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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 The 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 through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

The Bible is the source of truth. There’s nothing wrong in this book. It was not devised by man. This is the word of God. God gave this book. And he gave it word by word. Every word in the Bible was given by God. And man wrote what God told them to write over a period of 1600 years by 35 to 40 different writers. From every walk of life, it is God’s book. And therefore you have a source of truth.

If you learn this, you’ll know what truth is and you’ll know how to live, how to make wise decisions. I want you to be smarter than the average bear. And when it comes to so many, if you was to look around this room and you look at different people and you say, well, man, that person be hard to reach. That person be hard to reach. And the person who thinks the easiest can be the hardest. And the person who thinks the hardest can be the easiest.

You never know. There are some people who think, well, I don’t need to go to church to go to heaven because I’m just as good as the people that go to church. Well, whoever said that going to church is what gets you to heaven. You don’t have to go to church to go to heaven. So now what are you gonna do? Well, I’m just as good as everybody else. Who cares? Everybody else you compare yourself to isn’t good enough to go either.

Now. What are you gonna do? We must compare ourselves with Jesus Christ because Christ is perfect and you and I we’re not perfect. So if you have to be good to go to heaven, well, you’re not going to make it because God said there’s none good. Okay, we got to be better than that. God says you have to be perfect as righteous as God. All right, are you perfect? Are you as righteous as God? So whether you’re witnessing or just for the satisfaction of knowing in your own mind where you stand, this is good for you.

Look at the next statement. Church people are sinners like everybody else, but they’re saved by grace. See the people that go to church, they’re still sinners, but they’re safe centers. I’m a safe center. I’m a center, but I’m saved and I’m going to heaven. That doesn’t mean that I think I’m better than somebody else. Don’t try to give you, you’re better than they are because you’re not better than they are. God says there’s no difference. You’re all the same in God’s eyes.

You’re all centered. You come short of perfection. So you get the chip off your shoulder and stop looking down your long fairs, you have good nose like your Kellogg’s cornflakes, just a little bit better. You know that somebody else, you know you’re not. The reason people come churches like you. Let me show you something. The church is like a hospital. You want well people on the staff, but we let anybody come because we want to help everybody. But see, this is a spiritual hospital.

It’s not a physical hospital. It’s a spiritual hospital. I don’t heal everybody of all their sicknesses and diseases. I don’t make short people taller. I try to help you spiritually. I look at people and as the scripture says in the book of Isaiah chapter one, he says, you are sick from the toe to the head spiritually. And I look at people as people are spiritually sick and I’m Dr. Arnold and I’m going to go to my medicine cabinet and I’m going to pull out some verses and I’m going to help you to get well.

The message, the power that can do that for an individual, you got it. I covered this the other night but this is just a little bit different from a different perspective with different scriptures. There are too many hypocrites in the church and we sometimes use what people are doing as an excuse for us not to do what we should do. A hypocrite is a play actor. They’re the person who pretends to be something that they’re not. They came actually with the playwrights of even back in Shakespeare’s time, called a hypocrite.

That’s a person who went out on the stage and they pretended to be something that they were not, that was an actor. Well we have people in life that do that. You pretend you’re a Christian. You go to church, you read your Bible, you said, you look holy, you even by your head, you pray and all those things. But see, you pretend it, you’re not real. I did that for years, but I didn’t know I was hypocritical. I didn’t know that I was not really a Christian.

I thought that I must have been a Christian. I was born in America. Everybody’s a Christian, aren’t they? Did all those good things just put me a Christian? Well, I was wrong. Even though I was sincere, I was just wrong. You can pretend, but that doesn’t make it so. If somebody tells you, you’re trying to witness to somebody, give them the gospel. And all of a sudden I give Leon the gospel, Leon says, there’s just too many hypocrites in the church.

Okay, no, so what? Who cares? I don’t want to take him become defensive and then jump all over him and try to convince him, well you’re a hypocrite too. I won’t win him that way. Quietly show that hypocrites exist in every walk of life. Would we stop eating because farmers are hypocrites? No, you’re going to eat anyway. I think if hypocrites go to church, that’s a good place for them to be. At least you’re going to learn something. Maybe it’s not been hypocrites.

Do not let the earthly hypocrites keep you from Christ, or you will end up in hell with them. If the hypocrites don’t trust Christ as Savior, they’re real hypocrites, and they go to hell, you say, well, I don’t want to go to their church because it’ll be hypocrites. Okay, you can spend eternity in hell with them. And don’t that, does that make sense? Sometimes those we call hypocrites, and this is true, are simply weak people who need our prayers and help.

There’s people that sometimes are hypocritical in this thing they say and do. And they just need some prayer, and they need a little help, and maybe a good pattern on the back. I talked to people, and I would get them right there, right there to trust the Lord. I said, you know, you’re sinner, yes I do. You believe Christ on the cross and be, yes, I said, well, you’re right now, where you right now, where you ate right now, will you accept Christ as your Savior?

Well, I need to wait a little bit and then I’m, I’m going to wait on God to show me some more stuff. I says, look, you’re not going to live long enough for God to show you everything you want to know. I says, you understand the simple basic things. One, you’re a sinner, Christ paid for your sins. If you don’t trust them, you’re going to hell. If you do, you’ll go to heaven. Now, what else do you need to know?

They’ll see in my mind, that’s all you need to know. Go ahead and trust Christ is to save right now learn those answers later and if you never learn them so what but if you do learn them fine but you’ve got the most important thing settled see I am a result oriented type person I think about what’s the point the main point is I don’t want you to go to hell I want you to trust Christ as Savior and nothing else matters there’ll be more concerned about that poor heathen over there in Africa well I’m not interested in that heathen in Africa right now I’m talking about you.

You’re a heathen right here in America. God has shown us, He loves us and wants to forgive, save and bless you. Would you have Him write another Bible? Send Jesus to die again or send another Holy Spirit. What do you want God to do? I might don’t God to do something. What do you want Him to do? Raise the dead? present some little miracle for you? You see, why should God have to do something special for you to convince you to trust Him when He didn’t do it for everybody else?

Why should God have to reveal more to you than He revealed to me? Whenever I was 18 years old and Betty’s dad was talking to me down here in part of your apartments, He didn’t use no psychology on me, He didn’t use prophecies He’s on me. He didn’t use scientific facts on me. He explained to me, John 3, 16. Now if John 3, 16, and if he’s just 2, 8, 9, and a couple of verses, if that’s good enough for the average guy, it oughtn’t be good enough for everybody.

But there’s always somebody who wants, I don’t need a little more, a little more convenient. You can’t win everybody and you’re not going to convince everybody. Whatever a man wants God to do, he’s already up. She’d not have had people say, well, prove to me there’s God. Prove to me there’s a God. Like what am I supposed to do? I’m supposed to get up here and get a holy God, bring them down here and say, there he is. See, there’s God.

I can’t do that. I believe God has already revealed Himself to a person and that a person knows that there’s a God. They just don’t know who He is and where He’s at and what He’s like, but they know that there’s a God. You are not waiting on God, He is waiting on you. God is the Father who is forever seeking the prodigal son. Jesus is the seeking savior who says, him that come up to me, I will know why’s cast up.

He’s the one that’s doing the seeking. Christ came into the world to seek and to say that which was lost. God’s the one that seeks, He wants you to come to Him and trust Christ the savior. Now even though you may be listening with the ear of a person who is going to explain this to somebody, it also can help you in your own understanding because you need to understand this. You need to know that God loves me. God Wants me, God, sought me.

And after you trust Christ to say, there’s so many things that God wants to do with your life. God’s invitation is always, and the Spirit and the bride say, come, let him, that hearth say, come, and let him, that is the thirst come, and whosoever will. Let him take the water of life freely. That’s what God says. So God wants everybody to come, so you don’t have to, well I’m waiting on God, waiting on God to do what? God will save every person that comes to him, but he won’t make you do it.

And once you trust him as your Savior, he gives you what kind of life? Eternal life, and if it’s eternal life, it lasts forever. And if it lasts forever, and all you’re centred paid, where are you going to go and you die? You’re going to heaven when you die. I’ve had people that have told me this. I’ve done done too many bad things. God can’t save me. One day I talked to a man right ahead, one of the Navy SEALs.

He was so emotionally mixed up. And I asked him, I said, where are you going to go today? And he just bowed his head and he started to sobbing. He said, God can’t save me. And I said, why can’t God save you? He says, because of what I’ve done. I said, what have you done? He said, I don’t want to talk about it. He said, I’ve just done too many things. And he says, God can’t save me. I said, the Bible says, God can save everybody.

He says, you can, but not me. And I said, well, why? I said, well, why? He says, I was a Navy Seal. He said, I’ll kill 50 something men. With my hand, I have killed that many people. And I told him, I said, well, I’m sorry. I said, the Bible says that God’s already done saved the chief of sinners. And I said, you’re just one of the little Indians. Paul says he was the chief of sinners. And this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptations that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.

And so if he can save the chief, I says, you’re just a little Indian. I said, God can save you. Anyway, I’ll explain some more. He trusts the Christ of Savior. But he thought that he had done too many things and God couldn’t save him. The Bible says the apostle Paul made the statement there in Timothy that he said, God used me as an example because he says, I persecuted the church, I killed people, I put them in prison, I did all these bad wicked things.

He said, God saved me. And if God can save me, God can save anybody. No one is worthy of being saved. But God says, all are bad. God says, there’s none good. We’ve all done things wrong. See, you may think that your mama’s good enough to go to heaven. You may think you got dear old Aunt Susie. She’d give you the shirt off her back. She’ll go to heaven because she said to good lady and she’s so religious. That doesn’t mean she’s going to heaven.

If they have not trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior, they are not saved. If they’re not dependent upon what Christ did on the cross for them, they are not safe. It doesn’t matter if they go to church. Well, my family goes to church. We’ve been raised in church all right. That doesn’t matter. None of it matters. If the person never trusts the Lord, they’re lost. They’ll go to hell. Person that you love the most, your aunt, your uncles, your grandparents, if they haven’t trusted the Lord, they’re lost.

And they’ll spend an eternity separate from God. They don’t have to join this church. They don’t have to be baptized, but they must trust Christ as Savior. I want you to know that because, see, you’ll never be a good soul winner. You’ll never be really concerned about somebody else’s eternal destination. If you think they’re all right, if you think they got a chance of making it without trusting Christ, there is no other way. Christ says, no man come up unto the Father but by me.

There is no other name given under heaven among men, whereby a man must be saved. There is no other way. You have to believe that. Otherwise you’ll never witness to people because you’ll think, right, they go to church. What does that prove? Well, they’re good people. What does that prove? They give money. They live just as good as I do. What does that mean? Have they trusted Christ as their savior? Are they trusting Him to take them to heaven because He died, paid for all of their sins?

If they haven’t done that, they’re lost. Lost. What does that mean? It means they go to hell for all eternity. And there are no second chances. This truth, though I don’t like it, I really don’t like it, but it’s still the truth. It burns in my bones. Paul claimed to be the chief of sinners, and Jesus saved him and transformed him into a mighty witness. I’ve had so many people say, well, I can’t live the Christian life. I can’t hold out.

When I witness to somebody, and they say that, a lot of times, because somebody, and generally it’s a preacher, who has told them that you got to live a certain way to go to heaven. And they feel like I’ve already tried, I failed, I can’t do it, so why try again? And the problem is, is whoever told them they had to live a certain way to get to heaven, it was a lie. You do not base your eternal destination where you’re going when you die.

Going to heaven is not a reward that God gives to you if you’ll behave yourself down here. If you live right, I’ll let you go to heaven. That is not true. That is not true. Because salvation, going to heaven, it’s a gift. It’s, I can’t live the Christian life. That’s the truth. You sure can’t. The Christian life is not what you do for Christ. But what Christ does with you and through you. Say, here’s Christ. He walked in here.

And you’re lost. Oh, you could do some things for him. But that doesn’t make that the Christian life. You could go get him a glass of water. That doesn’t make that the Christian life because you didn’t got a glass of water and gave it to Christ. So you did something for him, but that doesn’t make you a Christian. So that’s still not the Christian life. The Christian life is a Christian who has Christ’s life in them. And Christ, he puts his life in you that he might live through you.

So the biggest part that a Christian has in the Christian life is just getting out of the way. Just get out of the way and yield your body to the Lord so God can use you. You see, it’s you allowing Christ to live his life in you. Paul said, and this is an awesome verse, I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ live it in me. Now, the Christian life Christ live it in me.

He lives in you. The Christian life is Jesus Christ living in you, and he wants to live through you. He wants to have the possession of your body. That’s why you’re not to use your body for wrong purposes. It belongs to him. He bought it, paid for it, and it’s his little house. And he wants to use it. Now get this, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh in this body, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Listen, I was dying and going to hell. I could not save myself. Christ came, paid for my sins, sets me free from hell. I can’t go there. He has saved me from hell, given me eternal life. I’ve become His child. He owns me. For me to live the rest of my life, for Him is a reasonable thing. It is very unreasonable that you would want to waste your life doing whatever you want and not live your life for the person who saved you from hell.

But you may. But you’ll still go to heaven because he loves you that much. The other verse says, and again, I can do all things through Christ, which strengthened with me. This is Philippians 4, 13. Now get the balance. Galatians 2, 20 says that Christ liveth in me. So it’s his life. Philippians 4, 13 tells us that I can do all things through Christ, his strength. The Christian life is not something that wears a person out. The Christian life is not something you get burned out.

I’m just burned out. No, you’re not burned out. Not if it’s his life and his strength. If you’re using your life and your strength, yeah, you’ll burn out, you can’t make it. That’s why you quit after a while. That’s why you can’t hack it. That’s why you can be fired up one minute and dead the next minute. But his life doesn’t die out. It doesn’t fade. His strength doesn’t get weaker. His strength doesn’t get stronger. His strength is strength.

His power is power. His life is life. And you’ve got it all the day you trust Christ as your Savior. What you find is you are yielding to His life, yielding to His strength so that God can use you. His strength through you. That’s what He says here. It tells us that I can do all things through Christ because you’re doing it through His strength. Now we no longer do it in His strength. No, you’re going to wear out and you won’t last and you’re going to fall to temptations, the trials and tribulations of this world are going to bring you down.

And you’re not gonna walk, you’re not gonna stand strong. Oh yeah, you go to heaven when you die because God doesn’t go back on his word. He promised you eternal life, that’s true, that’s real. He’ll never take it away. Jude reminds us that God is able to keep us from falling and present us fall as before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, Jude 24. See, see God says that you’re in his hand and he’ll never let you go.

No man can pluck you out of his hand. Nobody can steal your way from God. Once you trust Christ as your Savior, you’re in His hands, you’re going to heaven and He’ll never lose you. He’ll never let go of you. That’s the best news I have ever heard of in my whole life. He promised to give us eternal life and to let no one pluck us out of His hand. And there’s the verse. You ought to look it up in your Bible and underline it.

It’s an awesome verse. In times of difficulty, remember. There have no temptations taken you but such as this common demand. Look at me. And the temptations of life are common to everybody. You just don’t know what I’m going through. Yeah, we do. Yeah, we do. Most people face the same problems just at different times in their life. God will make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. Isn’t that an awesome verse? God will make a way to escape.

He says also, ye are a God of little children and have overcome them greater is he the Holy Spirit that is in you that he the devil that is in the world The Holy Spirit listen look at me the Holy Spirit lives inside of me The devil is in the world Greater is he that is in me the Holy Spirit that he the devil that’s in the world So me and the Holy Spirit being God yeah, well we can handle anything devil to throw us I Don’t get what the devil throws at me Me and God can handle, but I can handle it by myself.

But me and God can. I can face any trial, any temptation, any discouragement, anything that comes my way, me and God can handle it. If it fails, it won’t be God’s fault. It’ll be mine because I didn’t yield to His strength. Everybody has problems and the devil is going to jump on you every time he can. It wants to ruin mess up your life, but you don’t have to mess up. You can do right. Well, I want to win against the devil.

I don’t want the devil to beat me. That fight there, that battle that I’ve been going through for 44 years, a lot more fun than in a basketball game. I’ll tell you that. The victories are better, but the defeats are a lot worse than any loss that you’ll ever play place in the basketball game too. You cannot live the Christian life without Christ. But Christ in you makes the Christian life possible. Without Christ, the Christian life is totally impossible because it’s him living his life through you.

So God wants to use you to live his life through the world. I am doing the best I can. I am trying to be a Christian. How many times I’ve heard people say, well, I’m trying, I’m trying to be a good Christian. You don’t try to be a Christian, either you’re a Christian or you’re not. It’s like my son telling me, I’m trying to be an Arnold. I’m just trying to be an Arnold. you are an Arnold when you’re born in my family kid.

You don’t have to try to be an Arnold. You are an Arnold. Now because you’re an Arnold, live like an Arnold. You and you trusted Christ as your savior, you became a Christian. That’s what you are. You are a Christian. So you have to try to be one. You are one. You understand what I’m saying? You don’t have to go to church to try to be a Christian. I don’t have to go read my Bible so I can be a Christian.

Now I am a Christian. I can’t stop being a Christian. I was a Christian when I accepted Christ. And I’m not ashamed of it. There’s something that we covered the other night. When it talks about the law, and what is the greatest law and the second? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mine, body, soul, and strength, and the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Very good. Well, if the greatest commandment is to love the Lord, with all your heart, mine, body, soul, and strength, then the greatest sin would be not to.

The greatest sin is not drinking, smoking, didn’t you, and going with the girls who do? The greatest sin, not loving God. Because if the greatest thing a man could do is this, then the greatest thing that’s wrong is if he doesn’t do that. That’s a great sin, not the love God. So now that you know Christ is your savior, God says he wants us to love him. and you have to learn how to love. You have to learn what God wants you to do, and how to please God.

We do not become Christians through good works. Good works are not a pathway to salvation, but a possible product of salvation. Because it doesn’t mean that if you get saved, you’re automatically gonna produce good works. No, you’re not. It’s not automatic. But remember, good works, doing good deeds, will not save you, won’t get you to heaven. But if you have trusted Christ your Savior, God wants us to do good things, because He says it’s good and profitable on the men.

Doesn’t save you, you should do them because you are safe. Why do I go to church? Because I’m going to heaven, I’m a Christian. This is what God wants me to do, this is what I do. So you learn to do the things because that’s the will of God. We do good works because we have become good or justified through Christ and not by the works of the law. Well, just because they’re sincere, does that mean it’s right? No.

If a person is sincere in his religious belief, that is enough. As long as you’re sincere. And aren’t there a lot of sincere people in a lot of different religions? Sincearity is commendable, but it can never substitute for truth. So sincerity is not a substitute for truth. In the realm of life. A person may sincerely thank a poison is medicine, but if he will die. if he takes it, you can be sincerely wrong as well as being sincerely right.

Let these things that I’m given to you dispel the questions, the doubts, the objections that you may have, because sooner or later I will hit the one that may be bothering you. And I hope that they will help you to become stronger in the Lord. And when you talk to people, you’re going to find that they have objections. See if they didn’t have objections, you would win every person to the Lord. So these objections and knowing the answers might help you to win them.

And some of your some of your relatives, maybe parents or brothers and sisters, may not understand this. Let God use you. He may not be able to use you to the extent he could have at one time, but he can still use you. Let God use you to the fullest. Wherever you are in this Christian life of yours, God will bless you for This isn’t representing you and me and the wall represents sin. We all have sin upon us.

God, He loves us. He loves you. He loves me. He loves everybody in the whole world. It’s the sin that we have a problem with because you see our sins separates us from God. This isn’t representing Jesus Christ. God is our sins separates us from Him. That’s why God hate sin because he’s perfect and we’re not. And he can’t fellowship with us. We can’t fellowship with him. We can’t go to heaven because of the sin. And God says that since we committed it, we have to pay for it.

It’s eternal separation from God in hell. But he loves us. He wants us to go to heaven and to go to heaven. We have to be perfect and righteous as God and nobody’s perfect. Nobody is. We’re all sinners. The Bible says we We cannot save ourselves by the good deeds that we do. The only payment for sin that God would accept is the payment of death. This sin represents Jesus Christ, God in the flames came into the world because He does love us.

He took the sin, paid for it on the cross. This was His way of showing us that He loves us. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, whosoever in the world made it even, whosoever believe it. where anybody can have it. It’s not hard, it’s not complicated. Even a child can understand it. That all they had to do is believe that he did it for them and he would put the payment to their account.

They’d go to heaven on them. What Christ did for them. If I offered you my tie and you accepted you’d have a tie. If Jesus Christ walked in here and offered you eternal life and you accepted, what would you have? Eternal life. If it’s eternal life and it lasts forever, then where Or are you going to die? You go to heaven. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold.

We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771. 771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calbre oftampa.org. Thanks for joining us on Bible Live, and now we’ll closing thought from Pastor Arnold. friend one day it will happen the trumpet will sound we will be changed caught up to meet the Lord in the air so live today and every day believe in that the Lord is coming soon just keep looking up

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. and reaches toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you’ll 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.

The body is gonna be resurrected. God is going to get another body from the body That was buried or dead, died, and then we get another one from it. So I don’t care where he gets it. I don’t care how he does it. Only that he’s going to do it. So he says this, it is sown in corruption. That’s the first body. That’s your physical body. It is raised incorruptible. So the body you’re going to get is gonna be an incorruptible body.

It has no sinful nature, cannot sin, cannot die, not subject to death. Look in verse 43, it is sown in dishonor, in the word because it’s caused by sin. Sin is never honorable, sin is always dishonorable. So when we die is because of sin. Of people who tell you that they don’t sin anymore, they don’t sin, well I’ve had a bunch of people tell me, I haven’t sinned in 40 years. Well, if they don’t sin, they ought not die.

But they all die, don’t they? They all die. Why? Because they still sin. He says, it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. The body you’re going to get is going to be a perfect body. It is not subject to being corruptible. Get what else you said. It is sown in weakness. That’s why we get sick because our body gets weak. Our immune system breaks down. The body gets old. is that when he just died of old age, the Bible talks about some of the saints that being full of age, full of age, they died.

They’re gonna die of something. If Christ doesn’t come back in our lifetime, we are going to, me and out are going to die, maybe him first. You’re already 80 years old. Okay. It is sown, it is raised in power. So that means you’re going to have a body incorruptible. It’s going to be a glorified body. It’s going to have power to it that the body we have not does not have. What all that power means, I don’t know, but we will have the power that Christ has in his body.

And what he can do, and I got visions of stuff. I imagine my mind can run wild one. get verse 44, it is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body, not spirit body, but a spiritual body. The body that I’m going to have is fully communicated between the spirit of man and God. And see, our body we have right now, I believe is because our soul, our soul is what gives demands and so forth and directions for the body.

We’re going to have a body that is capable of living as long as the soul, as long as the spirit of man, which can never end. So we’re going to get a body that will also right now see you and I. We have a soul in the spirit living inside of a body. They are forever, but the body is not. We’re going to get the third part of man. And remember whenever you trusted Christ’s Savior, He saved your soul.

He questioned, why does snow? But he never touched the body. And you’re living in a body, a jail that’s corruptible, going downhill. And we try to do more and more for the Lord, and the body doesn’t want to cooperate all the time. But now we’re going to get a new body, and this new body is going to have power to it. It’s the one I wish I already had. I wouldn’t mind living down here if I just had this body, this glorified body, or that would be neat.

I could fly over that Indian. Somebody wants to kill you invincible. Man, it would be neat. But he says we have this treasure in earthen vessels. Now say we have a body of the earth. This is why he uses this term here. So look what he says here in verse 45. and so it is written. The first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam, Christ, a quickening spirit. So it gives you life. The one you die, the other one you don’t.

God sees the whole earth in two families. From two heads, the first Adam, the last Adam. Because everybody comes from those two. Everybody born into this world because of the first Adam. Does it go by? The second Adam Christ, when you trust Him as your Savior, you are in His family. So He says this. In the verse 46, how be it? That which was not first, which is spiritual, but that which is natural. And afterwards that which is spiritual.

who would came first, the first birth, Adam of the flesh, and then second the spiritual, the next body. So whenever you were born into this world, that was first your flesh birth. And then your new birth, it’s always like this. And then when you study the Old Testament, you’ll find out it was, Abraham had Ishmael, and he was the type of the flesh, Isaac, the spirit. And then you get down to Saul and David. Saul was the type of the flesh and David type of the spirit.

And that parrot always down through the Old Testament. It will follow true, but then get what else he says here. In verse 47, the first man of the earth, the second man, the Lord from heaven. He says, so as you were born into this world from the first man, Adam, you bear the image of the first man. So you look like a man, you look human. I know some people that don’t quite look human, but you are and bear the image of the earth.

And so we have a body that is condition to live in this environment. This earth that we’re on, this globe, this spinning ball going through time, through space, listen, we are like on a spaceship and these bodies are spacesuits for us to live on planet Earth. And if your spacesuit develops some problems, you can’t stay here. you have to move out. But while you’re here, that’s why you want to taste good care of this spacesuit because you know it’s temporary and you just want it to last as long as possible.

And if you notice that the older we get, it takes a lot of repair work, a lot of maintenance. When I was younger, I didn’t worry about any maintenance whatsoever. Tell the hit about 60 and then it seemed like everything came crashing down. And since then, I have had just a little bit of of everything happens. And you might wind up the same way. You may hit it earlier. You may not hit it till later. But sooner or later, something’s going to happen to the body and you’re going to die if Christ doesn’t come back.

Now, get what He says here in verse 48, “‘As is the earthy, so are such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they that also are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earth, we We shall also bear the image of the heavenly. So this body bears the image of the unearthly body. So the body that we’re going to get must bear the image of the one that we came from, which was Christ.

So our new body will be like his body. And so this is why he says, no, there’s a flesh of man, there’s the flesh of animals, There’s the flesh of fish, there’s the flesh of files, and they can tell the difference in the flesh. But all humans are the same kind of flesh. The birds, the animals, there’s a different kind of flesh than the fish. Now, the fish swam in the lawn, mittin’ in the water, and he’s breathing oxygen, but he’s getting it from the water and swallowing the water and then he’s going out there and trapping the oxygen in this gill.

He lives that way. You know what that fish said? No way anybody can ever live without being in this water so that he can breathe this air. Now, he’s conditioned to live in the water. So he thinks, just wait here, everybody has to have it. Now the bird, God has made the bird where he could fly in the air. Wouldn’t you like to be like the birds? You just fly. But anyway, you’re going to have a body that’s going to be unique and it’s going to be a wonderful thing.

But he now goes into and he says, God has given it a body that pleases him. says, now whenever you plant corn, you should expect corn to come up. If you plant wheat or oats and barley, then that’s what should come up. Now when you plant a human body, then you should get another body back from him. But he says, this is going to be different. Look what he says here. In verse 37, he says, and that which thou soest, thou soest not that body, not that body, that shall be.

The body you sow is not the one you’re going to get back. You’re going to get something better. Now if I came back from the dead and God gave me another body just like the one I’ve got, I’m going to die again. I got to go through the whole process again. Whenever Lassa came back from the dead, he had to die again. When the little girl he raised her from the dead, you know, she had to die again Because see, it was just the same body.

I don’t want another body like this body. I’m gonna get a body like his body. Can’t die. So he says in verse 37, which thou soeth. Thou soeth not that body, that shall be. But bear green, it may chance of wheat or some other grain. Now, when you take grain and you plant it, you get the same thing back. But the body, he says, that you got, when it’s dead, you’re gonna get another one, but it’s gonna be different.

And this body, and it ties a tie all together here. He says, every body has a seed that can produce another body. God planted the ability of everything that he made with the power to reproduce itself. That’s why you and I have the ability to reproduce ourselves by simply man, woman, getting marriedGaza, having Magicka, and that too become one flesh. So we have within us the power of reproduction. Now the body we’re going to have doesn’t have to have the power of reproduction because you see God says, in heaven we’ll be like the angels.

There is no marrying in heaven or given in marriage. So evidently, I guess there’s no such thing as sex is in heaven. I don’t know. I don’t know. Am I going to still be a man? I’d rather be a man than a woman. There’s just something about this that I just don’t care to be a woman. I don’t care if everybody there’s going to be a woman. I still want to be a man. But he says, there’s neither male nor female, bond or free.

Richard, poor, nothing. It’s not Detected. You read the third chapter of the book of Galatians. We’re all one by faith in Jesus Christ. We’re all the seed of Abraham. And it goes in there and says a little bit about that. But look in verse 39. All flesh is not the same flesh. There’s one kind, kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beast, another of fish, another of birds. They all got different bodies. In verse 40 there are also celestial bodies and also bodies terrestrial.

That means there’s heavenly bodies and there are bodies above the earth, earthly bodies, material bodies. But the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another. In the Old Testament the book of Daniel it says that those that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. It’s like the stars and how many stars are there? Well, they say today there’s as many stars as there’s grain to sand upon the earth.

How would you like to go through all the grains of sand and see if you can find another one that looks exactly like the other’s grain of sand? And yet he says that the stars are like the The nation of Israel will be like that, innumerable. And yet they’re all different. And of all the stars that there are, not to them exactly the same, there is not another person in this world that is 100% like you. You are different and you are unique.

But look what he says here. In verse 41 there is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars. But one star differs from another star and glory. God said that. He says one star is different from another star. That means another star is exactly like it. And think of all the variety of peoples there are. How many different kinds there are? have you ever been in an airport to sit there and you watch all those people go by?

Sometimes you just watch all the different kinds of people. And most of the people I’ve never seen before, I’ll probably never see them again. I’ll never remember them, that’s for sure. And there’s little ones and there’s big ones. And there’s short ones and there’s tall ones. And there’s red and yellow, black and white. They’re all different. And you can just sit and be totally amazed. You don’t need a movie, you don’t even watch television. Just look at the people go by of how many kinds of people there are.

And God says, when we get to heaven, even though we’re all going to be the same, we’ll have a body like his, but we’ll all differ from each other. And I believe that we will know each other and that will be me and that will be Peter and that will be Fred and will recognize each other. Now, I don’t know whether or not you’re gonna look like you’re 30 years old or what? I don’t know. I don’t want to be a little baby and heaven for all eternity.

And I don’t want to look like I’m 95 years old when I get to heaven either. So I don’t think there’s gonna be that. But we’re gonna have a glorified body. It will be a wonderful thing. And so he says all the stars of heaven, all these stars. They differ from each other. He’s bringing all this out because he’s answering the question about it. See the verse 35, some will say, how are the dead raised? How’s that gonna happen?

And what body do they come? So we know by the time we get over there verse 51 and 52, we are going to have a very unique body. A a body that will last for all eternity. Now take your Bible and look in 2 Corinthians in chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and look in verse 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, look in verse 1. Now he talks a little bit about this, but when you die right now, what kind of a body you get when you get to heaven?

Because it looks like there’s something else that’s going on here, and it could be like you have something like a soulish body. I don’t know how God’s going to do it, but I’ll let him figure it all out. I’m sure he got away. And verse 1 says, for we know that if our earthly house, the sole body we’re living in, this earthly house, of this tabernacle were dissolved. I wonder what that word means. If this earthly house dissolves. I think it means by death.

If you lose this body, we have get this a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. So according to this that whenever you die is there another body I’m going to get that’s It’s temporary until I get my other body. I don’t know. Good thing. I’ve heard pros and cons of both sides. As long as when I die I get there. And as long as I get me another body. I just kind of like having a body.

I like being able to walk around. I don’t mind walking around. I think I can play golf all day long when I get tired. I told the Lord, I said, Lord, it would be wonderful if you took the nine planets and made it a nine-hole golf course. And it just made it in every nine, I’m like, you know, you hit a golf ball and you never make a bad shot. So it’s a perfect shot. And it lands exactly where you want it and it has to go in the hole.

But if everybody makes perfect shots, then it can be all fun. Look, what we’re going to do. Have you ever tried to think of what you’re going to do when you get the head? Because, you know, if you’re perfect and everybody else was perfect, where’s the competitive spirit? I got to beat somebody in something. I mean, that’s the American way. And yet God says, I have not seen ear has not heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the thing which God has prepared for them that leaven.

We haven’t even, there’s nothing to compare with. I can only imagine, I can only imagine, I can only imagine, no you can’t. He already said, you can’t imagine. You can’t even think of what it’s going to be like there. You cannot imagine. He also says that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory of what shall be revealed. We have no clue how wonderful it’s really going to be. There’s nothing to compare it with.

You said you can’t compare it. There isn’t anything to compare it. it with. We’re really going to be shocked. It’s going to be so awesome. Well, probably if there’s any regrets of anything, it’ll be because we did not do more for the Lord while we could have. And there’s going to be grieving. And I believe some of God’s children are going to weep when we realize how many opportunities we threw away and what we could have done and we didn’t do it because we fell in love with this temporal world.

Maybe you’ve got it all worked out. I haven’t figured it all out yet. I get so intrigued just thinking about it. But look what else he says here. He says, we have a building of God and a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. We’re in this, in this body. We’ve grown. the longer you live, the more grown you’re gonna do. Earn, get to earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked.

In other words, we don’t have to run around like paints. You hear that person die on the way up, they say, I ain’t got nobody. In verse four, we that are in this tabernacle in this body, do grown, being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed without a body, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now is it possible that the body we got or gonna get from heaven is gonna be this new glorified body that God takes from down here and makes a glorified body and we gotta, I don’t know how God’s gonna do it all.

I really don’t see no need for two of them. or is it the same body? One died and we get another one. My new birth came from God. Why not my new body? See, I haven’t got all the pieces of the puzzle worked out. And then he says here in verse 6, looking verse 6, therefore we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body, in this body, we are absent from the Lord. Now we know the Lord lives within us and all that, but we’re not in heaven.

We’re not there. We’re here. Then Luke, when he says, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing, rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. So we know that when we leave this body to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord. That’s what the books, teaches. Therefore, we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him and he’s well pleasing to the Lord.

So whether I’m here or whether I’m there, I just want to be well pleasing to the Lord and God’s given me a body that’s temporary and one of these days this house is going to be dissolved. but we have a building of God eternal in the heavens. We’ve got us another body. Now when I get this body, I don’t really know is it? Maybe I get it when I lose the other one. While we’re in this body, we groan, desiring to be clothed upon with the body which God has got for us.

It’s another body. Now listen, if you have never trusted Christ is your Savior. You don’t get this body. You don’t, the Bible says, spend an eternity separated from the Lord. But God is going to reunite you to the body, but God’s going to give you a body that will forever burn, forever feel, but never die. But you’re forever dying, but never die. A horrible that will be. Look up here very quickly. Letting this hand represent you and me and the wall represents sin.

We all have sin on us. God says that he loves us. Now he hates our sin but he loves us. And he says the wages of sin is death so that means that since everybody sins, everybody’s condemned. But God loves us. He wants us to go to heaven. But to go to heaven, we have to be perfect as righteous as God, because heaven is perfect, God’s perfect and to go there, we have to be perfect. And all you got to do is just look in the mirror and know you’re not perfect, because if the body was perfect, why is he getting old?

We’re dying. We’re physically dying. When my hair was cold black and started turning gray, it was a sign that I’m dying. And my skin used to be nice and smooth. No, I’m got crow feet and you’re getting wrinkles. You’re getting skin stuff all over your face, you know, on age spots. I’ve got them all over my hands. I can see the wrinkles. And if you think that’s a sign of beauty, you can have them. But we’re going to die.

We’re dying. And the thing is, God says because of sin, we all have to die. And the wages of sin, the pay for what we’ve done wrong is eternal separation from God in Hell. And the Bible says that Jesus Christ did something for us. Does that represent Jesus Christ? God in the flesh came into the world because he loves us, hates our sin because our sin separates us from the Lord. Christ took the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead, and said, if we would believe he did it for us, he’d put this payment down.

We get to go to heaven on what he did. It’s not on what you and I do. It’s on what he did. And he says, the moment you believe it, he gives you as a free gift, everlasting life, and you get to go to heaven whenever you die. I am looking for the rapture. I like his new body stuff, But I want it to be like that. I want to be changed in a moment, the twinkling when I had caught up to meet the Lord in the ear and we shall appear.

So we will see him when he appears and we will appear just like him. Let’s pray, Shelley. Every headbound, every eye flows. If you’re here tonight and you’ve never trusted the Lord, why not trust Christ as your Savior? I pray that everyone has. But if you haven’t would you just talk to the Lord right now and say something simple like this Lord? I’m a center Friend that’s what we all are we’re sinners But I believe the Christ died and paid for my sin and I’m gonna trust him right now as my only hope of going to heaven And praying God said if you trust them as your Savior’s God would save you give you eternal life and you can know you are going to heaven Whenever you die Is there any one of all before we close?

Yes, pray for me. I will trust Christ as my Savior and preach. I’d like you to pray for me in closing. And one of all, our Father, we thank this so much for your blessings to us and loving us, for giving us your word and giving us so much in your love we don’t understand. But some of them we can kind of get an idea here and there, but we ask to bless us upon us. 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 were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage.

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

We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. 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 mutha- and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach which is toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you’ll 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.

The body is gonna be resurrected. God is going to get another body from the body That was buried or dead, died, and then we get another one from it. So I don’t care where he gets it. I don’t care how he does it. Only that he’s going to do it. So he says this. It is sown in corruption. That’s the first body. That’s your physical body. It is raised incorruptible. So the body you’re going to get is going to be an incorruptible body.

It has no sinful nature, cannot sin, cannot die, not subject to death. Look in verse 43, it is sown in dishonor, in the word because it’s caused by sin. Sin is never honorable. Sin is always dishonorable. So when we die is because of sin. A people who tell you that they don’t sin anymore, they don’t sin. Well, I’ve had a bunch of people tell me, I haven’t sinned in 40 years. Well, if they don’t sin, they ought not die.

But they all die, don’t they? They all die. Why? Because they still sin. He says, it is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. The body you’re going to get is going to be a perfect body. It is not subject to being corruptible. Get what else you said. It is sown in weakness. That’s why we get sick because our body gets weak. Our immune system breaks down. The body gets old. is that when he just died of old age, the Bible talks about some of the saints that being full of age, full of age, they died.

They’re gonna die of something. If Christ doesn’t come back in our lifetime, we are going to, me and out are going to die, maybe him first. You’re already 80 years old, okay? It is sown, it is raised in power. So that means you’re going to have a body incorruptible. It’s going to be a glorified body. It’s going to have power to it that the body we have not does not have. What all that power means, I don’t know, but we will have the power that Christ has in His body.

And what He can do, and I got visions of stuff. I imagine my mind can run wild one. Get verse 44, it is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body, not spirit body, but a spiritual body. The body that I’m going to have is fully communicated between the spirit of man and God. And see, our body we have right now, I believe is because our soul, our soul is what gives demands and so forth and directions for the body.

We’re going to have a body that is capable of living as long as the soul, as long as the spirit of man which can never end. So we’re going to get a body that will also right now see you and I. We have a soul in the spirit living inside of a body. They are forever, but the body is not. We’re going to get the third part of man. And remember whenever you trusted Christ’s Savior, He saved your soul.

He questioned it, why does snow? But he never touched the body. And you’re living in a body, a jail, that’s corruptible, going downhill. And we try to do more and more for the Lord, and the body doesn’t want to cooperate all the time. But now we’re gonna get a new body, and this new body is gonna have power to it. It’s the one I wish to already had. I wasn’t mind living down here. If I just had this body, this glorified body, well that would be neat.

I could fly over that Indian. Somebody wants to kill you invincible. Man, it would be neat. But he says we have this treasure in urban vessels. Now see we have a body of the earth. This is why he uses this term here. So look what he says here in verse 45. And so it is written. The first man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam Christ, a quick and in spirit. So it gives you life. The one you die, the other one you don’t.

God sees the whole earth in two families. From two heads, the first Adam, the last Adam. Because everybody comes from those two. Everybody born into this world because of the first Adam. Does it go burn? The second Adam Christ, when you trust him as your Savior, you are in his family. So he says this, in Verse 46, how be it that which was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural and afterwards that which is spiritual. Who came first?

The first birth Adam of the flesh and Then second, the spiritual, the next body. So whenever you were born into this world, that was first, your flesh burk. Then your new birth. It’s always like this. Then when you study the Old Testament, you’ll find out Abraham had ishmael and he was the type of the flesh, Isaac, the type of the spirit. Then you get down to Saul and David. David saw was the type of the flesh and David type of the spirit.

And that parrot always down through the Old Testament. It will follow true. But then give what else he says here. In verse 47, the first man of the earth, the second man, the Lord from heaven. He says, so as you were born into this world from the first man, Adam, you bear the earth image of the first man. So you look like a man, you look human. I know some people that don’t look like they’re human, but you are and bear the image of the earth.

And so we have a body that is conditioned to live in this environment. This earth that we’re on, this globe, this spinning ball going through time, through space. Listen, we are like on a spaceship and these bodies are spacesuits for us to live on planet Earth. And if your spacesuit develops some problems, you can’t stay here. You have to move out. But while you’re here, that’s why you want to taste good care of this spacesuit because it’s temporary. And you just want it to last as long as possible.

And have you noticed that the older we get, it takes a lot of repair work, a lot of maintenance. When I was younger, I didn’t worry about any maintenance whatsoever. Tell me about the 60 and then you see everything came crashing down. And since then, I have had just a little bit of everything happen. And you might wind up the same way. You may hit it earlier. You may not hit it till later. sooner or later something’s gonna happen to the body and you can die if Christ doesn’t come back.

Now get what he says here in verse 48, as is the earthy so such are they also that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they that also are heavenly and as we have born the image of the earth we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. So this body bears the image of the unearthly body So the body that we’re going to get must bear the image of the one that we came from, which was Christ.

So our new body will be like his body. And so this is why he says, now, there’s a flesh of man, there’s the flesh of animals, there’s the flesh of fish, there’s the flesh of files, And they can tell the difference in the flesh, but all humans are the same kind of flesh. The birds, the animals. There’s a different kind of flesh than the fish. Now, the fish swam in the lawn, mittin’ in the water, and he’s breathing oxygen, but he’s getting it from the water and swallowing the water and then he’s going out there and he’s tapping the oxygen in this gill.

He lives that way. You know what that fish said? And no way anybody can ever live while I’ve been in this water so he can breathe this air. Now he’s conditioned to live in the water. So he thinks that’s the way everybody has to have it. Now the bird, God has made the bird where he could fly in the air. Wouldn’t you like to be like the birds? You just fly. But anyway, you’re going to have a body that’s going to be unique.

it’s going to be a wonderful thing. But he now goes into and he says, God has given it a body that pleases him. He says, now whenever you plant corn, you should expect corn to come up. And if you plant wheat or oats and barley, then that’s what should come up. Now when you plant a human body, then you should get another body back from it. But he says, this is going to be different. See what he says here.

In verse 37 he said, and that which thou soest, thou soest not that body, not that body, that shall be. The body you sow is not the one you’re going to get back. You’re going to get something better. Now if I came back from the dead and God gave me another body, just like the one I’ve got, I’m going to die again. I got to go through the whole process him. Whenever Lassa came back from the dead, he had to die again.

When the little girl, he raised her from the dead, she had to die again because it was just the same body. I don’t want another body like this body. I’m going to get a body like his body. I can’t die. So he says in verse 37, and that which thou soeth, thou soeth not that body that shall be, but bear green. It may chance of wheat or some other grain. Now when you take grain and you plant it, you get the same thing back.

But the body he says that you got when it’s dead, you’re going to get another one, but it’s going to be different. And this body, and it has a tie all together here, he says, every body has a seed that can produce another body. God planted the ability of everything that he made with the power to reproduce itself. That’s why you and I have the ability to reproduce ourselves by simply man, woman, getting married having children and that too become one flesh.

So we have within us the power of reproduction. Now the body we’re going to have doesn’t have to have the power of reproduction because you see God says in heaven will be like the angels. There is no marrying in heaven or given in marriage. So evidently I guess there’s no such thing as sex is in heaven. I don’t know. I don’t know. Am I going to still be a man? I’d rather be a man than a woman. There’s just something about this that I just don’t care to be a woman.

I don’t care if everybody there’s going to be a woman. I still want to be a man. But he says there’s neither male nor female, bond or free. Richard poor, nothing. It’s not gone. You read the third chapter of the book of Galatians We’re all one by faith in Jesus Christ. We’re all the seed of Abraham And it goes in there and says a little bit about that But look in verse 39 All flesh is not the same flesh.

There’s one kind of flesh of men another flesh of beast But now they’re a fish and other of birds. They all got different bodies And verse 40, there are also celestial bodies and also bodies’ terrestrial. That means there’s heavenly bodies and there are bodies above the earth, earthly bodies, material bodies. But the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another. In the Old Testament, the book of Daniel, it says that those that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.

It’s like the stars. And how many stars are there? Well, they say today there’s as many stars as there’s grain to sand upon the earth. How would you like to go through all the grains of sand and see if you can find another one that looks exactly like the other’s grain of sand? And yet he says that the stars are like the sands upon the seashore. And the nation of Israel will be like that, innumerable. And yet they’re all different.

And of all the stars that there are, not to them exactly the same, There is not another person in this world that is 100% like you. You are different and you are unique. But look what he says here. In verse 41 there is one glory of the Son, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars. For one star, get it one star differs from another star and glory. God said that. He says, one star is different from another star.

That means nothing to the start. Exactly like it. And think of all the variety of people’s there are. How many different kinds there are? Have you ever been in an airport to sit here and you watch all those people go by? Sometimes I just do it and just watch all the different kinds of people. And most of the people I’ve never seen before, I’ll probably never see them again. I’ll never remember them That’s for sure. And there’s little ones and there’s big ones.

And there’s short ones and there’s tall ones. And there’s red and yellow, black and white. They’re all different. And you can just sit there and be totally amazed. You don’t need a movie. You don’t even watch television. Just look at the people go by of how many kinds of people there are. And God says, when we get to heaven, even though we’re all gonna be the same, we’ll have a body like his, but we’ll all differ from each other.

And I believe that we will know each other, and that will be me, and that will be Peter, and that will be Fred, and we’ll recognize each other. Now, I don’t know whether or not you’re gonna look like you’re 30 years old, or what, I don’t know. I don’t wanna be a little baby and never for all eternity. And I don’t wanna look like I’m 95 years old when I get to heaven either. So I don’t think there’s going to be that, but we’re going to have a glorified body.

It will be a wonderful thing. And so he says, all the stars of heaven, all these stars, they differ from each other. He’s bringing all this out because he’s answering the question about it. See that verse 35, some will say, how are the dead raised? How’s that going to happen? And what body do they come? So we know by the time we get over there verse 51 and 52, we are going to have a very unique body, a body that will last for all eternity.

Now take your Bible and look in 2 Corinthians in chapter 5. 2 Corinthians 5 and look in verse 1. 2 Corinthians 5, look in verse 1. Now he talks a little bit about this, but when you die right now, what kind of a body you get when you get to heaven. Because it looks like there’s something else that’s going on here, and it could be like you have something like a soullish body. I don’t know how God’s going to do it, but I’ll let him figure it all out.

I’m sure he got away. In verse 1 says, for we know that if our earthly house, this old body we’re living in, this earthly house, of this tabernacle were dissolved. I wonder what that word means. If this earthly house dissolves, I think it means by death. If you lose this body, we have get this a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. So according this that whenever you die is there another body I’m going to get that’s temporary until I get my other body.

I don’t know. Good thing. I’ve heard pros and cons of both sides. Lones when I die I get there. And as long as I get me another body. I just kind of like having a body. I like being able to walk around. I don’t mind walking around. I think I can play golf all day long and I get tired. I I told the Lord I said Lord it would be wonderful if you took the nine planets and made it a nine-hole golf course And it just made it happen to be nine unlike it is you know You hit a golf ball and you never make a bad shot.

So it’s a perfect shot and it lands Exactly where you want it and it has to go in the hole But if everybody made perfect shot then it’ll be no fun Lord I thought what we’re gonna do and you were trying to think of what you’re gonna do when you get the head because you know So if you’re perfect and everybody else is perfect, where’s the competitive spirit? I gotta beat somebody and something.

I mean, that’s the American way. And yet God says, I have not seen ear has not heard. Neither has entered into the heart of man, the thing which God has prepared for them that leaven. We haven’t even, there’s nothing to compare with. I can only imagine. I can only imagine. I can only imagine. No, you can’t. He already said, you can’t imagine. You can’t even think of what it’s going to be like there. You cannot imagine. He also says it that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory of what shall be revealed.

We have no clue how wonderful it’s really going to be. There’s nothing to compare it with. You said you can’t compare it. There isn’t anything to compare it with. We’re really going to be shocked. It’s going be so awesome. Probably if there’s any regrets of anything it’ll be because we did not do more for the Lord while we could. And there’s going to be grieving. And I believe some of God’s children are going to weep when we realize how many opportunities we threw away and what we could have done and we didn’t do it.

Because we fell in love with this temporal world. Maybe you’ve got it all worked out. I haven’t figured it all out yet. I get so intrigued just thinking about it. But look what else he says here. He says, we have a building of God and a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. We’re in this in this body. We’ve grown. The longer you live, the more grown you’re going to do. Earn it. Get to earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven.

If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked.” In other words, we don’t have to run around like hanks. You hear that person dying on the way up. They say, I ain’t got no body. In verse 4, we that are in this tabernacle, in this body, do grown, being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed without a body, body, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now is it possible that the body we got or going to get from heaven is going to be this new glorified body that God takes from down here and makes the glorified body and we got it?

I don’t know how God’s going to do it all. I really don’t see no need for two of them. Or is it the same one died and we get another one. My new birth came from God. Why not my new body? Say, I haven’t got all the pieces of the puzzle worked out. And then he says here in verse 6, looking verse 6, therefore we are always competent knowing that while we are at home in the body, in this body, we are absent from the Lord.

Now we know the Lord lives within us and all that, but we’re not in heaven. We’re not there. We’re here. Then Luke says, for we walk by faith not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. So we know that when we leave this body to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord. That’s what the book teaches. Therefore, we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him.

That means well pleasing to the Lord. So whether I’m here or whether I’m there, I just want to be well pleasing to the Lord. And God’s given me a body that’s temporary. And And one of these days this house is going to be dissolved. But we have a building of God eternal in the heavens. We’ve got us another body. Now when I get this body, I don’t really know. Maybe I get it when I lose the other one. While we’re in this body, we groan, desiring to be clothed upon with the body, which God has got for us.

It’s another body. Listen, if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, you don’t get this body. You don’t, the Bible says, spend an eternity separated from the Lord. But God is going to reunite you to the body. But God’s going to give you a body that will forever burn, forever feel, but never die. But you’re forever dying, but never dying. A horrible that will be. Look up here very quickly. Letting this hand represent you and me and the wall represents sin.

We all have sin on us. God says that He loves us. Now He hates our sin, but He loves us. And He says the wages of sin is death. So that means that since everybody sins, everybody’s condemned. But God loves us. It wants us to go to heaven. But to go to heaven, we have to be perfect as righteous as God. Because heaven is perfect, God is perfect and to go there, we have to be perfect. And all you got to do is just look in the mirror and know you’re not perfect.

Because if the body was perfect, why is he getting old? We’re dying. We’re physically dying. When my hair was cold black and started turning gray, It was a sign that I’m dying. And my skin used to be nice and smooth. No, I’m got crow feet and you’re getting wrinkled. You’re getting skin stuff all over your face and on age spots. Got them all over my hands. I can see the wrinkles. And if you think that’s a sign of beauty, you can have them.

But we’re going to die. We’re dying. And the thing is, God says, because of sin, we all have to die. And the wages of sin, the pay for what we’ve done wrong is eternal separation from God in hell. And the Bible says that Jesus Christ did something for us. This hand represents Jesus Christ, God in the flesh came into the world because He loves us, hates our sin, because our sin separates us from the Lord. Christ took the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead and said, if we would believe He did it for us, He’d put this payment down.

We get to go to heaven on what he did. Start on what you and I do. It’s on what he did. And he says, the moment you believe it, he gives you as a free gift, everlasting life, and you get to go to heaven whenever you die. I am looking for the rapture. I like this new body stuff, but I want it to be like that. I want to be changed in a moment, the twinkling when I am caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

we shall appear because we will see him when he appears and we will appear just like him. Let’s pray, Shelley. Every headbound, every eye closed. If you’re here tonight and you’ve never trusted the Lord, why not trust Christ as your Savior? I pray that everyone has, but if you haven’t, would you just talk to the Lord right now and say something simple like this, Lord, I’m a sinner. friend, that’s what we all are. We’re sinners. But I believe Christ died and paid for my sins and I’m going to trust him right now as my only hope of going to heaven.

And praying God said, if you trust him as your Savior, God would save you, give you eternal life and you can know that you are going to heaven whenever you die. Is there any word I’ll be focused closely? Yes, pray for me. I will trust Christ as my Savior and preach. I’d like you to pray for him in closing. And we’re not. Our Father, we thank You so much for Your blessings to us, and the love in us, for giving us Your Word, and giving us so much in Your love we don’t understand.

But some of them we can’t try to get an idea here and there, but we ask Your blessings upon us. 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 were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to Bibleline. LiveAlignMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.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, we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.

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. And reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you’ll 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.

Now, we live our Christian life believing in the providence of God that God behind the scenes is able to move and work his will. Don’t we believe that? I believe that. I believe that God has a plan and He’s working His plan and I believe He’s right on schedule. I don’t believe He’s behind schedule. I believe He has a purpose in what He’s doing and He can use the wickedness of man to accomplish His will. So when He talks about He has the keys of David, remember now, David was the king.

He was the king. As a king, do you know that they used to talk about the divine rights of kings? What does it mean by the divine right of kings? That a king could do pretty much whatever he wanted to do. He has the authority. He can say, you live or you die. You can have your stone, they get part in you. The king, pretty powerful. But Jesus Christ has the key. And when you talk about the key of David, you’re talking about the right of royalty.

He is not only deity, whenever you hear those two phrases that are mentioned in the Word of God, the Son of Man, Son of God. Remember, you’ll talk about Jesus Christ, Son of Man, Son of God. If you talk about the Son of Man, that’s his humanity. Talk about the Son of God, that’s his deity. So as you study the scripture, you’ll see it talked about Jesus Christ, the Son of Man. Okay, that’s true that he is the Son of Man.

He’s his humanity. He is the perfect man. Son of God, he is divinity. He is divine. He is deity. He’s God. He is the perfect God man. That’s who he is. And he has the authority as the Son of Man to set up on the throne of David. And it’s the right to rule. He has authority and he can open up doors and he can close doors. I am glad to know he’s not only the creator of heaven and the earth.

He’s not on the head of the church. He is also the king of Israel. And I know him. He’s a buddy of mine. He’s a friend of mine. Do you believe that God, Jesus Christ is able to open up doors that you can’t open. Have things happen that you can’t make happen? Have you ever got to the place where you have come to the end of yourself? You don’t like the guy that was in the hog pen when he came to himself?

He said, how did he come to himself? Nobody gave to him. Nobody helped him. He said, boy, I just love the Eastom of the Cornhouse that the hog’s reading. He said, and here I am, my father. My father, my father, has food to spare and the servants are even better than me.” He says, I know what I’m going to do. I’m going home and I’m going to tell my daddy. He says, I messed up. And his dad came and put a robe of righteousness upon him and gave him the ring and shoes on his feet.

He says, you’re my son. He’d, I’d just be a survivor. You’re my son. God in heaven knows what you and I need. He is opening doors and his closing doors. Have you ever prayed for something and you didn’t get it? And down the road you find out, boy, that was an answer to prayer. That you’re glad that God didn’t answer all your prayers. I’ve lived long enough to appreciate the fact God doesn’t answer all my prayers. Because sometimes I don’t pray exactly what, because I’m limited in knowledge.

And when you’re limited in knowledge, you’re limited in the quality of your prayer. So you don’t know exactly sometimes how to pray. Have you ever had something to come? But you don’t know how to pray. You’re not sure. You don’t know why I should do this, or should I do that? I’ll bottle that for about six months. Before I came down here, but it seemed like God started closing the door and God opened up another door. And I’m still expecting God to open up some doors and he’ll probably close a few other doors.

So you can’t do anything, but here’s one thing, keep it in mind. If God closes a door, don’t you charge it with a crowbar and a sledgehammer? You’ll wish you hadn’t forced that door open. If God opened the door, let God open the door. You don’t have to ever do anything wrong, sneaky, conniving in order to try to make your opportunity. If you can’t get something by doing right, you don’t need it. I don’t get what it is. If you can’t do it right, and you can’t be honest to get what you believe God wants you to have, then you don’t need to do it.

You always do right. It’s always right to do right. You don’t do wrong. God will never lead you to do wrong. my God can’t open up a door for me and provide for me or do whatever he wants me, that it don’t need to be opened. Now I don’t need to go through it. And I’ll forfeit it. And I’ll live long enough probably to realize, boy God is so much smarter than I am. And sometimes at the moment it seems like, God you got to come through.

I need you now. Now, now, emergency, flash flash, red lights. And it says, you know, the throne of grace, the throne of grace. What in the world is the throne of grace? It’s a place where you can go to get all the help that you need in time, in the time of need. To God’s the one that knows the timing and when you really need it. And I believe the Lord will come through. Can you trust Him? Can you trust the Lord?

I don’t know how I ever get through when I get carried away. I’m just talking about opening the door. anyway, that’s okay. It’s perfectly all right. I did not decide before I started tonight, I was going to finish the third chapter anyway. See how good that is? They don’t matter. But look in verse 8, I know by works, behold, I have set before thee an open door. Now remember this in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 16 when it talks about Paul says, I have an open door, a door of opportunity, an open door.

He says, but there are many what? Open door, but there are many adversaries. I don’t remember that, well I just talked to all that about a month ago or two months ago, you both remember all this stuff. But there’s adversaries, in other words, with every open door, there’s problems. There’s always problems. You’ve got problems in everything, and they don’t always run smooth. There’s always something that goes wrong. I don’t give what you do. He’s gonna find out, running with those teenagers.

right now they probably just oh he’s just a wonderful guy we’re gonna do everything he said but just gonna love him to death all he has to say one thing and they’re gonna cross them and they’re gonna hate his guts and then I’ll turn on him I never did like him to start with and then he’s gonna go home and cry why you know what somebody told me the other day he says you want some cheese with that I said what he says you want some cheese with that I says Cheeseful what?

He says, well no, cheese and wine and goes good together. You know who said that to me? My son-in-law’s sitting right there. I hit this golf ball that went in the woods and I’m just a wan and he says, you want some cheese with that? Now every time I hit the ball and he goes, well, especially if he’s close by, I’m going to bite my tongue, want some cheese with that. But now this church here, I believe, was not a mega church.

Now the church in Jerusalem when it first started, it was probably what you would consider a mega church. I mean a huge church. There were lots of people trusting Christ of Savior and been joining all the time. But look what he says in the last part. He says, for thou hath a little strength and has kept my word and have not denied my name. When he talks about a little strength, I don’t think he’s talking about the individuals. I believe individually, they were strong because he says, you have my word, you kept my word, you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing.

But they were fewer in number. You see, the strength of a church is not how many people you have. It’s the strength of the individuals that you have. You see, we could have 200 people in this church on a Sunday morning. That I don’t mean we’re a strong church. We will probably be as strong as the people that usually come on a Sunday night or Wednesday night and so on. The workers and thethat’s your backbone of your church that makes it happen.

A lot of people will not accept the responsibility, but I’m thankful for every person that darkens the doors. I don’t feel whether you get involved, you don’t do anything. I just like to see a warm body. I can talk to him, maybe influence him for the Lord, you know. But he says that you’re a little strength, that you’re not mighty in number. There’s a few of you, but you’re still, they’re getting praise from the Lord. Do you think there’s a God in heaven that looks down and knows how strong you are spiritually?

He knows whether you’re weak, he knows whether you’re strong. And he says that he’s going to either bless or chase him, because God knows our works, He knows our attitudes, why we do what we do. He knows what we say. You wanna know what the Lord really knows how you think. Look at the next church, but we haven’t got there yet, but we’ll look at it in just a minute. But look in verse nine. He says, Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie.

just very quickly, take your Bible, look in the book of Romans in chapter two. Hold your place right there, but Romans in chapter two, and you’ll have a little bit of an idea probably what he’s talking about here, because there’s some people who think they’re Christians because they go to church, and there were probably some that thought they were Jews of God’s chosen people because they went to the synagogue and that they were saved and they’re gonna go to heaven.

No, no more than that. See there in chapter two, look there in verse 28, for he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh, But he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart. In other words, those that accounted for the seed are those not just because you are of Jewish flesh, but because they had trusted Christ as their Savior. They were circumcised in heart, not in the flesh.

That doesn’t save anybody. This says you don’t put no confidence in the flesh. So, but these are people that had trusted Christ as their Savior. And yes, they were of the nation of Israel. Not look over there in the book of Romans in chapter 9 and verse 8. Romans chapter 9 and verse 8. Now you know chapter 9, 10 and 11 deals with the nation of Israel. Chapter 9 deals with the past of Israel. Chapter 10 with the present of Israel.

Chapter 11 deals with the future of Israel. But in chapter 9 looking verse 8, as he’s talking down through here about in verse like in verse 4, who are Israelites? Well, who are they? Just anybody? Oh look what he says down in verse 7, Neither because they are the seed of Abraham or they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed because which is faith And verse eight that is they which are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of God And see the Jews were taken upon this if we’re the chosen of God We’re God’s children You’re not God’s child unless you’re born into his family unless you believe on Jesus Christ So not everybody is a a believer just because of a well I got Jewish flesh.

No have you accepted Jesus Christ as you’re saying so he says that there is the devil and he has a synagogue. Remember this the devil has his preachers. They’re devil and he has preaching. I have a sermon that they’re working on getting ready for the radio broadcast called the the damnable doctrine of the devil. Well, that ought to be a good one. The damnable doctrine of the devil. Does the devil have doctrine? Does he have preachers? Yes, he does.

Does the devil have churches? Yes, they do. And there’s a lot of churches that are run by the devil. I’m serious. And can a Christian do the devil’s work? Just like, like I said, I know the Lord here tonight. How do you know the Lord here tonight? I brought him one verse there. I know the devil’s here tonight. How do you know? You brought him. Well, go back to Revelation chapter three. So he says, I’m going to teach a lesson and how that was done at that time in that church.

It doesn’t say all these things about it, but the church there at this time would know and understand more because it was to them. It’s in his context and dealing with that church. Second verse 10, because thy has kept the word of my patience. When you’re talking about keeping the word of my patience, it means that when trials and tribulations and all those things come, you waited and trusted in the Lord. That’s being patient. When you know the Lord and his word, and you can be patient, that means you don’t take matters into your hand, that means you don’t let anger or run rampant over you.

You don’t let yourself get so mad at angry, you say and do things you shouldn’t say and do. Then as he makes the statement here, I also will keep the in the hour of temptation. Now there’s two things about this verse. One is he talking about the tribulation period that’s coming upon the earth. And because of your obedience, I’m gonna save you from going into the tribulation period.

Well, if that’s the case, then that would make. Your obedience, reason why you didn’t go into the tribulation. Okay, but what about Christians that are not going to the tribulation? I can’t buy that. Now, isn’t it true that the devil in chapter 12, it makes the statement that he has deceived the whole world, our accuser of the brethren, goes before the Father and accuses us. And it says he deceived the whole world. Whether you and I like it or not, there’s times in our crime, we’ve been deceived.

We have not always believed all the truth all the time. We even lie to ourselves and deceive ourselves. And we have been lied to and been deceived. You know, the old devil has a heyday with us. But only by the grace of God are we aligned. You know, if I was the devil, if I was the devil, I’m not. But if I was the devil, I’d do everything in my power to kill all of you. I’d want to wipe you out of here.

I’d want to ruin your testimony, destroy somehow. And I wouldn’t care what I’d have to do to do it. If I can’t get it to you, I’m going to go through your wife. I can’t get it to your wife. I’ll go through the husband. I can’t get your husband. I’m going to go to the kids. I’ll go through something. Some house. Some way. I’ve got to stop you because the more you want to serve the Lord, the more the devil’s got to fight against you.

I just want to give him a big old black eye before I get out of here. here. I want him to know that we’ve been in a scrap. But I know this. If I don’t keep my eyes on the Lord, it will be the Torah that he… I don’t mind getting a whipping from the Lord. I just don’t want the devil to witness. Now God made a lot of him to have some freedom, but that’s why you got to be careful.

Pride cometh before what? A fall. And you have to be very careful. And I read a thing the other day about I am a soldier. I’m a soldier. Now the whole time I’m reading that thing about I I am a soldier. In the back of my mind, I’m thinking, as I yield to the Lord, as I yield to the Lord, as I yield to the Lord. Because I know in the back of my mind, I’m not going to be a good soldier.

I’m not going to stand. The devil’s not going to get me. None of this is going to happen unless I keep walking independent upon the Lord. So in your mind, your attitude, you better keep your dependence. I’m trusting the Lord as I trust the Lord, as I walk with the Lord, because without that, but he would fall quick. It don’t take much. And the temptation, remember this, he says that with the temptation, it’s common demand, but with that temptation, God also will make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

Did you know with every problem, Every trial, every temptation. God says, there is a way of escape. There’s a way of escape. And if you’re said, I can’t take anymore, I can’t take anymore. He says that it’s not going to be more than you can bear. Whether you like it or not, the scripture says, God doesn’t put up on us more than what we can bear. Now, if it breaks you, it’s because you didn’t trust the Lord. But nobody has more than they can bear.

It’s just that it becomes a yoke of iron because you will not serve a Lord with joyfulness of heart. He says, I’ll put a yoke of iron upon your neck and dill it destroys you. So there’s testing that are going to come. And because they held fast His word, they did the work He says to do and they were, they had the love that they should have had and they stood strong. And though they were not many, they were mighty in the Lord.

And when the trials and tribulations come, he says, because thou hast kept my word. The Lord says, I will keep thee when the trials and temptations and that hour comes. Now, whether he’s talking about doing my lifetime here or whether he’s talking about the tribulation period upon the end, which I think that’s be secondary, I believe the rapture takes place obedient or not obedient. When he comes, ready or not we’re going and we’re all out of here and no Christian is going from the church ages going into the tribulation period.

Look in verse 11, behold I come quickly. Now he got something he said, behold I come quickly. It’s only been 2000 years, behold I come quickly. I guess time depends upon how God sees it based upon how we see it. Do you know one of these days when it’s all over with in word heaven, it’s going to seem like it was so quick. I’ve already realized that concerning my life. It wasn’t long ago I was playing in the backyard with my sister cutting off a dog’s tail.

You know that was about 65 years ago. 65 years has passed since I chopped that little tail off that dog. Did you know that I can still see that little dog? In my mind, I can still see that tail wagon on the other side of that log. I can still see it. You ain’t never done that before. Where do you think hot dogs come from? You know what the Indians said when the dog fell over the cliff? Dog gone.

Okay, we’ll move right along here. Verse 12, in the book of Galatians in chapter 2, it talks about how Paul had met with some of the people who had been in the Bible. He had hunchows, the other disciple, and he says, they seem to be pillars in the church. And then he talks about the church and that the word of God is supposed to be taught to the people and it’s the grounds upon which we build and it’s the ground of truth.

And there’s pillars of truth. And whenever you become strong in the Lord, you’re supposed to be like a pillar, like a piece of marble or granite that is strong and can support. People can lean against you because you’re strong, you’re solid. Well, he says here in verse 12, him that overcometh what I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of my God in the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which coming down out of heaven from my God.

Now, remember this, there’s a lot of things in here that I think the hints is too, but never fully explained. But remember John whenever he was up there and they had the great white throne judgment and he stood out there and he said, and I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepares a bride adorned for her husband. And the tabernacle of God was with men. And he says, and he went to show me the lamb, the bride.

And then the next verses that talks about, and I saw the holy city, the lamb’s wife. The holy city is where you and I are supposed to live. I believe that’s the as the bride and it’s only 1500 miles high long and wide. How do you like that for a honeymoon? Pretty good size. Place to live. And so for half the size of the United States. And I believe it’ll hover above the earth and the nations of the earth are going to walk in the light of the holy city.

Because it won’t be a need of a moon or a sun because it says the land will be the light thereof There’s a lot that God never told it. Oh, yeah It’s got streets of gold in the gates of pearls and it got the walls of Jasper and all these things and the Street out the river and the fruit trees that give fruit every 12 times of fruit on it. No, it can be awesome And we’re only getting a little taste of it here and a little taste there.

He doesn’t explain everything He talks about in the one of the, talking about the, I’ll give you a new stone, a white stone with a name on it, nobody knows. Now he’s talking about him, I’m gonna give my name and he’s talking about a name here. See, I will write upon him the name of my God, which is a new Jerusalem which come in and I won’t write upon him my new name, the last part of verse 12. I’m gonna write my new name.

I don’t know what all this. You can speculate all you want to and anybody else can, but they can’t tell you what it really means because it doesn’t say. I’ve read that enough of the Bible to know that there’s some things God doesn’t explain. It’s kind of like just dang it right there and just trust them. It will be worth it all when we see Christ. It will be worth it all. Now we don’t have time to cover this last church.

I might have to get that the next time. But I do believe that we probably have a few things we need to pray for. So therefore, we’re going to conclude and then have a few prayer requests. But first of all, I want you to look up here. If you’re here tonight, or if you’re watching by internet, I want you to understand more than anything else in the world, you don’t serve the Lord to go to heaven. These scriptures is talking about those who are already going to heaven, but they’re not going to heaven because they promise to live a certain way and so on.

Look up here. This hand represents you and me and the wallet represents sin. Now we all have sin on us Now God says that he loves us and I hate what we do wrong, but he loves us You know just when I talk to a lot person. I’m always explaining this sort of three times God loves us. He hates what we do wrong, but he loves us. You ever know how I do that? I keep doing because I want people to know I don’t care how much bad you’ve done God still loves you And the greatest part about this whole thing is and God loves you God loves us And because we have committed the sin, we have to pay for it, and that’s eternal separation from God and Hell.

But God loves us, wants us to go to heaven, but heaven is a perfect place. And to go there, we’d have to be perfect. Well, because of sin, well, we’re not perfect. We can’t get into heaven. So how can I get to heaven? Well, if you have to be perfect, you can’t. You can’t go. There’s no way you can do enough good things to pay for all the bad things and you’ll never be perfect. You see, you have to be good to be good.

You have to be perfect to bring forth perfect works. Only a perfect person can live a perfect life and you’re not perfect. You are sinners So what do sinners do bring for sin and the best we have to do is still a sin. It’s not good That’s why God says our righteousness or its filthy rags. So man cannot save himself This and represent Jesus Christ 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 So he took hours.

Payful on the cross came back from the dead. And God said that if we would believe that He did it for us, He’d put this payment that He made to my account. All my sins are paid. See, there they are right there. He paid for them. I don’t have to pay for them. He paid for them. I get to go to heaven on what He did for me. That is a gift of God. It is not a works list.

Any man should boast the best news in all the world. Let’s pray, show Him. But heads bow nice clothes and no one looking around. If you are here tonight and you never trust that Christ is your savior, right now in the quietness of this moment, would you just talk to the Lord and say something simple like this, Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I got questions, I got doubts, I don’t understand at all, but I believe that he died on that cross and paid for my sins and right now I will accept him as my savior.

And friend God said, if you would trust him right now, he would savior right now, give you eternal life right now. and you can know that you’re going to heaven when you die. I like to have prayer for you. So I’m gonna ask you in just a moment to raise your hand, raise your hand does not save you. It just lets me know that what I said made sense to you. And you say, in preacher, that made sense to me.

And I wanna be certain I’m going to heaven. And I will accept Jesus Christ right now as my savior. And I’d like for you to pray for me. Does anyone just slip it up very quickly and put a rep A down? If you’ve already trust the flirt, you don’t have to do it again. But if you haven’t, would you do it right now? And what is all?

Our Father, we do thank You so much for loving us, giving us a free gift of eternal life, the privilege of serving You, not because we have to, but because we want to. And You said in Your Word that You would walk with us and talk to us, that You could use us in. And Father, we could be a blessing to You and You would bless us. You said when we get to heaven that You would reward us for what we’ve done for you.

You said when you set up your kingdom upon the earth, we could rule it and reign with you. Father, we thank you for all that you’ve done and what you’ve made available to us. We ask to bless them upon each one here now 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 were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, You can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our home page. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bible Live, and now we’re closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friends, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. 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 through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. 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.

The book of Revelation, Book of Revelation, Chapter 3, Revelation 3. There are seven churches mentioned here in chapter 2 and chapter 3. As a brief review, remember that the key verse in the book of Revelation is Revelation 1 and verse 19. That breaks it down where he told John right to things that thou hast seen, which was the image, the glory of Christ himself. The things which are which is chapter two and three of which is the church age and The things which shall be here after So it’s broke down just like that throughout the scriptures in the book of Revelation It is a book of revealing not the book of concealin.

It is not about the rapture Though it’s handed that I believe chapter four But it is about the revelation of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament There were many prophecies in all the scriptures, like little streams that comes together in the Book of Revelation, they form one mighty rushing river of fulfilled prophecies, like everything all of a sudden comes together. In the Old Testament it talks an awful lot about the time of the day of the Lord. The first time it’s mentioned is the Book of Isaiah chapter 2 verse 8, where it makes a statement about the day of the Lord.

Sometimes the day of the Lord is the beginning of the tribulation period all the way through the end of the millennium. And sometimes it looks like it’s referring to the middle of the tribulation period. Sometimes it looks like it’s just the kingdom upon the earth. But the specific day of the Lord is the day the Lord comes back to the earth in power and great glory and He is revealed in every eye will see Him. Now this is what’s going to happen in the future.

But first of all we have to complete these seven churches and if I was to take seven people and line them up up here and say each one of these seven people represented seven preachers and gave them a name of the seven churches I could call them the you know this guy here his name is Ephesus this guy is Smyrna and Pergamos and Thyra, Tyra, and Sardis, and Philadelphia, and Laodicea. So I would name all seven of these individuals.

And I could tell them to say, now, face that direction. And if they all turn and face that direction, then I could say in those 2000 years, they represent seven different periods of time. Well, the last one is the Church of the Laodicea. And so that’s why you hear a lot of prophecy teachers talk about we’re living in the day of the Laodicean age. Well, it just means the last church. Or I could just say, look, these seven swing around this way and stand in the hallway as we’re going through time and all seven of these churches represent all the way down through history a type of the church.

Because you see, sometimes the church that’s at Ephesus will turn into the church like it’s Smyrna. And the Smyrna church will turn into the one at Pergamos. And the one at Pergamos will turn into the one at Philadelphia and they go back and forth because all churches don’t stay the same. Churches change and so since all these things changes, it’s a good possibility that when the Lord comes back there will be representatives. And all churches, as a type of the seven churches that existed in Asia Minor.

Though those local assemblies are not there, there are types of these churches and all of these. And remember we said that the church at Ephesus was like the slipping church. They were slipping away from their steadfastness and had left their first love. And then the church at Smyrna was the standing church. They stood even though unto death and they were going to be martyred. Then you had the church there at Pergamos, and that is the stumbling church, because if you don’t stand, you’re gonna stumble.

And if you stumble, well, then that’s that church, and then you have this church at Sardis, and Sardis is the sleeping church, or we could say the dead church. Philadelphia was the serving church. Then you have the church at Laodicea, which is the sickening church. And God said it made him sick. So you have all of these churches and these types, but there’s something to learn from every one of these seven churches that can help you in your Christian walk.

Because when it talks about the seven churches, you could say this is talking about seven types of Christians. But let’s just pretend for the discussion tonight. We’re talking about seven different types of Christians because the church takes up on itself, the character of a group of people. If somebody was to describe Calvary community church, what would be the name that we would call our church? Is it the dead church, a sleeping church, a slumbering church, standing church, slipping church, I wonder what kind, or would it be a serving church?

Ah, I think most people would say that. Now, that’s a good church. That’s the church at Philadelphia. And Philadelphia is mentioned seven times in the New Testament, and out of the seven times, this is the seventh time, and that is the last time. And in other scriptures, you’ll use just the word brotherly love from where we get the word fileo brotherly love, Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. So you have different types of churches that represents different types of, I believe, Christians.

If you had to describe yourself, how would you describe yourself? I mean, which one of these would fit you? Would you be a slipping church? You’re doing things. You’re going through the motion. Doing all the right things, but you’ve lost your first love. Would that be you? Or are you standing for the Lord now? You see, if you don’t stand for Him now, you don’t know if you’re standing for Him in the future. Well, I might not be doing like I’m supposed to be doing, but when the time comes, God can count on me.

He can’t count on you now. He can’t count on you. Well, I’m running to die for the Lord. Well, what if he just wants you to live for him? So you may not be standing the way that you ought to, or you could be a stumbling Christian. Well, are there things in your life that you know it’s wrong, but you’re not going to correct him anyway. Is there other Christians that could stumble over your testimony because you refuse to correct your testimony?

That’s between you and the Lord. You have to figure that out. Well, what kind of a Christian are you? But remember in every one of these seven churches, God says that he’s gonna do this, this, this, this, this. So God doesn’t leave things alone, but God is concerned about every believer and what’s going on in his life. Now you might be the one that seduces others to do wrong. In other words, you’re doing wrong. Have you ever seen misery that loves company?

If you don’t wanna serve a Lord, did you know you’ll find a way to get somebody else Does not serve a Lord? You’ll say things negative about somebody or about the priest. If you don’t want to go to church, you might keep coming, but you’re going to start showing discord so that you can get somebody else to agree with you so that whenever you quit, well everybody feels that way. Everybody feels that way. Yeah, but they didn’t until you started talking to them.

People so see the discord. Okay. Are you that kind of a person? Okay. about the one in Sardis. You think you’re awake, God says you’re dead. They were dead Christians. No life, not producing anything, not doing anything. They thought had a name, but they were lives. Look there in chapter three and look there in verse one. And unto the angel of the church in Sardis, write these things, say it, he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven start.

I know thy works that thou have a name that thou liveth. He said, but you’re dead. God knows where you are. In other words, you’re not producing anything. It’s like, you know, faith without what is dead, without what works. So you’re not doing the thing that God wants you to do. So you’re not producing any fruit in your life. Or are you that kind of a Christian? What about the church at Philadelphia? The brotherly love, the serving. I mean that’s you.

You’re concerned about your testimony. You’re concerned about other people and the influence you have in other people’s lives. That’s when you begin to care. And when God says love others as you love yourself. Do you know there’s people that don’t really love themselves? They don’t love themselves. Cause he says love others as you love yourself. Well, wait a minute. Some people must hate themselves. But do you love others? Okay, you can be that kind of a Christian a good serving Christian and for the right reasons might write motive Or would you consider yourself a hot Christian or a cold Christian?

Hot for the things of the Lord that word hot is also the same word is used in fervent in spirit You look around the top of fervent in spirit means hot on fire for the Lord. You’ll want to serve the Lord Okay Or are you the one that’s cold? Nobody can get you to do anything. You don’t do anything. You know everything, but you don’t do anything. You ever met anybody like that? They know the whole Bible. And quote it backwards and forward.

Know the Hebrew and the Greek and all of it. They know it all. But you don’t know the Bible until the Bible controls your life. If the Bible doesn’t control your life, you don’t know it. You quote in verses, but that’s not knowing the Bible. Just like you didn’t trust Christ as your Savior, know you have eternal life, but you don’t know God. You don’t know God until you live with Him, until you walk with Him, until you talk with Him, till He lives with you.

Christ in you, you in Christ, walking together. Then you’ll get to learn some things about the Lord. But if you’re not hot and you’re not cold, what would you be? Look at Him, oh, that’s a good balance, isn’t it? That would be a good balance. just to be an average Christian. An average Christian, what’s an average Christian? Well, do you adjust as far from the top as you’re from the bottom? At least I’m an average Christian. That’s the kind of a Christian you wanna be right?

Not exactly. Not exactly. God says because you’re not hot and because you’re not cold, He says you make me sick. Make me wanna spew you out of my mouth. But let’s look there in verse seven of chapter three, through the church at Philadelphia. He said, and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write these things, say it, he that is holy, he that is true, he that the keys of David, he that opened it, no man shut it, then shut it, the no man opened it.

Now, we can understand when he talks about, okay, he has the keys of death and of hell. When he died on the cross, he was able to open up the grave, so he’s in charge of that. He has authority over the grave. Well, he even went down the hill in the place of paradise, and he opened that up and lit captivity captain. He has the keys there, so, See the key speaks of authority, the power.

When I first came down here, you realize that I couldn’t get in any door? I couldn’t get in this church. You know what somebody had to do? Get me some keys. It’s hard to do something without keys. And so now when they gave me the keys, I can open the door all by myself. And I can come and go and I go into my office. I got a key. A key is important because it unlocks opportunities. If you realize that Jesus Christ is the one that opens doors and closes doors.

Now we live our Christian life, believing in the providence of God, that God behind the scenes is able to move and work his will. Don’t we believe that? I believe that. I believe that God has a plan and He’s working His plan and I believe He’s right on schedule. I don’t believe He’s behind schedule. I believe He has a purpose in what He’s doing and He can use the wickedness of man to accomplish His will. So when He talks about He has the keys of David.

Remember now David was the king. He was the king. As a king, do you know that they used to talk about the divine rights of kings? What does it mean by the divine right of kings? That a king could do pretty much whatever he wanted to do. He has the authority. He can say, you live or you die. You can have your stone. They can pardon you. The king is pretty powerful. Jesus Christ has the key. And when you talk about the key of David, you’re talking about the right of royalty.

He is not only deity. Whenever you hear those two phrases that are mentioned in the Word of God, the Son of Man, Son of God. Remember, you’ll talk about Jesus Christ, Son of Man, Son of God. If you talk about the Son of Man, that’s His humanity. Talk about the Son of God. That’s His deity. So as you study the scripture, you’ll see they talked about Jesus Christ, the Son of Man. Okay, that’s prudent. He is the Son of Man.

He’s humanity. He is the perfect man. Son of God, He is divinity. He is divine. He is the deity. He’s God. He is the perfect God man. That’s who he is. And he has the authority as the Son of Man, the setup on the throne of David. And it’s the right to rule. He has authority and he can open up doors and he can close doors. I am glad to know he’s not only the Creator heaven and the earth, He’s on the head of the church.

He is also the king of Israel. And I know him. He’s a buddy of mine. He’s a friend of mine. Do you believe that God, Jesus Christ, is able to open up doors that you can’t open? Have things happen that you can’t make happen? Have you ever got to the place where you have come to the end of yourself. You don’t like the guy that was in the hog pen when he came to himself. So how to come to himself?

Nobody gave to him. Nobody helped him. He said, boy, I just love the Eastom of the Cornhouse that the hog’s written. He said, and here I am. My father, my father has food to spare and the servants are eating better than me. He said, I know what I’m going to do. I’m going home and I’m going to tell my daddy. He said, I messed up. And his dad came and put a robe of righteousness upon him and gave him the ring and shoes on his feet.

He says, you’re my son. I just be a certified. You’re my son. God in heaven knows what you and I need. And he is opening doors and he is closing doors. Have you ever prayed for something and you didn’t get it? And down the road you find out before that was an answer to prayer, that you’re glad that that God didn’t answer all your prayers. I’ve lived long enough to appreciate the fact God doesn’t answer all my prayers. Because sometimes I don’t pray exactly what, because I’m limited in knowledge.

And when you’re limited in knowledge, you’re limited in the quality of your prayer. So you don’t know exactly sometimes how to pray. Have you ever had something to come up but you don’t know how to pray? You’re not sure. You don’t know why I should do this or should I do that? I’ve battled that for about six months before I came down here. But it seemed like God started closing the door and God opened up another door. And I’m still expecting God to open up some doors and he’ll probably close a few other doors.

So you can’t do anything. But here’s one thing, keep it in mind. If God closes a door, don’t you charge it with a crowbar and a sledgehammer. You’ll wish you had to force that door open. If God opened the door, let God open the door. You don’t have to ever do anything wrong, sneaky, conniving in order to try to make your opportunity. If you can’t get something by doing right, you don’t need it. I don’t get what it is.

If you can’t do it right and you can’t be honest to get what you believe God wants you to have, then you don’t need to do it. You always do right. It’s always right to do right. You don’t do wrong. God will never lead you to do wrong. If my God can’t open up a door for me and provide for me or do whatever he wants me, then it don’t need to be opened. I don’t need to go through it.

And I’ll forfeit it. And I’ll live long enough probably to realize, boy, God is so much smarter than I am. And sometimes at the moment it seems like, God, you got to come through. I need you now. Now, now, emergency, flash flash, red lights. And it says, you know, the throne of grace, the throne of grace. What in the world is the throne of grace? It’s a place where you can go to get all the help that you need in time, in the time of need.

See, God’s the one that knows the timing and when you really need it. And I believe the Lord will come through. Can you trust Him? Can you trust the Lord? I don’t know how I ever get through when I get carried away. I’m just talking about opening the door. anyway that’s okay it’s perfectly all right I did not decide before I started tonight I was gonna finish the third chapter anyway see how good that is they don’t matter but look in verse 8 I know by works behold I have set before the an open door now remember this in the book of 1st Corinthians in chapter 16 when it talks about Paul says I have an open door a door of opportunity an open door, he says, but there are many what?

Open door, but there are many adversaries. I don’t remember that. I just talked all that about a month ago or two months ago. You both remember all this stuff. But there’s adversaries. In other words, with every open door, there’s problems. There’s always problems. You’ve got problems in everything. And they don’t always run smooth. There’s always something that goes wrong. I don’t get what to do. He’s going to find out, running, work with those teenagers. Right now they probably just, oh, he’s just a wonderful guy.

We’re going to do everything he says. They’re just going to love him to death. All he has to do is say one thing and cross them and they’re going to hate his guts. And then it’ll turn on him. I never did like him to start with. And then he’s going to go home and cry. WAN. You know what somebody told me the other day? He says, you want some cheese with that.

I said, what? He says, you want some cheese with that. I said, cheese for what? He says, well, no, cheese and WAN and goes good together. You know who said that to me? My son-in-law’s sitting right there. I hit this golf ball that went in the woods and I’m just a wannin’. He says, you want some cheese with that. Now every time I hit the ball and he goes, especially if he’s close by, I’m going to bite my tongue.

Want some cheese with that? But now this church here, I believe, was not a mega church. Now the church in Jerusalem when it first starts, it was probably what you would consider a mega church. I mean a huge church. There were lots of people trusting Christ the Savior and been joining all the time. But look what he says in the last part. He says, for thou hath a little strength and has kept my word and hath not denied my name.

When he talks about a little strength, I don’t think he’s talking about the individuals. I believe individually they were strong because he says, you have my word, you kept my word, you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, but they were fewer in number. You see, the strength of a church is not how many people you have. It’s the strength of the individuals that you have. You see, we could have 200 people in this church on a Sunday morning.

That doesn’t mean we’re a strong church. We will probably be as strong as the people that usually come on a Sunday night or Wednesday night and so on. The workers in the church, that’s your backbone of your church that makes it happen. A lot of people will not accept the responsibility, but I’m thankful for every person that darkens the doors. I don’t know whether you get involved. You don’t do anything. I just, I just like see a warm body that I can talk to and maybe influence them for the Lord, you know.

But he says, you’re a little strength, that you’re not mighty in number. There’s a few of you, but you’re still, they’re getting praise from the Lord. Do you think there’s a God in heaven that looks down and knows how strong you are spiritually? He knows whether you’re weak, he knows whether you’re strong. And he says that he’s going to either bless or chaste in because God knows our works. He knows our attitudes why we do what we do. He knows what we say.

You want to know what the Lord really knows how you think? Look at the next church, but we haven’t got there yet, but we’ll look at it in just a minute. But look in verse 9. He says, Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. very quickly, take your Bible, look in the book of Romans in chapter 2. Hold your place right there, but Romans in chapter 2, and you’ll have a little bit of an idea of probably what he’s talking about here, because there’s some people who think they’re Christians because they go to church, and there were probably some that thought they were Jews of God’s chosen people because they went to the synagogue and that they were saved and going to go to heaven.

No, no more than that. See there in chapter 2, look there in verse 28, for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart. In other words those that accounted for the seed are those not just because you are of Jewish flesh, but because they had trusted Christ as their Savior, they were circumcise in heart, not in the flesh.

That doesn’t save anybody. This says you don’t put no confidence in the flesh. So, but these are people that had trusted Christ as their Savior and yes they were of the nation of Israel. Not look over there in the book of Romans in chapter 9 and verse 8. Romans chapter 9 and verse 8. Now you know chapter 9, 10 and 11 deals with the nation of Israel. Chapter 9 deals with the past of Israel. Chapter 10 with the present of Israel.

Chapter 11 deals with the future of Israel. But in chapter 9, look at verse 8. As he’s talking down through here about in verse like in verse 4, who are Israelites? Well, who are they? Does anybody? Oh, look what he says down in verse 7, neither because they are the seed of Abraham or they all children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be called, which is faith. And verse 8, that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God.

And see the Jews were taken upon this, well, were the children of God? Were God’s children? You’re not God’s child unless you’re born into his family, unless you believe on Jesus Christ. So not everybody is a believer just because of a well, I got Jewish flesh No, have you accepted Jesus Christ as you’re saying so he says that there is the devil and he has a synagogue Remember this the devil has his preachers There devil and he has preaching I have a sermon that they’re working on getting ready for the radio broadcast called the damn the bow doctrine of the devil Well, that would be a good one.

The damnable doctrine of the devil. Does the devil have doctrine? Does he have preachers? Yes, he does. Does the devil have churches? Yes, they do. And there’s a lot of churches that are run by the devil. I’m serious. And can a Christian do the devil’s work? Just like when guy says, I know the Lord’s here tonight. How do you know the Lord’s heaven? I brought him one verse there. I know the devil’s here tonight. How do you know? You brought him.

Well, yeah. Go back to Revelation chapter three. So he says, I’m going to teach a lesson and how that was done at that time in that church. It doesn’t say all these things about it. But the church there at this time would know and understand more because it was to them. It’s in his context and dealing with that church. Look at verse 10, Because that has kept the word of my patience. When you’re talking about keeping the word of my patient, it means that when trials and tribulations and all those things come, you waited and trusted in the Lord.

That’s been patient. When you know the Lord and his word and you can be patient, that means you don’t take matters into your hand. That means you don’t let anger or run rampant over you. You don’t let yourself get so mad at angry you say and do things you shouldn’t say and do then As he makes a statement here. I also will keep the in the hour of temptation now. There’s two things about this verse One is he talking about the tribulation period that’s coming upon the earth and because of your obedience I’m gonna save you from going into the tribulation period Well, if that’s the case then that would make your obedience, the reason why you didn’t go into the tribulation.

Okay, but what about Christians that are not going to be in? They keep going to the tribulation. I can’t buy that. 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. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our home page. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftempa.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. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and everyday, believing that the Lord is coming soon. 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 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 through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family. Justification by faith, defend it. And the Gospel is justification by faith. You’re justified by faith and faith alone in what Christ has done for you. It’s not like justification by faith is one way you can be saved. It is the only way you can be saved. And that a man is justified by faith without works.

Now, here in Romans in chapter 4, I want you to look there in verse 1. And verse 1 says, What shall we say then that Abraham, our Father, as pertaining to the flesh hath found? Now it’s not so much like Abraham went on looking and he found something. How many of us have made this statement? I was lost and then I found the Lord. Like God was lost and I found him. No, God wasn’t lost. I was lost and he found me.

It wasn’t Abraham out there trying to find a way to be justified. Now the Bible tells us that Job did ask the question, how shall a man be justified with God? But you can’t find the way unless God reveals it to you. And so that’s the purpose of us sharing the gospel with individuals so that they can hear the gospel and believe. So they can be justified just as if they’ve never done a thing wrong in their whole life.

So God says, that justification is by faith. Now look there in your notes, where I have number one, justification was not by works before the law. When did Abraham live? Before the law. How much before the law? 430 years before the law was ever given. So there’s no way that Abraham could have been saved by the law. And yet if he’s the father of the nation of Israel, he’s the one that’s always referred to in the word of God, the great faith of Abraham, then it can’t be referring to Abraham had to keep the law to be saved or do good deeds to be saved because the law wasn’t even given for 430 years later until it was given to Moses on Mount Sinai.

Abraham found another way for a man in the flesh to be justified. Now how can a man in the flesh become justified? Well because God reveals something to him. God spoke to Abraham back in the book of Genesis chapter 15 and the Lord tells him things that he would not have known and made promises to Abraham. And the Bible says Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for faith or for righteousness. So God gave him his righteousness because Abraham believed God, and by believing alone a man can be justified.

So God made a promise to Father Abraham, saying, and these shall all families of the earth be blessed or received what you received, salvation, his righteousness by faith and faith alone. So the Bible says in Galatians chapter 3 verse 8 that the gospel was preached in the Old testament times to Abraham when he says that the heathen shall be justified by faith. So God made a promise and that promise is to be kept. Look there at letter A in your notes.

If Abraham was justified by work, if he was justified by his works because we have people today that say you’re justified by your works. You say, how do you know there’s teaching that you’re justified by your worst? Any preacher who teaches you can lose your salvation because you did something bad, believes in justification by works. Any preacher who believes you can lose your salvation does not believe in salvation by grace. Because if God can save you by grace, He can keep you saved by grace if you really believe it’s by grace.

In letter A, if Abraham was justified by works, number one, he has reasons to glory in himself. And God would be in debt to Abraham to reward him for all of his works. Look there in verse two, for if Abraham were justified by works, if he was, he half-wear of the glory. That means he could brag, but not before God. He could brag before other people, but not before God. You ever heard of a verse that says, for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves?

It is the gift of God and not of works, lest any man should what? Most? So God says that if Abraham was justified by his works, he could brag, but he couldn’t brag before God because Bible tells us that no man shall glory in his presence. God wants all the praise, the honor, and the glory for saving a man. And that’s why he made salvation free. Said it would be by grace. If it was by works, you could take credit for it.

And it’s not by your works. Let her be. If Abraham was justified by faith alone, he has reasons to glory in God alone. His faith was counted for righteousness. And what does the Bible say? Look in verse three. For what, sayeth the scripture? That’s the Old Testament. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. So Abraham simply by faith alone received the righteousness of God. So God gives his righteousness to a person by believing, not by works.

It means not by you going to church, not by you living a good life, not by the money you give. You are not justified, cleared of your sins because you tried to do some good deeds that would outweigh the bad deeds. It won’t work that way. Salvation is a gift of God. Let us see what Abraham found. What did he find? That works, rewards, and debt go together, and that belief, grace, and God’s righteousness go together. So how do you know?

Well, look what he says in verse 4. Now to him that worketh is a reward, not reckon of grace, but of debt. So those things go together. If you work for it, if you work for it, then it would be a reward given to you because God would be in debt to you. That’s not justification by faith. That’s be justified by works because you work for it, you earn it, you deserve it. And God says that’s not the way it’s going to be.

Look there in the book of Romans in chapter 3 and verse 28. Romans 3, 28. A lot of these things no doubt will be repetitious because these things are mentioned over and over and over again in the Bible. And verse 28 says therefore we conclude that a man is justified by what? Faith without the deeds of the law. In other words without you earning it without the deeds of the law you can be justified by faith. Look at number two in your notes and go back to Romans chapter 4.

Number 2, justification was not by works under the law. It wasn’t by works before the law was ever given. And what about King David? He lived under the law. He lived after Moses. He lived a thousand years before Christ. So he lived right under the law, though not dispensation of law. What did he, did those who live under the law, did they have to keep the law to be saved? No, nobody has ever been saved any other way than by faith and faith alone.

It’s always been by grace. Nobody has ever earned their salvation. So don’t you try to waste your time trying to earn something that’s free, because you won’t be able to get it then. If you look there in your notes, number two, justification was not by worse under the law. Letter A, justification clears you from what you have done, sins. close you in what Christ has done His righteousness. And David’s three greatest blessings. This is the essence of grace. But first of all, look there in verse 5 in your Bible.

Verse 5. Notice what he says, but to him that worketh not but believe it. So believing is not a word. Believe it is not considered a work of man or a work of the flesh. Work is work, but believing is not worth. believing something means you believe in that what Christ did on the cross was for you and you’re accepting his work. But believe it on him that justify it the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. One of the main points in this is you need to understand is that God can justify the ungodly.

So when you read chapter one, chapter two, you hear about all these ungodly people, these wicked people, they do a lot of bad things. And yet right before it starts off with that I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believed unto the Jew first and also to the degree Jew and Gentile. Then it tells you how bad the Gentiles are in chapter one. And mentions all these bad things that they did.

Then in chapter two it talks about the Jews In the last part of chapter two and the first part of chapter three, and how bad they were and the advantage that they had, but all have sinned. No difference. All comes short of God’s perfection. And yet God still loves them and says that the ungodly can be justified. That means to be made pure and holy, declared righteous, not by their works, but by faith in faith alone just by believing.

How many times I’ve heard people say, that’s too easy. That is just too easy. Well, I’ve asked a patient for this. I says, what is that? It says, that’s a pen. I said, that was too easy. Believe hard. How do you believe hard? If I told you this was a piano, a baby grand, would you believe that? That would be hard to believe. But why should it be hard for a person to believe that God made salvation free because He loves everybody and anybody, whoever they may be, can trust Christ a Savior and have eternal life?

That’s why it says, going to all the world and priests, the gospel to every preacher. Wouldn’t it be neat if all preachers preach the same message? all preaches, all over the world, preach exactly the same message then people all over the world would know what they had to do. But we have all kinds of preachers preaching all kinds of things and they don’t all say the same thing. Things that are different are not the same. And so they add things to the message.

And when you add one work to the Gospel of Grace, then the Gospel of Grace is no longer the Gospel of Grace. To be a gospel of grace, it has to be free, totally free, or it’s not the gospel. It has to be forever or it’s not the gospel. So if it’s missing any one of those components, it’s not the gospel that people are preaching. It has to be free. It has to last forever. Best news in all the world.

I want you to look there at letter A. Justification clears you from what you have done. the things you’ve done, the sins that you have done in your life. Now look in verse 5 again, but do him that work if not, but believe it on him that justify at the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. In other words, faith is counted or adds up to the same thing. In other words, where faith and righteousness becomes the same. Remember, here’s God, and here we are, We have come short of God’s perfection, everybody.

So the Bible says to be justified means to be made equal with God. Declared righteous where God sees nothing wrong in us. God sees no sin in us. It’s just like we are as righteous and we are as perfect as God himself to be made equal with God the Father. We can’t do that by our works, but if He gave us His righteousness that would make us as righteous as God. That’s been justified. To be declared righteous, as righteous as who?

As righteous as God. Because we’re not comparing ourselves with each other. It is between us and God. His faith is counted for righteousness. In other words, God’s righteousness is imputed to you. Means put to your account. Verse 6, look at verse 6. Even as David, now this was under the law, even as David also described the blessedness of the man unto whom God, and you ought to underline this in your Bible. are awesome words, these four words, imputed righteousness without works.

In other words, God, save in a man, give it a man, His righteousness, justifying you without your works. It means you don’t have to change your life. You don’t have to change the way you live. That blows most people’s minds. That blows most preacher’s minds. That you can be justified, cleared, and don’t have to change your lifestyle. Don’t have to change one eye or don’t have to stop one sin. Don’t have to commit one thing to God. Don’t have to promise that you’re going to live differently.

And yet that seems contrary to everything that we think and feel. See if a man was to design salvation, a man would say, you’ve got to do this and stop this. And if you don’t, you go to hell. God says, nobody deserves it and I’m making it free, totally free. If you have to change your life in order to get it or keep it, it’s not free. It wouldn’t be free. Maybe it’s not easy to believe in them. Maybe that’s very difficult for people to understand.

Because I’ve had so many people say, well, you just given people a license to send, so they can go out here and just live like the devil. I says, don’t you anyway? Most people sitting in this room right now live the way you want to live. The people I hear in the world, how are they living? The way they want to. They do whatever they want to do. You know why some people ain’t in church today? Because they don’t want to go.

You know why some people won’t be in church tonight and maybe some of you? Because you don’t want to come. You know why you won’t be here on Wednesday? Because you don’t want to. You already do most of whatever you want to do. What would you do if nobody ever found out about it? What would you do if there was no restraints? See, sometimes the knowledge of the Word of God is the restraints that we need upon our life.

And that’s why I’ve said, love the Lord with all your heart, and then you can live like you please. But love in first. Here in verse 6, where it says, God will impute righteousness without works. That’s getting something that you don’t deserve. That’s grace. If you’ll notice there in your notes, let her be. Justification close you in what Christ has done. That’s righteousness. David’s three greatest blessings. This is the essence of grace. Number one, righteousness imputed, put to your account without works.

That’s grace. Number two, iniquities, which are sins are forgiven because they are covered A in the Old Testament by the blood of animals, which was only a type, but it never washed their sins away. And God was not satisfied with the butter bowls and of goats. And that’s why the payment Christ made, God was satisfied with. That’s why he says in the book of Romans in chapter three, he was the propitiation for our sins. That means he was the satisfaction.

God was satisfied with the payment that Jesus Christ made for all the sins of all the world. And God is satisfied that if you trust Him as your Savior, God is satisfied in justifying you so that He can be just and the justifier of those who seek justification from Him. Hope that’s clear. Number three, number three is also awesome. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not imputes in. Blessed is the man to whom God will not impute sin.

Well, if that’s true, You mean if I do something wrong, God doesn’t put that sin to my account? You see, the one is past where He’s paid for my sins. He gives me His righteousness and then He says that one sins that I commit tomorrow, the next day and in the future will not be put to my account. Now, tell me if I don’t give you a license to sin, nothing will. And yet I believe all of this. And guess what?

I want to live as righteous, as godly, as holy as I possibly can. So believing this is not the problem. This truth, understanding that’s not a problem. If there’s some things that a person doesn’t understand, that there are consequences to sin and other areas, and it’s not hell. I have enjoyed life. I enjoy living. I enjoy the blessings of God now. And I’m looking forward to rewards when I get to heaven. I don’t want God to have to beat me to death.

Take me home before my time. I don’t got to have to chasten me. I’ve watched a lot of other Christians who rebelled against the Lord and I’ve watched God tear him up. I don’t want to have to find out the hard way. I’m just going to take God at His Word and believe Him and go ahead and serve Him. But I serve Him because I want to, not because I have to. Nobody can make me. , Looked in verse 8 again, blessed or happy is the man to whom the Lord will not imputes in.

Now this statement that is made here, these blessings, that’s where the Bible says that those who believe by faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. the word the blessing that came upon Abraham because he believed also came upon David because he believed and the Lord says if we believe those same blessings will come upon us in other words God will forgive you of everything you have ever done give you his righteousness and in the future not impute your sins to you So why not?

Well let me just kind of give it to you in little capsule here. When Christ died on that cross picture Him on the cross. Christ on the cross was in your place. That should have been you paying for your sins, correct? Yes. But He did it for you. So when Christ died on the cross, you died. And if you died, you were buried and you came back from the dead because you were in Christ and he did it for you.

So this whole thing, death, burial and resurrection was put to your account as though you did that. That means that when you trusted Christ as your Savior, you died. You died. Well, the law cannot touch a dead man. You’re dead to the law. The law can’t touch you. the law cannot contribute a sin to a dead man because I really didn’t die. I am to reckon it to be true because it is true because it was put to my account as though I did it.

When we get to chapter 6 and the identification truths it’ll blow your mind how awesome this is when you really understand it. The The reason that my sins in the future are not put to my account is because they’ve already been put to his account. And you can’t place the sins and charge a person twice for the same sin. You see, Christ doesn’t have to die twice. He died once and for all, for all the sins, past, present, future at one time.

So when you accept that payment, you have a payment for past, present, future sins. There is no sin that can be put to your account. Blessed and happy ought that man to be. Does he deserve all of this? No. These are positional truths. These are foundational truths. Things that doesn’t change. Now there’s other truths in the Word of God that refer to our state in which we’re in, but there’s some things that don’t change and that’s your standing that you have in Christ.

Now look at number three, justification was not by ordinances. Now today we have two main ordinances of the church, the Lord’s Supper and baptism. Neither one of those ordinances that we have save a person. Nobody has to do those in order to be saved. We do require a person to be baptized in order to be a member of this local body of believers. We believe it’s a sign of your obedience to God that you believe that he died on that cross-paid for your sins and rose again and you believe that and you want to walk in newness of life.

So there’s no problem there. We have the Lord’s Supper, but it’s for those who trust the Christ as their Savior. It’s not to save you. It doesn’t help you to be saved. It’s just an ordinance that what we do in remembrance of what Christ did for us as we look forward to His coming again. Well God gave an ordinance to the nation of Israel. When Abraham believed what God said, God justified him, declared him righteous. This is almost 500 years before the law was given, 430.

And verse 9, come with this blessedness that we just mentioned those three blessings. Upon the circumcision or the Jews only, circumcision refers to Jews. Uncircumcision refers to Gentiles or the Gentile nations. Or upon the uncircumcision also, for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. Abraham was made righteous by faith. Well, where does this circumcision come in? Because there were some people saying, you’ve got to be circumcised in order to be saved. Being circumcised is the cutting away of a little flesh.

The Bible says that Abraham, as a grown man, was circumcised as a seal of the righteousness he already had. In other words, by faith alone, he was severed from the flesh birth and given a new birth. And that was a type of it, a symbol of it. It doesn’t save, but it is a cutting away of the flesh, a separation. When you and I trusted Christ as our Savior, we were severed from our first birth and given a new birth.

God sees you a totally a circumcised individual, spiritually speaking. Down here in this verse, looking verse 11, that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed under them also. So God says, whether you’re Jew or Gentile, been circumcised, haven’t been. Everybody can be justified by faith. God will take and put his righteousness to your account. Remember this, the righteousness of God not put to your account until you believe on Him.

That means the very day, the moment you trusted Christ as your Savior, this righteousness is imputed to your account. It’s not done if you haven’t believed. Look there in verse 24. But for us also to whom it shall be imputed put to your account If we do what? If we believe. And God says, He puts that payment that He made to your account. He gives you His righteousness and you go to heaven on what He did for you. Letting this hand represent you and me and this wallet represents sin.

We all have sin on us. God loves us, but He hates our sin. We committed the sin we ought to pay for it, and the payment is death. Inhale, the wages of sin being death. So God said, He loves us and wants us to have eternal life and go to heaven. They go to heaven. We have to be perfect and no one’s perfect. God gave the law to convinces. So anybody who looks at the right to stand out of God knows their sinners and cannot save themselves.

So we need a Savior. This hand represents Jesus Christ. God in the flesh, He came into the world because He loves us. Hates our sin because our sin separates us from the Lord. Christ took the sin. Faithful on the cross came back from the dead. Said if we’ll believe that He did it for us by faith alone. Believing that what He did was for us, I believe He did it for me. God would save me by grace. I didn’t deserve it.

I didn’t do anything to deserve it and never will. But he loves me. He gave it to me as a gift. I go to heaven or what he did for me. There is no other way. You don’t promise God anything. All you do is receive it. He that believe it on behalf of our lasting 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.

If 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. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org. and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our home page. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.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. 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 radiolity 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% of our lives. for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you’ll 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.

Now the will of the Father we find in John chapter 6 when they ask the question, What works must we do to do the work of God? He says, believe on Him whom He hath sent. So they were to believe on the one that the Father hath sent. They were to accept Christ as their Messiah. But they had rejected Christ as their Savior. Now, they were doing all these wonderful works because look what he says there in verse 22.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. So what were they using to verify that they had the right to enter into the kingdom of heaven? Their works. You see, it didn’t say they were trusting Christ, and they say, these were those that were saved, but then they lost it. No. They said, I never knew you.

You weren’t saved and then you got lost and then you get saved again. Now there’s no such thing in the scriptures. They had never trusted the Lord. He never knew them. And then he makes the statement there in verse 23. And then, well, I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me ye that work iniquity. Now, what was this work of iniquity prophesying in his name, casting out devils and doing many wonderful works. You see, when you trust in your works, regardless of what those works may be, is an abomination to God.

He says, all wheat like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord have flayed upon him the iniquity of us all. And it makes the statement that all our righteousness are as filthy rags, Isaiah 64, 6. So things haven’t changed. word still says the same thing means the same thing. And he says, you do the work of iniquity. So they were not trusting in the Lord. So they were not ready. This is why we do everything we possibly can to present the gospel to somebody.

Why? Because everybody’s going to die one of these days. And when you die, are you going to heaven? If you’re not going to heaven when you die, you’re not ready to die. Do you know when you’re going to die? So then you’re not ready to die. You see, I have accepted Christ as my savior. I have eternal life. I’m going to heaven. So therefore I’m ready to die. And it doesn’t matter when I die, I’m ready. If it’s today or if it’s tomorrow, I’m ready.

I’m as ready as ready can be. And I’m looking for the Lord to come back. But I know there’s a lot of people who are not ready to die, but they’re dying. They’re dying all the time. Are you ready? But everybody is going to die. Are you ready? Are you prepared to meet God? Life is getting ready. When Christ says, I’m coming back, be ye ready. Be you ready? Be ready to meet the Lord. Now go back there to the book of Matthew and chapter 25.

Matthew chapter 25, the story here with the 10 virgins. They were virgins, all of them. The thing is, when the wedding came, they were not already. Some were ready, some were not. That’s the point of the whole story. It’s better not to try to make everything mean something because we don’t have the proof that the meaning, their interpretation, would be right. But the point there in verse 10 They that were ready they that were ready and That’s the point When you follow it into chapter from chapter 25 be ye ready now in the story of the 10 virgins Has more to deal with what they think What they believe?

They were not ready and when you study about the Olivet discord in verse 14 And look at verse 14 for the kingdom of heaven is as a man Traveling into a far country who called his own servant now. This is going to be talked about what they do What they do and see it’s important for a man to be ready Because of what he believes and it’s important for a man to be ready because of what he’s doing those two things.

These are two stories to illustrate two different points. One, what do you believe? Two, what are you doing? And knowing that there’s consequences to our belief and to what we do. You can’t just do whatever you want to do, believe anything you want to believe without consequences. Now, should what we believe affect what we do. Now you and I as a child of God, do you really believe Jesus could come back at any moment? Now do you prove it by the way you live?

Do you prove it by your attitude? Do you prove it by your faithfulness to God, your actions, the way you talk, the way you walk? Is your life verification of what you You internally believe. So you have the story here about the virgins and about how you think. You see, look there in verse 44 of chapter 24. And it says, therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think. Not. So it deals with how you think.

Now, when you go down there to verse 14, for the kingdom of heaven is as a man. Now it’s going to talk about the things that you do, but look there in verse 46 of chapter 24. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he come at shall find so doing. One deals with the way you think and one deals with the things you do. So now we have a parable that deals with the subject of what you’re doing.

Did you know that God has given to every man in this world different levels of understanding of talents and abilities God knows what he’s doing? God knows the potential in every individual. God knows what you know. God knows what you could know. God knows what you could have done if you availed yourself. God knows what would have happened had you obeyed him. knows what is happening because you did not obey Him. So with every one of us in this room, God has given to different individuals, different talents and abilities, different amounts of wealth at different times.

Did you know that there’s a God in heaven that can allow you to become rich and poor? Did you know that it was God that caused Job to become rich? And And it was God that allowed Job to become poor. It was God that allowed him to have good health and bad health. God gave him children and God took his children. Now we say we believe the Bible. Don’t you understand that God in heaven is working in our individual lives now because Because He wants one thing from you and I to maintain our integrity, our trust in the Lord.

Do you love Him? And how do you know you really love Him more than anything else in the world? And sometimes that is by God giving you the world to see if you love Him more than the world and then to take it away from you to see if you love him still. Or more. Because it’s so easy to say, well, I love the Lord when everything is going great. And He’s really laying on you. And then just that quick, He can take your finances away, your health away.

Everything can fall apart and start crumbling. Just like that. Is God still worthy of your love and your devotion and your faithfulness? What happens to you in life is not important. It’s how you’re ready. respond that is important. Doesn’t matter what comes and what goes, it’s how do you respond to it? Because God says that He gives to each and every individual certain talents and He requires something from us. And as you go through this, you’ll find out, look there in verse 15, under one He gave five talents to another two, to another one, to every man, according to his several ability or his individual ability, straight way took his journey.

Like he gave you something and then he left. Verse 16, then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made him five more. In other words, he invested it and made some money off of it. Oh, that’s great. And then he says in verse 17, likewise he that had received two, he gained two more. Verse 18, but he that had received One went and dig in the earth and hid his Lord’s money. He was afraid of failure.

You ever seen somebody that God has blessed with talent and ability? And they’re afraid to use it for the Lord. So they hide it. In other words, not a blessing to anybody. I know people, they got tremendous talent, but they will not use it for the Lord because they’re afraid of what somebody may say of, I don’t understand it. I cannot figure this out. I thought, man, if I had a voice like, I sing all the time. But some people are just afraid.

They’re scared. Do you know what courage is? Courage is fear that says it’s prayers and goes ahead. Without an element of fear, there is no courage. Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s in the presence of fear. But some people are afraid to be used by God. Well, I don’t want to be involved. I don’t want to be involved. I don’t want to be a failure. They become a little hurt and hide themselves. there’s a verse of scripture for you.

There’s somebody who God had blessed and they went and headed in the dirt because they were afraid they might lose that. But whatever the reason is, God did not accept it. But anyway, look verse 19, after a long time the Lord of those servants come and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought five more. Saying, Lord, God delivers unto me. Five, tell them, behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. Remember, whatever they were given, it wasn’t theirs.

Do you realize everything you have doesn’t belong to you? And what do you have that wasn’t given to you? It’s God that gave you life. God gave you the ability to think, the reason to relate, to record. God gave you that, To make money, God can give you that. And you know God can take that away from you too, just as easy as you got it, you can lose it. You can’t play games with God. Have you ever heard this phrase if you don’t use it, you can lose it?

Well, I used to be and I used to, and I used to, yeah, I know your degrades has been, that ever has been. But it’s not what you used to do, well, what are you doing now with what God’s given to you? Listen, if God has given you anything, You’re to use it for his honor and glory until you’re no longer here. To your dad. Do what you can with what you got where you are. And God will bless you.

But you’ll notice the word there in verse 21. Where says his Lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I’ll make thee ruler over many things. Enter. See that word enter. Enter. Look down in verse 23. His Lord said to him, well done thou good and faithful, servant thou spent faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter! But because we’re talking about entering something, Christ is coming back at the end of the tribulation period to the earth, power and great glory.

And He says you’re gonna enter into the kingdom upon the earth. And He wants you to be able to enter into the kingdom. Are you ready? Are you ready? And he’s talking to the people that’s going to be living during the tribulation period. Now you and I, we’re going to be taking out seven years before that. But you know a lot of the same thing that God tells them is going to hold true for you and I. Now I don’t know the day or the hour.

I really don’t care. But I know he’s coming. I believe he’s coming. And that’s why I want to serve the Lord as diligently as I possibly know how. And I want to try to do things as right as I know them according to this book because I know the day will come I’ll have to stand before God and give a count of everything that I’ve ever spoken in this pulpit Everything that I’ve been preaching all these years I got a given account of And so whenever I do I want to be very careful that did I teach what the book really says That’s why I want you to look at the book to verify Not just to believe blindly don’t follow the preacher blindly Although I would be blind leading the blind, I want you to believe it because the book says it and you believe a certain truth because you saw it for yourself.

I try to explain a little bit, but I’m not God. I’m not the Apostle Paul. I can’t explain everything as clearly as I’d like to or how even how sometimes I understand my mind delivering it is a difficult thing. So here in the book of Matthew talks about entering and entering. somebody didn’t get the answer because they didn’t believe what is said. Now in the last part down there and says in verse 25 he said I was afraid I was afraid.

Who was afraid? Well the one that only got one. He was afraid he’s gonna lose that so he was afraid. And see some people God really blessed and there’s some people God won’t. But you see there’s things that because of what you believe their thing because of what you do. And God is going to hold us accountable for both. Did you know you’re responsible for what you believe? Otherwise, why hold you accountable to no truth? Study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needs not to be ashamed, but rightly dividing the word of truth.

Sanctify them through thy word thy word is truth, were to know the truth. But he says here in verse 25, and I was afraid, what was afraid of? I lose it. in verse 26, and his Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant. Now, this is a story not about God, it’s not even Jesus Christ. It’s a story about a man that had hired servants. It’s about a man upon the earth that has, you know, these people working for him and he gave them different ones and he’s coming back.

Now, he uses that story of what really happens down here and how he’s gonna use them or bless them. and relate it to a real thing that’s coming in the future. See, I know and I believe that if I serve a Lord, it could affect greatly how I get to serve a Lord during the thousand year reign. I not only want to be here, I want to rule and reign with Christ. And he says, if we suffer with him, we shall reign with him.

Now you may know Christ is your Savior, You’re an heir of God, but a joint heir with Christ means you suffered with Him and for Him in this life since you’ve been saved till the day we get to go home. So all the things that happens to us in life are opportunities for us. Because God says, I want to be able to say, well done, thou good and faithful, serve an end to thou unto the joy of the Lord.

And what oh God has for I don’t understand it all. I don’t know all the decisions. I don’t know. I don’t care. to be good. Whatever it is, it’s going to be worth it. Our faithfulness to God is going to be worth it. Did you know what God said about the person that had been given a talent and didn’t use it? Did nothing with it. Nobody profited from it. He says he was a wicked, wicked slothful servant. In verse 27 he says, in Yorandalani, thou newest.

You knew what kind of a man I was talking about this man in the servant. He says in verse 27, thou, artist, therefore to have put my money to the exchangers. Then at my coming I should have received my own with interest. You could have at least invested put it in the bank. Then when I come back, I could at least got some interest off the money, but you didn’t do anything with my money. You see, there is a God in heaven that has invested in every one of us.

We are His inheritance. God has made an investment in my life. That’s why Paul says, I don’t want to labor in vain because I don’t want God to have bestowed upon me His grace in vain. I want to serve the Lord. I want God to get something from my life. You see, whenever you buy a piece of ground and you want a planet, you want to get something from it. Well God has invested a lot of time in you.

He not only have purchased you at great price, but now He wants to use you. And He invests a lot of time and effort into you and leading you and guiding you and protecting you and giving you time and giving you a mind and giving you the Word of God and giving you the Holy Spirit to englowing them and then Him not to get anything from your life. I believe I don’t owe God anything for my salvation, but from all the things that He’s done for me since I’ve been saved is enough that I should invest whatever I am, whatever I have for His cause.

A reason for living, a purpose, and many people don’t have that. They have nothing to live for. You see, it’s not just that you get up in the morning, you go to work and you come home, you pay your bills, you go to sleep, you get it and day in and day in. But if you’re doing it for the Lord, and you’re serving God on your job, and you’re serving God at home, and you’re trying to be the right kind of an employer or employee or whatever, and you’re trying to be the right kind of a mother or a father or a son or daughter.

You’re doing it because of your love for the Lord. God says, you serve the Lord Christ. You do serve Him. So now look at this, I want you to see that. Down here in verse 30, there’s an interesting verse. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outward darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now many people try to figure out what this is talking about. I’m one of them. But I want you to take your Bible and just hold your place right here, but look there in Matthew chapter 13.

Matthew chapter 13. You need to see this. It might give you just a little bit of light, but Matthew chapter 13 and in verse 50. Let’s just start there. First of all, look there in verse 47. When you see the phrase kingdom of heaven, I believe it refers mainly to the kingdom of the king, up on the earth, the thousand year reign. He’s talking about how you get into it, how you stay there, all these things, and how you’re going to rule.

But he says here in verse 47, again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, which cast unto the sea and gathered of every kind, which when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into the vessels, but cast the bat away. So shall it be at the end of the world, the angel shall come forth and sever the wicked from the just separation. Shall cast them into the furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

the nation of teeth in New Wayland refers to those that are cast into the fire. That’s what I see there. So he’s talking about the same period of time and what’s going to take place. Look also in Luke 13. Luke 13, let’s start there in verse 24 because this is similar to chapter 7 of the book of Matthew. He says, strive to enter in at the straight gate. For many I say unto you, we’ll seek to enter in shall not be able.

When once the master of the house is risen up and have shut the door, and you begin to stand without and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us, and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not when you are. Then shall ye begin to say, we have eaten and drunk and thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets, verse 27. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not when you are.

Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity.” Now doesn’t that sound similar to what we read in Matthew chapter seven? Now look what he says in verse 28, “‘There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “‘When ye shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, “‘and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves are thrust out. So we’re talking about that period of time when Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are going to be here and you’ll sit but you won’t be able to come in and you’re going to be cast out.

You see there’s going to be a judgment of nations in Matthew chapter 25 which is right after where we’re reading right now and that period of time is coming. And so when you put it all together it kind of helps to formulate it a little bit better. you can understand. I don’t know exactly when Christ is going to come back to the earth in power and great glory. But I believe He’s coming. And all I know is people should be ready.

We go out seven years before. I don’t know when the rapture is going to take place. There’s clues, but to come out and definitely say that, I’d have to have a special revelation from God and I haven’t got it. And I don’t know if anybody’s going to get it, but I do know this. I want to be ready. Now, I believe right. I trust that Christ is my Savior and I’m going to heaven. I’m ready to go. As far as my life goes, I want to do right because I want to honor the Lord in what I say and what I do.

I want to deal with you right. I want to be a good pastor. I want to rebuke if I need to. I want to praise you whenever I can. No, only good people. But there’s teachings in the Word of God, I believe that God hasn’t seen fit to tell us everything yet. And so until then, I’m just going to sail with order sealed. And whenever he gets ready to reveal everything, then that’s fine with me. I’m just looking forward to the upper taker.

I may die. And if I die, I’m ready. If you were to die right now, are you ready? But if you have not trusted Christ as your Savior, you’re not sure of going to heaven when you die, then you’re not ready. So how can I get ready? So how can I get ready? Well, I’m going to show you. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. Now God says He loves us.

Now He hates our sin, but He loves us. And He says for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in a place called hell. And there will be nation of teeth, anguish of spirit. But God says He loves us and wants us to go to heaven. And to go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God. And none of us are perfect, none of us are righteous. We’ve all sinned, come short of God’s perfection.

And God says, no man can save himself. All of our good works, God says our works of iniquity. All of our works are as filthy rags. There is none good, no not one. So we cannot save ourselves. That’s why we do not tell people you have to go to church to go to heaven. Or you have to give money to go to heaven. You don’t tell people they have to promise to be good and stop being bad to go to heaven.

It’s not true. None of us will ever live good enough to go to heaven. That’s why Christ died. This hand represents Jesus Christ, 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 didn’t have to die. But because of love, He took our sins, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead. And God said, if you and I, if we would simply believe He did it for us.

That’s on the level anybody can have it. All they have to do is believe it. And if you’ll believe that He did it for you, He puts this payment to your account and you get to go to heaven on what Christ did. That’s grace. You don’t earn it, you don’t work for it, you don’t buy it. And God says, when I save you, I give you the free gift of eternal life. And He said, if you’ll believe it, you can know that you have eternal life.

So can you know you’re going to heaven? I know it. I’m ready. If you hear this morning, you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior. Then friend, you’re not ready. You’re not ready to die. You’re not ready to meet God. I’m not trying to scare anyone. I’m just trying to tell you what the book said. God’s the one that put all the warnings in there. He’s the one that says to watch where to look up one day He’s coming. But until then, would you trust Him?

You that know Christ is your Savior? Yes, you’re ready because you trust the Christ is Savior, but what about what you’re doing? I don’t want you to be ashamed before a man is coming. Do right. Serving, honoring. I always keep looking up. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bible line and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globity upper right corner of our home page. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryuptampa.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 through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. 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 Matthew, the book of Matthew, Chapter 24, Matthew chapter 24. A lot of interesting things in the book of Matthew, and especially chapter 24, because it talks about when Jesus Christ is going to come back again. And in view of some of the things that have been said lately, I think it’s important that Christians take another look at this. I am not going to tell you when he’s coming. I’m not going to do that.

But I do want to tell you what he said. I’ll just tell you what he said, and you can go from there. But in the book of Matthew chapter 24 and verse 32, Now learn a parable of the fig tree when his branch is yet tender, put a fourth leaves, you know that summer is nine. Now many take this as a reference to the nation of Israel, and it can be a reference to the nation of Israel. It could also mean that it’s a parable of the fig tree that you’ll know that summers near when it starts putting forth the leaves.

Just the possibility. It might just mean that. Nothing more. But he says in verse 33, so likewise, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near even at the doors, talking about when Christ is going to come back. But when He says, when ye shall see all these things. But one of the things that they will see is there in Matthew and chapter 15, when ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place.

Well, there has to be a temple and there has to be the antichrist standing in the holy place. So we know that Christ isn’t coming back to the earth until that. So it’s talking to the people that will see that, and that’s doing the tribulation period. Now we will have already been gone three and a half years before the Antichrist shows up in the temple and claimed himself that he is God and demands that people worship him as such.

We are living at some very interesting times in our history that there’s no doubt about it. But the last half of the tribulation period says in verse 21, For then shall be great tribulations such as was not seen upon the earth, and nor shall ever be.” So it’s the worst period of time the world has ever known, and that’s coming down the pipe. That has not yet happened. And so there’s a few things that would help us to understand that we don’t have to be sitting a day down when the crisis comes into the earth.

Now he comes for you and I seven years before that. That’s called the Rapture. And there are no signs given for the rapture, only that we are taken out before the tribulation period starts. So here in the book of Matthew and chapter 24, he says in verse 31, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. In other words, God’s word is forever settled in heaven. God has spoken, it will be the way God says it will be.

at that day and hour, no if no man, no nor the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” So the Bible says that the only one that knows will be the Father and he knows when it’s going to take place. Now this is talking about when he comes to the earth. We’re not talking about the rapture, talking about when he comes to the earth, in power and in great glory and every eye will see him. And he says there in verse 27, for as the lightning cometh out of the east, shineth even to the West, social also, the coming of the Son of Man beeth.

That’s how you’ll know when He comes back. Then we’ll appear the sign of the Son of Man. The Son of Man coming and powering great glory in every eye will see Him. That is the sign. So you don’t have to look for any others. That is the great sign of His coming. Now, there’s things that will happen up until then. But he refers to two events that most people had already heard about. One was the flood and one was Sodom and Gomorrah.

And as it was in the days of the flood, all of a sudden, boom, it happened. But they knew it was coming because they were told. Now, also concerning Sodom and Gomorrah, all of a sudden, boom, it happened. And it says they were in eating and drinking, living their lives, and all of a sudden it happened. Now when it comes to Christ coming back to the earth, there’s some thing that He had mentioned to us. Look there in verse 42.

Verse 42, watch therefore. In other words, what’s gone before is important to know because it’s teaching us to watch. So there’s some things that God’s going to say that I want you to watch for, because I want you to be ready. It is in the Bible and it is true that Christians are to be ready. So I believe that we ought to be ready. You don’t have to know when he’s coming, but you still ought to be ready. So he makes a statement here in verse 42, watch therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord death come.

But know this, that if the good men of the house had known. If he had known and what watched the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered or permitted or allowed his house to be broken up. If you did know, if you knew what time the thief was going to come, you’d be ready, right? But you’d never know when the thief’s going to come. Whenever he says Christ is coming back, but you don’t know exactly when he’s coming.

So it’s always important to always be ready. That’s why you and I are supposed to not say or do or be anywhere we wouldn’t want to be when the Lord comes. And we wouldn’t want to be saying something or doing something we wouldn’t want to be doing when the Lord comes. That’s why the Bible tells us in the book of 1 John chapter 3 that this hope of Christ’s coming is a purifying hope. That is the biggest motivating force in a Christian’s life to live a holy, godly life because you don’t know when he’s coming.

If I know he was coming on September the 1st, well then I might just live like a dog until the end of August. But because I don’t know exactly when he’s coming, then it behooves me to live godly every day, every moment of my life until he does come. Now, I want you to look there in verse 44. Therefore, well, why did he say this? Therefore, be ye also ready for in such an hour that you know of.

No, he says, as you think not the Son of man coming. So you don’t know when he’s going to come in. God didn’t tell us here when he was coming to come. He says, in an hour that you think not. Well, God doesn’t tell us all of the details. All that we know is for 2,000 years, and every generation they have been looking for the Lord to come back again. I believe Paul was looking for him in his day, but I’ve been looking for the Lord to come back for at least 50 years.

And guess what? I’m still looking for him to come back. I believe that Christ came back from the dead, ascended into heaven, and I believe he will come back. He’s definitely coming back and I don’t know when. So I want to be as diligent as I possibly can with the time that I do have and not sit back and be lazy and say, well, he’s going to come on this date and I’ll just wait until then. No, no, I don’t know what date is coming.

I don’t care what date is coming. I’m not to govern my life by that particular day. I don’t know and I don’t care and neither should you. Did you know you could get hung up on a particular time and so forth and forget to serve a Lord now with what you got? I don’t believe that I should allow my belief concerning the rapture to cause me to become unstable in my life, the way I’m not diligent to do the things that I should do, even as an American citizen.

Well, I don’t care what happens in this whole world. I’m just waiting for the rapture to get me out of here. Well, that’s good. But did you realize the Lord may not come for 100 years? And you’re still gonna have to live here. And you’re still gonna have kids and grandkids. And we should, like I always tell people, look, you pray like it all depends on God, and then you work like it all depends on you, and you get some things done.

I should not let, because I believe the rapture could take place at any moment, I’m not gonna do anything. That’s very unwise. I had a man tell me one time, I despise you people that believe in the rapture because you won’t get involved in preserving our country because you’re just going to let God take care of everything. And Christians sit on the sidelines and then we let the ungodly people get in place of office and then they take over our schools, they take over our counties, they take over our state, they take over our government.

And then they pass laws by which we got to live under because we were looking for Christ to come back And he didn’t come back and then we let our country go down the tube because of it. I Don’t believe that’s the will of God either. I Believe we ought to be diligent in everything that we do in everything that could pertains to our life Now those are just my humble thoughts. I’m just passing over those things Now he uses an illustration in verse 45, who then is a faithful and a wise servant whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household to give them meat and do season?

Now he’s going to use an illustration about a man that has some servants. You don’t try to take everything that’s in a little story and try to make it mean something, but you’re supposed to get the jest of the story. What’s the point? The point is I want you to be ready. I want you to be watched. I want you to be looking and most people don’t. So look what he says, who then is a faithful and a wise servant whom his Lord hath made rule over his household to give them meat and do season?

Verse 40, blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. In the Lord the servant doesn’t know when the master’s coming but whenever he comes he catches him busy. In verse 47, Verily I send you he won’t make him ruler over all of his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow servants and to eat in the drink with the drunken, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he look if not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of and shall cut him a sunday and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites that there shall be weeping and gnashing of tea.

Now, so there’s There’s a little story here, and it all boils down to one main thing. You don’t know when it’s coming. Keep looking because see, you keep looking is what made the difference in how they lived. How they lived was a result of looking for the master to come and being faithful. So you and I, as a child of God, it is the will of God that we be found faithful. the Lord. He says, occupy till I come.

That means to be found busy serving the Lord until he comes. That’s more important. It doesn’t matter when he comes because if you knew the exact day that he was going to come, don’t mean you’re going to live to that exact day. You could die today. True? So you serve the Lord with the time that you do have. Don’t worry about time that you don’t have. Just the time that you do have be found faithful in certain look. Now in Matthew chapter 25 we have a simple little illustration.

I’ve heard this thing caught a thousand ways I think. In every commentary I’ve ever read I don’t like them. And I’m not sure my view is totally correct. But I do believe there’s a point that I got right. You see it talks about 10 virgins. This was on the earth and believe it or not there must have been a time when there was at least 10 virgins. So we know it had to be before our time. But now here in Matthew in chapter 25 it says, in verse 1, then shall the kingdom of heaven.

Now the phrase kingdom of heaven is that period of time upon the earth. It’s when the king comes to the earth, sets up his kingdom. So that’s why when we’re talking here about the second coming of Christ and these scriptures is talking about when Christ is revealed and power, great glory comes to the earth, sets up his kingdom upon the earth. Now not everybody is going to get to go into the kingdom. And he says that when he comes, the only ones who get to go into the kingdom are those that are ready, those that are looking for him to come back because they believe.

Now there’s other scriptures that I won’t have time to get into everything, but I will try to explain a couple of things. Look there in verse 1. shall the kingdom of heaven be liken unto ten versions which took their lamps, went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, five were foolish. This is a story, an illustration of biblical times that the people would understand. What’s the purpose of this? He says, I want you to be ready because you don’t know when I’m coming.

And the bridegroom would go after he had done proposed and they were going to get married and he was going to prepare a place and then he would come and They were to be ready. The bride was to be ready and they would hear the people Shouting they say he’s coming they see him coming or hear him coming And so they would hurry up and get ready so they go into the wedding They’re gonna go do the wedding. It’s a story, but it’s a story about being ready because the bridegroom’s coming.

Now, the purpose of the story of reality, of the way it really was and what they really did, he’s wants to relate it to something else. It’s like saying, you know the story. You know the way it happens. He says, and when I come, you don’t know when I’m coming. I want you to be looking. I want you to be watching. Because see, that’s what’s supposed to challenge and motivate us to be aware of what we’re doing with our lives.

Because he says, my brethren, don’t be ashamed before him at his coming. So I’ll bide in him, having this confidence. We don’t want to be ashamed before him at his coming. So when Christ comes for us, or is that when he comes the revelation. He’s coming. And you and I are supposed to be ready and serving the Lord. So he says this, he says in verse 2, and five of them were wives, five were foolish. Those that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them.

But the wives took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom carried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go you out to meet them. Then all those virgins arose, trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered saying, not so. Less there not be enough for us and you. But go you rather to them that sail and buy for yourselves, because this was being done at night.

It’s midnight. It’s dark, and some can’t see. And some had oil and some of them didn’t have oil. And so five were wise, five were foolish. Now, you can make this into a whole story about these are the say, these are the laws, but that’s not the point. The point is there are some that were ready. Now get this. And in verse 10, and while they went to buy the bridegroom came and they that were You ought to underline this.

They that were ready went in with him to the marriage. And the door was shut. Saying in verse 11 afterwards came also the other Virgin saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto thee, Arne, do you, I know you not. I don’t know you. They couldn’t come in. Now, if you really want to try to figure out What is he really talking about here? This had already been discussed once before about somebody standing at the door knocking.

Lord, Lord, have we not done all these wonderful works? And Jesus says, I know you not. Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, because these had made the statement, unless your righteousness shall exceed righteousness of the Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. You can’t get in. So that means that their righteousness wasn’t good enough. So they had to have a righteousness that would make them good enough. They weren’t ready. And the reason John the Baptist came on the scene was to get the people ready for the kingdom.

the king is coming, the king is coming and that was his message, but they rejected the king. But the king says, I’m coming back. And when I come, the only one gets into the kingdom are those that believe. Now, I want you to take your Bible, look here in chapter 7. Chapter 7, and look there in verse 21, verse 21. The statement is made here by Christ. He says, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Now we just read this over there Matthew chapter 25. Lord, Lord, open unto us, let us in. And get what he says, shall enter into the kingdom of him, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Now the will of the Father we find in John chapter 6 when they asked the question, what works must we do to do the work of God? He says, believe on Him whom He hath sent. So they were to believe…

On the one that the Father hath sent, they were to accept Christ as their Messiah. But they had rejected Christ as their Savior. Now, they were doing all these wonderful works because look what he says there in verse 22. Many will say to be in that day, Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in thy name, and thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. So what were they using to verify that they had the right to enter into the kingdom of heaven?

Their words. You see, it didn’t say they were trusting Christ, and they say, these were those that were saved, but then they lost it. No. He said, I never knew you. You weren’t saved, and then you got lost, and then you get saved again. No, there’s no such thing in in the Scriptures. They had never trusted the Lord. He never knew them. And then He makes the statement there in verse 23, and then, while I profess unto them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Now, what was this work of iniquity? Prophecy in His name, casting out devils and doing many wonderful works. You see, when you trust in your works, because of what what those works may be is an abomination to God. He says, all we like sheep have gone astray and the Lord have flayed upon him the iniquity of us all. And it makes the statement that all our righteousness are as filthy rags, Isaiah 64, 6.

So things haven’t changed. God’s word still says the same thing means the same thing. And he says, you do the work of iniquity. So they were not trusting in the Lord. So they were not ready. This is why we do everything we possibly can to present the gospel to somebody. Why? Because everybody’s going to die one of these days. And when you die, are you going to heaven? If you’re not going to heaven when you die, you’re not ready to die.

Do you know when you’re going to die? So then you’re not ready to die. You see, I have accepted Christ as my Savior. I have eternal life. I’m going to heaven, so therefore I’m ready to die. And it doesn’t matter when I die, I’m ready. If it’s today or if it’s tomorrow, I’m ready. I’m as ready as ready can be. And I’m looking for the Lord to come back. But I know there’s a lot of people who are not ready to die, but they’re dying.

They’re dying all the time. Are you ready? But everybody is going to die. Are you ready? Are you prepared to meet God? Life is getting ready. When Christ says, I’m coming back, be ye ready. Be ready. Be ready to meet the Lord. Now go back there to the book of Matthew and chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25, the story here with the 10 virgins, they were virgins, all of them. The thing is when the wedding came, they were not already.

Some were ready, some were not. That’s the point of the whole story. It’s better not to try to make everything mean something because we don’t have the proof that the meaning, their interpretation, would be right. But the point there in verse 10, they that were ready, they that were ready. And that’s the point when you follow it into chapter from chapter 25, be ye ready. Now, in the story of the 10 virgins, has more to deal with what they think, what they believe.

They were not ready. And when you study about the, all of it, this court in verse 14, looking verse 14, for the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servant. Now this is going to be talking about what they do, what they do. It’s important for a man to be ready because of what he believes, and it’s important for a man to be ready because of what he’s doing, those two things.

These are two stories to illustrate two different points. What do you believe? Two, what are you doing? And knowing that there’s consequences to our belief and to what we do. You can’t just do whatever you want to do, believe it anything you want to believe without consequences. Now, should what we believe affect what we do? Now you and I as a child of God, do you really believe Jesus could come back at any moment? Now, do you prove it by the way?

the way you live. Do you prove it by your attitude? Do you prove it by your faithfulness to God, your actions, the way you talk, the way you walk? Is your life verification of what you internally believe? So you have the story here about the virgins and about how you think. You see, look there in verse 44 of chapter 24 and it says, therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think not. So it deals with how you think.

Now when you go down there to verse 14 for the kingdom of heaven is as a man. Now it’s going to talk about the things that you do but look there in verse 46 of chapter 24. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he come it shall find so doing. One deals with the way you think and one deals with the things you do. So now we have a parable that deals with the subject of what you’re doing.

Did you know that God has given to every man in this world different levels of understanding of talents and abilities God has done. God knows what he’s doing. God knows the potential in every individual. God knows what you know. God knows what you could know. God knows what what you could have done if you availed yourself. God knows what would have happened had you obeyed him. God knows what is happening because you did not obey him. So with every one of us in this room, God has given to different individuals, different talents and abilities, different amounts of wealth at different times.

Did you know that there’s a God in heaven that can allow you to become rich and poor? Did you know that it was God that caused Job to become rich? And it was God that allowed Job to become poor. It was God that allowed him to have good health and bad health. God gave him children and God took his children. Now we say we believe the Bible. Don’t you understand that God in heaven is working in our individual lives now?

Because He wants one thing from you and I, to maintain our integrity, our trust in the Lord. Do you love Him? And how do you know you really love Him more than anything else in the world? 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. Our 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. If you wish to Here today’s program again, or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bible Live, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. to 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 declared… 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 through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you’ll 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.

Let me just tell you this. If I was the president of the United States, It wouldn’t matter what anybody thought. I would go by the thing of what’s right and what’s wrong. Whatever is right, it has to be according to the Constitution. Government-wise, if it ain’t right here, it ain’t right. Period. If it’s wrong, it’s wrong. If the Constitution don’t give you the right to do something, well then it’s wrong. You can do whatever this here says, the ruling part of it.

And the people that’s not listed in there, you’re a free man. You can do whatever as long as you don’t violate this. It’s just like God says, if you love one another, you can live like He plays. If you love one another. But what’s the problem? Sin abounds because the love of many has waxed. Cold. So when there’s no love sin abounds. Why is sin about him? Because there’s no love. People don’t love God and they don’t love one another.

So now we use everyone and we want to manipulate government by manipulating the people that get in to give us what we want. And it’s all wrong. I told you one time I said, I’d run for office and my platform would be, I promised to do nothing for you. I’m not going to do anything for you. I’m going to let you work and make your own money and supply your own needs from the cradle to the grave. It’s not government’s job to interfere.

And believe it or not, that’s the truth. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. It’s not government’s job to take care of people. But you see, you are supposed to be responsible. Government’s supposed to make sure that nobody takes away that right that you have to provide and to meet your needs to save your money. They’re not supposed to be manipulating the money in this world. But what they’re doing is very simple. You see, Congress is the only one that has the right to print money.

The Federal Reserve doesn’t have the authority. You see, they’re not a part of government, so they can make the money and then sell it. Now you owe it in the debt. And where do they get it? Well, they just printed out a dinner. Didn’t cost them. And they get rich and we get poor. No more money they print, the less our money’s worth. That’s illegal plunder. Illegal stealing from the people. That’s wrong. What happened to people that say, look, we get to Washington, number one, do away with the Federal Reserve.

And every program that’s not constitutional, that’s it. That’s it. And get back to the gold and silver standard that’s authorized in the Constitution. You could turn this whole thing around and say, but see, we don’t have people who want that because, see, we have been getting from the government for so long. We can’t stop. And because of that, we would rather sink the whole nation. Let it all go under. And guess what? It will. It will. But here in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11, I want you to look there in verse 7.

In verse 7, there’s about six things here I want to show you very quickly. By faith, Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear, prepared an art to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is by faith. This is the chapter on what does it mean to live by faith? Because he tells us that in chapter 10, the just shall live by faith.

Then it tells us what is faith? Let’s see there in verse one. Now the faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In other words, you can’t see how God’s going to do something, but you believe God will make it happen. And you don’t know how, but you just do it. But look what he says in verse 7, by faith, Noah. Now there’s a foundation for Noah’s faith, a foundation. He was warned of who?

God. Noah believed God. That’s the foundation on which everything else takes place. Without that there is nothing. So faith was not in Noah. Noah’s faith was not in his STATES or their wives. His faith was in GOD. And God, as he looks upon the Earth, is looking for one thing. He’s looking for faith. He’s looking for individuals that have faith that believe him. because God wants to use them. Now here he makes a statement. He was warned of God, and that means he heard the word of God.

You and I have his word, and God says right before he had mentioned this about, you know, as it was in the days of Noah, he says, The heavens and the earth shall pass away, but my word shall never pass away. You see, when you rest upon the word of God, you’re resting upon a foundation that will never pass away. It’s a rock. It’s a solid truth. It doesn’t come and go. It’s not like sand. You see, a lot of the insecurity in America today is because we’ve got a bunch of people trying to make on sand.

It’s not on the Constitution. It’s sand. It’s on people’s opinion and nobody knows how it’s going to come down. Nobody knows whether to invest or not to invest, to hire or not to hire, because they don’t know how many taxes they’re going to take or what’s going to happen to it. They don’t know what’s going to happen to anything. Nobody’s sure about Medicaid, Medicare and Medicare or Social Security. Everything’s all up in the air. Nobody knows. And it destroys the will of the people to produce.

That’s where we are. By faith, Noah, being warned of God. ortmund says, as it was in the days of Noah. Did God warn in the days of Noah? Can the preachers be warning people today? And still it doesn’t seem to matter what you say. How hard you hit on the word of God. sometimes wonder we have a message that we put out on the radio. There’s people that hear the message every day, some cases twice a day. And you know in spite of all of those places and all those people that hear all those sermons that I’ve been preaching, not in preaching to bunch.

Do you know there’s only a handful of people that ever say thank you or hear something to help you on the radio broadcast. Did you know if it wasn’t for the people sitting here and a few people that send in donations to the bank, we wouldn’t be on there at all, only because some people care. Enough people give a little extra and they put it on for the radio broadcast. I’m just making a statement about the complacency of people but we’re trying to get the message out because there’s something more important than saving America.

There’s something more important than saving the world. And that’s to get America and the people saved. I would rather have people have eternal life and go to heaven when they die. But it’s because of my faith in what God’s Word says. So you work toward that. Dr. Lindstrom and myself, and there’s quite a few others around the world, believe it or not, that a gospel driven. It doesn’t matter what our message is or what it’s about. We find a way to always weave in something about the truth of the gospel.

To explain it, always trying to separate between salvation and service. Have you noticed that? Now I guarantee you, I didn’t learn that from Hank Lindstrom. I got it from a man named Dr. A. Ray Stanford, just like Hank did. But where did he get it? Well he just got it. It’s the Bible. As you read the Bible, that’s the crux of the matter. It’s what it’s all about. And God said, I’m warning. And he has sent warnings about the times of Sodom and Gomorrah and the flood in the world in which we live.

I may not be able to change it no more than know it didn’t change the world in his day. Lot evidently did not change Sodom and Gomorrah. It was like that before he went there. I believe they made an impact upon him and his family. I believe the world today is making an impact upon our Christian churches, upon our homes, upon our kids. If it was possible, why wouldn’t every parent want their kids to go to camp learn the word, because their lives cannot be changed without it?

Their decisions about who they marry and how they raise their children down the road something is because of the impact that’s made because of God’s work. Do you have faith in the word, confidence in the word, that when God speaks it does something to you and it not only affects you, it affects your whole family. The second thing I want you to see here very quickly, he says in verse 7, he says, being warned of God, get this not seen as yet, not seen as yet.

Things He’s not seen as yet. There’s a lot of that He never saw. You see, we can’t see Christ coming back right now. We can’t see the great tribulation, but we can see things heading up toward it. We have what God’s Word says and what it’s going to be like, and the antichrist is going to come upon the scene. We know that one day Israel, there’s going to be a peace treaty made, but we may not see it. May it happen right after we leave.

It could have happened right before. You know the temple has got to be, but we believe it, even though we can’t see it. Well, how do we know what’s going to happen? Because God said it and we believe it. And we base everything that we do upon our confidence in the book. By faith Noah, been warned of God of things not seen as yet. And here’s three little words you ought to on the line in your Bible. moved with fear, moved with fear.

In other words, he not only had a high holy reverential respect for God, but he knew there was a consequence if he didn’t. There would be no art for him to be in, there’d be no place for his wife, there’d be no place for his sons and their wives if he doesn’t build the ark. So for the saving of his own household, he obeys God. You know, after I trusted Christ as my Savior. I had one burning desire. I wanted to make sure that my family got in the ark.

You see, Noah built this ark for the saving of his household. Well, Christ is the ark of safety. I know that this world is going down, nothing is going to last. So 50 years ago I accepted Christ as my Savior. I was placed into the arc of safety. Christ is my art. And I have been placed in Him. I am sealed in Christ. But not only did I want me to be in that arc of safety, I wanted to make sure that my kids get to get in the arc.

You see Noah is concerned about his family. Look what he says. Move with fear, prepared an arc to the what? Saving of his house, his own family. I wanted to make sure that my aunts and my uncles, my cousins, as many of my relatives as possible, I went after him. I mean, I went after them with a zeal. I hound at them. I drove over 400 and something miles one way just to talk to my aunt and uncle and they told me where I could go.

But I went anyway. Years later they said they finally trusted Christ as their Savior. But I got my mom, I got my oldest sister, and she’s dead now. I got my other sister, she’s dead now. Got my brother, trust the Lord. I didn’t lead him to the Lord, but because of my influence, he came out to the same church. I was in 3.4 Louisiana in a rescue mission, and I could not get my stepdad out of my mind. Him and my mom had separated and he’d become a drunk When I tried to talk to him He’d get up and he’d walk out of the room and tell me to shut up my mom business I want to hear preaching I go to church break my heart And I imagine I was a little on the rude side because I didn’t know the finer techniques of how to do things

I just didn’t want them to go to hell and it hurt me I I was out there in 3-4 Louisiana and I started praying for him. I wanted him to get saved. So I said, then I wrote him a long letter and I put everything in the letter what I wanted him to do. And I said, now I want you to go to church and I want you to talk to a vet that so that he could go to church with him and get saved that Sunday.

And I mailed the letter. That Sunday morning early in the morning. He came to Betty’s dad’s house and had been out all night. They asked him if he would go to church. He came to the door and they gave him something to eat. They said, why don’t you go to church with us this morning? He went to church with him. It was all over with. He went into the office with the preacher and the preacher led him to the Lord.

What was interesting, now this is after several years, the next day he got my letter in the mail. He got my letter in the mail. The day after he had done everything I told him to do. prayer work faster than the letter. But he trusts the Lord. It was interesting, but one by one by one by one. See my goal, I want to get him in. I want to get as many into the arc of safety that I possibly can.

Because when you really believe it, you want people to know the Lord. Look what he says here, not seen as yet moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house. So you should do what you can that helps prepare people to get them ready for eternity. Do you realize that when the rapture takes place, that means when Christ comes in the air, those who know Christ is their Savior, they’re going to be caught up and transported to heaven.

Those that don’t know the Lord, they’re going to still be here. And most of them, a lot of them are going to be killed. They’re going to be killed by this one world government. Because the world got to get to the place where there’ll be a one world government and everybody’s going to have to be forced to obey or be killed. That’s what Christ said, if we believe what He said. And I believe what He said. So do Do you want them to go to heaven or not?

If you want them to go to heaven, don’t depend on nobody else to get them. God may want to use you. And you say, well, I don’t know how to tell them. It’s about time you learned. Prepare. I don’t think Noah ever built an art before. This probably was his first one. It probably was his last one. He probably never had to do it again. But don’t you agree that it was a smart thing for him to do? A wise thing for him to do?

The whole human race came because of those eight that was in that arc. I just have this, believe me, what God’s Word says is true. Look what else he says here. By the way, he condemned the world. Do you realize that just by the fact that you and I do what’s right, you are right? a rebuke to the world. If you as an individual accept Christ as your Savior, you are a rebuke to those who don’t, because you see, don’t they know and hear what you’ve heard?

Why do you believe it and in somebody else not believe it? I have spoken in crowds and I’ve had people that believe the message and those that would not believe the message. And yet they all heard the same thing. Those that believe it are saying what I heard was a not for me, why wasn’t it enough for you? What do you want God to do something special for you that He didn’t do for somebody else? What do you want?

Would you want Him to perform some little miracle for you? I mean, you want to put God on a string and make him dance to your tune? To convince me God, and God may give you the same thing that He’s given to everybody else. Look, I told you you’re a sinner. Can you believe Him? If you can’t believe that, you’re not going to believe anything else, He says. You are a sinner. You are not perfect. You are not righteous.

You are not good enough to go to heaven. I’ve had a person who knows. You’re trying to tell me I’m not good enough to go to heaven. I’m not good enough to go to heaven.” I said, sure. That’s what I’m saying. Yeah, you’re not good enough. Who do you think you are? The judge? I said, no, I’m just telling you what the judge said. The judge already done declared, the whole world is guilty. All have sinned and all have come short of his perfection.

Yeah? You’re not good enough to go to heaven. No, you’re not. I hear in the paper front page today, Millions of people are trying to make this man a saint. The Pope made him a saint. I was made a saint 50 years ago. And I didn’t need anybody else’s opinion. And I didn’t have to perform any miracles. My being a saint has nothing to do with you. You say, how do you know you’re a saint? You are a saint when you accepted Christ as your Savior.

You were sanctified. Means you were made pure and holy, set apart and you belong to God. I am a saint. And I am a real genuine saint. And let me tell you this. You say, this might make me mad. It might. You don’t say it anyway. But I never say anything to try to offend anybody. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t offend, but not because that’s my goal. That’s never my goal. But truth is offensive. Any person who does not trust Christ as his only hope of going to heaven doesn’t go to heaven.

If Mother Teresa, she’s not my mother, or father the Pope, and he’s not my father, if those two individuals, if they have not accepted Christ in him alone as their only hope of going to heaven. They don’t go. They don’t go to heaven. Who in the world wants to be a saint down there? I’ve never heard anything from any body of any writing where either one of them will denounce their religion and simply trust Christ. See, no religion can save anybody.

Religions are man-made. There’s only one thing that a man has to do and has to accept Jesus Christ and Him alone as His only hope of going to heaven. So it doesn’t matter what that religion is. Have you come to that place where you’ve trusted Christ because you believe He died on that cross and paid for all of your sins, all of them. And if He paid for all of your sins and you have as a free gift to everlasting life.

And even though He was saved by grace. He found grace in the eyes of the Lord to be used. And as an heir of the righteousness, which is of faith, you see, after we trust Christ as our Savior, it is the will of God for His people, who are heirs of God, to live righteously. And see, the building of the ark and all that, that was the result that He believed what God said. If you want to go to heaven, You have to believe what God said.

I believe it. Look up here just a moment. Letting this hand represent you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. Now God said that he loves us. I hate our sin, but he loves us. So you know God loves you. Now he doesn’t like your sin. He hates the sin because it separates you from him. And to pay for the sin is eternal separation from God in hell. That’s why people die. That’s why people go to heaven.

But God loves you. Wants you to go to heaven. To go to heaven, you have to be perfect, but nobody’s perfect. You see, we’ll never be good enough to go to heaven. No man is. No woman either. Nobody has ever lived good enough to go to heaven. And nobody can make you a saint. Only God can make you a saint. And you become a saint. That day you trust the Christ as your savior. You see, God says you can’t earn your way to heaven.

You can’t earn eternal life. You can’t buy it. We’re sinners. This hen represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. Came into the world because He loves us. And I ate our sin because it separates us from him. So Jesus Christ who had no sin did not have to die. But because he loved us and he hates our sin, he took it. So if he takes our sin, he has to die. So he died on that cross, paid for all the sin of all the world, because he took sins of the whole world.

Died and came back from the dead. And God says, the payment has been made, but the payment’s not put to your account till you believe he did it for you. When you believe he did this, He gives you His righteousness. Somebody even asked me this and they sent it on the email because I have on Bibleline where they can ask questions and now answer questions. It says, if the sin of unbelief, if I don’t believe, if Christ paid for that sin, then why don’t I get to go to heaven?

I was like, Christ paid for the sin of alcohol. But I don’t mean just because he paid for it, you get to go to heaven. or he paid for the sin of line and stealing. But I don’t mean you go to heaven to call it, he paid for it. So can Christ die for the sin of unbelief? Well, of course he’d die for all sins, that’s what it says. But no sin, payment, is put to your account till you believe he did it for you.

So when you even leave he did it for you, then he puts that payment to your account and you get to go to heaven whenever you die. But the payment he made is for all sin. So let’s say for example, you’re here and you say, Well, I don’t believe that. Okay, that’s a sin. Either believe if not, it’s condemned already. The only way you can do away with the sin of unbelief is to believe. But he paid for the sin.

But that sin still not put to your account till you believe he did it for you. You can’t find fault with God or the work that he did. When he died on the cross, he says, it is finished. It means there’s nothing else for you to do. There’s no work for you to perform. Your sin is a done deal. All that you have to do is to accept what he did for you. And when you believe on him, that he did it for you.

And God saves you, gives you turn life, and you get to go to heaven on what Christ did for you. Let’s pray, shall we? I’m not gonna have you forward, not gonna embarrass you. I don’t want you to sign anything, don’t want anything from you. You don’t have to make any promises or pledges. You don’t have to quit anything. But you do have to receive Christ. I tried to do a little warning. There is a hill. But I told you how you can escape it.

God always makes a way. Would you right now, this morning, right where you are, say, something like this to the Lord Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I know I’ve done things wrong. I don’t have all the answers. But I believe Jesus Christ and I don’t let cross and pay for my sins. And right now the best to know how I will trust Him is my only hope of going to heaven. And friend, if you’ll trust Him right now, God will save you right now.

Give you eternal life. And you can know that you’re going to heaven when you die. So in the quietness of this moment, we’re heads by nice clothes. Is there anyone that all say, yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior this morning and preach I like you to pray for me? They want to. If you have trusted Christ as your savior, is your whole family in the Ark? Have you been preparing? Learning what to say, learning how to live, to make an impact, an influence.

Do it why you can. I follow you. Ask your blessings up on each person here, each family representing, or we just want your will to be done in our life. We thank for this church and for the ministries that we have, and this extra blessing in Christ’s name, Amen. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bible Live, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Hot 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 air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-800-800-800-800. 2800, 576, 3771. Online donations may be made through the Bible-lined website at calbryoftampa.org. 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.

Grab your Bible, turn to the book of Matthew 24, Matthew 24. Somebody asked me one time and says, what are you speaking on Sunday? I said, I don’t usually tell. I didn’t advance what I’m going to speak on. You know what they said? You’re not prepared yet, are you? I don’t know how they knew. Matthew chapter 24, Jesus was asked the question about when are you coming back? What are the sign of your coming? So He’d give them a lot of information.

Information we’ve already covered before. But there’s a statement that I want to read to you. Luke there in verse 32, Matthew 24 verse 32, Now learn the parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender and put it forth leaves, you know that summer’s nigh. So likewise ye when you shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But at that day and hour, know if no man, know, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking and married and giving in marriage, till the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away.

So shall also the coming to the Son of Man Beam. Similarities to something about Noah. I think we ought to know as much about Noah as we can know about Noah. I’ve often wondered what it would be like to live to be 600 years old. And he was an old man. So I can think about it. How would you like to live for 600 years? And that was how old he was when the flood came. So he was an old codger.

And the Bible says that as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days when the Son of Man comes. Well, there’s a lot of things that happen back in their day that seems like it’s happening in our day. The Bible talks about it being a very wicked time. And the reason why we even hear about Noah is because, well, there was flood. And the reason it was a flood was because God was going to destroy all the people that weren’t right.

And there was only eight of them left. So God did all of that and saved eight people and put them on an ark and started all over again. The Bible tells us that God was grieved with mankind. Now you may not know it, but the Bible even tells us today that Holy Spirit that indwells all of His children, even the Holy Spirit grieves. He even tells us as His children grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby you’re sealed into the day of redemption.

So I guess we’re probably not doing that good of a job. Look at the impact of the believers in the world today before we’re doing a good job, aren’t we? The world is in a mess. And whenever you stop and think about the founding of this country and those who believe correctly and give us a great constitution to establish this nation, and then started all these universities to teach the people the truth so that we could preserve this country, what’s happened?

Everything is falling apart. It’s like today we don’t even have a good handful of people that can run and get into office because most times good people won’t even get out and vote. So it says evil triumphs because the good people do nothing. Well, if they don’t do anything, it’s unlike their, maybe they’re not good folks at all. And we get the kind of a government we deserve. Are you saying that everything that’s happening in this country? We deserve it.

We deserve what’s going on. The leaders that we have in Washington, that’s what we deserve. We haven’t made the impact that we should have made. Turn in your Bible to 2 Peter 2, 2 Peter 2, 2 Peter’s right after 1 Peter. And look in verse 4, says, For if God, if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.

Now according to this verse, and we might not have known it before, but Noah was a preacher. He was a carpenter, but he was also a preacher. And he was a preacher of righteousness, but I don’t believe he was a preacher of man’s righteousness but of God’s righteousness. But he probably did share with the people that listened to him that their righteousness wasn’t very good. They probably mocked and made a lot of fun of him. Evidently he didn’t have too many so-called converts.

People didn’t believe what he had to say. What did he say? Well he just told them that there was going to be a a flood. Well, they had never seen a flood. There’s going to be a rain that never seen rain. So there’s a lot of things that they had to just take it by faith. Believe it because Noah said it. Well, why didn’t Noah said it? Well, Noah said it because God told him. Somebody believed God and somebody doesn’t believe God.

It’s about where we are today. There’s people that believe and there’s people that don’t believe. But here in 2 Peter in chapter 2, it makes a statement here, and I want you to see this, look down there in verse 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver. The Lord knoweth how to deliver. Now he did that back in the flood. He knew how to separate the good from the bad, the believers from the unbelievers. God knows how to do that.

The Bible knew how to take and separate lot in his family from Sodom and Gomorrah. And he knew not only who to separate, he knew how to get it done. He did it. Now, he says he’s coming back again and he’s going to separate the believers from the unbelievers. She’s them two kind of people in the world, believers and unbelievers, saints and the aunts, those that are in and those that are out. But when Christ comes in the air for His saints, He’s going to deliver us out of this world, and then He’s going to punish the world.

Well that’s, He’s already done it several times. So He figured out a way to do it. He can do it again. All I know is it’s going to happen. Back then it says that they just ate and they drank, they married and gave and married and had kids and built and they just like everybody’s doing today. In other words, everybody’s caught up in living life and paying no attention to what God’s Word says. Now, it’s a shame when God’s children do that, but the world doesn’t seem to care.

And we look like we’re not making much of an impact and change in the world for better. it looks like the world is getting worse. Instead of us turning ourselves over on the world, the world is turning itself over on us. Instead of the church going into the world and reaching the world, it’s that the world has come into the church and taken over the churches. And the churches have lost its total power. So he makes a statement here in verse nine, the Lord know of how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.

So God knows how to deliver and God knows how to punish and that’s coming. Just like He promised, it will happen. Now turning your Bible to the book of Genesis in chapter 6, the book of Genesis in chapter 6. I realize that many of these things, you know them and know them very well. Sometimes the pastor doesn’t have to always give you something new. Something new. Listen, if it’s new, it probably isn’t true. If it’s true, it probably isn’t new.

If you study the Bible, you’re going to hear parts of truth all over. It’s just a book of truth. But sometimes all we do is refresh your mind, cause you to remember. You see, I want all of God’s children to be ready when he comes. I believe he’s coming. And if you look at the world situation, it seemed like it all of you soon, because we’re in the heap of trouble. Here in Genesis in chapter 6, I want you to look down in verse 5, and God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the The thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And it repented the Lord, agreed the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth. Both man and beast him, creeping things and the files of the air for it repented me that I have made them. Verse 8 says, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Of all these people, God saw that Noah was a righteous man.

He believed in the Lord, he trusted in the Lord, and he lived for the Lord. So God, out of all the people on the earth, chose this man. He chose this man to do something that was really unique. Think of how many people know about Noah. The world is heard of Noah, and what did he do? He filled the boat. But he found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and then he makes the statement there in verse 12, and God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt.

flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And Jesus says, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of Man returns. You think that there’s a good possibility where God is corrupt as they could have been. Whenever you think of how God judged Sodom and Gomorrah because of the homosexuals, back then they called him Sodomites, look at the world today. Everybody has to accept their lifestyle, but leaving it it’s okay. Well, I don’t believe that it’s okay.

I believe wrong is wrong. And the Bible tells us that God says everything corrupt. Every thought of their mind corrupt. It’s like nobody cares what God says. I believe there’s people who have a Bible and they read their Bible and then it doesn’t change their life at all. They still just do whatever they want to do. Right and wrong is in their judgment. Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do. They’re gonna do whatever they want. Today, and I hate to say it this way, I believe that the majority of people have totally lost any esteem or respect for the preachers.

They just don’t believe them anymore, don’t trust them anymore. And most of it’s nothing but a game. But they do not do what the preacher tells them to do. I’ll bet you if I told you what to do or told you not to do something, you’d do what you want to do anyway. If you agreed with me, you would. If you don’t agree, you’re not because you don’t put that esteem up there. They don’t believe Noah knows what he’s talking about.

We have people that they have lost total respect. Listen to a lot of the stuff that’s written about all of our leaders, what they say about preachers. And there can be one preacher someplace and he really messed up bad, buddy, the news media will jump on that and blow it sky high. So they want everybody to know what that preacher did. You know, as long as you’re doing right, nobody says anything, let you do something wrong and man its news.

Well that’s what we thrive on. What’s going on lately? Most people love gossip. The sow seeds of discord. Backbiting. All kind of wicked stuff. Our world is full of that. And so he says here in verse 13, and God said unto Noah. The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence. Through them, and behold, I will destroy them from the earth. So this is what God says He is going to do. Look there in chapter 7, and look in verse 1, And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark, For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

But I’m telling you, Noah, I want you to build me a boat.” And he built the ark, according to the dimensions that the Lord said. And then he says in verse 7, and Noah went in, and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him into the ark because of the waters of the flood. So he told them what to do, he led them, guided them, and they did whatever God says to do. You see, there’s some people who believe God and want to live for the Lord.

This is why if God walked in this room right now and told every person in this room, and if he had to do it and looked at every individual, because he knows everything about everybody, and if he walked up to you and says, you are not saved, because you’re trusting in your works to get you to heaven, you join the church because you think that’s going to get you to heaven and you haven’t trusted me and me alone as your only hope to get to heaven.

I wonder what Peter would do. Ah, that’s not true and would probably argue with. I’m talking about now if God did this, the Son of God, that knows everything knows all of the thoughts and what if he walked up to you and says you’re trusting in your good works to get you to heaven. You’re trusting in that money you gave in the offering to get you to heaven. You think the way you treat your wife and your kids and the way you pay your bill, you think that’s going to help you get to heaven and Jesus Christ says that will not help.

Won’t even come close. You’re saved only by trusting in Christ and Christ alone except in that payment he made on the cross-view and he laid it up. There would be people who would still not believe what he said and argue with him. But Lord don’t you know about James chapter 2 and they would find a reason not to believe what he said and even though scripture at him. But people do that. My God says there’s going to be a flood.

There’s going to be some water. There’s going to be some mud. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Hebrews in chapter 11. Hebrews in chapter 11. There’s a chapter here called the Hall of Faith. Now that’s what I call them. We have the Hall of Fame. This is the Hall of Faith. He mentions individuals from the Old Testament and how they demonstrated faith. You see, you and I are told as you have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk ye in him.

How did you receive him? Oh, by faith. So how you pose a live by faith. The just shall live by faith. In other words, we’re supposed to live our life believing God, taking him at his word, doing what he says. And And God says, lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shout direct thy path. God says, do not trust yourself. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man. It seems right.

So that’s what people do. They do what seems right in their own eyes. So they become their own guide, their own God. Doesn’t matter what the Bible says they’re going to do what they want to do live however they please Right and wrong is according to them Or they take opinion polls. Well everybody in the church says It doesn’t matter what? opinion is This is why it’s interesting you hear all these opinion polls the opinion polls No, we’re going by what do the people think?

Let me just tell you this If I was the president of the United States, it wouldn’t matter what anybody thought. I would go by the thing of what’s right and what’s wrong. Whatever is right, it has to be according to the Constitution. Government-wise, if it ain’t right here, it ain’t right. Period. If it’s wrong, it’s wrong. If the Constitution don’t give you the right to do something… Well, then it’s wrong. You can do whatever this here says, the ruling part of it.

And the people that’s not listed in there, you’re a free man. You can do whatever as long as you don’t violate this. It’s just like God says, if you love one another, you can live like He plays. If you love one another. But what’s the problem? Sin abounds because the love of many has waxed. cold. So when there’s no love sin abounds. Why is sin abounding? Because there’s no love. People don’t love God and they don’t love one another.

So now we use everyone and we want to manipulate government by manipulating the people that get in to give us what we want And it’s all wrong. I told you one time I said, I’d run for office and my platform would be, I promised to do nothing for you. I’m not going to do anything for you. I’m going to let you work and make your own money and supply your own needs from the cradle to the grave. It’s not government’s job to interfere.

And believe it or not, that’s the truth. to where it’s supposed to be. It’s not government’s job to take care of people. But you see, you are supposed to be responsible. Government’s supposed to make sure that nobody takes away that right that you have to provide and to meet your needs to save your money. They’re not supposed to be manipulating the money in this world, but what they’re doing is very Simple. You see, Congress is the only one that has the right to print money.

The Federal Reserve doesn’t have the authority. You see, they’re not a part of government, so they can make the money and then sell it. Now you owe it in the debt. And where do they get it? Well, they just printed out a dinner. Didn’t cost them. And they get rich and we get poor. Poor, no more money to print, the less our money’s worth, that’s illegal plunder. No more money they print. The less our money’s worth. That’s illegal plunder.

Illegal stealing from the people. That’s wrong. What happened to people that say, look, we get to Washington. Number one, do away with the Federal Reserve. And every program that’s not constitutional, that’s it. And get back to the gold and silver standard that’s authorized to Constitution. You could turn this whole thing around somebody, but see, we don’t have people who want that because, see, we have been getting from the government for so long. We can’t stop. And because of that, we would rather sink the whole nation, let it all go under.

And guess what? It will. It will. But here in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11, I want you to look there in verse 7. In verse 7, there’s about six things here I want to show you very quickly. By faith, Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear, prepared an art to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

This is the chapter on what does it mean to live by faith? Because he tells us that in chapter 10, the just shall live by faith. Then it tells us what is faith. Let’s see there in verse 1, now the faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In other words, you can’t see how God’s going to do something but you believe God will make it happen. And you don’t know how, but you just do it.

But look what he says in verse 7, by faith, Noah. Now there’s a foundation for Noah’s faith, a foundation. He was warned of who? God. Noah believed God. That’s the foundation on which everything else takes place. Without that there is nothing. So faith was not in Noah. Noah’s faith was not in his sons or their wives. His faith was in God. And God as he looks upon the earth is looking for one thing, he’s looking for faith. He’s looking for individuals that have face.

Let me leave him because God wants to use them. Now here he makes a statement. He was warned of God and that means he heard the word of God. You and I have his word and God says right before he had mentioned this about, you know, as it was in the days of Noah, he says the heavens and the earth shall pass away, but my word shall never pass away. You see, when you rest upon the Lord. the word of God, you’re resting upon a foundation that will never pass away.

It’s a rock. It’s a solid truth. It doesn’t come and go. It’s not like sand. You see, a lot of the insecurity in America today is because we’ve got a bunch of people trying to make on sand. It’s not on the Constitution. It’s sand. It’s on people’s opinion and nobody knows how it’s going to come down. know whether to invest or not to invest, to hire or not to hire, because they don’t know how many of my taxes are going to take or what’s going to happen to it.

They don’t know what’s going to happen to anything. Nobody’s sure about Medicaid, Medicare and Medicare or Social Security. Everything’s all up in the air. Nobody knows. And it destroys the will of the people to produce. That’s where we are. By faith, Noah, being warned of God. And God says, as it was in the days of Noah, did God warn in the days of Noah? Can the preachers be warning people today? And still, it doesn’t seem to matter what you say.

How hard you hit on the word of God. I sometimes wonder, we have a message that we put out on the radio. There’s people that hear the message Every day, some cases twice a day. And you know, in spite of all of those places and all those people that hear all those sermons that I’ve been preaching, not in preaching to bunch, do you know there’s only a handful of people that ever say thank you or hear something to help you on the radio broadcast?

Did you know if it wasn’t for the people sitting here and a few people that send in donations to the bank, we wouldn’t be on there at all, only because some people care. Enough people give a little extra and they put it on for the radio broadcast. I’m just making a statement about the complacency of people, but we’re trying to get the message out because there’s something more important than saving America. There’s something more important than saving the world.

And that’s to get America and the people saved. I would rather have people have eternal life and go to heaven when they die. But it’s because of my faith in what God’s word says. So you work toward that. Dr. Lindstrom and myself, and there’s quite a few others around the world, believe it or not, that are gospel-driven. It doesn’t matter what our message is or what it’s about. We find a way to always weave in something about the truth of the gospel.

to explain it, always trying to separate between salvation and service. Have you noticed that? 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. Our 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. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our home page. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. My broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.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. We will be changed. Potted 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 air. You can read the Bible. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bible-lined website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

The salvation that we have is the Bible calls it so great salvation. It’s not over just because you trusted Christ as your Savior. The Lord saves us from the penalty of sin, which is death and hell. So you have been saved from that. The Holy Spirit indwells us in order to save us from the power of sin in our life. And that goes on all the days of your physical life upon this earth. And then the Lord says that He wants to save us and will save us someday from the very presence of sin.

So we know that we’re saved, saved, saved. You’ve heard that song, save, save, saved. So I’m saved from the penalty, saved from its power and be saved someday from the very presence. But if we neglect why we live in this world, if we neglect this so great salvation, God God says that He’s going to reward us, and the rewards are not always something good. Did you know that you can do bad things and receive a reward, and you can do good things and receive a reward?

In other words, you’re going to receive the just recompense of your deeds. So God rewards evil people, and God rewards good people. So you’re going to get rewarded one way or the other. He makes a statement here in verse one of Hebrews chapter two, Therefore we, we refers to those who have trusted Christ as their Savior. These scriptures are not talking to lost people. This is to those who know the Lord. This is talking to you and talking to me.

Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, less at any time we should let them slip. There are things that you have been taught that you ought not to let slip away out of your mind. The Bible says in chapter 3, and we won’t take the time to look at it, but it talks about those who depart from the faith because of their unbelief. You know Christ is Savior, but you can get to where you do not believe the things that God says about Him and about your responsibility to Him.

thinking that it’s a serious thing, that our Christian life isn’t a serious deal. My Christianity is serious to me. My going to church, that’s serious to me. My Bible study is a serious thing to me. My prayer and my giving and everything that I do, my whole Christian life is a serious thing to me. It’s not a game to me. It is a serious thing. It ought to be to every Christian. He makes the statement in verse to for if, if the word spoken by angels was steadfast.

In other words, when God gave his word to Moses on Mount Sinai and God meant what he said and God said he would bless Israel if they were obedient and he would chase them if they were disobedient. God meant exactly what he said and they received the just recompense of the reward. In other words, they got their do whether it was in the land and being totally blessed or out of the land being totally what God kept his word.

And if God will keep his word according to the law, what do you think he’s going to do about these other things that he says? So the book of Hebrews is written not to the lost people. The book of Hebrews is written to believers who are stumbling all over themselves, to believers who are disbelieving the things about their Christian life. They’re not walking as the ought to. So the title of the sermon this morning is in your notes there, how shall we escape the chastening rod of God?

How can you escape it? You cannot escape. So this is written to the believers and not to the lost. But look what he says again in verse 2. He says, and every transgression, that means under the law, when they transgress the law, he says, and disobedience received a just recompense of reward. In other words, they got their just due. They received their just desserts. They received what the Bible calls, you reap what you sow. You reap what you sow.

And how shall we escape is not to the lost man’s talking to the believers. How is the Christians going to escape the chastening hand of God? Now by the time you get to Hebrews chapter 12 that talks about the chastening, the chastening of God’s people, there’s a lot of scriptures in between these scriptures between chapter 2 and chapter 12, 10 chapters in there. And they have all kinds of things that it talks about the Christian and what he’s to do and not to do.

Look what he says there in chapter 4 and verse 12. Because he’s talking to the Christians, for the word of God is quick, that means it’s a lie. The word of God is a quick and a powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Pearson even to the divided in a sunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and the moral. That’s your body. So of the body, the soul, and the spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.

Does the Word of God know your motive? The intents of your heart, yes it does. And God can reveal all these things to us. That helps us to see, why do I do what I do? What is my real motivation? And God says that nothing is hid to his eyes. See there in verse 13? Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

In other words, your whole life has to do with God. And everything is open to the eyes, his eyes. In other words, before God, you are stripped totally naked in front of God. God sees and God knows everything inside and out, body, soul, and spirit. Because as time goes on How are we going to escape when we stand before God and God says why didn’t you do what I told you to do? As the years roll by we want to do less and less instead of more and more He says for the time you ought to be teachers, but you’re not able to teach because you don’t know the word Why don’t you know the word because you wouldn’t study it?

He says you become dull of hearing you don’t want to hear because you don’t want to do You see when you want to do things for God You don’t mind listening to the word of God some people they don’t care what the Bible teaches they’re gonna live their Christian life The way they want to live it’s my life. Get off my back. Leave me alone God pity those kind of Christians Because they’re not going to be used. You’re gonna be put up on a shelf.

What is the purpose of? Chasing so as you go through here You find out a lot of things that God warns us about and things that we should go on to maturity in chapter six and many of God’s people won’t go on. They never mature. They stay a baby all their life. They never grow up, never can handle spiritual responsibilities, but take your Bible and turn there to the book of Hebrews in chapter 10. But he makes a statement here in verse 34, we know him that hath said, vengeance belong unto me, I will recompense.

That’s the Lord says, I will get even. That’s the Lord says, I will pay you back. In other words, God says, I’m going to judge my people. See in the last part of verse 30. The Lord showed judge who, the lost to his people, his people. You see, you and I cannot live as we please after we’re saved and do whatever we want, think it’s okay. No, we have spiritual responsibilities and we’re to be found faithful to do the things that God says to do.

He says, if you don’t, he says it’s going to cost you. It’s going to cost you. Look what he says in verse 35 of chapter 10. Cast not away therefore your covenant, which hath great recompense of what? Reward. Don’t cast away your confidence. In other words, as a Christian, don’t lose your confidence in God. Don’t lose your hope in the Lord. Don’t lose the purpose for which God left you here. Don’t get so involved in the things of the world that you don’t have time to be faithful to God.

Wouldn’t that be a shame? So I can’t be faithful because I just don’t have time. God can solve that. The purpose of chasing to correct a child, that means a rebuke for the wrong actions. To train a child, repeat the right actions. You see, all chasting isn’t bad. Chasting is also for instruction in righteousness to help us to do the things that we should do. It also is to scourge a child and hopefully trying to learn how to get a balance in this when we raise our own children.

But he says here in verse five, my son in the middle part of verse five, my son despised not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. So the purpose is that God is got a work to do. There’s bad things that we do that God wants to reward us for. And there’s things that he wants to rebuke us on that he said I want you to stop that and don’t you do it again.

And there’s other things that you’re doing that may be right and God said I want you to repeat that over. over and over and over again. In other words, you hear me always say, just keep doing right. Whatever it is, if it’s right, you keep doing right. Always keep doing right. Always do right. The Holy Spirit will never lead you to do wrong. The Holy Spirit will never lead you to be unkind or unfaithful. Holy Spirit always leads you to be holy, to do right, to trust the Lord.

You see, there’s some things that God will do for you and I that he won’t do for the lost man. You see, God’s not interested in just chasing the lost man for everything he does, it’s wrong. And it seems like they can get away murder. And that’s why even David says that I became envious of the wicked. When I saw the prosperity of the wicked, whenever I did what was right, and it seemed like I was chasing all the day long, and it seemed like they could do whatever they wanted to do that was wrong and they get away with it.

It’s not fair, God, just not fair. Well, life isn’t fair. But David says, when I saw the end result, I looked down the road and I saw the end result He said, when I went into the sanctuary, awesome. But he makes a statement here in verse 6 and 7, who is subject to chaleting God’s children. He says, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteeth and scourgeeth every son, every son whom he received. Who does God chaleting? Every son, every child.

And he says, if you do not receive chasin, he says, then you are a bastard. You are an illegitimate child. You’re not my child. See God doesn’t chase in everybody, but he does chase in his children. You see, why does God chase in it? Because he loves you. Because he loves you. And he chases us for reasons, as we’ll discuss in just a moment. But in verse eight, but if you be without chastisement, we’re of all our partakers, all our part, all who, all believers are partakers.

And verse nine says, furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence. And part of the chasing process is our Father, heavenly Father, is correcting us. Because see, we don’t have the knowledge to do everything right. The Bible says the book of Jeremiah, it is not within man that walk of two directest steps. So God has to correct us all the time. And sometimes we don’t listen to the Lord, and God has ways and means in which He can work and deal in our life.

He gives us that personalized attention. Look at number three, how does chastening prophet obedient Christians? How does chastening prophet and obedient children? Look there in verse 10. He says, for they are earthly parents, uh, barely for a few days, they chastened us. It was temporarily. this after their own pleasures. You say, what do you mean, pleasure? Most time parents will chase into kids when they get sick and tired of putting up with you doing something and they want to kill you.

Instead of being faithfully disciplined you all the time consistently, whether they want to or they don’t, they do it because they’re doing it for your good. And sometimes because you’ve irritated them to the no end or you don’t got on their nerves, then they’re going to come down on you. And then that’s their form of correction. You see God, He’s long suffered and he’s patient. But when God has to lower the boom, he will lower the boom. He says, but he doesn’t, why?

You ought to underline these two words. He does it for our, what? Our prophet. Why does God chasing us for our prophet? Why does God correct us for our prophet? Why does God rebuke us for our prophet? You’re going to live long enough that you’ll be so glad that God never answered all of your prayers. And that God was wise enough to rebuke you, to say no to you, knowledge you have, everything that you want. And this is why you have to be so careful in your Christian life, desiring things that God doesn’t want you to have, falling in love with the things of the world that God says not to do.

You can begin little by little, not knowing that vex your righteous soul from day on to day, looking and seeing the things of the world and you begin to grieve for those things, But you want to cleave to the things of the world. The next thing there in that verse, to make us more holy, because he says, for our prophet that we might be partakers of his what? His holiness. God, believe it or not, God wants you to be holy.

God doesn’t want you to be unholy. Unholy means not like God. Holy means like God. God wants you to be like Him. I heard a man one day. Ask somebody, how do you know you got this great big old granite and you’re gonna chisel the picture of a horse on it? How do you know how to chisel this horse? He says, I just chip away everything that doesn’t look like a horse. I just chip away everything that doesn’t look like a horse.

And God wants to chip away everything out of our lives. It doesn’t look like him. You think as God says that we’re naked unto him and he can see all that God is wanting to purge out of our life anything that doesn’t look like him and act like him. Think like him. What do you think? What do you think? Do you think God has been working on you lately? Do you think God really cares about you? Yes, he does.

And see, God is more interested in you looking like him and being like him than you have in anything else in this whole world. Everything else in this world ain’t worth a quarter compared to you being like him. That’s what he wants. He says, walk in his image, learning how to be like the Lord. He says, now, now, never is. Now, no chasing for the present seems to be joys. Have you ever enjoyed a weapon? You teenage, you ever enjoy a weapon?

No, I don’t think most of you probably don’t get one. That’s what I ought to do once, and I just have a good old weapon session. And just whoop y’all, because you probably got it coming, you just haven’t got it yet. For their profit, right? For their profit. But notice, he says, nevertheless afterwards, afterwards the chasing, it yielded the peaceable fruit of what? Righteousness. In other words, why does God correct you? Why does God because he wants you to do right?

He wants the fruit of righteousness in your life. Wants you to do right. Does God want you to get mean and bitter ugly and unkind because of whatever he allows to come into your life. No, that’s not what God wants. Look in chapter 11 and verse 26, remember the man named Moses? Well Moses, before he ever left Egypt, before he ever left Egypt, he wanted to serve God before he spent 40 years on the back side of the desert.

He had already made up his mind what he wanted. It’s just that they rejected him. So he went on the backside of the desert. 40 years later, God came to him and says, I want you to go on that. I ain’t going back. He said, yeah, you are. No, I’m not going down here. Look what he says. He says in verse 25, choosing, talking about Moses, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God. You see, serving God is a choice.

He says then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a sin. In other words, this for a season would have been his lifetime. Would have been his lifetime. He could have enjoyed the pleasures of sin for a whole’s lifetime. But he says he chose the reproaches of Christ, esteem them greater riches. So he makes a statement here in verse 26, a statement the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, He had respect unto the recompense of the reward.

You ought to underline that statement. You see, he was looking down the road and past this life because he never enjoyed it during this life. His forty years of serving God after he got those children was one of nothing but headache and misery for forty years. That’s what he put up with. You know the reason he was not even allowed to go into the Promised Land because he lost his cool. God’s He got mad, He got angry, and it happened on quite a few occasions.

But God still used the man. But the man never got to go into the Promised Land, never got to go in. It was a Monotny Bowen died there. But He looked beyond this life and beyond what He had to go through in for 40 years that He served God. Not talking about the 40 years on the backside of the desert. Is it going to be worth whatever I go through here, but what I’m going to get in eternity? See, this is just the dressing room.

This is not really where it’s all happening. We’re going to a place where it’s really going to be real and really going to happen. And you’ll see why it was so important. So, they maned in upon you at times. And that’s why some of these people went through a lot of things. Why didn’t God prevent all these things that happened to these people? Well, maybe he could have, but he didn’t. But look there in verse 34. This is what some of the people went through in this so-called experience, you know, after they’re saved.

How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? What God has done for us and this period of time that God’s given them in life, what if I neglect to live for God during this period of time? What’s he gonna cost me? So how are you think you’re going to escape the chastening hand of God? You’re not going to escape it. It’s not that God saved you and he’s busy and you’re busy You just ain’t got time to get together and don’t, no big deal anyway.

You don’t get it. He said, who through faith subdued kingdoms and wrought righteousness obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, valiant and fight and turned and flight the armies of the alien. And look what some of these people went through that didn’t make it. They didn’t make it in this world. Some of the things that happens to them. You say, well, if they really love the Lord, that wouldn’t have happened to them.

Yes, Job still has his three friends and they’ve a lot of years of paths. There’s a lot more of them today. He says here in verse 35, women received their dead raise to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others had trials of schools, mockings and scurging. Yay, more over a bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn a sundae, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskin and goat skin, been destitute, afflicted and tormented.

You see, why didn’t God stop all that? God didn’t want to stop it. God doesn’t stop all the heartaches in our life. God wants us to go right through the middle of every one of them. Everything that happens. God has not seen fit to deliver us from every eels in this world and every bad man in this world and all the bad decisions of people. No, God says, I want to give you the strength and the grace that you need to face whatever’s coming down the road.

And it says in verse 38, of whom the world was not, look at it, look what it says. In God’s eyes, He says the world was not worthy of such people. In verse 39, these all, these all, these all, having obtained a, what kind of report? Well, slap my mouth, somebody else is keeping the books. Somebody else has got a report card on what people are doing. Do you think that if God had a report on them that He’s got one on you and me?

that he’s watching us, that he knows what we go through, what we face, how we feel, and all the things that happens, I think so. I really do. Look at number four in their notes there. What is chastening to prevent useless hands, crooked paths, stumbling blocks. Look at those up there in verse 12. As the Bible says here, lift up the hands which hang down in the feeble knees. Because you see you get you get weak spiritually and you can’t go.

I’m not talking about physically now. I’m talking about spiritually And he says you’re down you’re so discouraged because You talk he talking about spiritually. You don’t have the strength And he says in verse 13 make straight paths for your feet Less that which is lame be turned out of the way you become a stumbling block to other Christians Somebody’s always watching you and somebody’s following you You’re an example to somebody. I don’t care where you think you are on this little Christian ladder and your maturity, you affect some people’s lives.

People are looking at you and watching you, and they’ll make decisions based upon the decisions that you make. You influence people. And God pity how we influence people when we say,uel, I don’t care how it affects anybody else. It should bother us. So he says here in verse 14, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord talking about the fellowship that we should have with one another. Looking diligent lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness spring enough trouble you and thereby many become defiled.

In other words, this is what happens to weak Christians. And see, chastening is to prevent us from having all of these things in our life. When we get to it, we don’t care about other people. And God’s, how do you think you’re going to escape the chastening of God when you don’t care about your own personal testimony? You don’t care if you become a stumbling block. You don’t care if you get mad and bitter and you sow discord and you ruin and corrupt people’s lives and cause them to be unfaithful to God.

You don’t care about that. There’s a God in heaven that cares. And there’s a God in heaven that says that’s going to cost you. And you haven’t got to heaven yet, so you haven’t seen what you have lost because of it. The usefulness that you could have had in the lives of so many people. The next one, the selling of the eternal for the temporal. See there in verse 16, like Esau, who sold for one more solid meat, sold his birthright.

In the lower he sold something of great value for something that had no value. You see, whenever you get down spiritually and you’re not right with the Lord, did you know that you’ll give up eternal rewards for something temporal in this life? Eternal weight of reward for something is trash. And verse 17, but we know how that afterwards when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected, for he found no place or repentance, though he saw it carefully Nau with tears.

And I wrote down the tears of future regrets, the tears of future regrets. Did you know that every Christian is going to have to have that time when you stand and find out what it cost you For all your disobedience Your nonchalant attitude and there can be tears of regret I want to how many of those tears when he says in God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes Those aren’t tears from the lost people those are tears from God’s people God may chase in in many different ways with many different believers He will give personalized attention as it’s needed see verse 17 deals with the forfeiting of earthly blessings There’s earthly blessings that sacrifice because of disobedience to God.

1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 8 says, And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. So it’s going to cost you here and it will cost you there. 1 Corinthians 11, 30 says that your rebellion to God can cause you weakness as a Christian, sickness as a Christian, and not only that, death, premature death. Health and wealth, family, finances, all these things can be affected by the attitude you have toward the Lord. You are going to suffer many things in the Christian life, and sometimes it has nothing to do with what you decide.

They’re going to come. And he says, as a man is born and the shots, the sparks fly upward as troubles come to all of us. And everybody’s gonna have their fair share of all kinds of temptations and trials, troubles. And God can use everything to make us better for him. It doesn’t matter what it is. He can draw us closer to him. It can teach us valuable lessons that we will never learn. He had not had done so. Let this hand represent you and me and this wallet represent sin.

And the Bible says that God, he loves us, but he hates our sin. And he says that because we have sin, we are all condemned. And the payment is eternal separation from God and hell. And God says to go to heaven, we have to be perfect as righteous as God. 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, and came back from the dead. And God said, if we would believe that He did it for us, He would save us, give us eternal life. We’d go to heaven on what He did for us. There’s no tricks of that, no gimme. This is an awesome story. Do you realize that some things happen in life, in the timing, to bring people together so that somebody would talk? We have the greatest message in all the world.

We have something worth living for. Let’s pray, shall we? You’ve been listening to Bibleline, teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or If you would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.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. 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, they’re got to work 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. 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 through the Bibleline website at CalvaryofTampa.org. We pray that you’ll 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.

The Bible does not teach that a man has to endure to the end of his life if he wants to be saved If that’s true then nobody can know they’re saved until they have actually endured and then they’ll have to be judged upon that See if salvation is free if it is by grace As you can have it now. I Don’t deserve it now any more than I will 20 years in the future If God ain’t gonna give it to me now because well because I don’t deserve it.

Well, I’m not going to deserve it later. But if he’s going to give it to me as a gift and totally free and by grace, well, he can give it to me now and in the future shouldn’t take it away because I’m still the dirty rascal I always been. I’m no better in the future than I am now. I’m still me, an old nature. So when you trust Christ as your Savior, is it possible that God who loves you and can give you eternal life as a gift won’t take it away.

And maybe he’s the one that will keep you saved. I don’t have to keep me saved. He’s going to keep me saved who are kept by the power of God, not by the power of man. And look what you see here in verse 13. And ye shall be hated of all men from my name saved, but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Now we’ll talk about dead, dead, dead, dying, all that stuff. But those that endured to the end of this time of persecution.

Now the Scripture talked about a time or day of judgment. While we’re right here, look in Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10. And you’ll notice that many of the same things we’re reading about what’s coming in the future is going to a little bit more light shed on these statements in another portion of Scripture. See there in Matthew chapter 10? You’ll notice that he is talking in verse 1, And when he had called unto him his 12 disciples, he gave them power.

And then he says there in verse five, these 12, Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans into you not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So what he’s saying here now is he’s talking to his disciples about the nation of Israel. Remember the tribulation period coming upon the earth deals with Israel. And all nations are going to gather against Israel.

And in Zechariah chapter 12, and he makes a statement, and he says, for I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the nations of the world, be like a hot potato. And so it deals with the nation of Israel. Notice what he says here. In Matthew in chapter 10, He tells him what to do, to go in all this, and look in verse 15. Verily I send you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the day of judgment than for that city.

Now that’s an illustration, but see this tribulation period upon the earth is God’s day of judgment, God’s day of wrath upon not only Israel, But upon all the nations that comes against Israel, so that is going to be a judgment upon the whole world. And God is going to affect the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, the trees, the grass, the water, the animals, the people, everything. Read Revelation chapter 16, when God pours out His vows upon the earth.

these things are coming. And then He makes this statement down here in verse 17, but beware of men. For they will deliver you up to the councils. They will scourge you in their synagogue. Beware of men. So in this chapter, it’s warning against the people that can bring you harm, but not to fear, not to be afraid. And so there’s three things that’s mentioned here in Matthew chapter 10 that deals with the subject of be not afraid of what man can do to you.

You see there in verse 26, fear. them not, therefore, there’s nothing covered that shall not be revealed. In verse 28, fear not them which kill the body. Verse 31, fear ye not, for ye are of more value than many sparrows. And if God knows when the sparrow hits the ground, he’s also knowledgeable about his people. And even though many individuals are going to die during this period of time, there’s going to be a remnant and all of those that endure to the end of this period of time and to the end are going to be the save that goes into the millennium.

Now go back there to verse 18 where it says the things that will happen to you are for you to have an opportunity to give a testimony. Now I I can take this verse and apply it to my life. Everything that happens in your life. The good and the so-called bad. Our opportunities for you and I, they give a testimony. We don’t just give testimonies when everything’s going good. We give a testimony even when things go bad because even when things don’t go good, you’re still testifying by your attitude, the words you say, the mood you’re in.

All those things are speaking and saying what you believe about God. So that’s why we have to be very careful. But he says here in verse 18, for a testimony against them and get what else he says here and the Gentiles. So what we read in Matthew 24 and also there in the book of Mark 13, and here is all talking about the period of time that is ahead of us, and it’s talking about enduring to the end and talking about physical life, I believe.

Now, notice something else in verse 19. But they deliver you up, take no thought, how or what ye shall speak for and shall be given to you in that same hour what ye shall speak. We read that just a while ago in another portion the scripture. In verse 20, for it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your Father which is in spigothen you. Now get verse 21, and the brother shall deliver up the brother to death.

The child or the father, the child, the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to what? Death. So we’re living at a time where in the future our government is going to cause or instill within people the fear of government more so than anything else and people will report on people. People will spy on each other. People will inform on each other. The where even the father against the children, the families, the brothers against the brothers, you stop and think are we living in a time where even like for example the IRS might even be willing to pay you to inform on other that are cheating on their taxes.

We would never get to that, would we? Did you know you can already do that? Did you know that there’s a time coming in the future where it might even lead to death? I mean, our government would never go that far. You see, any government that’s big enough to do anything for you is big enough to do anything to you, right? So there’s people of the day that want the government to do everything for them. Well that means you’re going to have to do everything for the government.

That’s the only way it’ll work. So government gets all powerful and the people lose all of their freedom and we’ll have a few elites that know the answer to everything. That’s not the kind of a government that I like, or the world that I would like to live in. I think we have problems coming down the road. But now let’s get back to this. Look now in verse 22. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

And this is, I believe, during the day of judgment, the hour of judgment. See, that’s mentioned up there in verse 15 in the day of judgment. This is the time of judgment called the day of the Lord. The specific day of the Lord is when the Lord comes back and powering great glory. But in many scriptures, you go back to the book of Isaiah, chapter 2, verse 8, and talks. It sometimes includes the seven-year tribulation period. And sometimes the day of the Lord includes the millennium.

So you got to look at the context to find out what is it referring to. So this day is coming and he’s telling the disciples how they should live. Now in these scriptures, you know he’s talking to the children of Israel because he’s already told them not to go to the Gentiles, but we know that during this tribulation period there There is going to be 144,000 Jewish evangelists preaching. And then there’s going to be an everlasting angel that’s going to be bringing the everlasting gospel that’s going to be preaching all over the world.

Here in Matthew in chapter 10, I want you to see this. You see in verse 36, “…and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” You talk about people turning against each other. Do you realize how just the difference that you can have concerning the philosophy of government, whether in the same household, if you had a Democrat and a Republican? Do you see perfect harmony there? Do you see there’s a good possibility that one might cancel out the other’s vote?

But anyway, as we’re moving right along here, I want you to see in verse 38, and he that take if not his cross and follow that to me is not worthy of me. We’re talking about being worthy of something. We’re talking about these are going to endure to the end and there’s a remnant there, but all those people that died during that period of time, the Bible says that when Christ comes back again and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of the Lord.

and there will be a resurrection and they will be here doing this period of time, but these others will still have their physical bodies to go into the millennium. Take your Bible and go back there to the book of Mark chapter 13. And you’ll notice in Mark chapter 13 when he talks about in verse 13, Mark 13, 13, when he makes that same statement, he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Then in verse 14, he says, but when ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by dang of the prophets, standing where it ought not, then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains.

In other words, because there’s one agree such great persecution upon them.” Now look down in verse 19. In verse 19, For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not, from the beginning of the creation, which God created until this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord hath shortened those days, no flesh should be saved. But for the elects say, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened those days. Now, I believe this is talking about during this period of time and so that statement, those that endure until the end, is not talking about you and I having to endure to the end of our lives so that we can be saved and go to heaven someday.

It’s not in this context, it has nothing to do with that. This is talking about during this period of time to a certain group of people and about coming to the end of a certain period of time and when the Lord will come back at the end of that period of time. Now look in the book of Luke in chapter 21. Luke chapter 21. Luke 21, look there now in verse 8. Verse 8. And he said, take heed that you be not deceived.

For many shall come in in my name, saying I am Christ, and the time, draw near. Go ye not therefore after them, talking about a time that is set in the future, it draw near. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotion be not terrified, for these things must first come to pass, but the end is not by and by it. The end is not yet. So this end is not talking about a day when you finally earned your right to go to heaven.

The end is a set period of time that God has set and He’s talking about people that are going to be there at the end of that period of time. You and I see we’re going to be taken out here at the rapture so we’re not even going to be here during this period of time. So that phrase, those that endure to the end, the same shall be saved. I’ve heard preachers just really ramp upon it, and they haven’t even got a clue what he’s talking about.

And so here in the book of Luke in chapter 21, notice what he says down here. In verse 10, then said he unto them, nations shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, Great earthquake shall be in divers places, famines, pestilence, fearful sites and great signs that shall be from heaven. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogue and subpryzen, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.”

Isn’t that what we read in Matthew chapter 10, chapter 24, Mark chapter 13, and now here in Luke, it’s all about that same period of time. In verse 13, “…and it shall turn to you, or give to you, an opportunity for testimony.” And you are, according to the Scriptures here, are invincible until God is ready for you to die. It’s just like they could not kill those two witnesses during the tribulation period. who of those two witnesses are until they finished their testimony.

And then the Antichrist was able to take their life three days later they rose again. And if you’ll notice here in verse 13 they were to give their testimony but when their testimony was over with you’ll see that in verse 18 but there shall not a a hair of your head perish.” Oh, wait a minute. You just said they’re going to die. But not a hair of your head perish until God is ready for you to die. You are safe and secure and God can protect you against anything and anyone and everybody all put together the whole world.

If need be, till you have finished your testimony. Finish that period of time that God’s given you and I to live. But look what he says in verse 14, settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what you shall say, because sometimes you don’t always know at what point you’re going to be attacked. So you have to wait till that moment and God will give to you what you need. That’s good wisdom. But in verse 15, for I will give you a mouth of wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gain say nor resist.

And ye shall be betrayed, both by parents, brethren, kinfolk, friends, some of you shall they cause to be put to death. But not a hair of your head is going to be hurt. No, as the nation of Israel, some of you are going to die. You’re going to be persecuted. All this is going to happen. You’re going to be put in jail, all this. But as a body of believers, God says, I’m going to bring you through. And your testimony is secure.

And they can’t touch a hair in your head until I say so. You see, I believe that God puts little angels around me. He probably got a few around you too. And if you’ll serve the Lord, you don’t have to worry. God can protect you until the time. Otherwise, God is at the mercy of everything else. He goes on and God says, oh, I didn’t want him to die yet. Oh, oh, the devil got that one. I’m not going to start over again.

Now let me see what I can find as though my God in heaven isn’t strong enough to protect. He is, but every one of us has a testimony and God allows things to happen in our life so that we can testify about God is done for us. And he says, you don’t have to worry about it in his man. But now remember, he’s talking to those people that are here during the tribulation period. But I believe that there’s probably some good things that we can apply from the scriptures.

Be careful, you don’t over apply. And then he says here in verse seven, you’re gonna be hated of all men from my name’s sake. But there shall not a hair of your head perish. And I always add in until time, because all men will die. But these that will endure until the end, they’ll still be alive, will be saved to enter into the millennium. And they will be the one that will see the Lord when it comes back in power and great glory.

So you see there in verse 20 when he says, and when ye shall see Jerusalem compass with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. In other words, this is the In the first part of Luke there, we just read, that’s the beginning of sorrows. And then Jerusalem will be surrounded. The Antichrist will claim that he is God and go into the temple. And all this is going to take place. And then he says there in verse 26, men’s hearts failing them for fear, seeing those things that are coming up on the earth.

And as people look out and see all the things that are happening in the world, even in America, they don’t know what to do. When the hard times come, what am I going to do? Are we supposed to worry? Live it fear, even the Lord told them, be ye not terrified. Now I do believe we need to be wise and try to see what’s going on. But notice what he says here. And verse 27, then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud of power and great glory.

When these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draw. Now, this is talking to the people that are living here during the tribulation period. We’ve already been taken out seven years before that. Ain’t that good news? Now, looking verse 29, and behold, he says, he speak a parable, behold the fig tree, and look at the next words. What does the next word say? and all the trees. So it’s not just the fig tree, it’s all the trees.

When all the trees get leaves on them, you know something sticks in the happen. I think spring is close. So whenever he says it, when they now shoot forth and you see and know of your own self, summer is now nigh at hand. Boy, isn’t that a good clue. But he says, you can read the signs and so forth when it’s red and it’s going to have warm weather. He says, but you cannot discern the times in which you live.

So he says here in verse 34, take heed to yourselves. Let at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfacing and drunkenness and cares of this life so that that day come upon you unawared. And as a snare shall it come on all men that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36, watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.

You see, all this is going to come to the people that are going to be living here. The nations are going to come against Israel. They’re going to try to finish what Hitler started years ago. And what Haman tried to do during the time of Esther and captivity, this time is coming and it’s right ahead of us. And as you look at the world saying today, isn’t it true that you know of at least 60 nations that would love to drive Israel into the sea or annihilate Israel altogether?

No other nation like the nation of Israel. And if you look on the mat, it’s a little sliver of land. They ain’t got much. But you know almost all the Nobel Prius prize winners of all times, most of them, they’re Jewish. They’re smart. They know how to make money. They head up everything. God has blessed them that way. And they have followed a lot of the principles that God blesses. And sometimes Gentiles even try to mimic them and copy them.

They can run the movie industry, they can run our health, and they can run the diamond business and you name it. They’re brilliant individuals, smartest men on the earth. And people hate them. But God says, I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee. America better be very careful how we deal with Israel. We’ve been blessed because we have been a blessing and we will be cursed when we become a curse. And right now, if I was Benjamin Netanyahu, I would not trust this President Administration one eye-oater.

In spite of all the things that’s going on in the world, and it’s so easy for me to be caught up into the world affairs, then I could spend all my time fighting all the issues and there’s a lot of them. Or to believe that the most important thing is still so winning and getting the gospel out, trying to get people to trust the Lord. I can’t think of anything better to do. This end represents you and me. The wallet represents sin.

We all have sin on us. Now the Bible says that God, He loves us. Hates our sin, but he loves us. See, God loves the nation of Israel. He hates their sin. He hates their rebellion. He told them, you rebel against me. I’m going to chase in you. And buddy, has he done it? And whenever Christ was there, they said, let his blood be upon us and our children. Okay? That’s what they got for 2,000 years. But see, God does love us.

He hates our sin. the wages in his death, we’re all condemned. This hand represents you and me, we have to be perfect to go to heaven. None of us are perfect. None of us are righteous. We’ve all done things wrong. We cannot save ourselves. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord, God of the flesh. He has no sin. He doesn’t have to die. He came into the world because he loves us. He hates our sin because it separates us from him.

So Jesus Christ took the bool, the sin paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead and said, if we would believe he did it for us, he would put this payment to our account and we get to go to Heaven on what he did. It’s not what we do. We do not have to endure to the end, live a certain way and stop all these bad things and promise to live a good life. And if we live long enough and good enough, we’ll make it someday.

God’s already said, there is none righteous, no not one, there’s none good, no not one. None good, no not one. None seeketh after God. We have all sinned and come short of God’s perfection. So the only thing we can do is to be saved by grace. Grace is unmerited. It’s unmerited. It means you don’t deserve it. You’re not worthy of it. And so all we do is believe that Christ paid for our sins. That He came back from the dead.

Would you believe He did it for you? will God will save and give eternal life. Let’s pray, shall we? If you hear tonight or watching by internet, understand that God does love you. Love you so much. We do live in dark days, but also exciting days. The Lord’s coming soon. Lift up your eyes. He’s coming soon. If you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior, you’re going to heaven, but if you haven’t trusted Christ as your Savior, you won’t go. There’s no two ways to get to heaven only one way.

And it’s only through Christ. Will you trust him? If you will trust him as your only hope of going to heaven. Friend, I’d like to know it. And I’d like to have prayer for you. If you’ve never done it before and you’ve never trusted the Lord, but tonight you say, Yes, that made sense to me. I want to make sure I’m going to heaven when I die. I’m pretty sure what you pray for me. Would you just slip you hand it very quickly and put a Revic down?

Is anyone at all? The only thing that you have to do, it’s the only thing you can do is where you believe that he did it for you. I pray that you will. Father, thank you so much for this time together. We ask your blessings upon each person here. What we do pray for wisdom for those in place of leadership in our country and whether we might live a quiet and peaceful life. We are looking forward to your coming.

But Father, we can see there’s a lot of things happening in this world that’s not good. And we just pray that you give us the strength and the grace that we need to do right. We ask now your blessings upon each person here. Thank you so much for this time together 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 were blessed by today’s message.

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This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

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 1-800-5-7. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calbryoftampa.org. 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.

We’re going to look at our scripture because we have been discussing discussing some difficult passages. This is a difficult passage that many people have a problem with because of where it’s located. It’s very difficult sometimes to explain this verse. And if you will, they’re in Matthew 24. And look in verse 13. Verse 13. He says, but he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved. If you take that verse out of its context, it’s hard enough to explain in context, but if you take it out of the context, it’s even worse.

But if you look at it, it seems to say that those that endure until the end shall be saved. And of course, you know, every time we see the word being saved, it has to be talking about salvation from hell, and it’s always about the gospel. And so they always have this little ring to it. This is what you have to do in order to be saved, have eternal life, to go to heaven whenever you die. You’ve got to endure to the end.

Let’s just pretend you do. If you do have to endure until the end to be saved, what does that mean? If it’s true, and let’s pretend that that’s what it means. that it’s referring to going to heaven, that this is the kernel of the gospel. This is the truth of the gospel you have to endure until the end. So we always want to find out who it’s talking to, and we should find out endure until the end of what?

And we should find out what does he have to endure? Doesn’t that make sense? I mean if that’s what we have to do. So from this one verse alone taken out, it doesn’t answer any of those questions because you don’t know who it’s talking to. And you don’t know what they have to endure. And to the end of what? Your life? So let’s just pretend that you do have to endure to the end of your life. What it boils down to in the various religions is that you have to do these good works and live live righteously until the very end in order to be saved.

If that is true and you have to wait until you have endured to find out if you’re saved, how could you find out if you’re really saved now? Or could you know for sure you’re going to go to heaven when you die if you have to endure to the end. So the problem comes in is what you don’t really know. We hope, we think, we guess because you see if you have to endure to the end to be saved, you don’t know you’re really going to make it until the end.

Doesn’t that make sense? A little bit of sense? If you’re saved by your works, if you’re saved by enduring. So there’s a whole can of worms here that’s opened up because then nobody will know for sure what do you really have to do to endure? Does it mean enduring all temptations, not yielding to temptation? Does it mean not being fallen or failing in all the testing and trials that you go through? Or what if you do some and not the others?

If you do have to endure how many? All of them perfectly? Or can you miss a few? See, there’s no answers to none of that. In the rest of scripture, there’s nothing that will give you any hints as to how faithful do you really have to be? If you did have to go to church, okay? Which one? If you have to give money, how much? If you have to pray, how long? So what if you do some and not the other?

That means that you could not know where you’re going until you have finished enduring whatever it is that you’re going to endure in order to make it. So therefore, I come to this conclusion. It might not mean that. Maybe it’s talking about something that you’re going to do. talking about something else. And if it is, what is it talking about? Now here in the book of Matthew chapter 24, the disciples had come to Christ, asking some questions. You know, one of these things going to happen.

You know, the destruction of this temple. And, well, what’s going to be the sign of thy coming, the time of the end? So Jesus begins to answer these questions. But I want I want you to see in various scriptures how that when you put them all together, it does pinpoint a time when those that endure unto the end shall be saved. So if you’ll look very quickly there in verse 8, in verse 8 talks about all these are the beginning of sorrows.

15, when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophets, standing in the holy place. You’ve got a problem. The reason is, he had just told them that the temple that they were looking at is going to be destroyed. Now he’s talking to them about a time when there’s going to be a temple built and the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet will stand in the holy place so that means there’s going to be another temple but it’s far off into the future so we know that this period of time that he’s talking about in Matthew in verse 15 chapter 24 when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet sent in the holy place that’s here during the seven-year tribulation period.

He is back here talking to his disciples. This is 2,000 years ago. That’s a pretty long time ago. So evidently he wasn’t talking about them but who they represented. When ye therefore shall see, well they wouldn’t, because see this is going to happen here in the tribulation period. So we know that verse 15 is the middle of the tribulation period, this seven-year period of time. So in verse 8 when he says, these are the beginning of sorrows. He’s talking about the first three and a half years.

The first three and a half years of the tribulation period is what we kind of see coming up on the scenes now. If you just look in the world and all the things that are going on, things that you know that we are not going to stop. We know the direction that it’s going, we know where it’s all hidden, and we’re not going to be able to prevent it. If I could, I would. But you realize how many people’s minds have got to be changed.

But when you know the Scriptures and you know what the Bible says is going to take place, you can bet your bottom dollar. It’s going to take place. So we have the seven year tribulation period, we have the beginning of sorrows, and he’s talking to the people that are going to be living during this period of time. And there’ll be multitudes of people that will be killed during the tribulation period. So look there with me in verse nine. Verse nine says, then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you.

But wait a minute, they’re going to be all killed. I can’t there be anything else left? Some of them will be killed and some of them will be done this way and everybody’s going to hate you and so forth. But there’s always a remnant, a remnant. Even though they were the sands of the seed, there will be a few. That’s why in Sodom and and Gomorrah, a few, the flood, a few, and doing the tribulation period by the time it is over with, there’ll be a few.

Look what he says in verse 22, and except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. So I believe we’re talking about being physically left alive, that if God does not intervene, it is possible that man can destroy man from the face of the earth. Many people already believe that, that it’s possible. This is probably the only main thing that’s keeping our big nations that has all these warheads from attacking because, well, they can just annihilate each other.

and then the people on Guam would rule the world. But you have here a warning about what’s going to take place, and he says that many will be killed, look there in verse 9, and hated of all nations for my name’s sake. Now if they’re hated of all nations, what nation do you think all these nations are hating? The nation of Israel. Now, think for a moment of all the nations on the face of the earth who is the most hated nation in the world.

And there is nobody like Israel that’s hated. Beside well America’s hated. But I believe that there’s a possibility either America has to drastically change and it probably will change for the worse or be annihilated. Or this country would be great for a last one-world government leader to have control of. Because if you had access to all of the power in America, you could control the world. You realize that? The wrong man that the head of this country could control the world.”

Well, what I want you to see, they’ll be hated in the verse 10, “…then shall many be offended and shall betray one another, hate one another, many false prophets shall arise, deceive many, because iniquity shall abound, and the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Now I believe up front that there’s a good possibility that he’s talking to those people during this period of time, the nation of Israel.

And though individuals in the nation will be killed, the nation will still be a remnant. There will still be a group of people that will survive all of this persecution, even though the nations of the world may want to annihilate the nation of Israel, God will preserve His people. There will still be a remnant. And those that endure to the end of this period of time will be the seed that begins the Davidic Kingdom upon the earth. So they will be saved to enter into the millennium.

Now that’s just a rough idea at this point. Because I know that it’s not talking about nobody ever has to endure anything in this world or work for his salvation. That’s contrary to all scripture. So I automatically have to rule that out. Because I will not try to interpret a muddy verse with another muddy verse someplace, but try to understand so-called verses that seems to say with a verse like Ephesians 2 8 9 because they cannot contradict Ephesians 2 8 9.

You’re saved by grace, not of works. That verse could not be compatible if we’re talking about salvation of the soul. Therefore I believe it could be talking about the salvation of the body, being delivered, being totally destroyed in verse 22 where it says, except those days be short, no flesh would be left alive or saved. Now what I want you to do is look in verse 32. Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branches yet tender, put it forth, lays you know that summer’s nine.

Now here this phrase is used, but it’s also used in several other scriptures. And a few other places, it’s not just the fig tree, but it also adds all trees. Now it’s normal that we take and say, well, Israel is a type of a fig tree. So this fig tree has to be Israel and therefore Israel is the sign that when Israel becomes the nation, all the people that were existed when Israel became a nation will be existing and living when Christ comes back again.

that it sounds good, but there is a possibility that the fig tree that’s mentioned here is a fig tree. A fig tree just might be A fig tree. It’s using it as an example of a fig tree that has leaves. You know that summer’s nigh. And if you see all these things starting to come to pass and you’re living here during this period of time, you’re supposed to know, behold, he’s at the doors and behold your redemption, draweth nigh, lift up your eyes.

The Son of Man is coming. They wanted to know what is the sign of thy coming. And the sign of His coming is whenever the light shines from the east to the west and behold, boom, all of a sudden you’ll see Him coming in power and great glory. Immediately after the tribulation of those days. So there’s a good possibility that the fig tree just means fig tree. It could refer to Israel, but there’s more to it than meets the eye because it’s talking about some other things that’s going to happen during this period of time.

And if you notice there in verse 33, so likewise, when ye shall see all these things, when you see all these things, like a fig tree that brings forth leaves, you know this. And if you see all these things, you’ll know this is near. And so it’s not to me that hard are complicated. And it’s talking about a short period of time because they will not only go through this but they will make it to the end of this.

So there’s a possibility this could be what we’re talking about. Now take your Bible and look in the book of Mark chapter 13. Mark chapter 13. Mark chapter 13, if you’ll notice there in verse 14, verse 14, each one will refer to the same period of time, but they also talk about this one problem, though that endure to the end. And I believe each one maybe gives you just a little bit of an insight here. So in Mark chapter 13, look there first of all in verse 5 where he says, Jesus answering them began to say, take heed lest any man deceive you.

For many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ, shall deceive many. When ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled, for such things must needs be, but the end shall not be yet. So it’s talking about the end of something else that’s going on, and there’s going to be again wars and rumors of wars, but the end is it yet. So if the end is talking about how to get to heaven, then it doesn’t even fit.

It’s talking about something else. In verse 8, for nation shall rise against nation. Now the word nation here is like F-nost from where we get to where ethnic refer to race. Now you listen to the news today and you try to tell me that we don’t have a race problem anymore because everybody just loves everybody. In America, you know, it’s just a melting pot and we’re all one. If you listen to what’s going on, race against race and kingdom, the word bossa leah, Tomat nation against nation.

So it’s not going to get better in the future. here in the book of Mark. Look what he says there in the last part of verse saying, these are the beginning of sorrows. See that’s the same thing we read over the book of Matthew. Now in verse 10, and the gospel must first be published among all nations. It’s going to be published. This is during the seven-year tribulation period. And then in verse 11, but when they shall lead you and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate.

But whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that’s speaking for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. Now the brothers shall betray the brother to death, and the father, the son, and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. Now when we call them to death, you think we’re talking about heaven and hell or maybe physical life. I think whenever you look at it, it’s not talking about those that endure to the end, You get to go to heaven whenever they die because they endured it.

It’s not even this context. It has nothing to do with what the Bible is talking about. And the Bible does not teach that a man has to endure to the end of his life if he wants to be saved. If that’s true, then nobody can know they’re saved until they have actually endured and then they’ll have to be judged upon that. See if salvation is free, if it is by grace, as you can have it now. I don’t deserve it now any more than I will 20 years in the future.

If God ain’t going to give it to me now because, well, because I don’t deserve it, well, I’m not going to deserve it later. But if He’s going to give it to me as a gift and totally free and buy grace, well, He can give it to me now, and in the future shouldn’t take it away because I’m still the dirty rascal I’ve always been. I’m no better in the future than I am now. I’m still me, an old nature.

So when you trust Christ as your Savior, is it possible that God who loves you and can give you eternal life as a gift? Won’t take it away And maybe he’s the one that will keep you saved. I don’t have to keep me saved. He’s gonna keep me saved Who are kept by the power of God? not by the power of man and Look what you see here in verse 13 and ye shall be hated of all men from my name saved But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

Now we’ll talk about dead, dead, dead, dying, all that stuff. But those that endure to the end of this time of persecution, another scripture talked about a time or day of judgment. While we’re right here, look in Matthew 10, Matthew 10. And you’ll notice that many of the same things we’re reading About what’s coming in the future is going to a little bit more light shed on these statements in another portion of scripture see there Matthew chapter 10 You’ll notice that he is talking in verse one and when he had called unto him his twelve disciples He gave them power and then he says there in verse five these twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying go not into the way of the Gentiles and and into any city of the Samaritans into you not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of

Israel. So what he’s saying here now is he’s talking to his disciples about the nation of Israel. Remember the tribulation period that’s coming upon the earth deals with Israel. And all nations are going to gather against Israel. And in Zechariah chapter 12, and it makes a statement, and he says, for I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the nations of the world. Be like a hot potato.” And so it deals with the nation of Israel. Notice what he says here.

In Matthew in chapter7601, he tells him what to do, to go in all this, and I’m looking verse 15, verily I send you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. Now that’s an illustration, but see this tribulation of God is God’s day of judgment, God’s day of wrath upon not only Israel, but upon all the nations that comes against Israel. So that’s going to be a judgment upon the whole world.

And God is going to affect the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, the trees, the grass, the water, the animals, the people, everything. Read Revelation chapter 16, when God pours out His vows upon the earth. All these things are coming. And then He makes this statement down there 291, but beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils. They will scourge you in their synagogue. Beware of men. So in this chapter, it’s warning against the people that can bring you harm, but not to fear, not to be afraid.

And so there’s three things that’s mentioned here in Matthew chapter 10 that deals with the subject of be, not afraid of what man can do to you. You see there in Verse 26, fear them not, therefore, there’s nothing covered that shall not be revealed. In verse 28, fear not them which kill the body. Verse 31, fear ye not, for ye are of more value than many sparrows. And if God knows when the sparrow hits the ground, he’s also knowledgeable about his people.

AndParents are going to die during this period of time. WARN And all of those that endureraught to the end of this period of time and to the end are going to be the saved that goes into the millennium. Now, go back there, verse 18. Now, go back there, verse 18. says the things that will happen to you are for you to have an opportunity. They give a testimony. Now, I can take this verse and apply it to my life.

Everything that happens in your life. The good and the so-called bad are opportunities for you and I. They give a testimony. We don’t just give testimonies when everything’s going good. We give a testimony even when things go bad because even when things don’t go good, you’re still testifying by your attitude. The words you say, the mood you’re in, all those things are speaking and saying what you believe about God. So that’s why we have to be very careful. But He says here in verse 18 for a testimony against them and get what else He says here and the Gentiles.

So what we read in Matthew 24 and also there in the book of Mark 13 and here is It’s all talking about the period of time that is ahead of us, and it’s talking about enduring to the end, and talking about physical life, I believe. Now, notice something else in verse 19. But they deliver you up, take no thought, how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given to you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

We read that just a while ago in another portion of scripture. In verse 20, for it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your Father, which is in spigot in you. Now get verse 21, and the brother shall deliver up the brother to death. The child or the father, the child, the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to what? Death. So we’re living at a time where in the future, our government is going to cause or instill within people the fear of government more so than anything else.

And people will report on people. People will spy on each other. People will inform on each other. The where even the father against the children, the families, the brothers against the brothers. You stop and think, are we living in a time where even like for example, the IRS might even be willing to pay you to inform on others that are cheating on their taxes. We would never get to that, would we? Did you know you can already do that?

Did you know that there’s a time coming in the future where it might even lead to death? I mean, I’d give them whenever to go that far though. You see, any government that’s big enough to do anything for you is big enough to do anything to you, right? So there’s people today that want the government to do everything for them. Well that means you’re going to have to do everything for the government. That’s the only way to work. 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. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at six o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.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. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.

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 through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you’ll enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

When you read the gospel of John and chapter three, and it says you must be born again. To be born again is by the Spirit of God. And you and I need to understand as many as received Him, to them receive the power, the right, the authority, to become the sons of God. So we have become a child of God by receiving Jesus Christ. When you received him as your Savior, as the one who died for you. So when you believe that when Christ died on the cross, and that he was buried, that he came back alive from the grave, that he did all of that just for you.

Like I said last week, forget about Christ dying for the sins of the world just for a moment, and pretend in your own mind he did that just for me. And the only way just little though you can go to heaven is that you must believe he did it for you. Now doesn’t it make sense to do that, to believe it? That’s the only requirement. If he told you to stop all those sins, you can’t do it. It’s impossible.

If he told you to live a godly life, you can’t do it. You are naturally rebellious. You are naturally sinful. It’s your nature. Regardless of that inward desire that you want to live a perfect life, it is impossible. So God says, forget about the world. He did this just for you. So when you believe He did it for you, He gives you a new birth. Doesn’t change the old one. He gives you a new one. This new one is pure.

And that’s how God washes you from the old one is because He takes you and gives you a new one that doesn’t have a sinful nature. So you have been washed, cleansed of all of your sins that you’ve ever done or ever will do. God separated you from your sins. He separated you from your sinful nature. One day He’s going to separate me from this body and give me a new body. He can even take this old body and change it.

And He will. I’m hoping very soon. But you see, you have been washed by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. Now that’s found in chapter three and verse five in the book of Titus, and you need to read that verse. But so you and I have been washed, made clean. Your soul in the eyes of God has been made purest, white as snow. God has done these wonderful things for us, all because of the payment that Christ made on the cross for us.

I wrote a little poem and I called it, I Beheld the Great Divine. How in the world can this great big old mighty God? How can he think about lo me? Now I know he thought about you too, but just that he thought about me is enough to blow my mind. And this mighty God made it possible for me to see him through the dates of grace. Only with the eye of faith. When I believed that through the cross of Christ, he gave to me eternal life.

For all eternity. That’s something to talk about. It’s a wonderful story. And this is how it goes. Just listen to it. I don’t have no music. The choir is not oo and an awn in the background. You don’t have to sway back and forth. But I do want you to listen to the words of this little song that I wrote, because it really does deal with this wonderful thing about what God has done for us. The heavens declare the power of God, the earth, the work of his hands, the world he made, and the word he gave, placed his feet, Upon the sand, I saw the Lord from the mountain peak, and I saw a man so small, I could not see how this mighty God could think of me at all.

O, with the eye of faith through the gates of grace, I beheld the great divine, through the cross of Christ’s eternal life was designed with me in mine. come now and let us reason, says the Lord so long ago. Though your sins are now as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, for the blood of Christ removes the stain that’s caused by sin and shame. His death, His grave, was the payment made, He arose to come again. Some day I’ll stroll the streets of gold through all eternity, for eyes will see and ears will hear the things God has for me, who in the eye of pay through the gates of grace I beheld the great divine.

Through the cross of Christ, He gave me eternal life. I was designed with Him and me in mine. Can you believe that He’s done all of that just for us? We deserve zero. Did you realize the heavens and the earth were designed for you and me? I don’t need those things. Did you realize that God made you just for Him, to please Him, to bring Him joy? He wasn’t made for you. You were made for Him. That this great big mighty powerful God designed all of this with you in mind.

Not a coincidence. The whole story of the cross, of God taking an individual who deserves absolute nothing and doing something for us. That’s grace. So with the eye of faith and what God’s Word says through the gates of grace, because only through grace can a man ever see the great divine. And yet God did all of this just for you and me. Look what else he says here in verse 11, He are sanctified. It means that God has not only washed you and made you clean, He’s made you pure and holy and set apart.

And then the next part says He are justified. This is how God sees you, just as if you had never done anything in your whole life wrong. All the sins that we have ever done past, present and future have all been put on Christ and he died in my place. And watch me as white as snow. I deserve nothing. That’s grace. And God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever anybody in the world would be lead that He did it for them, that He would put that payment of their account and you would not perish but have everlasting life.

You can know that you’re going to heaven when you’re dying. Now how did He do all of this? And the last part of that verse says? You’re washed, you’re sanctified, you’re justified because you kept the 10 commandments and you turn from all of your sin, make Christ the Lord master of your life. I didn’t say that. You won’t find any verse in the Bible that says if you stop all those bad things you can inherit the kingdom of God.

Now God says unless you’re born again, you can’t see it or enter it. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. the man that says, Lord, what must I do to inherit eternal life? You can inherit eternal life. And by the time Christ got through with him, he realized it was impossible. He used the law to show him you have all these riches. He says, sell everything that you have because the man was guilty of covetousness. And he walked away sorrowful because he wasn’t going give up any of those things.

He broke the law. Thou shalt not covet. So Christ used the law to show the domain, see, you cannot inherit eternal life. That’s only for the children of God. See, as a child of God, my new birth, born of God, had been made pure and holy. Therefore, as a child of God, see, I can inherit the kingdom of God. I can inherit eternal life. I’m his child. All of God children go to heaven. So as a child of God in this life, God doesn’t want me to live like the devil.

He doesn’t want me to live wickedly. If I do, I should understand Christ paid for the sin. Yes, I go to heaven when I die because you see it’s the new birth that’s going to heaven, not the Owen. So take your Bible and turn with me to the book of Ephesians in chapter 4. Ephesians in chapter 4 and and look there in verse 20. As you and I study the Word of God, we understand more and more that, yes, God’s our Father, we are His children, and He wants His children to imitate Him, to be like Him, to walk like Him, think like Him, talk like Him.

But He says, you’re going to have to be taught. So you see there in verse 20, but you have not so learned Christ. You see, whenever you as a child of God, you need to be taught the way Christ is. That’s why we studied the Bible. That’s why Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, all the time we studied the Bible. Why? Because the Bible teaches us as a child of God, how to think, how to live. When people say, I don’t need church, God says you do.

See, you’re lacking there. It’s pretty stupid, really, to say you don’t need what God says you need. I don’t need to study the Bible. God says you do. Are you smarter than God? I don’t think so. You reveal your wisdom by the decisions that you make. So the more the Bible is taught, the more you want to hear and more you want to listen, more you want to learn. But look what He says there in verse 21. If so be that you have heard Him and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus, You see, you’re going to put off the works of the old man if you’ve been taught how to do such.

Because see, you have to put on something if you take off something, the principle of replacement. Look up here. This is our first birth when we’re born into the world. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And that’s where we are. We live in this whole body. So God says you’re not his child. You cannot inherit eternal life and you produce all these sins that comes from that old sinful nature. So God says the only way you must be born again.

He didn’t say stop all of this. He says you must be born again. So when you trusted Christ as your Savior and him alone as your only hope of getting out of this situation, you were born of God. Now that you’re born of God, this is the new birth. the new birth born of God has no sinful nature. No sinful nature cannot sin, cannot sin, cannot die. This is a new birth. This one can inherit eternal life. This one gets to inherit the kingdom of God.

This is the one that’s going to heaven when you die. So God says, as a child of God, you have an old man and you have a new man. He says, put off the old man. In other words, as a child of God, don’t live like this. Don’t live like a lost man. Live like a new man. You’re a child of the king. Live like a child of the king. Act like a child of the king. Use the language of your father.

Look what else he says here. In verse 22 that you put off concern in the former behavior conversation. The old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. That’s this one over here. That’s the old one. God gave you a new birth and gives you a choice. And that choice is will you now walk in the But according to the deceitful lust, that’s this one over here. That’s the old one. God gave you a new birth and gives you a choice.

And that choice is will you now walk in the… Spirit. Look what he says in verse 23. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. The spirit of your mind. God says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. See when you got to say God didn’t transform your life. He gave you a new birth but he didn’t transform your life. Your life will be transformed from this one to this one as you renew your mind.

And as you study the Word of God and learn Christ and apply those principles in your life, your life will be changed. See, a lot of people trust Christ to say that they have eternal life, they’re going to heaven when they die, but their lives are not changed. Are you still safe? Sure. You’re just not maturing in the Lord. You’re not going to grow strong in the Lord. One day, yes, this one, this old man, he gonna die. And they’ll just take that old body of yours and bury it.

But absent from the body, present with the Lord. You get to be with the Lord in heaven. So he says in verse 24, and that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness, and what? True holiness. as holy as God. Whew, that’s this one, not this one. So you and I, we struggle between these two. We go back and forth between the new and the old. Sometimes we can be so wonderful and so sweet and so holy and so godly.

And boom, just that quick. We can become so mean and so ugly and so hateful. True? You know it’s true. But see, there’s some people to tell you that, well, if you still have the old man and those desires to do wrong, that’s a sign you’re not saved. It is not. It’s a sign that he’s still alive. And when you trust Christ as your Savior, He gives you a new birth. This one is born of God. Now, I want you to see this.

Look in chapter 5. Chapter 5 in verse 1, where it says, little children, be, therefore, followers of God as their children. It means to imitate your heavenly Father. Then he talks about how we’re supposed to walk. And he says, to walk as Christ loved us. Then look what he says in verse 5, for this ye know, no hormonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God? So here you are, and you’re a child of God.

This man has nothing to do with the kingdom of God. He isn’t going. So why should you let this old man influence you? Do you realize who you are? Do you realize where you’re going? Live here now the way God sees you. You are washed. You are sanctified. You are justified. That’s how God, your heavenly Father, sees you. And He says, look, imitate me. You know the shame of a lot of people is they want to be some Hollywood star.

Some of these guys that all this junk and music Trash, teenagers want to… That’s their heroes. That ought not be. You know the Lord ought to be your hero. He’s the one you want to be like. More than anything else in the world. He ought to have the greatest influence in your life, the Lord. Because you see, the way we were, we didn’t have a chance. God did what He did because He loved you. He saved you all by grace.

You deserved nothing. I deserved nothing. And we’re going to inherit all of that because God allowed us to be born into His family as His child. And that day when you trusted Christ as your Savior, maybe you didn’t understand all that God has for you. But one day eyes will see and ears will hear all the things God’s promised us. So he made the statement up here in verse three, he says, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be in your underline these two words, not once named among you as become of saints.

You see, you were a saint because you were sanctified, made pure and holy by Christ. You are a saint of God. Now God says, as a saint of God, don’t let those sins of the old man be once named among you. Well, that’s almost an impossible life to live. And yet the Bible says God gave us the Holy Spirit to indwell us to help us, to live the way God wants us to live. And he says that when you fail, we have an advocate with the Father.

I’ve got somebody better than Perry Mason, never lost a case. Jesus Christ is my lawyer, and he defends me. And God says, if I will confess my sin to my Father, he is faithful and just to forgive me and will cleanse me from all unrighteousness. That’s because I am his child. And only even my Father can forgive me of things that I do after I’m sages, because when Christ died, He paid for all those sins, not only the past, but also the future.

See, your heavenly Father cannot forgive you of a sin in the future if His Son had not already paid for it in the past. Did you understand? Can you really follow my thinking? I sure hope so. Take to speak for an hour and nobody gets what I’m saying. But as you go down through here, it will make so much sense that you see and understand as a child of God, God wants us to serve him. But we don’t serve the Lord to get to heaven.

There’s things that God doesn’t want his children to do. You are a saint of God, live like one. And don’t worry about somebody accusing you of you who you think you are, some little holy Joe, you’re better than everybody else, oh you’re way up here, Mr. Righteous, huh? Let them say whatever they want. You just make sure between you and your heavenly Father you wanna please him. And other people who mock you because you wanna live a godly life and a righteous life.

It’s because your righteous life is a rebuke to their unrighteous life. If you live godly, their lives become ashamed to them. So the only way to justify themselves is try to bring you down and they will buddy they’ll get out that little magnifying glass and see what they can find is fault in your life so they can justify why they don’t do what they should do. Look up here, this hand represents you and me. The wallet represents all the bad things we’ve done.

Have we done any of those? Everybody has This field, everybody, flesh and blood, have all sinned. And because we’ve all sinned, we’re all condemned. Because we’ve all sinned, we have a debt to pay. The wages of sin is death. But God loves us, and He wants us to go to heaven, but to go to heaven, not one sin can get in. So God has got to work away. This plan of salvation, the plan on how God can get us who have no right to go to heaven.

How is he going to do it? Man could not have figured out this plan. You see, if it was left up to us, we would just try to improve our lives by not doing some of these bad things. And then just the good ones you get to go in the bad ones. Oh, see, that’s religion. Almost all religions teach the same thing. You’ve got to be good. And it won’t work. God had a better plan than what man has.

Here’s God’s plan. God says, you can’t earn it. You can’t work for it. You don’t deserve it. I’ve got a good idea. I’ll send my son into the world. And he’ll live here for 33 years. and he will not commit one sin, so he won’t have to die. I’m going to let my son be sacrificed and die in your place. So Christ came and took our sins and died in my place. And God said that he raised him from the dead.

And he says, if you and I would just believe he did it for us. I’ve had people say, well, that’s that easy believerism. You know, it’s easier to believe that you have to work your way to heaven than it is to accept it as a gift. To earn your way to heaven, that’s easy beliefism. It’s easy to believe that. It’s been in the coming. People believe it. Majority of people do not believe that eternal life had been totally paid for.

And all that we have to do is accept it as a gift. Most people don’t believe that. There might be somebody sitting here right now or watching on the internet that never really have accepted Christ as their only hope of going to heaven because they believe they have to have a part. They got to be good a little bit. They got to help when God’s already said, no. No help needed. It is finished, paid for and for. Would you simply accept it as a gift?

And when you do, God says you become His child, you get to go to heaven. Wash from all of your sins by giving you a new birth that has no sinful nature. You have been made pure and holy. You have been justified just as if you have never and declared righteous. See when he says, no you not, that the unrighteous, but that’s the law. You and I have been declared righteous. So when God sees me, God sees a righteous man, not because I live righteously.

When God sees me, he sees a saint, not because I live like a saint, but because he hath declared me such. Let’s pray. With every head bowed and every eye closed, and no one looking around. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, friend, right now is probably the best time to do so. Not tomorrow, right now. You see, God knows who you are, and He loves you. He paid for your sins. Friend, don’t worry about your sins. He’s already took care of that.

You can’t earn eternal life. You can’t work your way there. So why not right now in the quietness of this moment just between you and the Lord’s and Lord? I believe Christ died for me, and I’m going to trust him right now as my Savior. And friend God said, if you would believe it, He would give you the free gift of eternal life. And you become His child. Can you imagine? You walk in here and in just a brief moment of time, by faith alone, you become a child of God with eternal life.

Isn’t that good news? That’s the best news in the world. So if you’re making that decision, never done it before. I’d like to know and I’d like to have prayer for you. I’m going to ask you if you’ll just slip your hand out very quickly and put it right back down. I’m not going to embarrass you. I’m not going to have you stand up and come forward. But as anyone at all say, yes, preacher, that made sense to me and I will trust Christ as my Savior this morning.

I want to be certain going to heaven. In one I’ll be full of clothes. And we’re done. If you trusted Christ as your Savior, your chalice of God, you’ve been declared righteous. Serve the Lord with all your heart, not to get to heaven, but because you are going there. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, You can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.org.

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

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 the end of the day. 1-800-576-3771. One-line donations may be made through the Bible-lined website at calvaryoftampa.org.

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. There’s difficult passages in scripture and sometimes it helps you when you can explain them without too much difficulty yourself. So we’re gonna take a look at another difficult passage here this morning. So take your Bible and turn to 1 Corinthians in chapter six. 1 Corinthians and chapter six.

See, when you don’t have an answer for a difficult passage, sometimes it can stunt your growth because you have a question and you can’t get an answer and therefore you have a little mental anguish, and you’re afraid to talk to somebody because you have fear, somebody’s gonna ask you a question and you don’t know the answer to it. So first Corinthians in chapter six, I want you to look there with me in verse nine. In verse nine it says, No you not, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor feminine, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Now that’s not all-inclusive, but it includes an awful lot of things. So what if you ever were a drunkard or a liar or you go back to it? This verse has caused a lot of people a lot of problems, especially whenever you hear someone say that you’re saved by grace just like you are and that you don’t have to stop anything or join anything, start anything.

Just as you are, you can trust Christ to save. You’re having turned to life and go to heaven when you die. Well, what happens if you start doing all these bad things after you got saved? So therefore people say, well, those people can’t inherit eternal life, so they can’t go. So therefore, you can lose your salvation. In other words, you may be saved today and you can lose your salvation later. So it causes a lot of people a lot of problems.

And there needs to be a very simple, clear explanation and that there is one. No, I will get to that just a little bit. Now, take your Bible and turn to the book of Galatians in chapter 5, the book of Galatians and chapter 5. See, as a Christian, you can’t be afraid of certain scriptures or verses that seems to say something. That’s why you studied the Bible to try to find out what does it say. And that’s why you have a question you asked the pastor.

You may not know everything. This one doesn’t. But I might try to find the answer for you. So look there in chapter 5 of the book of Galatians in verse 19. This is similar to what we read just a moment ago. But here he says in verse 19, now the works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, less civiousness, idolatry, which craft? hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies. Just believe in the wrong thing. Envyine, murders, drunkenness, reveling in such light of the witch I tell you before.

As I’ve told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Here is a few more things in the list than what was in the other list. So man, is there another list? Is everything down here? And so you begin to look at this thing and you know, you could begin to question your own salvation after you got saved. Raph, strife. You ever argue with your wife? Ooh. Are you alive? Hatred?

Hate? I can’t go to heaven? You know, it just seems like it almost eliminates everybody. I mean, the only ones that get to go to heaven is perfect people, like me and Peter Amato, maybe James. Still questionable about James. So you think, well, who in the world is going to go? So take your Bible and look in 1 Corinthians and chapter 15. 1 Corinthians and chapter 15. And look in verse 50, verse 50. Now this is important for you to understand what he’s saying here.

In verse 50 says, Now this I say brethren, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither death, corruption, inherit, in corruption. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Now it doesn’t have the long list here, but it says the same thing. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And before it would just list those things and says if you do those things. You cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. You say, well, what’s so important about the Kingdom of God?

Well, it’s pretty important. We might say it another way. You can’t go to heaven. Oh, take your Bible and look in the Gospel of John chapter 3, the Gospel of John and chapter 3. There’s a brief little story here about a man named Nicodemus who was a ruler of the Jews. He came unto Jesus by night. Set unto Him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do the miracles that thou doest except God be with him.”

And then it says in verse 3, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, accept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Oh, look at verse 5. Jesus answered, very, very, very, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit. He cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Well, if I don’t want to go to the kingdom of God, I guess it’s okay. But notice before he kept talking about, you cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these adultery and fornication and righteousness and wickedness and all these things cannot inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6 says the same thing cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Well, blessed be God, who does inherit the kingdom of God? Is there anyone who qualifies? How good do you have to be? Well, evidently, if you do all those things, you can’t go.

Well, then he makes the statement, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So what’s the answer? Well, he mentions it right here in verse 3. Except a man, turned from his sins, makes Christ the Lord master of his life, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Well, if I’m doing all those things, I can’t inherit it. So maybe if I stop, I can’t. He doesn’t say that either. You won’t find one verse in the Bible that says, if you stop all you’re sending, you’ll get to go.

Not one. So why do people think that you have to stop being like that and stop being bad and you’ll get to go to heaven? Well, because that’s just the natural thing. You know, good people deserve to go to heaven. Bad people deserve to go to hell. And you know that. Isn’t that fair? I hear a lot about being fair lately in the news, on politics especially. Everybody ought to pay their fair, share. Well isn’t it only fair for good people to go to heaven?

It’s fair. Okay now, who’s the one that gets to decide who’s good and who’s bad? Isn’t that a good question? I’ll decide. Would you like it to be in my hands to decide who gets to go and who doesn’t get to go? You’ve been good. You’ve been bad. Would you want your eternal destination in my hands? Alright, let’s put it in God’s hands. We’ll let God decide. And what does God decide? He says, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

And all those people that did all those things. bad things, they can’t go either. O, Giroki, who gets to go? The Lord says, none of you. He says, there is none good, not one. There is none righteous, not one. Well, at least with me, half of you would have got there. See there? See how bad your judgment is already? Now, what he did say here, if you looked at in verse 5, Jesus answered very, very, very, I say unto thee, except the man behaves himself and goes to Calvary Community Church and pays 50%.

You know, inflation. Did you know he doesn’t say that you got to stop doing all those bad things? He did say one thing that you had to do, because he said, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. flesh and blood. Who’s flesh and blood? Everybody born into the world. We have a flesh and blood body. So none of us can inherit eternal life. No flesh, no person, nobody can inherit the kingdom of God. Why? Because see, the kingdom of God is a perfect place.

And if you went there the way you are and And the way I am, it won’t be perfect anymore. That’s why I always say, if you find a perfect church, don’t join it. Why? Because you’ll be the problem. Because you’re not perfect. And you will not find that perfect church you’re looking for either. Where’s close as they come, but know that. Now look in verse three, one more time. Verily, verily I say unto you, Accept a man be born again.

Evidently, this is the only thing that a man has to do. The only way he can see the kingdom of God. And he says in verse five, very, very I say unto you, accept a man be born of water and of the Spirit. He cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So you can’t see it and you can’t enter it. And it’s the sense you cannot inherit it unless you’ve been born again. So you see, the desire of a man is always to try to improve himself to be good enough to make it someday.

And God says that won’t work. You must be born again. So many people say, well, the word water here means to be baptized in water. So if it does mean that, then you could take the word born and change it to the word baptized, if that’s what it means. So in verse three, very, very I send to you, except the man be baptized in water again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. Verse five, Jesus answered and said unto him, except the man be baptized in water, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

You say, well that goes okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. back to verse 4. And Nicodemus said unto him, How can a man be baptized when he is old? Can he end of the second time unto his mother’s womb and be baptized? Being born and being baptized is not the same thing. It’s not the same thing. Paul says, Christ sent me not to baptize, but you have to be born again. But he did say to preach the gospel. So the gospel and been baptized in water are not the same thing.

See, when you trusted Christ as your Savior, you were born again, born into God’s family. It’s the new birth. The first birth cannot inherit the kingdom of God because you’re not a child of God. The only ones who inherit the kingdom of God enter the kingdom of God, say the kingdom of God are those that are born again. Born from above. So it’s a new birth that you have to have. Now take your Bible and go back with me to the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 6.

1 Corinthians and chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and notice something. We’re talking to those who already know the Lord. But these people here in Corinth, well they were some wicked people. And they were wicked before Paul got there. And they had a lot of the sins of the people that were they were with the cause of the temple, prostitutes, and all kind of wicked stuff that was going on. And people would have their sex orgies and men with their mothers and all kinds of this wicked.

It’s even mentioned in chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians, the whole story about it. No, don’t read it now. But in 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9, he says this, “‘No ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.'” You see, the unrighteous is the lost man. Everyone born into this world where unrighteous means we’re not righteous, we’re unrighteous. Because we’re unrighteous, man can’t make himself righteous. That’s what you are. You are lost. You can’t get yourself to be found.

You don’t know the way. You’re lost. You cannot find your way to God. No man can. All religions is man trying to find God. And that’s why if you’re trying to find God, means you haven’t found God. And that’s why people are trusted in their good works, hoping that that will be acceptable to God. So he says, the unrighteous, the lost man, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Flesh and blood, the first birth which he was born with, cannot go to heaven because you see you have a sinful nature, God won’t let that in.

You’ve got wickedness, God won’t let that in. Heaven is a perfect place, and God says, and there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defile of the work of the abomination, nothing, not even a lie. Because see, God is perfect, and God requires perfection, and none of us are perfect. So he says here in verse nine, be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. thieves and covetous, nor drunkards, nor evilers, nor extorsioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

None of these works of the flesh will ever enter into heaven. What is another way of saying, no sin can enter there. Lost people will not be in heaven. Only save people. But And who are these say people? We were these lost people. This is the way we were. We had a flesh birth. And our flesh birth is not sufficient to get us into heaven. It’ll never be good enough. Can never perform enough good works. And all the bad things you have ever done cannot be undone by all the good works you do.

All the good works from the time you’re born to the time you die will never take away one sin you’ve ever committed. And therefore because of that one sin, your guilty of all. The wages of sin, eternal separation from God and hell, and so it doesn’t look too purty. So he makes a statement here in verse 11. Verse 11, such were some of you. not all of you did all those things, not all of you did just the same thing, but all of you have done some of these things.

So you can list certain ones and we’ve all done some of this, and some of you all have been adulterers, and some of you maybe have been murders, and some of you have been thieves, and some of you have been, well whatever it is, because we’ve all done things wrong, but maybe not all the same things. Everyone in this room is guilty before God. We have all sinned. We all sin alike, but we don’t all sin alike. So in verse 11 he says, and such were some of you, but get this, ye are, ye are, ye are.

It’s mentioned there three times in that verse, ye are, ye are what? You’re washed. Ye are sanctified and ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. See, when you read the Gospel of John in chapter 3, and it says you must be born again. To be born again is by the Spirit of God. And you and I need to understand as many as received Him. To them receive the power, the right, the authority, to become the sons of God.

So we have become a child of God byediahting Jesus Christ. When you received Him as your Savior, there’s the one who died for you. So, when you believe that when Christ died on the cross, and that He was buried, and that He came back alive from the grave, that He did all of that just for you. Like I’,”s said -> last week, forget about Christ dying for the sins of the world just for a moment, and pretend in your own mind, He did that just for me.

And the only way just linlow you can go to heaven is that you must believe he did it for you. Now doesn’t it make sense to do that, to believe it? That’s the only requirement. If he told you to stop all those sins, you can’t do it. It’s impossible. If he told you to live a godly life, you can’t do it. You are naturally rebellious. You are naturally sinful. It’s your nature. Regardless of that inward desire that you want to live a perfect life, it is impossible.

So God says, forget about the world. He did this just for you. So when you believe He did it for you, He gives you a new birth. Doesn’t change the old one. He gives you a new one. This new one is pure. And that’s how God washes you from the old one is because He takes you and gives you a new one that doesn’t have a sinful nature. So you have been washed, cleansed of all of your sins that you’ve ever done, or ever will do.

God separated you from your sins. He separated you from your sinful nature. One day He’s going to separate me from this body and give me a new body. He can even take this old body and change it. And He will. I’m hoping very soon. But you see, you have been washed by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. Now that’s found in chapter three and verse five in the book of Titus and you need to read that verse. But so you and I have been washed, made clean.

Your soul in the eyes of God has been made pure as white as snow. God has done these wonderful things for us, all because of the payment that Christ made on the cross for us. I wrote a little poem and I called it, I beheld the great divine. How in the world can this great big old mighty God? How can he think about lo me? Now I know he thought about you too, but just that he thought about me is enough to blow my mind.

And this mighty God made it possible for me to see Him through the gates of grace, only with the eye of faith. When I believed that through the cross of Christ, He gave to me eternal life. For all eternity, that’s something to talk about. It’s a wonderful story. And this is how it goes. Just listen to it. I I don’t have no music. The choir is not ooh and an awn in the background. You don’t have to sway back and forth.

But I do want you to listen to the words of this little song that I wrote because it really does deal with this wonderful thing about what God has done for us. The heavens declare the power of God, The earth, the work of his hands, the world he made, and the word he gave, placed his feet upon the sand. I saw the Lord from the mountain peak. And I saw a man so small, I could not see how this mighty God could think of me at all.

When the eye of faith through the gates of grace, I beheld the great divine. Through the cross of Christ, eternal life was designed with me in mine. Come now and let us reason, says the Lord so long ago. Though your sins are now as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. For the blood of Christ removes the stain that’s caused by sin and shame. His death, His grave, was the payment made. He arose to come again. Some day I’ll stroll the streets of gold through all eternity, Your eyes will see, and ears will hear, The things God has for me.

With the eye of pain through the gates of grace, I beheld the great divine. the cross of Christ, He gave me eternal life. I was designed with Him and me in mine. Can you believe that He’s done all of that just for us? We deserve zero. Did you realize the heavens and the earth were designed for you and me. God don’t need those things. Did you realize that God made you just for Him to please Him to bring Him joy?

He wasn’t made for you. You were made for Him. That this great big mighty powerful God designed all of this with you in mind. Not a coincidence. The whole story of the cross, of God taking an individual who deserves absolute nothing, and doing something for us. That’s grace. So with the eye of faith, and what God’s Word says through the gates of grace, because only through grace can a man ever see the great divine. And yet God did all of this justice for you and me.

You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Our 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. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our home page.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.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. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

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

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 PHOTO in the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can also find the link in the description below. The Reaches Told Free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bible-lined website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I know I have eternal life. Not everybody, everywhere knows that. Many preachers will not even say that, even if they know they have eternal life, because they know that it is offensive to those that don’t believe you can really know you have eternal life. They just talk about, let’s just get saved and don’t worry about this eternal security business or once saved always saved. And they don’t want to make it an issue. They feel that that would turn a lot of people off and become offensive to some people, because There’s just a lot of good people, a lot of good Christians that just don’t see eye to eye on this.

Well, me not to see eye to eye on this means somebody saved and somebody’s lost.994 I didn’t write this Bible. I had nothing to do with it. But I have studied it and I have a good idea that I know what it says about how to have eternal life. I believe the gospel is the lens by which you discern the rest of Scripture. And if you miss it on the clarity of the gospel, then everything is fuzzy. But the pure, the gospel, the sharper the distinction that you’re able to perceive on anything else in life.

And believe it or not, even when I was 18, 19, 20 years old, I used to always wonder, why it made clear because I understood what salvation was, but it wasn’t as clear. And then I remember going to Tennessee Temple and watching a man like Dr. Lee Robertson, one of the greatest men at that time, who liked Moses over the children of Israel. And I used to wonder, why don’t they make it clear? Even those that came in priests, they didn’t make it clear.

And I would get people to come to church and then the preachers wouldn’t make it simple. They would make it clear. They always gave the impression that you had to come forward to be saved, that you had to come down to the altar in order to get saved. And they wouldn’t give the gospel, they would give an invitation, always inviting people to come to Jesus, come to the cross, come down here. You step out in the aisle and Jesus will meet you the rest of the way and He’ll come down here.

If He can come all the way from heaven down to this earth, surely you can come 40 feet or 50 feet or whatever it is. And if they didn’t come, they didn’t tell them. And then he always talked about, let’s get the gospel to the lost. And it burned inside of me. I mean, time got mad. And now that I’ve been preaching, I never knew that I was going to be a preacher. I just started off not wanting people to go to hell.

And the older I get, the more I’m concerned. The more convinced I am that the position that I I hold is right. too far down the road to compromise now. And I believe that what the Bible says about the gospel is the gospel. Now keep us in mind, we say that eternal life is the gift of God. The gift of God is eternal life. I believe that gift is eternal life. And I believe eternal life is that gift. And I believe that the gift of eternal life is given freely and it lasts forever.

Now there’s a lot of people that believe that and then turn right around and say things that contradict that very statement. How many times I’ve seen that’s all standing saying just as I am and then you tell them you got to stop something, you got to join something, you got to make Christ the Lord and the Master of your life and you got to turn from your sins. But let’s all stand and sing just as I am. okay. Okay.

Okay so also maybe that will be a fine session. Okay so we’ll see how that works with the That’s hypocrisy. Did you understand what I just said? Just as I am. Now you got to turn from your sin. You got to quit and you got to change. If you’re going this direction, you got to turn and go this direction. You got to join. You got to dip. Sprinkle, spit on, baptize. Whatever you got to do. You got to come.

You got to go. You got to hang on. You got to let loose. Now let’s all sing just as I am. And to me, that used to be in my mind. That ain’t right. Something’s wrong with this. And I never saw anybody be able to do it. make it simple and clear as I did when I went to Florida Bible College. And there’s nobody. I don’t think there’s a preacher anywhere that loves preacher fellowship like I do. But my stand on the gospel has cost me a lot of fellowship because we’re not the same.

I can walk into a meeting of a thousand preachers and I’ve done it many times and feel totally alone. Not that I think I’m I’m better. I’m not better. I discern something. I see something and it bothers me that others don’t see it. That love the Lord just as much as I do. I don’t love the Lord only. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about what I see and I want you to understand and I’m going to show you just a minute.

Take your Bible look in the book of Galatians in chapter 1. The apostle Paul to me was the greatest man that’s ever lived. Done more for Jesus Christ for the kingdom of God than any other single man that I know. God really used this man. The apostle Paul was a Jew. He had persecuted the Christians, put them in jail. He was there when Stephen was stoned, and what he did, he thought he was doing God a favor. And then one day he saw the light, really saw the light.

On the road to Damascus, the Bible says that a bright light. He was knocked down and other people couldn’t see or hear what was going on, but he saw it. And sometimes he was able to discern what those that were around him did not discern. They didn’t get it. And it changed the man’s life for the rest of his life. He got a glimpse of heaven and he got a glimpse of hell. And he says in the Scriptures that God had to put a thorn in his flesh, whatever it was, a messenger of Satan to buffet him, to always keep him humble, keep him beat up all the time.

And yet the Apostle Paul had done nothing more than try to win people to Christ and challenge people to serve the Lord. What a man. But he says here in verse 6, he said, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. The grace of Christ is the gospel. But called you from that gospel message that’s a grace message into another gospel. In other words, look up here.

The gospel and the test of the gospel is is it by grace. Grace means that it’s not of work. It means that it’s free and that it’s free and that it it lasts forever, that’s the test of the gospel. He said, but there’s some who want to take this message and pervert that message and change it into another message. The only way you can change or pervert the gospel of grace is to add works to the message. Not works as lots of them, just one work to the gospel ruins the gospel.

And then he uses an illustration. says for if you put leaven into the dough it causes it to rise and it permeates the whole thing and it pumps it full of holes. That’s what just a little leaven does. And so God says you change the message when you add something to the message. See if it’s by grace and it’s is totally free. You can’t take away from it, but you could sure add to it. And when you add something to it, it’s no longer the gospel.

So he makes this statement here in verse 7, which is not another. In other words, you cannot make another message, another gospel exactly like this gospel. This is the gospel, and this is the message that is salvation is by grace through faith that none of yourselves, it is the gift of God, none of works list, He may should both, that a lost man can be justified, go to heaven, and it’s free, totally free. He doesn’t have to make any commitments to Christ, doesn’t have to plan on serving God, he doesn’t have to turn from one sin, not one sin.

And God will still save him just like he is. And I believe that. Let’s just pretend here’s a man up here and he’s on drugs, he’s a dope addict, he’s a drunkard and runs around, he does everything in the book, everything. You think that that man is guilty of it. Now, does that man have to stop all those sins in order for God to save him? No, not one. If he has to stop just one sin in order for God to save him, God can’t save him.

God can’t save any man who does anything to try to save himself Because salvation is not by man. It’s by God’s grace and yet you’ll find out 99% of all preachers tell up man. He’s got to stop something. He’s got to stop his sins He got his turn from his sins and he’s got to commit his life to serve God You say they don’t say that yes, they do yes, they do and if he doesn’t serve God that man was never saved to start with And so they questioned whether a man saved or he’s lost by how he lives.

You can come to this church every service, still be as lost as a hound dog in the end of a suitbone. You’re not saved because of that. And you can’t tell if a man saved by how he lives. And you can’t tell if a man’s lost by the way he lives. You can’t tell because it’s a spiritual birth. And I will never apologize to any preacher, any denomination or anyone. Right after I graduated from Bible College, I was 26 years old.

By the time I was 28 years old, I had been blackball in two major denominations in this country. Christian Missionary Alliance Church and Evangelical Free Churches of America They accused me of being an extreme Anti-nomian anti-against-nomian law means I’m against law. I was against the law for salvation, but I was for grace because I believe that a man is saved by grace and not by works. And I believe that when God saves a man that man is saved and he has eternal life and he is secure for all eternity.

I cannot and I am not afraid or ashamed to say it for he say well there’s people that might take and use that as the license to sin. They let that be on their head but I’m not going to change the gospel message to please somebody. I can’t go to hell in the future. It doesn’t matter what I do. as far as my salvation goes, as far as my eternal destination goes. Now it will affect my blessings in this life and it will affect my rewards in heaven but it cannot affect my destination.

Now should I be ashamed of the gospel? When Paul says I’m not ashamed of the gospel, this is what he’s talking about. The gospel is somebody been able to say, look I was lost. Now I’m found. I was blind. I can see. I’m going to heaven when I die. I don’t have to wait till I die to find out where I’m going. I already know where I’m going Because I’ve trusted Christ joining the church giving money all the good works.

You’ll ever do will never save a soul So look what he says here in verse seven Which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ change the gospel. And what were they doing? Adding works to the message. Now look there in verse 10. He says, for do I now persuade men or God or do I seek to please men? If I yet please men I should not be the servant of Christ.

You have to make up your mind. Either you serve man or you serve God but you can’t serve both. And I made up my mind years ago Jesus Christ died for me. Jesus Christ paid for my sins. He and He alone deserves my loyalty, my commitment, He alone. I don’t know anybody else anything. But I owe Jesus Christ, now Him everything. And the gospel, the clear gospel of Jesus Christ is a picture of how much God really loves man.

man. And when you change the gospel story by adding works to it, you take a Rembrandt. You’re taking the face of Jesus Christ and you’re marring his face. You’re cutting up the most beautiful picture in all the world, the greatest story that’s ever been told and ruining it. And no man has the right to do that. I don’t care how big his ministry is, a little known by YAH is still a shame and a disgrace for anybody to add one word to the gospel.

And anybody that believes that you can lose your salvation does not understand the gospel. And there’s a multitude of churches around here that preach that you can lose your salvation. That is not what Christ said. Our message is not the same. Our story is not the same. Galatians chapter 2 and look in verse 5. To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. Depulsive Paul says we didn’t move one eye-oater because we did not want the truth of the gospel to be taken away from you.

The thing that bothers me is this, you’ll let some little nitpicky thing, perhaps that I’ll say or do that might bother you. And then you’ll go to a church where the gospel isn’t clear, and you say, well, he’s almost as clear as or is close. And then after a while, the purity of the gospel can be lost. And I’m talking about for the sake of the lost man, the man that may never hear a clear cut gospel message. And yet his eternal destination is in the balance.

And many people will talk about, yes, I’ve been saved. Where are you going today? Well, I’m not sure. Then you don’t understand it. you don’t understand because knowing that your saved is knowing that you have eternal life and can never lose it because if you don’t know you are going to heaven when you die you don’t have that security right now. I know now I have eternal life. I know I can’t go to hell in the future. I am saved and I am secure.

I am safe. It’s already been done. Look there in verse 16, verse 16 in your Bible. Knowing that a man as he explains what he means by the truth of the gospel, knowing that a man is not justified or made righteous 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.

Nobody can be justified and keep this in mind. If I say I I am saved today. But I can lose it tomorrow, then I must still seek today to be justified tomorrow. That means that I must admit that I am still now a sinner and I am not now at this moment yet saved, because I must do something to get saved. Or stay saved. If you have to do something to stay saved, then you don’t know if you’re going to do it or not.

So you don’t know where you’re going, when you die, because you don’t know when you’re going to die, and you don’t know the condition you’re going to be in when that moment comes. So your salvation does not depend upon Christ, it depends upon your work, depends on how you live, whether you hang on or not. That is not the gospel, that is not the Bible. I believe that the scriptures in all these things are very clear, but look there in chapter 5 of Galatians.

If a person is doing anything at all, trying to save themselves by their life, or they think that I used to talk to people and they say, well, I used to go to church. I used to. I used to. I used to. But now they don’t anymore. So I guess I’m going to hell. Or I used to smoke or drink and I quit that. So that’s how I know that I’m saved. And they’re based upon something that some sins that they quit.

And then when I go back to that same sin, well, I’m not saved anymore. They never got it. They didn’t understand it. That has nothing to do with it. Smokin’, drinkin’, lyin’, stealin’, all those things. Not one of those things is why a person goes the hell. The person goes to hell because they rejected the payment Christ made on the cross forum. Salvation is a gift. It is totally free. And in chapter 5, it makes the statement in verse 4, to those who are trying to save them some, Christ has become of no effect unto you.

Whosoever of you are justified by the law or seeking to be justified by your works. You’re rejecting salvation by grace when you’re trying to save yourself and you cannot have it. I want you to look at another scripture Romans in chapter 16. Look there in verse 17. Now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause diversions, divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them. Now I beseech you in verse 7 again, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the, what’s that word?

Doctrine, which you have learned and joined them. Avoid them. Listen, I got this letter in the mail. It says, Dear Pastor, as you know, over 40 of our local churches and UGA Christian campus groups have invited Pardis Crusades to do an evangelistic outreach April 22 at the Coliseum on the UGA campus. We hope to see many of our local churches and campus groups take part in this outreach to the campus and also our community. We have book great temporary, contemporary Christian musicians and so forth.

For the church to both benefit from the crusade and add to its effectiveness in reaching the lost, it is necessary that a key contact from your church be trained. Our records indicate that No one from your church attended the leaders meeting earlier this month. Our desires to have as many churches and campus groups participate as possible, including the follow-up of those people making commitments to Christ. Now you may not catch nothing on that, but I do. At the same time, we have a tremendous responsibility to refer these new believers to churches that have assured us by attending one of these training classes that they will indeed do satisfactory follow-up.

We will only be sending new believers, referrals to churches and campus groups that have sent representative to these training meetings. So they’re going to have a big shindig and they want all the churches to work together for this evangelistic crusade. And this is the list of those that are all working together. Somebody might think, well, Yankee, how come you have to be so hard-headed and so obnoxious? Why can’t you just work along with them just like everybody else does?

I have a problem. I have some people that I look into this thing and I see some names of churches that I know are not clear on the gospel. And I found out the majority of the sooner or later they’re off on the gospel, they’re off on eternal security, they’re off on the Holy Spirit, they’re off on Jesus Christ, and that is not harmonizing with the doctrine that I’ve been taught from this book. Am I supposed to just close my eyes to all these things and it doesn’t really matter?

Many of these in here believe you can lose your salvation There’s many of these churches in here that believe you cannot lose your salvation And they believe that a man is saved by grace and my problem is how can they work together? And so what I did is I took this man’s Web page that he gave and I looked upon the web page to find out where he stood on the gospel and Then I called him up and I asked and talked to one of their pastors at the church there And he says, well, we don’t like to get into the doctrinal issue of eternal security.

He says, because that is so divisive. And we just want to win them to the Lord. We’re just going to get them saved. And the different churches, some churches might believe that you can lose your salvation. Some churches don’t believe you can lose. He said, but it won’t matter as long as we get them saved. I says, sir, don’t you understand that you don’t know you got anybody saved until they believe in eternal security? No man knows he’s going to heaven until he believes in eternal security.

The good news is you’re saved forever. He can never go to hell. And you don’t think a man is really trusting Christ in Christ alone when he thinks he can lose it if he does something bad? If you tell him he really believes it’s a free gift when he can take it away from him and you don’t measure up to it, that’s not salvation, that’s not what the Bible’s teaching. And no, it’s not what I believe. All my life I didn’t go to church.

I didn’t have a Bible. I didn’t read a Bible. I never had prayer in our home. I never had a Bible in our home. And I never saw anything about Christ. I always thought it was just a cuss word. But one day the Lord turned the light on and I could see. And I realized if it’s free, it’s free. If God even means what He says or He doesn’t mean what He says. And how can you work with somebody that says you can lose your salvation if you do something bad.

Neither you got it or you don’t have it. And I think to myself, what are they thinking? Can you sing me and some guy that believes you can lose your salvation, share an appropriate, we’re all this, we’re brothers and the Lord? Unless you believe in eternal security, I don’t know what you believe. But it ain’t what I believe because the Bible says that Christ paid for all of my sins and but then he didn’t pay for all of yours because if you commit another sin, you think you’ve got to die and go to hell for it.

There is no sin that I can commit and pay for it because Christ paid for all of my sins. Either you believe He did it all of them or none of them. And if He paid for all my sins, then they’re all paid. If He gave me eternal life, then I have eternal life. And He says, I’ll never cast you out. He said, I’ll never lose you. If you’ll never cast me out, never lose me. And you believe you can be cast you believe he will lose you?

You don’t believe what Christ said. I don’t know what you believe, but it ain’t what he said. And whatever Jesus you got ain’t the Jesus that I got. I didn’t write this stuff, but this is the Bible. Now, this is where I’m coming from. Do I just say that none of this matters and I have no desire to make anybody mad? I said, well, see, if we don’t participate in this, they’re going to have all these people, and they won’t send us any of them because we didn’t help them with the crowd.

See, I don’t care who it is, and I don’t care who participates, some things I cannot do. And can you see me doing that? Is there something wrong with me? Do you all understand where I’m coming from? Am I that far off base? Have I drifted so far? Am I that hard-headed? When I got this and I saw this year and some of these people I know it breaks my heart. It’s like it really doesn’t matter. The gospel doesn’t matter.

What you tell a lost man doesn’t matter. And then I have people right here saying, well, the Yankee, they’re just as clear as you are. But this is my life. This is heaven and hell issue stuff. It’s not a game to me. I talked to the man that’s right here in town on the phone the other day. And I said, sir, I said, Where do you stand on this thing about salvation? He said, well, I will save in the Southern Baptist Church.

He said, I believe in eternal security. I said, it’s great. I said, how can you work with those that don’t believe that? He said, well, people got the right to believe whatever they want to believe. I said, so you’re willing to let some of your people from your church go to those other churches that don’t believe what you believe. He said, well, I think that we need to just have more love and unity. I don’t know anybody wants to love people more than I love people.

I’m not trying to be a bad man, a bad guy. I’m saying if we’re supposed to let the doctrine in the Bible, tell us what we’re supposed to believe. And my love for God is to hold me online. If you don’t love according to doctrine, you don’t really love. What about a man that’s lost? Here’s the preacher standing right here. And he’s telling Leon, Leon, you gotta quit your drinking, you gotta quit your line, you gotta quit your running around, you gotta quit your drugs, you gotta quit this, and you gotta start living right.

go to church and paying your money and being obedient and all these other things get baptized and God will save you buddy. And then I’m standing over there telling them you don’t have to do anything like that Leon. I got to do his trust Christ as your Savior. Now wait a minute. Are we both saying the same thing? Did we just say the same thing? Don’t you dare say we said the same thing. We’re brothers and Christ. No we ain’t.

We’re not saying the same thing. That’s not me. That’s not my message. And I take a stand against that. But see whenever you believe that, then we can all work together. So here’s you. Little old Yankee down here on the bottom of the totem pole. No, I’ll probably never be a great preacher. I may probably never have a big church because I’m not in it for the money. I’m not in it for the show. But I have gone too long and too far that I’m not going to start compromising on this now.

But it hurts and it breaks my heart when I see those who’ve claimed to believe just like me doing something like this, getting all together and supporting the man that don’t believe what they believe. And they say, well, it doesn’t really matter. That’s such a controversial issue. The man that I talked to in California that it’s heading this thing up and he says, well, we just don’t make it an issue. Well, isn’t having eternal life, he that believe with only half what?

Isn’t that what it’s about? Isn’t John 3 16, for God so loved the the world that he gave has only been gotten son, the whosoever, believe it in him, should not perish but have everlasting life. Isn’t that what this is about? Having eternal life was shouldn’t you, when you trust Christ to say, you know you have eternal life? Well, we don’t want to make that initiative. We just want to get it saved. How do you know you’re saved? Do you know that all your sins are paid?

You’re not going to hell. You’re going to heaven when you die. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bible Line and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage.

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

Hot up to meet the Lord in the air. 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 radiolity internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at the end of the day. and reaches toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org.

We pray that you’ll 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 see there in verse 25, who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty and get this continuous therein. He be not a forgetful here, but a doer of the, here’s that word, work. So you see, you have a lot of things that God says about work before you ever get to James chapter two.

James chapter two is only a little capsule of everything else that he’s talking about it in this book. He’s talking to the believer about producing the righteousness of God, about having the fruit in your life that you should have, and that God uses testings and trials, temptations to produce the righteousness. So God says that He allows these things to produce, of all things, patience in the child of God. You see, if you’re a patient, you don’t get soon angry, If you would wrath, you’re slow to speak, but whenever you are like a stick of dynamite, short fuse and long fuse, when the Bible talks about it in the book of Galatians, long-suffering, if some people are not long-suffering, they’re not long-fused.

I mean, you just strike the match and buddy, they explode because they can just, you know, sit coming. So, but he deals a lot with the patience. That’s mentioned in verse three of chapter one of James. Look over there very quickly and look in chapter five of the book of James. And notice what he says in verse seven. Be patient, therefore brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. I wonder how long we’re supposed to be patient unto what? Until the Lord comes.

That’s gonna be a long time. Or until you die, I guess we could throw that in there. Look at the last part of this. Behold, the husband and waited for the precious fruit of the earth and have long patience. See that word patience again? Looking verse eight. Be also patient, patient. God wants his children to learn patience. And you learn patience by learning how to trust God. learning how to wait upon the Lord, because you know He careth for you.

Impatients means you worry, you fret, you get filled with anger and bitterness and you fall apart. But if you’ll learn to be patient, and look at something else, why you were at chapter five. Look what he says in verse 19, brethren. If any of you do air from the truth, see we just read that in chapter 1. Do not air, brethren, because of thinking something that’s not true, not understanding the reason for the trials and the testings that you have.

Don’t you understand that every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father above, and that in chapter 3 talks about the wisdom of God versus the wisdom of man, and that the wisdom of God is peaceable. Well, look at that maybe in just a minute. Well, look what he says there in verse 20. Let him know that he which converted the center from the era of his ways shall and you ought to underline it. Save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins.

This is to the believer. Not talking about the lost man. Talking about God’s children and some of God’s children that go astray. Now when you read chapter 4, he says, you are daughters. Ooh, Christians that are not living right, not doing right. And you notice when he says, you’re save a soul from death. Whenever it asks that question in James chapter 2, remember it makes a statement, shall faith save him? If you’re talking to the believer, Are we talking about God saving us from hell?

That’s not the issue. It’s not the context. We’re not even discussing that. We’re talking about God saving you and can faith save you. And the answer there is no. Because we’re not talking about salvation. We’re talking about can it save you from death? Can it save you from the chastening? Can it save you from God’s anger? And it saves you from the error of your waves. Just have it. Well, I got faith. No. God says, I’m going to reward you.

And your discipline is so important. Now go back there to the book of James chapter 1. And look what he says down in verse 26. Verse 26 says, and if any man among you. to be religious, bridle not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart. This means man’s religion is vain. In other words, here’s a believer that doesn’t bridle his tongue, but he deceives. You and I are talking about what a man says and what a man does, and therefore he is going to be either justified in your eyes as he’s a righteous man or he’s not doing the right thing.

He’s living like a lost man. Can God’s people live like lost men? Yes, they can. So God says his religion, the outward manifestations of his life. That’s why we see some people say, well, he doesn’t have any religion at all. And there’s other of people who live very religiously because you’re judging by what they’re doing. So in James chapter two and verse one, he says, my brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect to persons.

In other words, if you believe what God says and what Jesus did, then live like Jesus did. And Jesus didn’t have respect to persons. He wasn’t that away. So we’re supposed to live, think and judge the way that He did. And then He uses an illustration about somebody that comes into your mist and they look like they’re very rich. And then you have somebody that looks like they don’t have anything. Which one do you cater to? Who would you treat with more respect?

bum that walks in off the street, an old whino, or somebody just drove in and they’re, you know, Lamborghini and got diamonds all over and they’re just rich looking and all that. Would you treat them differently? If you do, you’re wrong. You’re judging. And God says, you’re impartial in your judgment. It’s not to be that way. I don’t even want to treat an adult differently than I treat a child. I want to treat them all the same. Because to me, if that child is trusted, Christ that child is a child of God.

And so is this old person. I want to treat everybody with respect. That’s a child of God. If they’re lost, I’m still supposed to treat them with dignity and respect. I think it’s just what we’re supposed to do. But as you go down through here, he’s talking about the things that you say and the things that you do and So that’s why he says that in verse 12 of chapter 2 so speak ye And so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

Because God says in verse 13, for he shall have judgment without mercy. We’re not talking about the lost man here. We’re talking about the believer. So God is going to judge the Christian because of the things he says and what he does. And God is going to be fair in what He does. And so that’s why when you read in chapter two, verse 14, what does it profit my brethren? So there’s some things that we say and do that has no profit.

And just to say, well, I have faith, but you don’t treat people the way God wants them to be treated. It’s not profitable for them. And guaranteed, it’s not profitable for you. Even when you read in the book of Titus in chapter three, when it talks about, be careful to maintain good works for these are good and profitable. On the men. You see, there’s things that are profitable. They have a good reason for it. It helps. It enlightens. You become an example of the Christian life.

Somebody is watching to see what you say and what you do. People are learning from you. They’re learning from me. And sometimes we don’t always give the best impression. So look there in James chapter three. Notice in verse one where he says, my brethren, be not many ministers or masters, knowing that we and you ought to underline it, shall receive. So you’re going to receive something. See, God wants you to receive rewards. God wants you to receive the patience you’re supposed to have.

But when you become a teacher, it’s even worse. You will receive the greater condemnation because you affect more people. You see, the higher you climb in your abilities to be used by God, Well, the bigger the climb, the bigger the fall. And the bigger the fall, the bigger the splash. And the bigger the splash, the more people that are affected. You can go down here and drop a little low pebble into the water and you will still see it has a little ripple in effect.

Maybe not a lot. But now if something happens like a, what do you call it, tsunami? Does that cause a ripple effect? So you want to be greatly used by God? Well God, the higher He lifts you up, the bigger the fall, the more people are affected. So teachers or preachers, those who teach the Word of God have a greater responsibility because you’re affecting more people. And so He says here, shall receive the great accommodation. can just have in faith save you from that?

No, faith cannot save you from that. And that’s the purpose of all of this. So now, go back there to verse 14 of chapter 2. What does it profit my brethren, though man say you have faith and have not works? Can faith save him? Save him from what? We’re not talking about hell. Can it save him from the judgment, the chasing hand of God? No, it cannot. If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, none of you say unto them, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace be you warmed and filled, not with sinning.

You give them not those things that are needful to the body. What does it profit? See, all of this is explained in the scriptures before you ever get here. Then He’s trying to get you to reason. Do you understand how important it is for a child of God to produce good works? Because by your works, God’s going to reward you. The things that you say and do because you ministered unto the brethren, because you did something. You’re not going to be rewarded because you just sit, soak, and sour and never do anything with your life.

It’s living out the Christian faith. Many people never talk to anybody about the Lord. They don’t live the way they should. They don’t support missions. They don’t give the direction of ministry. They don’t support the church. They don’t know. But I’m a good Christian. No, you’re not. You’re not a good Christian unless you live. Like a good Christian.

So that makes me mad, so be it. I’m not running a popularity contest. I don’t do that. I plan a game. I have a responsibility to be honest with you, to tell you truth, and then trust the Lord that you’ll do what you’re supposed to do. If you need to correct something in your life, what should you do? Correct it. You say, well that doesn’t apply to me. then let it go right over your head. It shouldn’t bother you when I owed him.

Everybody’s happy. So he makes a statement here in verse 17, even so faith if it hath not worked is dead or fruitless, no profit. Being alone. It says it’s dead, being alone, it’s like a battery in your car. But it has no juice in it, but you still have a battery. It’s not producing anything. It won’t start your car. It’s not working. You may know Christ is your Savior, you love the Lord, and you might be able to quote every verse in this Bible.

But if you’re not living this bookparency, you’re not walking with God and you will not be right. So he says, the chasing hand of God, are you going to escape that? Are you going to live like you please and get away with it? No, you can’t. No, you won’t. Even though I try to be as strong as I possibly can on the salvation by grace without works, doesn’t mean that I believe that it doesn’t matter how you live. It does matter.

It matters an awful lot. Though it cannot affect your salvation because that was you trusting him for your salvation. That’s justification by faith alone. And so when Romans talks about Abraham, believe God and it was kind of the hymn for righteousness, then it talks about, oh, what hath Abraham found? Well, he found that if he just simply believed in the Lord, God would give him totoc righteousness. And so God’s righteousness was put to his account, faith without works. But here we’re not talking about salvation, we’re talking about service.

And And here God goes back and about say, 13 to 15 years later, He’s talking about when Abraham offered up his son upon the altar. See the first time when he was justified by faith without works, it was just a count of stars and seed and understanding about what God was going to do. And that was his salvation point. And this is talking about a different issue. Now he’s talking about when he offered up his son upon the altar.

was a demonstration of his faith in the Lord. This is how he was living his life. This was what was important. This is what his service was. So whenever he’s talking about Abraham here, he’s talking about a different time, a different situation, and this is about service. So a man is justified by works and a man is justified by works and faith. You see salvation alone is justified by faith without works. And for service he’s justified by faith plus his works.

No contradiction. One is talking about salvation, the other was talking about service. So there is no problem whatsoever in the Word of God. So He makes a statement here. In verse 18, A man may say, I’ll have faith, I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works. And I’ll show you my faith by my work. Show me your faith in God without living.

You can’t do it. All the way I can show my faith in God is by how I live. I show what I believe. And when he says a man may say, verse 19, vows say it, verse 20, O vain man. Down in verse 22, see us vow. In verse 24, ye see it’s all about people. Been justified in the eyes of others. People see in your life the attitude that we have. Things we say, places we go, we have to be careful all the time.

So then he makes a statement in verse 21, Was not Abraham our father justified by works? Of course he was. When he was saved, no. When he offered up Isaac, this is years, years later, see. When he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar, see his style how faith wrought with his works. And by faith was a work by faith was made perfect or mature. Don’t you want your faith in the Lord to mature? Or you become a strong, godly individual.

See, is this different than what we just read in chapter 1? It’s no different at all. It’s just an explanation of it. It’s just an illustration of an Old Testament saint because he’s written to the believers here about what has happened. You see there in verse one? When he says in verse one of chapter one, James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad. So this is a letter to others, the believers, the Jews, people.

And he’s talking to them. So is there anyone who wonder why he would not use Abraham? It seemed like every time they’re talking about that, we’ll end up talking about Abraham. So he says, in verse 24, ye see then how that by works of man is justified. Now, are we talking about salvation? No, we’re not talking about that. Are we talking about service? Yes, we’re talking about service. So a man is justified by his works. And so you want to grow in the faith?

All right, God’s going to allow temptations to come. Your faith is going to be tried. Are you going to win or lose? Succeed or fall apart? Are you going to produce fruits of righteousness through all those temptations and everybody has them. That’s why toward the end of this it says, concerned a man like Elijah, a man of like passion just like us. A man that could pray and get results. But if you’ll look there very quickly you’ll notice something.

They’ll see there in verse 11, excuse me, verse 10 of chapter 5, where it says, take my brethren the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction. Oh, is this what we’ve been talking about? Art testings and trials and all the affliction we go, doesn’t detest us. We’ll look what he says. And of, of that word patience again, and of patience. And then he makes his statement, Behold, we count them happy which endure.uggest.

That word happy is the same as being blessed of God. Blessed are ye when you do what God says to do. Blessed, blessed, blessed. He says, in verse 11, Behold, we count them happy which endure. You’re talking about children of God enduring all the trials and tribulations you’re going to have and still come out on the other side like gold been refined through the fire. You see, God wants to strip away out of your life all the pride.

God wants his children to be humble, to be submissive to the will of God, where you don’t have to challenge God every time you turn around. Don’t have to argue with God all the time. And so he says, you have heard of the patience of Job. Are we talking about how to get saved? We’re talking about how to live. God’s children on how to live. You have heard of the patience of Job. You’ve seen the end of the Lord.

In other words, the end result of the testing on Job, how did he come out? I think he came out all right. You and I are supposed to have the patience and wait on the Lord. We don’t have to see how God’s going to do what God’s going to do, but we must believe and just supposed to believe that God is going to do something. Do you believe that? And with patience, you wait and you just keep doing right.

And you don’t have vengeance for vengeance and wrath for wrath and render evil for evil. You can just faithfully keep serving the Lord. Did you know if you really believe that, it can just about eliminate all of your are again between you and your wife. I didn’t say all of it. There might be a time for righteous indignation.

But as you go through here and it talks about confessing our sins one to another, praying for one another, and that love covers a multitude of sins and all these wonderful things. But as you go through here, you’ll find out that yes, faith without works is dead to the believer. Means you’re not producing any works. The faith of a Christian in the Lord is the active thing. It produces something. What are you producing in your life that would give any evidence that you love the Lord?

So you can still be a Christian with no evidence whatsoever, called as the spiritual birth. Did God leave you here so that you could manifest or give evidence of what Christ means to you? you are none whatsoever. He just wants you to live here and you will become a secret service Christian. Nobody knows. I think God wants us to speak up, to stand up. And so therefore he explains all this in his word, looking verse 26 of chapter 2.

For as the body without the spirit is dead, try doing something without your body. It ain’t due too much, can you? Are you still there? You’re still alive. I mean, you can still be up, you know, you’ve got a spirit. So you didn’t cease to be just because your body isn’t moving. But God wants you to use this body to produce something. He wants you to walk right, talk right. See, when you get to chapter three, it deals with that little fiery thing called the tongue.

Boy, isn’t that a dangerous little item. That’s one of the hardest things that any man can ever learn to discipline. God says, well, in verse eight, but the tongue can no maintain. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. And yet here you are, and here I am, as a child of God, and He says, out of the same mouth, for seed is blessing and cursing. Brethren, He says there in verse 10, my brethren, these things ought not so to be, so evidently they are children of God that are saying good things and bad things, living right, living wrong.

He said it ought not to be But it does show you that a child of God Is still a child of God Even when he doesn’t live like a child of God But as a child of God, I believe it’s the will of God First to live like a child of God Don’t you agree? Let’s pray shall we our father? We thank you so much for your lessons upon us or the so much it needs to be said and And I pray, Lord, even though at times it seemed like I’m hard.

Lord, you know I don’t mean to hurt or offend anybody, but I do want people to wake up and to listen to what your word has to say. I don’t like it when people just always use excuses, always covering for themselves, never admitting blame, never confessing anything, never talking to you about some of their problems in their shortcomings, the weaknesses that, Father, we as your children are to encourage one another. And I pray, Lord, that what I’ve said today would be a blessing to each person here, that they would examine their own life.

And to have the pure religion as your word talks about, that outward manifestation, that done in honesty and sincerity. Bless each one, and bless the service to follow them. Christ, name me pray. Amen. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.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 through the Bibleline website at calbryoftampa.org. 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.

We’re doing a few messages on difficult passages in the scriptures. And so there’s not much I can teach you all that you don’t already know. So I just had a stirrup to remember on the things you already know, because you know, lest you forget. And sometimes know with the scriptures if you don’t use it, you lose it. So I hope that you haven’t lost everything. Take your Bible and turn to the book of James and chapter 1. James chapter 1, there is, no doubt, a very famous portion of scripture that’s found in the book of James, but it seems like everybody seems to forget there’s a chapter 1 before chapter 2.

And there’s a chapter 3 and 4. And they seem to forget there’s a chapter 5. So can faith save him always comes back to that interesting portion of scripture. Faith without works is dead. So what does it really mean? So let’s just take a little side trip. It’s really the main highway, believe it or not. But everybody thinks that James chapter 2 verses 14 down through there, that’s the main highway and the others are just, you know, tributaries, you know, they’re not the main road.

I believe that when you got chapter 1 and chapter 3 and 4 and 5, those are the main teachings of the book. Chapter 2 is only a brief little capsule of what all the rest of it’s talking about. And if you forget all of that, you don’t see the purpose of those verses sitting right in the middle of all of this. So it’s only just a brief explanation of all the other. So you can’t forget that. And if you just go to James chapter 2, which most people do, when especially you’re talking to an individual about salvation, they always seem to think that you’re justified for salvation by your works.

Because don’t you know faith without works is dead. So you’ve got to have your works. But let’s just pretend for a second you did have to do good works to go to heaven. If you did, doesn’t the novel next question come down as what good works? How many? How consistent do you have to be? When do you know you’ve done enough? And when do you know you haven’t done enough to know whether or not you are really saved or that you just hope you’re saved or think you’re saved or you know you’re not saved at all?

It really opens up a whole can of worms. And buddy, you’re not going to like what you get into when you get into that. And that is what produces all the different religions of the world because they have different sets of works. And how you can know your say because you did this good work, that good work, and how you can know you can lose it. And everyone who believes that your say by your works believes you can lose your salvation.

Isn’t that amazing? Here in James in chapter one, I want you to know to something. We are talking about works, but go to the place where it first talks about it. And it says there in verse two, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall in the divers’ temptations. He’s knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. The trying of your faith worketh patience. In other words, your faith is supposed to produce something. As you learn something from God, it produces something in your life.

And if it’s not producing something in your life, then the faith that you have is not working for you. See, when you go to heaven, it’s because you trusted Christ to do something. He will produce your salvation because you trusted Him to do a work. He did the work. And all you are doing is accepting the work that He did. So for salvation, yes, you’re always justified by your faith in Christ, in His work. Salvation is never you trusting your work because your work doesn’t count.

So once you have done that and you become a child of God, God says, now I’m going to allow you while you live in this world to be under a lot of testings, temptations, and God permits that. But he wants you now as a child of God to grow in the Lord. So he says here in verse four, but let patience have her perfect, and there’s that word again, work. So yes, faith without works doesn’t start in James chapter two.

It’s starting over here in chapter one to the believer, not to the lost man. But it says to let this work mature in you so that you can produce that which God wants to produce so that you in verse four are complete mature, lacking nothing in your life. So God has to be the one that knows what testings you need in your life, what temptations he will allow to come your way, though he does not tempt any man to sin.

But God can allow things to reveal to you what you need to strengthen in your life. God wants you to be strong in every area of your life. See, some people are very strong in certain areas, and weak in other areas. The key to being a long-lasting child of God in this world is that you’re strong in every area of your life. And if you’re not, you’re not going to make it because Satan will find that weak point in your life.

See, when Satan wants to defeat you, he doesn’t look at the strong points in your life. He finds the weak point. As it says concerning the Amalekites and the Old Testament, they watched for those that were stragglers. The ones that didn’t keep up the complainers, the winers. That’s the ones he can jump on and destroy. But anyway, he says, now concerning your faith, let him in verse six, let him ask in faith because you’re going to have testings happen in your life.

You can’t solve. You can’t answer. Temptations can become great. Testings can become great. So God wants the man to be tested that your faith can increase so that you are stronger in the Lord. But He says, let him ask in faith, not toss to and throw by every wind of doctrine that comes along, or like the wind that blows and tosses you to and throw. So then he says here in verse 8, a double-minded man is not a strong man.

A double-minded man is not a fateful man. A double-minded man is not that consistent. A double-minded man is he’s wishy-washy. Doesn’t know what he believes and why he believes it. So he’s not a strong man. So God says in verse 7, don’t let that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord. So as you go down through here, you see where God says in verse 11, blessed is the man that endure temptation. Now we’re already talking about the believer, so we’re not talking about how to get to heaven.

We’re talking about God’s children. And he says, blessed are happy is that man that endures temptation for he shall receive something. See, we’re talking about you doing something and you receiving something. You shall receive something, as he says here, the crown of life. That’s not salvation. The crown is a reward and the rewards are earned. See, salvation is always the gift of God. It’s always free. It’s always because you have placed your faith in Christ in the work that he did.

See, the work he did was he went to the cross because he lived a perfect life. He didn’t have to pay for his sin. He had none. He died. for us came back from the dead and we’re accepting what he did as our payment for our sins. So it’s not salvation by my works. So nowhere does God say trust in your works to get you to heaven we trust in His work to get us to heaven. Now we’re talking about a totally different issue and this issue deals with your service to the Lord is to the child of God serving God as he ought to.

So he says that God has promised things to them that love him. So it’s talking here about you doing the work because God wants you to receive something. So he’s talking about receiving rewards and of course because he’s promised things to those that love him. So loving him is the motive that you and I are supposed to use as the reason why we do what we do. Why? Because I love the Lord. Why do I go to church? Because I love the Lord.

Why do I study His Word? Because I love the Lord. Why do I witness? Because I love the Lord. You take away your love for the Lord and all this becomes drudgery. It’s just like being under the law. You can do the same thing but it becomes legalistic and God doesn’t want you to be legalistic. He want you to have that freedom where you do it because I love him. Look what else he says here. In verse 16 there’s three words that’s mentioned here.

Do not err brethren because so many of God’s children will err. He says do not err my beloved brethren and the reason is because don’t blame God. Don’t blame God when you’re tested or tempted. As though God is the instigator of all the evil that happens to you. God can permit certain things but remember God knows every one of you and he knows me. And you may have messed up somewhere along the line by saying Lord I want to serve you.

I love you. Do with anything that you want. Boy, did you do it. Now you’ve really messed up. Now you’ve really gone too far. So what do you think God’s going to do? You think if you want to be used, God wants to use you. So God is going to teach you things because there’s so much you need to learn. Do not parent see the need for teaching their children, certain principles of how to live and how to work.

And so there’s all kinds of things that God has done for us. And so He makes this statement that God is going to give us all these wonderful opportunities to serve the Lord. Look in verse 20. Verse 20 talks about, for the wrath of man, work if not. Work if not. So we’re talking about things that are profitable and things that are not profitable. See the verse right before verse 9 where he says there in 19, you see there in verse 19, wherefore might be levied brethren, let every man.

And so he talking to the believer, swift to hear, and then he makes this statement, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For wrath, work if not the righteousness of God. So we’re talking about God’s children producing the righteousness of God in his life. And so that means that when you’re tested, you’re supposed to produce the righteousness of God in your life. When you’re tempted to sin, you’re supposed to produce the righteousness of God in your life. Can’t you see that?

It’s so simple and it’s clear. It’s written right there in black and white. It’s the word of God. So then he makes this statement down in verse 22. But be ye an underline that word doer. You see, it’s one thing to be saved and have eternal life and to say you love the Lord. If you love the Lord, live like you love the Lord. And how do you prove to God or to anybody that you love the Lord? Father, things you do, the choices you make.

Every choice, every decision reveals something because there’s a cause and effect. Why did you do that? Why do you think the way you think? Why do you live the way you live? Why do you say the things you say? So God’s Word is very simple, very good, but it’s talking about the believer and what he does, the believer. Look there in verse 23, for if any be a here of the Word and not a doer is likened to a man beholden as natural face in the glass.

So there is to be the doing of what God says. You see there in verse 25, who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty and get this, continueeth therein. He be not a forgetful here, but a doer of the, here’s that word, work. So you see, you have a lot of things that God says about work before you ever get to James chapter, James chapter two is only a little capsule of everything else that he’s talking about in this book.

He’s talking to the believer about producing the righteousness of God, about having the fruit in your life that you should have, and that God uses testings and trials, temptations to produce the righteousness. So God says that He allows these things to produce, of all things, patience in the child of God. You see, if you’re a patient, you don’t get soon angry. Phil would wrath, you’re slow to speak. But whenever you are like a stick of dynamite, short fuse and long fuse, when the Bible talks about in the book of Galatians, long-suffering.

If some people are not long-suffering, they’re not long-fused. I mean, you just strike the match and buddy, they explode. So they can just, you know, sit coming. So, but he deals a lot with the patience. That’s mentioned in verse 3 of chapter 1 of James. Look over there very quickly and look in chapter 5 of the book of James. Notice what it says in verse seven, be patient, therefore brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. I wonder how long we’re supposed to be patient unto what?

Until the Lord comes. That’s gonna be a long time. Or until you die, I guess we could throw that in there. Look at the last part of this. Behold, the husbandman waited for the precious fruit of the earth and have long patience. See that word patience again? Look in verse 8. Be also patient, patient. God wants His children to learn patience, and you learn patience by learning how to trust God. Learning how to wait upon the Lord, because you know He carreth for you.

Impatience means you worry, you fret, you get filled with anger and bitterness and you fall apart. But if you’ll learn to be patient and look at something else why you’re in chapter 5. Look what he says in verse 19 brethren. If any of you do air from the truth, see we just read that in chapter 1 do not air brethren Because of thinking, something that’s not true, not understanding the reason for the trials and the testings that you have.

Don’t you understand that every good and perfect gift comeeth down from the Father above? And that in chapter three talks about the wisdom of God versus the wisdom of man, and that the wisdom of God is peaceable? Well look at that maybe in just a minute. Well look what he says there in verse 20, Let him know that he which converted the sinner from the era of his ways shall, and you ought to underline it, save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins.

This is to the believer. Not talking about the lost man. Talking about God’s children And some of God’s children that go astray. Now when you read chapter four, he says you are daughters. Ooh, Christians that are not living right, not doing right. And you notice when he says you’re save a soul from death, whenever it asks that question in James chapter 2, remember it makes his statement, shall faith save him? If you’re talking to the believer, are we talking about God saving us from hell?

That’s not the issue. It’s just not the context. We’re not even discussing that. We’re talking about God saving you, and can faith save you? And the answer there is no. Because we’re not talking about salvation. We’re talking about can it save you from death? Can it save you from the chastening? Can it save you from God’s anger? Can it save you from the error of your ways? Just have it. faith. No, God says, I’m going to reward you. And your discipline is so important.

Now, go back there to the book of James chapter 1. And look what he says down in verse 26. Verse 26 says, and if any man among you seems to be religious, Breitel is not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart. This means man’s religion is vain. In other words, here’s a believer that doesn’t bridal his tongue, but he deceives. You and I are talking about what a man says and what a man does, and therefore he is going to be either justified in your eyes as he’s a righteous man or he’s not doing the right thing.

He’s living like a lost man. Can God’s people live like lost men? Yes, they can. So God says, his religion, the outward manifestations of his life. That’s why we see some people say, He didn’t have any religion at all. And there’s other people who live very religiously because you’re judging by what they’re doing. So in James chapter two and verse one, he says, my brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect to persons. In other words, if you believe what God says and what Jesus did, then lived like Jesus did.

And Jesus didn’t have respect of persons. He wasn’t that away. So we’re supposed to live, think, and judge the way that He did. And then He uses an illustration about somebody that comes into your mist and they look like they’re very rich. And then you have somebody that looks like they don’t have anything. Which one do you cater to? Who would you treat with more respect? Some bum that walks in off the street, an old whino or somebody just drove in and they’re Lamborghini and got diamonds all over, and they’re just rich looking and all that.

Would you treat them differently? If you do, you’re wrong. You’re judging. And God says you’re impartial in your judgment. It’s not to be that way. I don’t even want to treat an adult differently than I treat a child. I want to treat them all the same. Because to me, if that child is trusted Christ, that child is a child of God, and so is this old person, I want to treat everybody with respect. That’s a child of God. If they’re lost, I’m still supposed to treat them with dignity and respect.

I think it’s just what we’re supposed to do. And as you go down through here, he’s talking about the things that you say, the things that you do. And so that’s why he says that in verse 12 of chapter 2, so speak ye. And so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. Because God says in verse 13, for he shall have judgment without mercy. We’re not talking about the lost man here. We’re talking about the believer.

So God is going to judge the Christian because of the things he says and what he does. And God is going to be fair in what he does. And so that’s why when you read in chapter two, verse 14, what does it profit my brethren? So there’s some things that we say and do that has no profit. And just to say, well, I have faith, but you don’t treat people the way God wants them to be treated. It’s not profitable for them and guaranteed it’s not profitable for you.

Even when you read in the book of Titus in chapter three, when it talks about, be careful to maintain good works for these are good and profitable on the men. You see, there’s things that are profitable. They have a good reason for it. It helps. It enlightens. You become an example of the Christian life. Somebody is watching to see what you say and what you do. People are learning from you. They’re learning from me. And sometimes we don’t always give the best impression.

So look there in James chapter 3. Notice in verse 1 where he says, my brethren, be not many ministers or masters, knowing that we and you ought to underline it, shall receive. So you’re going to receive some. See, God wants you to receive rewards. God wants you to receive the patience you’re supposed to have. But when you become a teacher, it’s even worse. You will receive the greater condemnation because you affect more people. You see, the higher you climb in your abilities to be used by God, blood, or the bigger the climb, the bigger the fall, and the bigger the fall, the bigger the splash.

And the bigger the splash, the more people that are affected. You can go down here and drop a little old pebble into the water and you will still see it has a little ripple in effect. Maybe not a lot. But now if something happens like a what they call the tsunami, does that cause a ripple effect? So you want to be greatly used by God? Well God the higher He lifts you up, the bigger the fall, the more people are affected.

So teachers or preachers, those who teach the Word of God have a greater responsibility because you’re affecting more people. And so he says here, shall receive the greater condemnation. So can just having faith save you from that? No faith cannot save you from that. And that’s the purpose of all of this. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. 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. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.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. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon.

just keep looking up.

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 air. You can reach us toll free. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you’ll enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

So there are two words, praso, hoeo. And the one word is a Greek number 4160, which is Pueo, and the other one is the number, trying to see what that number 4238 is praso. So there’s two Greek words in Strongton, two different numbers, two different meanings. Now as you read it, you will know which word is used in these scriptures that we’re looking at. Does the word that they have used does it mean to practice habitually, continuously, or does it mean not one time, not one single act?

because it makes a lot of difference. You see, one is that you continually, habitually sin, and one is you can’t commit one single act of sin. You see, well, both sounds pretty bad to me. I’m going through yet, but I want you to see it because it is so important. Go all the way down to the bottom of the page where you have in the square box. You’ll notice on the left the word poeio, bold, and the Greek number is 41-60.

You can get a strongton cordant, you can look it up. That’s what I did. That’s what I did. I copied this right out of the book. So don’t you know a little Greek? Yeah, he runs a restaurant down on the corner. So we know that the word poeo means not one single act. Now look at the next word, the last line on the page, praso, 42, 38, perform repeatedly or habitually, thus differing from poeo, which properly refers to a single act.

That’s in the strong dictionary. This is the authority for for the study of your Greek. Now, look at the numbers, 41, 60, 42, 38. Now turn your page over and look where strong applies those numbers to the right word in the sentence in the scripture. And you’ll notice where I have underlined 1 John 3, 9, where it says, is born of God, not commit sin. That word commit, what’s the number out there to the right? 4160. 4160 is the Greek word poeo.

And poeo means not one single act. Now you tell me how they can put practice in there or habitually commit in there when it’s the wrong Greek word. Look over there again. Look down at the bottom of the page where it has 1 John 3, 4, Whosoever, committed sin, transgressive, and in verse 8, he that committed sin is of the devil. That word is the number 41, 60. It’s not the word prassel, which means to continually or habitually commit.

So you see, when you want to believe something, you can say whatever you want. But in reality, that’s not what God said. God’s word says in the book of 1 John 3, 9, and that whole paragraph that we read is talking about The original from the Greek is talking about you can’t commit one single act of sin. So, say, you don’t have to worry about practicing it. You can’t even commit one. You say, boy, that’s worse than we had before.

Because occasionally I might mess up. But I don’t practice it. Well, since the word is poe-weo, and it means you cannot commit one single act of sin. How do you explain it? Because you and I know we both still sin. And pretty good at it. Take your Bible and turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Don’t leave me now. Don’t let your mind go anywhere else. Stick with me and understand this because this is so important.

You’ll also see why the King James is superior to all the other translations because they didn’t put it down according to their interpretation, but according to a translation. They use the right word and the right meaning. But notice here in 1 Corinthians in chapter 15, I want you to look there in verse 45. Verse 45, this is on page 12, 27. Verse 45 says, and so it is written, the first man Adam made a living soul. Last Adam, a quickening spirit.

So in the word of God, it’s like But there’s only two men that’s ever coming into this world. They came from different worlds. You see, Adam was from this world, this hand, Jesus Christ, is from another world. They’re two different worlds. As you could say, they’re a world apart. And they are. The first man in the world, Adam, well, all of us who have a flesh birth, let me see, how Let me see you in. I mean, you’re not sure.

If you have a physical birth and you’re sitting here this morning and I can see you, you have a flesh birth. You were born into this world because of Adam. And Adam was a sinner. And because he had an old sinful nature, so do you. So our first birth born of Adam were just like him. Then he makes this statement, the last Adam, Mark look over here, this is Jesus Christ. He wasn’t born of Adam. He was born of God, born of God.

He didn’t have a sinful nature. Adam did, so do y’all. Oh, all of us have a sinful nature. We’re all born in this world because of Adam. And because we all sin, we’re all going to die. Over here, Jesus Christ, He came from outer space, place called heaven. He didn’t have a sinful nature, so He didn’t sin. He couldn’t sin, impossible to sin. And because He didn’t sin, He didn’t have to die.ustomed So he voluntarily laid his life down for all of us that were born of Adam, the first Adam, so that by birth believing that what he did was for us, everybody born of Adam can be born of God by faith.

When you believe he did it for you, then God gives you a new birth. You have now two of them. I was born into the world because of Adam. I was born into God’s family because of Christ. First Adam, second Adam. Now look what he says here in verse 46. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural. And afterwards that which is spiritual. Look up here. You see, the spiritual didn’t come first. the natural came first.

And then… That which is spiritual. I was born into this world as a natural birth, a flesh birth, as a center. And then one day I trusted Christ as my Savior. And I was born spiritually in the God’s family. That was 51 and a half years ago. The other one, that was 70 years ago. So this one came first. And then this one. Now look what he says in verse 47. The first man is of the earth. The second man is the Lord from heaven.

See, I didn’t make that up. It’s right here. The Bible teaches us. And it says in verse 48, and as is the earthy, so are they also which are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. The look up here. Adam of the earth, central nature. So are they that are born of Adam? Jesus Christ. Heavenly, perfect, righteous, no sinful nature. So those who trust Christ as their Savior will bear the image of the heavenly.

Just like I bear the image of the earthly. There’s two different births. And unless a man is born again into God’s family, he will die in his sins, because you were born in sin, you live in sin, you’ll die that way. But if you trust Christ as your Savior, you’re in him. And in him, you’ll never die.

So when I physically drop dead, that’s my first birth, not my second birth. Now look what he said in verse 49. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. First Adam, second Adam, sinful, perfect. So those who are born of God, who soever is born of God, then God is the Father. You’re born of God. That means that you are a child of God. And if you were born of God, a spiritual birth, it didn’t have a sinful nature.

If it doesn’t have a sinful nature, it cannot sin. That’s why he says, whosoever is born of God cannot commit one single act of sin. Because his seed remained in him and he can not sin. But see, when you read this from other translations, it does away with this one and is trying to tell you that yes, you’ve been doing all this sinning. Now, if you’re really safe, you’re not going to continue to sin. Well, that’s to this guy.

That’s wicked. That’s wrong. That’s not what the scripture says. Well, if you’re safe, you’re not going to continue in sin. Yes, you will. Look up here. I got these two birds. This was born in sin, lives in sin, and it’ll always continue to sin. Practice is sin. But see, the scriptures in And the King James got it right. You can’t commit one single act of sin because he’s talking about two different births. When you and I was born into this world, we had an old sinful nature and we just by nature do the things that are wrong.

We are naturally rebellious. We are all light sheep. We all want our own way. And the Bible says you cannot save yourself. You cannot change that. There’s no amount of clean living that’s going to change the way you are. It’ll never make you perfect. That’s why when Christ died on the cross, it was the only way for you and I to be perfect and go to heaven for all eternity was to have another birth. Be born the second time without any sin.

So when you believe that Christ died and paid for all of your sins, he paid for everything. This one is done. All of it, he paid for all of it so that you and I could be free from the condemnation and we’re born in the God’s family. So I have two births. This one over here continues to sin. This one over here is still rebellious. over here, the Bible calls it, you’re born of the devil. A child of the devil.

And Jesus told him that in the Gospel of John. Well, you trusted Christ as your Savior. Now you’re born of God. Now as a child of God, it is the will of God that we live like God’s children. But see, because I have these two verses, I should understand. When I sin, and because of how much I sin, I should understand. that’s this guy. This guy wasn’t born of God. This is the one that was born of God. He doesn’t commit sin so that whenever I die, this one is buried because my sinful nature is in my flesh, not in my spirit.

And God has washed my soul as white as snow. So I’ll go to heaven whenever I die. So that’s why once you trust Christ to save you, you are a child of God. And as a child of God, you don’t have a sinful nature. And if you don’t have a sinful nature, it doesn’t sin. If it doesn’t sin, it doesn’t die. So once you trust Christ as your savior, how long then will you be a child of God forever?

See, this is why God’s promises us. He that believeth on me, hath everlasting life. That’s not this first birth, it’s the second birth that hath everlasting life. These things have are written under you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you, the second birth, you may know that you have eternal life. So can you know you’re going to heaven when you die? Yeah, you see, when you have translations that teaches the other. You’re putting into their hands or into yours something very confusing that has a totally different meaning.

Now take your Bible and go back there to the book of 1 John. Back to 1 John. 1 John and chapter three. Look up there now in verse four. In verse four. Whosoever, commited sin transgresses also the law, for the sin is the transgression of the law. Look up here. Which one of these transgresses the law? Which one of these breaks the law? This one over here, the flesh birth, the one of the first Adam. This is the one who has broken all the rules.

Now notice in verse five, and you know that he was manifested to take away our sin, talking about Christ. And in him, in him, get this in him is how much sin? There is no sin in him. There is no sin in him. Whosoever abideth in him sin if not. That means not commit one single act. That’s the new birth. This is why God saved you by grace, not because you earned it or worked for it to deserve it.

He loved you that much, that He did something from a whole world that whosoever would believe it could have this new birth. And this new birth is why you’re going to heaven because you see, this new birth is perfect. You see, what does a perfect person look like? You see, in my new birth, I’m perfect. I am as righteous as God. He gave me His righteousness. If He gave me His righteousness, that would make me as righteous as God.

Would that be good enough to go to heaven on? Yes, I’m going to heaven on. But you see, there’s people over here who’ve never trusted Christ and Him alone. And they’re trying to earn their way to heaven by trying to eliminate all these sins they commit. Well, I got to stop my drinking. I got to stop my smoking. And then this is why you have preach to you. You got to turn from your sins. Turn from your sins. Turn to burn for sacred bait.

White of pine, mornah grown. Whatever it is. Do it. And yet it’s an impossibility. You can’t turn from your sins. Why? It’s on the inside. It’s your nature. Just like asking a dog, dog, you stop acting like a dog. I’ll make you chicken. Okay, where’s the dog gonna stop acting like a dog? Or I’ll make you a cow. Taff? She loved cows. All right, and the horses. But you see, God had said it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast.

That’s why you have to have the new birth. And the new birth is not a result of you changing your life. It’s because he that believed it on me, what? Believe he died and paid for all that you’ve ever done. done or ever will do. And when you believe, He did it for you. Then He gives you as a free gift ever lasting life. And you become a child of God, that very moment. Fifty one years ago in a little old living room, I trust in Christ as my Savior.

That moment I became a child of God. And it’s never changed. Can’t be changed. I was perfect in Christ, that very moment, very day. And it’s never been changed since and can’t be changed. Now, this whole sinful nature I’ve got, it has never improved. It’s still just as bad as it’s always been. It’s just that I am able to control it a little bit better than I used to. But if I turn my back on this whole sinful nature, he’ll knock me upside the head and ruin my life.

And I know that because he’s still sinful and still wicked and he still practices sin. He obitually commits sin. Whether indeed or thought or motives or emotions. You can’t trust the flesh. That’s why when you trusted Christ, you say, he gave you a new birth and the new birth is hungry, has desires. And so you satisfy these desires by feeding on the the Word of God. And if you do, you’ll get to be a stronger Christian in this life.

One of these days, yeah, this was going to die. Yankie’s going to be in a casket and y’all going to weep and wail and ask your teeth. So the poor guy’s gone. He just got here. Poor guy. And in about five minutes, y’all go out there and eat your thirst on dinner. Don’t worry about me, absent from the body, present with the Lord. You see, this new birth is going to heaven because it’s perfect and it’s righteous and it’s just like the Lord.

Look up there in verse two, Beloved, now, now are we the sons of God? I’m not going to be a child of God. I already am a child of God. I’ve already been born into God’s family. And that’s why he says, it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall see him like he is, for we shall see him as he is. We shall be like him. So there’s a day coming when the Lord comes back and I’m gonna be just like him in the sense that I won’t have this one.

This one is already like him. It’s just that I won’t have this anymore. And I’ll be with the Lord for all eternity. See, this is good news. And King James has it right. It used the right word to explain it because this is a translation and not a interpretation. What somebody thinks because they can’t believe this means what it says. It does mean exactly what it says. And as you read down through here, you have to keep the two births separate.

See there in verse seven, little children let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteous is righteous, even as he is righteous, look up here. This one is righteous just like he is righteous. This one is a sinner just like Adam was a sinner. I got two different ones. And if you see me sin, don’t you judge this one? Say, well, this one doesn’t exist. Yes, he does. Sometimes this one gets victory over me. Sometimes I say and do things I shouldn’t do, just like you.

But God says, if we strengthen ourselves And do right, then God’ll help us to grow and to be strong. You see, some Christians are so spiritually skinny they could use a chariot for a hula hoop. You need to build yourself up in your most holy faith. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. This wallet represents sin. You see, you and I, we’re all sinners. And the reason is because we came from the first Adam. He was a sinner.

He messed it up for us, didn’t he? And God says that he still loves us. He loved Adam and Eve. Whenever he made man, God loved us. And he says that the sin has to be paid and the payment for sin is eternal separation from God in hell. And so the whole world, everybody who’s born of Adam, a first physical flash birth, God still loves you. He just don’t like your sin, but your sin comes from a sinful nature that you were born with.

God’s not against you. It’s just that God can’t let you go to heaven the way you are because, see, if you’ll sin here, you’ll sin there. So God won’t let you go. He says you have to be born again because God doesn’t want any sin in heaven. And when the only way you can get there without sin is to be born again. So God says you cannot earn eternal life, you can’t work your way to heaven. You can’t buy it.

He says eternal life is the gift of God. See, this is what Christ did for us. We had no hope. This isn’t something you earn or work for. And if you try real hard, you’ll get to go to heaven some day. No, no, no. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord, God in the flesh. Came into the world because He loves us. Hates our sin because it separates us from Him. So Jesus Christ, who had no sin, didn’t have to die.

He took all the sin of all the world, paid for it, came back from the dead, said, if we would believe He did it for us. He would put this payment to our account, we go to heaven, on what Christ did. Have you been born again? Have you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior? Do you believe He made this payment for you? God said, if you’ll believe it, you’ll have a new birth today, right now. It’s free. It’s a gift.

He loves you that much. There’s no tricks to it, No, no strings attached. You don’t have to give money to this church. You don’t have to change your life, stop anything, promise anything. Just as a sinner, Lord, I’m a sinner. It’s what I am. I sin. It’s what sinners do. But God loves sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. And he did something for us, no one else could do. He paid for our sins.

Came back from the dead. Is that so hard to believe? Can you just believe that he did it for you? If you will trust him as your savior, He said He would give you as a free gift, everlasting life. Never cast you out, never lose you. And, whosoever, born of God, does not commit sin, can’t die, lives forever. Best news in the world. Let’s pray, show Him. With head-bound nice clothes and no one looking around, if you’re here this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ says, your Savior, you may have heard about this all your life, but maybe never really trusted the Lord.

Would you do that right now? I’m not going to have you stand ever come forward, but right where you’re sitting. Say, preach it that made sense to me. I think I’ve finally got it. And friend, if you will trust the Lord, I’d like to have prayer for you. And I’m going to ask you in just a moment to raise your hand. Raising your hand doesn’t save you. It just lets me know that what I said made sense to you and said, preach it that made sense to to me and I will trust Christ as my Savior and I’d like you to pray for him in closing.

So is there anyone at all? So yes, I will trust the Lord. Just slip your hand up very quickly and put it right back down. Is anyone at all? Anyone at all? If you know this, you understand this? Tell people about it. The best news in all the world. To know that you can be saved and never go to hell. Never, never because you’ve been born a God. Father, thank you so much for this time together. For the study of you, we bless each one.

Christ name we pray. Amen. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage.

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

So live today and everyday, believing that the Lord is coming soon. 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 through the Bibleline website at calbryoftampa.org. 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 want to read something to you and we’re gonna have a Bible study this morning. We’re gonna study the Bible. What will we come for? So take your Bible and turn to 1 John 3. 1 John 3. Do not be looking at your notes. Put it down. You don’t even have them in your hand. So 1 John 3 verse 1. Behold what manner of love the Father had bestowed upon us. That we should be called the sons of God.

Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and had not yet appeared what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath his hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committed sin transgresses also the law. For sin is the transgression of the law, and you know that he was manifested to take away our sins.

And in Him is no sin. Whosoever abided in Him sineth not. Whosoever sineth have not seen Him neither known Him. Little children let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous. Even as He is righteous. He that committed sin is of the devil, for the devil sineth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God, does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God.

In this, the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. Whosoever, doeth not righteousness, is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. Pause. Now, this is a little bit different then reading John 3 16, which says, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, not whosoever beleveth in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life. What a simple verse. Now what we just read, not so simple. When I first read these verses, it blew my mind.

I had come out of the part of your apartments there in Athens, Georgia. My father-law had led me to Christ. He told me I ought to talk to people about the Lord, but he never took me so I didn’t know how to talk to people about the Lord. So I got to where I just knock on the door and if anybody answers I says, are you saved? And sometimes they would say, from what? Saved. Bam! I knock at the next door.

Are you saved? That’s all I knew to ask. And one guy told me, says, I don’t know. I I say, well, I’ll pray for you. I’ll go to the next door. Now I realize now I think I could have done a better job. But I was at the bottom of the heel. Well, there was some cars parked there. I saw this victim. Guy walked across. I walked up to him and I said, are you saved? He says, yes I am.

I said, well, great. So am I. He says, you’re saved? I said, yeah, I’m saved. He says, are you born again? Yes, I’m born again. He says, do you still sin? I said, yes, I do. He says, then you’re not saved. I said, yes, I am. He says, no, you’re not. I said, yes, I am. He says, are you born again? I said, yeah, I’m born again. Did you still sin? Yes, everybody says, he says, then you’re not saved.

Now he made me mad. I was about ready to deck this guy. I didn’t know anything about, you know, tolerance and all that stuff. I didn’t even know the verse about turn your cheek. Because if I hit him good enough, he ain’t gonna be turning nothing. I didn’t go to church yet. I wasn’t, you know, I hadn’t been Christianized. He says, don’t you believe the Bible? I says every word of it. I had no clue what the Bible said.

I just got saved. I didn’t know, not a lot of things. I didn’t know there were books in the Bible. But anyway, he said, I got a Bible in their trunk. He says, if I showed it to you in the Bible, would you believe it? I said, if it’s in there, I’ll believe it. He got his Bible and he opened it up and he showed me 1 John 3, 9. Look in verse 9, this is the verse he showed me.

Whosoever is born of God, death not commit sin, for his seed remandeth in him, and he cannot sin because he’s born of God. And he looked at me with a grin. He says, are you born of God? I said, yes, I am. He says, do you still sin? I said, yes, I do. He says, and you’re not saved. I said, yes, I am. He says, no, you’re not. That’s what you argue some more. Oh. And I kept thinking my mind, Lord, you really messed up now.

There’s no reason for this verse to be in this Bible. I mean, because what you just said, it can’t be true. If you’re born of God, you don’t commit sin. And I knew I was already sinning them. I was mad then. Anyway, I stomped off and I couldn’t wait to see my father-in-law. Well, I explained it to him, he, him and a whore because he couldn’t explain it either. I don’t know if he knew that verse was in the Bible.

But whatever it was, I didn’t get satisfied. This really bothered me. Because you see, if you get saved and if you don’t sin after you’re saved, I had a problem. I would venture to say, how many of you in this room, no positive that you have trusted Christ to save you, you’re born of God, let me see your hand. For some of you’re slow. I put your hand down. Do you steal sin? You’d have to be proud of it.

No, no. Yes, you steal sin. But the Bible just said, who so ever is born of God doesn’t commit sin. So I had a problem. And it bothered me for a long time. And I heard from another translation, and so on the back of your paper there, where it has at the top of it, the new international version, and it has NIV. So I want you to look there at chapter three, and you’ll notice there’s a little place there under number three where it has the fourth verse.

Every one, find where it has everyone who sins breaks the law. In fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. Well, that’s really clear. No No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. And no one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.

Now, this is the NIV. Well, you see, I got a problem with King James. This is the NIV. And here it just simply says, if you’re saved, you won’t continue to sin. You won’t continue. You won’t keep on sinning. All right, here you are. This is the Bible. Now you and I know God must have made a mistake. He couldn’t have meant that, because who gets to go to heaven then? Evidently there must not be any Christians at all.

And yet everybody in this room knows if you’re honest. You still sin. You say, not me. Let me talk to your wife. I bet you couldn’t find five people that will swear that you haven’t sinned in ten years. You won’t find five people. You won’t find one. And if you bear witness of yourself, you’re lying. Because God said, let God be true in every man, a liar. So how are we going to get out of there? Look at the next paragraph down, the next set of verses where it has dear children, dear children.

What is that? The Eagle. He who does what is right, is right is. Just as he is right is. He who does what is sinful is of the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The rea, the God of God, appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin. That’s in the United Kingdom. I have a problem with the King James, but I have a bigger problem with that. Because it’s boiling it down to that if you get saved, you won’t keep living that way.

You won’t keep living the way you’ve been living. You’re not going to keep on sinning. This is why when some people read the Bible and they read this, and then somebody claims to be a Christian. If you’re a Christian, I don’t believe you mean you still drink, you still smoke, you said a cuss word. That means you’re not a real genuine Christian. Remember last week we spoke on what is a real genuine Christian? Will the real Christian please stand up?

I said that three times, not a soul stood until I told him at the end of it. Let’s all stand and sing. Anyway, so we have a problem with a translation because there’s just something inside of us that says that’s not right. If you just simply read that and believe it the way it says it, there’s a problem. Could that cause you to question your salvation that if you’re born of God, you will not continue to sin. Would that cause a problem with you?

Would it cause you to say, maybe I’m not really saved or really born of God? So it does produce a problem. And so this evidently must be a difficult scripture to explain. When you have all of these experts in Hebrew and Greek who you try to explain what it means and then put it into a translation. Well I’ve got news for you. I don’t believe that this is a translation. This is an interpretation. Because of what somebody thinks they have put in there, you won’t continue to sin, or you won’t keep on sinning because they don’t know no better way to explain it.

they know that what is said in the King James, that can’t be right. So we’re going to explain it. Well, their explanation makes it worse. And I’ll show you in just a minute. Now, if you look there on the new American standard and on the left, you will see about the middle where I have the words, practice sin. Now, in the new American standard, this is what they say on trying to explain this verse. You see there, everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness and sin is lawlessness.

It’s going against the law. So you know that you’re practicing lawlessness when you sin because sin is against the law. You transgress the law. And if you don’t know what the word practice means, it means you do it habitually over and over and over again. Everyone who practices sin, and he says in verse five, and ye know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins.

No one who sins has seen him or knows him. Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous. Just as he is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil. Now you and I don’t have to worry about this because see we’re not practicing sins. We’re experts at it. I mean we know what we’re doing. Now the next verse says, the Son of God appeared for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the devil, no one, verse nine, that verse that really threw me, well it threw me for a loop that for sure.

No one who is born of God practices sin. So here you are, you say, I’ve trusted Christ as my Savior and you’re still struggling in some particular sin in your life. Even those that nobody knows about. What if you habitually get mad, habitually get angry. Abitually have bad thoughts. Abitually look at things you’re not supposed to look at. Abitually say cuss words, some kind of profanity. Well, if you’re saved, you’re not going to practice in.

Could that cause you to question your salvation? Because if you’re safe, you’re not going to do that. This is why you have a lot of people who teach that if you’re saved, it means you got to commit your life to Christ. It means you got to promise your life how you’re going to live to the Lord in order to be saved. So that means you got to promise God, you’re going to walk the straight and narrow well. You’re going to be and do right, keep your nose clean, stay out of trouble.

Because see, that means it’s what we call lordship salvation. God will save you if Christ is the Lord or the master of your life. And if He is not the master of your life, then it’s a sign you are not saved. Boy, doesn’t that cause trouble. Because you’ll have to admit that if you’re still sinning, Christ must not be the Lord of the master of your life. So that means you must not be saved. So you’re going to get us out of this?

I don’t know. We’re going to try. Now what I do want you to know is that there is a very simple explanation for all of this and how to put it together. And you want to stick around long enough to find out, don’t you? I don’t know if we can be here that long. But I do want you to see this. Turn your page over. I want you to know that there are two Greek words that we find mentioned down through here in this portion of scripture.

One is the word poeo, and the other one is the word praso. Poeo, praso, two Greek words. One of these words means to practice habitually, continuously. And one of the words means not one single time, not one single act. So I want you to look there at the top of the page where I have first John 1-9, is it praso to practice? Or poeo, not one single act. Which one is it? Which Greek word is used? Now, what I want you to notice is that you have there or it’s in bold a primary verb.

See it where it’s underlined? This word, praso means to practice, perform repeatedly or habitually. This is taken right out of the strong’s concordance. This is what it says about this word. So there is a word, praso, in the Greek, that means and sometimes uses do or commit, and it’s translated so many different ways and so many places, and it means to practice sin, to practice, habitually commit. But that number, if you look at the next line, differing from the Greek 4160 Poheo, which properly refers to a single act.

Now the bold I did because I wanted to bring it to your attention. I wanted you to see this. So there are two words, praso, Poheo. And the one word is a Greek number 41-60, which is Pouello, and the other one is the number, trying to see what that number, 42-38 is praso. So there’s two Greek words in Strongton-Chordin, two different numbers, two different meanings. Now as you read it, you will know which word is used in the scriptures that we’re looking at.

Does the word that they have used does it mean to practice habitually, continuously, or does it mean not one time, not one single act? Because it makes a lot of difference. You see, one is that you continually habitually sin, and one is you can’t commit one single act of sin. You say, well, both sounds pretty bad to me. I’m going to throw you. But I want you to see it because it is so important. Go all the way down to the bottom of the page where you have in the square box.

You’ll notice on the left the word po’eio, bold. And the Greek number is 41-60. You can get a strong concordance. You can look it up. That’s what I did. That’s what I did. I copied this right out of the book. So don’t you know a little Greek? Yeah, he runs a restaurant down on the corner. So we know that the word poeo means not one single act. Now look at the next word, the last line on the page, praso, 42, 38.

Perform repeatedly or habitually, thus differing from poeo, which properly refers to a single act. That’s in the strong dictionary. This is the authority for the study of your Greek. Now, look at the numbers, 41, 60, 42, 38. Now turn your page over and look where strong applies those numbers to the right word in the sentence in the scripture. And you’ll notice where I have underlined 1 John 3, 9, where it says, is born of God, not commit sin. That word commit.

What’s the number out there to the right? 4160. 4160 is the Greek word poeo. And poeo means not one single act. Now you tell me how they can put practice in there or habitually commit in there when it’s the wrong Greek word. Look over there again. Look down at the bottom of the page where it has 1 John 3, 4, Whosoever commitive sin, transgressive, and in verse 8, he that commitive sin is of the devil. That word is the number 41-60.

It’s not the word prasal, which means to continually or habitually commit. So you see, when you want to believe something, you can say whatever you want. But in reality, that’s not what God said. God’s word says in the book of 1 John 3, 9, and that whole paragraph that we read is talking about the original from the Greek is talking about you can’t commit one single act of sin. So see, you don’t have to worry about practicing it. You can’t even commit one.

See, boy, that’s worse than we had before because occasionally I might mess up. But I don’t practice it. Well, since the word is po’eo, and it means you cannot commit one single act of sin. How do you explain it? Because you and I know we both still sin. And pretty good at it. Take your Bible and turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. First Corinthians chapter 15. Don’t leave me now. Don’t let your mind go anywhere else.

Stick with me and understand this because this is so important. You’ll also see why the King James is superior to all the other translations because they didn’t put it down according to their interpretation but according to a translation, they use the right word and the right meaning. But notice here in 1 Corinthians in chapter 15, I want you to look there in verse 45. Verse 45, this is on page 12, 27. Verse 45 says, and so it is written, the first man Adam made a living soul.

Last Adam, a quickening spirit. So in the word of God, it’s like there’s only two men that’s ever coming into this world. They came from different worlds. You see Adam was from this world, this hand Jesus Christ is from another world. They’re two different worlds. As you could say, they’re a world apart than they are. The first man in the world, Adam, well, all of us who have a flesh birth, let me see. How many of y’all have a flesh birth?

Let me see you. How many of you are not sure? If you have a physical birth and you’re sitting here this morning and I can see you, you have a flesh birth. You were born into this world because of Adam. And Adam, was a sinner. And because he had an old sinful nature, so do you. So our first birth, born of Adam, were just like him. Then he makes a statement, the last Adam, our little over here, this is Jesus Christ.

He wasn’t born of Adam. He was born of God, born of God. He have a sinful nature. Adam did, so did y’all. Oh, all of us have a sinful nature. We’re all born in this world because of Adam. And because we all sin, we’re all going to die. Over here, Jesus Christ, He came from outer space, a place called heaven. He didn’t have a sinful nature, so he didn’t sin. He couldn’t sin, impossible to sin. And because he didn’t sin, he didn’t have to die.

So he voluntarily laid his life down for all of us that were born of Adam, the first Adam, so that by birth believing that what he did was for us everybody born of Adam can be born of God by faith. When you believe he did it for you, then God gives you a new birth. You have now two of them. I was born into the world because of Adam. I was born into God’s family because of Christ. First Adam, second Adam.

Now look what he He says here in verse 46, how beeth that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural. And afterwards that which is spiritual. Look up here. You see, the spiritual didn’t come first. The natural came first. And then that which is spiritual. I was born into this world as a natural birth, a flesh birth, as a sinner. And then one day I trusted Christ as my Savior, and I was born spiritually in the God’s family.

That was 51 and a half years ago. The other one, that was 70 years ago. So this one came first, and then this one. Now look what he says in verse 47, the first man is of the earth. The second man is the Lord from heaven. See how he made that up? That’s right here. The Bible teaches us. 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.

Our 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. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.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 we will be changed caught up to meet the Lord in the air so live today and every day believe in that the Lord is coming soon just keep looking up

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 air. You can read the Word. 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 through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

The book of Hebrews, chapter 7. The Bible tells us that yes, God gave the law, but the law could not make those that came to the law perfect. Couldn’t make the comers there unto perfect. Coming to church, we consider that that’s a good deed. But coming to church cannot make you perfect. You gave some money this morning. Maybe some of you took some out. It did not make you perfect. Regardless of what you do cannot make you perfect. And yet you have to be perfect to go to heaven.

In Hebrews and chapter seven, I want you to look there in verse 11. In verse 11 says, if therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood for under it the people received the law. What further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order of Aaron, if a man going to the priest in the Old Testament and offering these sacrifices year after year, if it could make you perfect, then why would you have to do it again if you were perfect?

Well, it didn’t make you perfect. And they had to offer the same sacrifices year after year after year because it could not make the people who did those deeds, it can’t make you perfect. And the priest, they couldn’t make you perfect. they had to offer a sacrifice for their own sins before they could offer one for your sins or for the nation. So they could not save themselves. When Christ came, he was a priest not after the order of Aaron or the Levitical priesthood of the tribe of Levi because Christ was born of the tribe of Judah and Melchizedek was a different kind of a high priest.

There’s no record of his parents, there’s no record of his death. And so therefore it was like he lives forever. So Christ was a priest after the order of Melchizedek, an endless life, the power of an endless life. Think if you had the power of an endless life. See down there in verse 16, who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life, the power that you would have if you knew that you could not die and never die the power of an endless life.

Well, Christ has the power of living forever and to live forever, he’s willing to share that eternal life with whomsoever he will and because he’s perfect, he can make you and me perfect. You and I, he can make us perfect. Look in verse 19. For the law, the law made nothing what? Nothing perfect. So those who want to keep the law, the law cannot make you perfect. It cannot make you righteous and yet you have to be perfect and the law can’t do that.

So how is a man then going to be made perfect? When you accepted Christ as your Savior, then the Bible says the Holy Spirit gave you a new spiritual birth and you became a child of God. God fathered your new birth. Your new birth born of God, born of God, it has no sinful nature. No sinful nature. It cannot sin. Cannot sin. It cannot die. That’s why once you trust Christ as your Savior, you are a child of God.

God for how long? Forever you have been created by God perfect. Now look up here and you see flesh. What you see came with my first birth. My second birth was born of God and that is a spiritual birth and that you cannot see. But it is perfect in Christ. I am perfect. So there in Christ I am perfect. I have no sin put to my account. I am as righteous and as holy as God. But I am not God.

You see he did that for me because he loved me and for me to live with him in heaven I’ve got to be holy and righteous. I’ve got to be perfect. I could not be perfect on my own. I could not do anything. The law, keeping the commandments, could not make me perfect. Therefore, in the last part of verse 19, but the bringing in of a better hope did. Something else did. What made me perfect? By the which we draw nigh on the God.

I can draw nigh on the God because I am perfect. The law couldn’t do it, but something else did, something better than the law. And as you read this, you’ll find out that Jesus Christ is better than the law. Look at verse 22, by so much was Jesus made a surety, a guarantee of a better testament, better contract. It was His will and delivered and signed in blood. He made out a testament, He made out a will, and guaranteed that everybody who comes to God through Him, He will make them perfect.

What He can do, the law could not do. No man could do. So that when I stand up and I can say, I am a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus. All of God’s children are perfect. All of God’s children are holy. They’re set apart and they’re gods. You see, that’s because you are in Christ. You have been made acceptable in Christ. That is your standing, not your state. understanding in Christ cannot be changed by you or God.

Now the state that you go in from day to day, yeah you might change a little bit. Your state of mind fluctuates an awful lot, but there is a thing in the Bible that’s talked about being perfect and being made perfect. Look there in chapter 9 and verse 9, chapter 9 and verse 9, which was a figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices in the Old Testament. And you ought to on the line this in your Bible, could not make him that did the service perfect.

Could not make the person that did the service perfect. I don’t care how many laws you kept, how many sacrifices you made, how well you lived. It could not make the person who did the service perfect. And perfect is what you have to eat. So as you read this evidently what something could not do in making you perfect, something else did make you perfect. I’m going to heaven because I’m perfect. That’s the only reason I can get there. But I’m not perfect in my works because there’s no work that I can do to make me perfect.

I’m perfect in Christ. The Bible says in Colossians chapter 2 that ye are complete in him. Complete in him. I like nothing to get to heaven. There’s nothing that I have to do from this day forward to do to get to heaven. I am complete. I have all I need. I have been accepted. If you committed a sin, and even though you did some good work to cover the sin, it didn’t clean your conscience because you still know you sinned.

You did wrong. You do wrong yesterday. You said, well, I’m going to go to church today. Oh, it makes me feel so much better. But your conscience knows you still did it and you still guilty and you still wrong and you know it. Whenever in the Bible you read the word eternal, it also could have the word perfect. You see, eternal life is perfect life. Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life. Jesus Christ is the true God and He’s perfect.

When He gave you eternal life, He gave you His perfection. And His perfection cannot sin and cannot die. You’ll last forever because you have been made perfect forever. It’s an eternal perfection. See there in Hebrews in chapter nine. Look down in verse 12. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place once. How many times can a man get saved one time? If you ever hear people getting saved two and three and four times, they don’t understand it at all.

You can only get saved once. You can only get born in this world one time. You can only get born in the God’s family one time. So he made one payment once and for all, for all sins of all people. And those who by faith believe he did it for them, he makes them perfect. And if you’re made perfect, why would you ever need to get saved again? How can a perfect person sin? Your new birth that can’t sin.

All of the sinning that you do after you trusted Christ was from your first birth because your new one can’t sin. It’s perfect. Can’t sin. And that’s why he says that whosoever is born of God to not commit sin. Can’t commit sin. For his seed remaining in him and he cannot sin, impossible to sin, because he’s born of God. So the part of you that was not born of God still sins. In verse 14 he says, how much more shall the blood of Christ hoot through the eternal spirit?

Eternal spirit? Or you could say they, not just eternal, but perfect spirit. Down in verse 12 when he says, obtained eternal redemption, it could be perfect redemption. And then when he says they’re in the last part of verse 15, eternal inheritance could be a perfect inheritance, undefiled that faith if not away reserved in heaven for you. That’s what God has done for us. Look there in chapter 10 of Hebrews and look in verse 1. Chapter 10 and verse 1.

For the law, having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things, can never, can never with those sacrifices which they offer year by year continually make the comers there unto perfect. In other words, today you may not be going to some temple and making some animal sacrifice, the continual coming to church, continual giving of your money, continual praying year after year. You say, I’ve been doing this year after year. It’ll never make you perfect.

It’s a waste of your time. You’re playing games. Either you are truly trusting only in Christ or you’re lost, it cannot be both ways. Those who come to God in these manners seeking to obtain this perfection that you need to get to heaven can’t make you perfect and it won’t work and the Bible is very simple, very clear on this. I mentioned to this in Sunday school, If I’m standing here and there’s a light here and it shines, then I cast a shadow.

In the Old Testament, they studied the shadow, and only the shadow knows, but they studied the shadow. And the shadow was a shadow of a perfect sacrifice, a perfect individual. They never seen a shadow like this before. They could not describe it. couldn’t pin it on anybody. Who does this shadow belong to? Well, one day Christ was born and he grew up to be a man and lo and behold they found out that Babadi, Christ in grilling that body and how he lived, cast a long shadow of about 2,000 years.

And without this body, this perfect man, who does the shadow belong to? It was only a shadow of the real thing. When Christ came, the shadow only pointed toward Christ. The law pointed toward Christ. So the law brings us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. But it doesn’t make the comers there unto perfect. Look there in chapter 5 of the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 5. This is so important for you to understand this. Otherwise you will doubt your salvation.

See, when you doubt your salvation, you call God a liar. When you doubt your salvation, you call God a liar. Unless you’re not saved. So I’ve been saved, but I’m not sure I am now. If you ever were saved, you still are. But I don’t tell people that they’ve ever been saved. I don’t know who’s saved and who isn’t saved. I’m saying that if you trust Christ, God says you’re saved. If you believe it, you’re the one that has to determine whether you believe Him or not.

I don’t want anybody resting upon my word that they’re saved. Therefore, I don’t tell people they’re saved. I say, if you accept Christ right now, God says He gives you eternal life. And if you accept Christ right now, God gives eternal life and all you send are paid, where would you go? You tell me. Now Hebrews in chapter 5. they’re in verse eight, verse eight. Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation, or you could say a perfect salvation.

The salvation that he designed a plan of salvation for a man was perfect. God had to make him complete because if there’s anything lacking then the man wouldn’t make it. So it had to be a total salvation, a complete salvation, or there’d be no salvation. If you are not eternally secure, than you are not secure at all. If you can lose your salvation by something that you fail to do, then your salvation depends on you, not Christ. And you don’t have salvation.

You’re working for something that’s free because by your good life, you keep it in bad life, you lose it. That’s not the Bible. My salvation totally depends upon Jesus Christ. It is complete and it is perfect. And He makes the statement, and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation, so that anyone who is saved is saved eternal lead. He does not become the author of temporary salvation. It is all permanent salvation. No probation. God does not save anybody on probation.

I’m going to save you today and I’m going to put you on probation. And if you live right, then I’ll let you get on in. And if you don’t, then I’m going to take it away from you. That is not taught anywhere in the Bible. That’s religions. Religions will teach you that, but the Bible does not teach that. So therefore I I hope that you understand and know that you have eternal life and that you’re going to heaven whenever you die.

The Bible is very simple and is very clear. People make simple things complex and I cringe when they do things like that. Look up here just a moment. They’re trying to make it as simple as I can, as clear as I can. This hand representing you and me in this wallet represents sin. We all have sin upon us. Now God says that He loves us, but our sins that we commit. Keeps us from getting into heaven because heaven is perfect and we’re not so we’ve come short of perfection short of the glory of God.

And the Bible says there’s no amount of works that you can do that can make you perfect you can’t come to God by the law. The law only condemns you. It says you’re not good enough. And so when you spend all your life trying to accomplish something that is impossible, you lose. Think for a moment how many people there are in the world that are at this moment in a church because they think it’s helping them go to heaven.

How many various religions of different kinds, people trying to live a good life thinking that that’s going to help them get to heaven and it has absolutely nothing to do with them going to heaven. A person doesn’t have to go to church, he doesn’t have to give money, don’t have to live right, don’t have to stop any sin in order to go to heaven. That is contrary to what everybody’s heard. That’s contrary to what I was told. I was always under the impression, if I was good I’d go to heaven bad I’m going to hell.

I had mixed emotions. I didn’t know which way I was going to go at different times. Sometimes I thought I’m good enough to go to heaven and other time I knew I wasn’t going to go because it debased upon how I was living. And I would have good days and bad days. Well God said that’s not the way it is. But He loves us and He hates our sin. And to pay for that sins, eternal separation from God and hell.

If you could from this day forward never commit another sin. What are you going to do about the ones you’ve already committed? This hand represents Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves you and me. He hates our sin because our sin separates us from Him. So Christ took the sin, paid for it on the cross and came back from the dead. And the Lord said, if I would believe, simply believe that he did this for me, he puts this payment to my account, I go to heaven on what he did for me.

Now the Bible says all those who believe on him are placed in Christ. So when Christ was on the cross, you are placed in that body, in God’s eyes. And that’s why the Bible says, by one spirit are we all baptized into one body. and his body became your body, and you died on the cross, and you were buried and you came back from the dead. And you have risen and ascended into heaven, and you are right now seated on the right hand of the Father in heaven in Christ.

And that’s why it says, we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the Heavenlies. These are what is known as the identification truths. In other words, you identify yourself with Christ’s crucifixion and his death and his resurrection. All that was put to your account as though you did it. I paid for my sins. I died. But I didn’t really do it. And that’s why he says in the book of Galatians in chapter 2, which I want you to see that verse before the close.

One last verse, looking Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, you ought to underline this verse in your Bible. It’s an awesome verse. But this is what Paul was talking about. I wasn’t really crucified. I wasn’t really buried. I didn’t really come back from the dead, but it’s been put to my account as though I did. No words like you haven’t a debt you had to pay and somebody paid the debt for you. It doesn’t matter that you said, well, I didn’t really do it.

Somebody did it for you and you accepted that. It’s just like you did. You see there in Galatians in chapter 2 verse 20? I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live. You know what I really wasn’t crucified. It was just like I was because what he did was put to my account like I did it. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

So now that I have died, I’m supposed to live as though I’m dead descend. Like my sinful nature doesn’t exist. It has no power. And I’m not going to spend my life satisfying its desires. No, I can. But if you do fulfill the desires of the flesh, then you’re going to reap corruption. You’re going to reap the chasing the hand of God, and it’s going to cause some rewards when you get to heaven, and you’re going to lose out on the blessings of life now.

So there’s no advantage. There is not one advantage for any child of God to walk in the flesh. It’s not going to pay off. You’re going to lose. I’ve never met a Christian who walked in the flesh in one. You don’t win. It cost you. So because you are a child of God, God says you have been risen from the dead, walk in newness of life, live as a child of God should live. And God will bless you here and reward you when you get to heaven.

And one day this body is going to get so old or something can happen to But, and it’s going to literally die, and whenever this body literally dies, and he put it in the grave, well, your new birth, that born of God, well, it can’t die. Death is separation. It can’t be separated from God. But you, your soul, can be separated from your body, and death is separation. When you leave that body, the Bible says to be absent from the body, to be what?

Present with the Lord. So that’s what we’re looking for. And he says, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ live within me. And the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. See that verse 21, I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness comes by the law then Christ is dead in vain. If a man could earn his way to heaven by his works, Christ died in the vein.

But a man can’t earn his way to heaven. So therefore he must be saved by grace without one shred of works, no confidence in works. Any of his talents or abilities, nothing that he does or doesn’t do, do you see the Christ or no salvation? I appreciate it. The heads by a nice close and no one looking around. I know that most of you, maybe all of you, have trusted Christ as your Savior. But if you are here this morning, and if you’re not trusted Christ as your Savior, then you’re not a child of God.

If you’re not a child of God, you’re not going to heaven. And I want you to go to heaven. The Lord wants you to go to heaven. That’s why He paid for your sins. And friend, if you try to live good enough to get to heaven, would just make you a hypocrite. Don’t sense doing that. Don’t play that game. Just be honest between you and the Lord and say, Lord, I’m a sinner. That’s what I am. And I can’t promise how I’m going to live, because that’s not an issue.

Lord, right now the best on how I will accept Christ as my Savior. I’m going to trust in the take me to heaven when I die and pray. God said if you’ll believe that, He’ll save you, give me eternal life, and you’ll go to heaven or what it did for me. If you’ve never done it, we can do it right now. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold.

We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771. 771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at six o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.org. Thanks for joining us on Bible Live. And now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friends, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. 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 through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you’ll enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

So now as a child of God, you and I are supposed to be very careful how we build on this foundation. and you build because of what the Word of God says. So that’s why you learn the Word of God so that you can do what God wants and build your life. So what we talk about is this, and I mentioned this to several here, we don’t wanna take and use people just to try to build a ministry, but use a ministry to build people, to make people strong, strong in the Lord.

Cause the greatest thing you’ll ever build is gonna be yourself. whatever you are is what you reproduce. And so we have a responsibility as God’s children to try to teach and help and educate others so they can be strong in the Lord because you want the best for them. So he says, you don’t have to lay the foundation again. See there in this verse, the foundation of repentance from dead works. That means that you don’t have to get a person to get saved again because he’s not been lost.

He hasn’t lost his salvation, so he doesn’t have to get on the foundation again, because he never fell off the foundation. He is on the foundation and he is secure on the foundation and that can never change. He has eternal life. But he says here, the foundation of repentance from dead works, means you do not trust in your works, dead works for your salvation, but because of your faith in the Lord. So every man is to repent, change his mind and see that he cannot save himself by his works.

Dead works can’t give life. Dead works come from a dead man and a a dead man is someone who separated from God. So a lost man cannot save himself by producing dead works which cannot give life. Eternal life must come from life. And that’s Christ. So he is eternal life and he gives me the free gift of eternal life when I trust him as my Savior. So when he talks here about the let us go on to maturity, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, then He tells us what those simple principle things are.

And He’s mentioned in them right here in verse 2 of the doctrine of baptism, laying on of hands because you see this was in the transition period where the apostles laid their hands upon different ones to receive the Holy Spirit. And afterwards that is not done. And the baptism, eternal judgment, that’s all has to deal with the first principles of the oracles of God. knowing and understanding you’re saved and why you’re saved and how long you’re saved for and you’re saved from something eternal judgment.

So in verse three he said then this will we do if God permits. Well why wouldn’t God permit it? The only thing that keeps you from growing and maturing in the Lord is your lack of faith in what God’s word says. Not to believe the Lord. And yes there is a point can be made from chapter 3 and 4 of the book of Hebrews about the children of Israel in the wilderness didn’t go into the Promised Land because of their unbelief.

Now it is their unbelief that got him into the Promised Land, but the Promised Land wasn’t heaven. The Promised Land was a place of victory for the mature Christian. The wilderness is like for the the person who just wanders all over the place for 40 years and wastes his life. So yes, as a believer in Christ, I want to go to the Promised Land. I want to go to that which God brought the maturing of a believer to believe the Word of God so that I can.

Be mature where I can discern right from wrong. And meet five mature, and I learned these things. Then the Bible talks about cast not away, therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. You see, rewards in heaven is a result of your work, and your work is a result of your confidence, and your confidence is a result of your faith. So therefore, as you study the Word of God and believe the Word of God, your faith increases, your work increases and your reward increases.

So therefore, it’s important for every child of God to discipline himself, to absorb whatever light you have, truth that you know, and walk according to the light that God has given to you. So that verse here, verse one, is explained in the following verses. So he says, not land again the foundation of repentance from dead works and a faith toward God. Why? Because it’s impossible, as he says there in verse six, if they could fall away to renew them again unto repentance.

So that’s why you don’t lay the foundation again. In the words, once a man is saved, you don’t have to get him saved again. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior and you’ve been saved for 30 years, but you’ve never matured in the Lord. You still can’t get that person received because that person can’t get unsaved. Because once you’re on the foundation you have eternal life and you’re going to heaven whenever you die. And this is what the Bible is teaching here.

So if you look up there in verse 3, and this will we do if God permits several things here. One, God will not let you understand some deeper truths in the word of God because of your lack of discernment. You can’t understand what God is saying. It doesn’t make any sense to you. So that’s why sometimes when you will not obey the truth or the light that God gives to you, you can sit down and read the Bible and you’ll get a little milk here and a little milk there, but the meat you won’t be able to get and you will not understand it.

You will not develop as a strong Christian. You’ll see others that mature and take off like a rocket and you’ll wonder why? What’s wrong with me? Well, maybe you’re haven’t developed right. Maybe you don’t believe the word of God and trust him like you should and you’re discernment to make the wise decisions. See, some Christians, they just make some of the stupidest decisions that affects their whole life and they don’t think make it makes any difference. Do you know who they marry?

Or where they work? Or the way they live? Nothing matters. Just do whatever you want. You’re lacking discernment. And so therefore you’re not going to get what you would have loved have had. Now look in verse four. In verse four it says, for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, have tasted the heavenly gift and made partakers of the Holy Ghost. Now some people say, you see, this is just those who come up to the threshold, but not really partake.

They only tasted. They really didn’t, you know, go all the way and get everything. They almost got saved almost. They were right there to door and they turned around and went the other way. Like a gripper says, almost, our persuadest me to be a Christian. Oh, we don’t know. He could trust the Lord later. He didn’t have to trust the Lord that minute. minute? We don’t know, but is that what this is talking about? Look there in chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 2.

Hebrews chapter 2 and look in verse 9, where it says, but we see Jesus who has made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. Get this, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man, but he didn’t really die, he just tasted it. Now, would you say that about this verse? If you would say it about the other verse, then you ought to say it about this verse.

So when he tasted death for every man, do you really mean lead that he literally died for every man? I do. And when he says in this verse that have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made, that’s past that, were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. Well, you only got a part of him. You didn’t get all of them. You just got maybe some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but you didn’t get the Holy Spirit. Why read all of that?

Watch it’s just literally what he says. So, see, your theology sometimes will dictate how you understand the Scriptures instead of letting the Scriptures dictate your theology. Sometimes people, they have in their mind, they’re prejudiced. And they’ve already decided what they think, because they’ve used reason and logic, and it makes sense to them. So then they try to interpret the Bible according to what they already believe, and try to find verses that back up what they believe. Instead of just go to the Bible, take whatever you believe, throw it in the trash.

Now what did he say? And believe that. You won’t have as much trouble. That way you can approach it, press in anew. Say Lord, what do you want me to learn? What do you have to say? So he says here in verse 5, and I’ve tasted that word used twice. Once in verse 4, once in verse 5, it’s also used over there in chapter 2, verse 9, have pasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance.

So that means they were saved, but now we’re saying hypothetically, if they shall fall away, if they could fall away from this foundation. To renew them or get them saved again would be like crucified Christ all over again. Because the only way you could lose your salvation is to commit a sin Christ didn’t pay for. Well if I can commit a sin Christ hadn’t paid for, the question is when is He going to pay for the next sin that I committed?

If He has to do it again that He has to be crucified again. That’s why by the time you get to Hebrews chapter 10, he says, but this man, after he had offered himself once for all. And when he comes back the next time he’s not coming back to make a payment for sin, without sin and the salvation, he’s coming back again, but not to make a payment for sin. It’s all done once and for all. So there is no other payment to be made.

So that’s why you can’t get saved and then lose your salvation because only you can lose it is to commit a sin Christ didn’t die for And then if you could lose it you can’t get saved again because there’s no one to pay for that sin So you the Christ paid for all of them or it didn’t do us any favors So yes, I believe that yes a man can be saved Not serve the Lord be a babe in Christ dull of hearing Can’t discern right from wrong spiritually the a child of God and go to heaven when he dies That is grace He doesn’t deserve that None of us do but you’d be surprised how many people still believe that you have to deserve to go to heaven Yeah, you’re saved by grace But you got to live right Because then if you don’t live right you don’t deserve to go

You just don’t deserve it Of course you don’t deserve it And so they manipulate the Scriptures and because of what they can’t believe about God, they begin to change the Word of God. So I believe he’s talking to the believers and letting them know that we’re gonna go on to maturity if God permits. And that’s gonna be because of your yielding to what the Word of God says. You’re discerning. Can you grasp that? He says, I got a lot of things to explain to you, but you’re dull of hearing.

You haven’t matured enough. And these things, this is the difference between milk and meat. You see, as you study this, isn’t this a little bit more complicated than believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved? For by grace who you save through faith and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Well, that’s easy to understand. And then we talk about Melchizedek, after the order of Melchizedek.

You say, who is he? What’s all this talking about? See, it gets a little bit more complicated. But I want you to know that the Word of God is written in such a way to feed your soul all the time with something new. You’ll get a little bit of the old, but whenever you read it and you reread it and you reread it, you’ll never exhaust it. You’ll never get it all. And then after a while, you might think to yourself, I don’t know anything.

The word of God is deeper than anything you’ll ever get your little teeth around the chew. Look what he says here. In verse six, if they shall follow away to renew them again, I mean, they can’t be renewed again. So that’s why he said you leave that foundation. Why? Because they don’t have to be renewed again. Duh. To me, it makes it so easy, so easy to understand. That is, if you believe, really believe in eternal security. See, if you don’t believe in eternal security, you’ve got to change all the scriptures.

Then you believe that you can lose your salvation. See, there’s not much of a stigma to tell people just to, you know, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. You say, well, that’s the gospel. I know it’s the gospel, but aren’t there a lot of religions that teach the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and are not saved? Because, see, they don’t understand it was for the purpose to justify the the heathen. God, by His death, Berlin resurrection, to pay for my sin, to come back from the dead, is why I can be justified by faith.

And I don’t have to trust my works. I don’t have to trust the church or some preacher. For example, if a man, I say, here’s Peter or a model down here. Peter or a model wants to go to heaven when he dies. But I believe he has to be baptized in water also. He wants to go to heaven but he has to be baptized and I’m the only preacher in town and I refuse to baptize him. Wouldn’t you hate to think that your salvation depended upon somebody else has got to baptize me?

What if you’re out there in a desert and you pick up a track or a Bible. There’s not an ounce of water for a thousand miles, you can’t go to heaven. There is no way to get you baptized. Isn’t it a shame that if you had to be baptized to be saved, that means that your salvation depends upon the person who baptized you. That means the person who baptized you saved you and the ought to get the credit for it.

you had to be baptized in water to go to heaven. That means that that person did your favor because you couldn’t have gone to heaven without that person. Now you may want to believe that. I can’t buy that. I don’t believe any man’s salvation depends upon another man’s work except just to present the gospel. God has designed it where we’re supposed to tell people about it. But aren’t you glad salvation is the gift of God? So he says in verse seven, and he uses this brilliant illustration, he uses the earth which drinketh in the rain that comes off the fawnate, bringeth forth herbs, meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiving and get this, you ought to underline this phrase, blessing from God.

So now we’re talking about a person getting the blessings of God or the chasing of God. being cursed by the Father. Now you’re never cursed in the sense of going to hell. But by the time you get through with this you’ll find out that this is laying out the other chapters that’s going to follow and talks about what living by faith is and the chasing hand of God in chapter 12. And so you can either be blessed by God while the rewards in heaven or you can be chastened by the Lord.

So he uses a piece of ground and there’s a piece of ground and that’s we just say that to you. Now what are you going to bring forth out of that ground? You see in verse 8, but that which bear a thorn’s ground can bear thorns and it can bear fruit, herbs. And briars is rejected. The thorns and the briars are rejected, not the ground. Some people try to say that. See there God rejects you and God burnt. No, no, no, that’s the, That’s what comes from the ground.

See, once you and I trust Christ as our Savior, we’re going to stand before the Lord, and He says He’s going to reward you for the gold, silver, and the price of stone, but the hay wouldn’t stubble. What’s you going to do with those things? You burn those up. What’s that? That’s their works that are no good. That’s because of your discernment. You did this and you did this. So God’s going to reveal to you why you did this, and you’re going to lose what you could have had for the Lord.

So he says in verse 8, but that which is what bears thorns and briars rejected and is nigh unto Kershen, whose end is to be burned. But in verse 9, be leaven. That’s an illustration. We are persuaded better things of you, things that accompany salvation, not salvation, but there’s things in your life that you ought to have. And there ought to be some fruit from the ground some herbs but if not them. You’re going to produce briars and horns, and God’s going to have to chase in you because of what you’re bringing forth.

So is God concerned about what comes from our life? Yes. Should I, as a child of God, shouldn’t I serve the Lord? Yes, I should. But to do more for the Lord than I need to grow in the Word of God. So that’s why you come to Sunday school to learn the Word of God so that you can be more faithful to the Lord. not only just for yourself, but learn the Word of God so that you can explain it to somebody else.

See, if you don’t understand what these verses right here are talking about, somebody else could tell you another idea about these verses. And you might believe it. Then you’ll question your salvation. Well, I guess I’m not really saved. Well, I used to be saved, but I can’t be saved anymore. I mean, time I’ve had people say, oh, I used to be saved. I said, well, what happened? Well, I started smoking again.

I started smoking again. That’s always the one. Why? Because somebody told them that if you’re saved, you can’t do that. Well, doggy. Notice what he says here. In verse 9, things that accompany salvation through thus we speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. Now, if we talk about your work and your labor of love, you think he’s talking to believers? Yes. Or is he talking to lost people on how to be saved?

You see, you don’t talk to lost people about your work and labor of love because they’re not saved by their works. It’s not even an issue. We’re talking about the believers work. The believers labor. And that’s why you don’t have to lay the foundation again or trying to get somebody saved. So how do you know if somebody’s really saved. All you can go by is what they tell you they’re trusting in to get them to heaven. If they say they’re trusting in their good deeds to get them to heaven, I would question their salvation.

I’m sure you are. If Billy Graham told me he was trusting in his good deeds to get them to heaven, I wouldn’t believe it. It wouldn’t matter. But God says salvation is free. It’s a gift. And as a child of God, God wants us to bring forth fruit in our life. Things that accompany our salvation. It doesn’t replace salvation. It’s because you are saved. You have land, but produce something on the land. So he says in verse 10, God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love.

Wouldn’t that be a shame if God doesn’t remember what you’ve done? That’s why as you serve the Lord but you don’t have to remember everything you’ve done for the Lord. Why? Because God does. I was talking to the somebody just reads and says, it’s not bad once in a while to have a little journal of what you’ve done for the Lord. You know, a little thing just so you can remember because down the road when you get older, you know, like Dan over here, you might not recall.

And it would be so nice just to read and say, oh, this date I talked to these people, they trust the Lord. I helped this old lady across the street. She didn’t want to go, but I helped her anyway. But isn’t it wonderful to know that God in heaven is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love? There isn’t anything you have done for the Lord that God has forgot about. Now people might not remember all those wonderful sacrifices you made.

And it might even hurt your feeling a little bit when nobody really appreciates all those things you did. But you remember, you didn’t do it for them anyway. You did it for the Lord, didn’t you? And so therefore, as long as God remembers and God knows, you’re satisfied with that, right? So therefore, you don’t have to get your feelings hurt and get mad and bitter because people don’t appreciate how great you are. He made this statement. God is not in righteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed toward his name.

In that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. In that you have ministered to the saints. I don’t know who those are. That’s because of your encouragement to other, that’s why Devahba talks about in the book of Hebrews in chapter 10, let us draw near and let us not forsake our profession of what we really believe and let us encourage one another and let us not forsake the assembly of ourselves together. Let us. And God says, this is what I want you to do.

Everybody needs help. Everybody needs encouragement. Everybody can find thought with everybody. Now, this is a eye opener here. I’m going to make a statement. If you stay around me long enough, you’ll find out that I probably have a flaw. I knew it was going to hit you hard. I try to let you down easy. But everybody has flaws. Everybody. What do you pose to do? Well, magnify them. Let everybody know. No. Learn how to love covers a multitude of sin.

And God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. And look what He says in verse 11. And we believers, we desire that, and you ought to underline these two words. Every one of you. So He’s talking about some are not responding. they should. Some are dull of hearing, but some are doing the work and ministering to one another. But what is the desire? We want every one of God’s children. That’s why we have to sometimes be so careful of what we say and do because we don’t want to turn anybody off to the Lord.

And He makes a statement, and we desire that every one of you do show the the same diligence to the full assurance of hope onto the end of your race. You see that in the book of Hebrews in chapter 12. We’re running a race. Finish your course. Finish the race. And don’t stop. Don’t quit. It is worth it all. In verse 12, that you be not sloppel, but followers of them who through faith, and that’s those enlisted in chapter 11, the whole of faith heroes, the Old Testament saints.

And God lists a whole bunch of them there. You ought to go just read and study them. And you know all those names that are listed there? And by faith they did this, by faith by faith. You know, you don’t find one thing against any of them. When we get to heaven, the only thing that’s going to be remembered for all eternity is what you did for the Lord by faith. And believe him. All of those things will not be remembered and be called into remembrance.

There’s things God can’t forget and there are some things God won’t remember. There’s a sermon in there somewhere. It really is. I never wrote that out before. I like that. Let anyway hope you understand it just a little bit better. Let’s pray, shall we? Father, we thank you so much for this time together. We’re so thankful that, yes, salvation is free. And we can know it and know that we have eternal life and know that we’re going to heaven.

And Father, we may not always do the things that we should walk with you and discern as we should. But Father, we know that we’re on the foundation and you’ll never cast us out, never lose us. And as your children, we know that you’re merciful. And Father, we also know as your children, we can confess our sins and your faith from just to forgive us and defend us from all unrighteousness. And the Father, as your children, we should serve you to do right to bring forth good words, not to be safe, but because we are.

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 were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, Go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.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. 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 soon, 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 and reaches toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calbryoftampa.org. 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.

There are many difficult passages in the scriptures. And some of those you’ll find them in the book of Hebrews. And that just happens to be the book that says, your doll of hearing. It means that you’re tired and you’re weary and you can’t discern too well. And he says that your babes in Christ and meat belongs to those that are of full age who have their reasons exercised to discern of good and evil. And then after saying all of that, He gives them a morsel to really chew on.

I mean a very difficult morsel. I’ve even gone into our library. I pull books off the shelf that dealt with Hebrews chapter 6. You can’t believe how many guys don’t agree with each other. You think, well, everybody ought to agree, especially after talking to them about, All right, I’m going to give you some things to chew on. And you would think, well, he’d let up a little bit. And instead he talked to them about some very difficult things and what he said was, this will we do if God permits.

We’re going to go into some hard stuff. In the Lord, he didn’t because they were still babes. He didn’t just give them some milk. I believe he just kind of put the spread out there and kind of loaded the table down and says, now you think you know something? Chew on this for a while. And buddy, we’re still chewing on those things. And I have read a lot of great men who just can’t seem to see eye to eye.

I’m not one of those great men. They wrote a lot of books and did a lot of things over their life. But I couldn’t believe how many different views there were on Hebrews chapter 6. So I want you to take your Bible and go to the book of Hebrews in chapter 6. This is the second message concerning difficult passages. We’re going to be covering a few of them. We talked about Hebrews chapter 10. And today, Hebrews chapter 6. Sometimes it’s difficult knowing exactly how to start explaining a portion of Scripture.

Sometimes you have to lay the foundation. Well, that’s exactly where we’ll start with the foundation. And the reason is because he says we don’t need to lay the foundation. So I’m going to lay the foundation before we get here. There is a scripture that talks about and Corinthians in chapter 3 talks about there is no foundation which can be laid which is Christ Jesus and Take heed how we build up on the foundation So the foundation is Christ So there are certain basic things that you teach lost people so they can not understand and trust the Lord Remember this this is to the Christian Hebrews is to the believers But Hebrew believers They understood the law.

They knew about the temple. They knew about the high priest. They knew about Aaron and the sacrifices. They knew about Melchizedek and Abraham, the tribe of Levi, the tithe, all these things. They knew all these things. And even under Judaism, they did many of the things concerning the baptisms in the washing of pots and pans and various things. and the cleansing of themselves, various things that they had to go through, laying out of hands, certain simple basic things that even these Hebrew Christians What understand?

So there is a basic foundation that all believers have to understand, and that is there is eternal judgment. That’s why we need a Savior and that we cannot save ourselves so we need Christ. And so we know that after we’ve trusted Christ as our Savior we should be baptized in water because it’s a picture of the death barrel and resurrection of Christ. I believe to the Jewish Christian, it probably meant a little bit more in depth with Judaism and their understanding than what the normal Christian would understand because he’s talking to that kind of people.

He’s reminding them of Moses in his house about the wilderness, about the land of Canaan, And about how there were those that, because of unbelief, couldn’t go into the Promised Land. So there’s many things that’s Hebrew for the Jewish people. So you and I as a Gentile who don’t totally understand all the things about Judaism are going to have sometimes a more difficult time understanding some of these complex things. You would think since he just told him, he says, you have need of milk.

You would think, okay, this is really going to be easy from here on out. He’s going to give him some more milk. But he didn’t. I think it’s kind of like a wake-up call. Feed the ones that want to be fed. The ones that don’t want to eat, don’t want to grow, don’t want to do anything. Let them alone. Feed the ones who want to feed. Grow the ones that want to grow. the ones that want to be discipled.

And this is where I believe the apostle Paul who I believe wrote the book of Hebrews. I have absolutely no authority for that, just my opinion. But here in the book of Hebrews, I want you to look first of all in chapter 5 and verse 11. Ava hometp we have many things to say and hard to be uttered or explained. Seeing you are dull of hearing. What’s he talking about? We see the word right before this verse. In verse 10 says, Call of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

So what in the world does that mean? Ava home, and then he gets into it later on in chapter 7. talking about Melchizedek. He says, but there’s a lot of things that’s going to be hard for you to understand because you see, you haven’t been growing like you should. It wasn’t that what Paul, or I should say Hebrews teaches, is that much difficult is that you haven’t been feeding and growing in the Lord so that you don’t have the discernment that you ought to have.

So he made the statement in verse 12, for when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, but it ain’t gonna be me. I’m not gonna do it. I’m going on. I got things to teach those who wanna listen, those that wanna grow. Sometimes that’s the same thing that happens in church. People can come, trust, crisis, Savior, sit for years, never grow.

But then you’ll have a few that says, I want more. I want to get in something that’s a little bit more meaty. I want something deeper. I wanna learn something that’ll help me to do more with my life. I want to think deeper. I want to be more spiritually minded. And there are Christians who just want to coast. Don’t shake the boat. Just let me alone. Let me just ride along. Let everybody else do the work, but just let me coast.

And there’s people like that. God’s work will always be like that. Most of all the work in every church is always done on the backs of about 10% of the people. He says in the last part of verse 12, and are become such as need of milk and not of strong meat. But what is he fixing to give them? Strong meat. And that’s why there’s so many difficult things in the book of Hebrews that causes a babe in Christ to really struggle with.

And sometimes even godly men struggle with the meaning of some of these topics because they’re deep. And it seemed like it could go three or There are four different ways, so many options. You see, there’s these people that will read chapter 6 and talks about, this has got to be talking about people who have been enlightened, but they rejected the light, and now therefore they cannot be saved. They have sinned away their day of grace, and I’ve heard this used many a time.

You’ve sinned away your day of grace. In other words, when you know the truth You rebel against it, that’s it. Door’s closed. You can’t be saved after that. Now there’s a lot of people who teach that. Many, many people. I do not believe that. I believe a man can be saved as long as he draws breath and desires to be saved. God will not save any man against his will. The only man that God can’t save is the man that won’t trust him.

That’s the only one. So he makes a statement in verse 13, For everyone that uses milk is unskilledful in the word of righteousness, for he’s a babe. Strong meat and the longer to them that are a full age, even those in the United Kingdom. Even those who have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Now where we have the word discern right there, I want you to take and go over there where it has in chapter six.

And this is what we do if God permits. You see, it depends upon your discernment. You can go on to maturity based on discernment. If you can’t discern right from wrong, you’re not going to go very far. You’re just not going to be able to understand what God is talking about. One of the men that really helped me an awful lot in my Christian life. More than he knows, I never met the guy. Was iron sight. My father-in-law got me on some of those books that iron side wrote.

Everybody ever heard of iron sight? Just about everybody. Well, anyway, those books really were good. My father-in-law got me the first iron side book. It was on the book of Galatians. Boy, I devoured that book. Oh, I love that book. And I would have been safe six months or so, six months or a year. And I would sit there and I read that book and I read regulations and I read that and I understand a lot of it. And I got a lot of other books and I got a whole bunch of his books.

I used to get a whole bunch of books by Dr. Oliver B. Green. Anybody ever heard of Oliver B. Green? Gospel hour. And he used to come down and preach at our church. And the guy was wild. Scared you to death. He could get you saved in one message and get you lost before it was over. And if you were saved before he started, he could get you lost. Then he had to get you saved again at the end of the service.

The guy was, he was good, but you just don’t know how good. Well, they’re not, he could cause you to doubt your salvation just like that. Betty’s mom used to listen to him all the radio on the time on the radio. And after a while she was, I’m not sure I’m saved. Because the guy would say, well, if you’re really saying, you’re not going to do this, this and this and this. But I read a lot of his commentaries.

We have many, many in the library. I read a lot of them. And they’re very good. He is very, very good. Every once in a while just says something off the cuff. But there’s a lot of people that you will not find everybody who agrees perfectly on everything. Dr. Alinstram and I, we both love the Lord, love soul, but we’re not going to agree on everything. We’re not going to teach every scripture exactly the same way. Dr. Stanford, he called me up yesterday, I think it was yesterday.

Anyway, we talked for a good while. And he said several things to me, and then several things more. But at 95, I just hope my mind is as clear as this is now. I’m glad he even remembered me at 95. So anyway, but we don’t agree on everything. You will not find out below and behold you and your wife don’t agree on everything. You didn’t know that. You just wait. You’ll see. If you’ve ever had an argument it’s because you didn’t agree on everything and I know you thought she was perfect and she thought you was perfect and you find out both of you just conned each other.

So that’s the way it goes. But anyway you can read a lot of books and the The thing is it causes you to study, study the Word of God. You need to be convinced yourself, not whole of you because, well, the pastor holds this view. That’s not a good reason to hold a view. You should believe what you believe because you’re convinced by the Scripture because you have learned discernment of what’s right and wrong and how it agrees perfectly with other scriptures and it will help you tremendously.

Now in chapter six, I want you to see the word there again. See in verse one, therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go unto perfection or maturity, not laying again, not laying again. See that word again? Now look over there in verse six. If they shall fall away to renew them again. You see, this is talking about the same thing. So verse six is talking about verse one. And something that happened in verse 1 doesn’t have to be done again.

Because it’s impossible for a man to be saved. Lose the salvation, get saved again. It’s impossible. Now if you take it any other way, and many people do, they say, well, this is just a picture of those people in Israel who came through the wilderness, and there’s the promised land. and because of unbelief they didn’t get to go into the promised land. They got close! But they just get and get to go in. And that’s a picture of people who they hear the gospel.

They understand the right there. And God’s illuminated their minds. And they know I’m a sinner and I need to be saved. And they’re right there to door. And then they reject it. And they go away. Never to return. Because it’s impossible for those that have been brought up to the threshold. and then rebel against light, refuse it. And then they go their own way and they can never be saved again, never be saved in the future. Because it’s impossible.

God won’t even lighten you twice. I’ve talked to people who have seen it and heard it and understood for years. And just finally one day they trust Christ as their Savior. I heard it for three months before I trusted the Lord. How many times did you hear the gospel before you finally saw it? And you may have even waited. But you see, these scriptures are not talking about a person who comes up to the door of salvation and turns and goes away from it.

And then God will never save them again. Impossible. I don’t believe that’s what it’s talking about. And one man who wrote, well, this is talking about those who failed to persevere in the faith. They didn’t persevere. They were there, they believed it, partakers of it, but they didn’t persevere. So that was a sign they never were really saved, but because they had the opportunity, it’s all over, never be saved in the future. So you say, well, what is it talking about?

Let me just put it very clearly, simply. We’re talking to Hebrew Christians, we’re talking to believers, believers that should be serving the Lord, teaching the Word of God, but they haven’t learned their discernment as they should. And therefore, they’re looked upon as still spiritual babes. They’re not mature as they ought to be, but what he has to share with them and teach them is meet for the mature, something that they’re not going to understand and it’s going to be difficult for them.

And so he goes ahead and does it anyway, but he tells him this. I don’t have to lay the foundation again. So what I want you to look there is this word found there in verse one. Not laying again the foundation. Not laying again the foundation. That means you’re not going to have to lay a foundation again. Well, what is the foundation? The foundation is the Lord. The foundation is Christ. Let’s say for example. you trust Christ as your Savior, you are placed upon the foundation which is Christ.

He’s the rock, the solid rock. Now you may tremble on the rock, but the rock will never tremble under you. You are on the rock, you’re safe, you’re secure, He put you there by faith and faith alone. So you were not put there because you earned it, deserved it, it was by grace. God saved you. Now He says, take heed how you you build upon the foundation. So now as a child of God, you and I are supposed to be very careful how we build on this foundation.

And you build because of what the Word of God says. So that’s why you learn the Word of God so that you can do what God wants and build your life. So what we talk about is this, and I mentioned this to several here, we don’t want to take and use people just to try to build a ministry, but use a ministry to build people, to make people strong, strong in the Lord. Because the greatest thing you’ll ever build is going to be yourself.

Whatever you are is what you reproduce. And so we have a responsibility as God’s children to try to teach and help and educate others so they can be strong in the Lord because you want the best for them. So he says, you don’t have to lay the foundation again. See, they’re in this verse, the foundation of repentance from dead works. That means that you don’t have to get a person to get saved again because he’s not been lost. He hasn’t lost his salvation, so he doesn’t have to get on the foundation again because he never fell off the foundation.

He is on the foundation and he is secure on the foundation and that can never change. He has eternal life. But he says here… The foundation of repentance from dead works. That means you do not trust in your works, dead works for your salvation, but because of your faith in the Lord. So every man is to repent, change his mind and see that he cannot save himself by his works. Dead works can’t give life. Dead works come from a dead man.

And a dead man is someone who separates you. from God. So a lost man cannot save himself by producing dead works which cannot give life. Eternal life must come from life and that’s Christ. So he is eternal life and he gives me the free gift of eternal life when I trust him as my Savior. So when he talks here about the let us go on to maturity, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, then he tells us what those simple principle things are.

And he’s mentioned in them right here in verse 2 of the doctrine of baptism, laying on of hands, because you see this was in the transition period where the apostles laid their hands upon different ones to receive the Holy Spirit. And afterwards that is not done. And the baptism, eternal judgment, that’s all has to deal with the first principles of the oracles of God. And knowing and understanding you’re saved and why you’re saved and how long you’re saved for and you’re saved from something, eternal judgment.

So in verse three, he said, and this will we do if God permits. Well, why wouldn’t God permit it? The only thing that keeps you from growing and maturing in the Lord is your lack of faith in what God’s Word says, not to believe the Lord. And yes, there is a point can be made from chapter 3 and 4 of the book of Hebrews about the children of Israel in the wilderness didn’t go into the Promised Land because of their unbelief.

Now it is their unbelief that got them into the Promised Land, but the Promised Land wasn’t heaven. The Promised Land was a place of victory for the mature Christian. The wilderness is like for the person who just wanders all over the place for 40 years and wastes his life. So yes, as a believer in Christ, I want to go to the Promised Land. I want to go to that which God brought the maturing of a believer to believe the Word of God so that I can be mature where I can discern right from wrong and meet five mature.

And I learned these things. Then the Bible talks about cast not away, therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. You see, rewards in heaven is a result of your work and your work is a result of your confidence. And your confidence is a result of your faith. So therefore, as you study the word of God and believe the word of God, your faith increases, your work increases and your reward increases. So therefore, it’s important for every child of God to discipline himself to absorb whatever light you have truth that you know and walk according to the light that God has given to you.

So that verse here verse one is explained in the following verses. So he says, not land again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Why? Because it’s impossible, as he says there in verse six, if they could fall away to renew them again unto repentance. So that’s why you don’t lay the foundation again. In the words, once a man is saved, you don’t have to get him saved again. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior and you’ve been saved for 30 years, but you’ve never matured in the Lord, you still can’t get that person received because that person can’t get unsaved.

Because once you’re on the foundation, you have eternal life and you’re going to heaven whenever you die. And this is what the Bible is teaching here. So if you look up there in verse three, and this will we do if God permits. Several things here. One, God will not let you understand some deeper truths in the word of God because of your lack of discernment. You can’t understand what God is saying. It doesn’t make any sense to you. So that’s why sometimes when you will not obey the truth or the light that God gives to you, you can sit down and read the Bible, and you’ll get a little milk here and a little milk there, but the meat you won’t be able to get, and you will not understand it.

You will not develop as a strong Christian. You’ll see others that mature and take off like a rocket, and you’ll wonder, why? What’s wrong with me? Well, maybe you haven’t developed right. Maybe you don’t believe the word of God and trust Him like you should. And you’re discernment to make the wise decisions. See, some Christians, they just make some of the stupidest decisions that affects their whole life. And they don’t think it makes any difference, you know, who they marry or where they work or the way they live.

Nothing matters. Just do whatever you want. You’re lacking discernment. And so therefore you’re not going to get what you would have loved have had. Now look in verse four. In verse four it says, For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, to have tasted the heavenly gift and made partakers of the Holy Ghost. Now some people say, See this is just those who come up to the threshold, but not really partake. They only tasted. They really didn’t go all the way and get everything.

They almost got saved. Almost. They were right there to door and they turned around and went the other way. Like a gripper says, almost, I persuaded me to be a Christian. Oh, we don’t know. He could trust the Lord later. He didn’t have to trust the Lord that minute. We don’t know. But is that what this is talking about? But look there in chapter two, Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews chapter two and look in verse nine, where it says, but we see Jesus who has made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.

Get this, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. But he didn’t really die, he just tasted it. would you say that about this verse? If you would say it about the other verse, then you ought to say it about this verse. So when he tasted death for every man, do you really believe that he literally died for every man? I do. And when he says in this verse, that have pasted of the heavenly gift and were made, that’s past it.

We’re made par takers of the Holy Ghost. Well, you only got a part of them. You didn’t get all of them. You just got maybe some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but you didn’t get the Holy Spirit. Why read all of that? Why just just carefully what he says? So, see, your theology sometimes will dictate how you understand the scriptures instead of letting the scriptures dictate your theology. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, In 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 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. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our home page.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Life broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.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. 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 m- and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach which is toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you’ll enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

So a Christian cannot live as he pleases and get away with it, there’s a great price to pay. Look what he says there in verse 30. For we know him that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense saith the Lord, and again, and underst blindest, the Lord shall judge and yodah underline these two words, especially his people. So we’re not talking about the lost people. We’re talking about God’s people. Now, he makes the statement here. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, and then he says, but called to remembrance because these people evidently had trust the Christ of Savior and had even known the will of God and had made some wise decisions.

They decide to serve the Lord. You see what he says there in verse 32, but call to remember the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions. In other words, you saw the light, you took a stand, you paid a price, you started well, you started to run. And in verse 33, partly why you were made a gazing stock. So we know we’re talking to believers here. You were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly while ye became companions of them that were so used.

For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and get this took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven.” Now you think he’s talking to The lost people having something in heaven? Or you think he’s talking about believers having something in heaven? See, it’s not the lost people that we’re talking about here. This is talking about believers that know the truth. Rebel against God. And yet at one time you did what you knew God wanted you to do.

But something happens. See, the devil always wanted you tired and weary and warned of where you just, I’ve had enough. quit, I can’t go on and whatever. And so he says in verse 34, for ye had compassion of me and my bonds. Took joyful and swollen of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and enduring substance. Whatever you were willing to give here upon the earth, he says, because of what I was going through, you helped me.

Because you knew that whatever you gave, you were going to get something better back in heaven. Rewards are earned. Salvation is free. So we’re talking about what the believers can have in heaven. A better and enduring substance because of the afflictions they were willing to go through down here. And what they endured, you see, you don’t always enjoy everything that goes on. But God gives us the strength and the grace that we need to endure what we have to endure.

Knowing and believing that something better. Now look in verse 35. And verse 35, He makes a statement, cast not away. Cast not away. This is the same as He’s talking about back there in chapter too. Don’t let something slip from you. Don’t let it slip away. How shall we escape the chasteening hand of God if we let what we know slip through our fingers? The opportunities that God’s given to us, we only get to live one time in life, one trip through, no reruns, no replays, just one trip through.

through, cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. So we’re talking to believers and we’re talking about rewards. So it’s something that you’re going to lose if you let something slip out of your hand. So he’s saying, hold fast. And I believe here when he makes a statement in verse 35, cast not a way, therefore, your what? Confidence. What builds your confidence? What makes you bold in the Lord? When you know what the word of God says and you believe it and you have faith that God will take care and provide and protect and all that, and it’s worth it because you’re going to have something in heaven that’s going to be worth it all.

We’re just sung the song. It will be worth it all. So that’s why he says, Don’t cast away therefore your coffin, which has great recompense of reward. But what about those that do? You see there in verse 36, for you have need of patience that get this after you have done the will of God. So we are talking about believers that know they’re going to heaven. We’re talking about believers that know the will of God. to rebel against that which you have received, to know the truth, to have light given to you, and then for you to just rebel against it.

What’s going to be the result? God says He is going to chase in us. But before the chasing, God always makes a plea and gives us a chance. He talks about, I want you to live by faith. Live with your confidence in me. So a verse that’s used three times in the New Testament, once in the Old Testament, the book of Habakkah, chapter 2 and verse 4, about the just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith.

And Hebrews talks about the just shall live by faith and explains what he means by faith. So you’d notice there in verse 38, now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Even if a man does not live by faith, he still saved. But God doesn’t have pleasure in that individual.

Isn’t one of the things that we should do and want to do is to please the Lord? But God said I have no pleasure in them. And the reason that word is so important is because you see there in verse 5 of chapter 11, look in chapter 11 in verse 5. He said, by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death. Was not found because God had translated him, for before his translation he had this testimony. So we’re talking about the testimony of God’s children.

What kind of a testimony do you have? But He had this kind of a testimony, look at the last part of that. He did what? He pleased God. You see, one of the greatest goals of every one of God’s children is that I want to live in such a way that it pleases God. And God says, don’t let this slip away, this desire, this confidence of living by faith, of just looking to the Lord and trusting the Lord. don’t let these opportunities just pass you by.

And so as you go through here, you’ll find out that Chapter 11 is a whole chapter on what it means to live by faith. He’s not talking about how they were saved, He was talking about how they lived. Talk about their testimony, about Abraham, all the way through. All these people, what they did, God said and they obeyed. God said they obeyed. So having, therefore, such a great cloud of witnesses like these Old Testament Saints in chapter 11, he should let us, see they’re in chapter 12.

In chapter 12… Look at the last part of verse one where he says, let us run with patience, the race that is set before us. This let us and let us and let us and let us, oh, I sure mentioned a lot of times, is talking to God’s children about obeying the Lord. Things will help you to stay strong. Now look again in chapter 10, chapter 10, and notice they’re in this verse 22. as a child of God, realizing that the payment for all the sins have been paid for.

And yes, you now are free to serve the Lord. You can serve the Lord now. You see, before you couldn’t do it, now you’re free. You can. But you may rebel against it. So he says in verse 22, let us and your other underline this, draw near. Let us draw near. You see, it’s the will of God for you to get as close to the Lord as you can get. Are you closer to the Lord now than you used to be?

Or are you drifting away from the Lord? Is the Lord more precious to you than he used to be? Do you want to please the Lord more than you ever did in your life? Nobody can answer those questions except you, but look what he says, let us draw near it with a true heart and full assurance confidence of faith. See, talking about, as he says here, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. What would be an evil conscience?

A conscience that you’re talking about cast away therefore you’re confident, a confidence of deserting God, a confidence of not pleasing God, a confidence of being rebellious to God. So many of God’s people are just like that. But you You don’t want to be like that. So he said, let us draw near. In verse 23, he says, let us hold fast. Verse 24, let us consider. See, when you have lettuce, lettuce, lettuce, that’s a lot of lettuce in a lot of gardens.

And everybody ought to have a garden with nothing but lettuce in it. I thought that was pretty good anyway. But look in verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith. Well, they’re waving. Why? Because he is faithful that what? Promised. You see, it all boils down to do you believe that what God said he meant? That God’s promises are true and to be faithful because of the promise of God. See, I haven’t yet gotten my new body.

I haven’t stood yet at the Judgement of the Christ and got any rewards. But I know this he promised He promised Now can I keep serving the Lord? Because I know he promised and those promises and believing that that confidence is can drive you through Look what he says in chapter 11 just so you can see this look in verse 39 and These all having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise Not in their lifetime they did but they did what they did in their lifetime Believing that in the age to come It will be worth it all So you and I are supposed to believe that Hold your place in chapter 10 and look over there in the book of Hebrews in chapter 4 Look in Hebrews chapter 4 And look what he says in verse 14 seeing then that we, here’s that we again, we believers have a great high priest that is passed into heaven.

Jesus the Son of God and here’s that same phrase that we just read over there in chapter 10. Let us hold fast our profession. In other words, this confession of truth, this is the body of truth that God’s given, I believe it. Whole fast to sound doctrine, as the Bible says in Titus. Whole fast. Know what you believe and know why you believe it. And don’t let the devil cause you not to have confidence in the provision of God or in the protection of God.

Now, just for an example, You take in the Old Testament, remember that Sarah told Abraham, well why don’t you take this Egyptian girl and have a baby by her? And maybe this is how God is going to keep his word. But what was his word? Well, you’re going to have a son. Maybe he means you’re going to have it through this woman. So she has a baby. Then they became despised in each other’s eyes. And the day came when Sarah came to Abraham and said, she just spices me.

I want that woman out of here. You know, these women always get jealous like this. I want that woman out of here. And she can take her kid with her. So Abrahamian, yeah, okay, so they left. Took some water. It wasn’t long before all the water was gone. All the water was gone. So she had her son laying there and she went a little further and she cried, the baby cried. And she just didn’t know what she was going to do.

And then all of a sudden, the Bible says, the Lord says, I have heard the cry of the child. Did they heard the cry of the woman? I heard the cry of the child. There’s a message in here somewhere. I’m going to preach it one of these days, but down the road. He told her, says, look, I’m going to make a great nation out of that kid. Boy, has he ever. That close, and we wouldn’t have had all this trouble with all these Arabs.

But it didn’t work out that way, and here they are. There was a well there, but she didn’t see the well. But it was a provision that God had already provided, but she didn’t know it was there. Did you know that whenever Abraham was going to slay his son, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket? He couldn’t get free. Abraham was looking the other direction. God had already provided an unseen sacrifice and an unseen provision. Sometimes God has to help us see something that’s right in front of us.

Did you know that sometimes in the will of God, he’s already got the answer and you just can’t see it? It’s right there, but you can’t see it. And then all of a sudden, it’s like, there it is, there it is. And you wonder sometimes, how did that happen? He does this all the time, whenever I want to find something, I go to the closet, it’s not there. Betty walks in there, and there it is. It’s all the time.

God helps her to see things I can’t see. That’s why you’ve got to have two people. So notice what he says here. In verse 14, are we talking to believers? Yes. Are we talking about believers serving the Lord? Yes. And he talks about here in verse 16, let us, let us, more let us. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we might get saved and got not go to hell. No, that’s not what he’s talking about.

This is to the believer, live in your life, getting the grace, the help that you need in time of need. So God has a throne for us and he says, this confidence, don’t let anything cause you to question or to doubt the promises of God. Because you see, believing the promises of God is what gives you this confidence and the confidence is why you do the work and the work is why you get the rewards. And if you don’t get the rewards, it’s because you didn’t do the work.

You didn’t do the work because you didn’t have the confidence. You don’t do the confidence because you didn’t have the boldness of the faith in what God’s word says. So you don’t want to let this slip. You know, there’s some people, they never studied the Bible. Why do they call they neglected? They neglect church. They neglect prayer meeting. Some people neglect communion service on Sunday mornings when we have communion service. Every Christian ought to be here for it. You see, there’s a lot of people neglect.

Can you neglect all these things and not take its toll? As we close here, I want you to look very quickly in the book of Hebrews in chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. So now that we’re in Hebrews in chapter 12, he says to you and I, let us run with patience, the race that is set before us. So he’s talking about the believers running a race. the course that said before us. Not only to run the race, but to finish the race.

God wants us to finish. See the inverse two, looking under Jesus the author and finisher. You see, you started, finish. I started serving the Lord right after I trusted Christ as my Savior 51 years ago. For 51 years, I don’t know how much time God’s going to give me, but I want to finish my course with joy. I want to finish the ministry that God’s given to me. Every person should have within them the desire. I want them live in such a way that it pleases the Lord.

And God’s going to bless you. when you get tired and weary and think it’s not worth it. You begin to question and doubt the word of God, he says in verse three, consider him, who? Christ, consider him that endured, endured. See, that’s what we have to do. We have to endure all those things that we don’t enjoy. It’s easy to endure the things we enjoy, but what about the things that we don’t? You’ve got to go through them And people will say things and cut you and hurt you.

And sometimes you will fail and fail so miserably and make you so sick inside. You don’t wonder why am I so rotten. I’m such a rotten individual. I don’t deserve anything from God. Well, now God got you where he wants you. Realizing that whatever God gets out of your life, it’s because of what he did for you and through you. So he says here in verse five, And you have forgotten the exhortations which speaketh unto you as unto what?

Chron, you have forgotten who you are. You’re God’s child. Don’t you realize as a child of God you’re supposed to serve the Lord? He’s your father. And he makes this statement. He says, my son despise not thou thee what? Chasing of the Lord and faint when thou art rebuked of him.” In other words, the word, fame, he chases me. He didn’t give me what I would. I quit. I stopped. No. If the preacher has to get on your toes and you walk out those doors and their bloodiest can be, are you going to use that as an opportunity not to come back?

I’m not going back there. Why? He offended me. He hurt my feelings. Also, you mean you want to go to a church where the preacher won’t hurt your feelings. Grow up. Grow up. Well, I don’t like my mother and father. Why? Because they spanked me when I did something wrong. What do you think the preacher’s supposed to do? Like Paul says in one place, he says, praise you. He said, I praise you not. I’m not going to praise you for that because you’re wrong.

I will not offend you if you’re right. If you’re doing right, I’m what I say anything on the body. You just when you’re not right and it irritates you because after that, I’m a sweet, wonderful guy. I’ve known me for 70 years. Well, anyway, see there in verse six, for whom the Lord chastens and scourges every son whom he receive him. So this is what he’s talking about whenever you’re saying willfully against the Lord. What do you have to look forward to?

a certain fiery judgment from God, because God’s going to have to chase and discipline you. You can’t live in rebellion against God and get away with it. Can you rebel against the Lord? Yes, you can. Is there a price to pay? Oh, yes, there is. That’s why he behooves every child of God. Don’t neglect the things that will make you strong. Look up here. This hand representing you and me, God says that He loves us, but we’re born into this world with an old sinful nature, means we send naturally.

You don’t have to be taught how to sin. Well, I did. No, everybody sins. This wall represents sin. We have all sinned. And because we’ve sinned, the wages of sin is death, so we have a debt to pay. But God loves us, but He doesn’t want us to pay for the sin because that’s eternal separation from Him. So the Bible says to go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God. None of us are perfect. None of us are righteous.

We’re all sinners. And God says you cannot save yourself by what you do. We need a Savior. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord. God in the place. He came into the world because He loves us. Hates our sin because it separates us from Him. So what Christ did for one person He did for the whole world took all the sin of all the world. May one payment came back from the dead never has to do it again.

They’re all paid. And God says, when I believe that He did it for me, He puts this payment to my account. I’m forgiven of all my sins. It’s just like I died and I paid for all of my sins. My debt is paid. So I don’t have to go to hell and pay for sin because He paid for my sins. And once you accept that payment, it’s a done deal paid in full. That’s why I can’t go to hell.

I can’t go to hell today. I can’t go tomorrow. I can’t go in 10 years. go in 10 years, I can never go to hell. He died for my sins. Oh, that’s good news. Now, if you’ll believe he did it for you, guess what he’ll do? He’ll save you just like he did me. Everybody gets to heaven the same way. You accept Christ as your Savior or you don’t go. Isn’t that fair? All you have to is believe it.

Well, you believe that he did this for you. Now you’re here this morning and I don’t know if you trust Christ as Savior and I want you to. I want you to go to heaven. I don’t want you to be deceived. I don’t want you to think, well, I’m going to do the best I can and you don’t get it. The best you can do is not good enough. You need a payment for your saying Christ did that. Will you trust him as your Savior?

Let’s pray shall we? Every head bond, there be our clothes, no one looking around. If you hear this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you trust Him? All I want you to do is right where you’re setting. I want you to talk to the Lord. You see, you don’t make a mistake this way. Only the Lord knows your thoughts. He can read your mind, but just tell him something simple like this. Lord, I’m a sinner.

I don’t understand it all, but I believe Jesus Christ died on that cross cross and paid for my sins. Today, right now, this moment, I will accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. the brain. And friend God said, if you would do just that much, it’s all you have to do. That He would save you from having you. Give you eternal life and you get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ Registrusted. I’m going to ask you in just a moment, your hand doesn’t save you.

just lets me know that what I said made sense to you. And I like to know. So we’ll hit by a nice close, is there anyone at all? This morning say, yes, I will trust Christ as my savior and preach I like you to pray for me. Would you slip it up real quickly, put it up right back down? If you’ve already trust the Lord, you don’t have to do it again. But if you’ve never done it before, say right now I will trust the Lord.

Would you slip it up real quickly, put it up right down and with all? Yes, God bless you, man. I appreciate that. son of good judgment. Anyone else? You can put it down. Remember by trusting Christ as your Savior, He gives you eternal life and He’ll never catch you out and never lose you. You that know Christ is your Savior. Has He been talking to you this morning? Are you walking with Him? I want you to serve Him. Our Father, we thank You so much for all You’ve done for us, especially for the individual that indicated by an uplifted hand that they would trust your Savior.

By doing so, they become your child, your child forever. You’ll never cast them out, never lose them. We ask your blessings on each person here to help them to understand the value of walking with you, growing up, letting Christ build them into a strong house. We thank you for the Christ’s name. Amen. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message.

If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvary of tampa.org. Thanks for joining us onnostic.com and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and everyday, believing that the Lord is coming soon.

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. The Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the Internet. Your regular prayers and month… and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us was told free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bible-lined website at calbryoftampa.org. 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 with me to the book of Hebrews, the book of Hebrews. Let me mention this to you. You take the gospel of John, it’s God’s Heaven track. You trust Christ as your Savior. You realize what you’re supposed to do with your life and so you’re studying the book of Acts and it’s God’s soul winning manual. And you’re going along fine. And then you make the mistake of going to Hebrews. And then when you go to Hebrews, it’s like getting a piece of gristle in your throat and you can’t chew it and you can’t swallow it.

And it’s just about ruins your whole Christianity. There are a lot of little chunks or morsels that sometimes seem hard to swallow in the book of Hebrews. But one of the things that you always try to do keep salvation separate from service. The verses that deal with salvation, you keep those there, and the verses that deal with service, you keep them over on the other side, and it will help you to discern. So that as you study the scriptures, remember always use the clear verses on salvation, and then those verses will help you to see and understand the rest of scripture.

So the gospel is the lens by which you study the rest of the Bible, and so it helps in your discernment. But if If you ever get blurry on the gospel, all of scripture becomes blurry. You can’t see clearly. So that’s why when you study Hebrews, you want to make sure that you understand salvation clearly, and that it is truly a gift. And most people have no problem with stating, yes, all you need to do is trust Christ as your Savior.

He forgives you of your sins, washed in the blood, as long as you don’t mention the word like eternal security. When you say, I believe in eternal security, you’re opening up a true can of worms, because even though I believe that, you’re really going to cause people to have questions and doubts about you really. You mean1974 to tell me that God has given you a license to sin? You can do anything you want and still go to heaven when you die.

It seems like they always come up with that. Well, if you believe you’re really eternally secure, that’s what you’re saying. And you can’t back up from it. And you’re not to apologize for it. Because that is the gospel. The good news of how God will save you right now, give eternal life and will never cast you out for any reason. Now because of that, when you read in the book of Hebrews, the words like if, if, if, and then this if becomes a great problem, because that means that if I do this, this will be true.

If, if, if. And so in the book of Hebrews, there’s many times this is used, but try to understand where it’s coming from. So go to the book of Hebrews and the verse that we’re gonna look at today, because I want you to be super clear on the meaning of this verse is there in verse 26 of chapter 10, where it simply makes a statement, if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remain if no more sacrifice for sins.

If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth. This is Hebrews 1026. Now. Before getting into explaining what I believe that verse is talking about, look there in Hebrews in chapter 2, Hebrews and chapter 2. We will do in Sunday school a few of the scriptures that deal with the subject of difficult passages. They’re just difficult passages. And so, you know the phrase of those that endure to the end the same shall be saved. Faith without works is dead, then.

Hebrews chapter 6. So there’s a few passages that kind of causes a little trouble once in a while. But here in Hebrews in chapter 2, I want you to look in verse 1, He’s talking to the believers, to those at no Christ as their Savior. Therefore, we. So whoever the writer is, he is including himself, and I’m assuming that he is a believer. Would you go that far with me? He’s probably a believer in the Lord. Since God used them to write the scripture, not personally, I believe it probably could have been the apostle Paul.

But I don’t have any definite proof on that. But anyway, therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard less at any time we should let them slip. Then he goes down here and says in verse three, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Get this now. Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him. God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers, miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His own will.

So I believe that this is written to the believers, and a believer is stating this and his including himself in this. So in this passage of scripture, it’s not talking about how to be saved, it’s talking about something that we have been given, and that we’re not supposed to let it slip away from us. Something that I have, now we’re not talking about eternal life, you can’t lose eternal life, But there is an element of truth, a body of truth that God has given to us, and He wants us to hold fast to that which we have been given.

We have been given this wonderful message of salvation. But remember this, salvation is so wonderful in the fact that it saved us from hell, gave us eternal life, we became a child of God and we’re going to heaven when we die. that’s good. But there’s more to salvation than just that. That’s one thing that he did. But he’s also now in the process of trying to, because of our yielding to the Lord, yielding to him for the purpose of being saved from the power of sin in our life.

He wants us to go from childhood to adulthood, to mature in the Lord. And we can mature in the Lord if we don’t take the truth that God has given to us and set them aside or neglect. I want you to look at this word here. See there in verse 1 where he made the statement, less at any time we should let them slip. It’s like I’m supposed to hold on to something and something that I’m supposed to hold on to can slip away.

Then in verse three, how shall we escape? So he’s talking about something that’s going to happen to the believers if they don’t do what they’re supposed to do and something’s going to happen to them. But look what he says, how shall we escape if we and here’s a wonderful word. I really don’t like it used to but it’s here but Let us know that we can neglect. See, you may know Christ as your Savior and you’re going to heaven when you die, but can you neglect the element of prayer in your life?

Can you neglect the reading and the studying of the Word of God? Can you neglect witnessing? Can you neglect meeting with God’s people? And even more so as you see the day approaching? Can you neglect all of these things that will make you strong? And so if you neglect those things that will make you strong, you’re going to be weak. And when you’re a weak Christian, you’re not going to do the things that God says do. And so you are going to find yourself sinning against God willfully.

You know the truth. You’re just not going to do it. So you’re going to be rebellious. So when he says, if we sin willfully after we have received, have received his already past tense, it means you’ve already received something. If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, it means if you sin willfully or choose to become rebellious. Sending willfully. Most people do. But it’s in rebellion because you neglected what God says to do. And you didn’t live by faith or walk by faith.

And so there are consequences. So you’ll find in the book of Hebrews in chapter two, several places, chapter three, if. If. So if we will hold on to certain truths, we can mature in the Lord. We can walk with the Lord. Otherwise, we’re going to have a hardened heart. And when your heart is hardened, the deceitfulness of sin will keep you from maturing and doing what God wants you to do. And He talks about the people in the Old Testament because of the hardness of their heart, their unbelief.

They never got to go into the promised land. They died in the wilderness. So you and I as a child of God, the so-called promised land for the believer is supposed to be a place of victory. The land of Canaan is not a picture of heaven, it’s a place of victory for the Christian. It doesn’t mean there’s no battles, there are battles, but you win. But many Christians never get there, they’re still in the wilderness, and they will spend 40 years trying to go on an 11-day journey, and they just keep going in circles and never mature, never gaining.

So when you’re limited in knowledge, you’re limited in ministry, that’s why you need to have more of the knowledge of the Word of God. So he says here in verse three, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Now, this salvation that God has given to us, not only saves us from hell, but it saves us in life. There’s so many things that God still wants to save us from, that he wants to produce in our life.

He see, when you get saved, you’re saved from something, to something in this life is to save you from just being a child to being a mature individual in the Lord. So take your Bible and turn over there with me to the book of Hebrews and chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. And look now in verse 26 for if, and you ought to underline that word, if, If we believers sin willfully, that means you’re rebellious. After we have received, it’s already done.

It’s the past tense. The knowledge of the truth. So you know the gospel, you know how to be saved. You even probably know how to serve the Lord as you was talking here. And in chapter 5, he says, for when the time, he says you ought to be teachers. You have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God. So he says, milk belong to them that are babes in Christ. Meet the longs of those that are mature, who have their senses exercised to discern good and bad.

So you see, you studied the word of God so that you get discernment and can make wiser decisions for your life. This is why you can be saved for years and never have the discernment of making the wise decision that God wants you to make. That’s why sometimes you have to decide what does God want me to do with my life and you’ll make better decisions if you have better discernment. Better discernment comes from a knowledge of the word of God.

So he makes a statement here, there remaineth therefore no more sacrifice for sins. Jesus Christ is not going to come down to the earth tomorrow and pay for what we did today. Because He died once for all the sins of the world, so He doesn’t have to make another payment. So I can’t lose my salvation. But what about the person who knows the will of God and refuses to do it? To sin willfully here is to talk about sinning willfully against the will of God.

Knowing what God wants him to do and refuses to do it, are there such individuals? I’ve met a few. I’m glad there’s nobody here like that. You do not want to be rebellious. So can a Christian live in rebellion to God? Yes. Can he get away with the consequences? No, there are consequences. So what does God promise? See, they’re in verse 27, but a certain fearful looking for a judgment and fiery indignation. In other words, you’re going to make God mad.

You’re going to upset God. If there’s anything that you ought not do is make God angry. Did you know Israel made God angry? And you don’t want to make God angry. Have you ever made your mother and dad angry with you? You don’t want to make God angry. He’s your father and he’s a wonderful loving father, but can you make your father angry at you? Yes, you can. Now he talks about how that, oh, yeah, under the law and what God did.

And so he made the statement, how much in verse 26, how much sore punishment. So, Poshy shall he be thought worthy, who have trodden underfoot the Son of God, have counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified. Now when he talks about he was sanctified, that’s in chapter 10 where it says that when you trusted Christ as your Savior, you were sanctified, made pure and holy by the payment Christ made. So here you are and you’re putting what Christ did and stomping on it like spitting in the face of God himself.

I’m talking about a Christian doing this to God. This is what you do when you rebel against the will of God for your life. That’s a shame. And he says, how shall we escape? And then how much sore punishment, suppose he shall he be thought worthy. In other words, what do you think he ought to get? So a Christian cannot live as he pleases and get away with it. There’s a great price to pay. Look what he says there in verse 30.

For we know him that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense saith the Lord. And again, and under blindest, the Lord shall judge and you ought to underline these two words, especially his people. So we’re not talking about the lost people. We’re talking about God’s people. Now, he makes the statement here. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And then he says, but call to remembrance because these people evidently had trusted Christ’s Savior and had even known the will of God and had made some wise decisions.

They decide to serve the Lord. You see what he says there in verse 32? but culture remembers the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions. In other words, you saw the light, you took a stand, you paid a price, you started well, you started to run. And in verse 33, partly, why you were made a gazing stock. So we know we’re talking to believers here. You were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions and partly while ye became companions of them that were so used.

For ye had compassion of me in my bonds and get this took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven. Now You think he’s talking to lost people having something in heaven? Or you think he’s talking about believers having something in heaven? See, it’s not the lost people that we’re talking about here. It’s talking about believers that know the truth. Rebell against God. And yet at one time you did what you knew God wanted you to do.

But something happens. See, the devil always wanted you to get you tired and weary and warned to where you just, I’ve had enough, I quit, I can’t go on, and whatever. And so he says in verse 34, for ye had compassion of me and my bonds. Took joyful and spooling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and enduring substance. Whatever you were willing to give here upon the earth, he says, because of what I was going through you helped me because you knew that whatever you gave, you were going to get something better back in heaven.

Rewards are earned. Salvation is free. So we’re talking about what the believers can have in heaven. A better and enduring substance because of the afflictions they were willing to go through down here. And what they endured, you see, you don’t always enjoy everything that goes on. But God gives us the strength and the grace that we need to endure what we have to endure. Knowing and believing that something better. Now look in verse 35. In verse 35 he makes this statement, cast not away.

Cast not away. This is the same as he’s talking about back there in chapter two. Don’t let something slip from you. Don’t let it slip away. How shall we escape the chasting hand of God if we let what we know slip through our fingers? the opportunities that God’s given to us. We only get to live one time in life, one trip through, no reruns, no replays, just one trip through. Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.

So we’re talking to believers, and we’re talking about rewards. So it’s something that you’re going to lose if you let something slip out of your hand. So he’s in whole fast. And I believe here when he makes a statement in verse 35, cast not away, therefore, your what? Confidence. What builds your confidence? What makes you bold in the Lord? When you know what the word of God says, and you believe it, and you have faith that God will take care and provide and protect and all that, and it’s worth it because you’re gonna have something in heaven that’s gonna be worth it all.

We just sung the song. It will be worth it all. So that’s why he says, don’t cast away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. But what about those that do? You see there in verse 36, for you have need of patience that get this after you have done the will of God. So we are talking about believers that know they’re going to heaven. We’re talking about believers that know the will of God, but to rebel against that which you have received to know the truth, to have light given to you, and then for you to just rebel against it.

What’s going to be the result? God says He is going to chase in us, but before the chasing, God always makes a plea and gives us a chance. He talks about, I want you to live by faith. Live with your confidence in me. So a verse that’s used three times in the New Testament, once in the Old Testament, the book of Habakkah chapter 2 and verse 4, about the just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith.

And Hebrews talks about the just shall live by faith and explains what he means by faith. So you notice there in verse 38, now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul, even if a man does not lived by faith. He still saved, but God didn’t have pleasure in that individual.

Isn’t one of the things that we should do and want to do is to please the Lord, but God said, I have no pleasure in him. And the reason that word is so important is because you see there in verse 5 of chapter 11, look in chapter 11 in verse 5. He said, by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, was not found because God had translated him for before his translation he had this testimony. So we’re talking about the testimony of God’s children.

What kind of a testimony do you have? But he had this kind of a testimony. Look at the last part of that. He did what? He pleased God. You see, one of the greatest goals of every one of God’s children is that I want to live in such a way that it pleases God. And God says, don’t let this slip away, this desire, this confidence of living by faith, of just looking to the Lord and trusting the Lord. Don’t let these opportunities just pass you by.

And so as you go through here, you’ll find out that. Chapter 11 is a whole chapter on what it means to live by faith. He’s not talking about how they were saved. He was talking about how they lived. Talk about their testimony, about Abraham, all the way through all these people, what they did. God said and they obeyed. God said they obeyed. So having therefore such a great cloud of witnesses like these Old Testament Saints in chapter 11, He says, let us, see there in chapter 12, in chapter 12, look at the last part of verse one, where he says, let us run with patience, the race that is set before us.

This let us and let us and let us and let us, who I sure mentioned a lot of times, is talking to God’s children about obey in the Lord. Things will help you to stay strong. Now look again in chapter 10, chapter 10 and notice there in this verse 22, as a child of God, realizing that the payment for all the sins have been paid for and yes you now are free to serve the Lord. You can serve the Lord now.

You see before you couldn’t do it. Now you’re free, You can, but you may rebel against it. So he says in verse 22, let us, and your other underlyingness, draw near. Let us draw near. You see, it’s the will of God for you to get as close to the Lord as you can get. Are you closer to the Lord now than you used to be? Or are you drifting away from the Lord? Is the Lord more precious to you than he used to be?

Do you wanna please the Lord more than you ever did in your life. Nobody can answer those questions except you, but look what he says. Let us draw near it with a true heart and full assurance confidence of faith. See, talking about, as he says here, having our heart sprinkled from an evil conscience. What would be an evil conscience? A conscience that you’re talking about cast away, therefore you’re confident. A confidence of deserting God. A confidence of not pleasing God.

of confidence of being rebellious to God. So many of God’s people are just like that. But you don’t wanna be like that. So he said, let us draw near. And verse 23 says, let us hold fast. Verse 24, let us consider. See when you have lettuce, lettuce, lettuce, that’s a lot of lettuce in a lot of gardens. And everybody ought to have a garden with nothing but lettuce in it. I thought that was pretty good anyway. But look in verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith.

Well, that’s waving. Why? Because He is faithful that what? Prom, you see, it all boils down to do you believe that what God said He meant? That God’s promises are true and to be faithful because of the promise of God. See, I haven’t yet gotten my new body. I haven’t stood yet at the the Judgement of the Christ and got any rewards. But I know this, he promised, he promised. Now can I keep serving the Lord because I know he promised?

And those promises and believing that, that confidence can drive you through. 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. Our 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 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. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our home page. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10 30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.org.

Thanks for joining us on Vital Line and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and everyday, believing that the Lord is coming soon. 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 air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you’ll 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 ever hear of a guy named Jonah? What did Jonah do? He ran from God? I know Christians have been running from God most of their life. Oh, they’re saved. They have eternal life. They’re gonna go to heaven when they die. But they’ve been running from the Lord. Not to the Lord, not with the Lord, but from the Lord. I’ll bet you there’s people sitting here right now. You have spent years of your life running from God because you will not do what God says to do.

You can still be on your same job, same home, same church, but been running all your life because you never yield to do what God wants you to do with your life. Maybe you’re afraid of being a failure. Maybe afraid God won’t come through. Maybe you think God’s gonna leave you hanging out here on the limb and you were afraid to get out there. So by cause of fear, you won’t do anything for God. You won’t step out. You won’t live by faith.

You know that’s a lack of love. That’s a lack of love. Because see, if you really believe God loved you, you would try anything. You’ll do anything. You’ll tempt anything for the Lord. Nothing could hold you back. Love can do that for a person. There’s a lot of power in love because I know God loves me. I want to do as much as I can while I can, as long as I can in the body that I have until God calls me home.

John the Baptist. What a man. What a man. No man like this man. What Jesus said about him. He ate bugs. I mean, who wants to go around with a man who eats bugs? Locust? Live like a wild man? I mean, God can’t use a guy like that. He’s looking for the guy in a three-piece suit who’s looked up to him with dignity and respect. I’ve lived long enough to see that there’s people that I will think, I can’t use that person because that person won’t clean up their life.

And then I look at a person who’s got a clean life that God doesn’t use because the heart’s not there. You do know that you can be all nice and clean and sweet and pretty, and you can look all decked out this morning, and you can really look sharp. You’re looking at mirror and you’re an epitome of help, but rotten on the inside because you’re hard ain’t right. You do it to be seen of men. That can be hypocritical.

It’s not because you love God or you love people. Sometimes I believe there’s people who just want to do enough to keep God off their back so that God doesn’t chase them. But they lived close to the edge. You never know what point. What is he going to take the key them off? What little word before they explode? You ever heard of somebody named Martha? Mary Martha. Martha worried about everything, didn’t you? Worry, worry, worry. I mean, God can’t use a worry word.

And yet, there’s a lot of people with nothing more than just a worry warrant. Worry all the time, can’t sleep at night, can’t work during the day. They don’t love because they can’t trust. You see, when you really love, you can trust. Do you trust your husband? Do you trust your wife? Can you trust your kids? Can you trust God? Who do you trust? You know, it’s a shame to go through life without anybody to love and no one to trust.

To put everything that you have in yourself. Look into yourself, trusting in yourself. What a terrible way to live. When you Bible says, cursed is a man who put his confidence in flesh, or trusting in himself, or to exalt himself. Mary Magdalene, well, she was demon-possessed. The Samaritan woman, she’d been married five times. I mean God can’t use her. And yet he used that one little link to reach a whole city of men. Was Zacchaeus? Anybody heard the story of Zacchaeus?

Zacchaeus was a we-wee man and a we-wee man was he. He climbed up in the Sycamore tree to see what he could see. And as the Savior passed that way, I don’t forget the rest of it. He looked up in the tree and he said, Zach, you come down. I’m going to your house for tea, whatever. But a whole story in the Bible, because he was a little man, but not just that he was a little man, he was a tax collector, and everybody loves them.

Think of how you feel right now about the IRS. Don’t you just love them, but God used Zachius. It didn’t matter who they were. When Christ was choosing his disciple, He didn’t give everybody to… He even chose man that would fill with the devil, O Judas, who never trusted him. But God gave him a chance. See, God loves us. Is that we don’t learn how to love. Look at the chances God gives and the forgiveness that he has to have.

And the reason he doesn’t use perfect people, there aren’t any. Neither are you. So just get the chips off your shoulders and stop exalting yourself and stop looking down your long fairs, you’ll go nose and thinking you’re like Kellogg’s corn flakes just a little bit better. You ain’t. We’re all the same in God’s eyes. We’re sinners. We’ve all come short of God’s perfection. These disciples, well, you can always depend on those disciples. They just fell asleep when they asked them to pray.

They just all fell asleep. They couldn’t stick with it. Peter, well, what did Peter do? Oh, he just denied the Lord. You’ve never done that, have you? Peter did. Did God still use Peter? Still used him. Paul, well, you know Paul, he was just too religious. He was taking all those Christians and putting them in the prison. So God can’t use a man like that. One day a lightning bolt struck him, hit him, knocked him to his knees, and he says, Lord, what will thou have me to do?

God can use him, and God did use him. Use him in a great way. Timothy probably had an altar. And if God can use Lazarus, he can use anyway. He said, why? Well, see, he was a dead man. If God can use a dead man, he can use you. Do you know in the Bible that talks about God using a jackass?

And the old jackass was talking to Balaam. Well, never Jonah was out there on the hillside overlooking the city of God was going to destroy the city or not of Nineveh. And God used the gourd. It came up and put shade over him. He was so thankful for that gourd. God showed it in from the sun. And then God made a worm. Put it in the gourd. It killed it. Now Jonah was mad again. He says, you have more concern over that stupid gourd than those people down there.

Some people never get their priorities straight. Take your Bible and turn there to the book of 1 Corinthians, the book of 1 Corinthians, in chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, I want to show you very quickly the eight things that love is greater than. So you’re in verse 1, 1 Corinthians chapter 13, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love. I am become of sounding brass and tinkling. Some love is better than the ability to speak in any language.

Some man wrote a book called love in five languages. I’ve never read the books, so I have no idea what it’s about. But I know that because of how many languages there are. Love is better than all languages. And it says in verse two, and though I have the gift of prophecy, understand all mysteries and all knowledge. And though I have all faces that I can remove mountains and have not love, I am nothing. So the ability to speak in languages, the speaking the tongues of angels, the gift of prophecy, the knack of solving all mysteries, knowing everything.

And then he says there, I can remove mountains. Love is greater than that. In the faith of move a mountain and have not love. So love is greater than all of those things. It’s greater. The resource to feed the world’s pre-opore. If you could in verse 3, and though I be sure all my good is defeatable, if you could be not just one person, if you could feed the whole world and not have love. Love is greater than that.

There’s a lot of people who give to a lot of humanitarian things. You can look on the TV and they’ll show you some little puppy dog, some little kitty cat tears in his eyes, and you’ll get out your cheek, but you’ll start writing out because the compassion is there. Now you can do all of that, and I’m not against you helping anybody, but love is more than that. Did you do that because of the dog that cat or because it made you feel good.

What was the motive? It takes a relief off of you. It shows you, it shows that I’m kind. It shows that I love, and that’s why I did that. Check your motive of why you do what you do because God checks the motives. When they show that little kid on the TV screen about only 25 cents a day, or only 50 cents a day, or only a dollar a day, or $20 a month, and you can help somebody pull a childhtt, and compassion is there, because there is a sense that we care about others.

And I think it’s wonderful that people do care. Otherwise, there would nobody be given to anybody and we ought to learn to give. But it doesn’t go deep enough. There’s more to it. It’s a temporary satisfaction because those animals you just kept alive, they’re still gonna die. That little girl, she’s still gonna grow up and maybe she’s gonna die and she will die. The greatest love is trying to meet their greatest need. What is the greatest need? You’ll have people talking about, there’s kids that are not going to have Christmas.

Where’s the saying of the Bible that everybody has to have Christmas? Every kid has to have a toy. Where’s the saying of the Bible? Or what about those people that are hungry? And every Thanksgiving, we’ve got to have this soup line so that we can give everybody a Thanksgiving day meal. What about all the other meals for the other 364 days? Do I feel good because I did this one deed at this one time? Or do you look deeper?

What is the greatest need? And their greatest need is to know God. It’s good that we can do the others. Don’t misunderstand me. Don’t you do that. I say what I mean. But whenever you understand, there’s something greater to live for. And that is so that they know the love of God, that God has shed abroad in this whole world through the gospel of Jesus Christ, that people need to know the Lord. Because you see, eventually, all those people that got that meal, or those that got that toy, they’re still gonna die.

They’re still gonna die. What was their greatest need? We need somebody to really love them, more than the surface. And I think it’s good that we can maybe give aid at times of people in other countries, but along with that, you ought to come a Bible or a heaven track or some missionary to say, this is what we’re really about. And this is why we do what we do because of our love for the Lord. Anyway, those are my humble opinions, I just like expressing them once in a while.

Let me show you this. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, I want you to see the eight thing that love does. Look what love does. And verse four, charity is the word for love. Love sufferth long. It is kind. Love envy if not. Love vonteth not itself is not putt up. Does not behave itself unseemly. Seeketh not her own is not easily provoked. Thinketh no evil. Rejoiceeth not in iniquity, but rejoiceeth in the truth. Beareth all things, believeeth all things, hopeeth all things, endureeth all things.

Love never fails. Now there’s eight things there about love that love will do. And because of that, you and I, because God is love. You want a good description of what God is like. You just got it. Those eight things. Tails you a little bit about the heart of God. How that God thinks and how he feels. Well, when you and I trust Christ as our Savior, He said, his love is to be shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Spirit.

So the love that God has is supposed to be the same kind of love we express, that we express. Because see, I know people who are nice to animals but mean to people. They’ll feed some little kid in some foreign country, but not do right by the people in their own home. Check your reason or your motive. God is not a respecter of person. God loves us all. We are supposed to… Demonstrate the love of God, how God thinks and how He feels, and how we treat one another.

And as he goes down through and he says, you see love suffer from long. It means for a long time. It means you can put up with a lot. It means you’re not short-tempered. It means you’re not explosive. Because love causes you to be patient with people, to love one another. Not to bite your wife’s head off every time she says or does something she shouldn’t do. Or your husband or your kids. Because love is love, love is patient, love is kind, love rejoices in truth.

And we want to know truth, we love truth, we seek truth. Not to believe everything you hear about everybody. Beware of those who gossip. A person who will gossip to you will gossip about you. Only the difference between a person who gospels and a buzzer is one each of you when you’re alive and one each of you when you’re dead.

Kind of kills your appetite for lunch, don’t it? But you bear all things because you love. And love believes all things. Isn’t suspicious love hopes and endures and never fails. We’re to love each other, our wives, our husbands, our families, our church with an everlasting love. Our love for one another is not to be dependent upon their treatment of us. Let me repeat that. Our love for one another has nothing to do with anybody’s treatment of us. How you treat me has nothing to do with me loving you.

I should love you because I am love. God loves is because God is love. That’s what He is. And the more you want to be like the Lord, the more you learn how to love. And it kind of keeps you from being so judgmental and critical and hard and mean and ugly. There are so many Christians that grow up to be a mean old man or a mean old woman. And always trying to pick apart everything that’s done. Always looking for the dirt, always looking for trash instead of the good God uses all kinds of people.

And A lot of people will never rise up to our caliber, but we’re 11 just as much. And try to see how God might be able to use this person, how can God use this person. There’s some positions that a person can’t have because they’re not ready for it yet. But you want people to rise to the occasion. I want people to know, look, God loves you. But I also want people to know, I do too. I do too.

See, I love this guy down here. I love that woman. I love that man. I love Peter over here. I love these kids. I want them to know I love them. I didn’t mean I proved everything they do, but I love them. I care. I want the best for them. I want God’s will for them. I want God to use them. I want them to be challenged and motivated to do something for the Lord. Because God says, love the Lord with all thine heart, with all thine mind, with all thy strength, everything that you have, eight things that love does not do.

that are listed here, it doesn’t envy. It doesn’t vaunt itself. It means a vain display of what one is or what one has. Not puffed up, not exalt yourself. You see, God says if we will humble ourselves, God will exalt us. But pride exalts a man. And God says that he’ll have to humble the man. You see, Christ came into the world to minister, to serve. But we think that we are here to be served. Oh, and everybody here to serve me.

As the pastor of this church, I don’t look like it that I’m here, Lord, over you, or you’re here as my servants. I am your servant. I’m here to serve you, to help you, to do anything I can, to lead you. But my being here is not for me. My being here is for you. And I wanna lead you as best as I know how, in the right direction. I know that I have to have an example of a believer as a pastor to practice what I preach.

Because I know that one day when I stand before the Lord I’ve got to give an account of everything that I’ve said and everything that I’ve done. This is a teacher’s where we see the greater condemnation. It means it’s a greater judgment upon you because you expect more and you want people to think and to feel that maybe I’m not everything I ought to be but whatever I am, God I’m yours. I want you to use me in whatever way that you want to use me.

Love does not behave itself in an unseemly manner. Love’s sick, it’s not its own. Love is not easily provoked. Love thinks no evil. Love does not rejoice in iniquity. Remember this. Love always does what it does not have to do. You see, why in the world where people go to a foreign field, some mission to feel and leave up everything in the world, because love sends them. Love made them do that. What would cause somebody like the Apostle Paul to spend years in prisons, cold, damp prisons, and go through what he did?

Love made him do that. Love made him do that. What makes a mother get out of bed and walk the floor with the kid? She’s got hoop and cough and she worries and she prays and she’s walked the floor all night long. Love is to do that. What makes you endure the things that you go through in your marriage or with your children or your grandkids? Love makes you do that. Love them with all your heart. This is the only chance in this world that your husband or your wife or your kids, your grandkids will ever see love in action.

So they can’t see God. They can see you. And you tell them you know Him. And you tell them that you want to be like Him. They’re looking. They’re watching. And it’s so important. You can take this same scripture and go down through here. And wherever it has the word charity, you can put the word God in there. You see in verse four, God suffer a flong, it’s kind. God envy if not. God doesn’t want him to sub. God is not puffed up.

God does not seek things that are wrong. God’s all the way through. God, God, God. And then when you get through doing that, you can do the same thing with the word Christ. And then on top of that, when you get through, put your name in there. And see how it measures up. Are you a child of love? You are a child of God. But let the love of God manifest Himself in you. And let Him manifest Himself through you.

And God will bless you for doing so. As you know, I’m cut just a little bit short. One of the reasons because I am totally exhausted. I know you won’t get mad at me for a quick and early will you? Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. That’s all those bad things that we do. And everybody born into the world is a sinner. We’ve all come short of God’s perfection. We don’t love the way God wants us to.

We don’t receive love the way God wants us to. Because of old sinful nature, we’re marred and scarred from the day we were born. But God in heaven loves us. He loves us. He don’t like what we do wrong, but he loves us. Can you in your own mind just say those words, God loves me? God loves me. Oh, he loves the world, but you’ve got to believe God loves me. And don’t judge that by anything that’s happening in your life.

It’s not the lack of finances, your bad health. No, that matters. You’re to believe. God loves me. And whatever it is, my God who loves me can walk me through whatever it is. He will not fail me. He will not let me down. Don’t try to figure out the outcome or how God’s going to do it. It won’t matter. God loves me. He hates what we do wrong, but he still loves us. And the Bible says to go to heaven, you have to be perfect as righteousness, God, and there’s the problem.

So heaven is perfect, God is perfect, but we’re not. We’re all sinners. We have all come short of God’s perfection. So we’re all in the same boat, there is no difference. But God loves me. This hand represents Jesus Christ, he’s the Lord. God in the flesh. the world because God loved me. And he sent his son who had no sin. He didn’t have to die, but he did die because God loves me. Now he hates my sin, but he loves me.

So he took my sins and paid for them on the cross and came back from the dead. And he said that if I, if I would believe that he did it for me. He would give me as a free gift ever lasting life because he loves me. And when I believe that he did it for me, he says, you can know that you have eternal life and know that you’re going to heaven when you die. These things have already been you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

All because God loves me. That’s 50 years ago when I heard this for the first time, and I’ve known for 50 years since. He still loves me. He still does. His love has not changed when I owe to. No shadow of turning. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God has never changed his mind. When he gave me this free gift of eternal life, he doesn’t change his mind. He’s not taking it back. He made a payment for my sins once and for all, and I’m going to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for me.

That’s a good story. But a lot of people have never heard, never understood. Let’s pray, shall we? Every head bowed and every eye closed, and no one looking around. If you’re here this morning, if you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, I urge you to do that. I want you to believe that more than anything else in the world, God loves you. He sent his Son to die for you. Will you believe it? Will you accept Jesus Christ as your only hope of going to heaven?

God said, if you trust Him, it save you. And He saved you from hell. Give you eternal life and you get to go to heaven on what He did for you. So it has about nice clothes, no one looking around. I’m not going to have you forward. I’m not going to embarrass you. But I’d like to know if what I said made sense to you. You said, preach to that made sense to me this morning. I want to be certain I’m going to heaven when I die.

And I want you to pray for me. I will accept Jesus Christ right now as my Savior. And friend, would you just slip your hand up very quickly and put a right back down? I’m not going to have you for, but just to pray for you, right where you are. And what it all say, yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior. Pray for me. Anyone at all before we close? Anyone at all? If you hear this morning and you have trusted Christ as your Savior, Has God been able to manifest His love through you?

What have people said or done to you that’s made you hurt? Maybe a little bitter? Discourage you? Love them anyway. Forgive them. They’re just people with sinful natures. We all fail. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love your husband and wives, your children, grandkids. Our Father, we thank You so much for all that You’ve done for us. We pray, Lord, You will to be done in the lives of each person here. In Christ and we pray, Amen. Let me just tell you this.

Sunday School teacher was talking to her little kids. He says, what do you have to do to go to heaven? Do you have to go to church and give money? No. All the kids said no. Do you have to keep 10 commandments and have made the golden rule and pray? All the kids said, no. She said, well, what do you have to do to go to heaven? One of the boys raised his hand and says, you have to die silly.

Out of the mouth of babes. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our home page.

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

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

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 air. You can reach the 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. reach us till… This is toll free at 1-800-576-3771. One-line donations may be made through the Bible-lined website at calvaryoftampa.org. 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 want to talk a little bit about a subject that most of you in here probably think that you really know and understand.

Everybody here probably is an expert on what love really is. If you don’t know what it is, just ask any tane, they know what love is. But there’s a lot of difference between love and lust. The strong desires that people may have, there’s different kinds of love. God explains it in His Word what it is, and so it’s always best to get a definition from, what do you mean by that? So if you will, take your Bible and turn to the book of Mark, the book of Mark, Gospel of Mark, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

And there’s a scripture here that Tanya gives us an idea. Now, there’s several things that I won’t talk to you about, and that is there’s eight things that love is greater than and eight things that love does and there’s eight things that love doesn’t do. So you need to know these 24 things. Eight things that love is greater than. Eight things that love does and eight things that love or won’t do. Because we are told to love the Lord and to love our wives, love our husbands, our love our children, love one another.

It got to love the world. But there’s a set of rules that comes along with love. Christ made the statement that the world may know that I love my Father, even so I do. So He did what He did in order to prove to the world that He loved His Father. So there was eight things that He did and eight things that He didn’t do. But here in the book of Mark in chapter 12, look in verse 28, a one of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had gathered them well, or answered them well, ask him which is the first commandment of all?

Jesus answered him. The first of all the commandments is, here O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, or soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, this is the first commandment. The second is like, namely this. I shall love thy neighbor as thyself.” There’s none other commandment greater than these. So these are two of the great commandments in the Word of God.

And everything deals about this. Even when God gave the 10 commandments, the first four was about them and God, and the last six was about them and man. So it deals with your relationship to God and to man. Now I know that it’s easy to read a verse like John 3-16, God so loved the world. And it’s easy for God to love the world, right? We’re so lovable. Well, the next time you don’t think that God loves you, or you don’t think that God can use you, I want you to think again.

Because love does things that I guess sometimes the normal person wouldn’t think of to do. how you think or how you feel. But remember, God used Noah. Everybody knows that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And God used him to be able to be all ark and save the world at his time. But the Bible also says that Noah got drunk. So I guess God… He can use a drunk. He still loved the drunk. Anybody ever heard of the man named Abraham in the Bible?

Well, you know God couldn’t use him. He was too old. He was just an old man. I mean, God got to use some young people, right? He can’t use these old folks. You remember a man named Caleb? He was 80 years of age. When he crossed the river, he says, I want that mountain. I want that mountain. And… There’s a little course that goes along with that little song. I want that mountain. I want that mountain. Where the milk and honey flow?

Where are the grapes of Escalgro? I want that mountain. I want that mountain. The mountain that my Lord has given me. 80 years old. How old was Moses when God used Moses? Yet God did use Moses. Now remember, Moses was a man that, but he couldn’t talk very good. He had an impediment of speech. And he said, use my brother Aaron, but God wanted to use him. You see, whenever we look at ourselves, we may not see too much about what God can do with us, but God can.

You see, love changes things. Love gives people a second chance. Love even gives people a chance. God is looking for somebody that he can show himself strong on their behalf. Remember old Isaac, daydreamer, Jacob, he was a liar. Can God use liars? He says, every man is a liar. That God be true in every man or liar. Look at the kind of people that God’s had to use down to the centuries. And sometimes you say, you think, well, I’m just not worthy to be used by God.

I’m not much at all. But you know that God can take a crooked stick and hit a straight lick with it. And God can use you. Because of love, love overrides so much. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love is what causes us to forgive one another, be patient with one another, to be kind to one another. Leah, they didn’t think was as perdy as Rachel. It says Rachel was perdient. Maybe Leah was likely. I don’t know. I never saw her.

But there’s something about the other one that he wanted. And yet he was deceived. He worked seven years to get Rachel and wind up with Leah. Then he had to work another seven years to get the other one. There were a lot of crooked people back in those days. Aren’t you glad that that’s not like it today? We don’t have stuff like it going on. Well you know, somebody wrongs you or defrods you. Oh, it happened to him. Joseph, what he was abused, I mean his brothers didn’t like him, didn’t care about him.

They wanted to put him to death, but they sold him instead and he goes out, goes down into Egypt. They could probably use a good man like Joseph right now. You remember it wasn’t a couple of weeks back that I told you, it says, no, I don’t know when and I don’t know how, but sooner or later God is going to take and cause something happen in this world with the Arab nations. Now you probably say, you didn’t say that.

Yes I did say that. I said it before this happened. And I said it’s very close and something’s going to definitely take place. You see, the Bible has to be fulfilled because the Bible is true. All nations will have to turn against Israel. Something will have to happen by which Israel will have the right to exist as a nation, to exist as a people, to have to have their land, to build their temple. And someone had told me this morning that it was in the Jerusalem Post, this week that they’re buying a lot of marble in order to build their temple.

I think it’s exciting just to get up in the morning and well what’s going to happen next? But reading the Bible is more up to date than tomorrow’s newspaper. Well, Gideon, Remember Gideon? He was afraid. When he says that angel came up behind him and says, “‘Dol, mighty man, I’m Gideon.'” He turned around 10 times looking for him. He said, you mean me? You mean me? He says, I’m the least in my father’s house. You can’t use me, but God could use him.

Because see, that’s what love does. Love sees people and potential in people. I used to have teenagers come to ranch. I used to think that God could only use the key kids. And a lot of times those key kids were always caught up in themselves. They thought he only bought themselves and their little happiness and what they wanted to do. And sometimes I overlooked some little quiet kid sitting there. The kid that didn’t have all of his, maybe his marbles, well he maybe had a marble but a shooter was missing.

There’s just something not there. And I’ve learned over the years to look at people a little bit different too, that, you know, when God looks at you, He sees a pearl. He sees a jewel. He sees a diamond. We see a, a hunk of coal. There’s people that we don’t like. There’s people we don’t want to be around. There’s people that don’t measure up to our standards. But there’s a God in heaven that looks deeper into the heart of each individual.

And to try the hearts. To see who he can use. and how he can use them. God is a magnificent God. He’s a God that works, but he works in the lives of people that you wouldn’t think that God could ever use, or they couldn’t be of any profit whatsoever. Remember somebody named Samson? Had long hair? Went to a lady’s barber shop? It wasn’t his hair. He was not that the spirit of the Lord had withdrew from him. You see, God still used him, but he could have used him in the greater ways.

You see, sometimes we limit what God can do with us because of our lack of love for him. We are supposed to believe above everything else. God loves me. God loves me. My dad may not have loved me. My mom may not have loved me. My brother and sister may not have. It doesn’t matter. God loves me. God loves you. It doesn’t matter about anybody, but God loves you. And the one that created the heavens and the earth and really knows you, knows what you’ve done and what haven’t done.

And God still loves you. That’s something to be thankful for. God is love. Well, you know what love is? And you have to study about God. But you’ll learn more about God by saying, what did he do with people? So that’s what I am. I’m a person. When God looked at the world and he saw all these people and yet he wanted to get a will He used different people from all walks of life and all the various different status in life.

Rahab, she was a prostitute, but God used her. Naomi, she was a widow, but what a beautiful story about Ruth, but God used her. She’s a little woman. She’d been in another country. Her husband died, her sons died. She came back with nothing. But Ruth says, I’m going with you. And your God’s going to be my God, and your people are going to be my people. What a testimony she must have had. She had something. It was real. She guided that little girl to tell her what to do and what not to do, and she did it.

Down the line, here comes a guy named David. You know, down the line, here comes Jesus Christ. What a God. And you think sometimes God doesn’t love me or God can’t use me? Oh, yes, He can. They said, if we don’t listen, we don’t listen to what God has to say. You ever heard of a man named David? Man, after God’s own heart, boy, he’d never do anything wrong with he. The sweet psalmist of Israel sitting on the hillside, plucking on his harp, seeing into the sheep, sitting here every night, looking at the stars, and talking about how that the magnificent heavens and so forth declared the wonders of God.

Talking about the sun and the moon, all these things didn’t talk about the word of God, how it’s so pure and righteous. And the testimonies of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple. Yeah, oh, David. But I think he messed up too. I think he was a womanizer. I actually believe that he probably committed murder. Man came to him one day and says, Thou art the man! Thou art the man. And God had to judge him. Oh yeah, he had a lot of wonderful things.

You can say about David, but there was a lot of sorrow in his heart too. When you read a 51st Psalm and see how it broke his heart because he broke God’s. And God says, I’m not looking for sacrifice, but I’m a broken and contrite spirit. You see, God is still looking for people that, now they ain’t nobody here perfect. I’m not, you’re not, none of us are perfect. But believe it or not, if God didn’t use imperfect people, they wouldn’t be anybody to use.

If God can’t use us, then who else can he use? So God is looking for somebody, but He does want you to love Him with all your heart, of all your mind, and all your soul, in spite of that old sinful nature that you’ve gotten, how unworthy we may be, and how lack of talent and ability and wisdom that we have. But God is still God. And his love overrides so much, oversees so much, and gives us chance after chance after chance.

He’s the one that can determine the next heartbeat. He’s the one that can take away your breath at any moment. You know, whatever I read about Job and all that he went through, it wasn’t when Job lost all of his assets. When job he lost his wealth and all that stuff he lost his kids He still maintained his integrity, but he didn’t cry out until the devil got his body when God got his body When you get down physically you can get down spiritually and you be surprised how many times that God will Flick your body and allow it to be afflicted Because it’s the greatest test of your spirituality Where are you with God?

Does he mean more than you than life itself, more than the body, more than the wealth that you have? God loves you so much, and he wants you to learn how to love him back. And you’ll learn how to love him by seeing how did God love? Is it only because there’s people who deserve to be loved? Because we’re supposed to be kind? Or is it real? Or hypocritical? You ever heard of a guy named Isaiah? Believe it or not, there was a time when he preached naked.

We won’t go into that. Jeremiah and Timothy were too young, but God used them. Elijah, he was suicidal. He was suicidal. The guy was always, it seemed like in a state of depression. Always depressed, always discouraged. In spite of all the great things that God did for him, he could let one woman say something him and he’d run for the rest of his life. I’d under a juniper tree and say, I’m the only one left. Poor, poor me. You know why I don’t have pity parties anymore?

Nobody would come. But he wanted to die. Come on, I don’t want to live. All these things that are mentioned in God’s Word. You ever hear of a guy named Jonah? What did Jonah do? Well, he ran from God. I know Christians have been running from God most of their life. Oh, they’re saved. They have eternal life. They’re going to go to heaven when they die. But they’ve been running from the Lord. Not to the Lord, not with the Lord, but from the Lord.

I’ll bet you there’s people sitting here right now. You have spent years of your life running from God because you will not do what God says to do. You can still be on your same job, same home, same church. but been running all your life because you never yield to do what God wants you to do with your life. Maybe you’re afraid of being a failure. Maybe you afraid God won’t come through. Maybe you think God’s gonna leave you hanging out here in the limb and you were afraid to get out there.

So by cause of fear, you won’t do anything for God. You won’t step out. You won’t live by faith. You know that’s a lack of love. That’s a lack of love. Because see, if you really believe God loved you, you would try anything. You’ll do anything. You’ll tempt anything for the Lord. Nothing could hold you back. Love can do that for a person. There’s a lot of power in love. Because I know God loves me. I want to do as much as I can, while I can, as long as I can in the body that I have.

Until God calls me home. John the Baptist? What a man. What a man. No man like this man. What Jesus said about him? He ate bugs. I mean, who wants to go around with a man who eats bugs? Locust? Live like a wild man? I mean, God can’t use a guy like that. He’s looking for the guy in a three-piece suit who’s, you know, looked up to and would dignity and respect. I’ve lived long enough to see that there’s people that I would think, God, I can’t use that person because that person won’t clean up their life.

And then I look at a person who’s got a clean life that God doesn’t use because heart’s not there. You do know that you can be all nice and clean and sweet and purty and you can look all decked out this morning and you can really look sharp. You’re looking that mirror and you’re an epitome of help but rotten on the inside because your heart ain’t right. You do it to be seen of men. That can be hypocritical. It’s not because you love God or you love people.

Sometimes I I believe there’s people who just want to do enough to keep God off their back, so that God doesn’t chase in them. But they live close to the edge. You never know what point. What is he going to take the chem off? What little word before they explode? You ever heard of somebody named Martha? Mary Martha? Martha worried about everything, didn’t she? Worry, worry, worry. I mean, God can’t use a worry wort. And yet there’s a lot of people with nothing more than just a worry wort.

Worry all the time, can’t sleep at night, can’t work during the day. They don’t love because they can’t trust. You see, when you really love, you can trust. Do you trust your husband? Do you trust your wife? Can you trust your kids? Can you trust God? Who do you trust? You know what’s a shame to go through life without anybody to love and no one to trust? To put everything that you have in yourself. Look into yourself, trusting in yourself.

What a terrible way to live. When your Bible says cursed is a man who put his confidence in flesh or trusting in himself to exalt himself. Mary Magdalene, well, she was demon-possessed. The Samaritan woman, she’d been married five times. I mean, God can’t use her. And yet he used that one little link to reach a whole city of men. Well, Zacchaeus, anybody heard the story of Zacchaeus? Zacchaeus was a wee wee man and a wee wee man was he.

He climbed up into Sycamore tree to see what he could see. And as the Savior passed that way. I don’t forget the rest of it. He looked up in the tree and he said, Zach, you come down. I am going to your house for tea, whatever. But a whole story in the Bible because he was a little man, but not just that he was a little man, he was a tax collector and everybody loves them. Think of how you feel right now about the IRS.

Don’t you just love them, but God used Zacchaeus? It didn’t matter who they were. When Christ was choosing His disciples, did He give everybody to Him? He even chose man that would fill with the devil, O Judas, who never trusted Him. But God gave him a chance. See God loves us. Is that we don’t learn how to love. Look at the chances God gives and the forgiveness that He has to have. And the reason he doesn’t use perfect people, there aren’t any.

Neither are you. So just get the chips off your shoulders and stop exalting yourself and stop looking down your long fairs of your nose and thinking you’re like Kellogg’s corn flakes just a little bit better. You think? We’re all the same in God’s eyes. We’re sinners. We’ve all come short of God’s perfection. These disciples, well, you can always depend on those disciples. They just fell asleep when they asked them to pray. They just all fell asleep. They couldn’t stick with it.

Peter, well, what did Peter do? Oh, he just denied the Lord. You’ve never done that, have you? Peter did. Did God still use Peter? Still used him. Paul, well, you know Paul, he was just too religious. He was taking all those Christians and putting them in the prison. So God can’t use a man like that. One day, a lightning bolt struck him, hit him, He talked him to his knees and he says, Lord, what will thou have me to do?

God can use him and God did use him. Use him in a great way. Timothy probably had an altar. And if God can use Lazarus, he can use anyway. He said, why? Well, see, he was a dead man. If God can use a dead man, he can use you. Do you know in the Bible it talks about God using? A jackass? And the old Jack asked, was talking to Balaam. Well, never Jonah was out there on the hillside overlooking the city, so if God was going to destroy the city or not of Nineveh, and God used a gourd.

It came up and put shade over him, and he was so thankful for that gourd because it showed it in from the sun. And then God made a worm, put it into gourd. It killed it Now Jonah was mad again He says you have more concern over that stupid gourd than those people down there Some people never get their priority straight Take your Bible and turn there to the book of 1 Corinthians The book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 13 1 Corinthians chapter 13 I want to show you very quickly the eight things that love is greater than.

So you’re verse one. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am become of sounding brass and tingling. Some love is better than the ability to speak in any language. Some men wrote a book called Love in Five Languages. I’ve never read the book, so I have no idea what it’s about. But I know that, because of how many languages there are. Love is better than all languages.

And it says in verse two, and though I have the gift of prophecy and all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all face that I can remove mountains and have not love. I am nothing.” So the ability to speak in languages, to speak in the tongues of angels, the gift of prophecy, the knack of solving all mysteries, knowing everything. And then he says there, I can remove mountains. Love is greater than that. In the faith of move a mountain and have not love.

So love is greater than all of those things. It’s greater. The resource to feed the world’s pre-opore. If you could in verse 3, and though I be stole all my goods, defeatable, if you could be not just one person, if you could feed the whole world and not have love. Love is greater than that. See, there’s a lot of people who give to a lot of humanitarian things. You can look on the TV and they’ll show you some little puppy dog, some little kitty cat tears his eyes, and you’ll get out your and you’re starting to check, but you’re starting to start writing out, because the compassion is there.

Now you can do all of that, and I’m not against you helping anybody. But love is more than that. Did you do that because of the dogs of that cat, or because it made you feel good? What was the motive? It takes a relief off of you. It shows you, it shows that I’m kind. It shows that I love, and that’s why I did that. check your motive of why you do what you do because God checks the motives.

When they show that little kid on the TV screen about only 25 cents a day or only 50 cents a day or only a dollar a day or $20 a month and you can help somebody pull a child and compassion is there because there is a sense that we care about others. And I think it’s wonderful that people do care. Otherwise there would nobody be given to anybody and we ought to learn to give. And it doesn’t go deep enough.

There’s more to it. It’s a temporary satisfaction because those animals you just kept alive, they’re still going to die. That little girl, she’s still going to grow up and maybe she’s going to die and she will die. The greatest love is trying to meet their greatest need. What is the greatest need? You’ll have people talk about there’s kids that are not going to have Christmas. Where’s it saying the Bible everybody has to have Christmas? Every kid has to have a toy.

Where does he say that in the Bible? Or what about those people that are hungry? And every Thanksgiving, we got to have this soup line so that we can give everybody a Thanksgiving day meal. What about all the other meals for the other 364 days? Do I feel good because I did this one deed at this one time? Or do you look deeper? What is their greatest need? And their greatest need is to know God. 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. 771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at six o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.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. 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 air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you’ll 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.

Jesus Christ had to come, had to die, and fulfill scripture. But he even told the tribe of Levi. Now Moses was used by God to write the first five books of the Bible. And it says here in verse 1, and remember he says, beginning at Moses, well, we’re not beginning at the beginning in the first five books, but this is just one little thing I thought I would just throw at you. He says in verse 1, and the Lord spake unto Moses and say it, this shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing.

Now, a person, Julie, who got leprosy didn’t get healed from leprosy. Take a miracle. But he says, he shall be brought unto the priest. And the priest shall go forth out of the camp. And the priest shall look and behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper, then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean and cedar wood and scarlet and hissom. And the priests shall command that one of the birds be killed.

Now how in the Old Testament would you show the death, the barrel, and the resurrection of Christ as a substitute for the sins of the people? Get two birds. Get two live birds. And so So in the illustration it will teach the death, the burial, and the resurrection. That’s what Christ did. He had to die to pay for our sins, shed his blood, come back from the dead in order to save us. Now look what he says. He says, take two birds alive.

And in verse 5, and the pre-shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it and the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssum and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times and shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird loose into to the open field.

So it was a picture of the death, the burial, and the resurrection. Somebody innocent dying for somebody that’s guilty, substitution, so that the payment that was made for the person would cause them to live. And so we have the two birds, not one bird, call one bird won’t demonstrate it. But God says there’s all these stories and types and so forth in the Old Testament. But would it have been neat to have Jesus explain this scripture better than what I can do?

But it’s in here. Look there in chapter 16 of Leviticus, Leviticus in chapter 16. Look in verse 1, and the Lord, Dellowardee caps, refers to the Lord Jehovah, speak unto Moses after the death of two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord and died, and the Lord said unto Moses, speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place, within the veil, before the mercy seed, which is upon the ark that he die not.

For I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. Now there’s the outer court, there’s a holy place and there is the holy of holies. In the holy place they had the table to show bread. The candlestick, the Alber, the Alber, and you’re talking about this is where they could go into, but there was a veil, and you can’t go into that room. And behind that veil, there’s the Ark of the Covenant. And the only one who got to go in there was the High Priest once a year to offer a sacrifice for himself and for the sins of the people.

And they usually would tie a rope around their leg in case he didn’t accept the payment they could pull them out of there because nobody else wanted to go in there. Because that’s where God would meet with His people. And the Shekana glory would come above the mercy seed. But that’s where the blood was to be sprinkled upon there. So He says here in verse 3, Thus shall Aaron come unto the holy, with a young bullock, for a sin offering, and a ram for a burn offering.

put on the Holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen britches upon his flesh, and shall be girdled with a linen girdle, and with a linen miter shall he be attired. These are holy garments, therefore shall he wash his flesh and water, and so put them on. And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats, two goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burn offering. And Aaron shall offer his bullet of the sin offering, which is for himself and make an atonement for himself and for his house.

And he shall take the two goats, present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the goat and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord. So one was to live and one was to die.

And the one that lived is called the scapegoat. Someone who has paid for sin and still lives. When Jesus Christ came and he hung on the cross, it says that He bore our sins in His body on the tree and His body was torn for us. And then the veil in the temple was ripped from the top to the bottom, not the bottom to the top. God tore the veil as the body of Jesus Christ was torn for you and for I.

Jesus Christ made a way for you and I to enter into the very presence of the Lord. And when Jesus died on the cross, I believe when he told her, says, look, don’t touch me I have not yet ascended unto my Father and later they could touch him. Even told, Thomas, put forth your hand and feel my scars in my hand and in my side. But he had took the blood into heaven and offered it upon the altar. I believe the tabernacle in the Old Testament was simply made after the pattern of one that is in heaven.

There’s a real one there. And you don’t have have to worry about the raiders of the lost are inclined in it. There’s one up there. So here we find that God, yes, had to use two birds to illustrate it. But every year they had to do these things and never understood why. Now they could have. There’s other scriptures that explains lots of these things. But Christ told them, He says, oh fools, and slow of heart to believe. Did you know that when my father-in-law sit down with me when I was eighteen years old, I didn’t understand all this stuff.

All I knew is I am a sinner. I a center. And I knew I’m going to be judged. And I didn’t like the outcome. It did not look pretty for me that as it was, I knew somehow in my mind without knowing the Bible, I knew that God was just and righteous and holy. And I knew that I was not. And that That bothered me. That’s why for all those years, even up till the time I was 18 years old, and I wasn’t raised in church.

But I never took a drink. I never smoked a cigarette. I never swore a cuss word. I was afraid if I did any bad stuff, I was going to go to hell and I didn’t want to go to hell. And I did not know that all my trying to be good was not going to help me get to heaven. I didn’t know that Christ had paid for my sins. I didn’t understand that. But that one night when my fall will all sit down with me.

And he told me the best news I ever heard. You see, I always thought that Jesus Christ was a swear word. It’s only time I ever heard it. Jesus Christ to me was a swear word, and I didn’t want to curse it. So I did everything I could to block that name out of my mind because I didn’t want to use profanity. Now, isn’t that a shame? And so when he explained it to me, I sat there that night and I balled like a baby.

I’d never seen anybody get saved. I didn’t know what the rules were. Didn’t know what you did. Didn’t do. All I know is what He said is true. I’m going to hell. And I want to have eternal life and I want to go to heaven when I die. And I understood that the only way I could get there is I must believe that Jesus was the substitute for my sins. That when He died, He died for me. And He paid for my sins.

And therefore I don’t have to pay for them. He did it and would put that death payment to my account. And God would be satisfied. It means I don’t have to go to hell and I don’t have to pay for any sin because God was satisfied with the payment Christ made. And I don’t have to pay it. And I don’t have to earn it. I don’t have to deserve it. God simply put that payment to my account. Just like in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus and Ron chapter 12, 12, when they were told that they were going to have to get out of there and get out of there quickly, they were told to take a lamb and slay the lamb and take hissep, which is a little branch, a little bush, and dip it in the blood and go outside of your house and

put it upon the, the lennel and the door post and says, when I see the blood, I’ll pass over you. In other words, you’re safe as long as I can see the blood, but you better apply the blood. And so when God looks at me, 49 years ago, His is a type of faith that I believe that what Christ did for me and by faith I took that blood and I put it upon the linole and up on the door post.

And God says, when I see the blood, I’ll pass over you. You see, that’s what we call the Passover. Jesus was the Passover Lamb. You see, then they had to get a lamb for different families. See, the world don’t have to get a lamb because like when John the The Baptist saw him, he says, behold, the Lamb of God. And everyone who takes that little hissop and that faith and believes that that’s the Lamb of God and puts their faith in what Christ did.

And that blood is applied to you. And when God looks at me, he don’t see Yankee Arnold, he don’t see my sins, he sees the blood. And when he sees the blood, the wrath of God does not abide upon me. But every individual who does not accept Christ as their Savior, the wrath of God abides upon you. He that believeth on me hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides upon you.

God is not looking for your church, and I’ll pass over you. I’m not looking for your good works. I’ll pass over you. I’m not looking for your money. I’m not looking for your intentions. I’m looking for the blood. Do you believe that when Jesus died, He died for you? It is the only way for you to go to heaven. There is no other way. Your church can’t get you there. Your good deeds can’t get you there. Only when He says, I see the blood, I will pass over you.

But if not, it’s all she wrote. There is no other hope. There’s no way to save yourself. So I trusted Christ as my Savior, and I know that I have eternal life. But take your Bible very quickly and turn there to the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 15, 1 Corinthians and chapter 15. And look there in verse 1. This is on page 1225 in a church Bible or one that’s in the rack in front of you if you was to borrow that.

Remember I said borrow that from you. I mean who wants to be guilty of stealing the Bible? By the way we have cameras back there that takes pictures of everybody walks out with the Bible. Not really. 1. Moreover brethren I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. Which also you have received and where in your stand by which also you are saved. If you keep in memory what I preached unto you unless you have believed in vain.

Well that sounds pretty powerful don’t it? If you keep in memory unless you believed in vain, you say, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That confuses me. Well, it’s supposed to. You say, how can I believe in vain? What if I forget? This is what you’re supposed to remember. Look there in verse 3. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that get this Christ died for our sins. According to what? The Scriptures. If Christ died for your sins, why should you have to die for your sins?

You see, I don’t have to go to hell and pay for one sin because Christ died for my sins. That’s why I cannot ever in the future ever go to hell and pay for my sins. So you don’t deserve that, I know. That’s why it’s called grace. Grace means it’s unmerited. You don’t deserve it. You see, but what if I do something really, really bad? Well, when Christ died on the cross, He paid for some really, really, really bad sins.

There isn’t one sin Christ did not pay for. He paid for all the sins of the world. All that you have to do is believe it. And when you believe it, God knows it. In a simple, if you believe it, yeah, God knows you believe it. When you believe that He did it for you, God knows you believe it. and he saves you from hell and puts that death payment to your account, and you get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for you.

Well, how can it be in vain? Well, it can be in vain if Jesus Christ didn’t come back from the dead. You see there, look what he says in verse 12. Now, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, I’ll say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead, but if there is no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen, then our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain.

It would be ridiculous for me to trust Christ to take me to heaven when he’s still dead. If he can’t get himself out of the grave, He’s no help to me. But one of the greatest verses in the Bible, it says that when they went to the tomb and they looked and he says, he is not here, he is not here, he is risen. And he says that if Christ did not come back from the dead, then my preaching is in vain, Your faith is in vain, you’re believing in vain, and we are of all men most miserable.

But if he did come back from the dead, then my preaching is not in vain, and your faith is not in vain. You’re trusting him is not in vain, and our sins are paid for, and he is coming again. there in verse 58. Therefore, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

So the day I trusted Christ as my Savior, God saved me, He cannot cast me out. He cannot lose me. I cannot go to hell. It’s impossible because Christ died for my sins. People say they believe that, but they don’t believe it. Oh fools and slow of heart to believe it. Anyone who teaches that you can be saved a day and go to hell tomorrow. Don’t understand it. You don’t understand. You’ll never deserve it. You never have done anything to deserve it and you never will.

Salvation is the gift of God. It’s not of works lest any man should boast. I can’t stand up here and say, I’m going to heaven because I’m so good good because I’m so bad. I’m going to heaven because he is so good and he loved me and he showed me how much he loved me by paying for my sins. And given to me the free gift of eternal life, I’m glad that he loved me that much. See, a lot of people believe that Jesus is necessary.

They just don’t believe he’s enough. He is enough. He’s all I need. Now, if you’re here this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, do you think it’s about time? You say, well, I go to church every Sunday. I don’t care if you go every day of the week. I ain’t gonna get you a little pinkies one inch closer to the pearly gates. Okay, how much money you give? You’re not giving millions of dollars. Don’t mop the hillabings.

That has nothing to do with going to… You will, I live the best I can. That has nothing to do with going to heaven. It’s so difficult for people to understand that how you live has absolutely nothing to do with where you’re going when you die. I’m going to heaven because there was a time in my life. that I accepted Christ as my Savior. And if you’ve never trusted Him as your Savior, nothing else matters. Nothing else matters. If you reject Him, you have no hope.

So right now in the quietness of this moment, your own mind, why don’t you just say something like this to the Lord? Lord, I believe it. I believe. I believe He did it for me, and I’m going to trust him right now as my Savior. And God said, if you trust him right now, he would give you right now eternal life. And if it’s eternal life, it would last forever. And if it lasts forever, and all your sins are paid, then where would you go when you die?

To heaven. I’m just curious. With his. Up in his eyes, open, and you’re looking right at me. I’m not even know positively, but I’m sure if you die right now, you go to heaven. Let me see you in. I don’t want to embarrass somebody. I wanted you to see. There’s other nuts in here just like me. They’re not going to heaven because they’re better than someone else. You see, they have owned up to the fact that our sinners can’t save themselves.

Now, the only reason you don’t trust Christ is Savior, it might be because you just don’t believe none of it all, or you believe you’re good enough. You’re not good enough. You have to be perfect. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. Now we all have sin on us. It means that we have a sinful nature and we all do things wrong. That’s everybody I know. And God says to pay for that. See, God made a law.

The soul that sineth shall die. So since we all sin, we all die. That’s why eventually all of us are going to die. But God says He loves us, wants us to go to heaven. But to go to heaven, heaven’s a perfect place. And you have to be perfect to go there, and none of us are. Because we got sin, we got to pay for that. And that’s eternal separation from God in a literal fire burning hell. So how can I get to heaven when I got a debt to pay?

That’s why God says you cannot save yourself. in represent Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He was the lamb without spot and blemish. And whenever they would bring their lambs to the priest, they would inspect them, make sure that there’s no spot or blemish and keep them maybe three or four days, make sure everything is all right. For inspection, that’s what they did with Jesus. And then when And they found no fault in him. God the Father delivered him up.

And he put our sins upon him. So Christ did not pay for one sin of his. He had none. He paid for all of our sins. The lamb without what? No false, no flaws. And he paid for the payment info, came back again from the dead, and said, If we would believe that He would be our substitute for our debt, see, I don’t have to die and pay for my sins. He did it for me. So then I don’t have to pay for my sins.

I don’t have to go to hell to pay for my sins. He did it. And yet there’s multitudes of people all over this world going to be celebrating Easter and have no clue what it’s about. They’re going to reenact the crucifixion scene. and they’re going to carry crosses. And haven’t got a clue what they’re doing. They don’t understand that when Christ died, He paid for sins and came back from the dead. And if you trust Him, He’ll give you eternal life.

I hope I’m understood. Let’s pray, shall we? Every head bowed and every eye closed, no one looking around. I want to thank you for coming today when you could have gone so many places. And maybe somebody got you here today because they wanted you to hear what I had to say. Maybe it’s because they really love you. They care about you. Maybe they just don’t want you to go to hell. They love you so much. But their love can’t get you to heaven.

But they wanted you to hear about somebody else’s love. God’s love. See, God loves you so much that he was willing to give his only begotten son, and he died for you. Would you believe he did it for you? In the quietness of this moment in your own mind, why not just say something simple like his Lord? I don’t understand it all, but I believe Jesus Christ died for me, and I’m trusting him right now as my only hope of going to heaven.

Now friend, I’m not going to have you forward. I’m not going to embarrass you. I do it with heads by a nice clothes because I don’t want to put you on the spot. I don’t want somebody else looking at you. But I want to know what I said made sense. It means so much to me. And I want to know what I said made sense. And so I’m going to ask you, will you trust Christ as your Savior? And if you’ll do that, I want to know if you’ll just slip your hand very quickly and put her I’m going to rip back down.

Yes, God bless you, sir. Anyone, yes, God bless you, ma’am. Anyone else, just very quickly, just slip it up, put a rip back down. I’m not going to embarrass you. I’m not going to pin you against a wall or embarrass you in any way. I don’t want anything from you. Anyone else before we close? Yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior this morning. I want to be certain of going to heaven when I die. I believe He did it for me.

Anyone else before we close? Just slip it up where I can see it. It’s kind of hard to see all the way back in the back, anyone else. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, your God’s child. God gives you eternal life as a free gift and you’ll go to heaven whenever you die. God loves you so much. As his child, look for him to come back again. Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Our Father, we thank You so much for these that indicated by an uplifted hand, that they would accept that payment that You made on the cross for them. And Father, by doing so, that blood has been applied. By doing so, that they become Your children, born into Your family. You’ll never cast them out, never lose them. We thank You so much for this time together to be able to honor you on this resurrection weekend.

Thank you so much for all you’ve done, of course. In Christ’s name we pray, amen. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.org. Thanks for joining us on Bible Live, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friends, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. 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, they’re got to work 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 through the Bibleline website at calbryoftampa.org. 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 gospel of Luke. Chapter 24, and I want to read in verse 13, the resurrection of Jesus Christ has taken place. But there’s a scene that takes place on the road to Emmaus. Says in verse 13, and behold two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.

But their eyes were holding that they should not know Him. Wouldn’t that scare you to death? The resurrection of Christ has taken place, but they didn’t know it. And they’re just walking down the road talking about all the things that have happened. Christ did all these miracles, and He it was that they thought would be the Messiah, the set of the Kingdom upon the earth. And then they watched Him being crucified and varied. All hope was gone for the death of a vision, no hope.

Thereby’s a little sad. But He says in verse 17, and He said unto them, what manner of communications are these that you have one to another as you walk and are sad and you’re sad. One of them whose name was Cliff, he answered, said, are thou only a stranger in Jerusalem and has not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? You don’t know what’s going on. Who are they talking to? Jesus. You mean you don’t know what’s going on?

You’re a stranger around here? Oh, he knew what was going on. He was what was going on. Verse 19, and he said unto them, what things? Oh, I love this. And they said unto him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty indeed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him. Look in verse 21, but we trusted that it was or it has been he which should have redeemed Israel.

And that’s exactly what he had done. We thought he would be the one. He was. And little did they understand that the one that was crucified was fulfilling the scriptures that says this is what he has to do to redeem Israel. Verse 21, and beside all of this, today is the third day since these things were done. Since the Passover, you go from Sunday back to Saturday and then Saturday back to Friday and then Saturday back to Thursday, Friday back to Thursday.

And you’re talking about from the day of the Passover, three days, this is Pat, this is third day. You don’t know what’s going on? Verse 22, Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the Separachal, and when they found not his body they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels which said that he was alive. Now, if he was alive, why were they so sad? Certain of them, which were with us, went to the seprechaun, found it even so as the women had said, but him they saw not.

Then he said unto them, now look what Jesus said to them. Now, if he was to walk in here this morning, he probably would say some of this to you that are sitting here. He says, oh fools, and slow of heart to believe. He says, all that the prophets have spoken. Let me read that again to you because you didn’t catch it. Oh fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. In other words, what had taken place was prophesied.

You You should have known. You could have known what Jesus did wasn’t done in secret. He wasn’t hid under a tree or under a bush someplace. What happened to him was in the open. Everybody knew. And verse 20 says, he says, ought not Christ the Messiah, to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory. Don’t you know the book? To people today who don’t believe that there is a true and living God don’t believe that you can really know the truth, it’s just because they’re ignorant of the facts.

Not because there aren’t facts, there are facts. Anyone who wants to be honest can take a Bible and go into the Old Testament and find out Yes, it was written before Jesus Christ ever came. Man could not have guessed these things. Jesus could not make these things if he was just a mere man. He could not make all these people do all these things to him in order to fulfill scripture. Even to the very way he died. He says, not Christ who had suffered these things and to enter into his glory.

and verse 27, and beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them, and all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. What a Bible education that must have been. Boy, what I love to have said in on that Bible class. Jesus, going into the Old Testament, and explaining all these things to him, concerning himself. What a day. And then he says in verse 28, as they drew nigh unto the village, whether they went, and he made as though he would have gone further, but they constrained him, saying abide with us.

For it is toward evening, and the day is far spent, and he went into Terry with them. And he came to pass as he said it, meet with them. He took bread, blessed it, and gave to them, and their eyes were opened. And they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight. You know, I like that part too. I can’t wait to get my new body, where I can appear and disappear at will. Remember when they went to the tomb, Jesus was already gone.

The storm was rolled away just so they could look in. But He wasn’t there. He had already gone. What I like about it is later when the disciples was in an upper room and the doors were all locked and Jesus appeared in their midst. To be able to go through walls, to appear and disappear at will. God says that we’re gonna get a body just like his body. But see, he has a glorified body. That’s the kind of a body we’re going to get.

You realize that the body that we have is not the body we’re going to have. It’s going to be a glorified body. See, I remember back when I was about three, four years old, you say you can’t remember? Yes, I can. I most certainly can. And I have watched myself over the years in this body growing. And I remember when I was 12, I was a Boy Scout. I became 13, I became a Girl Scout. I was wondering if y’all would catch these jewels.

Then I’d have got to be 17, then 25, and then 30, and then 40, and then 50, and then 60. That’s enough. But one of these days, I know if God should carry this body’s going to die. But I’m not worried about it because I’m going to get another one and I’m gonna look a lot better than I do now. Don’t laugh. You will too. And it will not hurt anymore. No more pain. You don’t have to worry about Obama healthcare.

You don’t have to worry about nothing. You won’t have to worry about getting old and worry about… None. It’s all gone. But I want you to see something. He goes on down through and they talk about this. And this is the point. part that I do like. When he says that boy, how our heart did burn inside of it, look in verse 32, and they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us? While he talked with us, by the way, while he opened to us the scriptures.

Did you know that he’s the same one even today that has to open to us the scriptures? If you don’t know Christ, you can’t know the scriptures. You know words. You can find scripture, but you don’t know Him. You have to know Him in an order to know this, and you got to know this in order to know Him. And the Holy Spirit that indwells us is to teach us and open to us the scripture so we can see and understand.

Look what He says down in verse 44, and He said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me, then opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures.” You see, all these things were written so that we could know the Scriptures. There’s something about, there must be something in this book that explains not only his death, in resurrection, but why did it at all?

What’s the reasons? Well, after all of this was done, it says there in verse 42, thus it is written, and thus it be who Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. So, evidently God wants every person in all the world, and in other scriptures has gone to all the world and preached the gospel to every creature.

God wants every person to know about Jesus Christ, His death, His burial, and His resurrection, and the reason for it. Now just turn back there in the book of Leviticus, the book of Leviticus, and chapter 14. Leviticus chapter 14. Now remember, Jesus was able to go back to the Old Testament and open so many scriptures and help them to see and understand. so that they would believe. So that they would believe He was who He claimed to be. That Jesus Christ had to come, had to die, and fulfill Scripture.

Well He even told the tribe of Levi. Now Moses was used by God to write the first five books of the Bible. And it says here in verse 1, and remember he says, beginning at Moses, well we’re not beginning at the beginning in the first five books, but this is just one little thing I thought I would just throw at you. He says in verse 1, and the Lord speak unto Moses and say it, This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing.

Now a person, Julie, who got leprosy didn’t get healed from leprosy. Take a miracle! But he says he shall be brought unto the priest. And the priest shall go forth out of the camp, and the priest shall look and behold if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper, then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean and cedar wood and scarlet and hissom. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed.”

Now, how in the Old Testament would you show the death, the barrel, and the resurrection of Christ as a substitute for the sins of the people? Get two birds. Get two live birds. And so in the illustration it will teach the death, the burial, and the resurrection. That’s what Christ did. He had to die to pay for our sins, shed his blood, come back from the dead in order to save us. Now look what he says. He says, take two birds alive.

And in verse 5, and the pre-shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it and the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hissom and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the lepercy seven times. And shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.

So, it was a picture of the death, the burial, and the resurrection. Somebody innocent dying for somebody that’s guilty, substitution. So that the payment that was made for the person would cause them to live. And so, we have the two birds. Not one bird call one bird won’t demonstrate it. But God says there’s all these stories and types and so forth in the Old Testament. But would it have been neat to have Jesus explain this scripture better than what I can do?

But it’s in here. Look there in chapter 16 of Leviticus, Leviticus in chapter 16. Oh, look in verse 1, and the Lord, Deloardee, caps, refers to the Lord Jehovah, speak unto Moses after the death of two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord and died, and the Lord said unto Moses, speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place, within the veil, before the mercy seed, which is upon the ark, that he die not.

I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seed. Now there’s the outer court, there’s a holy place, and there is the holy of holies. In the holy place they had the table and show bread and the candle stick, the alber. And you’re talking about this is where they could go into, but there was a bale, you can’t go into that room. And behind that veil, there’s the ark of the covenant. And only when he got to go in there was the High Priest once a year to offer a sacrifice for himself and for the sins of the people.

And they usually would tie a rope around their leg in case he didn’t accept the payment they could pull him out of there because nobody else wanted to go in there. Because that’s where God would meet with his people. And the Shacana glory would come above the mercy seat. But that’s where the blood was to be sprinkled upon there. So he says here in verse 3, the shall Aaron come into the holy with a young bullock for a sin offering and a ram for a burn offering.

He shall put on the holy linen coat and he shall have the linen britches upon his flesh and shall be girdled with a linen girdle and with a linen miter shall he be attired. These are holy garments therefore shall he wash his flesh and water and so put them on and he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel. two kids of the goats, two goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burn offering. And Aaron shall offer his bullet of the sin offering, which is for himself and make an atonement for himself and for his house.

And he shall take the two goats, present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the goat and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell and offer him for a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord. So one was to live and one was to die.

And the one that lived is called the scapegoat. Someone who has paid for sin and still lives. When Jesus Christ came and he hung on the cross, it says that he bore our sins in his body on the tree and his body was torn for us. And then the veil in the temple was ripped from the top to the bottom, not the bottom to the top. God tore the veil as the body of Jesus Christ was torn for you and for I.

Jesus Christ made a way for you and I to enter into the very presence of the Lord. And when Jesus died on the cross, I believe when he told her, says, look, don’t touch me. I have not yet ascended unto my Father and later they could touch him. Even told, Thomas, put forth your hand and feel my scars in my hand and in my side. But he had took the blood. And to heaven, and offered it upon the altar.

I believe the tabernacle in the Old Testament was simply made after the pattern of one that is in heaven. There’s a real one there. And you don’t have to worry about the raiders of the lost are inclined in it. There’s one up there. So here we find that God, yes, had to use two birds to illustrate it. And yet these two ghosts stay unastrated. But every year they had to do these things and never understood why. Now they could have.

There’s other scriptures that explains lots of these things. But Christ told them, He says, oh fools and slow of heart to believe. Did you know that when my father-in-law sat down with me when I was 18 years old, I didn’t understand all this stuff. All I knew is I am a sinner. I am a sinner. And I knew I’m going to be judged. And I didn’t like the outcome. It did not look prettier for me that as it was, I knew somehow in my mind without knowing in the Bible, I knew that God was just andSHARES and holy, and I knew that I was not.

And that bothered me. That’s why for all those years, even up till the time I was 18 years old, and I wasn’t raised in church. But I never took a drink. I never smoked a cigarette. I never swore a cuss word. I was afraid if I did any bad stuff. I was going to go to hell and I didn’t want to go to hell. And I did not know that all my trying to be good was not going to help me get to heaven.

I didn’t know that Christ had paid for my sins. I didn’t understand that. But that one night when my father-in-law sat down with me and he told me the best news I ever heard. You see, I always thought that Jesus Christ was a swear word. It’s the only time I ever heard it. Jesus Christ to me was a swear word and I didn’t want to curse. And so I did everything I could to block that name out of my mind because I didn’t want to use profanity.

Now, isn’t that a shame? And so when he explained it to me, I sat there that night and I balled like a baby. I’d never seen anybody get saved. I didn’t know what the rules were. I didn’t know what you did. Didn’t do. All I know is what he said is true. I’m going to hell. And I want to have eternal life and I want to go to heaven when I die. And I understood that the only way I could get there is I must believe that Jesus was the substitute for my sins.

That when he died, he died for me. And he paid for my sins. And therefore I don’t have to pay for them. He did it. And would put that death payment to my account. And God would be satisfied. It means I don’t have to go to hell and I don’t have to pay for any sin because God was satisfied with the payment Christ made And I don’t have to make it and I don’t have to earn it. I don’t have to deserve it God simply put that payment to my account Just like in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus and around chapter 12 When they were told that they were gonna have to get out of there and getWeakly they were told to newsp and slay the lamb and take hiss up, which is a little branc, a little bush, and dip it in the blood and go outside of your house and put it upon the, the lennel

and the door post and says, when I see the blood, I’ll pass over you. In other words, you’re safe as long as Rebellize the Blood, but you better apply the blood. And so when Kislyak looks at me, 49 years ago, his is a type of faith that I believe that what Christ did for me and by faith I took that blood and I put it upon the lennel and up on the door post. And God says, when I see the blood, I’ll pass over you.

You see, that’s what we call the Passover. Jesus was the Passover Lamb. You see, then they had to get a lamb for different families. See, the world don’t have to get a lamb because like when John the Baptist saw him, he says, behold, the lamb of God. And everyone who takes that little hissop and that faith and believes that that’s the lamb of God and puts their faith in what Christ did. And that blood is applied to you. And when God looks at me, he don’t see Yankee Arnold, he don’t see my sins, he sees the blood.

And when he sees the blood, the wrath of God does not abide upon me. But every individual who does not accept Christ as their Savior, the wrath of God abides upon you. He that believeth on me hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides upon you. God is not looking for your church, and I’ll pass over you. I’m not looking for your good works and I’ll pass over you. I’m not looking for your money.

I’m not looking for your intentions. Because I’m looking for the blood. Do you believe that when Jesus died, He died for you? It is the only way for you to go to heaven. There is no other way. Your church can’t get you there. Your good deeds can’t get you there. Only when He says, I see the blood I will pass over you. But if not, it’s all she wrote. There is no other hope. There’s no way to save yourself.

So I trusted Christ as my Savior, and I know that I have eternal life. But take your Bible very quickly and turn there to the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 15, 1 Corinthians and chapter 15. And look there in verse 1. This is on page 1225 in a church Bible or one that’s in the rack in front of you if you was to borrow that. Remember I said borrow that from you. I mean who wants to be guilty of stealing the Bible?

By the way we have cameras back there that takes pictures of everybody walks out with the Bible. Not really. one. More over brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. Which also you have received and were in your stand by which also ye are saved. If, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. Well that sounds pretty powerful, don’t it? If you keep in memory, unless you believed in vain, And you say, wait, wait, wait, wait.

And that confuses me. Well, it’s supposed to. You say, how can I believe in vain? What if I forget? This is what you’re supposed to remember. Look there in verse 3. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received how that, get this, Christ died for our sins. According to what? The Scriptures. If Christ died for your sins, why should you have to die for your sins? 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. Our 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 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. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our home page.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at six o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.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, 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. on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bible-lined website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Matthew and chapter 27, verse 35, and they crucified him, part of his garments casting lots that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet. They parted my garments among them and upon my vestibed that they cast lots, and setting down they watched him there. And set up over his head this accusation written, this is Jesus the King of the Jews. were there, two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand and another on the left.

And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads and saying, Thou, that destroyed the temple and buildeth it in three days saved thyself, if thou be the son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priest mocking him with the scribes and the elders he said, He saved others himself he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he will have him, for he said, I am the Son of God, the thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same into his teeth.

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land from the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, Lemasov, that’s the night, that is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there when they heard that said this man called for Elijah’s and straight way one of them that ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and put it on a read and gave him the drink.

The rest said let be. Let us see whether Elijah’s will come to save him. Jesus when he had tried again with a loud voice yielded up the ghost. Now Now look there in chapter 28, chapter 28 verses 1 through 6. In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the Separach. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon him.

His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white snow, and for fear of him the The keepers did shake and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I know whom ye seek, which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord laid. So Christ was crucified. He was buried. He came back again from the dead. I talked to a man the other day right here in the office.

And he said he believed the Bible. I said, you believe Christ died on the cross and paid for all the sins of the Lord? Yes, I do. Do you believe he paid for all of your sins? Yes, I do. I says, where are you going to die? He says, I hope I’m going to heaven. I says, you’re not sure. He says, no, I’m not real sure. He said, nobody can really be sure. I says, is there anything you can do between now and the time that you died that can keep you from going to heaven?

He said, oh, yeah, a lot of things. I said, sir, you don’t believe the Bible. He said, yes, it does. I said, no, you don’t. I says, you don’t believe that Jesus Christ paid for all of your sins either. He says, yes, it does. says, no, you don’t. I said, if you believe he paid for all of your sins, then why do you think that sin that you’ll commit tomorrow or the next day will send you to hell? How many times must you pay for a sin?

You don’t believe he paid for that sin. You believe he paid for all the sins up to the day, but you don’t believe he paid for those that you haven’t done yet. Because when Christ died on the cross, all of your sins were in the future. You know what? He got mad at me. He literally got upset because he didn’t like what I said. But I don’t like somebody saying, I believe the Bible, I believe the Bible, I believe Christ I didn’t pay for my sins.

Sir, you do not believe that. You don’t believe it. You believe you’ve got to pay for your sins and that’s why you think you can still go to hell to pay for it. Because you don’t believe he paid for it. Now, either Christ paid for my sins or he did not pay for my sins. He came into the world to save the world, not to condemn the world. John 14, 6 says, Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father. by by name. Now that’s exclusive. That’s exclusive. It means it excludes everybody else. This means that you can’t get to heaven no other way except through Jesus Christ. No man comes unto the Father except through Him and He is the only way. There’s not two ways. There is no other God. You can’t go through Buddha, Muhammad, or Confucius, or anybody else. You do not go to heaven because you trust in a church. You don’t go to heaven because you trust in a preacher.

You don’t go to heaven because you trust in your good deeds You can’t save yourself understand you can’t save yourself That’s why you needed to save your Christ came into the world to save individuals Look at number two. He entered the city Victoriously receiving the praise of his people and John 12 through 13 He says with joy they took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried Hosanna God. Blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

So Christ is making a joyful entry into the city of Jerusalem. And lo and behold, everybody is all excited and hollering and cheering and praising the Lord. See, they were looking for a king to deliver them from the iron heel of Rome. They weren’t looking for a Savior that watched him raise some people from the dead. They’d watched him walk on water. They watched him feed to 5,000. We could use somebody like that. You know the Bible says that in the last days in the tribulation period which is right ahead of us, the world is also still looking for a superman, a most brilliant individual that has the answers to everything because the world is in a mess.

And the Bible says, men’s hearts failing them for fear, seeing those things which are coming upon the earth. And so an individual is going to show up and evidently be able to deceive even God’s elect if God doesn’t intervene. And he’s going to fool the people, lie to the people. They seed the people and talk about peace and world peace. Everything is global now. It’s global world peace. They ain’t gonna be no peace until the Prince of Peace comes.

And Christ doesn’t hear yet. And we have seven years of tribulation here so you can forget all this here about peace in the world. It ain’t gonna happen. Christ says, I did not come to bring peace but a sword to divide the mothers and the fathers and the sisters and the brothers and everybody away from each other. And what does that, the gospel, cause one man to believe and another man doesn’t believe. It divides. Whenever the rapture takes place, what’s going to happen is going to be a great divide.

All those who know the Lord are going to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and those that don’t know the Lord are going to be still right here. You’re talking about a division? There’s a division. It’s all the way through the scriptures. And what happened to this peace-honored good will toward man? Well, there would be peace-honored if people accepted the Prince of Peace, but they rejected the Prince of Peace, and there will be no peace without him.

In the next statement, he is later betrayed. Matthew 20 verse 18, behold, we go up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man shall be betrayed onto the chief priest and unto the scribes and they shall condemn him to death. Now this was prophesied in the Old Testament, it was prophesied. This prophesied again, when Christ was here, He told him over and over again, I am going to be killed. Three days later, I’m coming back from the dead, but He told him what was going to take place.

Jesus Christ did not come to see how rich He could be. His gold in life was not I’m gonna be a millionaire by the time I’m 30. His gold was he was gonna become the minister when he was 30 and he knew that in three and a half years he was gonna be dead. His gold wasn’t to see how many houses he could have how much land he could own or how much money could have in the bank how many cars he could drive that wasn’t his gold.

It wasn’t to see how rich can he be. Remember he left glory came into this world stripped himself of everything that he had came in here born in a manger, poor. He was the son of God. He had all the power in the world. He could perform miracles. He could read minds. Think of much money he could have made reading people’s minds. He was awesome. He was a man’s man. He was a carpenter. He worked with wood. He has tried, condemned, and scurged.

Then released he barabbas, the robber unto them and when he had scourged Jesus he delivered him to be crucified. You know what scourged means? It means that they took and laid him over a bench like, and they took a cat of nine pills with broken pieces of glass and pottery and nails and pieces of metal in it and nine of those things on long lo- I got one in the office and they would take and hit him on the back and then sink it in and rip it across his back and then do that to him in 39 times.

Just rip his back open. And then they crucified him. Christ did a lot of suffering before he ever got to the cross. But you know all that suffering that he did, that wasn’t paying for our sins yet. That was just what men were doing to him. You see, they poured out our sins upon him. And so yes, he had the evil of man, the wickedness of man crucifying him. And people did all these wicked things to the Son of God.

But when he’s on the cross and he cried out, my God, my God, why has stopped forsaken me? That’s when the payment for our sins, I believe, were paid because he paid for our sins on the cross. He is mocked as he hung on a cruel Roman cross, where they said, save thyself, if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. He says, if you are who you claim to be, you come down from that cross and we’ll believe you.

Let’s just wait and see if he He can save himself. They mocked him. They made fun of everything that he said. If it was me, I’d have came down from the cross. I’d have zapped every one of them and then went back up. But I’d have hit him first. If he’d have come down from the cross, he couldn’t have saved anybody. He couldn’t come down and save himself. He didn’t come into the world to deliver himself. He had to die on the cross and pay for his.

And he allowed the wickedness of people to do what they did to him as a lamb. That means without lifting any resistance, he never resisted. Whatever they wanted to do, they want to spit on, they could do so. They pull his beard, they could do so. They put a crown of thorns on his head, they could do so. And then they would hit the thorns on the top of the head and push it down to the skin and blood.

They can do that. Whatever they wanted to do, they could say anything they want. He wouldn’t say anything back. He’d let them do whatever they want to do. He was led as they lamb to be slaughtered. He was being slaughtered. When somebody says something about us, we want to get even with them. It’s the last thing I do. He was the son of God, came into the world to die willingly for the sins of the world and to die upon a cruel cross.

He could not come down. If he became down, he could not have saved anybody. The next statement, he is declared dead, removed from the cross buried in a tomb. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said it is finished and he bowed his head and gave up to go. That meant that what he had done on the cross when he says It is finished. It means the payment for the sins of the world were done It means there’s nothing that anybody else has to do the payment for sin was complete You know you go to buy something you get a receipt Well Christ coming back from the dead is a living receipt that the payment was made in full and the scars in his hands in his feet That’s the mark that it’s paid in full.

It is finished There’s nothing for anybody to add to it. There’s no more work to do We are saved we go to heaven because of the work Christ did you don’t earn it. You don’t work for it He said me if I go I cannot kill somebody I’ll still go to heaven when I die what you say is true I said that’s a true way to put it. But yes, he said I’d never believe that I never believe that He says you trying to tell me that a man go I hear and kill people and still go to heaven when they die I I said, yeah, and I said, I got worse news than that.

I said, what’s that? I said, you can go to church all your life and live to be a little saint as close as the God you can live. I said, if you don’t trust Christ, you still burn the hell just like that man that killed all those people. God says, there’s no difference between them. I said, you mean I like the one? I said, but the other one is just as bad. I said, the greatest sin you can ever do, the greatest sin is to reject Christ as your savior.

You can’t get any worse than that. The sin of unbelief, all sin can be forgiven, but the sin of unbelief. See if you die without believing on Christ, there is no forgiveness in this life or the life to come. There is no hope because the worst thing you’ll ever do is not because you and I here murdered somebody or raped somebody or robbed the bank. No, the worst thing you can ever do, ever do. The worst is to reject the payment Christ made on the cross for you.

John 19, 34 said, but one of the soldiers where they spear pierced his side and forth with tamed, there out blood and water. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. Later in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock, and he rolled a great stone to the door of the Separach and departed. Three days later, he is absent from the tomb, having risen under his own power. Look at this verse, John chapter 20 verse 1.

The first day of the week come at Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark under the Separachum and see if the stone taken away from the Separata. And he an angel said unto them, be not afraid and ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. Christ came back from the dead. Christ is alive. He is in heaven and he has eternal life as a gift to give to every person that believes that he died for them.

Next statement, he is seen, they lead on by hundreds and a sins in the heaven. 1 Corinthians 15, 6 says, after that he was seen of above 500 brethren at once. This is after he came back from the dead. So this wasn’t something done in the corner. 500 people saw him after he came back from the dead. This is on one occasion. And then it says, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the place.

He Jesus Christ was God. He was God manifested in the flesh. And get what he says about this. This is a tremendous verse 1 Timothy 3 16. God was manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in the glory. He came into the world, did what he came to do, and left this world. Now he’s in heaven. And he has given eternal life to every individual that believes that he did all of that to them.

If you don’t earn eternal life, you don’t work your way to heaven, and yet there’s a lot of people that go to good, independent, fundamental Bible-even missionary minded, Baptist churches that do not know Christ as their Savior. A lot of preachers do not understand that eternal security is the gospel, and the gospel is eternal security. And if you’re not saved forever, you’re not saved at all. The best news in all the world is to know that you have eternal life.

You cannot know that you’re going to heaven when you die. If you don’t believe that once you’re saved, you’re always saved. If you don’t believe you’re always saved, you don’t know where you’re going when you die. And you don’t understand the gospel. This is the Bible and the issue is heaven and hell. And that is critical. It’s not a game. This is serious stuff. It would be a shame for you to come and you hear and you say, I heard that a thousand times, but did you ever trust Christ as your savior?

If you haven’t, you’re lost. You’re still lost. It means that when you die, you go to hell. And wouldn’t it be a shame for tomorrow you’d wake up in the flames of hell knowing that you could have gone to heaven knowing you sit there and you heard it over and over and over again and you never trust the Lord because you thought you had time or it really wasn’t that critical. Not that important and now you’re in hell and knowing you can’t get out.

You’ll never get out. It’ll never be changed. They’ll never get any better. Have you ever burnt yourself on a flame? Touch something so hot it burnt you? I’ve done it a many a time and I’ll thankful I am. I can not go to hell. If that doesn’t make a man thankful, nothing will. Look at the next segment. This is Jesus the Christ, God in the flesh, who died in your place that you may have heaven forever. 1 Corinthians 15, three and four says, for I delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture.

He was buried that he rose again the third day according to the scripture. See, this is a clear definition on how salvation is offered to you and I. But you can believe this intellectually and not really trust Christ as you’re saved. You can say, well, I believe Christ died. That’s, that’s, that’s history. But Christ died for me. That’s salvation. You must believe that when he died on that cross, he died and paid for my sin, mine, mine. That means if I really believe that, then I don’t have to pay for mine.

But if you think he’s still going to help, you don’t really believe he paid for yours. Oh, yeah, I heard Christ out on the cross and paid for the sin of the world. I heard it all the way. Where are you going when you die? Well, the hell, if I don’t change, you don’t get it. You don’t understand. He died to pay for your sins. Forget everybody else’s. Let’s forget the world.phia. He did it for you. Think about it as an individual thing.

He did this for me, my sins, so that I could have eternal life. Now, what should be our decision? John 3 16 says, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believe it in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now, it’s done. It’s finished. Take your Bible very quickly and turn over there to the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 1 Corinthians 15 is what we call the resurrection chapter. But in this resurrection chapter, notice what he says there in verse 51.

Christ can’t come back if he never left. If Christ is still in the grave, you have no hope and neither do I. And everything is in vain. What we have really messed up. See, look in verse 16. Verse 16 says, For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ is not raised, your faith is in vain, you’re yet in your sins. It means you’re still lost. Your sins are not been paid for. How can you believe in vain?

You can believe in vain if Christ died in vain. If Christ did not come back from the dead. If he didn’t come back from the dead, how can you trust somebody to save you who can’t even get out of the grave himself? What value was that? Or it’s true when he did come back from the dead and my preaching is not in vain and my faith is not in vain and your belief is not in vain and we don’t live in vain because it’s all true.

Now, looking verse 51, behold I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. That means we won’t all die. If we won’t all die, we won’t all be buried. I really don’t care. die. No, not that I’m afraid to die. I said I’ve never done it before. I want the Lord just to change me in a moment. The twinkle of an eye and caught up to meet the Lord in the earth. Now think about it. Wouldn’t you rather go that away?

I do. But he says, we shall not all sleep die, that we shall all be changed. Verse 52, in a moment, the twinkle of an eye, the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. Look at me. I am mortal. It means I am subject to death, but I am going to put on immortality means that I won’t die.

Those that have already died, their bodies in the grave, that is corruptible. So they are going to put on incorruption. So the resurrection is going to take place. Christ is coming in the air. And then all of a sudden those dead bodies are going to be made incorruptible. And we that are alive when this moment comes will be changed in a moment. The twinkle of an eye caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And this mortal will put on immortality.

That is what I am looking forward to. See if there is no such thing as a resurrection then they can’t be this happening either because the one that did the other’s gonna do this one We’re looking for Christ to return Therefore he says in verse 58 looking verse 58 good on the line this verse in your Bible if it’s not on the line Therefore might be love it brethren Be a steadfast see once you trust Christ is your Savior you have eternal life You’re going to heaven when you die you just not there yet, but until then Be steadfast be faithful do right because he says my beloved brother be a steadfast unmovable, solo like a rock, always a bounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor and get this is not in vain.

It’s not in vain. So I read all of this and I see all of this and I know Christ came back from the dead so it’s not in vain. My faith is not in vain. My preaching is not in vain. My living for God is not in vain. My witnessing is not in vain. My reading the word of God is not in vain. My plan is not in vain. My given the Lord’s work is not in vain. It will pay off in the long run.

I believe it because Christ came back from the dead. He’s coming back again someday. Now look at verse 58 one more time. Therefore, my beloved brethren, that’s the reference to those who know Christ is Savior. You’re going to heaven when you die. Be steadfast, be unmovable. I have tried to stay the same way since I’ve trusted Christ as my Savior and got the clarity of the the gospel down. I want to stay rock solid the rest of my life.

I’m thankful the Lord for saving me when I was 18 years old. It would have been nice that if I had been raising a Christian home and I’d have known the Lord at an early age and all that. But that wasn’t my life. That wasn’t what I had. I didn’t want God to save me in vain. To give me eternal life and then leave me here in this life and it be for a waste. Oh, I’d go to heaven when I die.

But I want others to be in heaven when I get there. I want people to be in heaven because I passed through this life. God left me here. That was by the grace of God. He didn’t owe that to me, but He did that. And I don’t want His grace of a leaving me here that I didn’t deserve to be totally in vain. I want to accomplish something with my life. And that should be the goal of every Christian to be steadfast, unlovable, always abounded in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

It’s not in vain. Because remember, if you have not trusted Christ as your Savior, you are lost. And if you’re lost and you die, where do you go? Where do you go? Hell. Now that’s not a pretty subject to talk about, but you can’t talk about the love of God if you don’t talk about the wrath of God because you’ve got to see until you know that you’re going to heaven when you die, you’ll never appreciate God really loving me.

How do I know God really loves He saved me from hell. Now look up here, this is you and me. This is sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us. He hates our sin. He loves us. And the Bible says since we committed the sin, we have to pay for it. Since we committed that sin, we’re all guilty. We all have to pay. And the wages is eternal separation from God. Inhale. Now God says that He loves us and He wants us to go to heaven.

God does not want anybody to go to hell. He wants us to go to heaven. To go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God. Nobody’s perfect. Nobody’s righteous like God is. You see, God can’t let us in because of sin. So we have to pay for this. And he says that the wages of sin is death. It’s not going to church. It’s not giving money. It’s not praying through and hanging on and let go and let God.

You need a Savior. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord. He’s God in the flesh. Came into the world because He loves the world. He hates our sin because it separates us from Him. I can’t get to God. He can’t get to me. We can’t have any fellowship. I can’t spend eternity with Him because of sin. So what Christ did for one person He did for the entire world, He died in paper, all of the sins of all the world paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead.

And He says, all that we have to do is the only thing we can do, is to believe that He did this for us. He paid for our sins. God says, if I believe He did this for me, He would put that payment to my account. When I was 18 years old and I believed that he did this for me, he put that payment to my account. When you believe it, he put that payment to your account. If you haven’t believed it, that payment is not put to your account until you believe he did it for you.

That’s why your sins could have been paid for and you still go to hell because you rejected the payment that was made for you. Just because you know about it and because you want to go to heaven, don’t make you get there. You won’t get there just because, well, I want to go, you can’t will yourself there. You have to admit to God, I’m a sinner. There can be no pride in you that I’m going to have him because I deserve to go.

You don’t deserve to go. Nobody deserves to go. Nobody’s good enough to get to heaven. We’re all bad enough to go to hell. Only took one sin. But that one sin is enough to keep us all out of heaven. So Christ took the sins, paid for them to cross now. The only way you’ll ever get to heaven is do you or do you not? Will you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior? Will you accept this payment He made for you?

Now, if I was to offer you my glass of water and you accepted you’d have a glass of water and if I offered you my wallet and you accepted you’d have an empty wallet, if I offered you my microphone and you accepted you’d have a microphone. Well, if Jesus Christ walked in here right now, offered you eternal life and you accepted it, what would you have? Eternal life. eternal life, how long would it last? Forever, if it lasts forever and all your sins are paid, where would you go when you die?

Go to heaven. Can you know that you’re going to heaven before you die? Yes, that’s what it’s all about. Knowing that you have eternal life, these things have I written unto you that they leave on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. You have to know it and you have to have it. Have it now. Do you have right now? No, you have right now. everlasting life and you’ll never lose it.

God will never cast you out. If you don’t understand that and you don’t believe that you’re lost. Every head bowed and every I closed. No one looking around. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior. I don’t care how many times you’ve heard it. Have you honestly be honest with yourself. It’s a heaven and hell issue. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you trust Him right now? Say yes, I will trust Jesus Christ as my Savior.

I want to be certain I’m going to heaven when I die and preach I like you to pray for me. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. For Sunday morning services begin at 10 30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryuptampa.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bible Live. And now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friends, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. 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.