request that he would be able to preach the Gospels lest my brothers come to this place of torment. See, a lost man in hell doesn’t forget all of those things. but remembers these things.

If there’s any place you don’t want to go, then I’ll be hell. Not only because of the heat. The fire, but the loneliness. The Bible says they are like wandering stars in the midst of darkness forever. It’s not like you can look over there and say, hey, there’s Jan Velasquez. Hey, hey, you good to see Jan? Oh, you know, you look over there and hey, there’s Jesse. Hey! You’re not going to get together and take up an offer and collect enough money to build up, put an air condition in That’s not going to happen.

Did you know that he was able to pray? He cried out to Father Abraham. He was also able to argue because Abraham told him, says, they have Moses, they have the prophets, let them hear them. He says, nay, no. He’s arguing already. He’s in hell and still argues. He said somebody went from the dead, they’ll believe it. He says, they will not. And the argument, some people never learn, never listen, never payin’ attention.

The rich man will remember all eternity. His sins and all of his guilt. Isn’t it sometimes when you’ve done something wrong, you know you shouldn’t have done it? Isn’t guilt an ugly thing to you? Don’t it make you sometimes just feel rotten? How’s it like to feel a light way for eternity? to have all the sorrow, all the grief, all the hurt, all the pain, forever, and never be taken away. It’s just not like the man died and okay, he went to hell.

No, listen to what he’s saying. Listen to what happened. Who told this? Jesus told this. You see, that’s what makes it so important to talk to people about the Lord. It’s so important. You know what? I was, I was sitting at the, um, little restaurant the other day and, uh, when I’m with somebody, I don’t do as much as I, when I’m by myself, because I can’t always hear. I can’t carry on conversations sometime because of the noise. And I just, I just can’t hear.

I can’t discern what people are saying and just drive me up a wall. But when it’s nice and quiet and nobody was in there, everybody had left and this lady come through and she was, she was cleaning. And so I’m drinking, making up a coffee and I got my Bible and she came by and she looked over. I saw her look. She went on and did some more thing. They made me she came back. She said, what you reading?

I says, I’m a preacher and this is a Bible. And I says, I’m studying. Oh, sorry to bother you. I said, ma’am, it’s no bother. Okay. So she went around and did something and she came back by. I says, can I ask you a question? She said, sure. I said, do you know where you’re going to go in your day? She said, I guess I’m going to hell. I’m going to hell. She just said it like, you know, it’s an accepted deal.

That’s where I’m going. I said, ma’am, you can know you have eternal life. Would you like to know? I said, if you’ve got a couple minutes, I can explain it. She says, yes. So she came a little bit closer and I explained it to her and she trusted Christ as her Savior. And then she got teary eyes. And she just, thank you. She went and cleaned some more. I went back to reading it. It wasn’t long before she came back up here.

She says, can I ask you another question? It’s sure. She says, one of the reasons that I thought that I would definitely go to hell is because I try to commit suicide. And I knew that if you try to commit suicide or if you commit it to suicide, you go to hell. She says, can you explain it to me? I says, ma’am, is it suicide or sin? She said, well, yeah. I said, paid. He paid for all the sin.

And she looked at me and she started smiling. She says, thank you. And then the tears started coming down to the table. With the smile. Smiling in tears. She says, thank you. Thank you. And she went back cleaning the floor and stuff. when they get to heaven and they see all these kids that trust the Lord of some of these adults that trust the Lord because of all your contacts that you’ve had in the people on your job and your neighbor and all that, it will be worth it all.

Because see this lifetime it’s temporary, it’s temporary. Eternity is a long time and that’s why it’s so important. I didn’t make up this story. the Lord did. You see in verse 26 where it says the word, can not, can not. Beside all this between us and you there is the Lord did. You see in verse 26 where it says the word, can not, can not. Beside all this between us and you there is a great goth fix so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from Then in other words, they can not.

In other words, whenever you die, wherever you are, there you shall stay. People say, well, they’ll get a second chance. It doesn’t teach that. God’s word doesn’t teach that. If you don’t trust Christ as your Savior before you die, there is no other chances. There are no other opportunities. It’s over. And it’ll be that way for all eternity. The rich man died and in hell he lifted up his eyes immediately in a place of torment. You see, if hell wasn’t real, then I don’t have a message to preach.

You don’t need a clear gospel presentation if there’s no place to be saved from. If there’s no consequences, but there are consequences. All of them are written down here in the Word of God. You know what I thought about when I read this? He says, go back and talk to my five brothers. In my mind, not off the bat, I wondered. I wonder where Mom and Dad was. I wonder where mom and dad was. He didn’t mention mom and dad.

I wonder if he could see mom and dad over there in paradise. Well, why wouldn’t he have talked to them? Send them back so they can talk to my brothers. Wonder where mom and dad was. You know, when I trust he crisis my savior, the first thing that came to my mind, I wanted my mom and step dad to know the Lord, to go to heaven. I wanted my brother and my sister. Oh, I didn’t care about the rest of the world.

I wanted my family. Because I knew that probably they never heard and understood the gospel. They’re probably just like I was. Nobody ever told them. And I tried my best to tell them because I was a little rude and crude. I didn’t know how to make it simple. I think they kind of rebelled against my presentation. I was a little sarcastic probably. Hard. I cared but I didn’t know how to care. I loved them but I didn’t know how to love them.

I was compassionate, but I didn’t know how to be compassionate. I didn’t know how to do things. See, this is either true or you ought to cut it out of your Bible. What do you think we ought to do? Believe it? Did you know there might be people that will never hear the gospel unless they hear it from you because a lot of people never come to church. They’ll never be a church. And there’ll be funerals and they’ll go to funerals, but most of the preachers never give the gospel.

They just don’t make it clear. We try to make it clear because we really care about where people are going to go when they die. Let me show you this. I got a few more things I could say, but I can go on and on. But you know, one of the things that he did say, it says that if somebody went back from the dead and they heard and understood, they’ll repent. So he already knew what they needed to do.

He already knew what they needed to believe. He just wouldn’t do it. He knew what the requirement was. God hath commanded all men to repent. It means to believe, to change their mind about saving yourself by your works and simply trusting Christ. So every man is commanded in the Word of God. Everybody has to repent. It does not mean turn from your sin to be saved. You see, you don’t have to turn from sin to be saved. You have to die for your sins.

You have to die for your sins. Christ didn’t just turn from my sin. He died for my sins. And so when He died, He made a complete payment. And all I have to do is believe He did it for me. Look up here, this hand represents you and me. The wallet represents all the things we do that’s wrong, all of our sins. God says that He loves us. That means He loves me, loves you. He hates what we do wrong.

Just like you love your children, you don’t like what they do wrong, or you’re supposed to love your kids. I’m not sure my mom, dad ever did, I don’t know. But anyway, God loves us. And He says for us to pay for the sin is eternal separation from the Lord. So since everybody’s sinned, everybody’s guilty. The whole world, their mouths are stopped. Everybody’s guilty. God says to go to heaven, you have to be perfect. Nobody qualifies. Nobody’s perfect. God says, by your works, you can never be justified, or just as if you never did anything wrong.

In other words, He’s saying, all your good things won’t take away your bad things. You can’t be cleared by doing all the, going to church or giving money. Not gonna pay for your sins. You need a death payment. And God says, you cannot earn eternal life. This hand represents Jesus Christ, He’s the Lord. God in the flesh, He came into the world because He loves us, hates our sin because it separates us from it. So Christ took the sin, paid from the cross, came back from the dead.

And God said, if you believe he did it for you, he would put this payment that he made to your account. You see? You may believe he died and paid for the sins of the whole world, but that won’t get you to heaven. You have to believe he did it for you. And when you accept what he did for you, then you know, oh, my sins are paid. With my sins are paid, there’s no payment for me to make.

I don’t go to hell and pay for sin. He paid for it. I don’t go to heaven because I deserved it. I’m saved by grace. Grace means unmerited. 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. It’s a gift, it’s totally free. And God says, all that you and I have to do is believe He did it for us. What will that sound hard?

You don’t have to promise anything, stop anything, start anything. Salvation is receiving. It’s not you doing something, not you giving God something. You don’t give Him your heart, your lung, your liver, your toes, you don’t give Him anything. Salvation is you receiving from God what God has, not me giving something to God. And so he says, when you believe it, you can know that you have eternal life. These things have been written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

Know that you’re going to heaven whenever you die. Everything I just said is on the back of these flyers. And you never know. Somebody might get one on their door and read that thing and trust Christ as Savior, tune into the Internet or listen to the radio broadcast, or maybe just read it and trust Christ as their Savior, and check out those verses in the Bible. Wouldn’t it be neat? I want you to have a burden for souls. I want you to have compassion.

I want you to care. To do nothing speaks volumes about you. It’s going and doing and talking, making something happen. Let’s pray, shall we? Friend, I don’t know everybody. You may be here a number of times. Maybe this is the first time. Maybe you’ll never come back. But I want you to have eternal life. I want you to go to heaven when you die. I can’t save you. I’m just a man and I needed to save you myself. But I know a Savior, His name is Jesus.

He died on the cross to pay for your sins. And He said, if you would trust Him, if you would believe that He died and paid for your sins, He would give you as a free gift everlasting life. Would you trust Him? If you’re making that decision, it says, yes, that made sense to me. And I will trust Christ as my Savior. And preach your life for you to pray for Him. I’m going to ask you just a moment to raise your hand.

Raise in your hand doesn’t save you. It just lets me know that what I said made sense to you. And I like to know, I like to have prayer for you. If you’ve already trusted Christ as your Savior before, then you don’t need to do it again. But if you’ve never trusted the Lord, don’t you want to go to heaven? Don’t you want to be sure of going to heaven? Don’t you want to know it now? Would you trust Him now, this moment?

If you’re making that decision, say, preach or pray for me, I will accept Christ as my Savior this morning. And I’d like for you to pray for me. Would you just slip in it very quickly but right back down, it won’t all. Just God bless you, sir. It won’t else. This is so important. You don’t know how long you’re gonna live. But if you trust Christ right now, as your Savior, God saves you right now and gives you eternal life as a free gift.

If you die without Christ, you’ll spend an eternity in a literal fire burning hell. It doesn’t have to be that way. And when else before we close, Our Father, we thank You so much for all You’ve done for us. We’re thankful for these that indicated by an uplifted hand that they will accept Christ as their Savior. By doing so, they become Your child. That payment You made is put to their account. They can stand up and say, I know I’m going to heaven because today I trust You Christ.

That’s my only hope of going to heaven. We ask Father, Your blessed upon each one here. 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 are blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the radio broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I have a few things I wanted to share with you. And if you have a Bible, I want you to turn to the book of Luke, the Gospel of Luke and chapter 16. Luke chapter 16. Here in the book of Luke is one of the most startling stories that you’ll find in the whole Bible. You know the Bible makes this statement of why God gave the law in the book of Romans in chapter 3. It says that every mouth may be stopped.

In other words, God wanted to stop every mouth. I guess because somebody could say, hey, I’m not that bad. I mean, I’ve been pretty good. So God gave his law to shut every mouth. God let us know what he required. And that was perfection. So he gave a law that required perfection, or you messed up, and the wages of sin is death, and the sin is transgressing the law of God. So he gave a law, not only to shut every mouth, but he says he gave the law that all the world would become guilty.

And so there’s nobody who can justify themselves in the eyes of God. Nobody can claim their right, that God doesn’t have a legitimate claim to condemn an individual to an everlasting fire burning hell. Another word is just to be guilty of the law. Okay, big deal. All have sin. Okay, so what? Wait, the sin is dead. All right, I’m gonna die. That’ll be the end of it anyway. You know, six feet under. I asked the man one day, I said, where are you gonna go in your die?

He says, Tennessee. There’s always somebody, you know. But if all that is true, what’s the big deal? You’ve got to be perfect to go to heaven. Okay, I’m not perfect. Now what are you going to do about it? You know, it’s just what he’s going to do about it. That’s so bad. The consequences. And that’s something that we don’t want to think about. You know, people sin because it’s fun. If it wasn’t fun, most of them wouldn’t do it.

Some people enjoy telling their lives. Some people enjoy deceiving. You know, have you ever watched a football game And the guy is trying to fake out the guy that’s coming up, trying to get him with the ball. And he tries to pretend like he’s gonna go that way, and then he cuts back and goes the other way. Is that deception? That’s deception. And every team is trying to deceive the other side. Trying to fool them. They even try to have a certain defense, and then they’ll shift it right at the last minute, and they try to fool them all.

Calling plays in a hollow, why don’t you just tell everybody what you’re gonna do? Then everybody knows what you’re gonna do, and then see how it works. But there’s something about us that we love sin. And people wouldn’t commit adultery if it wasn’t fun. I believe people enjoy committing murder at times. But did you know that there’s consequences to our decisions? And Jesus tells one of the strangest stories, and I just want you to look at this with me.

I want to read it to you, and then I want to talk about it. Here in verse 19, there was a certain There was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. He was a beautiful of sores and designed to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table.

Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels in Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes, been in tournaments and sift Abraham afar off. And Lazarus in his bosom and he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. And sin Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and comb my tongue for I am tormented in this flame.

But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things. Likewise, lather evil things. But now he is comforted, thou art torment him. Beside all of this, between us and you, there is a great goth fix, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us. God would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee, therefore, Father, that thou would have sinned him to my Father’s house. For I have five brothers, that he may testify unto them lest they also come into this place of torment.

Abraham said to Him they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And He said, they Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent. And He said unto Him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. This is a story about real people, believe it or not. It’s not a parable. Jesus is the one telling the story. It’s It’s the reason why he did what he did.

He came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost. And he gives us a beautiful picture about what happens to those that die and they’re lost. So this thing about that every mouth may be stopped, it was for a reason. And that the whole world become guilty for God, that that was for a reason. That no man is justified in the eyes of God. Well, that was for a reason, because there’s only one way to get to heaven that’s through Christ.

It was to take away all the excuses of man, to nail it down and get everybody to see that no man can save himself by his good deeds. It would be only through accepting Jesus Christ as a Savior. Now in this little old story, there’s two lifestyles as you can see there. One man was rich and one man was poor. I have to be honest, I can relate more to the poor guy than that rich guy. I had a fairly rough beginning myself.

One had too much and one had too little. Anybody like that here? When it comes to money, do you always feel like you just don’t have enough? That you could always use just a little bit more. Well here was a rich man that fairs sumptuously every day. I mean, he had everything he could desire. A rich man, clothing, purple and fine, linen and fair, sumptuously, every day, every day. Now, some of us, we get good days here and there, but as you look back over your life, can you say, every day, every day?

Well, probably not. Well, God did not stop the rich man from being rich. And God didn’t stop the poor man from being poor. So here’s Jesus Christ who made the heavens and the earth and he knows the complete story of this rich man and the poor man. God did not stop the rich man from being rich. Even though he knew where the rich man was going to spend eternity. Is God God, does he know the end from the beginning?

And he allowed a man to live and enjoy all the benefits of life. He lived what we call houndahog. He allowed him to make a lot of riches and didn’t stop him. And then there’s another man that didn’t believe on the Lord, God’s child. And God allowed him to be poor. He could have changed it, I guess. I mean, God is God. God can set up kings and take them down, lift up princes and take them down. God can do whatever God wants to do.

And God knew this man was a poor man and never let him become rich. I mean, we don’t know the whole life story, but whatever it was, God knew it. Does God know your situation? Does he know that there’s rich people? Now, I don’t know. We may have some rich people in our church. I have no clue. I don’t know what people make. I don’t know. We may have some people in the church that are very poor. Does God know which one you are?

And God allows you to be poor. Did you know that God might allow you to be poor than you are? That coming down the road, He might even take away more than what you have now. Did you know that there’s people around this country because of this storm and that storm and all these things that happen? Some people have lost everything they’ve had. Does God know that? Does God permit things like this to happen? Evidently He does. So God knew the story about these two individuals and He did nothing to change it.

You see the Bible says that the rich man in this lifetime, He received the good things. Lazarus says he received evil things. You see, look over there. I want you to see this. Look at verse 25. But Abraham said, son, remember that thou in thy lifetime, receiveth thy good things. So he knew that in your lifetime what you received. Does God know everything you have received and things that you would like to have and you didn’t have? God is God.

God knew the whole story of these two individuals. And it looks like God didn’t do anything about it. I mean, after all, I’m God’s child. Why wouldn’t God make me the rich man and make the rich man the poor man? Now, that’s how I would have done it. That seemed like that would have been more fair. But God is God and God makes no mistakes. God is wise. wise. And he said, in thy lifetime, lifetime is a small period of time.

Read the 90th Psalm when it talks about, you know, three score and 10, that’s 70. And then if perchance you live to be 80, there’s still hardly can sorrow and we still fly away. It means you’re still going to die. He said, well, I live to be 90. Okay, you’re still going to die. Well, maybe I’ll make it the 95. you’re still going to die. What then? What then? So God knew what then? See, God knows what was going to happen when they died.

And He knew that this man in his lifetime, he enjoyed good things. He also says that Lazarus evil thing. In other words, he was a child of God that was going to Abraham’s bosom to paradise, but in his lifetime he suffered. In his lifetime he had sores all over his body and it says more over the dog. That’s the name of the dog, moreover. Moreover the dog came and licked his sores. So he was a beggar, didn’t have anything.

He had disease on his body and dogs would Look in the sores! Did God know that? Did God see that? Jesus is telling the story. Jesus knew the two individuals. He knew everything about them. Why didn’t He stop this beggar from being a beggar? Couldn’t God have just unloaded beneficial? Maybe He did it one time. We don’t know all of it, but He received evil things. Now listen, in in your lifetime that you and I are going to get to live?

God seems like He allows you to have a little touch of both. A few good things, and then there seems like there’s things that just came from the devil. He allows you to suffer so much, and sometimes it seems like you feel like I’m a beggar. I don’t have anything, and you might lose a job, and you can lose all your money, and you You can lose your health. And then you wonder whether or not, hey, God, don’t want to cause no fuss.

But what about us? Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am? But we want the Lord to know who we are and where we are and what we’re going through. God even says, come unto me and make your petitions known. Let the Lord give praise and thanks unto the Lord. For all that he has done in the 103rd Psalm, He has loaded us with all these benefits. Loaded us. You mean, I got more than I need of the benefits.

The spiritual blessings that God has given to you and I in the book of Ephesians chapter one and verse three, when he talks about we have been blessed in the heavenlies. In other words, God sees us in His Son in the heavenlies. Somebody said, well, how you doing? Well, under the circumstances, what are you doing under there? You see, we’re supposed to have the position that we’re in heaven and we’re looking down. Well, on top of everything, I said, pretty good.

See, it depends on your perspective. How you see things. Do you see that there’s a God in heaven that knew the rich man and he knew the poor man? He knew one believed and one did not believe. And he allowed the one to be comforted. See there in that verse 25, Abraham says, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivers like good things likewise, that’s an evil thing. Now, now, hey, things have changed. Would you rather have the good things for a short period of time and then you have the evil things for eternity?

Or would you do the have the evil things for the short period of time and the good things for eternity? It’s perspective. You see, I know that whatever happens to me in this life, it’s a short period of time. Because we’re going to vanish away. We’re going to disappear out of here. Whatever the worst thing that could ever happen to you in this life, it’s a short period of time. But you see, God looks down the road and he saw Lazarus in the future because God has to know where Lazarus was going and God knew where the rich man was going and wasn’t it great for the Lord to be merciful and kind to the rich man?

He at least enjoyed a few things but you know all those good things that he had can come back to haunt him someday because there’s things that God says and put here in his word. Now both lived and both died of all the people in the world. We’re born and we live and we die. Ecclesiastes talks about a time to be born, a time to die, a time to laugh, a time to cry, Time to war, time to love.

The Bible says that when Lazarus died, he was carried by the angels. I remember a teacher I had one time in college. He was asked to go to the hospital because a person was dying. And he was young in the ministry, and so he didn’t know exactly what to do. He’d never done this before. this before, and he was standing by the edge of the bed, and the person passed away, and everybody looked at him and he thought, I guess I’m supposed to say something.

He says, there she goes. No, I’m f-ing. There she goes. No, I’ve been in a lot of situations, but I’ve never. There he goes. Anyway, he kind of embarrassed, but he has his own thing he could think of. So you never know what to do in every situation. But we all live and we’re all going to die. And so he was carried by the angels. You know, the Bible didn’t say that about the rich man being carried by the angels.

He had to be cast in because nobody wanted to take him. I don’t know. But the Bible says that when the rich man died and in hell, he lifted up his eyes. Now, I wrote down a few things just so that you’ll know that there are some things that a man who dies and goes to hell can happen to him. I wrote this down. The rich man, he could see. He saw Lazarus. He saw Abraham where he was, he could see.

Now it doesn’t say he could see anybody else where he was, but he could see through the goth somehow, boy he had to have good vision. So this is the great goth between the two. You can’t cross one to the other, but he could see, he could recognize. Now here’s a man who’s dead, and he could look across this chasm and he could see in the place of paradise. I see Abraham. She knew if he could see Abraham, Abraham was alive, but Abraham was dead.

The Bible says that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That means if he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he’s not the God of the dead, he’s the God of the living. So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob must be alive. They are alive. And when people die, they’re still alive. But the people that are without the Lord, they’re looked upon as being dead, and being separated from God. So you and I understand that whenever we die means we’re separated from our body, it’s not the annihilation of a person.

You still exist, you’re just separated from your body. So death is you being separated from your physical body, and everybody’s going to die. If you think, well, I’m just gonna die, and they’ll put my body in the grave and that’s all there is to it. Have you died before? Then how do you know that’s true? That’s what you hope is true. But why not listen to the person who died and was buried came back from the dead? Know anybody else that’s done that on their own?

Jesus is the only one to come back from the dead. And he says, now this is the way it really is. You see, if you die, you can’t come back. You can’t make it happen. But the one that did can. And so we have interesting things here in the word of God. The poor man, he received compassion. You see, he said he was in Abraham’s bosom, the individual, the writer that God used to write the gospel of John. It says that he laid his head upon Jesus’ bosom.

It means he was as close as he could get. That’s as close as you can get. The last of the people, that’s as close as he could get to the great patriarch Abraham. Did you know that he was isolated and probably nobody wanted him? Nobody met his need. A poor man, a beggar. Now he is comforted. And it says, in thou art tormented, He is comforted. You see, we in this life, we don’t always have the comfort that we would like.

There’s a lot of struggles that we go through, a lot of problems and hardaches of all kinds, disappointments and discouragement and despair. But you see, it’s so, so short, a period of time. It’s just this little lifetime, time of life, and it’s temporary. But there’s something that’s going to be for eternity. And you and I are going to be blessed and comforted for eternity in something like a place called paradise forever and ever. No more sorrow, sickness, death, and disease.

Why? Because there’s be no more sin. All these things are because of sin, sin in the world. So the Bible says this is what it ought to be and the way it’s going to be. You see, Abraham, it says, could not show mercy to the rich man. What was the one thing the rich man says here? He cried in verse 24 and said, Father Abraham have mercy on me. Mercy. He couldn’t have mercy on him. After the man is dead, there was no more mercy.

We have people today who teach that whenever you die, you can go to a place called Purgatory, which is not in the Bible. And somebody can pray you out of there, help ease your time there and your pain. But that’s not taught in the Bible. You see, there’s a way to be sure of going to heaven. I’m so glad I can never go to purgatory. I can never go to hell. I’m going to heaven whenever I die. Whenever Lazarus dies, he didn’t go to purgatory.

Two men died. One went here, one went there. They both didn’t go to the same place. That’s contrary to what a lot of religions teach. Jesus is the one that tells the story. And you notice what he prayed, he says, Father Abraham. Evidently they thought at one time that’s all they needed. As long as I can say that, hey, I know who my Father is, is Father Abraham. Look there in the book of John in chapter eight. the book of John chapter 8.

And look in verse 19, verse 19, and you notice the Jewish people had, I guess you could say a special bonding to Abraham, and they thought just because we are of the lineage of Abraham, we got it made. That’s all we need to do is just make sure that we are of the of the nation of Israel. Well look what he says in verse 19, then said they unto him, where is thy father? Where’s your father? Where’s your father?

Because he talked to them as though he always referred to somebody else being his father. Now see Joseph was not his father and he says in the last part of verse 19, And ye neither know me nor my father. If ye had known me, ye should have known my father also.” So you see, they said, they knew who his daddy was because they said, we know that your father is Joseph. They made the statement, we be not born a fornication because they knew that Mary and Joseph, they had a child before they got married.

So it’s like a mockery back to him. We’re not born a fornication. We know you were. See there in verse 41, he says, ye do the deeds of your Father. Then said they to him, we be not born a fornication. In other words, we didn’t come from outside the matrimony of marriage. But now look what he says up there in verse 38. Look at verse 38. I speak that which I have seen with my father. And ye do that which you have seen with your father.

They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said unto them, if ye were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man that have told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. He do the deeds of your father and that’s why they said what they said and then Jesus said what he said Well, I love to have been there and seen this In verse 42 Jesus said unto him if God were your father Because he said God is my father because he said I am the son of God that would make Jesus God But look what he said He loved me not for I proceeded forth and came from God neither came I of myself, but he sent me So he says in verse 44.

You are of your father the who? The devil This is what Jesus said to us and I see Jesus has never read Dale Carnegie’s book on how to win friends and influence people So he should have took that course because Jesus should have known you gonna make those people mad They’re not going to light you offended them people. But it says, you are of your father, the devil. Now look at verse 52. Then said the Jews unto him, now we know that thou hast the devil.

Abraham is dead. And the prophets, and thou sayeth, if a man keep my sin, he shall never taste of death. Thou greater than our father, Abraham, which is dead, and the prophets are dead, who make a style by self. Who do you think you are? And Jesus said, if I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father that honors me. Of whom ye say, he is your God. Yet ye have not known him, but I know him.

And if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar just like you. Does that seem like he’s tipped Owen through the tithers? What’s he calling them? Liars? He says, I’d be a liar like you. Looking for the first 15th, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. They said unto Jews and to him, thou art not yet 50 years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Have you seen Abraham?

Well, slap my mouth. He had. So he says in verse 58, Jesus said unto them, very I say unto thee, unto you, before Abraham was, I am. See, Jesus was Jehovah. He is the Lord, he is God. He said, I was here before Abraham was. They said, you mean you seen Abraham? Yeah. Now, Jesus knew that he was setting him up. And it says in verse 59, and so they all got together and honored him and thought he was a wonderful man and everything wonderful happened to him.

And they took up stones to cast at him. They didn’t like what he said, but did he lie? He told the truth. 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. Part two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, You can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.

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 regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

behind the scene that you cannot see is the hand of God moving. We call it the providence of God. He works not only with nations and have to work with Israel but He works in your life and you can’t see Him working behind the scenes. But He loves you, He wants the best for you. And some things may happen to you and it might seem for the worst and God means it for the best. If you don’t understand God.

You’re going to get mad at Him. You’re going to get bitter at God. But it’s good to have a new view, a better attitude of what God is doing. But understand with that knowledge comes also on understanding that there are also many adversaries. There’s going to be opportunities for you to do more for the Lord, but there’s also going to be a lot of obstacles and problems in life. And the devil is going to do all that he can.

He probably made a New Year’s resolution. Go something like this. I’m going to get you this year. I’m going to get you. He is a roaring lion seeking, seeking whom he may devour. He’s hungry He wants to, he’s a lion. You’re like out in the wilderness and there’s a lion on your trail and he’s hungry and he’s after you. Do you understand that? That’s why you need to stay together with God’s people and protect one another. You can fight off the lion a lot easier with somebody than you can alone.

So I don’t need church. Yes, you do. But he says here in verse three, and there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold a great red dragon, heaven seven head and ten horns, seven crowns upon his head. Now this is a great red dragon. He said, well, who is this great red dragon? I’m glad you asked. Sneak down into verse seven. And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought in his angels.

So you know, there’s a war going on. fighting against angels. The devil’s angels fighting against God’s angels. And in verse 9, and that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceived the whole world. So now we know who that dragon is. It’s the devil. And you go back up there to verse 3 where it talks about this great red dragon, where the great red dragon see is after the woman. The woman is Israel.

That’s God’s chosen people. So the devil is going to do everything possible to destroy the nation of Israel. Why? Because that’s God’s chosen nation. That’s the nation that God wants to use to show his power through. Look what God has done for that little mini nation and how he delivered them from Egypt and how God has opened up the rich and how God has blessed them in the wilderness and how God gave them this choice lamp. Look what God’s done for that’s a testimony to God.

So the devil is going to do everything he can to destroy, to destroy. And down through the years the devil has tried his dead level best to destroy the nation of Israel, to kill as many Jews as possible. Haman tried him. One is an Al-Aedim. Hitler’s trite wants to analate him. And that little remnant… It’s still over there in the Middle East with all of these hungry lions. And if it wasn’t for the protection of God, Israel would be devoured.

Isn’t it true that these hungry lions all over the place want to destroy Israel just because of who they are? It’s not because of what they’ve done. They ain’t done anything to anybody else. The other nations. they hate them, hate them. And great damage is going to be done. So the Bible says in verse four and his tale drew the third part of the stars of heaven. This is why we believe that Satan’s rebellion took one third of the angels of heaven.

And these are his little demons that he’s got. You see, are there real demons? Yeah, little devils. Your daddy ever tell you I’m not the devil out of you, I must have been devil for you. And what was he doing? What was the devil doing? What’s he there in the last part of verse four? For to devour her child as soon as it was born. This woman was going to have a child. That child is Jesus. So the devil, every time God would reveal things, the devil would try to block the line and try to destroy.

And when he found out where that child was born. Where is he that is born king of the Jews? Come and tell me that I may go and worship him also. Is that really what Herod wanted to do? It wasn’t Herod. It was somebody using Herod trying to get to that child. Killed a lot of babes there in the city of Bethlehem, trying to kill one baby, stabbing at one baby. But God already revealed and they had taken little Jesus and down in the Egypt.

And when Herod was dead, it came back. But that’s mentioned right here. Looking verse 5, she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Well see, the devil wants to rule all nations with a rod of iron. He wants to be the head, the leader, the dictator. That’s what this tribulation period is about. Satan is going to have his man that will do his will, his bidding and set up a one world government so that you will understand.

This world is headed toward a one world government and that’s why it says who is able to make war with this beast. If there’s only one government and all the nations come together, we’re not talking about like one nation like America, we can have war with Russia, we can have war with China, but this government is going to have all governments who will be able to make war with this anti-Christ, this beast, this man in the last days that will set himself up and demand to everybody you will not be able to buy or to sell unless you have the mark of this last government and a lot of people are going to be destroyed.

Do not look for a utopia upon the earth. Does it look like we’re headed into a utopia on the earth? It’s called a seven-year tribute lesion. This is the worst period of time that the world has ever known. You read Revelation chapter 18 and you’ll find the biggest stock market crash you’ve ever read about. There is a stock mark hit crash and it affects the whole earth and it’s coming. But now in this period of time, God’s given us a little capsule of what it’s all about.

You see there in verse 5, this woman that brought forth the child, Jesus? Well, the woman didn’t want the child. The child was rejected, put to death by the Gentiles, mainly. But I know the whole story there, so don’t fret. And it says that he was caught up into heaven. She’s in the last part of verse 5. And her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. And the woman Israel fled into the wilderness where she had the place prepared of God that they should feed her.

There are 1,203 square feet. That’s three and one half years. What we’re doing is this. Take this and just take it out of there. It’s like a parenthetical expression in the sentence. It doesn’t hurt to flow of the sentence. And then you take this, slide it up against the cross. And then you go from here straight into here, and you need to understand the Scriptures better, because that’s the way it’s prophesied. This was not talked about and preached about in the Old Testament.

This was given later, most of it revealed to the apostle Paul. So the day is coming when there’s going to be another war or a battle where right now it seems like the devil has access into the presence of God. That’s going to stop because he’s able to accuse us before the father. That’s going to stop. And if you’ll look here, it says in verse seven, there was this war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought against it with his angels.

Now this looked like it could be a dual prophecy relating to history of the past or it may refer to the present because it makes this statement in verse 11. He says, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they love not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice ye heaven. In heaven, well, this is going on. We can rejoice, but those on the earth, look what it says. Verse 12, therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them, woe to the inhabitants of the earth.

And the sea, for they get this, the devil has come down unto you, having great wrath because he know that he had but a short time. So three and a half years after they break that treaty with Israel, he goes into the temple and claimed that he is God demands to be worship. And this is the worst part of time that the world has ever known. And God will have a place for about a third of the Jewish people in order to hide and protect themselves.

Now I have an idea where that might be. little place called Petra, but I may not be accurate, but I’ll be close. And that’s going to be during this period of time. So the devil is going to do everything he possibly can to annihilate the Jew. You see the start off with, he makes a peace tree with the nation of Israel. This is the beast that hates the woman, but the woman is able to ride the beast. the beast, but the time will come when this beast will overthrow the woman and burn her with fire and destroy the nation of Israel.

But there is always a remnant that God will have. And then gives what he says, in verse 13, and when the dragon saw that he was cast into the earth, He persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. That’s the nation of Israel. And to the woman were given two wings of a great ego that she might fly into the wilderness into her place where she is nourished for a time, one year, times two years, half a time as half a year, three and a half years.

Three and a half years here, the same is over there in verse 6 where it says a thousand two 203 score days exactly three and a half years. So this is a time limit Because Christ is coming back in power and great glory at the end of that period of time So there’s only so much time This is the 70th week of Daniel there were 69 weeks up until the time when he was cut off one week left of of seven years, we shoved out here in the future because they rejected the Messiah.

So the kingdom was postponed. So God brought in the church age where we are. One day the rapture will take place and we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And then the prophecy with Israel will start once again. It always has to do with the nation of Israel. God’s little time clock. But everything I assure you is right, dead on schedule. God is not late, he is not tarian.

He is coming just like he promised, and he’ll come when he said he will come. Now look at this. In verse 15, and the serpent, which is the devil, the dragon, Satan, cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away of the Now, I want you to understand, and look at it in chapter 16. When you talk about the devil, he is the dragon. Look at verse 13.

When it says he cast out this flood that comes out of his mouth. Verse 13, and I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. There is your unholy Trinity. We have the holy Trinity. This is the unholy Trinity. But you have the dragon and he is like God the father and then you have the beast which is like Christ Who died and came back from the dead?

See that beast is going to do the same thing and then you have the Holy Spirit and He is to get people to magnify of the Son Here the false prophet gets people to magnify the beast and causes the people to worship the beast. So you have the unholy Trinity and how long was Christ’s ministry? Three and a half years. How long is his ministry? Three and a half years. And did Christ die and come back from the dead?

and he’s going to try to imitate everything that’s the truth, but it’s a lie. And people are like, oh look at what they did. Christ did it. They don’t care. This idiot can do it. They’ll worship him. Down. But he catches the way the frog catches its prey. Frog don’t catch him with his feet. Now he got beautiful legs, no doubt. but it has to be with the tongue and that’s how you get them. They use their tongue, they will lie and cheat and deceive and you’ll find that mention in the Old Testament in the book of Daniel where it talks about he uses great flattery, great swelling words and that’s how he’s going to capture and people are going to be caught up in this web that he will produce.

Now go back to Revelation chapter 12. And there’s a place that is designed, I believe, for a remnant of Israel. Because it’s going to be so important that this remnant will see. And this is who Christ was talking to in the book of Matthew chapter 24. He says, when ye shall see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, talking about Daniel the prophet that had mentioned it in Daniel chapter 9 verse 27. He says, when ye shall see that’s the people that will be living doing this generation, this period of time, not when Israel became a nation in May 28 1948.

It didn’t say that. I believe that that’s very important because how you’re going to have a peace treaty made with something that don’t exist, Israel had to be established as a nation again and that is truth and it has happened. But the generation living when this takes place, when ye shall see all these things spoken of, we’ll see you and I were already gone. Not talking about it, talking about the people here, then lift up your eyes for your redemption, draw nigh.

This is when Christ comes back in power and great glory in every eye shall see him. And the Bible says, and they will be saved as in a day. The book Romans in chapter 11. They will see the Lord and they will believe on the Lord and they will trust him as their Messiah. And Jesus Christ will come to the earth, his feet will touch upon the Mount of Olives, it will cleave in the mist. And the Bible says they will be a judgment of the nations and all those people who have believed on the Lord will go into the kingdom and those who have not will be cast into the lake of fire.

Now that is kind of a general idea of what’s going on from the beginning to the end, but it’s all here in one chapter. Look there in verse 17, and the dragon was rothar mad with this woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So then he explains all of this and how was going to happen and then in chapter 13 talks about that chapter 13 boy is it good this is good stuff you see it’s hard for you to get charged up about the time in which you lived when you don’t understand what’s going on But the more you understand, the better graft you have, and you can explain it to somebody, then you’ll be on the phone when to talk and explain this to somebody on the side of the country.

But when you don’t know, you just go to work, come home, watch TV, go to work, go home. What a dull, boring life. But knowledge is power, and the more you know, the more you understand, the more it grips you, the more you want to accomplish for the Lord. Don’t use this excuse. Well, I’m getting all I can’t do anything anymore. Yes, you can. You can draw breath, you got a purpose in living. You got a pulse, you ain’t dead.

If you ain’t dead, live. Anyway, look up here. I had somebody ask me the other day. So do you have any notes? Well, just these. Just these. Now, there’s time I use a lot of notes, but this is stuff that I’ve read and studied so much that it’s in there, and I just have to hit my little computer button and I can put it together. But this is so important, so good to know what’s going to happen next. Now, if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, or are you in for it, I feel so sorry for you.

I mean, I could even pity you because it’s going to be terrible. If the raptor takes place today, do you realize what you have to look forward to? And God says, multitudes will be killed. But this is you and me. This is sin. We all have sin on us. We’ve all done things wrong. The devil that you can’t see and I can’t see, he’s lied to all of us. He has deceived the whole world. Every one of us in this room have been affected by the devil.

That’s why we lie and steal and cheat and all that. It’s in us. We have His nature. We have the nature of the devil. That’s why Christ, He says, He are of your father, the devil. Mm. And every one of us are children of rebellion. We all want our own way. We don’t like nobody telling us what we can’t, it cannot do. My life, I’ll decipher myself. And buddy, we want to play God. God loves us. Hate what we do wrong.

For us to pay for it, eternal separation from God in a place called hell. But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven. Now see, the devil don’t tell you that. The devil doesn’t come into you and say, no, God loves you. Hey, he don’t tell you that. But God loves you. He hates what you do wrong. But he wants you and I. He wants us to go to heaven where it’s perfect. Oh, we don’t have to worry about sin anymore.

But God says, you can’t earn it. You can’t work for it. You can’t buy it. So how can I get there? God says, it is not of your works. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord. He’s God. He is God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us, but he hates what we do wrong. because what we do wrong separates us from God. So Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die. So what he did for the whole world, not just a few chosen ones, he took the sins of all the world, paid for long to cross, came back from the dead.

And God said that if you, or me, anybody, who’s whoever, believe it in him, if you’ll believe that he did this for you, he would put the payment that he made to your account, And you get to go to heaven on what he did. Now, if you believe it, you have everlasting life. If you don’t believe it, the wrath of God abides upon you. And you’re only waiting for the day of execution one of these days. It’s going to be final.

I’m glad that 50 years ago in a little old living room, as an 18-year-old boy, I understood for the first time, God loved me. And he proved it by taking my sins and paying for them on the cross. That he came back from the dead and said, if I believe he did it for me, he would put the payment to my account and I’d get to go to heaven. So I’ve known for 50 years, I’m going to heaven whenever I die.

It’s not because I’m good. It’s because God is good. He loves me that much. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, you can state emphatically, I know I have eternal life. I know I’m going to heaven when I die. Did you know there’s a lot of people can’t say that? But if you’re sitting here this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, say, well, how can I correct this thing? Believe it. Believe that He did it for you.

And you can trust it right where you’re setting. You don’t even have to close your eyes. You don’t even have to raise your hand. You don’t have to walk an hour. You don’t have to sign the card. You can just sit there and say, I believe that. Tell you God in His Word. Believe it. And He said, if you believe it, you have everlasting life. You mean it’s that simple. That’s right. And yet there’s people that’ll go to church all their life trying to earn something you can’t earn.

And they never know where they’re going when they die. Because going to heaven is not a reward that you get by being good down here. You get to heaven only because you trusted Christ in Him alone as your only hope of going to heaven. If I offered you my Bible and you accepted you would have a Bible and I offered you this microphone and you accepted you’d have a microphone. If Christ comes in here right now and offers you eternal life and you accepted you would have eternal life.

eternal life. And if it’s eternal life, it lasts forever. And if it lasts forever, you can know that you’re going to heaven whenever you die. It’s the best news in all the world. How many of you in this room know positively? If you died right now, you go to heaven. Let me see a hand. Okay, put it down. Well, a bunch of fanatics in here. Now, see, they’re not going to heaven because they’re a member of the church. They’re not going to heaven because they’re better than you.

They’re going to heaven because they admitted that they’re sinners. Now some people can’t do that. They just, I’m not that bad. I didn’t rob any banks. I ain’t murdered anybody. Well, okay. Have you ever told a lie? Well, a little one. If you’re not perfect, you’re a sinner. Say how easy that was? So yes, you can be saved. You have to qualify though. You have to be a sinner. It can only save sinner. Let’s pray, shall we? If you are here this morning, And if you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, I do it with his bow nice clothes because I don’t want to put you on the spot.

But I do want to know if you understood what I said. So I’m going to ask you right where you are, if what I said made sense to you. You could tell me at the door, but then sometimes it gets crowded and you may not tell me. So I want to have a way for you to tell me. So if you will trust Christ as your Savior this morning, so yes, I believe that He did it for me. I want you to let me know by slipping up your hand and by then right back down.

I’m not going to have you forward and not going to embarrass you, but right where you’re sitting. See, that made sense to me. I want to know I’m going to heaven when I die and preach out life for you to pray for me. We just slip you in it very quickly, but I’ll wrap it down. Say anyone at all. Yes, God bless you, sir. Anyone else? No tricks to it. Anyone else? So yes, that made sense to me and I will trust Christ right now as my Savior.

You trust Him now, God saves you right now. Our Father, we do thank You so much for all You’ve done for us. Thank You for the opportunity we have to come together. We pray that we’ll be wise and use our time wisely. We pray, Lord, that You’ll help us to be aware that the devil is going to do everything He possibly can to ruin our testimony. pray we’ll look to you and walk with you to trust you. We thank you Lord for the individual that indicated by an uplift at hand that they would trust you a Savior this morning.

By doing so they become your child. You’ve given me eternal life and you’ll never cast him out, never lose him. Bless each one here in 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 are blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free, 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, Just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at six o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.

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. regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Turn in your Bible to the book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah, there’s an old foe that you need to constantly be reminded of. Remember the truth of God’s Word says, God is a spirit. They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. You cannot see God. You cannot see the devil. You have never seen heaven and you’ve never seen hell. We have not seen anything on the other side of this life, but because of the Bible we can see clearly.

We see things that others can’t see because of our faith. We believe that the Bible is true. We believe it is the Word of God. We believe that there is a true and living God. I believe he knows what’s going on. When you understand what has happened and you understand what’s going on, gives you a better foundation for understanding what’s going to take place in the future because believing that is dependent upon believing the past. Is God’s word trustworthy?

I want to go back to a time when God said that He made someone named Lucifer. So who’s Lucifer? Glad you asked. Way back here in the beginning, we call it eternity past, the God the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. there was yes a time when God had an angel named Lucifer, son of the morning, the anointed cherub. Evidently he was a very powerful angel and a very beautiful angel. I’ve never seen a real angel. I’ve seen my wife but I’m not talking about another angel, a real angel.

I don’t know what beauty it must have been, what this angel looked like. But I know this. The Bible says that Lucifer led a rebellion against God. Now you would think somebody would have to be out of their gourd to think you could overthrow God. But believe it or not, I’ve lived long enough to see that there’s people in this world that want to be God. They want to be God of their own lives. They don’t want the true and living God to be their God.

They can’t see Him, but there’s somebody else that wanted to be God. And that’s the devil. See, the devil is the Lucifer when he rebelled. And because he wants to be God, He wants you not to worship the true and living God, but He wants to steal the honor from God. I want you to take your Bible and look there at this verse. Isaiah chapter 14, look here in verse 12. Now this is a prophecy of a date that’s going to take place.

But it lets us see where it came from, how it happened. In verse 12 he says, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the morning. How art thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations? For thou have said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will set also upon the Mount of the congregation in the sides of the North. I will ascend above the heights of the cloud.

I will be like the most high. It’s possible that Satan was on the earth before sin upon the earth. And what all he got to do, we don’t really know. We just get little pieces here and there. But the Bible tells us that he had lifted himself up in his heart, and five times I will, I will, I will. And he wants to be God. That’s this angel that was created in such beauty. Anyway, it goes on and it talks about some things that’s going to take place.

We’re going to look at that in just a moment in chapter 12 of the book of Revelation. But take your Bible and look there in the book of Ezekiel, the book of Ezekiel and chapter 28. Ezekiel chapter 28. Sometimes the scripture addresses a man, the title of a man or even a kingdom or a nation, but it’s penetrating through that person that is a representative of the devil and talks to the devil himself. Remember when Jesus says, I’m going to the cross, the Son of Man shall be killed.

And somebody named Peter says, not so Lord, not going to happen. I’ve got my trusty sword and I’ll deliver you. Jesus said, get behind me Satan. Now Peter wasn’t Satan, but that’s where that thought came from. So there’s a lot of times you and I, we say and do things and it didn’t come from God. And believe it or not, it didn’t come from you. Is it we sometimes are given thoughts and we will say things and you want to, why no word did I say that?

Where’d that come from? That’s why you study the word of God to discern your thoughts. Now, you need to understand Satan cannot make you do anything, but Satan can give you thoughts and ideas. He cannot read your mind, but he can interject thoughts into your mind. Satan does not know everything, but there’s a lot of things he does know. I preached a sermon when time called the conflict of the ages showing all the way down from the first man all the way down until the time Christ was to be crucified the conflict down through the ages and how that whenever God would reveal something through his prophet Satan would move and try to block and do whatever he could do because he doesn’t know everything that’s going to take place.

He knows how it’s going to end, but until then the Bible says he knows the he hath but a short time. He knows that. A lot of things he knows and one thing he can do very well is quote the scriptures. He even quoted the scriptures to Jesus when he was trying to tempt him to sin, but he would always misquote the scriptures and not tell the whole thing. That’s what he does to us. That’s what people do when they want to do their own thing and go their own way.

All we like sheep, gone his own way. And the Lord had laid upon him Christ, the iniquity of us all. So we all send. We have all done things just like the devil wants us to. We are by nature the children of disobedience, children of rebellion, and we listen to the prince of the power of the air. Satan after he had called him the sin in the garden. Satan the prince of the power of the air, and this is his world, ruled and he was able to show Christ the kingdoms of the world in a moment.

He must have had a VCR, no, a DVD, something and was able to run it for him. But anyway, showed him all of this. He didn’t amazing something like that even in the Bible. I think it’s awesome. But we know that Christ is going to have him kicked out of heaven once again. There’s going to be a great battle and he’s coming down to the earth and he has great power. He’s going to do a lot of things and really going to deceive the world.

He’s done a pretty good job so far. But wait till you see what else he’s going to do. Now here in Ezekiel in chapter 28, look there in verse 2. The Son of Man say unto the Prince of Paris, the Sith, the Lord God. Now, it looks like he’s talking to this man, but he’s talking to the one that’s behind the scenes, the one you can’t see. Because thine heart is lifted up and thou have said, I am a God.

I sit in the seat of God, in the mist of the seas, yet thou art a man and not God. Though thou sit thine heart as the heart of God, Behold thou art wiser than Daniel, there is no secret that they can hide from thee. With thy wisdom, with thy understanding thou have gotten thee riches and have gotten gold and silver unto thy treasure. And there’s people today to think because they’re able to accumulate great. Well, I must be God or look who I am.

I am so great, but they never lay up treasures in heaven. Then of treasures on the earth is not what we’re about. That’s not why we’re here. God says, a man’s life consists of not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. There’s a lot more than that. But he goes through here and he says here in verse 6, therefore thus saith the Lord God because they’ll have set by heart as the heart of God. In other words, you want to be God.

You want to be in charge. And you think this is how you’re supposed to do it. So God says that Satan works behind the scene and tries to get people to be God in their own eyes, to do your own way. You are in charge. It’s is your life and forget about the true and living God. Now the devil has been very successful. Did you know that most of the problems that you’ll have in your life is because you decided to play God?

You refuse to do what God says to do what the book says to do and you rationalize it in your own mind. You become the dictator of your own heart and you lift yourself up in pride and you overthrow the throne of God or seek to. And it won’t work. You are not God. I am not God. The devil is not God. Now he was told the God of this world, but there is only one true and living God.

And God said, I will not give my glory to another. I won’t give it to the devil and I won’t give it to anybody else. Look what he says. He says in verse 9, that, will thou yet say before him that slith thee, I am God, but thou shalt be a man and know God. And the hand of him that slith thee. Now there’s a time coming during this period of time right here, when the Antichrist will set up his kingdom upon this earth.

He will have his man and he will claim that he is God and demand people to worship him as God, but he is a man. He’s not God. And God’s going to take care of the devil and God’s going to take care of this man and the beast and the prophet, the false prophet, will be cast into the lake of fire. How are thou cast down which just weaken the nations? You see, God speaks to the devil and tells him a lot of things so that you and I know, if we all look at it, to know what’s going to take place, not only in the path, but what’s going to take place in the future.

This is the reason that the Antichrist is going to be able to do what he does in conquering the nations of the world and why they’re going to give him their power because of his lying tongue, his deceptiveness. He’s going to deceive the whole world. Couldn’t deceive him. And if God didn’t do what he did, he would even deceive his own people, his only let Matthew 24 says.

Now look what he says there in verse 12. Verse 12 says, Son of Man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyres. See unto him, thus saith the Lord God, thou sealeth up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Boy, it must have been something. I mean this. Angel was the most perfect, beautiful thing you’ve ever seen probably or ever will see. That’s what God says. Look at verse 13, Thou hast been in Eden, the Garden of God.

So evidently he was in the garden before Adam and Eve fell, before he rebelled against the Lord. So he had to have been there and it talks about all the things that he was able to do and he prepared in the day that Thou was created. Thou art the anointed cherub in verse 14, I set thee so, Thou was upon the holy mountain of God, Thou had to walk up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

You’ve been there. You were there. You were perfect in all of your ways. No problem. In verse 15, thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee. Till iniquity was found in thee. Now we’re talking about oleucifer, and in says in verse 17, Vine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Well, I’ve watched a lot of people ruin their lives because of something like this. Because of their beauty or because of their fame or their popularity or this money and the people lift up because of pride.

And thinking because of that, there’s some, listen Cosmetic the moment you die in a few days you’d be surprised how the worms are going to enjoy your body. Unless you get in bombed, then they won’t taste it. But you are living in a body of dirt. It’s nothing but a little water and a little mud, dirt. That’s that beautiful body that you have. And it’s going back to the dust of the earth. And it’s amazing what people will do for five to six foot of dirt.

Sounds kind of pitiful, don’t it? But there’s something who lives inside of the body that husband of yours that wife of yours you’ve never seen them or their spirit You’ve only seen the house they live in And you thought more about the person because of the quality of the house that they had You ever go down Bay Shore drive and look at the quality of some of those homes comes. Come wonder who lives there. He sells those big beautiful million dollar homes.

But the people who live on the inside are probably no better than the ones that live in the low shack. But anyways, we’re moving right along here. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Revelation chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12. Now in Revelation chapter 12, there’s a story kinda lays out pretty much whole Bible or most of it. Kinda gives you a thumbnail sketch of what God’s doing. You see there in verse one, He talks about a woman.

There appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve star. Not most people who believe the Bible and study it and so forth believe this is talking about Israel. And remember Joseph who had some dreams and the sun and the moon and star all against it. And it talked about the weed that we bow down to and all that. Well his brothers didn’t like him.

His daddy made him a coat of many colors. And he calls a lot of grief, but actually it was prophecy being told in advance of what was going to take place. And it happened, but Joseph didn’t know and understand it all, but God knows what he’s doing. And he told his brothers one day, he says, you minute for evil, but God meant it for good. sent me down here into Egypt to prepare a place for y’all, because God knew the famine was coming years in advance.

God knew all of this. God had a plan and he told all that was going to happen. Now, revealed it to Joseph later and God had a little place to choice the land of Egypt in order to build his nation. So God knew what he was doing. It was planned before the foundations of this world. Now behind the scene that you cannot see is the hand of God moving. We call it the providence of God. He works not only with nations and have to work with Israel but he works in your life and you can’t see him working behind the scenes but he He loves you.

He wants the best for you. And some things may happen to you and it might seem for the worst and God means it for the best. If you don’t understand God, you’re going to get mad at Him. They’re going to get bitter at God. But it’s good to have a new view, a better attitude of what God is doing. But understand with that knowledge comes also on understanding that there are also many adversaries. There’s going to be opportunities for you to do more for the Lord, but there’s also going to be a lot of obstacles and problems in life.

And the devil is going to do all that he can. He probably made a New Year’s resolution. Go something like this. I’m going to get you this year. I’m going to get you. He is a roaring lion seeking seeking whom he may devour. He’s hungry and he wants to he’s a lion. You’re like out in the wilderness and there’s a lion on your trail and he’s hungry and he’s after you. Do you understand that? That’s why you need to stay together with God’s people and protect one another.

You can fight off from the line a lot easier with somebody than you can alone. So I don’t need church. Yes, you do. But he says here in verse three, and there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold a great red dragon heaven seven head and ten horns seven crowns upon his head. Now this is a great red dragon. He said well who is this great red dragon? I’m glad you asked. sneaked down into verse 7. And there was warren heaven.

Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought in his angels. So you know there’s a war going on. Angels fighting against angels. The devil’s angels fighting against God’s angels. And in verse 9, and that great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceived the whole world. So, now we know who that dragon is. It’s the devil. And you go back up there to verse 3, where it talks about this great red dragon, where the great red dragon sees after the woman.

The woman is Israel. That’s God’s chosen people. So the devil is going to do everything possible to destroy the nation of Israel. Why? Because that’s God’s chosen nation. That’s the nation that God wants to use to show his power through. Look what God has done for that little mini nation and how he delivered them from Egypt and how God has opened up the rich and how God has blessed them in the wilderness and how God gave them this choice.

Look what God’s done. That’s a testimony to God. So the devil is going to do everything he can to destroy, to destroy. And down through the years, the devil has tried his dead level best to destroy the nation of Israel to kill as many Jews as possible. Haman tried him. One is a now ladum. Hitler’s tried, he wants to annihilate him. And that little remnant is still over there in the Middle East with all of these hungry lions. And if it wasn’t for the protection of God Israel would be devoured.

Isn’t it true that these hungry lions all over the place want to destroy Israel just because of who they are? It’s not because of what they’ve done. They ain’t done anything to anybody else, the other nations, but they hate them. Hate them. And great damage is going to be done. So the Bible says in verse four and his tale drew the third part of the stars of heaven. This is why we believe that Satan’s rebellion took one third of the angels of heaven and these are his little demons that he’s got.

You see, are there real demons? Yeah, little devils. Your daddy ever tell you I’m not the devil out of you? I must have been devil for you. And what was he doing? What was the devil doing? Was he there in the last part of verse 4? to devour her child as soon as it was born. This woman was going to have a child. That child is Jesus. So the devil, every time God would reveal things, the devil would try to block the line and try to destroy.

And when he found out where that child was born, where is he that is born king of the Jews? Come and tell me that I may go and worship him also. Is that really what Herod wanted to do? It wasn’t Herod. It was somebody using Herod trying to get to that child. Killed a lot of babes there in the city of Bethlehem, trying to kill one baby, stabbing at one baby. But God already revealed and they had taken little Jesus and done in the Egypt.

And when Herod was dead, it came back. But that’s mentioned right here. Looking verse 5, she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Well, see, the devil wants to rule all nations with a rod of iron. He wants to be the head, the leader, the dictator. That’s what this tribulation period is about. Satan is going to have his man that will do his will, his bidding, and set up a one-world government so that you will understand.

This world is headed toward a one-world government. And that’s why it says, who is able to make war with this beast? If there’s only one government and all the nations come together, we’re not talking about like one nation like America, we can have war with Russia, we can have war with China. But this government is going to have all governments who will be able to make war with this anti crisis beast. This man in the last days, it will set himself up and demand everybody, you will not be able to buy or to sell unless you have the mark of this last government.

And a lot of people are going to be destroyed. Do not look for a utopia upon the earth. Does it look like we’re headed into a utopia on the earth? It’s called a seven-year tribulation. This is the worst period of time that the world has ever known. You read Revelation chapter 18 and you’ll find the biggest stock market crash you’ve ever read about. There is a stock mark that crash and affects the whole earth and it’s coming. But now in this period of time, God’s given us a little capsule of what it’s all about.

You see there in verse 5, this woman that brought forth the child, Jesus, well the The woman didn’t want the child. The child was rejected, put to death by the Gentiles, mainly. But I know the whole story there, so don’t fret. And it says that he was caught up into heaven. She did a last part of verse 5. And her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. And the woman, Israel, fled into the wilderness where she had the place prepared of God that they should feed her.

There are 1,200 in three squirts. That’s three and one-half years. 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. Part two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771.

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Thanks for joining us on Bibleline 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.